on tuesday one of my best friends turned twenty-two.  i could tell you all about how beautiful she lives and how much of a gift her life is, ooorrrr you could watch this video and see how well she loves and how well se lives.  the lives that are impacted around her are evidence of Christ within her and it's beautiful.

nou renmen ou, coral <3

(why yes, i did google translate that :))

// because my professor said "no class" and i said "it's time for an adventure!" (:

today, i was inspired by the daily, ordinary, rainy.
we live in a beautiful world.


i am learning so much to stop and look around and see these days.

moves me every time.  i come back to it every time i need inspiration.  that song!  i just love it!

sorry to have been gone so long, friends!  i'll be back soon.  but my gramma's birthday is today and i just couldn't let the day pass without honoring a very special woman.  this photo above ^^ with my pretty gramma is probably one of my very favorite pictures in the world.  i've always held gramma especially close to my heart.  i wish every single person could know her.  truly a neat lady.

she's so sassy and makes me laugh all the time! and she calls me lexi and makes me proud to have my quirks compared to hers (like crazy bed-head and our love for milk and learning about world war II).  but those days when her and grampa visit our house to have coffee and visit are my favorite times.

at christmas this year, dad worked on a little video project with our family, and took each person aside and asked them to share their highs and lows for the year 2013, as well as where they saw themselves in the next five years.  this little clip below is my gramma's response to these questions.  it makes me laugh so much and just miss her so darn much! (she's in arizona right now) but if every person can't know my gramma, at least they can see a little bit of her sassiness (:  haha, i especially love when she says "and a refridgerator for my dip" and when she sings! oh she's my favorite!  so much love in my heart for this person.

xoxo gramma! i love you...
happy birthday!

sometimes i just get the itch to document life and friends and the little things that happen!  it's my joy!  like tonight, when my friends and i found ourselves making music together at a local coffee shop's open mic night.  that place is so homey and these people are like family.  ..and gosh, they're oh-so talented! 

hey, if you're in the eau claire area, come by next time!  there's always room for ya at cafe 420!
where there's wood floors, cheap coffee, talented friends, and a seat for YOU!

oh for the love! (:

my favorite part is at 1:10 (: ... wait, 2:10 too!  wait, 2:53!  oh wait, the whole thing!

these videos are my favorite thing to make!  i absolutely love being able to show you all these people who are so special to me, and the unique ways they bring beauty to the world and to celebrate the great JOY it is to be ALIVE!

this one is documenting becca on her twenty-first birthday, and my idea behind it is to show you how she creates and how she loves and how she is always inviting into adventure!  i dearly love becca and thank God for the gift of twenty-one years of her being on this earth, creating and loving like she does!






** & please keep in mind that the focus in these videos that i've been making is on celebration, love and light and laughter, which i think requires one to recognize going in that this is only one part of life, the sunny side, but that life and friendships are not perfect and hard things happen too!  i just never want to give you all a false impression of how life is, so please keep that in mind! **

i have this friend.  her name is holland.  not helen, not the place in the netherlands... holland.  she says 'zoombazoo' and is fluent in both english and spanish and she wears farm shirts and she makes everywhere she goes a home and she believes in humans and loves the rain even though she is like sun and she loves big, wide, and deep.  and it just makes sense that she would be born on valentine's day, because being with her is like getting hit over the head with a valentine all the time! (:  she notices and creates beauty everywhere she goes, because she herself is beautiful in a way that could only mean Jesus is inside of her. 

and yesterday, i got to not only celebrate LOVE on that favorite holiday of mine (besides christmas, and probably easter... okay, it's not my very favorite holiday, but it's up there! :)) but i also got to celebrate LIFE and beautiful living with some of my very favorite people!  holland turned twenty and that means we blindfolded her right up and took her on various surprises, and then to her final destination: a cozy sleepover!  she is one who sure lives life beautifully, and is most special to me!  so this day was JOY.




& i'm trying to get my foot in the door a little more with videography, so sorry not sorry for the quality (: i'll get better, promise!  but for now, hope you enjoy!


p.s. a little disclaimer: that is sparkling juice at the end.. not alcohol (notice the zoom in :)) ha

life is indeed worth celebrating.  thanks, Jesus, for holland and for life and love to the full.