Julian Smith | Malk

This tickles my funny bone.

"I'm going to kill myself over THIS!!!" hahaha

Sara Bareilles | Kaleidoscope Heart

This song I think is so pretty. It's just a short one, but I love the a cappella harmony. It really does sound like a kaleidoscope to me. :-)

Best Holiday Ever (excepting Christmas, of course)

I LOVE Halloween. Why? Because it's the one time of the year that you can be anyone you want to be! It's a time to show off your creativity, and have fun, and collect candy. What is better than that?! This year, I didn't have time to come up with and make an awesome Halloween costume, but I did make a sweet Jack-o-lantern, so I thought I would share it here along with some of the coolest ones I have seen. :-)

So this is my Cecil-o-lantern. Pretty awesome. In case you don't know, Cecil O. Samuelson is the president of BYU.


The rest are just ones I happened to find online. This one I just think is a clever and fun idea.


This one makes me laugh. Simple, but funny.


This is hilarious! The pumpkin seeds as seeds on a bun--great idea. This could start smelling real bad real fast though.


This is what I considered doing this year--Michael Jackson from the Thriller. Whoever did this did a really good job!


Someone went to a LOT of work for this, but it turned out great. It reminds me of Picasso.


And of course, saw the owl, and couldn't pass it up:

Leona Lewis | Better In Time

This is one of my favorite songs. I feel like it's been my theme song! It has this sad quality to it, yet so empowering and optimistic in the end. I love this song so much! Leona Lewis's voice and energy are amazing. Please listen to the lyrics!



It's been the longest winter without you
I didn't know where to turn to
See somehow I can't forget you
After all that we've been through

Going, coming
Thought I heard a knock
Who's there? No one
Thinking that I deserve it
Now I realize that I really didn't know
If you didn't notice, you mean everything
Quickly I'm learning to love again
All that I know is I'mma be okay

[Chorus:]
Thought I couldn't live without you
It's gonna hurt when it heals too
It'll all get better in time
Even though I really love you
I'm gonna smile cause I deserve to
It'll all get better in time

I couldn't turn on the TV
Without something there to remind me
Was it all that easy
To just put aside your feelings

If I'm dreaming don't wanna laugh
Hurt my feelings but that's the path
I'll believe in
And I know time will heal it
If you didn't notice, boy, you mean everything
Quickly I'm learning to love again
All I know is I'mma be okay

[Chorus:]
Thought I couldn't live without you
It's gonna hurt when it heals too
It'll all get better in time
Even though I really love you
I'm gonna smile cause I deserve to
It'll all get better in time

Since there's no more you and me
It's time I let you go
So I can be free
And live my life how it should be
No matter how hard it is, I'll be fine without you
Yes I will

[Chorus: x2]
Thought I couldn't live without you
It's gonna hurt when it heals too
It'll all get better in time
Even though I really love you
I'm gonna smile cause I deserve to (yes I do)
It'll all get better in time

Personality Test

I am a firm believer in this personality test. The result I got almost perfectly describes me; in fact, some of the stuff I have read about my type is a better description of me than even I could give you. I am INFJ, which is actually the rarest of types. I'm not saying that is a good thing though. :-) Take it; you may learn something new about yourself. The link is below:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Lady Gaga | Brown Eyes

When I first heard this song, I couldn't believe how perfect the lyrics were for me. It seemed to parallel some of the feelings I was having. The style of the song is wonderful too. Beyond that, I really do love brown eyes, especially light brown. Sure, they may seem plain to most people, but they are so beautiful. I am a sucker for them, for sure.



In your brown eyes, I walked away
In your brown eyes, I couldn't stay
In your brown eyes, you'll watch her go
Then turn the record on and wonder what went wrong
What went wrong

If everything was everything but everything is over
Everything could be everything if only we were older
I guess it's just a silly song about you
And how I lost you and your brown eyes

In your brown eyes I was feeling low
'Cause they're brown eyes, and you never know
Got some brown eyes, but I saw her face
I knew that it was wrong
So baby, turn the record on, play that song

Where everything was everything, but everything is over
Everything could be everything if only we were older
I guess it's just a silly song about you
And how I lost you and your brown eyes, brown eyes

Everything was everything but baby, it's the last show
Everything could be everything but it's time to say goodbye, so
Get your last fix and your last hit
Grab your old girl with her new tricks
Honey yeah, it's no surprise that I got lost in your brown eyes

In your brown eyes, brown, brown eyes
Your brown eyes, brown, brown eyes
Got some brown eyes, brown, brown eyes
Your brown eyes

Owls

All I can say is that this is adorable.

Jay Sean | All or Nothing

This is one of the songs I could listen to over and over on full volume when my roommates aren't home and sing my lungs out. Sometimes I do. :-) This song is such a good song, but unfortunately, it isn't well known.



