Lomo love

So, I've now developed a few rolls of film from my fisheye lomography camera and I'm starting to learn how to work with it... I think. The roll I just picked up today turned out really really fun - I just wandered around a field in C-Stat and then downtown Bryan for a little bit, and I really liked them. So, here are all of my favorites from all the lomo pics I've taken so far - some in Dallas at the fair, some farm, some here in aggieland...




















P.S. this is my last post for October - posted at 11:50 (edited at 11:55) on Oct. 31 - who's going to win the blogoff!?!? dundundun!

makeover

So, for a long time I've wanted a space where I could work on scrapbooking and craft projects and just be able to leave my stuff out, not have to put it all away. This week I started thinking about how I could rearrange my room to make it happen, and today I did it! It took several hours, and it's definitely a little cozier in here now, but I like it!

This was the chaos in the midst of rearranging. During the process I found one long lost earring, and then like two hours later I found its match! That was one of those little things that made my day, lol.

And this is the (mostly) final product. A big long table to keep my computer, printer and crafty stuff on/under/in - yay!


I was proud of myself for thinking of this - repurposing an old CD rack to hold paint and such.

Here's just a tad of my scrapbook/crafty projects to do list:
- Jordan/Turner Family scrapbook that I started 2 years ago and am halfway through with. The goal is to finish it by Christmas, for my dad! Some of the pictures are like 90 years old - I rescued them from my Grandmother's bathroom drawer, but now I really need to finish the book!
- Bowls and coasters out of tons of reject magazines from work that were just going to be thrown away. (see here and here and here)
- Jr. year of college scrapbook (Yes, I'm way behind)
- London trip scrapbook (again, a year and a half behind...)
- Garret and I's relationship scrapbook - I'm about a year behind on it. Goal is to finish it before our first shower, or at least the wedding :)
- Pink and green canvases that link together (I'll post a pic when I finish it)
- Paint/update boring flower sconces

So, I'll post updates if I finish/make anything exciting! :)

Bits of days

So, at work I'm responsible for keeping up with mailing lists for our newsletters and such. When we mail stuff out, we get some back - undeliverable, return to sender, etc. Today, we got this one back:

That little sticker made me sad.

So, I was curious. I tried to find the person's obituary, but all I found via Google was an entry on someone's blog about the person's whole career. It felt a little weird that I could find that much information, but it was really interesting. (Needless to say, I never really figured out why they were subscribed to our magazine, couldn't connect those dots. Who knows!)


This is a moon plant that my sister gave me back in March or April. It's supposed to bloom only at night, hence the name, but I've only checked on it during the day/evening, and the bloom has been about half opened. This was the first time it had ever bloomed, and I was SO excited. I'd been watching it grow for months, and then last Tuesday or so I was walking in the side door of our house and noticed that this big green bud was growing - woah! After all that waiting, beautiful growth! It reminded me of how God faithfully brings unexpected blessings to us.

This is my lomography fisheye camera. I like it a whole lot! I learned about toy cameras for the first time when tahni got a holga, and then I got curious and eventually I decided to buy this one. It's SO fun! The photos are really unpredictable, but that's what makes it an adventure! (I'll post some of my favorites so far - like the above banner image - from it sometime soon. I am far from good at using mine, but I think it will be really fun to learn! Slightly unrelated - I found this image today and was inspired - it is titled so strikingly well.) So... the more toy cameras I find online, the more I add to my mental Christmas list - like this Russian one, this adorable lil guy, and this digital (!!) one.

Yesterday after work the sun was shining and I had some free time so I ran across town to a field that I had been reminded of on Monday. I snapped some shots with my lil digital camera and my lomo, but since I haven't developed the film yet and who knows how it will turn out, here are a couple of the non-lomo shots...


I love College Station sunsets. They always seem to be brought to your attention at just the right time...

A longing fulfilled

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
Proverbs 13:12

Today I was rummaging through some files of photos at work, trying to find a good one for our Christmas card. I ran across this one (which was taken by one of my talented coworkers), tweaked it a bit, and was taken aback. It reminded me of this verse, because it looked like a vibrant, thriving tree of life.

God gives us so many longings. And we want them fulfilled so quickly, so specifically. But I think that the longings that we wait for, cry for, and eventually seek to surrender back to the Lord - it's those longings that are so clearly vibrant and sweet when they are fulfilled.

Anyways, I don't know if this image will be on the Christmas card, but it was a good part of my day.

my office

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I guess it's a little late since I've been at my job for 4.5 months! I like my individual office - I have lots of privacy, and freedom to decorate how I want. And although I do sometimes miss having more interaction with people throughout the day, it's easy to get up and go talk to some of the sweet ladies I work with. I am very grateful for my job and the kind people I work with! Anyhoo, I've decorated my office some, and since most of you probably won't ever come visit me - which is a shame since I'm just in Research park! - here are a few photos of it. I've added a few things since I took these, but you get the idea.

