...

A house is made of walls and beams;

a home is built with love and dreams

Compliments or Something Else?

"Soooo really I think you're lucky that your hair isn't straight. Straight hair is boring. Of course since you don't have straight hair it's extra-special when you straighten it and so it's amazing then too. Always amazing. Is it as easy as you make it seem?:P" -NP

"Look at how short your bangs are. Crazy. If you do cut them, don't cut them any shorter than they are in this picture.:) You should do this kind of stuff allll the time. Then girls will be like, "That's the girl I'm jealous of." Not that they're not already....but why not give them more reason?" -NP

"How amazing can someone get? If only you also had "that look." You have it in the picture I took of you today. WHICH I sent to my e-mail and is now on my computer forever and ever. So if you wanted to delete it from my phone, I GUESS you could, but then I'd have no background.:)" -NP

"Brooke. This picture, I am probably in love with. Which I can be since I am not in high school. Really, this is just a really really adorable and amazing picture. You are soooo cute.:)" -NP

"Sooo I'm still up and to pass the time away even though sleeping would be the best option I figured looking at your pictures is the best option. Assuming we can't even hang out today I might as well sleep until tomorrow. Annnyway, this picture will probably always be my favorite unless you find some way to top it which I could understand since you only get more and more pretty. I'm NOT sweet talking you. So don't say that.:)" -NP

"This picture still is one of my favorites!:O Your hair never everrrrr looks like this! I say that when you come pick up my licenseless butt that you wear your hair this way. I would be sooo much more inclined to buy you some yummy food for dinner if this were to happen.;)" -NP

"A normal person would stay in their chair." -NP (hahahaha, this one makes me laugh to this day.)

"SKIN!!!:@ And putting it on the internet. Psssshhh. Ohh well. idk if it's because you're in PJs but this is a reallllllly cute picture. Of course it's easy for you to have cute pictures. This one is just excessively so." -NP

"So you gave me that cd with pictures and this was on it. And I was like why is this not on her page? Cause it is just lovvvely. Flawless Brooke. :)" -NP

"I have THE biggest crush on you PROBABLY in all of history." -NP

"Welcome back depressed Brooke. It's okay that you were depressed then. Without this picture I wouldn't be able to see just how happy I make you. :)" -NP

"Gorgeous, gorgeous. I really dig that shirt. My favorite part of it is the all black part that hugs your body oh so deliciously. This picture gives your giant boobs no credit." -NP

"I way way way loved your outfit that day. You really rarely wear those things.:) And must be cool now makes no sense since you were born cool. idk how often I use sense and since back to back like that. Some silly people say them the same way. silly silly. But anyway, your eyes more so the one that is more visible is outrageously gorgeous. This picture really does accent what is most physically beautiful about you which would be your face.:)" -NP

"I enjoyed the morning after a lot more...and we went to CHURCH!!!:O Anyway, you really look just unbelievable in that dress. It makes me question how I was such a lucky person. Oh welll, you should find other times to wear that dress.:) I'm glad you chose this picture cause it is for sure adorable. How does your hair naturally be so perfect?:P" -NP

"Anyway, this is some hotness. You are the reason short shorts were created! Nice legs, short shorts makes a Nick go (whistle). The toilet in that bathroom is like mid-shin on me. FTL!" -NP

"My oh my g*$r&fr*$nd (censored). This is probably my favorite picture of you since the one in your Senses Fail shirt. Anywayyy, I don't think you've ever worn this outfit with me!!! Is your necklace backwards? I turn that one around a lottle! I know that hidden in this is a PEACE sign! At least I THINK so! My little scene g*r^fr&*nd(censored).;) Anyway, I think that it's wonderful everrryday." -NP

"Awwww, this IS cute. REMOVE THAT QUESTION MARK! I always liked things in your hair. AND I always liked you in band tees, ESPECIALLY The Medic Droid one. And I like the natural curl in your hair. haha, so many things to enjoy." -NP

"Most awesome outfit ever. You probably were the most awesomely dressed person at that dance. After me of course.;) I'm glad we decided on those tights they really made the outfit all the more awesome! Though you will never wear them again haha. That was a very good hair day for you.:)" -NP

"My laptop is kind of dim, so you have some nose, but at work you really have no nose at all. Regardless of your no nose you are absolutely beautiful. Those shiny pennies in your head.;) Your lips look lovely in this picture. Really I am so glad to be with you, not just because you're oh so very pretty, but because underneath that shell of beauty is the most splendiferous person in the world." -NP

And I am bored. But there are many, MANY, more of these.

In the end I just wasn't splendiferous enough I suppose.

Ty

The summer before my senior year I was reading the newspaper like I so often did/do. I came across Ty's picture in the obituaries. It did not say how he had died; just that he had returned to his Heavenly Father. And right away, for some unknown reason, my heart ached. Ty, I didn't know you. But I was sad you had left this earth. When I later found out that you had taken your life I went home and cried. As someone who knows exactly how you must have been feeling, I want to say I am sorry. I feel as though I failed you. That maybe if I had said hi to you in the hall, or become your friend I could have shared my own feelings with you and maybe that would have been what you needed. Someone feeling the same way. Someone who also could have been "just another picture in the newspaper". But you were and are more than a picture to me. I've heard and read so many great things about you. Maybe we can be friends one day.

R.I.P. Ty Mckinzie

Lifting My Spirits.

Quotes are amazing mood boosters for me. So in an attempt to pull myself out of this hole of crappiness...

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

"The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours." -Ayn Rand

"I do believe that the single most important thing I could ever share with you with regard to maximizing the health, harmony, and happiness in your life can be summed up in just two words: -Love Yourself-" -Mike Dooley

"Everything we have and everything we enjoy, including our very life, is due to the kindness of others. In fact, every happiness there is in the world arises as a result of others' kindness." -Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

"There are times when it is hard to believe in the future, when we are temporarily just not brave enough. When this happens, concentrate on the present. Cultivate le petit bonheur (the little happiness) until courage returns. Look forward to the beauty of the next moment, the next hour, the promise of a good meal, sleep, a book, a movie, the likelihood that tonight the stars will shine and tomorrow the sun will shine. Sink roots into the present until the strength grows to think about tomorrow." -Ardis Whitman