1. nature’s fury

    I can’t imagine walking outside to see my home and neighborhood in shambles. Walking the streets looking for loved ones. Surviving nature’s fury. Wandering around for help. Looking at my cell phone clenched in my hands watching the battery slowly fade. Searching for understanding, pondering next steps, waiting for normalcy. Listening to the sirens, the shouts, the cries. Panicking in desperate attempts to figure out what to do. Shaking in fear, carried by adrenaline. Praying. Hoping. Waiting…

    If you’re able to help, by monetary donations or by sending supplies, please do. These lives have been turned upside down for lord knows how long. May their faith sustain them. May we help them. 

    Life will continue to be a gamble. It will continue to be uncertain; calm one minute, in disarray the next. That is its existence. To be undetermined, to not be defined. It will act according to its nature. We are along for the ride. From one wave to the next we go. Holding on and riding them as best we can. 

  2. Brooks and his aunts! @katiegaebler @kelseyy_renee

    Brooks and his aunts! @katiegaebler @kelseyy_renee

  3. measly $40

    This week has been crazy at work. Not as much for me as it has for other people, but crazy is in the air and it makes the environment unsettling. I’m trying my best to be positive and thankful for having a job, a job that doesn’t work me 14 hour days or pay me $40 a month. I’ve been reading about the factory collapse in Bangladesh a few weeks ago and the extremely poor working conditions these people endure to make a measly $40 a month. I read the account of a young woman who was rescued in the rubble after being buried for 16 days. The working conditions of these factory workers are despicable: 12+ hour days, sexual harassment, not being allowed to go to the bathroom or take breaks, no paid time off, being cramped in small rooms with little air conditioning, etc. (read one account here). And here I am in a first-world country receiving a good salary, healthcare, retirement and paid time off. I have no room for complaints. Even the worst day at work cannot come close to one hour in the working conditions of these Bangladesh workers. This is what I keep reminding myself when I want to complain and whine, when my first-world attitude gets in the way of being grateful and aware of my fortunate circumstances. I don’t even know an ounce of the struggle these people experience every minute of every day. It’s sad. And the worst part is…even with rallies and investigations, these factories will remain open and most likely carry on business as usual. 

  4. Smacksun

    If I got paid to be a sun-lover, I’d be a million times richer than Bill Gates. He’d be my maid. Seriously. I had to peel my legs off the seat outside to come back in from my non-smoking break. People are complaining about the 90 degree temps. I LOVE them and would sit out there in 110 degree temps, I just can’t get enough! I’m a sun and heat addict. It’s my crack, heroine and smack (I don’t know what that is but heard it somewhere) all rolled into one; except it doesn’t ruin my life nor make me crazy. Well, crazy I am, but that’s just natural crazy that comes free of charge. I don’t need a substance to bring that out. I am a completely different person in the summer than I am in the winter. I come alive and grow like the trees and plants who lose all their color and spirit in the winter. We’re like, take that b***chs, we’re growin’ now!

  5. sweet sounds

    One of my absolute favorites in life? The sweet sounds of laughter by the ones I love. The deep laughs where they can’t catch their breath or have tears running down their face. Their smile growing bigger and bigger until it’s lighting the room. When I get to witness these sweet, sweet sounds of life I could die in pure bliss knowing I witnessed everything worthwhile. 

  6. "Don’t save something for a special occasion. Every day of your life is a special occasion."
    Thomas S. Monson   (via thatkindofwoman)
  7. "My habits don’t need to remain locked in place forever. They can grow and change as long as they are still serving the greater plan – the overall intention – for that area of my life."
    Jess Lively 

  8. weathering

    heavy, loooong drip
    swinging from the gushing rapids
    diamonds found not in the ruff, but in her pocket
    stolen from a place marked off by visitors
    she busted through the window that he had already gently opened
    leaving us exposed to the harshness of weathering
    we disintegrated into smithereens
    too far away to hold, guess we’ll let it go 
    the unspoken words loud and clear
    beating it over and over expecting a rose -
    wilted and dried out, it’s dead. 
     

  9. "There’s something about that recovery process that feels so good. If nothing ever broke, you’d never know the thrill of fixing it. If you never made mistakes, you’d never learn from them. And if you never experienced the pang of a little emptiness from time to time, you’d never know the satisfaction of being filled back up. Or maybe that’s just the silver linings talking."
    Kelle Hampton | Enjoying the Small Things 
  10. "Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness."
    Yousuf Karsh (via rainydaysandblankets)

About me

A writer with a love for pretty things. "Let it be..."

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