my room with a view.

(via tomeitslikebreathing)

"I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now.”

-Thoreau

Always,

Mg

who said anything about safe?

Spending my friday afternoon at High Point Coffee, or what I still seem to find myself referring to as “Uptown.” This is a place I tend to frequent-to the point where I usually don’t even have to tell them my complicated nonfat-sugar free-hazelnut-cappuccino order when I get to the front of the line. They already have it ready. There’s something so sweet about familiarity. I think that’s what I love this place.

But today I’m just drinking the dark roast in a mug, doing my quiet time and reading old journals. (For those of you who don’t know, my life is documented in journals dating back to 8 years ago. Reading through them is probably my favorite past time). But flipping through, I keep coming across a C.S. Lewis quote from his most famous, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I have copied it down over and over and over, and I just can’t help but share. Hope that you find as much peace in it as I do.

“Is – is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”

Happy Weekend.

Always,

Mg

Merry Monday!

feelin’ sa good today

monday.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately reflecting on the true meaning of gratefulness, and in so doing I’ve become dreadfully aware of how much I’m lacking in this department. So, instead of devoting this blog to the fact that it’s Monday, I have a final this week, I’m extremely exhausted, and I have to get up at 5:45 in the morning, I’ve decided to take a moment to focus on the positive:

1. this is my very last week of undergrad. hallelujah.

2. I finally got a trip to New York in the works to visit beesy in August, which might include a night on Broadway to see WICKED ((my dream)).

3. I had the greatest weekend in Baton Rouge for Rachel and Brian’s engagement party.

4. my 19 month old nephew told me he loved me over the phone today.

5. Rach got back from Baton Rouge today, which means she’s back until the wedding. I get to live with her, love on her, laugh with her, drink wine with her, curl up on the couch with her, go on walks with her, plan a wedding with her, and the like until August 14th--sweet blessing.

6. I’m currently sitting in my living room with Kat and Marilyn, impatiently awaiting Men Tell All, eating a dinner I cooked myself (believe it or not), and just realized that I’ve completely forgotten it’s Monday.

Always,

Mg

black n’ white

((i’ve never really been a cat person, but this looks kind of cool)

random thought.

all pictures via audreyhepburncomplex

Always,

Mg

readyfortheweekend

Hey Friday, hurry up.

Always,

Mg

So I must admit that today is a day for lazy, as I am recovering from a weekend in Destin where myself and 15 of my best friends celebrated the upcoming marriage of this sweet thing-(read her blog, you’ll fall in love).

After another sweet reunion with the girls that have made the past 4 years the sweetest, most memorable years of my life, I can’t help but sit back and reflect on what it means to be a part of something so precious, something that Ainsley so perfectly defined as community.

It’s definitely safe to say that I have been blessed with a tight knit group of friends that have loved each other so well. We accept each other’s faults, strengthen each other’s weaknesses, and encourage each other’s personal and spiritual growth. And by learning how to love these girls, I have come to understand the importance of people.

community: affinity, identity, kinship, likeness, sameship

We choose our friends. We just do. Put me in a room with 1,000 people and the first thing I’m going to do is find someone to talk to, laugh with, relate to. I used to believe that friendship was all about sharing the same style, liking the same music, laughing at the same jokes. Being a friend was essentially all about being the same.

But sitting here today, reflecting on what has been and learning how to adapt to the change that is and is to come, God is so sweetly and lovingly revealing to me how incredibly confused I’ve been (this happens often). Because as I looked around at all my friends this weekend, I was blown away by how different we all are. Everything from our hair color to our goals and dreams. Our freshman year, we tried to do everything the same. Now, here we are, on the other side, and suddenly it dawns upon us--we’re women.

We’re pursuing different careers, confidently flaunting different styles of shoes and clothing, arguing different political views, flourishing in our different personalities. I’m not a 10 year old girl anymore calling my friends to plan our exactly-the-same-limited-too-outfits for the week. I’m unique and different and sometimes, a little weird. I’m my own person, and so are they.

We don’t love each other because we are all exactly alike; instead, we love each other because we’re all so different.

The best part, however, is that we love each other the same.

So I’m back in Oxford for another year, excited about sharing a fifth year with the friends I will have with me and anxious to share this experience with new people I have yet to meet or failed, in my selfishness, to reach out to. I’m craving the differences and likeness in love that community brings, and am so sorry in my heart for anytime that I’ve been too busy, head-in-the-clouds, spaced out, a little too preoccupied; for the times I’ve withdrawn the smile, refused the hand, ignored the introduction, or forgotten the laugh.

With that said, here’s to YOU, my friends, both present and future.

Thank you for being EXACTLY who you are.

Always,

Mg

free as we’ll ever be.

DC for the 4th of July

hope yours was as happy as mine!

Always,

Mg