don't worry, be happy

my eye..um, without makeup..

what's it been, 5 days? i'm sorry, but life has somehow managed to get me down again, and sadly, i had to neglect my blog for awhile, weather i wanted to or not, to sort through some things.
and within 5 days, i've come to a few conclusions.
one, growing up stinks {for reals, whoever said that the teenage years suck, was 200% correct}.
B, i'm prideful and still have way more growing up to do than i care to think about right now.
and last, i don't have to worry about anything, i just have to keep my eyes on God and let Him fight my battles for me.
i don't ever want to jump ahead of His will again, its really not worth a darn thing.
like my motto says "just keep smiling" {real original, i know :p } but thats what i shall keep doing, inside and out, even when i mess up and break trust, even when i feel empty and ashamed, i know i'm learning, and i know who's in control.
so thats a life update for those of you who care :)

inbetween the moments i was lost in though or prayer throughout the last couple of days, i've been sewing a bit, playing my cello a whole lot, taking pictures of my eye, aweing over my new baby cousin, experimenting with neat photography ideas, missing a few people, and getting ready to spend a whole week tramping around Springfield/Branson {SDC} with family and friends.

my eye, with makeup:)

adorable cousin madelyn

neat photography idea, the photo i'm holing is about 9 or 10 years old:)

and now i'm off to stretch my legs before we load the van and sit for 4 hours, its really not that long, but of course my back would be out {neck ans shoulders included} so i'm not looking foreward to the trip.
unfortunately i won't be blogging this next week:( unless i get a random chance to pop in and say hello. but i do hope all of you have a great week!

and here comes a little soap box.

no matter how much life might stink and all you want to do is fret your hours away worrying that nothing will turn out right, remember that the one the loves you most is in control, and even tho it might look like He's keeping you from something you want, or He's doing something you don't want, He always has your best interest in mind! just don't jump ahead of His will, be in the word, and pray without ceasing!

so maybe i said that more for me and you, but i hope it can encourage you if your going through some ups and downs and are feeling sick of it.

xox, noni

i'll be there

so maybe your sick of this flower by now, but i'm not {there are 2 newly bloomed ones!}

have i ever told you how many instruments i've attempted to become ninja at?? attempt is a good word, because thats all it was.

starting with my first insturment, here's a list off everything i've picked up and plucked a song on here and there through my life:

the spoons {look it up}
mandolin
bones {you'll wanna look that up too}
guitar
penny whistle
mountain dulcimer
piano
violin
drums
flute {i freaking hate that thing}

i only ever succeeded on one of those, the penny whistle {a.k.a., irish penny whistle/tin whistle} i played one in a band {yeah, like a real band that actually got paid to play}, but that was a long time ago and i only randomly pick it up to play now.
and i only ever took lessons for the mandolin, but out of 6 lessons, my teacher showed up twice. sadly, i stopped attempting to play this instrument, 
chris thile was my soul influence to play the mandolin, but i dunno, maybe it just wasn't meant to be, the mandolin is still simply amazing.
music is something i grew up on, all of my siblings play some instrument, my brother eli in fact was a real life child protege {he can hear it, play it, and make it sound amazing, its not fair and most the time i hate his guts.} and my sister, toni, she's a classically trained musician, she's got a BA or something like that in classical music, and she married a dude with amazing musical skillz.
there was a spell in my life where me and my two brother had a band like i mentioned before, and my cousins are professional bluegrass players and have been all over the country touring and all that awesome stuff.

my cousins performing at SDC in branson, mo. music is their life, and needless to say, they're amazing.

so i've always had this urge to play something, but i could never stick with anything. what makes me irritated is that i know i CAN do music, but i haven't been able to keep doing it. i'm just to moody i guess. i've always felt really like i had to play something, no one really urged me to, my family doesn't believe in forcing a kid to do something like that, but i forced myself, and failed miserably almost every time.

but last christmas i bought my cello, it wasn't cheap, and right now, thats really the only thing keeping me from ditching it as well. its a beautiful instrument, and so far i'm doing everything by ear, because thats just how i roll. but i know that with an instrument like the cello, i have to have lessons.
so today was my first cello lesson, i had to learn the proper way to hold the bow and the proper way to bow. she also tired to teach me notes. that failed, i already forgot what i'm supposed to work at or what she even said.
and it didn't help that as i was leaving i met a friend {who takes violin from my teacher} and she spoiled everything by telling me notes were just math. i was like -_- I HATE MATH.
but i'll get over that. maybe..
for the past week i've been playing my cello and the guitar every day, and i really don't want to quit.

listening to music is really important to me, i couldn't live without it. i almost always have to have music on.
and i'd love to get to the point that i couldn't live without playing it either.
so we'll see, it's gonna be an interesting adventure, because this time i'm determined, and i'm learning how to find more inspiration when i'm in a rut.

so anywho, this was a rambly kinda post, and i'm ready to stop rambling now.
noni<3

ps
of course i must ask, do you play any instrument{s}?? 

no beautiful thing lasts

 i love the delicacy of this flower, its just so gorgeous. there have been 3 so far, the first was ginormous and by far my favorite, and i've plucked 2 of them just to find out how quickly they wilt, which makes me sad.

