Photo effects

Filters can completely change a boring, drab photo into something interesting and beautiful! My favorite iPhone app for photo editing is PhotoStudio. This app includes a variety of easy ways to show your creative self off for only $1.99! I'll show some of my photo studio edits below.  The app is super easy to use and explains everything.  Sometimes you just have to spice up your pictures!!

Astonishment

What just happened!?!?! 
Have I seriously just seen a movie that made me sad that it was over and want to pay another $10 to go see it again????
A few weeks ago I saw "Guardians of the Galaxy", and this is how I felt when I left.
There are very few movies that are made where I could watch them over and over again, but this is one of those movies.  I can honestly say that this is my favorite movie and I highly recommend watching it. 
The movie has a variety of elements.  I cried, laughed, and felt suspense during the movie.  I loved it so much that I had to buy a shirt!!! 
-Ashley, who is your favorite super hero?
-Groot!!!!!!!

Is that music I hear???

Music forms the very essence of every single being on earth. When we meet someone with a different language, we might not understand them, but we can understand their music. If they pulled out there iPod and played their favorite song, we automatically would learn so much about that person.

Everyone has a preference to music; a different musical language. The way the beat flows through your veins determines which music language you are. Alternative is my music language. When listening to alternative music, I can't help but to be totally consumed into the song as if I have been transported to a different planet. 

I think the best form of relaxation is a pen with a journal, a cup of coffee, and most importantly music. Music is all around us. Storms are just another word for music. The way the wind blows, the way the rain paddles on the ground, the thunder; it all forms together to form harmonic unity. Sometimes nature can be the best inspiration for new songs. No matter where you are, music is there to be found. If you are musically aware throughout the day, you will hear it from the second you wake up to the second you fall asleep. Recording the different beats throughout the day and blending them together would form something amazing. 

Music saves the world from being the boring dull place it has become since industrialization has taken over. Imagine how perfect the world would be if everything was nature.  If there were no roads, no buildings, no cars. What if our homes were tents surrounded by trees and animals with the beats of nature flowing through our ears. The music we would hear in this surrounding would be what music was meant to sound like in the beginning of times. Sometimes I wish this was how the world still was. Music and nature surrounding to form a visual and mental peace all around.

Music definitely has a peace about it that is unexplainable and it is always the best medicine for any day.

Remembrance

Our world has not been the same since that tragic day. 

In the year 2000, we never had to think that a terrorist attack would happen. If our loved ones were getting on a plane, we would only be worried because of malfunctions due to the plane. If our loved ones were going into the office on the 30th floor in a building, it would have just been another day. Thinking back on this mindset, were we just naive. Naive in thinking that everything is perfect. Naive in categorizing ourself in almost a utopia like manner because we live in America, the safest country on Earth.  

On the morning of September 11th, somebody's spouse went into work or got on a plane. Somebody's child, somebody's parent was expected to be here today. On September 10th, 2001 nobody knew this was going to happen. Nobody knew that history books would have to be expanded with the horror that took place. Now that we have passed the tragic day, September 11th 2001, we remember those who lost their lives.  

Now we have to live in a little bit of fear, but still trust that God is looking over us. We know our world is not close to a utopia. Anything could happen, so love the one's around you and do your best to spread peace throughout the world. Pray for those who may be lost. The one's who are misguided and not in the mindset of peace on Earth.

We give our condolences to those who we lost and those who lost a loved one on that horrific day and pray that peace come into their lives. The world will never be the same or as naive as it was before the terror struck the lives of us all. 

A little bit of funny

Funny cat videos always cheer people up on gloomy days.  My cat ,Bink, has this weird obsession with ice.  If any drops out of the fridge, he attacks it like it's a mouse and just starts licking it.  He likes licking everything, but I would imagine the ice would hurt his tiny, thin, sandpaper tongue! 
Watching this will brighten everyones day!!

Have a great Thursday! The weekend is coming soon!!!!

It's coming back!!!

Polaroids are a thing of the past, but they are starting to make a come back.  I love the idea of instantly being able to have a hard copy of a picture you took right then and there!  I went on a search for the best new instant cameras and came across fujifilm.  Fujifilm offers a variety of instant cameras, but the one I chose was the instax mini 8.  The film is bit pricey, but the quality of the pictures are great!!  They print about the size of a business card and they allow you to document those "once in a lifetime" moments.

