Summertime

Hello lovely readers. It's been quite a few months since I posted, but here I am again.
Too many things have happened and months have passed for me to fairly blog about it all separately. So here's one giant blog post about my lovely summer. This has been one of the best ones I can remember, and now y'all can hear all about it.
(This post is really quite long. Feel free to skim.)

 

My brother graduated, and we all got to dress up fancy

and cry about him growing up.

 

I ruined an already awkward picture.

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I cut my hair for the first time in three years, and I love it.

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All of us girls went on vacation to Galveston.  

 

 Walking along the beach with Peyton.

 

Exploring in town.

 We went on a little tour boat thing, and we saw dolphins!

Our Peyton turned five. <3
 

I tried to be artsy and get a cool picture of myself. Sitting. On sand.
 

I GOT MY BRACES OFF!!!!

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My mom, Reagan, on of my good friends Jerah, and I all roadtripped to Kansas.

WE WERE HEADED TO THE OYAN SUMMER WORKSHOP! 

Where I got to spend a week with these lovely people.

Learning, critiquing, and generally having the best week ever.

 

Taking comfort the last day by... Laying on the ground.

And using each other as pillows. 

We called it the Stomach Train.

 

WE HAD A 20S NIGHT!

This is me and Delaney, her being our lovely prohibitionist. 

 Me and the beautiful Elly. I missed her so much.

We were roomates again this year, and it was so much fun. One of the best things about the week was staying up way too late and watching Newsies with her. 

I love ya, Pond.

 

KIERA! 

Hugs on the last night. <3

 

The Frodo to my Sam.

I missed her so very much.

Nori. <3

All the rawr.

 

This lovely group of people who stole my sour candy.

 Emma and Mariesa as Jack and Davey on Newsies day. 

AREN'T THEY FABULOUS!

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Lying in the grass with friends. :)

Unintional shoe matching with Carlie.
We end up dressing the same so much now it's getting creepy.

 

Carlie and me on the Fourth of July. <3

 

Watching the fireworks with these lovely people. 

Keeping cool. 

 

Jackson about to leave to Brazil for 3 weeks.

 

Katherine and I had our own lil' photo shoot.

 

All of us crammed onto a little bench to FaceTime Jackson.

Kathering competed in Nationals!

She placed really well.

And as you can all see, I'm obviously the flexible one in the family.

 

We went to the city and ate at a cute little cafe.

 

 

 I GOT MY PERMIT!

 

Here you see me trying out for the part of "Off Balance Mannequin."

 

 We attended the wedding of an old family friend.

And had quite a lot of fun with makeup and dresses.

And now you're caught up on my summer, as I'm sure you were dying to be. 

It's been excited and gruelingly hot and lots of fun. I still have a few weeks before school starts, and dare I say I'm ready for it?

I hope you've all been having an amazing summer. Keep on smiling. <3

Seven Reasons to be Happy Today

The world is a beautiful place, and I'm kinda in love with it. So here, lemme share 7 reasons to be happy this lovely Tuesday. Maybe it can cheer up your week.

1. FLOWERS! They're everywhere here, and I love it! But I love the yellow ones the most. Yellow flowers just look so incredibly cheerful. They're my favorites of all da flowers ever.


Just look how happy this lil' flower is. Now stare into the depths of it and go be happy that yellow flowers are growing everywhere.

2. The weather. Because it's been rather lovely. (Except the random tornado, but that's Texas for ya.) The days are either drizzly and grey and perfect to read on, or they're really clear and bright. Those ones make me happy, 'cause who doesn't love sunshine?

3. School is almost over! And that's an incredibly happy thing. I only have three weeks left, and then there is freedom!

4. Painting. I bought some canvases and borrowed some of my sister's paint, and painting just makes me really happy. It also makes me messy. (Very messy.)


(A picture of the Cameron Painting Process.)
Aaaaand the result of late night inspiration and messy painting.



5. There's so much to do in this big world, and so much to try and experience. And that's definitely something to be happy about. So go love life! It's beautiful.

6. Verses like these!
Psalm 46:19 "Be still and know that I am God."
Ephesians 5:8 "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light."
And my favourite verses, Romans 8:38-39 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Those verses all make me ponder (that's such a lovely word), and they make me happy.

And 7. NOTEBOOKS AND JOURNALS! They make me so happy. And I have way too many.
And they're so fun to do things with. Are you gonna paint in 'em, or journal deep thoughts, or doodle, or write? They're pretty wonderful, huh?

(Hahah that's just some of them.)

So,what makes you happy on this beautiful day?

Snow Days

I deemed snow blog worthy because this is Texas, and I don't think I've seen this much freezing since I was 8.
Anyhow, it's snowed and iced and frozen over and over in the past two weeks. It's like Texas has an annual snow day that only happens in February. But it forgot that February is over.
Don't get me wrong, I really love snow. Just not when it ruins traveling plans almost two weeks in a row. But all's well that ends well. I still got to see Houston, and I'll be heading to Oklahoma to see my sister in her college Spring Sing this weekend.

