watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you

-ronald dahl

pretty things

he has shown people what is good.

to act justly.

to love mercy.

and to walk humbly with your god.

micah 6:8

young and hungry

SOUTH SUDAN

I rise early, of course. i always rise early. can't help myself. wander down the stairs in my pajama bottoms and bare feet to start the coffee and grab a handful of blackberries. later, once my coffee is brewed and in my eggshell colored cup, i find the way back into my cave of white cotton sheets. mary oliver to start the day, per usual. i read a poem, rip out the page and then put it in an envelope to send to my friend, sam. i know she will like it just as much as i do, hopefully more. open up my new mac, which works like a dream. check a blog or two. and then to the new york times. it is saturday morning and i am keeping my world at bay.

i found these pictures on this morning. and they moved me.

reading about south sudan and hearing their struggles sparked the thriving international studies student in me. peace is possible. peace is always possible. let's remember that.

spirit animals

i am going to stand my ground.

it's important that you....

fulton street farmers market.

everybody get your veggies.

it is very important.

the reason

the real reason why i am working on a farm is so that one day, after the winds have blown me all around the world, i can proudly own a place like this and have you all over for a dinner like this. i promise i'll do it. and you'll be invited and the food will be delicious and we will drink white wine. and listen to the national.

FOUND

these are the things we kept and the things worth keeping in the b2 apartment

a shopping list dated 1/23/2011: shelving units for the 'unmentionables', PBR, black beans, and p90x.
a sticky note that had scribbled "you have a right to your dreams" in green sharpie
a receipt for 12 shots at the new holland brewery (courtesy of leighton)
4 dollars in thai currency
the vegan soup recipe that fed us through the winter
the letter you wrote me and, of course, the one i never had the courage to send you back
ben's stein
my empty marc jacob's perfume bottle
the picture of all of us at the jonsi concert
a trader joe's receipt for 150 dollars
a chicken wind chime
one earring that will never have a match but i could never throw away
under my bed, mine and quinn's semester goals sheet (less than 20% were actually completed)
the polaroid of The Boys and The Tree
a love note from lyndi leigh
five community flannel shirts
the poem you gave me that i never read but always wished i had
20 dollars in returnables
directions to the beautiful Aspen, Colorado
an international relations midterm that was only passed because of the graces of a gracious god
107 dried tea bags collected from events such as: family tea time, a potluck and late nights

i did, he told me there was nothing i could do unless i wanted to get my heart removed. i told him i'd rather be ugly than heartless. but apparently, some people still think i'm both.

so much for nobility.

for the summer, i will be an explorer of the earth once again.

on my last day of college, i wore a red flannel.

covered in light

i spent my friday morning scrubbing falafel out of pans, emptying PBR bottles, and catching up on letters to old friends. it was raining, pouring actually, but the windows were wide open. i was all cuddled up in my favorite hand woven blanket from thailand with indian incense and candles burning. of course, a fresh pot of JP's coffee and oranges for breakfast.

i would call this an ideal friday morning for any overworked and over partied college senior.

this song was playing all morning. it is light and happy and carefree, just like my heart these days. i hope it covers you in light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKXFMdyfFgk&feature=fvsr

all my love, as always
abby leigh

the peace of wild things

When despair grows in me

and I wake in the middle of the night

at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

i go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water,

and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethoughtof grief.

I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind starswaiting for their light.

For a time I rest in the grace of the world

and am free.

a thesis fit for a senior

There I was, in India, wearing my favorite red sari, and eating some veg korma on the side of the street.While my other friends went off to get some pizza, I went off by myself for some street food.

One of the best things I found in India is color. and by color, i mean color. Being in India is like living in a rainbow. It's as if god knocked over a shelf of paint cans from the sky and now everybody is wearing magnificant purples and yellows and greens and oranges. This makes it the perfect place for people watching.

This isn't an exciting story about anything wild or crazy that happend to me while I was there. Just a memory. Me, my veg korma, and my red sari, on some street corner in India, watching people shop and chat and walk.

la vida de la biblioteca

olympic national park, Washington

In the hope college library trying to write this Spanish paper but all i can do is look at the NYtimes travel section and listen to this song on repeat.

typical.

but somebody just came up to me and gave me a krispy creme donut FOR FREE just because they felt like buying everybody in the library a donut.





cool.
and really nice.

HAPPY MID TERMS COLLEGE.

grand rapids top 7

This is winter break people. And while all my wonderful friends were busy traveling to busy places like Seattle, New York City, and Chicago I remained in the city of Grand Rapids. And ya know what? It rocked.

here's the reasons why:

1. Woke up this morning to fresh white daisies on my vanity (courtesy of the most wonderful man in the whole land, my dad)
2. Got to church in time to talk to a friend before it started and grab a cup of coffee.
3. "Country Roads" by John Denver on the radio.
4. Sparrow's Coffee and Tea shop had a new latte, the "dirty hairy." Earl Grey tea with soymilk.
5. My mother turned another year older today. We had meatloaf and donuts for dinner.
6. The new Anthro catalogue arrived to my house.
7. I am a real person now and have a resume.


here i am world.

the coffee station

a guarantee and not promise that i'll never let your love slip from my hands

peace please

burma

january days

soon and very soon
we are going to see the king
soon and very soon
we are going to see the king

no more dying there
we are going to see the king
hallelujah
hallelujah
we are going to see the king

welcome wagon

and you shall go forth again
skip about like calves
coming from their stalls at last