  

animal love

I have always been a huge lover of animals.  I currently own two dogs (Coco and Buster), one cat (Bink), and one fish (Fish).  I had a cat named Whisper, but he recently passed..:( 

Whisper was best friends with my dog Buster.  They followed each other around, cuddled, and slept together at night.  We think Buster has a slight case of ADHD because he is crazy.  He is constantly jumping and NEVER calms down.  Unlike Coco, he loves everybody.  

 

Coco can be a little mean, but only to people she does not know.  She is definitely a guard dog.  Deep down, she loves cuddling.  Whenever I see her, she runs up to me and does this dance that we like to call, "The Coco" and rubs up against me to pet her.  She is a dachshund/pit mix with beautiful eyes.  

Bink is an inside cat.  He thinks he owns the place.  He likes to cuddle and love, but his favorite thing to do (only with me) is hide and bite me when I am not expecting it.  He seriously only bites me!!! Nobody else... 

I recently purchased Fish for my dorm.  Being away from my other animals is so hard for me, so I decided to get through it to get myself a fish.

I love animals and I think they make the world a more loving, peaceful, better place. Pet owners are the happiest! 

From another's eyes

Different countries fascinate me.  I've always been particularly fascinated in England.  This morning Austin and I decided to find a church.  I googled churches around us and I decided to choose the first one that came up.  This church was exactly like the one we went to back at home. The first thing the preacher had us do was stand up and greet someone around us and tell them our hobby.  In front of us sat these two women from England.  I immediately got excited (and a little jealous of them).  They had just moved here and I thought it was so neat that out of everywhere we could have sat, these two people from England sat in front of us.  I'm going to take this as a sign from God...;)...that I am meant to go to England.  There is no stopping me now!!!  My "England Savings Jar" has started.

It is so funny to me how people all around the world can connect.  We all have something in common and that is our humanity.  A face is just a face,  a body is just a body, a race is just a race.  I love how we can all learn from each other.  We all have different upbringings and that's where the difference comes in.  

What would it be like to switch lives with a foreigner for a day?
I think it would be the most eye opening experience anyone could ask for.
When I was younger, around 4 or 5, I went to Germany with my family.  I can't really remember the trip much, but when I look at the pictures or the videos we took, it immediately makes me want to go back.  The overall feeling of being in a different country is just amazing to me.
I hope I will get to travel the world one day and meet new people and hear there amazing stories on what it was like growing up in their shoes.

I love reading, especially on rainy days....

Rainy days are perfect for starting a new book.  My favorite author is Ted Dekker and I am currently reading his Lost Books series.  I am on the third book, "Renegade".  I do not have a hard copy of it unfortunately, so I have been listening to it from audible.com.

I love how books take you to a new world and you get to be the director of the movie playing out in your head.  Ted Dekker creates such elaborate characters which allows you to imagine things you never thought about, such as talking bats.  If you are looking for a good read, I highly recommend starting one of his many series.

Halloween Fever

I have had Halloween fever lately. Fall is my favorite time of the year and coincidentally Halloween is my favorite holiday!  I love the way the trees change, the way the weather feels, pumpkin spice lattes, and the colors of Halloween. 

The other day I decided to start my fall to do list. This is my favorite list to make and I look forward to it every year!  This is my first year in college, so hopefully I'm not to busy to check off everything on my list. I only have 8 things on my list so far, but there will definitely be more added soon. A new thing I added to my list this year is make a Halloween quilt.  I have never made a quilt so I have no idea how this is going to go, but it is the one thing on my list that I'm most excited about.  I googled Halloween quilts and this is my favorite- http://bittybitsandpieces.blogspot.com/2008/10/halloween-squared-quilt-pattern.html

This quilt looks pretty tough, but I love the festive colors that it incorporates!

Last Halloween, my boyfriend (Austin) and I decided to carve a pumpkin.  We were going for a spongebob theme.  We were so excited about our pumpkin.  We got the knife out and just started carving.  At first it looked really bad, but we were confident that our little spongebob pumpkin would turn out great.

Look at that comparison! They look like twins!

We were wrong about him turning out great!:) He turned out pretty scary and one of his two teeth even fell out! Hopefully this year our pumpkin will turn out better. We probably need to invest in a pumpkin carving kit.

Hopefully fall comes soon because I don't think I can wait any longer!