logs & specks.

Someone once told me... the things you dislike in others are the very things you detest in yourself... i think he may be on to something... it's like that verse. the one about removing the log from your own eye. instead of the speck in your friends eye. focusing on YOUR downfalls. as opposed to picking apart those of your friends. i believe that what bothers us in others is most often what we long to change about in ourselves. yet we do so unaware. we think that they have the problem. the vice. the unflattering characteristic. but when it all comes down to it. we do. we are all the more ugly inside for how we judge others. although it doesn't account for everything... some things are unbearably bothersome in others because you wish they were MORE like you. still abhorring their downfalls yet in a different manner. we instead make them feel terrible for not feeling as we do. not looking like we do. not smelling. decision-making. problem- solving. joking. dancing. dressing as we do. we get SO upset and consumed in us.ourselves. you & me. simply because we want them to view life from our perspective. with our experience. with our habits. drive. dreams. desires. through our very eyes. instead of how they see it. but if that were the case. we'd all be robots. clones. and who wants to give up their individuality? not ME!

- - - Sometimes we long to mimic. to alter ourselves ever so slightly. to be who we would rather be. we're never satisfied with ourselves. but we have to be. we are who we are. and yes we can improve. get our hair done. paint our nails. go to the gym... but as cheesy as it sounds the inside is still the only thing worth anything. because it will show on the outside whether you try to conceal it or not. so focus instead on you when you catch yourself looking for the bad in others. dig deep into your soul and find the good. the dazzling. the unique. the quirky. the beautiful. the things that make you, you. find the changes you need to make. and make them. i think that once you find what makes you tick. what drives you. feeds your soul. life gets rosier. and i believe that when you find what you need to seriously work on, then life is much less dramatic and stressful. less picking apart. more building up and into the lives of those around you. much more fulfilling and friend-friendly. (like family-friendly :) logs are not only no longer found in the eyes of your best buds. but the specks have vanished from your own!

me & my best friends.

" just be yourself, everyone else is already taken"

xo karli rae.

make happy happen.

i've come to the conclusion. rather the discovery... that happy is a choice. yes it's an emotion too. but firstly it's something you mentally tell yourself that it's what you want to be. all life's hardest decisions stem from our most earnest desires. because we know what we want. but we either don't know how to get there. or we don't want to fail so we don't even try. but if we don't make a conscious effort to make them happen. they won't. they will slip through our fingers. and we will wonder why they never came to be.

...if we let happy slip away, than what is life but a dull. gloomy. cloud wrought with trouble and sorrow and pain. if best friends leave and boyfriends are dumped and the phone never rings. and depression we've decided is not an option. than happiness shall reign. for no amount of naps or tears. or lonely nights staring off into space will ever change your outlook if you don't change your heart. and your head. get up. dust yourself off. and move on. make happy happen. you are in your life already. you can't 'start' living it again. but you need to put your heart into living again.

- - - so happy is a choice. it's daily choosing to have a positive outlook at the wide world. to say i will not let the darkness hold me back. i will persevere. press on. fight for what i know and believe to be what i need. what i am missing. and cannot live without. it's my desire and wish to be happy. content. blithe. cheerful. giddy. delightful. filled with mirth. i want to exude happiness. to radiate with it.

to be truly happy is to love. and to SMILE. to LAUGH. to GIGGLE. to put the lives of others first. to look past yourself and say my happiness. my attitude. my ecstatic need to live and breathe for jesus is what will change the world. what will get me through the day. and not just through it. or make it simply bearable. but make me adore the day. praise the day. look at the day and say that was fantastic. let's do it again... each day is a gift. and happiness should be the way we choose to spend it.

as clear as clear can be?

