Scooby Dooby Doo!

So, every Friday night in January the local mall is having Family Fun Night. This means that every child within a 30 mile radius begs their parents to take them to the mall to bounce in the blow up bouncy thing and to meet... Scooby Doo! Fun, right?? It just so happens that I usually frequent the mall on Friday nights to eat a little Chick-fil-a and window shop. This being the second Friday I've known about Scooby coming to town, I thought I would take a few pictures and share a little fun with everyone :)

I was ever so fortunate to get the exact same little 2 person table I had to sit at last week, so this is basically the same shot I Tweeted last Friday... except that I actually got Scooby in the picture this time, ha.


Then I decided that if I was going to actually use my exciting mall experience as blog fodder, I of course needed to get some action shots! Here we have Scooby wrangling a small child for the camera. I see he is opting for the "head compress" method :)



And finally, even the big kids wanna have their picture made with the Scoobs.



This concludes another totally (un)eventful Friday in January. Maybe next month I'll actually stand in line and get someone to snap a few photos of me and whatever poor underpaid fellow in  costume they bring in. Oh no, I have no shame, lol.


Oh! One more thing! Check out the new layout :) Cute, huh? That's me up there lounging in the grass with my coffee, haha. Hopefully everything is now more pleasing to the eye. Be sure to keep checking back for more updates!


Have a blessed weekend!

Way Back When

There was a time, believe it or not, that I used to write daily. Hourly. A LOT. I wrote at school in between classwork, I wrote at home, on the band bus (I know, NERD), and when there was no paper I would formulate all kinds of things in my head. Now... not so much. However, I thought you (or maybe just me? who knows) might like to have a good laugh and see what exactly it was that I was pondering "way back when". Let's begin, shall we?

I'm not sure when this was written, but apparently before I thought it necessary to actually date things. I'd say probably at least 8 or 9 years ago.

Alone
The last burning ember fades and it is truly night
Sitting all alone and lonely
Listening to the sound of my own breath
Waiting for the sun to rise
But I have hours yet
Hours to count the minutes
Minutes to count the seconds
Until morning comes
And when the sun does finally show its face
I will still be here Here with the hours
...the minutes
...the seconds
Here... alone

This one has some great potential I think, but those last two lines are bordering on cheesy and I'm not quite sure how to fix it. This is circa 2005.

Letting Go

how can i help you if you won't let go?

you're stalling and falling, out of control

this hurt that you feel, i can tell it makes you weak

your eyes, they scream when they used to speak

how can i help you when you turn away?

your heart freezes over

tears strain to stream down your face

enraged you become

please don't shut me out

denying that you need to talk

there's no need to yell, no need to shout

one day i'll break that wall

we'll sit down to chat, and it'll seem like that's all

you'll let it all go, turn to me and the tears will flow

the past is behind you, now's the time for you to grow

take your chance, you deserve to fly free

i'll never leave your side, your friend i'll always be

I spent a great deal of time on this one. I like it a lot. Hopefully you will too :) And guess what? I dated it! Began on July 6, 2007 and revised and completed on February 8, 2009 (not that I was actually agonizing over it for 2 years... but I'm glad I dug it up and finished it).

Last Ditch Effort

this is my last ditch effort

my final chance at salvaging the real me

somehow i’ve become cloaked in darkness

an otherworldly frenzy of everything but original

my last ditch effort

to release the chains that bind and destroy

to invite a cleansing beyond explanation

why such a long road to here?

shouldn’t there be an easier way?

my last ditch effort

to shed the old and encourage new

patches of green where once was brown

sunlight and air in places long forgotten

my last ditch effort

to resurface unscathed

beginning anew what once was lost to me

restoration complete

i’m letting go

And for the grand finale!!

Something I didn't write :) This is one of my favorite poems by Mark Strand. At least you'll leave knowing you read something of literary worth, ha!

Lines for Winter

Tell yourself

as it gets cold and gray falls from the air

that you will go on

walking, hearing

the same tune no matter where

you find yourself --

inside the dome of dark

or under the cracking white

of the moon's gaze in a valley of snow.

Tonight as it gets cold

tell yourself

what you know which is nothing

but the tune your bones play

as you keep going. And you will be able

for once to lie down under the small fire

of winter stars.

And if it happens that you cannot

go on or turn back and you find yourself

where you will be at the end,

tell yourself

in that final flowing of cold through your limbs

that you love what you are. 

Blessings,

Dawdling Through the Week

Hello there. I know, I know, it's been almost two weeks since my last post. I'm falling a little behind on my "resolution", huh?

Well, that's ok, because here I am :) I've been doing the usual for the last week and a half. Going to school and going to Wal-Mart and eating and sleeping. You know, all of those super exciting things I just know you're aching to find out about. Ha!

