And The Greatest of These is Love

"Love is the very essence of life. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Yet it is more than the end of the rainbow. Love is at the beginning also, and from it springs the beauty that arches across the sky on a stormy day. Love is the security for which children weep, the yearning of youth, the adhesive that binds marriage, and the lubricant that prevents devastating friction in the home, it is the peace of old age, the sunlight of hope shining through death. In our youth, we sometimes acquire faulty ideas of love, that it can be imposed or simply created for convenience. I noted the following in a newspaper column some years ago: 'One of the grand errors we tend to make when we are young is supposing that a person is a bundle of qualities, and we add up the individual's good and bad qualities, like a bookkeeper working on debits and credits. If the balance is favorable, we may decide to take the jump [into marriage]... The world is full of unhappy men and women who married because... it seemed to be a good investment. Love, however, is not an investment; it is an adventure. And when marriage turns out to be as dull and comfortable as a sound investment the disgruntled party soon turns elsewhere... Ignorant people are always saying, 'I wonder what he sees in her [or him],' not realizing that what he [or she] sees in her [or him] (and what no one else can see) is the secret essence of love.' Love is the only force that can erase the differences between people."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

"If one really loves another, one would rather die for that person than to injure him."

-Elder Spencer W. Kimball

"There are lots of limitations in all of us that we hope our sweethearts will overlook. I suppose no one is as handsome or as beautiful as he or she wishes, or as brilliant in school or as witty in speech or as wealthy as we would like but in a world of varied talents and fortunes that we can't always command, I think that makes even more attractive the qualities we can command--such qualities as thoughtfulness, patience, a kind word, and true delight in the accomplishment of another. These cost us nothing, and they can mean everything to the one who receives them.

I like Mormon and Paul's language that says one who truly loves is not "puffed up" Puffed up! Isn't that a great image? Haven't you ever been with someone who was so conceited, so full of themselves that they seemed like the Pillsbury doughboy? Fred Allen said once that he saw such a fellow walking down Lovers' Lane holding his own hand. True love blooms when we care more about another person than we care about ourselves. That is Christ's great atoning example for us, and it ought to be more evident in the kindness we show, the respect we give, and the selflessness and courtesy we employ in our personal relationships.

Love is a fragile thing, and some elements in life can try to break it. Much damage can be done if we are not in tender hands, caring hands. To give ourselves totally to another person, as we do in marriage, is the most trusting step we take in any human relationship. This is a real act of faith--faith all of us must be willing to exercise. If we do it right, we end up sharing everything--all our hopes, all our fears, all our dreams, all our weaknesses, and all our joys--with another person. 

No serious courtship or engagement or marriage is worth the name if we do not fully invest all that we have in it and in so doing, trust ourselves totally to be the one we love. You cannot succeed in love if you keep one foot out on the bank for safety's sake. The very nature of the endeavor requires that you hold onto each other as tightly as you can and jump in the pool together. In that spirit, and in the spirit of Mormon's plan for pure love, I want to impress upon you the vulnerability and delicacy of your partner's future as it is placed in your hands for safekeeping--male and female, it works both ways."

-Elder Jeffery R. Holland

"The girl you marry will take a terrible chance on you. She will give her all to the young man she marries. He will largely determine the remainder of his [and her] life, she will even surrender her name to his name."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

"Spiritual growth comes by solving problems together--not by running from them. Today's inordinate emphasis on individualism brings egotism and separation. Two individuals becoming 'one flesh' is still the Lord's standard."
-President Ezra Taft Benson

"Marriage can be more an exultant ecstasy than the human mind can conceive. This is within the reach of every couple, every person."

-President Spencer W. Kimball

"The wisdom of God ofttimes appears as foolishness to men, but the greatest single lesson we can learn in mortality is that when God speaks and a man obeys, that man will always be right."
-President Thomas S. Monson

"The Lord expects something better of us. He expects something better than is to be found in the world... When we look for the worst in anyone, we will find it. But if we concentrate on the best, that element will grow until it sparkles."
-President Gordon B. Hinckley

"If you want something to last forever, you treat it differently. You shield it and protect it. You never abuse it. You don't expose it to the elements. You don't make it common or ordinary. If it ever becomes tarnished, you lovingly polish it until it gleams like new. It becomes special because you have made it so, and it grows more beautiful and precious as time goes by."
-Elder F. Burton Howard

"Don't waste your time searching and wishing. Grow and be ready... and you'll see God will give you a love story far better than you could ever dreamed of."
-President Gordon B. Hinckley

"The is nothing in this world as personal, as nurturing, or as life changing as the influence of a righteous woman."

