Latvian Adventure

I'm back! The past few weeks have been so wonderfully exhausting and busy that I've barely had time to think, let alone blog. But I'm back now and I'm so excited to share some of the favorite moments from my trip with you! We packed so much into the two weeks that I'll probably share it in a few separate posts.

For those of you who don't know, I went to Latvia with a group called Josiah Venture to help put on music camps for kids. During the week of camp, we taught the kids from all over the country how to play different instruments and prepared them as best we could for a concert for their friends and family at the end of the week. We used music as a vehicle to share the gospel and form relationships with them. It was so amazing to feel how quickly meaningful relationships formed and see lives changed (including my own) as we went through just one week of camp.

Before camp started though, we spent a few days in Latvia's capitol city, Riga, seeing the sights and trying to get acclimated to the 8 hour time difference before we jumped into a hectic week of music camp. Riga is a stunning city with so much history- I felt like I was traveling back in time. The architecture is incredible so it was hard for me not to snap pictures of every building I saw. Here are a few shots of our time in Riga before camp:

This is the Freedom Monument in Old Town Riga commemorating their liberation from the Soviet Union

To help us better understand the culture we were serving in, we visited a museum dedicated to the memory of the soviet and communist occupation of Latvia. Though it was a sobering experience, it was so helpful in better understanding and relating to the country and its people. 

More pictures to come!

For the List-Makers

Ever the goal-setter and list-maker, I never pass up an opportunity to write my aspirations down. I'm afraid that without the help of my journal, I'd forget all about my brilliant ideas and thoughts. It's very easy for me to get complacent and lazy, and so when I write things down I somehow feel that they are set in stone and must get done. It's like accountability with myself, I guess. And now I'm publishing them on the internet for the entire world (yes, you, dear readers, are my entire world) to read. I think that should at least quadruple the accountability.
I grew so much this past year and I'd hate for summer-time, a time to relax, return to my "normal life" and unwind, to be wasted. It's an incredible chance to grow, reflect and make changes, so I want to be really intentional with how I spend mine.

Here's (part of) my list of summer goals:

• I'm going on a trip to Latvia to put on music camps in a few weeks, and so I have a really unique chance to impact other people. I want to love people well and be the kind of person they can relate to and confide in. I want to especially be this person for the girls I'll get to know at the camps in Latvia.
• I want to get comfortable with not knowing all the answers. (Anyone know an easy fix to that one?)
• I want to improve musically. Piano, guitar and singing are my passions and summer is such a great chance to focus and practice!
• I want to work of the rest of my "freshman 15". Darn the dining halls! I'm not sure I gained the entire 15...but I want to get back in shape and stay that way for next year!
• I want to further this here blog and refine it and "professionalize" it. 
• I want to camp, backpack, rockclimb, stargaze, sunrise and get muddy
• I want to have deep discussions
• I want to craft my heart out!
• I want to read, read, read. (There's a completely separate list for books I want to read this summer...sometimes I think I'm too organized...)

                    Here's a few of the books I'm working on now: Captivating , Worship Matters,
                    Fresh Brewed Life (This one's for breakfast dates with my mom), and The Help

Do you have any goals for this summer? Or any books you're reading/think I should add to my enormous list? I'd love to hear from you!

Early Morning Musings

Brace yourself, because what I have to say may shock you. Ready?

I (think) I (maybe) am (slowly) becoming a morning person.

The kind of morning person who still loves to sleep in, but can function like a mostly sane human being at early hours of the day.

 That doesn't qualify as a morning person? Ok fine.

Nonetheless, I've been sleeping less and less, but feeling more and more awake. Which is good considering I have two papers to write and three finals to study for this week.

Here are a few shots of my early morning excursions:

Every Friday morning I meet with my friend Jacquelyn to discuss Captivating (a book I highly, highly, recommend if you are or know anyone who happens to be a woman). But I've been getting to the Coffee shop early to spend some time alone in prayer and to prepare myself for the day. Nothing quite prepares me like a dark roast, some granola and Worship Matters (another book I highly recommend).

A few hours ago, Taylor and I went sunrising for the last time of the semester. As always, it was beautiful and a grand start to a homework filled Saturday.

With that, I'm off to write a 8 page paper about the beginning of American Literature.
I hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start so far!

Happy Saturday. 

THE BLACK KEYS!

Monday night may or may not have been the greatest night of my life. I'm still deciding. I took a much needed night off from studying with my roommate Madi and our friend Liz to see none other than the Black Keys. If you've never seen them (or heard their music for that matter), I suggest you do so immediately. They put on such a great show. Here are some photos of the night so you can re-live it with me.

 

The Arctic Monkeys were the openers. I wasn't too familiar with their music, but I must admit, their British accents and suave style won me over. If you haven't heard their music (or seen the lead singer's hair) I suggest you do so immediately. 