"and we cried over beautiful things, knowing no beautiful thing lasts"~Adam Young

i'm tired of beautiful things not lasting, but i can't stop looking back.

its days like these that go slow

weird, my hair looks blue!

i am bored and sick today, and for some very odd reason, i'm super photogenic when i'm sick, especially when i have a fever {which i don't, its just a cold} so i decided a photo shoot was in order.
i like to have one at least every 2 months, i can't wait till i get my Lincoln so the quality of my photos will be better! but my little point and shoot panasonic has been good to me.
my favorite is the second to last, which one is yours?

ps.
i edited these photos using picmonkey.com, its awesome and if your missing picnik, you'll really like picmonkey! :)

an almost sleepless night

what do you do when you can't sleep?

a pretty picture

here's a pretty picture of the odd things i collect that make it onto my shelf.

today i'm sick.

but i'm glad i'm sick today, and not next saturday, because thats when i need to get packing for my vacation! so in a way i'm grateful to get it over with now :)

that is all

xox, noni

look how far we've come

this has been a really good week for me. i've accomplished a satisfactory amount of things, and i've gained some wisdom and knowledge along the way.

 all in all i'm very content with things. even if everything is going wrong, i know who's in control and everything will turn out fine, so in the mean time i'm just gonna keep smiling because i'm its fun.

the man quilt has been put on hold today, because this is what i've been up to.

taking weird pictures instead of reading history {just kidding, i did read a bit too}

and making more of my fabric bracelets.

oh, and preparing myself for Branson by listening to a little bluegrass here and there. i love me some bluegrass/newgrass.

the bracelets will be put up in my etsy shop here soon, and they will also be for sale at a small shop in my local town, i'm really hoping they go, because i'll be getting this baby, soon.

and i need all i can muster up to get him, i'm already thinking of names for him.

its a toss up between Craig Lewis, or Lincoln. they are both very camera-ish names.

so anywho, right now this song is giving me chills and serious nostalgia. a year ago i went on a magical adventure with my music playing cousins to the wonderful land of Silver Dollar City in Branson Mo.

it was quite a wonderful time of my life, i had a huge crush on someone, i fell in love with Alison Krauss and Union Station, and i listened to this song over and over. and i got to make really great memories with my cousins. i'll never forget that trip. the rain, the complete exhaustion from having so much fun, the blisters from small shoes and walking around the City all day, the millions of slushi's we all drank, the awesome food we ate, the rides we rode and the music we enjoyed, the places we went, the late night movies we caught and the laughs we shared.

it was epic.

but nuff' bout that, here's a cool picture of what i'm drinking.

wonderful, eh?

xox, noni

Don't forget

i just wanted to thank everyone for all the encouraging comments i've been getting lately! i really appreciate all of you!
anywho. that is all.
love!
noni

the dork goes swimming and picking flowers

i'll be the first to admit that i'm the biggest dork when it comes to swimming, and flowers.

i squealed like baby getting in because it was cold. then i splashed around like a 2yr old because i forgot how much fun it is to swim.

then mom took pictures of me and i look so silly.

and those flowers..

wow, i love them, they're delicious, i want to eat them.

today has been nice, lazy and warm out and i'm almost done cutting out all the triangles for the man quilt.

have a loverly one!

xox, noni

a happy place

for some people its painting, playing the guitar, singing, ect-. fact is art is therapeutic.
my happy place is in the quilting room. i just get lost back there. words can express how much i love the feel of farbic between my fingers.
the possibilities are endless back there.

i've mentioned several times that i'm rather stressed and exhausted {tho i'll say now i'm not really stressed over what everyone else is stressed over}
its not fair to leave you all in the dark, because i really like all of ya'll and i want you to know, but i'm not sure how to tell you guys.
its kind of a touchy thing...and, its just weird to talk about really. mainly because i hate talking about it.
so i'm not really sure what to say besides it has to do with my grandmother and us taking her in for a month or so while she healed from her fall. but it didn't work out.

there was alot of drama and manipulation, and basically, my family {because their amazing} gave her everythign we had to offer, we helped her as much as possible. but we were all at the end of our rope.
its over. no more, we are done. i can't give details {you wouldn't enjoy it anyway} so lets just leave it at that. she isn't here anymore, and she isn't coming back. she can go home now.
personally. i'm done for forever. i just wish it would go away.
sometimes i feel bad that i'm not more concerned about her.
i just see it hurting my family and i hate it. they're the only ones i'm actually worried about.
truthfully, i feel fine. i just wish people would stop talking about it and asking me how she is. because i don't care to talk about it.
there's to many personal details to share that matter. and not many people i care to tell them to.



so to get away from it all, i've been quilting. i put on a cd {jack johnson- jon foreman- jj heller- imogen heap} and sometimes i am back there for hours on end.
sunday i designed a new quilt, and i'm almost done cutting everything out. it should be a 7 by 5ft quilt, and its gonna be amazing. quilting is my happy right now.
i just know i can't wait to cuddle up under the new qiult and watch a campy horror movies.

>>>xxox, noni xoxx<<<

ps.
i named the new quilt 'the man quilt' because its for my future husband and because its just a guy-ish looking quilt. or because its awesome. and despite the fact that females like to say men suck, they're awesome. its got a cozy masculine feel to it already. i'm even using a bunch of my favorite flannel shirts that my dad and brother used to wear. so yeah...i'm already proud of it ^_^