a few of my favorite things {summer edition} + a little bit of getting something off my chest

i decided to photograph and post these daises for a very specific reason. in fact, the reason is very much the same as the reason i bought them in the first place. but i'll get to that in a bit.

first.


how cheerfully does the bottle from a starbucks frappaccino make for a summer vase to fill with daisies? when i bought the drink at walmart, i had it consumed before i even reached the checkout lane... and that was at 6:00pm. i was so tired from not having slept the night before. i've had a terrible case of insomnia lately. lots on my mind and plate.

anyway, there was a time when i should have owned stock in starbucks, because i drank this perfectly sweet pick-me-up elixir as if they would be going off the assembly line for good within a month. that was years ago. now days, i rarely have one. it's just too small of a pick-me-up for the amount of pennies you shell out, ya know?

but i couldn't resist its call to me the other night. it's been so hot here, and they are so cool and delicious.

so i splurged. treated the ol' self for a change. after all, i was out buying diapers for isaac. i deserved it, right? needless to say, they are one of my most favorite treats of summer. {can't even think about drinking them in winter... i need hot drinks then.}

another thing i love about summer is fresh flowers... preferably from a farmer's market, but grocery store bouquets will do just the same. well, i guess you can get fresh flowers all year. but nothing says summer like a fresh bouquet of white daisies in the thick of this season... even during a dry, hot one like this year. let me tell you. i needed those, too!

lately, my surroundings consist of nothing but tornado-like damage and seas of toys... among all the other things isaac can get at around the house. i thought i might go a tinge insane if i didn't get something fresh and living and pretty into my home. so i got these. i rather love them. they make me smile. {hey... someone should market that aspect of flowers... that they make people smile... they could make millions! *wink*}

i could easily end my post right there.

but here's the thing. it might seem to some that when you blog about your sweet, adorable, good-natured son or pretty flowers or fun weekends with friends that life is grand and that you don't have hardship and heartache and pain in your life... sometimes daily. but if you are one of those "some", make no mistake... the people you see blogging about all the celebratory or pretty or simple things in their lives {the same people who might post positive messages or anecdotes as their facebook statuses}... you know the kind? {ehem... go ahead and say it... me.} well, they've got problems. they've got heartaches. they've got shortcomings and bad habits. they've got regrets and fears. they've got awfully painful struggles in their lives. they've got tense, broken or strained relationships. they've got physical and financial limitations. they've got difficult days where they have to fight off depression or exhaustion.

their attempts to always put positive things out there? or positive spins on things? that's their way of coping... of getting through... their way of rejoicing even in the midst of tribulation.

i used to be one of those people that cathartically wrote about many of those tough things... money trouble... job losses... struggles with doubt or fear... even relationships. but i can say this, too. if you choose to honestly let that side of life show {which many appreciate because they identify with and empathize with}, you will be judged for that as well... told you are only exposing personal problems to try to get others to feel sorry for you. basically, when it comes to those people {the critics} you really can't win. whether it's that you are even the slightest bit personal on your blog or facebook when it comes to struggles or that you are too "happy" and celebratory. if i am perceived as the latter, i can guarantee that it is because i was judged by multiple people for being the former. personally, i think a mix of the two is a healthy form of journaling. but if i had to give up one over the other of these two verbal, written or photographic expressions, i will give up the former {any day} over the latter.

i absolutely refuse to give up on celebrating all that i have in my life to celebrate {which is not all that grand if you compare it to others' lives}. in celebrating those things, i have less time to complain about the crap and less desire, as well. many days, it's only the little things {like flowers and coffee} that boost me up and carry me over all the junk. other days, it's the biggies... like a beautiful boy who can get me to laugh when all i want to do is cry.

i actually talk about this often on my blog. i know i've used this quote more than once... "you can either celebrate what you do have, or mourn what you don't." or said a different way... you can either celebrate what you can do, or mourn what you can't. i'll always choose the first. i sometimes choose the second. but even in those times, i try to turn it into a celebration... or at least an expression of something i've learned.

yes, there is a time for mourning. and i absolutely do mourn with those who mourn. i mourn myself for my own deep troubles or struggles... many of which i will never be able to talk about here.

but here is a place i choose to celebrate and look for the good in even what seems to be not so good.

i happened to know there are some who don't appreciate that... are annoyed by it... not toward me personally, but toward people {in general} who use a blog or facebook to be encouraging or celebratory. i read an article about it today. the post was actually about real and raw photography. and that part i truly appreciated. in fact, at first i was totally on board with the entire post. but then, the more i thought about it, the more i found the other parts {where not-so-raw-or-real photography was compared to those always-saying-something-positive-because-life-is-disgustingly-grand types of people} to be a little bit off. i understand what the writer was saying. but i took offense, because someone who does not know me well or the things i am going through could easily put me in that category. and quite frankly, i don't fit there at all. in fact, like i said above, none of us do. we ALL have really tough things in our lives. some more than others. but all of us, still.

some days, in just the same way i need to buy some flowers to boost my mood or make me appreciate beauty in the mundane, i need to photograph them and blog about them, too. in the best light... literally and metaphorically.

plain and simple.

THAT is where bloggers like myself are coming from.

{philippians 4: 4}
rejoice in the Lord always.
i will say it again:
rejoice!