in the stacks.

I think I've gotten to the bottom of my latent respect for the University of Kansas.

It wasn't until I settled deep into the JCCC library that I began to love the school. I guess that's the way to get to my heart: books.

Today, I discovered Watson Library for real. I can't believe I went a whole semester thinking the third floor was all Watson had to offer. & after today, I might move to the stacks. The entire first floor is dedicated to Latin America! Anyway, I think I fell in love with KU within the first two minutes of browsing titles. But even so, I could have spent hours there & had to drag myself away. Twice. Because yes, I did venture back after only a few hours.

kaqchikel & marlon brando.

In addition to studying all day (the textbook in the picture is my 600-page Kaqchikel grammar), I have retired for the night with "A Streetcar Named Desire" & stove-popped popcorn in the midst of the spring's first thunderstorm. Bri, Lauren & I have sat here for the past two hours making fun of Stanley's temper & Blanche's diva ways. We are sticking it through to the end in order to continue observing Marlon Brando's abs.

international dinner? yes & no.

Even though today is the day of perhaps the biggest Sellards event of the year, I have chosen to blog a picture that has nothing to do with International Dinner.

I took it upon myself to act as hall photographer tonight & (with Lauren's help) took thirty great pictures to capture the event. In the confusion of the night, I somehow deleted every single picture before saving them to my computer.

Resorting to this photograph only took place after I downloaded a file recovery program, waited ten minutes for the scan to finish, & was informed that I could only have access to the photos if I paid for the "free" program. Mexcellent.

don't worry be happy.

Every now & then, even Christians have one of those days where all you can do is ask God, "Hey, what's the idea, big guy? I thought things were going pretty well down here."

Usually those thoughts come from those of us who think we have it all under control - er, most of us, that is. But the reality of it is, whatever is either under control or doing a doughnut in the intersection is all in God's hands. & I'm pretty sure he has a good idea what he's doing. Anyway, Matthew hit the nail on the head when he said "each day has enough trouble of its own." Ain't that the truth.

When you have one of those days when you realize you can't control everything, do what I'm doing: make a pot of coffee, blast Glenn Miller & give it all up to God.

ice ice baby.

Ice storm? Not so much. More like rain when it just happens to be cold outside. But it was "severe" enough for me to be the only one to show up in Kaqchikel today.

ear to ear.

I love her smile. It's infectious.

sunrise.

What a beautiful sunrise. I love waking up early enough to see this. As an added perk, I was able to go to a meeting, plan out my senior year, set up a class presentation & write a research paper proposal, all before lunch. Love it.

racecar.

Racecar is a palindrome. That is all.

dr. pepper.

If one thing is certain, it's that Sellards girls love Dr. Pepper. Look how much we consumed, even without Rebekah here.

sony.

A few weeks ago, Lauren & I "inherited" this 1995 Sony stereo by sheer luck. The only problem is that it doesn't work.

Exploring our options meticulously, we assumed its batteries were probably dead. Since it was missing an A/C power cable, we opted to just buy a new one. Unfortunately, that did not fix the problem & our generously "gifted" CD player is still on the fritz. Maybe it's karma. Forget karma, we're still out of a stereo & the $7.99 I paid on the cable.

house shopping.

Today, I went on an adventure to the levee in north Lawrence with Lauren (aka my life partner). We saw many wondrous things, including sand art & a banana slicer.

We took the long way home through east Lawrence because we wanted to look at potential houses. We might move in together after I graduate. This horse caught my eye in front of a house on Connecticut St.

The adventure ended with a leisurely stroll through South Park, while the sun was setting. That's something to do with a life partner, eh?

bailey hall.

Every now & then, you get a day as beautiful as today & you just can't help but go climb a building. This is a shot of the Campanile from the top of Bailey Hall.

As a side note: second day in a row random people have asked suspiciously if I was taking pictures of them. No, genius, it is impossible to take pictures with the lens cap on.

bus driver.

Today I made friends with a bus driver.

Who has a name, by the way: James. I feel like bus drivers are some of those under-appreciated & misunderstood individuals who have a story, quite often a really interesting one. People just rarely take the time to discover this for themselves.

As it turns out, James was a photographer himself back in the day. This was before digital cameras, he explained, so traditional film photography was an expensive hobby, too. He & his friend had their own dark room in a garage & developed their own photos. When he got married, James sold all his photography equipment & turned to family life.

James & I share the same sentiment about photography. In his words, "You take a picture & you got it all right there."

chancellor.

I like this rock wall around the chancellor's house. Walked by it today while on an adventure with Erin & Marge.

valentine.

Inside every strawberry, there is a heart - kind of like humans. And since I'm sitting here eating a bowl full of strawberry hearts, I can tell you it's the sweetest part.

Happy Valentine's Day!

play time.

The movies & magazines will tell you to steer clear of cheesy pick-up lines.

"Did it hurt when you hit the ground? Because you must be an angel."

"I'm not drunk; I'm just intoxicated by you."

"My lip hurts. Kiss it better?"

But don't be so quick to judge a person's character based on their ridiculous lines. Plus, you can take it as a compliment they're so intimidated by you that they have to resort to something like: "Have you ever been arrested? It must be illegal to look that good."

canine instinct.

You know I'm always kind of jealous when I see dogs so consistently talented at catching food in their mouths. I practice & practice catching popcorn in my mouth & I only improve marginally. For them, it's like some kind of canine instinct. They catch the popcorn consistently.

Anyway, their noses are ten times longer than mine. Shouldn't that be some kind of stumbling block? Why is the popcorn 300% more likely to bounce off my nose than theirs?

In their defense, I agree that dogs put forth way more effort than I do. When was the last time I jumped forward & upward just for that one piece of popcorn?

As a side note, I do believe Scout caught both of those pieces in the same jump.

rocking chair.

I'm spending a long weekend at home & had forgotten, once again, the newest member of my bedroom.

Meet antique rocking chair, a guest which has overstayed its welcome & resists anyone sitting in its lap. When I moved to Lawrence last August, this chair appeared in my room, which was apparently the safest storage place for it. However, it has not yet checked out of my humble abode for the past six months. Today, I decided to take advantage of the situation & make it a model. (It was much obliged.)

eskimo.

A certain brilliant but anonymous person created this sofa made entirely out of snow. It currently sits in front of Watson Library at KU, but as it progressively warms up outside, today might be the last day our fellow students can relax on it. At any rate, this eskimo couch has been quite a spectacle for the past several days of Snowpocalypse 2011.

Thanks to subjects Maggie Ma & Lauren Crandon for risking frostbite for this shot!

Note: Adjusted exposure.

canon rebel xs.

Instead of paying attention in history class today, I decided to commit to a 365-day photo blog.

Every day for at least a year, I will post a different picture. Who knows what amazing subjects I will capture with my new Canon Rebel XS?

I've always been a big fan of words. I love languages & the beautiful perspectives encoded in them. But recently, I've become fascinated with photography & the spectacular images a photo can perpetuate. This photo blog is the juxtaposition of my love for words & images. While the photographs provide an objective visual which can be interpreted many different ways, the captions allow me to describe my own perspective.

As a new photographer, I also have a couple of goals for this blog. First, I want to become a better photographer & track my progress day by day. As well, this is a fun way to document various happenings at a fast-paced & very exciting time of my life.

So here's day one of my year-long adventure. Now let's just see if I can stick with it.