-Elder M. Russell Ballard

"We cannot gauge the worth of another soul anymore than we can measure the span of the universe. Every person we meet is a VIP to our Heavenly Father. Once we understand that, we can begin to understand how we should treat our fellowmen. 

True love requires action. We can speak of love all day long-- we can write notes or poems that proclaim it, sing songs that praise it, and preach sermons that encourage it--but until we manifest that love in action, our words are nothing but 'sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal'.

Love is what inspired our Heavenly Father to create our spirits; it is what led our Savior to the Garden of Gethsemane to make Himself a ransom for our sins. Love is the grand motive of the Plan of Salvation. It is the source of happiness, the ever-renewing spring of healing, the precious fountain of hope."

-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Your Father in Heaven and His Beloved son love you perfectly. They would not require you to experience a moment more of difficulty than is absolutely needed for your personal benefit or for that of those you love."

-Elder Richard G. Scott

"To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning."

-Elder Richard G. Scott

"The love of two righteous people moving toward the Savior can cast out the fears of all the world's unknowns."

"You can do something for another person that no one else ever born can do."
-President James Faust

"Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."
-President Thomas S. Monson

"Every noble impulse, every unselfish expression of love, every brave suffering for the right; every surrender of self to something higher than self; every loyalty to an ideal; every unselfish devotion to principle, every helpfulness to humanity; every act of self control, every fine courage of the soul, undefeated by pretense or policy, but by doing, and living of good for the very good's sake--that is spirituality."
-President David O. McKay

"The heaven we seek is little more than the projection of our homes into eternity."

-President Stephen L. Richards

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what? Get started now, with each step you take, you grow stronger and stronger.

It is inconceivable that God would desire to punish or to see his children in suffering or pain or distress. He is a God of peace and tranquility. He offers joy and growth and happiness and peace."

-President Spencer W. Kimball

"Love is cleanliness and progress and sacrifice and selflessness. This kind of love never tires nor wanes, but lives through sickness and sorrow, poverty and privation, accomplishment and disappointment, time and eternity."

-President Spencer W. Kimball

"Love cannot be forced... it comes out of heaven unasked and unsought."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

"I submit that... as a true guide. In the presence of the girl you truly love you do not feel to grovel, in her presence do not attempt to take advantage of her, in her presence feel that you would like to be everything that a master man should become, for she will inspire you to that ideal. And I ask you young women to cherish that same guide. My mother once said that if you meet a girl in whose presence you feel a desire to achieve, who inspires you to do your best, and to make the most of yourself, such a young woman is worthy of your love and is awakening love in your heart."
-President David O. McKay

"Choose your love, love your choice."
-President Thomas S. Monson

"When true love prevails between husband and wife, they want to give themselves to and for each other, as Christ gave of Himself. We give for each other on a daily basis. When we endeavor always to make each other happy. Then we give up thinking selfishly of ourselves and our personal needs. Then we really think not only of the here and now but of the hereafter."
-Elder Albert Choules Jr

"True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere. Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through times. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others."

-President Thomas S. Monson

Eternal love is the purpose of us being here. To find our eternal companion who will be with us forever. Love is the best thing ever. This is why Satan tries to fill our heads with doubts. Love is in us, born within our hearts, and he wants to destroy it and replace it with misery and hate because he can't have love.

This is why so many marriages fail because from the moment you find your sweetheart and fall in love until crossing over safely to our Heavenly Father, Satan will do absolutely everything to destroy and break the covenants and eternal bond we have with our Savior and the one we love. He will always be there with doubts, fear, temptation, contention, conflict, anger, and sadness. He will always try to stir up trouble and exaggerate our trials until we feel like giving up, breaking down, deciding it's not worth it. But it is. Love is worth everything.