Now because I'm rather boring right now, have some pictures.


This is my new favorite picture. Peyton and me out for a walk on a snowy morning. Funny how everything seems magical when it's dusted with snow.


Katherine, Peyton, Reagan, and Emelyn running ahead of me to see the world. Because it's a rather different world when it's frozen.
(This doesn't look like a lot of snow, but that was only the start.)


Not a snow picture, but I love it. Adrienne and me reunited after she was at a Stock Show for a few days. We'll never admit it, but we really do miss each other.


Apparently blowing snow everywhere is really fun. You should all try it.


Aaand one last picture. Reagan and me taking a lovely sister-selfie (is that a thing?) in our snow covered front yard.

And that about wraps up this post. Have a lovely weekend. And stay warm. <3

15 Facts You Totally Want to Know About Me

So, I'm officially 15 now. Which isn't very old, but it's older than last week.
Anyhow, I keep ditching my blog, but I really do enjoy blogging, so here's a blog post that makes more sense than most of them do.

Since I'm fifteen now and this is a blog mostly about my life, why not so fifteen random facts about Cameron?
Soooo, here we go.

1: I love the simple things in life. Like glimpses of stars through branches, or little words that mean big things, or random hugs.

2: I'm the third child out of eight. When I was younger that kinda defined me. Like, hello, I'm Cameron and I'm the third out of eight, and that is all there is to me. But now I'm becoming more my own person, and having seven sibling just shows me how unique I am.

3: I consider piggy-back rides to be literally one of the best things ever. Because why wouldn't you love those?

4: Cheesecake is my favorite food. Not just dessert. I mean food. It's the best out of everything.

5: I love hugs, and hugging people.






(Hugging Peyton yesterday. My mom was being mom-ish and taking pictures of things. And I kinda love this.)

6: I've got this weird thing for umbrellas. They're just awkward and adorable and so much fun, and I kinda love them. ALSO! My birthday happens to be on... Dun dun dunnnn: National Umbrella Day. Which made me really happy.

7: I love words so much.

8: Old things make me happy. Like pieces of history. I love museums for that reason. Because things are so old, and they're still here. I don't even have some touching reason I like things like that. They just intrigue me, and amaze me too.

9: Laughing is one of the things I do best.

10: I love making people happy, almost more than anything else.

11: I adore piano music, and playing the piano.

12: I have this not-so-secret desire to play guitar.

13: I want to go on a plane so badly it's not even funny. But I am patient. I can wait. *sneaks away before The Hobbit reference is noticed*

14: I'm kinda a nerd, if you haven't noticed. Or maybe it's a geek? Not quite sure. But I'm in quite a few fandoms.

15: I love life, and adventuring to live it to the fullest extent that I can, and being happy.

So, now you know fifteen more things about me than you did when you started. Or maybe you're a stalker and you already knew all of this. Anyhow, have a great day. Or night. Because it's night. Ta ta for now. Thanks for reading.

Side note: if you look back at that picture, you'll notice a large furry body in the back. It's not Bigfoot. That is a somewhere around five foot tall teddy bear that my loving family got me for my birthday. And as a mature fifteen year old, of course it's not my favorite gift, and I'm so not hugging it as I type this out. That would be ridiculous.

... Then again, I've always been a bit ridiculous.

Living to Love This Year

So if you live on planet Earth, you've probably noticed it's 2015 now. Which means I'll probably still be writing 2012 as the date.

Last year was amazing, long, also incredibly short, a bit awful at some points, and mostly not much different from other years. And that sort of bothers me.
I'm a live-in-the-moment kind of person. I love excitement and joy, and experiencing things that make me want to remember them forever. But how do you live in a moment if you don't let yourself appreciate moments, no matter how small? Well, you really can't. I can't.
I never think back on a week, or a month, or a year, and think Eh, it was good. No, I think in moments. I remember sleepovers and laughter and hot summer nights. I remember the things I enjoyed.

I actually wrote out a New Years Resolutions List this year. And thinking back over it, most of what I want to do this year is enjoy life more. Breath in cold air, enjoy little moments, watch the sunsets, and just love life. Because I've got to live through it, and I'm the one who gets to decide if it'll be miserable or enjoyable and lovely. And when I think about it like that, it's an easy choice.
But wanting to love life doesn't really work out for me, I've discovered. I have to decide love life. Remember to love it.
Wishing I would've taken in more, lived more, and loved more last year isn't going to do anything. But deciding to live life being more alive this year can do something.

