down in the valley

Some days you just have to get in your car and drive towards the mountains. 

And some days you see this and hear this song and realize it's true. 

(lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways)

a simple kinda life never did me no harm

Super cool Photoshop trick that somehow never got taught to me- match color. So fun, I took the colors from another painting and it turned my farm picture into this vibrant beautiful thing. 

(please listen to this while scrolling)

i'm only good at being young

I was incredibly obsessed with John Mayer in middle and high school. I thought he was a genius and when Continuum came out I was like, "Oh my gosh. John Mayer is inside my head and has let out everything that I'm thinking." 

I was in 8th grade and that was completely false, but now that I'm graduating college I can honestly say that he has put my thoughts into words better than I ever could. So way to go JM- you're kind of an a-hole but at least you're able to express a quarter life crisis well. 

(keep me where the light is indeed)

i'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale

The other day when driving home from getting ice cream at 10:30 on a Wednesday night (as college girls do), my housemates and I were debating which Disney princesses best fit our personalities (as college girls do). We figured out most of them -- we had a Belle, a Jasmine, a Repunzel, a Merida, a Pocahontas, a Snow White, a Mulan, and a Cinderella. But we couldn't come to a decision for me. "Ariel," they said. "You're totally Ariel." 

"No, Ariel is way too dramatic."

"Plus, Laurissa is way more of an Ariel." 

I was stranded. Princessless. Nameless. Identityless. 

And then I realized it. I'm not a princess, I'm a sidekick. And that's okay. I'm a Mushu or a Pumba or a Sebastian. I'm the one who's always there to provide a bit of comic relief, but at the same time, where would the princess be without me?

So Mushu can occasionally be more of a hinderance than a help, and he wasn't even really supposed to help Mulan, but he's totally everyone's favorite character in that movie. And Pumba is a little bit gross and farts a lot, but there's no way Timon or Simba could survive without him. 

So here I am, putting it out there for all of the internet to see. I am not a princess, and I'm okay with it. 

(no worries for the rest of my days)

we drive until the city lights dissolve into a country sky

I've never hated winter as much as I do this year. 

Bring on summer and driving with the windows rolled down and never wearing shoes and sitting on the roof. 

erosion can't stop their being

Once upon a freshman year, I went on a roadtrip and discovered many unforeseen lands like a place called Farmville, and the road between Charlottesville and Farmville. And on this journey my traveling companions and I realized how perfect this song was for the drive we were on. And then I took this picture because the best thing that could describe how we were feeling in that moment with that song were these colors. 

Now whenever I hear this song, I see this picture in my mind and feel the warm saturation of the green and the mild gloom of the grey and the hope of the lightest blue. 

fall on your knees

My grandparents library is the perfect place to celebrate Christmas (as you can see in the picture). That tree has the perfect glow of warmth and the ornaments, some of which may or may not be wine glass charms because my grandma insisted on us putting them on the tree. Sheer Christmas perfection. 

It was probably my last Christmas in this place, but this room where I have spent so much of my time and read so many books will not be forgotten soon.