Marriage will be the best yet hardest thing in life. However, as Heavenly Father has shown us, nothing worthwhile is ever easy, but always always always worth it. You must work every moment of everyday to get to happily ever after. You have to be strong which is why you find the one for you who you are meant to be with to become one in every way. You are two imperfect people striving together to attain perfection and make your family yours forever. If you pray always together, are selfless, choose the right, and have faith, the Savior's love will overcome the adversary without fail. Heavenly Father is always there for us. In love, you must sacrifice everything, but the reward is a million times better than we are even capable of imaging. <3 Charley Brooke

Until the Last Falling Star

"Stop the habit of wishful thinking and start the habit of thoughtful wishes."

-Mary Martin

"The only remedy for love is to love more."

-Henry David Thoreau 

"When you are scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."

-Neil Gaiman

"Everyone has something of beauty about them. But loving lets you look, and look, and look again. You notice the back of a hand, the turn of a head, the way of a walk. When you first love, you look blind and you see it all as the glorious, beloved whole, or a beautiful sum of beautiful parts. But when you see the one you love as pieces, as whys, you can love those parts too, and it's a love at once more complicated and more complete."
-Ally Condie, Crossed

"Love changes what is probable and makes unlikely things possible."

-Ally Condie, Crossed

"There are certain people who come into your life, and leave a mark. Their place in your heart is tender, a bruise of longing, a pulse of unfinished business. Just hearing their names pushes and pulls at you in a hundred ways, and when you try to define those hundred ways, describe them even to yourself, words are useless."

-Sara Zarr

Lovelies, 

I have endless random thoughts running wild in my mind so I am going to share a few with you...

Always remember every day means a whole new 24 hours. Every day means anything and everything is possible again. Take those hours and make them count... you never know how many you will get. I know it can be terrifying to step out of your comfort zone and try new things, take chances, but unless you do so, unless you let things change, they will never get better. Meet new people and you could make friends that will last a lifetime, maybe you'll meet the one for you. We all get chances, but our choice is whether to act on them. If you are always saying no then you will never know the possibilities.

Trust me on that.

Mistletoe... haha... here is my rant on that. Okay so it's cute and romantic. I get it. Who doesn't want to be kissed under the mistletoe. There are songs and songs and songs about it. Truthfully though, I think it's a bit pathetic. Why do guys need an excuse, why do they need a plant to tell them to kiss the girl? Man up and be brave. As I said above, take chances. 

Just saying...

With the New Year on it's way, evaluate the current one. Think about what you want out of next year. 2011 wasn't the best year for me, but it was still good. I will make 2012 even better. I've learned more than I could ever explain in 2,011 blog posts. I've grown. That's the important thing. That part of life isn't always fun, but always worth it. It's making me into the girl I am supposed to be, the better me. You just have to be patient. Take more chances next year, set goals, and make life happen for you. Think more about others to and brighten their lives.

Be bold. Be brave. Be heroic. Be fearless. Be inspiring. 

Never forget how amazing you are. 

Your potential is limitless if you let it be.

Tomorrow=Tuesday=Gratituesday

Think of what you are thankful for, of who you are thankful for... let them know. Let Heavenly Father know how grateful you are for all of your countless blessings. 

I am thankful for you.

I am thankful for forgiveness.

I am thankful for love.

I am thankful for opportunity.

I am thankful for music.

I am thankful for the spirit of the Christmas season.

I am thankful for my life.

I am thankful for being able to see.

I am thankful for being able to express myself through words.

I am thankful for a zillion more things... everything basically, because even our trials are blessings.

Be THANKFUL.

Have a happy GratiTuesday lovelies :)

(Music I listened to while writing this entry: "Not The Only One" -Jacob Gann, "The Weight of Us" -Sanders Bohlke, and "Driveway" -Great Northern I am thankful for these talented musicians and the fact that the shared their talent with the world. Thank you!)


And I am grateful to my beautiful, wonderful, stunning little sister McHale! Happy 20th birthday to her. I love you sister.

McHale, our friend Hannah, & I last year

Th1rteen R3easons Why

Th1rteen R3asons Why

By Jay Asher

This book changed me forever. I will never ever forget it. I've been in Hannah's shoes before. I think we all have had Hannah moments... but have we also been one of the thirteen? This book is eerie, beautiful and absolutely, breathtakingly, devastating. I feel the world would be a better place if everyone read this. Read this. I could not put this book down. This was my second time reading it. It reveals what is behind the masks we all wear and how everything we do and say (or don't do and say) effects everything... This book touched my heart, and its fingerprints will remain etched there forever.

