Reigning Down

Reigning Down
Originally uploaded by Caryn_.

I caught this sight on my way to my Bible Study tonight. The sun's rays stopped me in my tracks.

A Beautiful Quote Off Of My Venti

"The secret of attraction is to love yourself. Attractive people judge neither themselves nor others. They are open to gestures of love. They think about love, and express their love in every action. They know that love is not a mere sentiment, but the ultimate truth at the heart of the universe." -- Deepka Chopra Author of The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire and other spiritual guides.

Bridge

Bridge
Originally uploaded by Caryn_.

Some of you have already seen this one. It's one of my favorites that I have taken with my new camera.

Interesting Mistake

Interesting Mistake
Originally uploaded by Caryn_.

I thought that this was funny.

I was scanning the sky while sitting at a red light with my camera in hand, when I accidentally took a photo of my windshield. To my disbelief it turned out nice.

Sweet Convenience

Yesterday, I was thinking about all of the things that I needed to do. One of the items on my list was to buy stamps. I had a fleeting thought about how the postal service needs to make stamps more convenient for the public. It's a pain to either go to the grocery store or to the post office for stamps. Stamps are a necessity in this day and age.

Anywho, as I was rummaging through my mail. I found a miracle. My lovely town of Allen sent me my solution. The Allen post office has mail order forms for stamps. All you have to do is select the amount of stamps that you want, place a check in the handy envelope and send it off. There isn't a fee for ordering either. Genius!

I just found reason #108 why I love Allen.

A Beautiful Expression of Love

Tonight, I received a call from my mother while she was vacationing in Hawaii with my father. Their trip together is monumental for many reasons.

My mom has always wanted to go to Hawaii, but my dad prefers the dry air and rugged mountains. For years, my mother has given up her dream of a lush tropical vacation for him. My dad is a loving, giving man and out of my mothers love she never pushed a trip to Hawaii. Thinking about their relationship, I honestly don't know who I would classify as the biggest giver of the two.

The point of this story is that five years ago my mother had breast cancer. It was a scary time for my dad and for me. I try not to think about that period in time because I am very close to my mother and death was a high possibility. The cancer had spread into her lymph nodes and this heightened the severity of the cancer. As a result, she had to have chemo and radiation. There were good times during her treatment, but overall it was filled with an immense amount of concern. This time in my life changed me, it changed all of us. This year marks her fifth anniversary of being cancer free.

The fifth year is a huge landmark for cancer survivors. The percentage rate for it returning drops dramatically. As a celebration of her life, my father surprised her a couple of months ago with the gift of Hawaii. He told her that the planning was up to her and that he wanted her to pick out all the things for them to do.

Having my mother call me from Hawaii brought forth so many feelings and memories to the surface. I tend to live as if the fear of losing her to cancer never existed. I don't talk about it much and I never go into prolonged details. One may hear snippets of the experiences that I had, but I never tell the whole story.

I am thankful that she survived and that they are having a glorious evening in what she described as a movie set. My parents are dear to me. Being an only child has made them such an integral part of my life. I love them fully.

Some Quotes

I'm a subscriber to a service called "Notabable Quotables Weekly." Here are a few quotes that I thought were worthy to share.

"There are two ways to die. You can stop breathing or you can stop dreaming."

"There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of heartsbroken by love, but what really broke a heart was taking away its dream."

"We have to keep trying things we're not sure we can pull off. If we just do the things we know we can do... you don't grow as much. You gotta take those chances on making those big mistakes."- Cybill Shepherd

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."- Albert Einstein

A Facelift.

I'm giving my blog a facelift.

It's mainly going to be a gallery of sorts for my photos. I've had a lot of people request to see them.

As soon as Hello is up and running, which may be a little while, I will have them on here.

Check Out My Cousin's Article.

It looks better in print, but here is the link to NYTimes online.

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/travel/10vietfood.html?pagewanted=1&n=Top%2FFeatures%2FTravel%2FDestinations%2FAsia%2FVietnam

Ha ha ha

I was bored and this is the first quiz where I really liked the answer. Side note, I used to wear Converse shoes everywhere I went. I was thinking about buying some new ones. Craig was wearing some black ones in Arkansas and they brought back good memories. Another side note, I did listen to Mudhoney when I was 14 and I love Lou Barlow's band Sebadoh.

You're practically too cool for words. You've got more indie rock knowledge in your pinky finger than Guided By Voices has songs! You went to your first Mudhoney concert when you were 14. You knew Green Day before they sold out to the masses. You can name every side project Lou Barlow has been in, complete with all album and song titles. You throw out words like "Thurston," "lo-fi," and "Kill Rock Stars." You wear jeans, old band tees, Converse. You hang with other gurus and people you can lord over. You're intelligent, but big-headed. Passionate, but hot-tempered. You will one day rule the earth.

Getting Excited!!!

Tomorrow is the first game of the Baseball season for the Texas Rangers! Next Monday is their first home game. Oh, how I would love to be there on opening game day.

I'm so ready for my favorite sport to begin! I'm hoping that the Rangers will do just as good, if not better, than last year. I love springtime because of Baseball.

Sounds of Summer

Today at work, I had a very touching moment.

My co-worker and I got on the subject of cars and that led to a conversation about my love of driving with the windows down. I told him that I love hearing the crickets chirp in the summer as I drive at night.

He was awe struck for a moment at hearing about my love for the simple things. He was fascinated with the crickets. Then he started playing with his pen. He knew that the push pen squeaked when he clicked it. He started to barely squeeze the top down. It created the perfect chirp of a cricket. He continued to do this for me for a few min. I really don't know how long, time seemed to stand still. It was a beautiful moment. It was funny because we were both transfixed with the sound that this pen made. We were making comments such as, "This is nice" and "It's very relaxing."

The moment changed though when he lost his rhythm and the pen no longer emulated the sound of chirping crickets. It just made a squeaky sound and the magical moment was gone.