the good, the bad and the very ugly

When you are cleaning things out....and packing up in my case....you find many things, both good and bad. I was very happy to find both pairs of my sunglasses that I thought I had lost. They were both under my bed, more than likely stolen by the ol' under-the-bed and eat-all-your-stuff monster. So I was pretty excited about that. Now like I said you also find things that are bad and more often than not those bad things are found in your refrigerator. The dreaded task of cleaning out that beastly monster. Warning to all reading: I grow more things in my refrigerator than my grandma grows in her garden.

So I finally decided to attack that foul beast and just get it over with. I figured tonight would be better than tomorrow morning. But now I realize it was a bad idea because I am will probably have nightmares from what I found. It was all going well. Nothing too bad. Some fuzz on my strawberries. Some icky, who knows what dried to the bottom of my sour cream. Even some rank smelling yogurt. All of these things I can stomach. What I found that was probably the most disturbing thing I have ever seen was in the most unexpected place.....the bottom of our Brita filter. Now mind you we haven't used that filter in months, which is probably why this growth was there. It had a little water in it that had sat for months and the filter was just long enough to sit in the water.

There are 4 little circle filter thingys. Three of them had some definite spotty mold growing on them. Or possibly mildew. Which is gross in itself, but I could handle that compared to what was on the fourth. It was a jelly like slime that covered the filter and was oozy. Sick! It gives me chills just thinking about it.

It scared me so bad that I decided to take a picture to share it with all of you! :)



Gross, huh? Anyways....I hope it's ok with you Whitney, but I threw the entire thing away. I am willing to just invest in an entirely new one....or maybe just NEVER AGAIN!

rachel and grady.....zoey too!

These are some photos I took of a friend of mine for her engagement! We had a lot of fun and some interesting experiences while taking them! :)

growing up

So you know when you have those times in your life that you are so busy and you are going and going and going and going, hardly have time to slow down and see the world around you. You actually end up running so quickly through life that it seems you lap the rotation of the earth. When all of a sudden.......you stop! And you look around and life just seems so peaceful around you. Birds are still chirping like they always use to, the wind is still a simple breeze across your skin like it always was, the new spring leaves have come in as usual. But you have changed. You don't know how, or why....but you have. The world doesn't seem the same and yet it is. All those things that you remember are still continuing on in their path and in their ways, but something has changed. It is you. Not for the bad necessarily, just changed.

Maybe you've grown a little taller, but that doesn't seem possible when you haven't grown an inch since the sixth grade. Maybe the world has gotten a little shorter, but no, that is not possible either. Has the moon shown it's dark side? Has the sun begun rising in the west? Has the grass gone blue and sky gone green? Has everything you've ever known changed? Or simply, have you just grown?

Not in stature or beauty or strength or knowledge or even in talents. You've grown in familiarity of Christ's grace. You've grown in the understanding of His love. But most of all you've grown in the desire of His overwhelming peace and comfort. And you've come to realize that though this world is your home it is not your resting place. And though you cannot have grown taller or the world have gotten shorter, you have become just that much closer to heaven and the eternity we now live for.

caspian and crowder....character of a theologian and a character who is a theologian

So yesterday evening Blake, I and a few friends went to see Prince Caspian, the next Chronicles of Narnia movie. I have to say it was a very, very good movie. Even better than the first one, in my opinion. I am going to try and not give any spoilers in this post, but I just have to tell this really cool Bible verse that I came across right after I saw the movie and how it relates.

Ok, so I have also been reading the book by David Crowder called Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi. It's a great book. He looks at like 20 of the Psalms and how they relate praise in different ways. So in the movie last night there is a point when the four kids (Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund), who were once kings and queens in Narnia, are back in Narnia and find themselves in a situation that is obvious that they will have to go to war. The Narnians against a new race the Telmarines who have invaded the land. At this point in the movie we have still not seen the mighty Aslan, who quite clearly is the representation of Christ in the story. The girls beg Peter to wait for Aslan before going to fight. Peter, however, has lost hope in Aslan and says that he is tired of waiting for him.

