check it

Sometimes I paint and sketch. Mostly quotes and flowers and such things. But I realized that I'd never posted any of them here. So, hey, here's a little collection of them for ya to check out...

(see more on instagram: @imhaleyjane / @haleyjanepaints / #haleyspaintings)

xo.

seventeen & crazy

“I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane.”

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Hi. I'm seventeen now.

In the last few days of being sixteen, when everyone's asking you "are you excited?", et cetera, et cetera, I didn't really know what to say. Because, wow, sixteen was such a darn good year. I mean, of course there were days that were just blah, because it's life and that's how it works. But as a whole -- darn good, like I said. 

I guess I just wasn't sure seventeen could quite live up to it. But every year is different. And seventeen? It's off to a pretty great start. (Honestly, really.)

Life is full of possibility. There's lessons to be learned from sixteen and new ones to be found in seventeen. And not to sound cheesy (cliches are mostly used because they're true, ya know) -- but living everyday to the fullest is not bad advice.

So the plan? The plan is this: live life & do the best you can.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."

Colossians 2:6-7

writing prompt / 001

I got a new journal. Actually, several new journals. It seems I find them in abundance and even when I'm not looking, they find me. One of them, though, is a bit different from the others. It's entitled "300 Writing Prompts" and is filled with just that. Now, I don't think I'll post them all here. I mean, some are bound to crash and burn. But the ones that turn out decently, I'll put a few of them here.

001. What is your favorite way to spend a lazy day?

My favorite way to spend a lazy day would be to rise early, before anyone else. To watch the sunrise from my bedroom window. To pull out my journal and write down long-pent-up thoughts, and maybe just scribble down some imaginings and hopes and dreams and fears as well. To have a clean face and a big comfy shirt. To paint and sketch in the soft early morning light. A few cups of coffee. One for necessity, the others just because I can and have the time to sip them slowly. Later, to pull out a book and read -- really read. Get caught up in the story, like I have not done for far too long. To maybe curl up in my bed in the afternoon -- sleep seems so much more appealing in the light. A little nap. After that, to turn on my favorite music and listen to the lyrics -- really listen. Then talk to those people who are my favorites and really talk to them with all my attention. Maybe write a few letters I won't mail. And to finish, a good, suspenseful tv show with a blanket around my shoulders. 1/13

And now I'm curious -- what is your favorite way to spend a lazy day?

on repeat • 04

the sound of silence (cover) by joy williams [x]

the heart by needtobreathe [x]

free fallin (cover) by john mayer [x]

love me like you do by ellie goulding [x]

hate to see your heart break by paramore ft. joy williams [x]

stubborn love by the lumineers [x]

one grain of sand by ron pope [x]

skinny love (cover) by birdy [x]

give me love by ed sheeran [x]

hopeless wanderer by mumford & sons [x]

end of time by the band perry [x]

footloose by kenny loggins [x]

xo (cover) by john mayer [x]

wake me up by avicii [x]