// nostalgic observations //

obsessions | of | summer

water

sparkling.

shining.

splashing.

reeling.

cold.

refreshing.

pounding.

calming.

barefeet

dirty.

dancing.

running,

wet.

words

meaningful.

raw.

real.

forgotten.

remembered.

written.

memorized.

memories

nostalgia

created.

taken.

fun.

filling.

hearts.

laughter

surging.

bubbling.

joyful.

screaming.

friends.

contagious.

sun

blinding.

warming.

bonding.

sky.

yellow.

orb.

friends

love.

memories.

fun.

adventures.

discoveries.

Jesus

souls.

forgiveness.

grace.

teacher.

savior.

leader.

prayer.

<3 eva

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p.s thank you again, for all your lovely questions! <3

p.s.s enjoy the new summer layout!

the sky's the limit? how claustrophobic.
unknown // via 

// from the readers //

in honor of one-hundred posts i have asked my readers if they had any questions for me, 

this is what they came up with and here are my answers.

enjoy!

what is your favorite color?

a burgundy, brick red or a deep green. i really have a hard time deciding since it depends on what context. :)

what is your exact height?

five-foot two, i believe.

how many books are you writing?

technically two. my most prominent one is the warrior; and the second (which has laid untouched for months, maybe even a year) is my fantasy, the snow daughter.

i have ideas for other books, but have not started writing any of them. :) my goal is to finish the warrior by november in time for nanowrimo.

can you post pictures of photoshoots you do, that you are in?

haha, sure why not. here are a couple of my favorites from some of the {fashion} photoshoots i’ve done so far.

socks or slippers person?

socks. most defiantly socks.

if you suddenly had free time and you could do anything – what would you do and why?

go on a road trip with friends or family to some epic place and have a blast with laughter, sunshine and music.

and also stars and deep conversations.

if you could go anywhere – where would you go and why?

oh goodness. I would love to go to europe because who doesn’t?
there’s so much beauty and time ingrained in everything there. but i would love to also visit canada and new york among others.

if you could chose three words to describe yourself what would they be?

nerd, artsy, love

are you who you want to be?

yes, yes i am
.

that’s not so say I’m not working on things and wanting + striving to be more Christ-like, but i’m not discontent with who i am in the big picture.

what is your favorite food?

watermelon. plums. MUFFINS

if you could send a day with any author (alive or dead) and ask them any question in the world, who would you choose? (and why?)

as hard as this is, i would have to say solomon, author of the proverbs and ecclesiastes. God blessed him with wisdom beyond comprehension and with the late reading of ecclesiastes i think it would be amazing to sit down and listen to him talk about life.

but also, the bronte sisters would be really neat.

chocolate or vanilla?

are we talking about muffins? defiantly chocolate. or ice cream? vanilla.

what is the book that reminds you most of your childhood?

do the little house on the prairie books count?
i read those countless times when i was young, i loved them so much – and still do.

would you rather spend a day camping in the mountains, or playing on the beach?

so that’s not fair? i would have to say the beach just because it would be more active than sitting around a mountain; not that that doesn’t sound enjoyable, i’m sure the view’s tremendous.

I don’t know man, maybe if you asked me tomorrow I’d say the mountain. J

what is your favorite thing about blogging?

being able to write the most random, strange posts and my readers find beauty in my little words.

thank you all <3

three things you’ll be doing this summer?

laughing, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

if you could breath under water or flying, which would you choose?

flying. you can fly pretty much anywhere but you can’t swim everywhere.

who or what made you start writing poetry?

to be honest, i’m not quite sure.
at the beginning of this year i started writing posts in a different style than i normally did; over time it just progressed into what it is now.

however, i can say that abby has helped me a lot in realizing that everyone has their own style. she kept telling me to write no matter what it was, even if i thought it was terrible:
i spent last summer keeping a diary and learning how to just bleed my thoughts into the paper rather than writing them.
by january my way of writing had changed and it spilled into my posts. my blog had been slow before january, very few posts were written and very few readers visited; so when i started writing posts in my new style i had no thought of readers or opinions.
it was wholly my own diary where no one cared what i wrote. it wasn’t long before i gained readers and friends who, much to my surprise, found inspiration in my little words that bled from my heart.

it just goes to show that abby was right.
{thank you, bro <3}

do you listen to music while you write?

sometimes! it depends on my mood or how focused i am.
but when i do it’s not inspiring music that fits the post (or story) i’m writing, its anything really. i tend to listen to a lot of twenty-one pilots, but when i’m not listening to that i listen to everything from regina spektor, fun and band of horses, to chopin and bach.

so yes, i may or may not head-bang while writing a sappy sentimental post. J

what is your favorite sound in all the world?

the world is big and there are more sounds than i comprehend i know, but perhaps my favorite sound is laughter, or a brook, or the sound of a mourning dove lamenting outside my window.
also, nate ruess' voice.

current favorite song?

moment by nate ruess or doubt by twenty one pilots. J

three favorite stand-alone films?

interstellar,  jane eyre (2011), and the book thief are three that come to mind, but i would need more time to sift through all my favorites.
  

favorite poets?

i won’t lie, my poetry reading is very lacking. but the two that i’ve been enjoying (and own books of theirs) are emily dickenson and tennyson.

unexpected blessings this year?

encouraging flattery. it may sound strange, but when someone tells you they can see Jesus through you, or even that you’re always put together and pretty, it really makes your day. =)

do you have any irrational fears?

that i’m wasting my life, but perhaps that’s not irrational. there’s also the fear that i’m going to fail college, and that the only reason why i’m succeeding at high school is because i’ve been lucky.

things you wish you could tell your younger self?

