Anyway by Kent M. Keith

this is a poem a friend sent to me.
it might not be the best "literature" but it meant a lot to me.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; 

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

old soul song

and all the way home you held your camera like a Bible,
just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth.

loneliness | solitude

loneliness and solitude are two things not to get confused

because i spend my solitude with You

note to self:

He will never leave.

you are never alone.

don't you dare forget that.

to be vulnerable.

one of my friends wrote an encouragement note to me earlier this year that said "sometimes the most vulnerable parts of us are the most beautiful parts of us."

I had no idea what that meant and why he wrote that when I read that note at first.

but it's hit me that I am so afraid of being vulnerable. I'm afraid of these deeper conversations, of these deeper friendships.

I'm not sure why. it's not that I'm particularly quiet; it's more that I'm quick to laugh, quick to talk about things that don't matter at much. but when it comes to anything deeper, I close off immediately.

there is a definite difference between being quiet and being introverted.

even though I am so introverted, I still need an outlet. writing, photography, and God have been so much more to me this summer than ever before. I have been so afraid to share these with people that I know in real life-I'd so much rather hide behind a screen of red, green, and blue dots.

and what's wrong with hiding behind these colors?

I'm still connecting with people. there are so many people out there that inspire me and bring my spirits up that I've never met in real life. that in some cases, I've never really interacted with - it's just their work speaking to me in ways that are so, so powerful.

I have a question, though.

what is the point of being vulnerable? what is the point of connecting with others? why is this so hard - and why should I care?

eight:twenty-one

i love wegmans.

you probably have no idea how much.

it is this amazing grocery store near me. the one where these photos were taken is one of my favorite places to be. now you might think "what a loser, she loves a grocery store... who hangs out at grocery stores?"

everyone in this town does. at least, i don't think i've met someone from around here yet who doesn't love wegmans.

anyways... it's photo-spamming time!

eight:twenty

along with visiting canadice lake, I went out to dinner with my family and took a walk around the city. the lake was absolutely gorgeous and I hope to go back soon to take some portraits - it is such a perfect location for photos. I might have to go back by myself with just my camera and the tripod sometime too; I am so self-conscious while taking self-portraits. it's awful. 

but here are a few photos from the day!

the coolest music store i've been to in a while. not that i go to cool music stores on a regular basis... i love amazon.

canadice lake.

Canadice Lake is an absolutely beautiful lake that is one of the reservoirs for Rochester, NY. since it is a major water source, no developments except for government ones are allowed to be constructed in the park. no swimming, camping, or boating is allowed except for fishing (and only then with a government permit). because it has been so preserved, this lake has almost no lingering effects from humans (litter, dirty water, etc.) and is a great getaway.

here are some photos from the lake... (click to view larger)

eight:nineteen

went to Colie's and Forever 21 with carley, christine, and jess!
Forever 21 workers have told me not to take photos in their store before, but they didn't say anything about the iPhone... and it's not like i would be copying anything in their store anyways. haha.

the first two shots are taken with the iPhone and edited with the Instagram app. the last is an attempt at faking Instagram colors.

92{100}

edit 1

edit 2

sooc

just a quick before and after! all I used to edit these tones were curves and a bit of desaturation :)

eight:eighteen

abbott's frozen custard with the fam :)

playing with color balance

eight:seventeen

geocaching and ice cream with jess and jessie! :)

making faces at some bees...

we found some creepy bones in the park while geocaching...

 we also found this guy! 

we finally find a cache with a stash ;)

bill wahl's for ice cream

eight:sixteen

went to borders with my sister to take advantage of their sale.
they said i wasn't allowed to take photos but i had never had issues there before...