I'll give you the moon, Mary

Do you know what movie I love?

Can't guess? Then I'll tell you.

It's a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.

We watched it on Christmas night, right after watching Nathaniel Lampoons Christmas Vacation, which, no matter what anyone says, is one of the most stupid and pointless movies ever made in the history of ever! I would rather stoop to watching The Master of Disguise, also a twelve degree crapper, then have to sit through Christmas vacation. Thats saying something. Everyone is entitled to there own opinion and thats mine.

So, to put in It's a Wonderful Life was an extreme relief to my holiday infatuated mind.

It's a wonderful movie! The acting is superb and the script is genius. The message that is it's title is never cheesy or over acted, it unfolds in such a perfectly touching way. This is also due to the fabulous script.

Watch it before the holidays disappear! A perfect film! Lets face it, all the best films are in black and white!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The tea has been jolly this season!

Before I leave tomorrow to journey back to the land of California, I wish to report on the happiness that has filled me this season of christmas. Of coarse I must mention my family. They are the most delightfully amusing people in the world, or at least this side of the equator! Just listening to my grandmother chatter away about the most resent way to flush your nose out or to slow roast a turkey, my mother and uncle bantering quotes by the comedian David Sedaris, even my sister throat singing amused me, if only a tad bit.

My Uncle is a message therapist, so naturally he gave us all AMAZING back rubs!!

But also there were these wonderful things hovering about me, bringing me loverly delight:

#1- The Cirque du Soleil Viva Elvis soundtrack! I have yet to see this show but just listening to the soundtrack bestowed upon me a want to desperately see it. It's an electronic make over of some of the Kings greatest hits. Up beat yet still classic makes it rock my world and leaves me humming "and don't you step on my blue suede shoes!"
#2-The thought of reading. Regretfully, I have not been able to do any reading what-so-ever this vacation. I have been much busy making some last minuet over due presents for the grandparents to even glance at a beloved tome. So, in the car tomorrow i will attack with pleasure a wonderful book, i am amazed i haven't read it yet, The Secret Garden. I can't wait!
#3- Of coarse, Food! Grandmother is a phenomenal chef, also my Uncle and his girlfriend Calina, and my mother. I swear i have gained at least three pounds this week! I have a fat feeling around my middle, but i can not stop eating because it is all just too good!!!

Hopefully I will see my companions on New Years, so ta ta for now!!

(I was writing this in a british accent so you should read it again in a british accent :D )

Merry Christmas to one and all!

It is Christmas finally! This day has been the epitome of happiness for me for as long as i can remember. I was going to use "recall" but "remember" is such a loverly word. Being with my scattered family is such a treat! When I was little, most of the happiness orbited around the lighted tree and all the goodies hidden underneath. As I grew older, especially this year, I feel very drawn to the story of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. Wow, that sounds so cheesy. But really, in all seriousness, I want to draw attention to the baby that was born today (actually historically it was more around january or febuary i think, but thats not important.)

God is a big part of my life, I would be lost without Him. Dear Lord, this is your day! I love you and I will give you all my worship!

Also there is family. My family is so scattered about the US that we see each other only two or three times a year. It is such a treat to be around them and have special moments. I most enjoy sitting down, drawing or drinking tea and just listening to the funny conversations that happen. I am super-ly happy to be here :)

And the food!! Oh my gosh! Our family is so centered around food. I swear we all gain about five pounds every time we get together.

Well, presents are a source of great happiness as well. I would be lying if i said "Of coarse not, I am just that unselfish." So we will unwrap them today and celebrate the birth of christ!

Merry Christmas to one and to all!-Tallie Raye

On a huge not-so-side-note!! More like a huge one!

This deserves capital letters-

MY UNCLE AND HIS GIRLFRIEND ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!!

Congratulations to them! We are so happy for them and i wish them all the blessings and happiness in the world! May God bless you guys. I love you!

*(this is the third entry for today. I think I may have a problem.)

More info please!

