12 hugs per day makes a person happy.

Admit it. This made you smile, didn't it? :)

Sometimes a hug is all someone needs.

Anne's Tree

I discovered Anne Frank in an eighth grade English classroom. I was thirteen and she made a huge difference in my life.

Which is why there was no surprise when my brother sent me an article yesterday, knowing how much I admire Anne. A great read :):

Tree Beloved to Anne Frank Falls Down

I loved how the article ended with, "but even as the original tree finally falls, pieces of it are growing strong, reaching for blue skies and welcoming birds across the globe - a living legacy to a girl who understood what life could promise."

On April 5, 1944 Anne wrote, "I don't want to live in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!" so little she'd know how so very much alive she still is today.  Like her, the tree also lives on. even though I'm disappointed I wouldn't be able to see the original one whenever I go to Amsterdam, I can believe the tree fell for us to have a bit of Anne everywhere.

An an additional note, before I go to sleep, I'd also like to share this:

Anne Frank Tree Falls, Holocaust Denial Rises

*sigh* what a sad state of affairs.

On the other hand, like Anne said, "think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."

With that, I am off to bed. Good night. :)

So elegant.

Tuesday, I go back to reality.

In August and everything after, I am after everything.

I'm bidding my summer an adieu. I'm feeling oddly excited, especially about the prospect of starting a brand new chapter in my life. Even though I will miss those carefree days of sweet cherries, fireflies, and swimsuits, I know I'm making room for better and greater things...

... it was, indeed, a ridiculously crazy summer, albeit wonderful.

So, this one is coming to end, and I'm putting a closure to what is behind me. Yes, during the past few months I've been all over the world, yet everything in the between tells me this will always be that one summer in Kettering.

My idea of perfection

I got a weak spot for hammocks ... I'm so going to own this one someday.

Last spring, I said: "Without fail, whenever this time of the year comes, this quick snapshot comes to mind. I’d see myself being outside on a perfect spring afternoon, sitting on my hammock following the rhythm of the light breeze, a faint aroma of honeysuckle and supper filling the air. There was I: innocent, barefooted, and age seventeen. Lighthearted and simply happy. I’d be either reading or writing which was all I wanted to do."

Someday, somehow, somewhere...

The room of my dreams.

What hurrah?

I had all the sun this summer will allow, and yet these four words keep on coming to mind...

Paper, pen, and Jassi

Crack in the distance, a flash in the sky. Yesterday the untamed mother nature came in the form of a storm, her winds so strong the trees blew away and caused a widespread power outage.

Been reported that we may not have power, not for few hours, but multiple-days.

First, the blizzard. Then there was the earthquake. And now this. Okay, Germantown, fess up. What IS going on?

now, there goes any chance of having a perfectly productive week which I had originally planned. Yet, the light of this storm is that I'm writing again. :)

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It was that morning, high on a mountain, when I knew...

with each sunrise, we start anew.

I remember...

Israel,

the greatest wonder of the world.

summer boardwalk, saltwater taffy and 

the Jersey shore.

Maryland,
no place is as sweet as being home.

the blue, wide, open
Oklahoma sky.

it was on a Wednesday, and 

New York glowed.

and on Saturday,
it's off to Vegas I go.

what a summer it has been... so far.