:: josh garrels ::

back in november a friend sent me a link to download a new album. said it would change my life. i was wary, but i downloaded and listened. i loved the first track. and the second. and every.single.one that followed. the album is incredible. i have a new favorite song from it just about every time i listen but "bread and wine" is always up toward the top of the list. a stand out for me.

here are some pictures from the video shoot for that song for the documentary the sea in between. love the feeling in the first one and that xylophone in the second is such a cool idea! can't wait to hear how it sounds when the film is released.

joshgarrels.blogspot.com

:: resolve to be bolder ::

i'd love to say i'm resolving to blog more frequently (notably not the same as "more often"), but that would be a lie. i hope to do so, but i'm not resolving to do so. because i'm nothing if not realistic. nor do i care for "new year's resolutions." i've never quite "gotten" the whole new year's hoopla. don't know why, but it just doesn't excite me as much as it seems to everyone else. in fact, each time i type "happy new year" to someone in an email, i feel like a bit of a fraud. not because i don't truly wish that the new year is a happy one for the person, but because i wouldn't normally write that sentiment to someone, if i didn't just feel like it was what i'm supposed to be doing/saying.

so, yeah. i don't really do the new year's resolution thing. but this year might be a little different. i had a thought during church on sunday. the sermon was partly about our lives this year, if the world truly was to end on december 21, 2012. it made me think. i'm not one to have those "if i died today, what would i regret having done or not done" thoughts. if i died today, i'd be dead and in a place with no regrets. i'm just not one to think, "if i had 24 hours left to live, what would i do?" (yes, i would like to travel more. and i hope i will. but i know that when i die, i will not lament the places i did not go. because i will be in a far more glorious place.)

but here's the thing. i want that (eternal) peace for those i know and love (and even for those i don't know). if i happen to be sitting around on december 20 and the world is to end the next day i would want to look back over the year and know that something i said or did (or perhaps didn't say/do) or even that the way i lived my life helped someone know the Truth. to know the peace that surpasses all understanding.

so i resolve to be more intentional (notably not the same as "pushy") and say and/or do something that could be a light to someone each and every day. seems simple. seems like something i should already be doing. and perhaps for the most part i am/do. but i don't want to rely on "pretty much already doing." i want to be bolder than that.

:: satisfaction guaranteed ::

i am so sorry, but i have no idea where i found this.
if you know to whom credit is due, please send me a message and i'll add the credit/link!

:: letters home - on veterans day ::

9 april 1945

Dear Daddy,
Well here comes a short letter from boy. He has seen an awful lot of action lately but has not exactly killed any more Germans with his own hand (that he knows of) although he has fired several rounds of 76 M.M. high explosive into towns that they were in. They mean & fired some 88 MM's back at us but they aren't so hot as they didn't hit too close. I was right up there when the 1st & 9th joined the other day. We really did some traveling too believe me. I have lost an awful lot of sleep so you will know why I am so lazy when I get home.

I have seen so awfully pretty fireworks especially the night that I crossed the Rhine. I wish that you could have seen it. I'll never forget it as long as I live.

There are thousands & thousands of Russians and French that have been freed starting on their way back now. You should see these Russians as they walk back along the road. All of them are looking for cigarette butts and I give them the pkgs that I receive in my "K" rations. The French are much nicer dressed and much cleaner. The war is over for most of them & I wish that it were over for everyone. Tell everyone hello for me. Lots of love
Arthur Jr

:: 123 ABC ::

cb2.com
[click image for direct link to product]

:: old thoughts ::

i keep notes. everywhere. on a dry erase board by my desk. in a notebook (or notebooks). in various programs on my computer and the internet (facebook, onenote, word, evernote, etc). on napkins, receipts, tiny pieces of paper. everywhere.

sometimes i come across old notes and they make me smile. sometimes they make me sad. i treat the thoughts like tangible objects, weighing whether or not i should hold on to them. never know when they might come in handy (again) sometime.

today i came across one from may 03 2011. was about to put it in the toss pile, but decided to bring it over here and hang on to it instead. the page title was "truths about me." i'm assuming i was going to write more, but this was all that was there.

i've lived right around the corner from a crematorium for 3 years. i just saw smoke from it for the first time last week. it grossed me out and made me a little sad.

:: lacey layers ::

freepeople.com

:: warm thoughts ::

i want to recreate this look when it gets warm again. it seems much more doable than this one i posted earlier this year.

it will get warm again, won't it? (it's not even really that cold here...yet...and i'm already dreaming of spring.)

thesartorialist.com

:: look love ::

frugal-fashionistas.com

:: a wandering defense ::

over a month since i last posted. terrible. inexcusable. except not. my excuses come in the forms of recently super-charged social life, fall touring & a busy work schedule, trips & adventures, wedding & birthday madness (in the best possible way).

and sheer slackness.

:: letters home - comforts of home ::

9 march 1945

Dear Mamma,
Well here is all of one full page of v-mail coming to you. I just wish that I could send you a present but they don't have very much over here & what they have is hard to get. I'll try to bring a trunk full of stuff home when I come if I can get by with it.

There really isn't very much to tell from over here except that I haven't been able to take a bath as often as I would like to. They just don't have as many baths as they need to have. I don't believe that they have ever used as many as we have back home. I haven't shaved in about three days and I need one so I'll shave to-morrow morning. I did have a mustache and took a picture of it but I have lost the film so I am just back to where I was before. I'll have to grow another one so that I can let you see how I look with it. I suppose that I can borrow a camera and take a picture of it as I lost mine. I hope that Lillie insured mine for I would like to have it replaced some day. I'd like to have a little different one when I get another one.

I have found a couple of good movie projectors that I believe I can pick up for nothing and if I can get it home I will do just that. I will see about that to-morrow morning. Tell everything & everyone I said "hello" I'll be glad when everything is all over and I can come home again.

Lots of love
Arthur

:: girl crush ::

cintia dicker for aerie

:: diggin ::

this look.

sf style via a cup of jo

:: trash the dress ::

blueberries, paint, fire - oh, my!

blog.rfproductions.ca

:: colorful cabinets ::

via ishandchi.blogspot.com