Check out their song Brick by Brick!

And now the moment we've all been waiting for..........

 The Black Keys, ladies and gents.

Such a retro drum set.....

For the encore, they dropped a gigantic disco ball that lit up the entire stadium.

 I've seen some good shows in my time, but this one might have been the best yet.

What are some of your favorite shows you've been to? I'm always up for new music/concerts to check out!

I hope your Wednesday has gone swimmingly.

Adjusting Focus

Here

"Life is like a camera lens, focus only on what is important, and you will capture it perfectly." 

- Unknown

 here

I woke up feeling a bit under the weather today, and so I decided to search for some inspiration to keep me going. It's easy to get "out of focus" and forget what's truly important, especially amid the stress of finals. I want to soak in everything about these last two weeks of my freshman year and try not to let the stress get the best of me.

Happy Monday to all! 

Ps. Stay tuned later this week for a post about the Black Keys concert I'm going to tonight! Can't wait!

Procrastination At Its Finest

I think I officially qualify as an awful blogger at this point...it's been weeks since my last post. I'm sure you were all on the edge of your desk chairs wondering what in the world happened to me. Well, worry no more, I am alive and well and back to blogging.
Since Easter, life has been one whirlwind of studying and adventure. But mostly studying. I refuse to believe that there are only two weeks left of the semester. It went so fast and honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave or not. However, finals may drive me to the point of no return, and I may actually never return.
But before that happens, I want to post a few pictures to catch you up on the recent ins and outs of my life:

Sunrising with my wonderful friend Taylor will definitely be one of the highlights of my year. This one was to die for.

Frozen yogurt and good friends.

 

 

Fort Collins continues to amaze with its boundless coffee shops. Everyday Joe's might just be my new favorite

 

 

 

 My family came up for a quick little visit last weekend and while my parents and Sam went to Denver for the day, "the brown haired children" got to spend a day gallivanting through Fort Collins.

 

 Lucy, our newest addition to the family and the newest light of my life, spent the day being generally adorable and peeing on every surface within a 20 foot radius.

Yes, she peed on me right after this was taken....

I love these two

Jess and Lucy-Lu

I hope you all have had a wonderful and stress free week! Look for more finals-induced-posts in the near future!

Of Springtime

After a two day snowstorm on Monday and Tuesday, Spring has re-sprung and is hopefully here to stay. My first class was cancelled today (which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It's the small things in life, right?) and so to honor my extra hour and a half of free time, I spent the afternoon snapping photos and sipping iced toddy's in beautiful Old Town Fort Collins. My friend Cait and I have begun a weekly tradition of exploring the nooks and crannies of Fort Collins and searching for hidden coffee shops. My goal is to hit every single one (except the Starbucks of course) in town before I graduate. Do-able? Maybe, maybe not.

Besides giving me warm fuzzies, this gorgeous weather makes me want to twirl around in a flow-y dress while listening to Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. Which is precisely what I did. So for you to get an accurate feel for my day today, listen to this:

And look at these:

We found some beautiful (and cheap!) rings from some of the import shops in town

 

 

Under the lovely blooming tree

The camera loves her

There you have it. I hope your Thursday was as Springy as mine :) 

~Olivia 

And finally, Android has instagram! I'm a cool kid now.

A Not-Even-Quarter Life Crisis and the Hunger Games: Does It Matter?

Last semester in my Psychology class, we learned about something called the "False Uniqueness Bias", otherwise known as the "I am special effect". It's the human tendency to underestimate our own commonality in our abilities, desirability or behavior. I suppose this is somewhat true, but it's also terribly depressing.
Maybe it's just me, but I think we all have this innate desire to be extraordinary, to do something special that no one else can do. We want to matter. But my psychology class, and most everyone else, would have us believe that any "unique talents" or "uncommon dreams" we may have are actually just a result of this bias and we are, in fact, nothing special at all. Just like everybody else, we are a result of our culture's psychological influence and nothing more.

But I don't buy it.

Generally I'm not one to jump mindlessly on the popular-culture band wagon, especially when it comes to books (I'm especially skeptical of any "new" romance/comedy/action novel people throw my way...I think I have a "classical literature bias"). Usually the story has been told a thousand times, in the same ways and the old version is a million times better.

But then I read the Hunger Games. (I'm sure a lot of you are sick of the hype about these books. Well, I was too, until I read them. And now I can say unashamedly, I'm "one of those" fans.) Something about these books resonated with me as they obviously did for the majority of the world's population right now. But why? What about these books gets our blood pumping and stirs something deep within us?