Have you ever been uncertain about something. and then that uncertainty led to doubt. and that doubt led to you being consumed by constant worry and then you end up analyzing the whole twisted, messed up situation, which you've really only made up in your head... why do we make life so complicated for ourselves sometimes? i just wish doubt wasn't so pressing. have you ever because of your uncertainty gone through your day or your week looking at everyone and everything and pointing out, grasping, holding onto that which you know to be certain. constant. unmoving. unbending. unchanging. things you know without a doubt. without cause for concern. or questioning. but as clear as clear can be. things and feelings that are so potent and powerful and true and right that you can't help but know and feel to the depths of your soul that they are how you truly feel and will always feel. the certainty that i love God. i love my mom. or my insanely cool car. or the fantastic pair of sneakers i just bought. or that great dress i have hanging on my closet just waiting to be worn. or the little girl in daycare who makes me fly around like a butterfly with her every morning. those are things i know i love. i know they make me happy. i know they are moments. and people and objects in my life that i am perfectly content with. how come life can't be that simple. as simple as knowing you love chocolate. or old movies. or reading a good book. or riding a bike down a terrifyingly fast hill. or jumping off a cliff into a lake of refreshing blue... how come life isn't as simple as those moments you find yourself so sure of. those tangible. graspable. real moments. but life cannot be black and white. it can't always be left or right. sometimes it's gray and confusing. sometimes we take the wrong turn. or path. and have to try again. start over. sometimes we have to leap before we know. trust before we jump. life is full of unexpected. unanticipated surprises. and sometimes we just have to take a chance. let the current take us where it will and end up in places we never even imagined. life can't be easy or jam-packed with all the answers. or flashing neon signs. life is full of choices. having faith. trusting that God knows what he's doing. letting him lead. life isn't easy. it's not meant to be. life is uncertain. not everything is for sure. that's why i find myself holding onto what's certain. knowing what it is i believe to be true. figuring out what i do love. like. desire. adore. and then tackling the unknown.

i believe in love.

i believe that when you fall you get back up again.

i believe in second chances.

i believe in magical nights.

i believe that the best things in life are free.

i believe that eyes are a window to soul.

i believe that less is more.

i believe in never giving up.

i believe in pursuing your passions.

i believe in lost hopes.

i believe that crying is sometimes necessary.

i believe laughter is the best medicine.

i believe in true friends.

i believe that anger ruins the soul.

i believe that singing at the top of our lungs is a must.

i believe in running away from temptation.

i believe in blue skies.

i believe that rainbows are a promise.

i believe in someone loving you even if you don't deserve it.

i believe in good night sleeps.

i believe in nightmares.

i believe in kisses.

i believe in super high under ducks.

i believe that children teach us far more than we teach them.

i believe in shooting stars.

i believe in a good romance novel.

i believe in peppermint tea.

i believe in the depths of despair. i've been there.

i believe in new beginnings.

i believe in heaven.

i believe that we are all lost souls searching for something greater than ourselves....

i believe that tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it.

i believe in walking in each others shoes.

i believe in angels.

i believe in words. lots and lots of words.

i believe that some pictures speak much more than anyone could ever say.

i believe in ghosts.

i believe that inner beauty trumps outer beauty, yet our world promotes the opposite.

i believe in miracles.

i believe that dreams do come true.

i believe in staying up late.

i believe that life is an adventure.

i believe that smiling makes all the difference.

i believe in warm sunshiny days.

i believe in believing. hoping for only the best.

i believe that with God anything is possible.

i stumbled upon you and gratefully basked in your rays...

it's the first of september and all i can think about is how the sweet summer is slowly slipping through my fingers and all i can do is watch it vanish. leaves begin to fall. a crisp breeze begins to blow and soon all that's left are tiny remnants of what used to be. sandals are traded in for boots. shorts are tossed aside for jeans. sunglasses are retired. it's as if a part of me is buried away in the back of the closet. as if a piece of me is forced to hibernate for the winter. the longing to rewind back to a time of hot weather and bathing suits, watermelon and barbecues, windows down with the wind flying across my face, roadtrips and skies full of stars, only increases. summer. my favorite season. fading. i adore fall, but saying farewell to the season of warmth and sunlight just makes me melancholy. some people might live for school. or fashion. their dog or bucket-loads of food. snowboarding or softball... but me... i live for summer. for a chance to bask in the hot sunshine i would swim oceans. basically i would do the unthinkable. who doesn't love summer? being sun-kissed. barefoot. out amongst nature. flushed and glowing 24/7... summer - the essence of earthy, wild and pure, unadulterated contentment. let's do it all over again. or better yet, have summer all year round! i'd be more than thrilled in a world like that... but alas, bc boasts it's four seasons and abundant rainfall. so i guess i'll keep my fingers crossed for a beautiful september... after all fall doesn't commence until the 23rd! folks we have 22 more days.

normal is what you make it.

