As the Marshmellows Melt, So Does My Heart :)

She sits on her bed, a worn copy of Wuthering Heights before her, a mug of hot cocoa in her hand. The weather outside is dull and gloomy, but that doesn't matter to her, it simply help enclose her in literary world, with chocolate hints on the side. The cocoa burns her lips, but she sips on, rivited and slightly horrified as she reads the harrowing tale. The ever lost love of Catherine and Heathcliff, the torments Nelly has to endure, the awkward situation of the second Catherine is forced into Heathcliff's house as her father lies dying.
Its a tragic tale.

She looks up, blinking slowly, adjusting to reality. She's learned alot about life and love this year. She can hear the distant sound of the familiar christmas cd's playing on the stereo outside her room.
Yes. She's learned alot. Like love isn't something you can chase and then find, demand to fit your needs, or or even predict. Love something stronger, deeper, greater, like a river that can't stop flowing, the sun that can't stop shining. Not like the rainstorms that pound furiously then leave, a mere trace of a cloud left as a memory all that it leaves behind. True love does not leave, or falter.

Through the storms it grows stronger. It can be a rushing tide, or a small stream, flowing into harsh dry places, a balm to all the hurts in the world.
Love isn't confined to or by romance.
Can love be something that produces terror, such as in Heathcliff/ Are his mad rages really produced by thwarted love? Or simply his putting that love on too high a pedestel, making it the tyrant god that rules him?
True possesors of true love cannot love one then passionately hate another.

True love sees and loves all, though not all are deserving.
True love speaks the kind words and the honest ones, the words that are difficult to say, but must be said.
True love is the embrace that comforts the heartbroken, the punishment that help children know right and wrong, the smile that cheers the lonely soul.
True love can't be captured, but it can roost in a nest, the hearts of those who aspire to love others with a true love.
This all comes to her as she drinks in the sweetness of the holiday, within her mug, and everywhere around her. There is a warmth that comes with christmas, a special glow that just makes her feel good inside, like she's wrapped in a fuzzy blanket in front of a fire, while the world outside is cold, she is warm.
Maybe the warmth is love. The love from her family, from her friends, and from the God that came down to earth to give his life for love.
Yes. That's it.

Its really love that makes Christmas so wonderful. Its love that that makes anything wonderful. True love.
The chocolate leaves a mustache. She looks down at the pages. Catherine and Heathcliff got it wrong.
Love isn't something that'll burn you up or destroy you.
Love sustains you, its the backbone that holds up our lives.
She leans back and stares and the gray solemn sky outside.
"I'm glad,"
she whispers,
"Glad they're wrong."

Have a wonderful week, and tell me what you think of this story-like way of posting :)
love,
Ariana

The Camera Clicks and I Smile :)

Leaf hearts...I love finding heart in nature!! The next pictures have absolutely nothing to do with these...I but I loved taking and editing them!

These were taken when I went to the beach with my grandparents...It was a gorgeous day.

There were jellyfish all over the beach that day...blue and green colored ones.

I loved these three seagulls lined up in a row...and the one that's staring cheekily at the camera, pretty adorable, I must say :)

This weekend has been super hard, but I'm glad to say I've bounced back, and pretty much everything is back to normal! Sorry, today will be super short post, but I have math to correct and piano to practice!

Adios girlies!

Ari :)

All my love, and God's blessings, Ari <3

Hola mi lovelies!! Did you all have an amaaaazing thanksgiving? I sure did! My granparents were here and it was just a wonderful time to relax, eat, and spend time with the family! Well, the holiday has come and gone, but I still have pictures from the times we spent with our grandparents and the places we went...and that's what I wanted to focus on as far as photos today!!
The spot--Fort Pickens, down by the beach.
The company--My mom, dad, grandparents, and sister. And ME of course, grasping my camera the entire time!!

That's my grandmother and my mom, in the arches of the old fort.