Katniss Everdeen is "normal"- she comes from a small district, has the occasional fight with her mother, has unruly hair, likes to be alone, is stuck in an awkward "love-triangle" with two (pretty ideal, I must add) young men. She doesn't see anything special about herself. But everyone else can see that she is indeed "uncommon". She is incredibly brave, taking the place of her sister in the Hunger Games and thereby embracing her almost certain death. She sees the bigger picture, isn't fooled by appearances and ultimately becomes the symbol of a rebellion against an overbearing government.

So why does Katniss stand out to us? Why can we all relate with her in some way that we just can't quite nail down?

It's because she matters. She found something (or in her case, someone) she was willing to die for and didn't hold back anything. She sacrificed herself for a cause greater than herself.

Though the example of the Hunger Games is a bit extreme (we aren't living in a dystopian society where our children have to fight to the death in order for us to eat) the exaggerated story-line leaves us with an undeniable feeling. We want to fight along side Katniss. We want to matter.

While most try and boil our behavior and desires down to a science, I believe we are much more complex than that. I finished the second book last night and woke up this morning with the irrepressible feeling that my life matters and and that I'm not doing anything to live up to it. It's a feeling that makes my heart race and sink every time I think about it: my life matters. I'm getting far too comfortable with being comfortable though. The place our lives matter the most is when we are doing something that scares us. Something that makes us uncomfortable, but something that makes us feel alive. The continual question I keep asking and won't be content until I find an answer to is "how". How is my life supposed to matter and what steps can I take now? I think it is a question we all should be asking.

My Heart Is Where My Home Is

I am generally pretty independent and brave. I don't get nervous easily or homesick often.

But I'm no super-woman, and sometimes I'm just lonely.

Tonight is one of those times. How can I be lonely, you ask? I don't know. I'm surrounded by friends I absolutely adore nearly 24/7. Today was no exception, I went to a house showing, got coffee with a friend, went out to dinner, procrastinated with Taylor as usual. There is no lack of business and activity in my life. But every now and then I feel a hole in me that can only be filled by a hug from my mom or a song from my dad.

On nights like this, when I'm thinking and not sleeping, my heart always goes back to my sweet family. Sure, I enjoy being self-sufficient, but at the end of the day (quite literally) I realize how blessed I am to have them. My brother Sam's witty jokes and endless hugs. His constant drawing and movie quoting. (Sam, your drawings blow my stick figures out of the proverbial water. You are truly talented.) Dad's messes from constant construction projects. The strumming of his guitar coupled with his light, airy voice. Jess's inexhaustible energy and bouncing and running and talking. His hair flips and "I love you's". Mom's morning cup of chai and her shelves of books. Her love of conversation and the hugs only she can give. This is home. I can feel it, smell it, hear it, see it.
 

Everything has moved so quickly since I left for school that I never really thought I was "leaving home". I often forget that I don't live at home anymore. I'll only be there for less than a month this summer and for a few weeks during the year. Will home ever be "home" again? I don't really know how to handle all the transitioning in life, but I have a feeling it never ends.

When I'm feeling lonely, I don't know what else to do but thank God for it. So many kids go to college to escape their families or get away from their town. So, thank you God, for homesickness, because I reminds me of the ways you've blessed me. Tonight, when my heart is where my home is, I thank God that he has given me a family that I love enough to miss.

(Disclaimer: If you're anyone except my mom, sorry about the mushy-sentimentality of this post, but, that's what I get for drinking coffee at night and expecting to sleep at a reasonable hour. If you are my mom, you can stop crying now ;) )

What do you do to remedy loneliness? Is it a new thought to treat it as a blessing in disguise?

I hope your week has been nothing but wonderful!

~Olivia

Spring Break!

Despite the sad circumstances surrounding it (see 2 posts ago), I had a wonderful spring break. It was great to relax with my family for an entire week. I went home to North Platte, Nebraska (I know, I know, not the "glamorous" break location a lot of people enjoy....but hey, I love it anyway) with my sweet friend Taylor.
Here are a few photos to sum up the week:

 We trekked to the river to watch the mass migration of cranes that come through every year. (Ask anyone who has lived in Nebraska, it's a big deal). I got some lovely pictures to boot.

 My adorable parents :)

 There isn't anything like a good old Mid-western sunset.

 

 I met the newest member of the family, Lucy, for the first time over break. I think I fell in love. She is the sweetest little ray of sunshine.

 

Last, but definitely not least, we got to see Beauty and the Beast at the Denver Center on the very last night of break. It was such an enchanting performance! Beauty and the Beast has always been one of my favorite stories. Maybe just because Belle is brunette and likes to read. But nevertheless, it was my childhood dream to see it live on stage and the perfect end to a lovely week.

Sorry about the horrible quality of this photo, but it's proof the night happened :)

Happy weekend!