This bookshelf is very functional, but also randomly light blue and unattached the the wall it is beside. I took all of my teal and red things up to my office, and I like the mix of pictures from London with ceramics from China (and home).

I found this cute little tiny bus from Panama in my office and it is seriously now one of my favorite things ever. (It probably was left behind by our old director, who traveled a lot.) It's just so cute! I like to look at the tiny little people and vegetables in it, and then drive it across the top of my monitor. :)

Lots of knick knacks, including: my Mary Englebreit tear-off calendar, the box of scripture Mag gave me for my bday, Garret and I from our 5-year mark, phone charms from China, and Mongolian leather products.

Clockwise: Lonely old red bridge columns in the Thames - one of my favorite sights in London, plum (I think?) tree at the farm, awesome desert in China (sorry about the finger prints), and the view through a window in the Great Wall.

I like my desk :)

This is the view from my desk. If I open the blinds of the window in the hallway (to the right in this photo) then I can see a little sunlight, so that's nice!

In conclusion, even though you just got a glimpse of my office, you should still come visit me some time! :)

Tah-da!

Our engagement pictures are in! Yipee! I got the links today while I was at work, and it made it really hard to concentrate! I just wanted to look at them and pick out my favorites and have fun!

Here's the slideshow - http://www.fidelisstudio.com/client_slideshow/GarretandLeslie - my fave from that is definitely the last one. I looove that chimney by the snakehouse on our farm. And of course I love it when Garret makes me laugh, which is a lot :)

Also, here's the whole gallery of photos, where there are lots more good ones! The password is leslieandgarret: http://www.kmdfoto.com/pickpic/gallery/splash.php?gallery_id=60. Some of the kissymushy pictures are awkward, but on the whole I really like how they all turned out. That was such a fun day! Which ones are your faves? I'll give you time to form your opinions... okay - some of my faves are: 14, 3, 29, 38, 39, 5, 7 and 9.

Now, our wedding to-do list for the next month or two is: design save the dates, finalize the guest list & round up everyone's addresses, decide where we want to register and maybe start, find bridesmaid dresses, pick florist & caterer. Yeah... that's all I can think of. Planning really has been pretty chill so far. I really want to plan a wedding that is Christ-centered, but also plan it in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Confession: I have very little idea of how to do this. You've probably heard this idea from me before, but I think I'm going to start a blog about planning a wedding and preparing for marriage from a Gospel-minded perspective. See, I wanted to read this blog originally, but I can't find such a thing, so I think I should just write about my journey. I've actually already started it, but I want to get a good amount of content in it before I show it to anyone. So... yeah, please share with me any thoughts you have on that, and I'll have more to share soon!

thoughts on one year ago...

About one year ago, I was trying to decide whether or not to go overseas again. I was stressed and dry spiritually. I didn't want to leave my family during the first Christmas without both my parents' mothers. But, I didn't want to miss getting to see my friends there again and getting to tell them Truth. It was frustrating, because getting back from the summer trip had been really great, and it was senior year, and everything was supposed to be super, but it wasn't - it was confusing, unpredictable.


So God made a way, and I went, even though I was not real clear on specifically why. It was all just hard: from November to February, it seemed like nothing came easy. Gradually, I accepted serious lies from the Enemy that grew into ingrained self-deprecation, doubt and a hard heart.


And the lies didn't really go away after February. So many days, I just give-in tothe lies. They're still around, and it makes me so stinking mad! The Christmas trip was supposed to be refining and beneficial - so why did I internalize so many ungodly habits from it? Did I somehow miss the results phase of the refinement process? What's the purpose in all this battling? And do I even really want to fight for Truth?

Lately, however, I've been hearing the Lord fight for me. I think a lot of people experience this, but for a while now, when I get really down, defeated, hopeless, I hear this cycle of awful, pointed, accusations scrolling through my mind. And, they feel so true so I just allow it and wallow. (Which I realize just compounds the sin, and then I feel worse and continue wallowing.) But, the past couple of weeks when that's happend, I've heard the Lord, my Defender, say something different: "Beloved. Beloved. Beloved." So I can write down all those awful names and scratch them out until there's holes in the journal paper and instead pen "Beloved" - and believe that there is One who loves unfailingly and doesn't give up on people.

Maybe that's a piece of what I was meant to learn from the past year: times will be hard and you will hear lies and they will be persuasive - but Christ is your Defender and He is never passive in your life. Trust his defense, listen and believe what He says about you. Hold onto that truth, and fight the fight.

"My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." John 10:27-29