That fort was really beautiful, there was something so majestic about it. It just seemed as if the old and cracked walls were just full of memories. I wonder what stories those stones could tell, of battles and bravery, tales untold?

This jail door especially made me think. What prisoners of war were once kept there? What broken and battered men were once held behind these bars?

And yet, among the stones, green was still growing everywhere.

I loved the door...with in a door...within a door..

Oh yeah. and there cannons everywhere.

All along the walls and turrets...

Me, my Dad, and my grandpa with his funky hat and sunglasses :)

My Grandma...looking beautiful :)

Well, I actually have to go now, dinner awaits and I'm starving! Enjoy the pictures, the little slice into our American history.

Ari :)

The Day devoted to Gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving all!!
Yep, it's that day, one of the days out of the year where the whole nation gives thanks for the wonderful blessing they have recieved. And we as christians can be doubly thankful, because we actually know whom we are thanking, the wonderful Almight God of the universe, who made everything, who gives and takes away!! How amazing is He?
I have so much to be thankful for, I can't even list it all, but I think the thing I am most thankful for is love.
The love from my Heavenly Father, the love from my family, the love from my friends, the love from my church, the very fact that something as wonderful as love exists...that's what I'm most thankful for.
What about you?
So in keeping with holiday, I will try to love as Jesus loved--and do it everyday, just as He did. It DEFINITELY won't be easy for an imperfect being like me, but He gave his all for me, and so must I for him.
So enjoy the holiday!! Give thanks for what you have given, love those around you, and remember that this holiday only serves as a reminder...that this is what we should be doing everyday!!
And now some fall leaves...nothing reminds me of thanksgiving and autumn like fall leaves :)

I LOVE this one :)

So there you have it!! Enjoy the holiday..and remember the reason for the holiday in the first place..

GIVING THANKS!!

(the turkey is good too)

:)

Ari

Anchored by Trust in Love's Stormy Waters.

Hi girls!! Once again, I apologize for taking days to post again...as I have said before (and probably will have to keep saying) is life is busy...and because of that I'm having a hard time settling down enough to take pictures, or think of a truly interesting topic for the blog. My grandparents are in town, and its just been crazy, so please bear with me!! There's nothing really I can do about it..when I do have some snatches of Internet time I find myself on facebook, trying to stay connected with my friends, I will try harder to get some posts in, but its going to be tight this holiday season. sorry! Hope these posts haven't been too brief, boring, mundane, etc...
So. What I wanted to talk about is relationships, because that seems to be a pretty large force in my life lately. I am not in a relationship (yet), but there are a couple guys that have caught my interest, and I've just been pondering relationships lately. These days, a relationship seems to be a risky thing to be in. I've had so many friends who are so happy with a guy, then all of a sudden the guy just drops it, and they are left broken hearted. Love seems so cruel, and yet it something everybody strives for. I don't know one girl or guy that doesn't want to be loved by the opposite sex. Its natural, and something that is very hard to stifle.
It makes me wonder that maybe that's why so many relationships end badly, because either one person or the other gives their heart away before they know all the facts about the person.
I have always been an advocate of being friends with guys first, then moving on, but it can be very awkward to move on once a friendship is established. One always wonders if the other person really likes them, if their just being friendly, and then they get scared out their wits to actually do anything in the romantic direction.
That's the situation I'm in. I'm good friends with this guy, really connect with him and have a good time talking to him, we seem so alike on so many different levels, but how do I KNOW if that guy likes me?
Nearly every girl I know has had this problem at least once, they don't want to be overaggressive and pushy, but they simply don't know how the guy really feels!
Well...I've got a solution..or at least the solution that has been working for me, and its the solution that works not only in relationships, but in all facets of life.
TRUST GOD. Let HIM  lead you, because if he isn't, the relationship WILL go wrong.
"But Ari!!" you moan, "That's what everyone tells me. Just trust God!! But what if God isn't telling what to do? What if the guy I like has really liked me all along and was too scared to tell me?"
I know, I know. I've been there and asked those same questions. But I find that God doesn't very often actually TELL you what to do, except through his word. And do you know what his word says?

