A New Day

As I sit in this parking lot, waiting for the appropriate time to go in the building to my class, I start to think about things. Like, wow I haven't been on my blog in months! (It was also pointed out to me by a dear friend) I also think about why I'm here. Well the obvious answer is "duh Garrett you have to go to class", but there's more to it than that. This is my third day of classes at J. Sarge and while it's not the ideal place for me to be currently, I am here. And for the past two days, I have known this is not where I want to be, but I must make the most of it. That's why, today is a new day! And hopefully, if you are having some of the same thoughts I am, this verse can help: "...And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14. To get the whole story, I encourage you to read Esther and know her story (I recently did in a bible study and it spoke to me which is why I choose to share it with you today). The point of the verse is, you are where you are for a reason. We all know God has a plan for us and will not forsake us but I love the wording of this verse and it says plainly, God has put you where you are for a reason. I hope, if you're reading this, you will remember God's love for you and his sacrifice. I know sometimes I need a reminder of just how big He is. I hope you will live your day to the fullest, as I try to start living mine that way. And I hope you find the place in life God wants you to be.

Maybe This is How it Should Be

I get lost in tv shows the way people get lost in books. And I know that sounds stupid but it's true! It's the same thing, I fall in love with these characters and lose myself in the plot line. I feel for these characters. But I have one question, about these plot lines for books or movies or tv, why does everything always work out? I mean, I know there are some exceptions but we can all agree, the majority of fictional stories made for the pleasure of audiences have the perfect predictable ending. But that's not how life is, and that's ok! I just wish it was socially acceptable for media to be that way as well. I will admit, I've been angry when at the end of a movie or book or tv series finale when they didn't end it just right. But that's because we have been brought up to not want that! But maybe we need it to be that way. We need these fictional stories to work out to give us hope that maybe, just maybe, our own lives will somehow turn out the same way. I'm not bashing media or trying to sound like a hypocrite (because I probably do) but I'm just sharing thoughts I've had recently.

I know this is really different than what I usually post but I thought I would switch it up a little. Hope you enjoy.

And also enjoy this picture, which states a fact that NO ONE saw coming.

A Very Potter Musical Part 2

A Very Potter Musical Part 2 by gariley on polyvore.com

A Very Potter Musical Part 1

A Very Potter Musical Part 1 by gariley on polyvore.com

I Wish Time Would Stop

Time goes by too fast!!!!! Once again, I feel like I haven't been on here in forever. I don't like this feeling, hopefully soon it will go away! Also once again my dumb excuses are work and school. However work is awesome because who wouldn't want to work at the best book store in the world?!? But for the next week I will be posting on a separate blog for a service project for my Mass Communications class called Project River City Reads. We are helping to promote the River City Reads organization which helps set up book clubs in the metro-area. You can read all about the organization here and see my blog about their latest book club book here! So since my blogging efforts will be going towards that, I didn't want my personal blog to feel lonely so I decided to blog about blogging! Kind of. Anyways, this is just me, letting you into my stream of consciousness way more than you probably want to be, saying I hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday (I know I did!) and if your family is like mine then you already have Christmas decorations up! I will be posting pictures of all the decorations in my house next week :) for now enjoy this look at early Fall with pictures I took at a football game at my old high school a few weeks ago!

P.S.--The JMU football pictures are done, I didn't take my camera to the last game so I hope you enjoyed them while they lasted!

I don't know if you can see it but it was a double rainbow!

These next pictures were taken by my friend Owen DeValk who is an amazing photographer!!! He usually does people and he never shoots with a Nikon so I was impressed he figured out how to use my camera :)

My Week!

My Week! by gariley featuring a double breasted coat

Fall Break at JMU

Yay for Fall Break! It was a few weeks ago, but as I said before, I got very behind on my pictures, my apologies. But I spent the weekend with my sister at JMU (like I don't spend enough weekends there as it is) and I had a blast! Saw some movies I had been wanting to see (Bad Teacher and The Change-Up, if you love what I call 'hangover comedy', you would love these movies!) and got to walk around and take pictures! The best part though was THE FOOD! Most people know that one thing JMU is known for is their food. And there's a reason for that, it is delicious! Seriously, after eating at VCU's dining hall--which don't get me wrong, it's decent-- JMU food is like heaven. Especially E-Hall, their new dining hall. I've never had an omelet before because I always thought they were weird but I tried one there and it was so good! Anyone reading this who is applying to college, apply to JMU, even if it is just for the food, trust me, it's worth it.

Anyways, now that I'm done with my tangent, pictures! I apologize that there are so few, and that they have almost zero variability. It was cold, and cloudy, and not pretty at all outside. When you're shooting people, it's easy to work with! But when you're shooting landscape, it sucks. And I didn't even get a railroad track shot for some silly reason, oh well, hopefully you can still enjoy these!

I was sitting in the quad and I found this leaf...

It was pretty cute so I asked it if it had ever thought about modeling...

It said yes! So we did some shots to test its true ability...

I think it did a wonderful job for it's first time :)

Yay new stadium! And don't be fooled by the blue sky, I found new toys in photoshop and decided to test them out

Then there was this whole group of rocks! I knew they would be the perfect models

They were so good, I didn't even have to ask them to pose, they did it on their own!

The one with the stripe is my favorite :)