SUMMARY: When high school student Clay Jensen receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

You can't stop the future,

You can't rewind the past.

The only way to learn the secret

...is to press play.

Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes--and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...

...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

MY FAVORITE QUOTES FROM THIS BOOK:
"Hello, boys and girls. Hannah Baker here. Live and in stereo. No return engagements. No encore. And this time, absolutely no requests. I hope you're ready; because I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended. And if you're listening to these tapes, you're one of the reasons why."

-Hannah Baker

"The rules are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one: You listen. Number two: You pass it on. Hopefully neither one will be easy for you."

-Hannah

"Do not take me for granted... again."

-Hannah

"I hope you'll understand your role in all of this. Because it may seem like a small role now, but it matters. In the end, everything matters."

-Hannah

"What did you want to hear? Because I've heard so many stories that I don't know which one is the most popular. But I do know which is the least popular. The truth."

-Hannah

"When you hold people up for ridicule, you have to take responsibility when other people act on it."

-Hannah

"You can't rewrite the past."

-Clay Jensen 

"You can't know rumors. You can hear rumors but you can't know them."
-Hannah

"Did you notice the scars you left behind? No. Probably not. Because most of them can't be seen with the naked eye."

-Hannah

"Every story I'm telling leaves so many unanswered questions."

-Hannah

"I took the longest possible route home. I explored alleys and hidden roads I never knew existed. I discovered neighborhoods entirely new to me. And finally... I discovered I was sick of this town and everything in it."

-Hannah

"With the realization that no one knew the truth about my life, my thoughts about the world were shaken. Like driving along a bumpy road and losing control of the steering wheel, tossing you--just a tad--off the road. The wheels kick up some dirt, but you're able to pull it back. Yet no matter how tightly you grip the wheel, no matter how how hard you try to drive straight, something keeps jerking you to the side. You have so little control over anything anymore. And at some point, the struggle becomes too much--too tiring--and you consider letting go. Allowing tragedy...or whatever... to happen."

-Hannah

"I couldn't stop thinking about Hannah. How she looked. How she acted. How it never matched up with what I heard. But I was too afraid to find out for sure. Too afraid she might laugh if I asked her out. Just too afraid."
-Clay

"For the longest time... it seemed that I was the only one who cared about me. Will I ever get control of my life? Will I always be shoved back and pushed around by those I trust? Will my life ever go where I want it to?"
-Hannah

"I'm listening to someone give up. Someone I knew. Someone I liked. I'm listening. But still, I'm too late."
-Clay

Eventually, she said the words that ran through my mind for the rest of that night: "You don't need to watch out for me, Clay."
But I did, Hannah. And I wanted to. I could have helped you. But when I tried, you pushed me away.
I can almost hear Hannah's voice speaking my next thought for me. "Then why didn't you try harder?"


"I guess that's the point of it all. No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same."
-Hannah

"My heart and my trust were in the process of collapsing. And that collapse created a vacuum in my chest. Like every nerve in my body was withering in, pulling away from my fingers and toes. Pulling back and disappearing. I sat. And I thought. And the more I thought, connecting the events in my life, the more my heart collapsed."
-Hannah

"Maybe I wanted someone to point a finger at me and say, "Hannah. Are you thinking about killing yourself? Please don't do that, Hannah. Please?" 
But deep down, the truth was that the only person saying that was me. Deep down, those were my words."
-Hannah

"If you could hear other people's thoughts, you'd overhear things that are true as well as things that are completely random. And you wouldn't know one from the other. It'd drive you insane. What's true? What's not? A million ideas, but what do they mean?"
-Hannah

"If my love were an ocean,
there would be no more land.
If my love were a desert,
you would see only sand.
If my love were a star--
late at night, only light.
And if my love could grow wings,
I'd be soaring in flight."
-Hannah

"If you hear a song that makes you cry and you don't want to cry anymore, you don't listen to that song anymore. But you can't get away from yourself. You can't decide to not see yourself anymore. You can't decide to turn off the noise in your head."
-Hannah

"Looking down into her eyes, I couldn't help telling her I was sorry. Sorry for waiting so long to let her know how I felt. For a brief moment, I was able to admit it. To her. To myself. But I could never admit it again. Till now. But now, it's too late. And that's why, right at this moment, I feel so much hate. Toward myself. I deserve to be on this list. Because if I hadn't been so afraid of everyone else, I might have told Hannah that someone cared. And Hannah might still be alive."
-Clay

