the human brain

is a complicated thing. if our minds belong to us, why are they so hard to control sometimes?

i suppose i'll find out in a lifetime or so.

my weekend: a lil' slice of heaven but also way too hot

guys, it's summah timeeeeeee!

cue the long island iced teas and porch nights. 

the campfires and warm weather.

the jorts and vacation time.

FINALLY time for some fun!

well, unless you're me of course. you see, i'm living the cali dream; (f)unemployed and always sweaty. you could say it's already been four months of (a long, hot, lonely) summer for me, so i'm pretty much ready for fall.

okay i'm 25% joking. since moving, getting married and having a lot of other high intensity situations all coming into my life at the same time, i've actually been pretty busy (and sweaty), and i truly am super stoked for my first full summer in the states with my man. 

california in the summer is really like no other. folks, we've got the palm trees, we've got the boats, and we've got the awesome national parks that we are killing one car at a time. i've never been so hot in my life! the last couple days have been about 40 degrees celsius, and without any humidity in the air (never thought i'd miss that), i'm literally on the constant edge of combustion.

this past weekend, me and some of my nearest and dearest took an awesome 24 hour trip to chico. we camped on the way up, and on saturday took an amazing tour of the sierra nevada brewery, and saw a bit of the chico campus. not pictured is the amazing hairstyle i created on colin, and colin and i hanging later on saturday with some older people who called us the hope for our generation. *blushhhhhh*.

colin made us some pretty epic meals. the #dickonastick was a great conversation starter AND tasted delicious.

                       

we swam in one of those places i'd consider heaven on earth... mind you i'm a water girl. but i mean, just look at it. it was indescribably beautiful. 

sorry ladies, this man candy is taken, plus he has weird tan lines.

 

we took a short tour of chico campus as well, where me and steph's husbands had a mundane/crappy short career back in the day. on the positive side, it led blaze to run away to another country (cue us), and tyler moving home (cue steph). so thanks chico state for kinda sucking!

next up was the sierra nevada brewery tour which of course we knew was going to be fun (free beer!), but it turned out so much better than i anticipated! stay tuned for my next blog post on this amazing and sustainable company :)

conveniently there's a pub/restaurant located on the property, so we headed there after. me and steph found that man candy again, steph couldn't contain her excitement. stay cool steph, stay cool.

seriously it was such a good weekend. many obnoxious things were exclaimed like "this is the best meal i've ever had!", "guys i'm so happy right now!", or "this is the best water i've ever been in!". but whatever they were all true.

hope all your summer's are off to just as awesome of a start!

-teen

"i love you."

"how much do you love me?"

"all the loves."

teen's at the moment list

what i'm highly enjoying this week:

the secret life of walter mitty (2013):

i'm not the hugest television/film fan in general, or maybe i should say i wasn't. because honestly being married to a screen-writing major has been slowly softening my heart... but i'll save that for another post. any ways i can not guarantee no animals were harmed in the making of this movie (cause i seriously think about those things), but since most movies these days don't give a what-what about the environment (and the messages they're sending), i have to often get past that and decide if the meaning is worth the means. and in this case, i suppose it was. ben stiller did an AMAZING job acting and directing this movie of adventure and inspiration. simple yet oh so deep. and after a little research i discovered it was originally a short story by james thurber. ultimately folks, i realize i'm behind the times cause this came out awhile ago but if you're like me and forced to have a movie night with a friend... choose this! you won't be disappointed.

what i'm feeling so-so on this week:

the honest life by jessica alba (2013)

my sister gifted me this book as part of a wedding gift and i think i had pretty much finished it by the end of the honeymoon. i am a huge sucker for non-fiction informative stuff... if it involves self-help or ways to improve the environment, i am there! now, there was a LOT i enjoyed about the book. you get the sense that alba has really done her homework when it comes to household products and food. and really, the book is a great advertisement for her company the honest company. i've already been on the hunt for some of her products. what totally rubbed me the wrong way was that ultimately, it was about how to keep her and her own family safe. yes, she implies caring about the environment to a certain degree, but where's the chapter on how to choose your clothing, for example? oh that's right, in typical celebrity fashion she does have a chapter on clothing, but it's more about fashion, and those 'classic pieces' we all need. okay, she does suggest organic material, but jessica? what about how the environment is harmed by clothes being shipped across the ocean, coming from factories polluting not only the air but the minds of the children trapped there? come onnnn.

ultimately i would recommend this book, but it doesn't really present us with any new information and her suggestions aren't forward enough.

what i'm passionately enraged about this week: 

meriam yehya ibrahim on death row in sudan

so, i am super into internet petitions these days. as an activist of some sort i was pretty sceptical when i signed up to start receiving emails from sites like change.org... too good to be true right? but over the years i have seen countless petitions i have signed ACTUALLY make changes. it's been amazing. and even when things haven't succeeded to a degree, the site keeps me up to date with injustices all around the world. this particular case really has been laying heavy on my heart.this sudanese mother is being sentenced to death for being a christian (and married to a muslim). she was just recently forced to give birth IN the prison... where her and her two year old son are at the moment. this is so grotesque. i can't imagine how they are being treated. the times of holding back people for their beliefs is well over. please take the time to help meriam 

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/government-of-sudan-don-t-execute-meriam-yehya-ibrahim-for-being-christian-savemeriam

have a righteous weekend my friends!

-teen

"the days are long and the years are short."

-teen

Jean Cottrill

Today I called my Grandma. Confession: the first time since I've moved here. Ya... that'd make it like 3 months :| Let's just say I'm not always the best grand-daughter. Any ways, I'm so glad I did. My Grandma is such an amazing strong woman. She had an extremely hard childhood during the depression, never finished high school, but found God in the midst of it all. She met Edward, fell in love, and got married. They had a family which she is so proud of, but tragically while my dad was in college and my aunt and uncle were still in high school, Ed died suddenly. 

My Grandma and I are very different people and do not agree on many things. But she is always so happy to hear from me and we have a great time talking. Due to a broken hip at Christmas, she wasn't able to make it to my wedding, and I missed having here there indeed. 

We had fun talking about the wedding, her recent birthday, and all the family kinds of things, and she gave me some needed (and unneeded) advice. But the one thing that stuck with me the most, near the end of the conversation, was when she said,

"It doesn't matter who you were ten years ago. It matters who you are today."

We hear these kind of cliché quotes in every movie, and God knows I read them too many times a day on Instagram. But having a wise woman who has really LIVED life say something like that to you... it sticks. It's one of those kind of truths that seem to bounce right off my heart no matter how many times I repeat it in my head. I needed her to say that (although I wouldn't say that it was exactly ten years ago I regret... try a few years forward). And now I need it to settle into my mind for a good while.

Thanks Grandma.

-teen

los angeles and the nights are scandalous

the other night was supberly fun and i took some great shots. 

me and blaze's dear friend (and recently awesome m.c.) took us to some fun little places around downtown l.a., something i shamefully haven't taken the time to explore very much of. some of the friends we went out with our the best and most genuine people i've ever met. aren't friends the best?

thanks tedley! (and sorry for the bad relationship advice).

married and matching

there's a drought right now

model jacob

this car was straight up running in the middle of the street with no one in it

diva

so in the moment

channelling high school