So I just read the post below and realized that i should probably tell everyone why my family and I were on the road for two and a half days. Do you you like my correctness of grammar? I think it deserves appreciating. Anyway, since we are nearing the beloved holiday of Christmas you probably guessed; we were on our way to South Dakota to spend the holiday with our family. My mothers parents live there in a big, not huge but big, house that can hold us comfortably. We flew my fathers mother out from North Carolina and my uncle and his girlfriend flew in from Oregon. We drove... with three dogs. Read the details in the post below.

I am so excited to be here finally!! Tomorrow we are going christmas tree hunting in the stunning black hills of the sunshine state. Then some quick shopping and wrapping and decorating and drawing, all to prepare for the saviors birth! Woo-Hoo!!

A mind alive in the sky

Oh my... I am exhausted. My mother, father, sister, three dogs and I have just spent two and a half days on snowy, icy and rainy roads. It was a bit smelly and a bit hairy and after a day and a half my nerves were running a wee thin. I got snippy, Ayla got annoyed at me and mommy reprimanded me for making little remarks about my dads driving. I deserved it but being confined to a seat with dogs on two sides made me high-strung and rebellious. I took the only freedom possible that allowed for no interaction with my family: the window.

The glass was cold and the dry outlines of melted snow speckled it. Landscapes rolled by, up and down, up and down it passed through my square of vision. Not much could be seen once we got out of LA, but out there was not in the car so that was good enough for me.

The last day of driving my mind sprang open, my eyes felt hungry as I stared out my window. Lively descriptions flooded my consciousness, I had to jot them down in my journal as fast as they came. Here are some that i scribbled:

-The flat land going by has no horizon, it just stretches on to double over us in whiteness that brakes apart to show patches of scattered blue. A layer of snow blankets the countryside, it is just thin enough to show a crew-cut fuzz of dead yellow grass. Bunches of gray trees huddle pathetically in creases made between the rolling hills. Outlines of black or brown cows pass quickly by. They must be shivering with murderous thoughts of their farmer buzzing about in their heads to the beat of chewing cud. Out of the hills sprout metal skeletons that hold on nimbly to thin strings of wire that connect city to town to city. The sun peeks above the changing hills as it hovers to the left of us. It hesitates over the edge of the world, like a child hesitating over a cold pool. This is Wyomings winter land without any wonder.

-The sun has finally decided to swim below the horizon. It's round sinking silhouette can be clearly seen when looked at through gray fluffs of cloud. Rays of orange light blaze in a fan above it, dusting the white clouds higher up with rainbows. I guess Wyoming keeps it's beauty in it's sky.

I ran away to the circus!

For four years now i have been taking ariel acrobatic at a studio on Colorado Blv. I love it so! It's like dancing in the air; such a free feeling comes with it. But mostly it is hard. It tests your body in many unusual ways, I am sore all over right now from having circus class and lap swimming all in the same day. Gaah! My ribs!

We had a photo shoot a few days ago and i wanted to share. I hope you enjoy these pics :)

This is called the Iron Corset for obvious reasons. It is fine for a few seconds, then it slowly constricts your rib cage. Even so, I love this move.
I am on the Lyra in this picture. I have no idea what the move is called but it's fun!
Double foot lock splits, always pretty.
Here i am still in the Iron Corset but i wrapped the cloth around me for a dramatic effect, hee hee!
Again on the Lyra. This is one of the most painful moves I have ever done! The mettle digs into my upper thigh, i have a string of bruses there at the moment.

So, yeah. It's a challenging and amazingly fun exercise. It's a great way to express emotions in theatrical ways. My teacher is amazing, too! She just got back from doing a ob in Korea, crazy right!

Bye just felt like sharing.

This is my call, i can do nothing else

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly divided the word of truth." 2 Tim. ii. 15.

"If you cannot express yourself on any subject, struggle until you can. If you do not, someone will be poorer all the days of his life. Struggle to re-expresssome truth of God to yourself, and God will use that expression to someone else. Go through the winepress of God where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle to get expression experimentally, then there will come a time when that expression will become the very wine of strengthening to someone else; but if you say lazily-"I am not going to struggle to express this thing for myself, I will borrow what i say,"the expression will not only be of no use to you, but of no use to anyone. Try to state to yourself what you feel implicitly to be God's truth, and you give God a chance to pass it on to someone else through you.

