Friday, June 24, 2011

Princess of...

Quote love: “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Princess. Crowns. Royalty. Weddings of the royal sort. William. Kate. Mia?
One of my favorite movies is The Princess Diaries. I am not sure what has always intrigued me, but I have a feeling it is the similarities I have found between the main character, Mia, and myself.
I grew up loving two movies in particular. Motocrossed, a Disney Channel Original Movie in which Andrea Carson takes her injured brother, Andrew’s, place in a motocross competition that was seen as a sport for guys (I am such a nerd for still loving this movie. It is super cheesy and I know every line and what is going to happen before it happens, but I still love it. My roommate, the doll that she is, got me this movie just because this past year because I was never able to get it on DVD.) The other movie was The Princess Diaries.
Mia Thermopolis grew up thinking she was just an ordinary girl with hopes and dreams but a huge uncertainty as to how she was going to achieve them. She “wasn’t pretty enough” for her crush, Josh, to like her. That was until she, and everyone else, found out she was a princess. Unfortunately, people wanted to be friends with Mia because of her status as Princess and heir to the Genovian throne.
No, I am not close to being royalty, but I do understand the meek Mia. She had a lack of confidence in herself and her own ability. She did not realize what she was capable of doing in the world. With the help of her grandmother and the voice of her father, she was able to realize her full potential and become Princess of Genovia because of this new strength and confidence in herself.
Many times I find myself in situations where I am afraid of what will happen because of the lack of confidence I have in myself. I forget the most important part of me: I have the Holy Spirit LIVING inside of me!
Why, then, should I be worried about anything? Why am I concerned about saying the right things? I have the Holy Spirit guiding me. I have asked Him for guidance, and though it is not easy to give up the reigns of my life, I have done so because I know that by the strength of the Holy Spirit I will be able to accomplish much more for God’s glory.

"It’s a wango?”
This life is not about me. This life is about what I can do for God and how I can serve His people!
“The Spirit is meant to lead us toward holiness. The Spirit is here with us to accomplish God’s purposes, not ours” (Forgotten God by Francis Chan pg. 93).
Whether I waltz or tango through this life, God can use me and I am confident that His plan can include both a waltz and a tango from me. If I live by His Spirit I am here to accomplish His plans for my life.
Take the life God has given you and live it to the fullest with the guidance of the Spirit. Serve with confidence that is not of you or me, but of God! Let’s wango through this life by the confidence of God!

Monday, June 6, 2011

creepy crawlies, names & last looks.

Listening to: “Electric Feel” - MGMT
The Little Things I love: Coffee dates that last hours. Catching up with old friends. Looking at journals and planners at Barnes & Noble. Dried roses with stories behind how I got them. Making my own jewelry and headbands. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup packs of 8 for ONE dollar. The summer sun. Filling up journals with memories and pictures.

Spider Kill Count of Summer 2011: Six... Seven, if you include the one I killed on my second to last day at school... at 3 AM... the one that was sitting next to me on my couch! UGH!

I hate spiders. I have been home for two weeks now and I have seen and killed (or have had my daddy kill) SIX spiders. SIX!!! 3 banana spiders, and 3 really creepy, big ones... Black furry ones with white stripes. I have no idea who let them into my house, but it wasn’t me! I do not appreciate their presence in my home.

(Note: my finger was on the inside... icky spider was on the outside.)
The one above is next to my pointer finger... it is about a centimeter and a half long! GROSS! I cannot handle spiders. I mean, the spiders in Haiti were bad. I had enough spider encounters in Haiti to last me the rest of the year. I think spiders are attracted to the people who hate them. One of the guys on my Haiti team, who hated spiders, and I had plenty of spider encounters while everyone else on our team never had to deal with them. Why us?


I mean, seriously? These bugs like those who hate them. They are like cats.
I strongly dislike cats. Most cats are selfish little brats, and I do not appreciate their sour attitudes.
Anyways, cats know the people that are allergic to them and don’t like them. They scout those people out like it’s their job. They rub their bodies against your leg as if saying “Love me!” and yet I am able to resist. Because they are rude. They are mean. They only think of their own interests. I hate cats.
And for the same reason, I hate spiders. They know the people who are afraid of them. They seek out those who are afraid of them and surprise him or her only to leave the victim peeing his or her pants, or running and screaming in fear (or doing “the spider dance,” as my friends call the jumping up and down while screaming that I do when I see a spider any bigger than half of my pinky nail).
Okay. Enough talking about spiders... Freaky little creatures...
Names.
Before college, I would hardly ever answer to my name except if it was a teacher. Everyone, including my parents, called me “Di.” I love my nickname. It can be comical at times. It never gets old hearing someone yell “Di” down a hallway and see everyone turn and look at the person trying to get my attention.
For the past year, it has been weird. People would introduce me to new people as Diana and I wouldn’t correct them because it is my name, it’s just something I’m not used to.
Now to most people (minus a few friends who I am very close to) I am Diana. I kind of wish more people called me “Di,” but I guess it is okay that they don’t since once I get into the real world I will be Diana forever.
I’ve never had anything against my name. I’ve always liked my name actually.
There is just something different about people looking you in the eye, and saying, “Hi [insert your name here]” and proceeding to ask you how you are sincerely, all the while maintaining eye contact. I don’t think I have loved my name as much as I have this past semester. I don’t think I have heard anyone say my name so genuinely in my entire life. It’s a beautiful thing. To hear your name spoken by someone who cares about you with the utmost sincerity.

Words from Elizabethtown movie
Not far off, someone gave me this look. It’s quite sad, really.
College degrees and not enough financial aid. That is how I lose people in my life these days. Luckily, I have not had to say goodbye to too many people this year. Most of them will be back at Taylor next year, leaving me nothing to worry about. But there have been a few. One from one of my newest and closest friends at Taylor. I know she isn’t coming back next year and it’s really hard to imagine life at Taylor without her craziness all the time. Parting ways with her in the DC was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I know I have an okay chance of seeing her this summer, but what if I don’t? What if we never actually see each other again in person for the rest of our lives? It’s hard. The uncertainty...
I’ve acquired a few last looks in my life. Most of them have been from friends on my first missions trip. I remember parting from each of them. Saying goodbye with hugs and tears as they made their way to their terminals to their flights. To be frank: Goodbyes suck. And they really suck when they involve last looks.
Well, all sadness aside...
Here’s to a fun filled summer. One with plenty of spider dances, star gazing, coffee dates, and hopefully a job for the girl who wants to continue to go to school in the cornfields of Indiana. :]
“‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.’” -1 Chronicles 32:7-8

a girl who reads.


Date A Girl Who Reads 
by Rosemarie Urquico
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
A girl who reads is probably a girl who writes . . . a lot. How else do writers get inspiration? I mean, there is much in life to get inspiration from, but there is a whole new world in books. How else do writers take a break and get lost in something other than their work. They read. Well . . . I do.
I have hated not being able to read books for pleasure this year. I am glad I got some pretty good books for book reviews, but I am also glad to have the summer to allow myself to be wrapped up in a good book, drinking plenty of coffee, and blocking out the rest of the world.
Summer Reading List:
*A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers
*Paperdoll by Natalie Lloyd
*When God Writes Your Love Story by Eric & Leslie Ludy
*[The controversial] Love Wins by Rob Bell
*The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
And if I have time...
*Maybe Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights again. :]
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