Each one of us is so entirely and fantastically different, so incredibly unique... intricately woven, created and named unlike any other... a treasure chest brimming with rare and exotic jewels, sparkling gems of every shape and color. So rare in fact that the way we think, the way we act, the way we listen and dream. react and scheme. is what makes me, me and you, you. we are bursting with quirks and looks, mannerisms and characteristics all our own. we are weird. odd. extraordinary. far from normal. what is normal anyway? it there such a thing? who are we to judge and just what classifies anything as normal? i'd say no one is entirely sane. we are far from perfect. no one is without shame. without fault, blemish. bruise or blame. everyone makes mistakes. everyone is full of holes. everyone is or has been broken at some point. rejected. misled. harassed. burdened. we each have a past. a history. regrets. things we wish we could change. set right. erase. rewind and do over. attributes we dream of altering, but without us the way we are, we simply wouldn't be us. if we try to hide, or smother certain things about us... the way we snort after laughing too hard, the way we chew our fingernails when we're nervous, or sing at the top of our lungs to our favorite song... if we take away the very attributes, personality traits, our natural tendencies and impulses we would cease to be us. the way we were meant to be. special. one of a kind. fearfully and wonderfully made. so enjoy who you are, embrace it. love the skin you're in. because let's face it, you really have no choice. accept you for you. don't try to impress. don't put on a show. everyone is as weird if not weirder than you... so take comfort in the fact that we are all slightly crazy and a bit strange. there you'll find the freedom to express yourself. to be yourself. to be your own version of normal. Don't let the world tell you what constitutes as normal. you aren't, nor is anyone else... normal is what you make it.

wherever you feel the wind whispering for you to follow.

and so it begins... you know when everyone around you is advancing. moving up in the world. leaps and bounds ahead and far beyond anything you've done up to this point. progressing at an exceptionally high rate and there is nothing you can do to stop it. dating. marriage. babies. a higher education. and we're only 21! i feel as though i am so far behind and there is no hope of ever catching up. not that i want to be married with children at this point, but my life seems to have less meaning or at least feel as though i have done so little. nothing of importance or significance. my greatest feat has been to travel or to purchase a car. which are both in and of themselves fantastic achievements, but watching everyone get their degrees and find the man of their dreams and gain 40 lbs with a special someone inside, is almost depressing. what am i doing? where am i going? and why does it seem like this place has become more and more alien. not for me. this place being abbotsford. bc. maybe even canada. i feel ill-fitted to a world engulfed. absorbed. entrenched in what seems to be a normality i don't possess, a commonality that i don't share. order. planning. goals. i feel misconstrued. misunderstood. lost. alone. single. uneducated. with no idea as to where i'm headed, when upon first glance everyone seems to have it all figured out. they've all drawn out their map and marked x as the spot, whereas i've never even found my map to begin with. and this isn't a bad thing...

i just wish there was more clarity in the direction i'm to go in. more answers or bright lights. i'm content to be different. and without a plan. i feel there is no way i could be happy following the steps of what everyone else may call normal. i'll create my very own version of normal.

i feel as if my adventure is about to start... and that mine will look quite a bit different than most! for that i'm excited. ecstatic. i feel free as a bird. that there are endless possibilities awaiting. the world is my oyster so to speak. mine for the taking. if i see i can have it. where to go from here? i've not the slightest idea... but maybe that's the fun of it... the secret... therein lies the catch. go wherever your heart takes you... wherever you feel the wind whispering for you to follow... but just GO and God will do the rest...