Really though... I've decided I don't much like my classes this semester. I have International Business which is pretty neat. We're learning currency exchange rates and how to calculate Yen to British Pounds and USD to Canadian Dollars. Then there's Finance. I don't like numbers. I mean, sure, I'm fairly good and mathematical things and I really enjoyed my Accounting classes, but all of this "critical thinking" about stocks and bonds and mutual funds is just too much. It is interesting though. I'm just glad I'm not a finance/accounting major. I'd be in bad shape :) Oh boy, then there's Management. Which of course is my major. However, this class does not make me happy. I really could stay here and just read the text book I paid untold amounts of money for and learn the same things. I don't like that. I like some interaction and some excitement from the professor about what he/she is teaching. Reading from the book does not count. Oh well, who am I to complain?

Guess what? I am taking an "art appreciation" class that I absolutely adore. It's a lot of art history and looking at slides in a dark room a la Mona Lisa Smile. It's great. I have it at night and it is the only class I have on Mondays and Wednesdays. A bright spot in my Spring semester :) So, because I'm really out of "engaging material" for today, here are some of my favorite pieces I've discovered in said class...

And while I would like to post pictures of them, I haven't quite figured that out yet :) How embarrassing, haha. If you happen to know how to do this, please fill me in!

Here are some links...

** The Dominant Curve by Wassily Kandinsky

** The Last Supper by Tintoretto

** Mother and Child and Four Sketches of the Right Hand by Pablo Picasso

Blessings,

Writer's Block

I keep telling myself that I will start to write again when I have something important to say. Have I ever had anything "important" to say? No, not really. So, I've decided that if I'm ever going to start writing creatively again, I must first start to write. That's a "duh" moment I suppose, but I'm the type of person to write only when I have something I feel I need to say or a clever idea that I want to express. Lately, and by lately I mean it's been several years now, I haven't felt creative at all. I want to be creative and I have all kinds of ideas and bits and pieces of stories and what-not floating around in my head, but I just can't seem to put them together on paper or on the computer screen. I find it frustrating, so I don't write anything at all. Of course, that's not productive nor does it leave me wanting to continue to pursue any sort of creative outlet for the junk that's floating around. Anyway... I created this blog for the sole purpose of rediscovering my desire to write and get thoughts onto a page and generally be (I've overused the word "creative", but I apologize) creative again. As you can see, nothing has really come of it. I want that to change. In fact, even though I hate new year resolutions, I have resolved to at least start journaling again. Whether on here, or in one of the 30 unused journals I own, I will write something new at least once a week. So... there you go. As for the first order of business...

Today when I opened the new journal I received from Emily for Christmas, I noticed that there are scriptures on top of every page. I wanted to share the verse that marks the top of the very first page. I'm not sure which translation it is from, I can't find anywhere where it tells what the company used to print them, but I think it's beautiful and speaks volumes about turning over a new leaf and making a fresh start fully trusting Him. 


"Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water."  (Hebrews 10:22)

I want to break this down a little bit. First off... "Let us go right into the presence of God..." God does not withhold Himself from His people. When the veil was torn we were given the most awesome opportunity to commune and fellowship with our Creator. We can enter into His presence and seek His counsel any time, day or night. However, notice the rest of that sentence "...with sincere heart and fully trusting Him." God is no fool. He can't be tricked into thinking we really believe He can turn our situation around when the truth is that we're just calling on Him because it seems to be the only thing left to do. When we humble ourselves and our hearts are sincere before God, we open ourselves up to let Him in and give us direction or heal the hurt. We must fully trust that He is able.

"For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water." I think this is just the most beautiful picture of how our minds are renewed and our souls cleansed by His power in our lives. The blood of Jesus sprinkled on our guilty consciences to make us clean. Our filthy bodies washed in the pure water of His Word. We all have heard Romans 5:8, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."  Yes, He did, and He did so with a love and a compassion that I'm not sure we will ever fully understand. He died so that we might live and be clean and whole.

Everyone is talking about "the new year, the new you" and starting over fresh and being super productive in 2010. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that. More power to anyone who wants a fresh start and some new goals for this year, but let us all begin this year going boldly into the presence of God sincerely and fully trusting that He is able. That He will show us the path that is pleasing to Him and we will walk in His will in 2010.

Be blessed,
Raeann

Rolling Into 2010

Here we are... 2010. A whole decade has passed in the 2000s. I must say that my 2010 has been rather uneventful. Well, except for the fact that I am currently recovering from a mild head cold and a case of pink eye in both eyes. Ick. Very unpleasant. Other than that, very uneventful. I'm back in my apartment after spending the holidays in Georgia. Classes will start on Wednesday and that should add something to my to-do list since it now consists of 1. wake up 2. shower 3. eat 4. sleep. The job hunt is still on. I'm going to start calling every place I've applied to again probably tomorrow.

This is a pretty sad little post... and I'm not feeling very clever really. So, I'll end it all with a few of my favorite blog posts as of late. Hope you enjoy!

** Big Mama - So It's Been a Year

** Angie Smith - A Christmas Story

** Ann Voskamp - Five Steps to Real Change In the New Year

Blessings,
Raeann