-hate, whether it’s for a person, or a song, or an opinion, is a waste of time.
-love is the meaning of life.
 -life *is* tough, but man is it beautiful and worth it.
-relationships need to be worked with even if they seem to be fine; especially with siblings.
life is just too short to have mediocre relationships.
{i also wrote a post on this here}

<3 eva
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"live in the sunshine. swim in the sea. drink the wild air."
emerson // via pinterest

// loving them //

God made you

to love them.

they are the world.

the lost, the broken hearts.

He will teach you how to love them

how do i know?

because He taught me.

<3 eva

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"you will never regret being kind"
unknown // via

// but the earth remains //

ecclesiastes is a very straightforward book of the Bible. 

there is no cutting corners, 

no romanticized ideas of life, 

of actions and events, 

of anything really. 

and while this might sound refreshing, 

it is, instead, rather depressing.

 the words of the preacher, the son of david, king in jerusalem. "vanity of vanities," says the preacher, "vanity of vanities! all is vanity." what advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? a generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 

ecclesiastes 1:1-4 

these are the opening words. 

everything thing is vanity, 

no matter what we do under the sun, 

we live, we die, but the earth remains. 

and as we go on, it doesn't change. 

it continues in the same manner, depressing and without hope. 

but we soon learn that there is a purpose to these words. 

that this book is the recording of solomon's examination of life. 

and in his examination he discovers things that surprise both the reader and himself. 

he saw that wisdom is striving after wind. 

pleasure is futility. 

he realized that though wisdom excels folly, 

both the wise and the foolish die: so this too was vanity. 

labor, indeed, is in vain! for we do not know who will have it after we are gone, 

whether he be wise or foolish, do we? 

for what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. this to is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 

he just lists action after action, crossing them off as pointless activities, a waste. 

and then, verse twenty-four: 

there is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. this also i have see that it is from the hand of God. 

it is from the hand of GOD. all of this, labor, pleasure, wisdom, it is from Him. 

but wait, isn't everything from Him lovely and a gift? isn't it... good? 

verse twenty-five follows and with this verse we are shown the heart of the story; the purpose of the writing; the message between the lines. 

for who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? 

ecc. 2:25 

straightforward as ever, solomon. 

we see this verse interwoven throughout the rest of the book. 

we see that though all these may be well and wonderful things (because, indeed, it is all from Him), it is all striving after the wind: 

WITHOUT JESUS. 

and it is that which makes this book beautiful and raw and true. 

i do not pretend to know more than the text says, but as i read through this book and as the words flowed through me i thought of solomon.

 not of a young solomon who wrote the proverbs, but an old, weary solomon. one who has searched life and its meaning and realized this: 

even if you follow every command of God's, every proverb of wisdom, if you do not fear and worship the one who gave those commands; if you do not place HIM in the center of your activities, of your life, of your universe, then it is all in vain. 

it is all futility.

it is all striving after wind.

<3 eva

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*this is my one-hundredth post*

you don't have a soul. you are a soul. you have a body.
c.s lewis // via pinterest

// through the waves //

unbelievable are the depths,

far beneath the stormy sea;

i call out 

and You hear me,

far, far, beneath 

the glassy sea.

<3 eva

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because He bends down to listen i will pray, as long as i have breath.
psalms 116:2 // via pinterest

// we shall fly //

"to the moon" i say

"to the moon" he replies.

to the moon we shall fly with stardust in our hair,

with stars shining from our eyes.

and when the cold darkness enters our hearts, 

we will turn towards the sun;

and it will chase the blackness away.

for, "to the moon" means a journey,

and that is what love is. 

love is making a commitment and working together.

love is flying with the small joys love brings in our hair.

love is being so enraptured that the stars seem to shine from your eyes.

and the strongest love knows that when the darkness enters the heart,

we need to turn towards the Son of our life, 

and He will chase it away, 

he will chase all the darkness, doubts, and fears

a w a y.

but through all of this, don't forget what love started out to be.

love started as journey to the moon.

its full of joy, laughter, and Jesus.

its a commitment, 

but one that is so big, and beautiful, and exciting, 

that in the end, looking back from where we are,

those meteorites look so small in comparison to the moon.

love is the explosion of a star

and the start of a masterpiece.

<3 eva

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"the art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from the common things."
henry ward beecher // via pinterest