go somewhere.

"the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust

"The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see."  - G. K. Chesterton 

WANDERLUST: An irresistible desire to travel to understand ones self.

My spirit must be that of a traveler. I long to get on the road and just go somewhere. Anywhere. Travel the grey pavement with yellow lines down the middle. Or fly threw the blue sky to another country or state. 

I want to photograph beaches, cites, people and landscape. 

I've always wanted to travel. Even as a child I loved riding in the car. Road trips were always my favorite. I didn't mind the 15 hours of driving. Having a bag full of things to do yet, I would sit looking out the window, watching the landscape roll by. 

I remember once, on one of these long road trips, we drove through St. Louis during the middle of the night. I sat and stared. It was all the lights that captured my eye. The arch being lit up by the lights of the city. The cars just gliding along the road. Ever since then, I always make sure I am awake when we drive through St. Louis at night.

You see, its not just the traveling that grabs at me. Its the beauty of things that I have not seen. Its what could be discovered in a new state, town or country. Its the camera in my hand that would capture, as best it could, the wonderful things in a new place. 

My heart longs to go somewhere new. It longs for adventure. 

white out

Just when I was about to give up on ever having winter weather...

After a day that was 55 degrees in the afternoon,

Quickly cooled off in the evening,

My friends and I staying up late just to wait for the snow,

and

a snow storm came.

White flakes blowing around.

In my mind I thought "Why couldn't this have come at christmas?"

Its finally winter in Iowa.

Its finally white.

Waiting room Sunday

Waiting. Its an interesting word. To wait. To stand still, waiting for news. To wait for any kind of thing is hard. Its most especially hard when its a hospital kind of thing.

Grandpa was take to the hospital friday afternoon for a stroke and fluid in his lungs.

That was a hard day.

I was mostly rushing around that whole day and was with friends, so it kept my mind off of things. But waiting to hear something? That was tense.

As news trickled in from mom and my aunts, I just prayed. I looked up verse after verse about strength and holding on to God. My favorite:

"Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." -Isaiah 41:10

I memorized that. I think its my new favorite verse.

God has just overwhelmed me with all the love that has been coming from people. Friends from all over praying.
Kind thoughts and gestures from our church family here.
My great-grandma staying up all night sitting in our grandpa's chair, praying.
These are the things that make me realize that he is so great and wonderful and never leaves his children. ever. How wonderful he truly is.

So here I sit now. Waiting for surgery results.

Waiting. with the song "faithful" by chris tomlin, stuck in my head.

Waiting, on a Sunday.

"Forever you are faithful."

To travel: Italy

my travel board: {via}

///Rome

///Art

///Coliseum 

///Venice

///Architecture 

///Florence

///Towers

///Canals

///Cities

///Beach

///Food

///History

Those are just some of the few reason why I would love to see Italy. The buildings, history and gorgeous landscape alone would make me want to go. The rest is just a bonus. I really just wish to take thousand and thousands of photos. The ocean, art, countryside - all of this and so much more would fill my heart with joy if I could get even just a few pictures. Someday, Italy and I shall meet. Then, my camera and I shall go on a grand adventure. 

Where do YOU want to go?

a word for 2012

Well. Here we are. 2012. We made it. 


I still can't believe its January or 2012 for that matter. The idea seems completely foreign to my mind. But it is slow sinking in. 

I've been thinking about new year resolutions the past few days. I have a small idea as to what mine are, but I really wanted to choose just one thing, one word, that says exactly what I am trying to achieve. 
I thought about for a long time about this. Weeks actually. Because I wanted to find the prefect word. A word that fit me as a person, but also would prefect describe what I wanted to do in 2012. Ideas whirled around in my head. I went to pinterest for inspiration, I went to hundreds of quotes to figure out what this word was going to be. Finally it just sort of came to me one day as I was just staring out the window thinking. The word I settled on is:

Discover.

{via}

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»Above pictures were inspiration that made me say "yes. discover is it"«

I want to discover things this year. 

Discover more about God.

Discover more about who i am.

Discover more about life. 

All of my life I have loved to learn new things and learn more about things that interest me. 
Life is about finding out new things and exploring. Thats what I want to do. Discover and fall in love with everything around me and life. Discover the beauty and simplicity of life. Discover the grand adventures that await. This is what I want. 

I hope to discover many things this year. For adventures await. 

Do YOU have a word from 2012? If so please share it, I'd love to here about it.