There wasn't anything I didn't love about you,
You'd do some stupid things and I'd laugh at those too,
And we went together like the summer in June
But who'd have known that it'd rain so soon

Thought I'd be the only one that'd make you smile,
Thought I'd be the only one that'd really know how
But you showed me different and I know better now,
I gotta get you out my system somehow

[Chorus:]
I replay it over and over again
You were my girl, now we ain't even friends,
You could've been my all or nothing, all or nothing,
Now to me you're nothing, girl you're nothing, now you're nothing

[Verse 2:]
Put you on a pedestal, girl I held you so high
Was never too good at finding the words to describe,
Just how I felt for you, but you know that I tried,
But somehow we went and changed inside

You *dang* near were my everything; you're still on my mind,
But I'd rather be here all alone, and I'm doin' just fine
Gotta take it back to the days before we met
And live our lives as strangers again

[Chorus x2]

December days, my summer turned to winter
When you went away, I can't help but wonder
Was he worth my pain? You should know better, and I should've too
And I cried, and you cried, and we tried to make it work
Almost died while we tried, is that what our love was worth?
If I could do it again, I would be a better man,
Now I'm living with just memories

[Chorus x2]

Heather Lorraine Photography

My friend Heather is a photographer, and I love her style. This is one of the many photos she has taken that I love. Isn't it just gorgeous? If you want to see more of her stuff, visit http://www.heatherlorraine.com/. I'll probably be posting more of these in the future. :-)

Timbaland | Apologize (featuring One Republic)

This is my favorite music video. It's so powerful, and so beautifully artistic. Love it!!!

You have no enemies, you say?

This was one of my favorite things in high school. It helped me understand that there are more important things than keeping the peace. Sometimes, confrontation is okay, and sometimes it is crucial.

You have no enemies, you say?
Alas, my friend, the boast is poor.
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes. If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done.
You've hit no traitor on the hip,
You've dashed no cup from perjured lip,
You've never turned the wrong to right,
You've been a coward in the fight.
—Charles McKay

Eisley | Brightly Wound

This is my favorite band! And the cool thing is, they are from Tyler, Texas. This song is really pretty. Not sure it is my favorite of theirs, but it's a good representation of their music.



It's happening all the time
When I open my eyes
I'm still taken by surprise
I hold sunlight and swallow fireflies
And it makes me want to cry

I love you

I shall never grow up
Make believe is much too fun
Can we go far away to the humming meadow?

[Sherri's singing]
We were walking there
I had tangles in my hair
But you make me feel so pretty
You have shining eyes
Yes like those forest lights
And it makes me want to cry

[Stacy's singing at the same time]
I was just wishing you were here
So we could walk down to the stream
And we could throw all our leaves in
Seeing our dragon when we look

I love you

I shall never grow up
Make believe is much too fun
Can we go far away to the humming meadow?

I shall never grow up
Make believe is much too fun
This place is so lovely
It kind of makes me very happy
Let's go far away to the humming meadow

To the humming meadow

To the humming meadow

Joyas Voladoras

This essay was shown to me at a time in my life that was pretty difficult. What I needed most was to connect with something. This was that something. Here is my favorite excerpt:

So much held in a heart in a life. So much held in a heart in a day, an hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one, in the end—not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend. We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we must. Perhaps we could not bear to be so naked, for fear of a constantly harrowed heart. When young we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall. You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant, felled by a woman's second glance, a child's apple breath, the shatter of glass in the road, the words "I have something to tell you," a cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, the brush of your mother's papery ancient hand in the thicket of your hair, the memory of your father's voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children.

-Brian Doyle

Sara Bareilles | Gravity

This song speaks to me like few songs ever have. I hope you like it.



Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.
No matter what I say or do I'll still feel you here 'til the moment I'm gone.

You hold me without touch.
You keep me without chains.
I never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and not feel your rain.

[CHORUS:]
Set me free, leave me be. I don't want to fall another moment into your gravity.
Here I am and I stand so tall, just the way I'm supposed to be.
But you're on to me and all over me.

You loved me 'cause I'm fragile.
When I thought that I was strong.
But you touch me for a little while and all my fragile strength is gone.

[CHORUS]

I live here on my knees as I try to make you see that you're everything I think I need here on the ground.
But you're neither friend nor foe though I can't seem to let you go.
The one thing that I still know is that you're keeping me down
You're on to me, on to me, and all over...
Something always brings me back to you.
It never takes too long.

Bleeding Love on So You Think You Can Dance

This video is so good. It gives me the chills every time. Because I know what this feels like, and I know it can't be expressed in words, this piece is truly a work of art.