This really got me. We have agency to choose who we are and how we define ourselves.  Denying ourselves our own decisions and letting others do so is not what was meant to be.

"There are also people who consider the defining fact of their existence that they are from Texas or that they were in the United States Marines. Or they are red-headed, or they are the best basketball player that ever played for such-and-such a high school. People can adopt a characteristic as the defining example of their existence and often those characteristics are physical.

We have the agency to choose which characteristics will define us; those choices are not thrust upon us.

The ultimate defining fact for all of us is that we are children of Heavenly Parents, born on this earth for a purpose, and born with a divine destiny. Whenever any of those other notions, whatever they may be, gets in the way of that ultimate defining fact, then it is destructive and it leads us down the wrong path." - Dallin H. Oaks

nows

i like this and the hope it conveys. 

and the message of being a great person

not just in the future, but in the tiny nows. 

the tiny nows are all great 

and make a great big great someday. 

its a good question.

i ask myself that all the time. 

simply stated

simply stated

simply stated

lately.....

things i love lately......

lucy and ethel halloweens

 in-n-out after a long working day

this song

new photographers to stalk. 

this one is beautifully talented

this quote 

new sweaters for sweater weather. (thanks mom!)

simply stated

.

sometimes i wish there was an older version of myself 

to tell me 'hey its important to remember that homework is good for you'

and 'els, you really need to calm down', 

ya know, things like that. 

because if i can take advice from myself, 

my own worse critic, 

then maybe i'd learn to trust myself more.

fartsy

and thats simply how my brain works. 

crafting. painting. photo taking. 

heck, blogging!

they're all growing my soul. 

this creative brain simply doesn't understand things

like structured packing (currently undertaking and baffling my mind)

or even a constant organized room. 

and while my mother may complain about my lack of order

i simply respond with the same true (but kind of sassy) thing

'my creative brain has more important things its thinking about'.

lately.....

things i love lately......

baseball games

stripes

especially coral and navy ones 

brian andreas quotes. 

i love them so much. 

clean room!

that was sarcastic...

flow. 

i'm truly addicted

9 crimes by damien rice

writers and things

oh how i love the wily brunette. her writing is ever so clear. and always so powerful. i was enjoying this.

"i am a strong, independent woman. and my desire for a man neither makes me more or less of these things. it simply is--and it is mine.

it makes me human. in need of sustenance. in the form of touch and affection and love.

but in wanting to find a partner--in wanting to choose the right partner--i want the man who compels me to be more. more of myself. who demands that i be as honest and as true and as good as i am capable of. and so in that sense yes, i want the man who will make an honest woman out of me. honest, having nothing to do with sin or sex or needing a man to complete me, but everything to do with allowing me to by myself--imperfect and messy and flawed in more ways the i care to share here.


....

i do want to take a moment to say this: if one more person says to me it'll come when you least expect, when you stop looking i'm gonna lose it. i can think of no more insulting cliche to throw at a single person. like saying, it'll be the last place you look for it. really, wow, thank you so much for the insight.

because to think that i haven't gotten to that place where i stopped looking, stopped searching, only to move on past it and circle back again more times than i care to count is a gross misestimation of me as person. i have felt deep affection for a great many men in my life. and i have found them when i was looking, when i wasn't, and at each of the many steps between those two extremes."

for your sunday

to remember on those times

lately....

things i love lately...

lloyd dobler holding up that boombox, playing in your eyes.

this quote

teapots to conveniently go with my teacup obsession 

the girl by city and colour

my dog. 

i know, i know.

this picture.

lately...

things i love lately...

new chapstick. 

for the first time in my life i finished, not just one tube of chapstick, but two.

going to target.

misty.

this quote.

this eiffel tower mug. 

i can't stop painting. i want it for me.

my sunglasses

for all those that don't believe in what not to wear and think its ok to wear sweats in public

nuff said.

just what i need to hear occassionallly

so stay creative elsa. keep working loves.