"Always make a practice of provoking your own mind to think out what it accepts easily. Our position is not ours until we make it ours by suffering. The author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance."

That was the December 15th passage in Oswald Chambers book, My Utmost For His Highest. I got the book for 35 cents at a thrift store because I had heard of it powerfully spoken of by my friends.

This passage reached out a wrenched my soul inside me, it spoke some painful truths to me about myself, but at the same time it was relieving. Going after my passions was not to be put aside, I can run after them now without thinking i should be working on something that "really matters".

Where God calls loudest is where we should follow, it is what we should follow. I pray i will be able to hear His gentle words.

The wonders of warmths and fuzz

It's time for me to tell of the joyful little things that are making this season absolutely magical to me. I was extremely surprised by finding these little delights! I was like "Oh My Gaah!" and then fell in love with them.

#1- Fuzzy House shoes!

I have always been an adamant believer in bare feet for the house. why on earth would i wear shoes when i didn't have to? Now I know why! I bought my first pair yesterday when i had been walking around in heels shopping all day and i was in pain. I wen't to buy flip flops and found the magic of fuzz tightly packed around your feet. No more aching feet!

#2-Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans!!

I know these look like dear poops but they are the perfect combination of girly sweetness and smoky coco bitterness. Yum!

#3-Starbucks Christmas CDs!

I love christmas and christmas would not be christmas without the music. When there is no snow outside you can join in to sing Winter Wonderland and Frosty the Snow Man to help your imagination turn snowy white!

P.s. my computer went wonky on #2 and started randomly underlining the words. It was as if my computer decided it was angered at being denied the powers of speech. It decided to tick me off at by judging my writing.

Nights are long and full of young moons

I have been found.

Have you ever experienced the feeling of being found? It's wonderful and filling! Many people have been found before, but it is usually a human that finds them. I have not been found by a human. It is a book that has found me today.

I am so full of it, i can hardly think!

The Blue Castle by L.M.Montgomery.

I don't feel as though i am reading it, I am a part of it. It is as if a little portal had opened up on its pages, a moving image radiated from it. I am experiencing what the heroine is experiencing. I feel what she feels, i can do what she does!

Oh, I know who my hero is now. Valancy of The Blue Castle! Her "devil-may-care" out look on life is heavenly. Not in an immoral way at all, just the kind that frees you up to possibilities and life in general. To notice the little things in life that hold so much magic.

It is truly a perfect book.

P.S. for those who have read the Blue Castle: I am now abandoning Gilbert Blythe and have started waiting for a Barney Snaith.

J'ai eu une vision des roses dans la cuisine

I was bright and brilliant today. Life was wonderful with Trader Joe's paper bags scattered about the floor while i danced like a leaf among them! Regina Spektor was sweetly singing about love as groceries were twirled and swayed to their places in the cupboard. Holiday colored flowers were arranged with a certain gentleness and enthusiasm that lifted my spirits to great heights. These simple everyday chores turned me into shining delicate young-woman who delighted in herself and life in general. Even unloading the dish washer filled me with joy!

Why this night was special I don't know but my dear mum needed help so I dutifully filled a space of work to give her rest. This was the work described above. I read it again, it doesn't sound like work to me. I felt like i belonged in a Louisa May Alcott novel, tumbling about the kitchen with a girlish delight.

I had a vision of me in an un-known amount of years, dancing and singing in a kitchen I have yet to see, waiting for a handsome someone i don't know yet. It was a funny vision to me but still delightful and pleasing to the eyes of a romantic. I placed it in the back of my mind for me to visit on only very special occasions or in moments of weakness. If i expanded on the vision it would ruin the sweet mystery of it so i must handle it with care, it is a delicate little hope.

I hope it will not come to soon for there are many things i would like to experience before I experience that but when it does come i know i will embrace it. God knows when to bring it, His timing is perfect. I know my plans wilt before His Will so i will let Him guide me where He will.