some of my fav songs right now...

since dang mixtape shut down, this is the ghetto way to share some of my favs with you all, enjoy, they are beautiful little treasures of deliciousness and goodness:

damn, dont you just love lablogotheque?!?!?!?

#93.6 BON IVER - Skinny Love
by lablogotheque

"the canadian girl" by the walkmen. (i especially love this music video. heh. sorry but the live versions weren't such top quality..):

"your city", by mason jennings:

HOLY CRAP M. Ward is releasing a new album on like, Feb. 23rd!!
this song is called "hold time" from his highly anticipated, yet to be released new album:

"bad man's world" by jenny lewis:


p.s. i know you are all laughing because it wouldn't be a layli mix withOUT mason and m.ward. sheesh.

which one is your favourite??
♥

some of the latest adventures in south dakotee.

my bff and roommate of 4 years came out to visit from montana last week. these photos were taken from my four different cameras. needless to say, we had a blast. 

"O God, Almighty Protector! O Thou Who art the confirmer of every just power and equitable empire in eternal glory, everlasting power, continuance and greatness! Strengthen with the abundance of Thy mercy every government which acts with equity towards its subjects, and every dominion under whose flag the poor and weak find protection.

We ask Thee by Thy holiness and bounty to pour out Thy blessing upon this government which has stretched its tent over citizens from every land, that its inhabitants, its industries, its territories may be penetrated by justice.

O God! Strengthen its executives, give authority and influence to its word and utterance, protect its territories and dominions, guard its reputation, make its ideals to echo throughout the world, reveal its traces and exalt its principles by Thy conquering power and wonderful might throughout the kingdoms of creation.

Thou art the confirmer of whomsoever Thou willest. Verily, Thou art the powerful and the mighty!"

~ Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Baha'u'llah, Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith

waiting for you through every season

is torture.

♥

(click on image to see larger size)

man, people are so stupid.

sure. sometimes as women we tell one another, "it'd be nice to have longer eyelashes" or we wear fake ones on HALLOWEEN. and it stops there. atleast for the women i choose to associate with. but to actually take a DRUG TO MAKE THEM THICKER, LONGER AND FULLER is INSANEINTHEMEMBRANE. and the side effects? who the heck knows how messed up you can get.

this morning was i reading this article on New York Times site and i was so bummed out. As if marketing, media and 13 year old boy models don't make women feel insecure enough. now our eyelashes aren't good enough either. the saddest part is that they are anticipating HUGE ass sales. (what the???)

Latisse is sisters of Botox, both of which are super AWESOME things to do to yourself because you are too scared to face the fact that you are aging and that there is beauty in that. 

“If you think about it in terms of luxury, it’s four dollars a day,” [exec. Pyott] said. “We think this is fairly acceptable to a large segment of people even in these times.”

PYOTT = IDIOT.

even the photo above makes me sick.

since when was it bad to wear mascara....or NOTHING?? the largest pressure to be beautiful in this culture (and probably most others) is to look appealing on the outside. i mean, that is all we as a society FOCUS on. and sure, its awesome to see hot people, but how is it allright to continuously be told that you aren't beautiful enough the way you are, that you need to change your looks, your weight, your style, CONSTANTLY. and even then, there is no guarantee from "them", whoever they may be that you are acceptable. in fact, there never is. we are never good enough according to this destructive approach.  

just imagine if there was as much attention given to making our insides just as, if not more beautiful than our outward appearance?? how much better would women feel about themselves? i can honestly say that the percentage of women with eating disorders, body hate, etc. would decrease significantly. we live and die in our physical bodies. they DIE. but it is our character, our soul, our heart, our mind, our contributions to the world that really last forever. but not my wrinkle-free face, my tight bum, my nice legs or my pretty long, shiny hair. we need to help one another to constantly flip that ugly switch. tell me how you're doing this by commenting below!

this post is to all my natural beauties out there . here's to us helping one another to re-focus ourselves to the things that ACTUALLY matter. cheers.

♥

suspension. wonderment. and transformation.

