Frightened of This Thing That I've Become

Day 20. A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel. This may sound silly but right before I traveled to Italy with my brothers and grandparents, I watched a Disney film called "A Far Off Place" about a girl who lives in Africa, a snobby city-boy visitor and a native African friend who are abandoned when their families are killed by poachers. I was completely taken in by the scenery and the idea of traveling in Africa to feel that sense of freedom and life that is so evident in the rhythm of their music and nature. Combine that experience with the fact that I love Toto's "Africa", which served as my personal theme song during the Italy trip, and I devised this plan in which it became one of my goals and hopes in life to go to South Africa and climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Only time and God's will can tell if I shall ever recognize this dream, but it's a pretty cool idea if you ask me. I'm still looking for the person who is willing to embark on such adventure with me.

"I hear the drums echoing tonight

But he hears only whispers of some quiet conversation

He's coming in 12:30 flight

The moonlight wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation

I stopped an old man along the way

Hoping to find some old, forgotten words or ancient melodies

He turned to me as if to say, 'Hurry girl, it's waiting there for you'

It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you

There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do

I bless the rains down in Africa

Gonna take some time to do the things we never have"

("Africa", Toto)

Winter Winds

Day 19. A picture and a letter.

I knew that I would use this picture for today as soon as I saw the description. This is probably one of my favorite pictures ever and I took it with a crummy little digital camera!

Story: I was taking pictures of things that looked like letters so I could spell out the names of my family members and frame the pictures to give as Christmas presents this past year. (I had no clue that apparently this was a seasonal hot item as Oprah had featured a similar idea on her show.) I got the idea from the Alphabet Photography website but it was far too expensive to order the professional photos and frames so I opted to take my own pictures and scour department stores for frames with enough space to hold between 5 and 9 5x6 photos!

I was walking along on my lunch hour and taking pictures of just about everything. I stood up from where I was squatting on the ground to get a great picture of the letter 'H' in a garbage can (hehe) and BAM! I saw the most brilliant letter 'B' formed by these tree branches when I stood in just the right angle to get this clear perspective. I edited it only a little with Picasa to make the picture B&W and put the center in focus and blur the edges (there's a tennis court and fences in the background anyhow and I wanted the tree and 'B' to stand out as much as possible). So pleased with this and I'm pretty sure my sister (who has a 'B' in her name and therefore received this picture in her frame) loved it, too. <3 One of my best and most fun present ideas ever! Now I have to top it for this coming Christmas....

"And if your strife strikes at your sleep

Remember spring swaps snow for leaves

You'll be happy and wholesome again

When the city clears and sun ascends"

("Winter Winds", Mumford & Sons)