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future.." Jeremiah 29:11
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." Ephesians 5:22

His word says that HE has a plan, and you can absolutely trust and rely on that plan. It also says that girls should not take it upon themselves to try to start or run a relationship. I know it doesn't sound very modern or independent, but something inside me rebels at the thought of asking a guy out. It makes me wonder "If this guy didn't have enough backbone to ask me out, do I want to be with him?"
So I would say that even if the guy is being vague ad unclear, I don't thinks its our jobs as girls to clarify the relationship. If that guy is truly the guy for me, he will ask me out, in the time that God has planned him too. In the mean time, my job is to maintain the friendship relationship, so even if a romantic relationship never happens, you still will have a wonderful friendship.
It almost sounds too easy, I know. But I do believe that is how God designed relationships to be. Anchored by trust in Him at every level.
Now, I know that it doesn't help with the natural desire to find out if the guy you like likes you, or the impatience for something FINALLY to happen. I know. I am in that spot right now. But I am trying to lay all my cares and burdens on the Lord, because only he knows how this chapter of my life will end. He knows the story of my whole life, and I will not dare to think that I could end it better than he could.
Trust me, if you try to rewrite the plan God has for you, his plan won't change, but he'll have a harder time straightening you out so the plan can come into fruition. The way I see it is that if I try and interfere and do relationships MY way...who knows what wonderful things in God's plan I am missing or delaying?
I prefer to walk with God, and let him show me his plan, just as he intended it.
So don't let "love" or confusing guys get you down--God's got you and he always will.
Love you girls!
Ari

The simple is profound.

It's a calm Sunday afternoon, and I'm surrounded by people I love. It's a very secure and comfortable feeling.

i just recently read a blog that really inspired me, it showed simple enough photos, with a calm and almost morose air, with simple phrases that brought out the meaning in the photo. Not big or flashy, nothing to detract from the actual photo, just to define it.

I don't think my pictures are half as good as the ones that inspired their creation...but I think that just a few words can really make more of an impact that words covering the whole picture. It causes reflection and inspiration, but also leaves room to appreciate the photo itself.

I hope you guys enjoy the technique!

Enjoy the rest of your sunday!

Love,

Ari

No More Ordinary

It's another beautiful fall-almost winter day, and I spent it at the beach!
Unfortunately my camera was out of batteries so I couldn't take any pictures, but my amazing grandparents from Germany are in town, so we'll be going back again before they leave.
I really do love my grandparents, my grandfather is hilarious and teases me ALL the time, and my grandmother is amazing, i can talk to her about everything. So I am SUPER excited they are in town, and I will be busy...so yes...unfortunately that means even less postage than normal. Agh. I'm sorry, but it truly can't be helped!
Here are some edited photos to console you--

Enjoy! Sorry that I'm so busy...i'll post when i can! Love u guys!

Ari

Featherweight

Hi girls!
How has your week been?
I've been wading through schoolwork and friends, the usual ups and downs of highschool life, and somehow, have become slightly drained throughout the process. Usually I am completely bubbling with enthusiam and giggliness, and thus fill my blog with it, but this week I feel more like a lake than a creek. Lakes are slow, quiet, and beautiful, and reflect the sky above. Creeks are loud and burbling and rushing along like no tomorrow, no time to reflect the clouds in the sky.
We all go through phases..I suppose this is my lake phase :)
The phase is probably helped by the weather outside, it is like my mood, slow, slightly warm, and mellow. Warm you ask? Yes...*sigh* warm. You see in Florida, the weather has no notion of actually cooling down before January. It is rather pathetic, and I am still holding out hope for a cold Christmas, because warm Christmas' are just ghastly!
In any case, fear not, this shall not be a photoless post. I found a lovely feather the other day just on our front porch and amused myself by taking pictures of it.

As you can see, different edits cause different lighting. I liked the way the feather fanned out in a rather dramatic way, it wasn't so harshly sleek like some other feathers, but all downy and wispy.