"Soul Alone" by Hannah Baker
I meet your eyes
you don't even see me
You hardly respond
when I whisper
hello
Could be my soul mate
two kindred spirits
Maybe we're not
I guess we'll never
know


My own mother
you carried me in you
Now you see nothing
but what I wear
People ask you
how I am doing
You smile and nod
don't let it end
there


Put me
underneath God's sky and 
know me
don't just see me with you eyes
Take away
this mask of flesh and bone and
see me 
for my soul




alone


"You don't know what went on in the rest of my life. At home. Even at school. You don't know what goes on in anyone's life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person's life, you're not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can't be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're messing with their entire life."
-Hannah

"You can't go back to how things were. How you thought they were. All you really have... is now."
-Hannah

"The thing is," I say, "I never really missed her till now."
He sits back in his seat and looks over at me.
"I didn't know what to make of that night. Everything that happened. I'd liked her for so long from so far away, but I never had a chance to tell her." I look down at the Walkman. "We only had one night, and by the end of that night, it seemed like I knew her even less than before. But now I know. I know where her mind was that night. Now I know what she was going through."
My voice breaks, and in that break comes a flood of tears.
-Clay

With my face pressed against the bars, I begin to cry. If anyone is walking through the park, I know they can hear me. But I don't care if they hear me because I can't believe I just heard the last words I'll ever hear from Hannah Baker... I would have helped her if she'd only let me. I would have helped her because I want her to be alive.
-Clay


Always remember, even when it feels like you are all alone and you don't have anyone to talk to, you do. There's a national phone number and Web site (1-800-SUICIDE and www.hopeline.com) available 24/7. I am always here for you. Remember to always tell the ones you love how you feel. Speak now. And keep unkind words to yourself. Love will always overcome hate.

It's A Wonderful Life

"This is a sick world we're living in with sick people!"

-Sinbad, Jingle All The Way

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

-A Christmas Story

"I don't need a hundred gifts beneath the tree. Don't you know the best thing you could give to me. Nothing else will do. All I want is you this Christmas."

-NSYNC

"What do you want, Mary? Do you want the moon? If you want it, I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down for you. Hey! That's a pretty good idea! I'll give you the moon, Mary!"

-George Bailey

"He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree."

-Roy L. Smith

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

-Norman Vincent Peale

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time."

-Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance--each beautiful, unique, and too soon gone."

-Deborah Whipp

"Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas everyday."

-Helen Steiner Rice

"Even before Christmas has said Hello, it's saying 'Buy Buy!'"

-Robert Paul

"There are three stages of man: he believes in Santa Claus, he does not believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus."

-Bob Phillips

"The only real blind person at Christmas time is he who has not Christmas in his heart."

-Helen Keller

"To perceive Christmas through its wrappings becomes more difficult with every year."

-E. B. White

"The way of fortune is like the milky-way in the sky; which is a number of small stars, not seen asunder, but giving light together, so it is a number of little and scarce discerned virtues or rather faculties and customs that make men fortunate."

-Sir Francis Bacon

"He who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man, but one thing the last of the human freedoms, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

-Viktor E. Frank

"Man on Porch: "Why don't you kiss her instead of talking to her to death?"

George Bailey: "You want me to kiss her, huh?"

Man on Porch: "Ah, youth is wasted on the wrong people."

-It's A Wonderful Life

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought or something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a bit more."

-Dr. Seuss

"When you're a kid, it's simple. Christmas is magic. It's a time of miracles, when reindeer can fly, and Frosty never melts. Then you get older. Somehow, things change. The magic begins to fade. Until something happens that reminds you, at Christmas time, miracles still can be found. Sometimes in the most unexpected places." 

-The Wonder Years

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

-Burton Hills

"Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and the love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God."

-George F. McDougall

"The spirit of giving gifts has been present in the mind of each Christian as he or she commemorates the Christmas season. Our Heavenly Father gave to us His Son, Jesus Christ. That precious Son gave to us His life, the Atonement, and victory over the grave."

-President Thomas S. Monson 

"If I had a snowflake for every time I thought of you, we'd have a really white Christmas."