"sometimes my feelings are so hot that I have to take to the pen and pour them out on paper to keep them from setting me afire inside."            --mark twain.

i've spent so much of my life being pissed off, irritated, wishing things were going different, wishing i was somewhere else, somewhere more fun, more adventurous, more exciting, more interesting, more stimulating, more this, more that. more something other than what it was. it is funny...that state of mind can become quite addicting, which is perplexing to me as there is so much beauty and life and passion and excitement all around me ALL THE TIME. truly. once i can just rise above my rambling thoughts, the tape that plays telling me bullcrap, once i can transcend that moment of wishing and yearning for something that is not, i notice how fortunate i am. 

life has been EXTREMELY challenging and overwhelmingly exhausting here in the Black Hills these past months. but i need to remember that i can choose how i decide to understand and come to peace with the tests and challenges that have been handed to me. i have been constantly trying to ask myself "how can i transcend this bullshit that is going on around me and what can i learn from all of this strife?" because there has to be something to learn. THERE JUST HAS TO BE.

and the beautiful thing is that there always is. always something to learn and gain from our lame ass experiences. and who said they were lame anyway? sure, they're challenging. but i have been trying to take a step out of myself and really see where and what it is that i am immersed in. like, it hit me today at the bookstore. i walked past the "Native American" section of the store and the book "Wounded Knee II" caught my eye. I picked it up. i scanned it. i remembered doing a extensive case study/paper on that tragedy in grad school, just shy of a year ago...it seemed so far away then, but so very close to my heart. and now, i can recognize names and faces of those that i have met or their offspring i have worked with, or have had dinner with their nieces and nephews, or their grandmother that i have heard stories of, or been to the places that are so sacred and so holy. and i realized: how lucky am i to be here, in the land where some of the most historic, monumentous, and tragic events have happened with some of the most heroic, brave, valiant, kind, eloquent, spiritually attuned people on the planet?? how is it that I am able to be here, meeting the people I have, experiencing the life that so many Americans don't know $hit about, never think about, never wonder...i was overwhelmed with a sense of gratefulness, pride and honour for the time that God has bestowed me the opportunity to come live in the Black Hills of South Dakota and work with the Lakota people and experience what many will never be able to. (SOOO many of the Great Heroes are from this land: Black Elk, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud...to name only a few...)

the key is to identify the blessings in our challenges, to nurture the ability to transcend the negative forces that continue to work on stifling us, to see the love and the life of every living thing, to decide to become stronger for the tragedies, the lack of luck, the heartbreak and conflict that has been handed to us. 

...maybe this is why i have chosen to live my life being in the middle of conflict. maybe this is why i am getting my masters in conflict transformation. because i - like i believe we all do - live in conflict of some way or another EVERY FREAKING DAY - whether its with someone or a conflict within yourself. and the key is to figure out how to transform it and ourselves. i like living in this place of constant question, anticipation and wonderment. 

i continue to work hourly on suspending the thoughts and habits that limit my ability to see the beauty and the excitement and the lessons and the wonderment. and when i do get that glimpse, of the beauty in the beast, i feel so light and so grounded, able to breathe deeply and laugh my heart out.

today was one of those days.

p.s. i've decided i'm making a film!!! i will be interviewing about 25 Lakota people from the Rapid City/Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations!! its gonna be DOPE!!! i'll keep you posted!!

i will conclude with some of the most appropriate quotes from the Prophet of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah, and his son, Abdu'l-Baha:

• "Build ye for yourselves such houses as the rain and floods can never destroy, which shall protect you from the changes and chances of this life." --Baha'u'llah
• 
  
• "Be calm, be strong, be grateful, and become a lamp full of light, that the darkness of sorrows be annihilated, and the sun of everlasting joy arise from the dawning place of heart and soul, shining brightly." -- Abdu'l-Baha
  

• "Lift up your hearts above the present and look with eyes of faith into the future! Today the seed is sown, the grain falls upon the earth, but behold the day will come when it shall rise a glorious tree and the branches thereof shall be laden with fruit."  --Abdu'l-Baha

just to creep you out

AHEM. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! NO, ER...HAPPY EASTER!!! NO...WHAT THE!?!??!

ick. talk about weird. in a hilariously weird kind of way. in a way that makes you laugh at first and then on closer look you kinda get that sick feeling in your stomach like somethings not right. found here.

moral of story: people are creepy. and hilarious.

to live by

i believe these words.

i have an excuse for my lack of blog posting:

i was with my family, the great samimi-moores. more photos to come...make sure to watch the music video at the end of this post; its unbelievable.