Fun with Friends :)

I never get to see Julie enough.

So I have to lure her out with my camera. ;)

Thanks Julie, Jason (aka Jeff!), Victor, Harrison, Sidney, and Isabel for a fun, Harry Potter-filled afternoon!!

(Click here to see more Olsen family fun!)
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"Time is making fools of us again."
-- Albus Dumbledore

Expelliarmus!

Count my lucky stars... I got to play Harry Potter yesterday. :)

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"In dreams, we enter a world that's entirely our own."
-- Albus Dumbledore

Silly. Happy. Love.

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“Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.”
-- Rose Franken

Ten Years

The years are rushing by. When I think back to when we first met, I'm amazed by the stretch of time that has passed.

Ten years.

*Shakes head in complete and utter disbelief*

This month, Chris and I are celebrating ten incredible years of togetherness.

Throughout the last decade, we've been through a lot. Numerous moves, several states, countless jobs, layoffs, career changes, family feuds, fair-weather friends, sicknesses, the death of a loved one, and struggles that have tested and tried our patience with both ourselves and each other.

Yet we're still here. Right now. Together.

We made it through everything unscathed. Because we stuck together. And we'll continue to make it through life unscathed because we have each other.

That cold November night nearly a decade ago, when Fate intervened, I had other plans. Other plans that involved someone else and another life altogether. At the time, I truly thought that I had everything figured out. Who I was. What I was doing. Where I was going...

Then I met Chris. And my world suddenly, irrevocably changed.

I'm happy to say that we're not the same people we were when we met ten years ago. Hell, we're not the same people we were a mere five years ago. (I say this with great tenderness, however, as I'll always be proud of who we were during every chapter of our lives.) The fact that we can take the negative and create from it the positive has allowed us to continually press forward with a new awareness. We're changing, growing, maturing... We're becoming not necessarily better, but bigger and perhaps more brighter, more alive, than we've ever been.

When I look back at the last ten years and all we've been through, I can't help but be grateful for every single moment - the good and the bad. And this breathless appreciation has me more excited than ever about the next ten years to come... :)

* Dorky pics of us as kids. Nerdy-cool even then... ;)

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"Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end."
-- Author Unknown

Fifty Dollars

If you had asked me about a month ago, I would have said it was a lot.

Fifty dollars.

As an unemployed college student who lives in one of the most expensive areas of the country, fifty dollars is hard to part with. In fact, it’s damn near priceless.

In America, fifty bucks doesn’t buy much. A full tank of gas, a meager bag or two of groceries, a pair of no-name jeans, a haircut, a night out at the movies…

At the Faustina Akua Dufie Preparatory School in Sayerano, Ghana, however, fifty bucks buys a lot.

Education. Hope. And a future.

The tuition for one student to attend the school for one full year is fifty dollars. That’s it. Unfortunately, it’s a price that most children in the area can’t easily afford. If they can afford it at all.

Education is something that I’m extremely passionate about. It’s something that I think all people – regardless of what country they live in – should have the right to pursue. For a child to not even have the option to attend school is absolutely heartbreaking.

If, a mere month ago, someone had asked me for fifty dollars, I would have – in the politest way possible – refused. On the grounds that I needed it way more than they did.

However, after talking to my brother and learning about the school and its story (he’s friends with the school’s director), my opinion has changed. Suddenly fifty bucks doesn’t seem like much at all.

I just sent off a check. And because of that, a little girl named Abena Sandra will get to go to school tomorrow. Beautiful, isn't it, how such a small amount can make such a big difference? :)

** There are, at the moment, approximately twenty or so hardship cases at Faustina Akua Dufie Preparatory School. If you’d like to help, please contact me and I'd be happy to pass some info your way. The donations go directly to the school for the kids - there's no middleman or company or spokesperson to pay. Also, I'm currently putting together a book list for the school (as they have none) and am looking for used/new book donations as well. I do have to specify that the shipping costs to Ghana from the US are pricey, so any donations toward postal fees are much appreciated as well!

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"An effort made for the happiness of others lifts us above ourselves."
-- Lydia M. Child

Smooth Sailing

Life isn’t always smooth sailing.

But I’ve learned that it’s possible to navigate through even the most treacherous storms if you just learn to forgive the wind and befriend the fickle tides.

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"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."
-- Henry Ford

Photo of the Day: Just Laugh

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"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."
-- Woody Allen

Beachy Keen

Cloudy with a chance of... marshmellows.

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“My life is like a stroll on the beach...as near to the edge as I can go.”
-- Thoreau

The Gemmer Family: Sneak Peek

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"Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad."
-- Author Unknown

An Apple a Day...

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"Why not upset the apple cart? If you don't the apples will rot anyway."
-- Frank A. Clark

Crazy-Slow

Life is crazy. In fact, there are a million ways in which life can dish out craziness. Crazy-busy, crazy-scary, crazy-amazing/wonderful/thrilling...

But all crazy, nonetheless.

Sometimes you just need to slow down. Slow down so you can catch up.

This is where Chris and I go to slow down. From our crazy life. It's where we sit and catch up. With our day, with each other. With ourselves.

Over the clank and clatter of silverware, we share our thoughts, discuss our dreams, and plan our future. The surrounding patrons' humming voices slowly buzz down to nothing, and before long, it's just us. Alone together. Slowing down and catching up.

Crazy-slow.

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"There is more to life than increasing its speed."
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi