On Halloween.

I've never been the biggest fan of Halloween. My parents never really celebrated it when I was younger, and now I still don't celebrate it. I don't mean to offend anyone by this, not at all, but here's the way I see it: Halloween is based off of the pagan holidays. The anti-christians. I'm sure you've heard this numerous times before, but here's the history of Halloween or All Hallows Eve: It was believed that on this night, the spirit world and the human world overlapped and that the dead would come back to life and cause sickness and suffering. The costumes and masks were worn to mimic the spirits in order to please them. Bonfires were built to sacrifice animals and crops as sacrifices to the Celtic gods. It became a night to celebrate spirits and witchcraft and dark magic.

The history of this holiday is all about the devil, and to some extent aspects of it are still focused on him with all the talk of vampires, werewolves and ghosts. I understand that for many, the holiday is no more than a fun evening to dress up in a cool costume and visit your neighbors for some candy, but the pretense of it makes me uncomfortable. That's just the way I see it, and I want people to understand my views. Please, don't take offense.
♥♥Kristin

The Nineteenth Year//Resolutions

 Today's the day: my birthday. I turn 19 today. For whatever reason, 19 seems so much older than 18. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe because it means that I'm not in high school anymore. I only have one year left being a teenager and then I'll be 20, which seems even older to me.
This 18th year has been pretty great. There was a snowstorm on my birthday last year, pretty rare for this time of year where I live. I grew closer with many of the people I work with. I made new friends. I started this blog. I really came to discover who I am as a person. I came to terms with myself. I graduated from high school and started college. I'm sure there are more things that I can't even think of right now.
This year on my birthday, there are a few "new year" resolutions that I want to make.
1. I want to record every cent that I spend this year, be it cash or a credit card, on a candy bar or college text books. I just think it would be something really interesting to look back on later. Whether I will actually keep it up is another matter entirely.
2. Something else I want to keep track of is the books that I read. I also think that would be something interesting to look back on. I'm also interested in knowing how many books I actually read in a year. Again, who knows whether I will be able to keep it up, but I will most definitely try.
3. I want to write. So often I have this urge to write, and this year I plan to satiate it. I've wanted to make a writing project 365 for a while now. I'm starting a tumblr blog separate from my personal tumblr and calling it A Year of Words. Check it out. I'm going to be posting a writing every day, usually in the form of my snippets, and using the website I mentioned in the last post for daily prompts. I know that some days are going to be busy and I may not get to write. I'm not going to be too hard on myself if I miss a day here or there, but I'm going to do my best to post as often as possible.
So, for now, those are my birthday resolutions. Where I will be a year from now, only time will tell. Hopefully I'll still be blogging. Hopefully I'll still have my wonderful friends. Hopefully I'll be just as happy and content with my life path as I am now.
♥♥Kristin

A Letter.

Dear You,
I think you're pretty wonderful. You don't know that, but only because I've never told you. And I probably never will. You'll never actually read this letter. Guess I'm just too chicken, but I like to tell myself that it's because I believe the male should initiate such conversations. See, basically, you're one of my closest friends. Maybe you don't even know that. I love the way we can start a random conversation and somehow we keep coming up with things to talk about. I love how we have all of this inside jokes (I loathe you. ((But not really, not at all)) ). I love that face you make when you're trying your hardest not to laugh. I love the way you're always kind to everyone, you always include everyone. You're just a really nice person in general. I'm not saying that I'm in love with you or anything crazy like that. I'm just saying that if you were to ask me to be your girlfriend, I'd probably say yes. Because like I said before, I think you're pretty wonderful.
Yours truly,
Me

So yeah. This is pretty personal. I guess I just needed to get all of this down somehow. I'm thinking maybe some of you can relate.
♥♥Kristin

Some Things I'm Currently Obsessing Over.

-This website, which you can subscribe to and will send you a writing prompt every day. Goodbye writer's block! If you click the link it will take you to the place where you can subscribe to the emails. All you need to enter is your email and your first name. No gimmicks as far as I know. I only recently signed up myself.
-The band Imagine Dragons. They aren't a Christian band, so I don't agree 100% with their lyrics, but the songs overall are very catchy and I've fallen in love. I listen to them almost constantly. (I may or may not be listening to them right now.) Look them up on youtube if you want! I suggest Round and Round, On Top of the World and Tiptoe to start off.
-Simple art, like this:

I'm kind of in love with ampersands. Weird? Maybe.

And more can be found on my Pinterest

-Searching about Hurricane Sandy. I'm sure you've heard of it. Where I live, we're supposed to get hit by it, big time. Torrential downpours, strong winds, possible heavy snow, the whole enchilada. Everything at the grocery store where I work is absolutely nuts. People are buying water, canned food, bread, eggs and milk like there's no tomorrow (the last two, I've never understood. If the power goes out eggs and milk useless. But I digress.)

So anyway, that's what I've been obsessing over lately. Possible storm of the century aside, I've fallen in love with all of the above things.
♥♥Kristin

A Tag//Elevensies

You may be getting tired of these things, but I enjoy them, so bear with me. I was tagged by Kiri Liz at Lianne Taimenlore. Here are the rules:

- If you are tagged/nominated, you must post eleven facts about yourself.

- Then, you must answer the eleven questions the tagger has given you and make eleven questions for the people you are going to tag.

- Next, tag eleven more bloggers. (As usual, I'm not actually going to tag anyone because I know some people don't do these and some find it annoying, but if you want to do this please feel free!)

- Tell the people you tagged that you have tagged them.

- No tagging back

My eleven facts:

1. My birthday is 6 days away.

2. I think that cilantro smells disgusting.

3. (no offense to anyone) but I really dislike One Direction.

4. I am often reading two or three books at a time.

5. People ask me all the time if I'm old enough to work at my job (the very youngest I could be to work there is around 15). I'll be 19 on my birthday. I don't know if it's my height, if I have a young looking face, or if it's a combination of the two. 

6. I really should be doing my school work right now. I'm a horrible procrastinator, and a lot of the time it comes back to bite me. I go through that whole cycle where I procrastinate, stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning to finish, and then promise myself that I'll never, ever procrastinate again. Then a few days later the process starts all over again.

7. I love rainy days in general, but in my opinion lately we've been getting entirely too many of them where I live.

8. my 100th post is coming up super soon! I'm hoping to do something big for it but as of now I still don't have any ideas.

9. I still haven't gotten around to reading Les Miserables. Maybe I never will. It kinda freaks me out, actually. It's very, very long.

10. I haven't posted any snippets lately, and I feel bad about that. It's not that I don't want to write, it's just that I haven't been feeling at all inspired lately. I guess it's because I'm just too busy.

11. I have had this post sitting in my drafts for quite some time now because I haven't been able to find the time to finish it.

The 11 questions from Kiri Liz:

1. What is your third favorite color? An interesting question. I guess I'd have to say blue.
2. If you could rewrite any scene from any book, which one would it be and why? Hmm... a lot of my favorite books are so well written that I really wouldn't change anything. But, I guess I would choose any scene from A Wrinkle in Time. The only thing I'd change would be to write it from Calvin's perspective. He's one of my book crushes.
3. Would you rather live in a old palace, a cottage in the woods, a pirate ship, or a underground burrow? Well, I hear old palaces can be a bit damp, I'm not really one for adventure on the high seas, and it would be entirely too dark underground. I'd choose the cottage in the woods, as long as it had plumbing.
4. How do you pronounce the word "often?" Off-ten? Or Off-fen? I don't really know! I guess it's off-ten, but I can't say for sure because now I'm thinking about it.
5. What is your favorite holiday film?  There are so many good ones, but I'll choose It's a Wonderful Life. It's old, but I like it a lot.
6. If you had a book (any book including a cookbook or a research book) published, what would be featured on the cover? Well I suppose that depends on the contents of the book. If it was a compilation of my short little writings, it would be something pretty but simple. That's the kind of art I tend to gravitate to. 

7. Where would your dream home be located? Ooh, that's another tough one. Maybe Prince Edward Island. I always thought it would be neat to live there. The only thing is that I'm not much for cold weather.  

8. If there was no such thing as tea or coffee in this world, what hot drink(s) would you consume? Hot chocolate and hot apple cider.    

9. What one song describes your life/day/mood? Umm.... well, this is another tricky one. I guess that for right now, I'd choose Living the Dream by Downhere. It's one of my favorites at the moment. It's quite catchy if I do say so myself.  

10. Peanut butter cookies, snickerdoodles, or gingerbread men? Peanut butter cookies. They're really delicious. I'm now craving them...  

11. What is something you absolutely love right now? Pumpkin pie milkshakes from where I work! They use real pumpkin in them and they are absolutely amazing. I drink way too many of them.

My eleven questions(It takes me so long to think of these!):
1. If you could write the sequel to any book, what book would you choose and why?
2. What was your favorite book when you were younger (maybe around 3rd grade)?
3. Would you rather write or take pictures? (I think I asked this question before, but oh well)
4. Do you like filling these things out as much as I do?
5. What website (other than blogger) do you spend the most time on?
6. What is your favorite holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc)?
7. Which continent would you want to visit?
8. Why did you start blogging?
9. If you could choose one thing to get right now, what would it be (something like a nice car, a new camera, etc)?
10. If you had to choose, what would you say is your all-time favorite book?
11. what would your dream job be?

Now, I tag anyone who wants to fill this out. I don't want to be annoying by tagging people who don't really like to do these kind of things, plus I don't know if I could think of 11 people. Anyhoo, if you want to do this, just do it! And let me know in the comments. This should be the last one of these that I do for a while. I don't want to annoy anyone by posting too many!
♥♥Kristin

Driving at Dusk//Snippet {6}

The strangest things can make me sentimental. Things like driving with the windows down in the October Indian Summer into the sunset. The scents of fall and sunshine waft through the windows, and I can't help but feel at peace with the world. As evening falls, the indirect sunlight of the golden hour bathes everything in the glow that makes your daydreams seem touchably close. For now, this moment is everything. Life contained in the soft breeze that caresses my face.

Admittedly not my best work, but at least I'm writing. Writer's block is really hitting me hard. I was kindasortamaybe considering doing NaNoWriMo this year, but at this rate I can't see that happening!
♥♥Kristin

Time For A Change.

As you may have seen in my previous post, I changed my blog title to Serendipity. I felt like it was time for a change, and this word has really been on my heart lately. I am keeping the same URL (the-greatperhaps.blogspot.com) for simplicity's sake. And also, because I'm sentimental like that. I also changed up the design. This is just temporary because I want to attempt to make my own blog design. In the meantime, if you notice anything that needs to be tweaked, feel free to tell me!
Nothing else about this blog will change, I want to make that clear. I was just ready for a change of scenery, and maybe you were too.

Edit: I made a new button as well:

it will be on my sidebar shortly.
 ♥♥Kristin

A Word.

This word ^^ is the one that I think describes my life most perfectly. It seems that's what happens to me often: I stumble upon good things like books, music and people. I always find them when I least expect to. I think a big part of serendipity is living life in a way that the small things delight you. Things like hearing your favorite song on the radio, discovering a new favorite book, finding the bible verse that applies most to your life at the moment you read it, or waking up to sunshine and blue skies.
I'm actually considering changing my blog name to this, because I feel that I have changed a lot over the last six months, and I believe my blog has as well. I'm finding that this is what I blog about the most: the small things in life that just make my heart smile. Any thoughts on the matter? I'm ready for a change, and this might be it.
♥♥Kristin

Just A Small Post

In appreciation of Osage oranges:

{{via pinterest}}

I'm kinda in love with these things. Ever heard of them? They don't look very pretty, and you can't eat them, but they smell soo good. It's like, citrusy and a little bit minty, with something else mixed in that I can't quite describe. They smell like Christmas to me. Don't ask me why. I was carrying one around all evening, just to smell it. They're my favorite right now. That is all.
♥♥Kristin

Some Book Love.

Lately, sad to say, I've been in a bit of a book rut. Getting out of them can be hard. Usually, they stem from me deciding that I'm going to read all sorts of classics such as Les Miserables and Sense and Sensibility. Then, when I'm bogged down in 17th century wording and large words that make me stop to reread sentences, I get frustrated. Reading stops being fun for me and starts being a chore. That's when I have to remind myself why I fell in love with it in the first place.  Sometimes I just have to step away from the classics and go back to some modern-day, maybe less than perfect, sometimes mushy YA fiction. Though they may not be so intricately written or finely crafted as the classics, they never fail to pull me in (and don't get me wrong: I do enjoy a good classic now and again. Jane Eyre and Frankenstein are some of my favorites).

Some non-classic books that I'm enjoying right now:

I'm rereading this book. It's one of my favorites of all time. I definitely recommend it if you haven't read it. It pulled me in right from the start, and it's one of the few books that actually made me tear up. to quote the book, "It's a small story of, among other things, a girls, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter and quite a lot of thievery." It also produced one of my favorite love stories: Rudy ("The crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world") and Liesel ("the book thief without the words"). As you can see, I am in love with this book.

Another book by the wonderful Markus Zusak. This one took me longer to get into, but it was so worth it in the end. a favorite quote of mine from this book:
"sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
But in what they are."

I am reading this book right now, and while it wouldn't win any prizes for wonderfully crafted prose, the story pulls you in. It's one of those dystopian novels that seem so popular now what with the Hunger Games trilogy. It's one of those books that's so popular and mainstream that I almost feel guilty reading it and enjoying it so much. (I'm not a hipster or anything of the sort, but do you know what I mean?)

This is in the queue to read next. It's another dystopian novel. You could say I'm mildly obsessed at the moment. Also on deck is Brave New World. I had to throw at least one semi classic in there.

{{All images via Pinterest.}}

So what are you reading lately? Any books you're really loving?
♥♥Kristin

About Me // Just for Because

I stole borrowed this from Kiri Liz's blog Lianne Taimenlore and it was originally from The Golden Road. I'm not entirely sure whether you get the same enjoyment out of these that I do, but they're quite amusing to me. I hope you find it to be the same.

1. Coffee or Tea? I believe this question has been on every single blog questionnaire that I have ever filled out, and I will give the same answer that I always have: how on earth can I be expected to choose between the two? I like both at different times. Tea when I'm cold, or feeling autmn-y, coffee on Sunday mornings and every morning when I'm on vacation (I have strange habits and tendencies. Just go along with it.)
2. You win a thousand dollars!  What would be something fun that you do with it? Either Nikon D500 or Canon Rebel t-whateveritdoesn'treallymatter. And the remainder? Books upon books.
3. You're given the opportunity for the lead part in a play.  Would you take it? I would probably take it, and then be consumed by stage-fright and later on and wish that I hadn't, then after the performance was over with I would gush about how much fun it was, audition for another play, and repeat the process. It's the way I roll.
4. Would you rather sing, play an instrument, or listen? If by sing you mean sing well, then I choose sing. If not, then I choose listen.
5. Are you more of a chit-chat person?  Or sporty? Neither, but if I had to choose one I'd say chit-chat, because as much as I hate small talk, I can't run or throw things to save my life.
6. Did you ever have an unrealistic dream as a child?  If so, what was it? I'm sure I did, but I can't remember any at the moment.
7. Have you fulfilled any of the dreams that you had as a child?  If so, what where were they?  Well, as of now, I am working on fulfilling my dream of becoming an elementary school teacher. I wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember, and now I'm finally going to college for it.
8. What's that one place in the world that you've always wanted to visit? Must I pick just one? I suppose if that's the case I'd choose Spain. Prince Edward Island is a close second.
9. What book character do you always find yourself imitating? The one book character that I've always wanted to be more than any other is Anne Shirley. I love everything about her: the way she has with words, her wild imagination, the way LM Montgomery describes her, Gilbert... but I digress.
10. What's your favorite season?  Why? Must you even ask? Autumn of course. I won't bore you by rehashing the details.
11. What are some of your favorite blogs to read? There are so many. Just see the favorite blogs tab at the top of the page for some of my favorites.
12. How long have you been blogging? My very first post was created on March 23 of this year. It's a little over 6 months now. Honestly, I'm truly surprised that I've even stuck with it this long.

And now, I suppose I'm supposed to tag people, but I hate doing that. If you want to do this, just go ahead. And if you do it, comment. I'll come creep on your blog check out what you had to say.
♥♥Kristin

Who I am and Who I've Been.

Today I've been feeling rather retrospective. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's my upcoming birthday, and maybe it's a combination of the two. Every year when my birthday swings around again, I can't help but think about where I was on my past birthday. This year especially, there have been quite a few changes. Last year I was only a few months into my senior year of high school, eyeball-deep in AP Biology and AP English. I'm still eyeball-deep in homework, but now I'm a high school graduate in college. When I think about where I imagined I'd be, it was not exactly this. I thought I'd be going away to the school of my dreams, possibly rooming there with my best friend and generally having the time of my life. Instead, I am still living at home and attending community college. If I knew this was where I would be a year ago, it probably would have upset me, but right now I can honestly say that I am content with where I am. My life isn't perfect, but when is it ever? In the past year I've formed new friendships and strengthened old ones. I've taken photos, I've written pages upon pages, and overall become more me than I've ever been before. I've learned a lot about who I am as a person, my sense of style and my sense of humor, the way I relate to people and the way I am maybe a little bit of a dork and maybe that's okay. I think that the biggest part of becoming yourself is accepting that that person is who you are going to become, and that's what I've done in the past year: accepted the dorky, introspective, tea-drinking reader, thinker and sometimes-writer that I am. I'm slowly but surely moving past my insecurities that I struggled so much with in the past years. Finally being content with the person you're becoming has to be one of the best feelings in the world.
♥♥Kristin

A Snippet {5}

She drummed the keys with her fingers, wracked her mind for the words, but they wouldn't come. She knew they were there, lodged in her brain: she could feel them pounding their way into a fierce headache. She dropped her head into her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to visualize the words, to force them out. She hated the weight of them, knew that once they were let out she would feel so much lighter. Now, they just rattled around in her head, tauntingly just out of her reach. If only there were some way to flush them out.

I've been kinda struggling with writers' block lately, so... this is what you get.
♥♥Kristin 

Some Pinspiration.

I haven't done a pinspirational Tuesday post in a while, and I know that today isn't Tuesday, but just go with it.

I may be reading too far into it, but I feel like the things I pin over a certain time period can tell a lot about my mood or how I was feeling that day. The same goes for Tumblr. The things I pin define me, and I guess that's kind of the point.

I have been obsessing over this quote for a while now. I've been wanting to write it everywhere, quoting it to myself, and I even made it my facebook status.

 Typography makes me swoon. The end.

 My "quoted" board is the biggest, and it's really no surprise. Words speak to me like nothing else.

Pretty much sums up my life.

I have been pinning pumpkin flavored things like there's no tomorrow. I am not ashamed of this.

There are so many beautiful places in the world, and I've seen so few of them.

And finally, I promise this is the last set, some generally pretty things that I've pinned lately:

Ah, Pinterest. 'Tis my favorite way to waste time. My boards are here, and my collection grows every day. Do you use Pinterest? If so, are you as addicted as I am?
♥♥Kristin

Why Fall Is Better

Than summer:
a. It's not so HOT
b. It's so much more colorful. There are so many shades of red, orange, yellow, dark green, and even brown in Fall. Summer is just an overabundance of green.

Than winter:
a. It's cool, but not so cold that I don't want to be outside for long periods of time. It still gets warm in the afternoon and I don't need a bulky winter jacket.
b. In winter, everything is brown and the sky is always hazy.

Than spring:
I'll admit, spring is my second favorite season, but fall is still slightly better, if only because I think the colors are richer and everything looks more defined. Plus, it doesn't rain as often (with this fall being the exception, I suppose).

So, yes. In my mind, fall is just absolutely the best. If only it would last longer.
♥♥Kristin