-Charlie Brown

"So remember, whilst Christmas brings the only Christmas Day, in the year let there be Christmas in the things you do and say. Wouldn't life be worth the living. Wouldn't dreams be coming true if we kept the Christmas spirit all the whole year through?"

"Christmas is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas."

-Dale Evans

"Christmas is doing a little extra for someone."

-Charles Schultz 

"This the message of Christmas: we are never alone."

-Taylor Caldwell

"I love everything about the Christmas season , but mostly the way that people find ways to be with the ones they love... And I love sweaters."

-Taylor Swift

"Love, the wise men followed the star. The I followed my heart. And it led me to a miracle."

-Justin Bieber

It Will Rain

Friends are the best.

As I have discussed, the past little while has not been the easiest.

Rain is definitely pouring down on me nonstop so hard that it feels like it threatens to drown and you can't even dance in it.  You're just trying to stay afloat and just keep swimming. The past few days have been full of bad news. I have to admit Nation even I was a little down...

I get to work and my wonderful, amazing friend Paige-Madison surprised me with the most heartfelt letter that was like sunshine breaking through the storm clouds. 

I feel like some days I don't deserve the friends I have because they are so good to me.

Seriously Paige's letter was full of some of the best, most inspiring advice. I'm going to share the advice and inspiration of the letter.

"I love you! You will be okay! I just know it. You're the strongest, kindest girl I've ever met and absolutely will succeed. Think of all the great famous people/champions out there--they almost all have beginnings that were rough, frustrating, and scary--but it made their story that much more amazing in the end. Your story, my story, and many others are being made right now. Sometimes we don't always know why we are tested--but it's for a reason. If we didn't get through some of the trails thrown at us, we wouldn't be us, and we wouldn't be that much happier in the end. Fight girl. You have it in you. Sometimes, when things just couldn't seem to be worse--you just have to smile and know that everything will be okay so long as you're doing the right thing. Heavenly Father answers our prayers in his own way which is the best way. Remember that. He will never hide the reason from us, he will only have us search for it and reveal it when we are ready and it is best."
Love that girl and the words I know to be true in my heart but needed to be reminded of. I can't thank Paige enough for being the sweetest friend a girl could ask for.
Speaking of friends, it was my best friend since I was 4's birthday yesterday!
Happy 23rd Birthday to the incredible Aubrey "Brie" Ann Young :)

 Brie & CiCi

Aubrey & I photoshoot in 2009

 Best friends and rockstars...

 Easter Egging @ Brie's (which was my second home growing up)

 Brie and her equally amazing husband Tyson dancing during the Easter egg decorating session.

 Aubrey, me, & McHale (my little sister).

 The high school years...

Meeting Jesse McCartney (the Justin Bieber of our youth).

Brie isn't just a friend... she is basically my older sister and I'm her younger sister... since I don't have an other sister nor does she have a younger sister (or any for that matter).
The girl inspires me beyond comprehension.
In the words of the Little Rascals, "You only get a once in a lifetime friend, once in a lifetime."
Haha we are writers and journal-ers.
She wrote the following to me yesterday that makes me smile:
"Charley, I love you! I just thought I'd start off by mentioning that because you are awesome! You are thee best BFF ever!
And today, I'm old. That's scary...I'm getting into like my mid twenties. And you're only a year younger so you should be scared too! I can't believe that we aren't still like 17 or something."
The world, especially mine, is better because she is in it. I love my Brie Brie.
For her bday, we went out to dinner at a local restaurant called Tom's (it's amazing) with Tyson and Brie's parents and Heidi (Brie's sister-in-law basically). Then we went to the Young's and had cake... Fun times.
Love you lovelies.

Speak Now

"Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties today of its strength."

-Mary Engelbreit

"She considered each day a miracle--which indeed it is, when you consider the number of unexpected things that could happen in each second of our fragile existences."

-Paulo Coelho

"If something was really important, fate made sure it somehow came back to you and gave you another chance. Events conspired to bring you back to where you'd been. It was what you did then that made all the difference: it was all about potential."

-Sarah Dessen

"Then the night you've been waiting for comes and suddenly your dream isn't a dream anymore, it's a reality. It's all around you like something you always knew would happen."

-Margaret Willey

"Did you know that I,

full of so many thoughts I,

only think of you?"

-Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson

"Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible."

-T.E. Lawrence

"Joseph Conrad once wrote 'who knows what true happiness is...not the conventional word but the naked terror. To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion.' Stephen King once wrote 'Time takes it all whether you want it to or not. Time takes it all. Time bears it away. And in the end there is only darkness, and sometimes we lose them there again.'"

-Lucas Scott, One Tree Hill

"You've got every right to a beautiful life."

-Selena Gomez

"So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?"

-You've Got Mail

"I've been there. I wanna tell you it gets better. That pain in the pit of your stomach, that pain in your heart. It goes away...that voice in your head saying there's no way out. It's wrong. Believe me, it gets better."

-OTH

"I am just a dreamer, but you are just a dream."

-Neil Young

"And we are just breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys."

-Ingrid Michaelson

"I dream of things that never were and ask why not."

-Robert F. Kennedy

"I got a really good heart, I just can't catch a break."

-Ryan Adams

"Love save the empty and save me."

-Erin McCarley

"It's easy saying nothing when there's nothing to say."

-K.T. Tunstall

"Bring on all the pretenders, one day, we will be remembered."

-Taylor Swift

"It's easy to be thankful for the good things. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings."

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

-John F. Kennedy

"We can only be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

-Thornton Wilder

"For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Let us remember that as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds."

-Theodore Roosevelt

"At that we behold is full of blessings."

-William Wordsworth

"Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel."

"Your life is right now! It's not later. It's not in that time of retirement. It's not when the lover gets here. It's not when you've moved into the new house. It's not when you get the better job. Your life is now. It will always be right now. You might as well decide to start enjoying your life right now, because it's not ever going to get better than it is right now--until it gets better right now!"

"You can not run away from weakness, you must fight it out... or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand."

-OTH

"When life comes rushing at you from the darkness, who will you choose to face it with? Will it be someone you trust? Will they be wise? And will their love for you help them to guide you to the light? Or will they lose their way in the darkness. Will they make noble choices or will that person be someone untested? Someone new? Life comes rushing at you from out of the darkness. When it does--is there someone in your life you can count on? Someone who'll watch over you when you stumble and fall and in that moment give you the strength to face your fears alone."

-Lucas Scott

"You know, sometimes people play hard to get because they need to know the other person's feelings are real."

-OTH

"Losing your heart's desire is tragic but gaining your hearts desire is all you can wish for. So if that's tragic, then give me tragedy."

-OTH

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. Love alters not with time's brief hours and weeks, but bears it out...even to the edge of doom."

-William Shakespeare

"Realize now that when your heart breaks, you got to fight like hell to make sure you're still alive. Because you are. And that pain you feel? That's life. The confusion and fear? That's there to remind you that somewhere out there is something better and that something is worth fighting for."

"You know that romantic notion that all the garbage and the pain is really healing and beautiful and sort of poetic? It's not. It's just garbage and it's pain. You know what's better? Love. The day that you start thinking that love is overrated is the day that you're wrong. The only thing wrong with love and faith and belief is not having it."

-OTH

"Life is short, and opportunities are rare. And we have to be vigilante in protecting them, and not only the opportunities to succeed, but the opportunity to laugh, to see the enchantment in the world, and to live. Because life doesn't owe us anything, as a matter of fact, I think that we owe something to the world."

"Now is the time for us to shine, the time when our dreams are in reach and possibilities vast. Now is the time for all of us to become the people we always dreamed of being. This is your world. You're here. You matter. The world is waiting."

"Things aren't always going to be fair in the real world. That's just the way it is. But for the most part, you get what you give."

"The rest of your life is being shaped right now. With the dreams you chase... The choices you make... and the person you decide to be. The rest of your life is a long time. And the rest of your life starts now."

"He who does not weep does not see."

"When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone."

-Tennessee Williams

"It's only an eternity of servitude. This is love."

-Genie (Aladdin)

"I'm in love with Ryan Gosling. Watching The Notebook. Does love like that really exist?"

-Danielle Harris

"Your heart knows things your mind can't explain."

"If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's we'd grab ours back."

"Mom, thanks for birthing me so beautifully. I mean look at my abs. I could be a Abercrombie model. So could Charley. Look at us, you birth beautiful kids."

-My little brother, Christian, to my mom... hahaha

"Your family is so weird."

-My stepbrother, Tanner, to me, my cousins Madison & Kyler, & my brother Christian on Thanksgiving when we were telling stories about our family.

"You are safe in my heart."

-Celine Dion (who I just learned I get to go see in concert January as a Christmas gift from my parents! I am so excited)

"I think everytime you get your heart broken, there's a little piece of that chips away, and I don't think you ever get that piece back. But I think you're able to bandage it with time and with new people and other things that make you happy."

-Demi Lovato

"Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty, this hatred. How did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us? That we now send our children into the world like we send young men into war, hoping for their safe return. But knowing that some will be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the shadows, swallowed whole by the darkness. Does this darkness have a name? Is it your name?"

-Lucas Scott

"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact."

-Henry James

"Truth is still absolute. Believe that. Even when that truth is hard and cold, and more painful than you've ever imagined. And even when truth is more cruel than any lie."

-Lucas Scott

"Every song has an ending but is that any reason not to enjoy the music?"

-Peyton Sawyer

"As we strive and strain to grasp the things we desire, the things we think will make our life better, money, popularity, fame, we ignore the things that truly matter. The simple things, the best things like friendship, family, love, the things we probably already had."

-OTH

"But I guess it's always been that way--wanting to be loved... to find someone that makes your heart ache in a good way."

-OTH

"Women are indecisive. Men who know what they want, especially when those men want them. Women want to feel wanted and swept off their feet. The whole "friendship" gimmick is not attractive to women. If that's your approach to a woman you're interested in, you're showing that you're indecisive, scared, and don't know what you're looking for. Frankly, women don't want you to realize one day what a great gem they are. They want you to see their potential right away and then pursue them."

-Kate Vershov

"There is nothing sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name."

-Kate DiCamillo

"We endure so much more than we think we can, all human experience testifies to that. All we need to do is learn not to be afraid of the pain. Grit your teeth and let it hurt. Don't deny it, don't be overwhelmed by it, it will not last forever. One day the pain will be gone and you'll still be here."

-Harold Kushner

"When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak."

-Audre Lorde

"Because on some level, even though it never turns out to be true, and even though I should know better, I still expect life to be like the movies."

-E. Lockhart

"Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth."

-William Faulkner

"I think you could fall in love with anyone if you saw the parts of them that no one else gets to see. Like if you followed them around invisibly for a day and you saw them crying in their bed at night or singing to themselves as they make a sandwich or even just walking across the street and even if they were really weird and had no friends at school. I think after seeing them at their most vulnerable you wouldn't be able to help falling in love with them."

"When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too."

-Paulo Coelho

"I keep thinking you already know. I keep thinking I've sent you letters that were only ever written in my head."

-I Wrote This for You: The Invisible Postal Service

"Jump in puddles. Pretend to fly. Explore. Believe in the force. Make believe in magic like in Harry Potter. Build forts. Play in the rain. Wish on a star. Climb a tree. Be a superhero. Sleep soundly. Always dream."

"I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all."

-Leo Rosten

"Real Love Stories Have No Ending."

-Charly

"One of the things she had learned early in life was that if you discovered something that made you tighten inside you had better try to learn more about it. If you simply ignored the feeling, you would never know what might happen, and in many ways that was worse than finding out you were wrong in the first place. Because if you were wrong, you could go forward in your life without ever looking back over your shoulder and wondering what might have been."

-Nicholas Sparks

"And if this is not a happy ending, it is perhaps a happy beginning."

-Julia Hoben

"My name will someday be remembered."

-Six Word Story

"The outside world holds no interest for me without you."

-Twilight

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

-The Perks of a Wallflower

&)youth goes

right on

gr

owing old

-e.e. cummings

"I'm a Etch a Sketch, shaking."

-Six Letter Story

"I don't want to get old. I have this very silly fear, dear friend, that one day I'll be old, without ever having really been young."

"The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something."

-Kurt Vonnegut

"Choose compassion over judgment. You usually have no idea what someone is really going through."

-Me

"May my heart be kind, my mind fierce, and my spirit brave." 

-Kate Forsyth

"I'm not going anywhere because I'm stronger than that and I have a million reasons to be here."

-Jonah Mowry

"Do not look for a perfect person. Just find the right person."

-Dave Reysono

"I want what Cory and Topanga have..."

-Me