This year, I resolve to find some of that, joy and love and more, in every day. Because there is so much to see in this world. So much to love and to wonder over and to enjoy. And what a waste it would be if we never took it in.
I resolve to live to love life this year. I don't want to just have my life, I want to live it. Because no matter how miserable, annoying, and awful this year can become, there will be beauty in every day, every person, and every moment. And I want to see it.

I challenge you, my wee amount of readers, to try and find even a little bit of beauty in each day. Because life is so very much more than we take time to notice.

Merry Christmas

So, while I abandoned my blog, lots of life has happened to me, and my blog turned a year old. Or I guess it just is a year old. I'm not sure if blogs turn years old.
I'll spare you the five hundred paragraph post that would be required to bring my five readers up to date on my quiet, beautiful, hectic little life.

Instead, I'll just leave you knowing that I have never been happier for a Christmas break (High school has not been kind), we've had several bouts of sickness in our family, I've fallen quite in love with Autumn and sunsets and cold air, and basically life, once more, and I find myself running quite behind on Christmas gifts.
Which can basically sum up the last few months, but also doesn't even come close to doing just that.

Instead I'm just going to start from here and now, because I've found that works quite well.

Christmas is almost upon us, and I've gotten most of my gifts sorted out for my numerous siblings. The key word here is most. I still have to get something for Madison, Adrienne, and my mom and dad. Oh yes, and my grandmother. But on the bright side, I have gifts for my five other siblings ready.

I've found that the older I get, the less excited I get about Christmas. And it made me sad, last year being about the first time I realized that I wasn't filled with constant thrills of joy and excitement, and I was sadly aware that I fell asleep rather easily on Christmas Eve.
But maybe, and please bear with the Halmark channel cheesiness here, that's because Christmas is quite a bit more than not being able to sleep on the night before, and the joy of ripping off all that wrapping paper.

Because I've found this year, as keep waiting for myself to be filled with wonderful excitement, that it's just not happening. I'm not, no matter how much I wish to be, ecstatic about the gifts already piling up under the tree.

But there is so much Christmas in the candlelight service my church held last week, where we heard the story of Mary and baby Jesus, and then sang Christmas songs. And it filled me up with something I wasn't sure how to feel at all.

And then tonight, when I spent all day at my best friends house, and me and my older siblings sat together with our friends and watched Scrooge (which I can't honestly say I like watching more than once.), and Annie, and were just laughing and being together. And in a moment of cliche-ness, I looked at their Christmas tree, and the lights from it made the room warm and cozy, and I was just kind of like, "I think this is what Christmas is now."

Because gifts are only exciting for so long, and trees will go back to the garage or attic or wherever, along with the ornaments and lights. But the reason for the season, if I may borrow the overused phrase, will, I feel, linger with me. Because Jesus is gonna stay in my heart forever, and Christmas is finally starting to bring that into sharp relief, and maybe that's what it's all about.
Those Christmas songs, and that laughter and peace, are going to be in my soul for a long, long time.
And that is, I think, what I'm discovering Christmas to be once I stop and think about it.

So, I hope you all find joy this beautiful holiday season, and that your heart loves Christmas as much as mine is starting to.

Merry Christmas.

Happines Post #1

So. A while back I said I wanted to start having periodic posts about happiness. Here's the first one. :)

Things To Be Happy About:

Autumn. Texas takes a while, but it does cool down. And that's finally starting to happen over here. I love the cool weather, the golden leaves, and there's just something sharp and fresh about the air in fall.  

Meeting up with old friends. I got to see a good friend I haven't talked to in a while, and it was wonderful to catch up with her. We're both kinda equally awkward, so we had an amazingly awkward time together. It was good fun.

Little reminders that God is there, and that I'm so very blessed. Sometimes God does something huge and amazing, and I'm kind of hit with this feeling of whoa, God is huge, and he really loves me. And then sometimes there are little things that come into my heart slowly and linger for a long time. Like how the wind feels on my face, and how the sunset paints the sky, and when my little sisters run to hug me. These little blessings are beautiful.

Encouraging verses. These have wonderfully calmed me down before tests, and when I'm feeling really stressed out, or maybe when I just need some peace.

For His anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalms 30:5

 

 From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2

 

 After saving up for a while, I was finally able to buy my own phone! I have been taking pictures on it a bit excessively, because the camera is lovely. 

Free time. After I got some of my school out of the way today, I sat down (read as: laid on my floor because it's comfortable) and drew this. Just because.

 FAVORITE POEM! (I used my camera to take this. Ehehehe.)

My big sister got to visit from college. It was wonderful having her back.

 

 (SHE'S SO PRETTY!) 

Also I love this picture. <3

Also, the only reason she looks taller than me is because the ground was slanted.

I have like two whole inches on her, and I'm like five years younger. 

See, there's another thing to be happy about. I'm taller than my big sister. Hahaha. Haha. Ha

There are a ton of things to be happy about, and really you don't even have to think hard. 

So, what have you (my five readers) been happy about?