During this scene I couldn't help, but think about how we too do this in our own lives with Christ. We lack faith in the fact that Christ is always there by our sides. Many times we simply choose not to see Him because of our lack of faith. When I came home from the movie I read a chapter in the book before going to bed. To my surprise the Psalms of that chapter was perfect to the scene I just described in the movie. It is Psalm 74 and says in The Message:

"You walked off and left us, and never looked back.
God, how could you do that?
We're you very own sheep;
how can you stomp off in anger?

Refresh your memory of us--you bought us a long time ago.
Your most precious tribe-- you paid a good price for us!
Your very own Mount Zion-- you actually lived here once...

While your people were at worship, your enemies barged in,
brawling and scrawling graffiti.
They set fire to the porch...
They burned your holy place to the ground,
violated the place of worship...

Why don't you do something? How long are you going
to sit there with your hands folded in your lap..."

In the movie Narnia had been taken over by the Telmarines long before the children had returned. Like this Psalm all of the Narnians were angry that Aslan had not returned to help. The Telmarines had destroyed Aslan's beautiful world. I will not describe anymore of the movie so as not to give any more plot away. But I can not help but see the true evidence of God's Word in C.S. Lewis' story. A story made into a movie that will be watched by thousands, if not millions, of people around the world. Who will go purely for entertainment, but will be witnessing an allegory of the very Word of God.

beau ideal

I was helping my friend Jennifer last night make her own blog and was trying to think of good names for her blog. I love to use good ol' thesaurus.com when I am trying to think of catchy names. At one point I was looking for a synonym for "mirror". When using the word mirror like the word model they gave the definition: one that is worthy of imitation or duplication. I thought that this definition of mirror was perfect for how Christ is in our lives. We should yearn to be a duplication and an exact imitation of him in our own lives for only He is worthy!

One of the words they gave as a synonym was "beau ideal". I had never heard that term before so I thought I'd click on it to see the exact definition of that word. It said: a conception of perfect beauty; a model of excellence. I couldn't help but get excited over this word. It IS what Christ is in our own lives. He is our beau ideal.

We hear the word "beau" used often as a person that a girl is dating or in love with. In a way Christ is my beau. I am completely in love with Him and want so badly to spend my time with him. In old movies you see girls so anxious about hanging out with their beau's. They want so badly to be near them all the time. I too am anxious to be near my beau. But not just my beau, but my beau ideal.

Funny how words can take on a new meaning when you truly examine them. I decided to see if the blog name "a beau ideal" was avaliable and it was! So I went ahead and grabbed it and created the blog. Not sure what I will use that blog for, but I am sure in the future a need will arise. Maybe a wedding planning blog?! :)

cooking therapy

I have the next few days off before I have to go to class again. I am looking forward to a few days off just hanging out in Abilene....doing nothing! It's been a long time since I have had days like that. I watched the finale of the Office tonight which was hilarious. Probably one of the funniest I have seen yet. I also watched the new Lost episode. That show is such a huge contrast to the Office! :)

Today was a slightly lazy day. Went to class, worked on photos, made cupcakes and apple bread (for a friends b-day and the latter for Blake, per request). I love baking so much. It's so relaxing and just seems like one of those things in life that I can do without stress and everything usually turns out pretty good. I guess that's why it is so devastating when something doesn't turn out well while cooking. It's like that normally perfect part of life shatters. Guess it brings me back to the reality of humanity. Also, when I cut my finger or burn myself. I definitely snap out of it and come back to reality then.

I also have discovered that I really really love cooking for other people. I could never understand when people (like my grandma, mimi, mom, etc.) would say that in the past. But now I understand. I only wish I knew how to cook really fancy and exquisite meals. Guess that's why I like watching the cooking channel and Martha Steward who make it look "soooo easy"!

photo editing

very cool link to awesome photo editing package ...

also....cool place to make affordable photo books...

One last thing....really cute camera bags that are great for when you are shooting!