This one is rather blurry, and I apologise, but I loved the way the light caught on those few strands that blew out in the wind.

And so as to not bore you with endless feather pictures, I'll include another one I edited and am rather fond of .

I love how the edit on this photo turned out...mainly because for some reason, it seems to me like a Jack Johnson song, only in photo form. That probably sounds wierd, but Jack Johnson is one of my favorite musicians because his music is quiet and simple and peaceful, yet it makes you enjoy life just a little bit more than you did before. It brings out the shades and thoughts and abstract words that you never saw before. This photo was just a picture of a powerline structure, but if you think of the currents zapping along inside, filled with endless thoughts and words, like a canal of articulation...well, it's just like a Jack Johnson song.

Then again, I do love to look beyond the first glance of things, to see beyond shapes and hard forms, into the feelings behind, the emotions of the experience rather than the experience itself.

Emotions, and thoughts aren't usually just words, like a script in your head.

They are blurry outlines of pictures, colors, cold or warmth, a fragment of a song, a memory of a smile. Emotions stay with you for a while too. Two weeks after you experience something you probably won't be able to remember the strict details, what you were wearing, the scenery, even the exact words that were said, but you'll remember the emotions you felt there, especially if they were intense.

These things fascinate me. There is so much going on behind people's faces, so much emotion that no one but them will ever see...its a mystery.

Its my dream though, to be able to capture and describe emotions, and not force them into a mold like "excited, or sad" but show them as they really are, as elusive as they are.

Well, that's my little tidbit today. Keep dreaming girls!

                                              All my love, and God's blessings, Ari <3              

Cobalt Skies...

Hey girls!
Well, the SAT is over and done with, and it went well! I finished every section with time to spare, the essay went well, and overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out. I studied hard, worked hard, and it turned out great! I was getting rather tired of looking at this guy all the time though--

That's right...my calculator. I was studying my brains out for those math section, and was seeing to much of that guy for my own comfort! But its all over with, so thats great :)

Sorry if I sound wierd, I'm kinda stressed out about some things going on in my life...just some personal stuff that I'm having a wierd time dealing with so bear with me!

I took some more photos yesterday...I was out on a fall walk, the air is finally cool here and it was so beautiful outside, with the sun all golden like it gets in the fall. Anyways, some photos are from that walk, and others are just photos I wanted to show you guys. Enjoy!

I love happy little flowers. I love how Florida still has flowers in November!! How cool is that?

But don't think that Florida has NO hints of Fall..its the little details of this season that touch me so much.

Like a beautiful red leaf lying in the cold water...its so expressive of everything I love about this season.

Its not only the vivid of the leaves, but also the pale and dry, but beautiful.

Like these dried grasses. Technically they are dead, but they seem so gorgeous to me. They represent what fall is..a great prelude to a new beginning.

These walks refresh me so much. I can get my thoughts in order, talk to God, and the way my crazy life is going, these walks help me keep my sanity! I feel so much pressure from all sides, to be the perfect girl, skinny with clear skin and perfect hair, to have the best grades, to have the best blog, to to be the most athletic and talented...but out there I can escape, and just walk and be ME.

It rained like crazy the other day, so our creek was really full!

Notice how red the earth is? Now THAT is southern clay...its everywhere and extremely hard to get out of clothes. Not that i've spatter my self with it or anything...haha

Just look at that adorable little daisy! It makes my heart smile :)

Just look at how beautiful that is! I feel so privilaged that I am placed a world where there is such beauty, that can provide such peace and solace, because it remind me of my wonderful, Almight Creator, who formed everything.

I loved the angle on this.

That's all the pictures I have the energy to post tonight. I hope you liked them...and I wouldn't mind some prayer guys. Its kind of touch for me right now, I have to juggle a million different things, plus figure out a matter of the heart, if you know what I mean. So your prayer and your patience is greatly appreciated.

Love,

Ari