Expect miracles.
One hot summer day in the capital.
Blerta and I were office mates. We were affectionately called, “The meanies.” In other words, don’t mess with us.
This panel was so fantastic.
Exploring Maryland with my host family.
Mucho, the dog. We had an interesting relationship that summer.
Wearing those Spain stripes.
I love exploring cemeteries.
Reuniting with Harshul for lunch.
Annapolis for the Fourth of July!
“We’ve all done it; talked ourselves into the penguin because we didn’t think we had a shot at the elephant. If I am your elephant, you have a shot.” Haley Dunphy
[Images from Tumblr]
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Women’s month is ending, and there are still so many women who inspire me that I want to showcase.
Today, I am choosing a woman who has been such an icon for me. She fascinates me because she is so raw. She has that “stunning” factor. And she uses that power to promote very important causes. I am talking about, the one and only, Marion Cotillard.
Cotillard is a songwriter, actress and super environmentalist. She is a spokesperson for Greenpeace.
She has probably won every film award in the U.S. and Europe. And if she hasn’t won all of them yet, she will. Ha. Something I love about her art is the emotion she brings into what she does. Watching her is bewitching, and the memory lasting. When she appears on a screen, things get real.
I remember an interview she did, years after her movie La Vie en Rose, and she spoke about how she came to deeply identify with Édith Piaf. The woman’s legacy almost haunted her soul, and when I read that, I remember thinking, Wow, she gives 200 percent in all that she does. It just shows. She has a rawness that is rare. It reminds me of how important it is to allow myself to feel whatever I am feeling. And to feel it intensely.
Cotillard has done several significant environmental film projects. Her work with Greenpeace has been extensive. She once traveled to Congo to visit tropical rainforests and support an awareness project. And in 2013, she famously locked herself in a cage in the Louvre to protest the imprisonment of 30 Greenpeace activists in Russia. She held her banner stating, “I am a climate defender.”
She contributed to a drawings book to support the environment, and she designed her own doll with UNICEF France, whose proceeds went to vaccinate children in Darfur.
She works with the Maud Fontenoy Foundation, which teaches children to preserve the oceans. She is also involved in several campaigns aiming to preserve and spread awareness about the Amazon and its indigenous people. And she has contributed to the cause of children with autism.
Marion keeps busy with her efforts and projects involving the preservation of our unique and beautiful earth. She champions education, children’s health and the arts. She is all about life; whether it be plants, animals or humanity, itself.
If you have seen her Lady Dior commercials, you know she has a wickedly good sense of humor. She is always on the best dressed lists, and her short hair is always impeccable. She has conquered continents with her voice and the raw emotion she transmits through her gorgeous blue eyes.
She not only speaks, but she acts. And today, we celebrate her efforts and vulnerability. She continuously reminds us to respect and love beauty, nature, people– to love and celebrate life.
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Greetings! Ready to not only survive Monday but to thrive on Monday?
It’s Holy Week and officially spring.
SPRING!!!
*Spring*
(Spring)
Spring make us feel like no other season. Autumn is cozy and romantic. I love it. However, there is something about fresh new air, soft rains and flowers. Rebirth is moving. Life is emerging. Spring will probably always be my favorite; it’s also my favorite because I am a spring baby. Spring and I have a special bond. It feeds my bohemian, free-spirit.
I remember being on my dad’s bike. There was one particular spring day when it started raining, and we rode past a bunch of blooming daffodils. I was in kindergarten, and he would ride with me on his bike and take me to school. Spring always reminds me of that. A blur of soft rain and bright yellow flowers.
Spring makes me want to shed the blazers and dark tights. I just want to sit on a dock by a lake, barefoot. *with no splinters, of course, in my perfect imaginary world*
More days in nature, and more sunshine (now that the days are longer) will give life to our souls, in the upcoming weeks. This week, let the beauty and life move you. I hope this week marks something new and different being born in your life. Let all things become new. Let life as you know it change.
“I think there comes a time when you meet someone, and you just want to make them smile for the rest of your life.”
Anonymous
– T.B. LaBerge // Go Now
“When you pray,
your prayers are heard
by the same God who
answered Moses’ prayer
for water in the desert,
the God who gave Abraham
and his barren wife a son,
and the God who made
the slave Joseph second
in power only to Pharaoh.”
73/365 reasons to pray | Francis Chan
T.B. LaBerge // Go Now
Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Leviticus 19:2
“She doesn’t want to hear that she is flawless. She wants to hear that she is loved, regardless of the flaws.”
charmingwinds
Step out in faith. Don’t be afraid to let God reshape you. May we be reborn each day.
And remember, “These moments… are not to be despised. They come too seldom.” [Quote by Virginia Woolf]
[Images from Tumblr]
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Semana Santa (Holy Week) begins. Easter weekend is coming. Easter and Passover always reminds me that God can do and does the impossible. It’s a reminder of His crazy love for us; a reminder that redemption has been completed; a reminder to rest in His provision and leading.
I haven’t been resting much, literally, (I need more ZZZs)– so the plan is to rest a lot this week. Time to take it easy and focus on health. Better sleep; better eating; and retraining and working out.
Bring out your best Easter dress. I love wearing pastel colors this time a year, no matter how cold it is.
Yesterday, it was chilly as I was walking with some new friends. One of them said, “It’s like spring came and left, and now, winter came back and said, ‘Screw you!'” It feels that way. But I walked past an Episcopal Church with a blossom tree in full bloom, (I know that’s not the real name, sue me. I don’t know my trees. It was the one with the pink flowers…), and it inspired hope in me. We are almost there.
I hope you rest and find some magic this weekend.
This week, I was reading a lot about God and His name, I AM.
When Moses came across the burning bush that was not consumed and received his calling, God told him that I AM was sending him and was with Him. God is so powerful and amazing that the only thing that can define Him is Himself, explains David Limbaugh. I love this thought; especially now, as we approach Passover. Whatever you are going through, whatever you are facing, know that I AM has called you. I AM is with you. Remember that. He has seen your current situation and will lead you out of it.
Find your peace.
I am planning to.
Rest in I AM, this beautiful Sunday.
“But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you… I AM WHO I AM.” Exodus 3: 12 and 14
PS. As you rest, check out the new pages on the Blog Roll. The Anthropologie Blog is new. The first three photos from the post are from Anthropologie, and the others from Tumblr.
Check out the other new addition, undrthepvmnt, a new creative project piloted by a friend of mine. I hope to be collaborating soon with my friend and having some of my photography on his page. Show your support!
PSS. Bringing this classic back: Rather Be
/If you gave me a chance I would take it, it’s a shot in the dark but I’ll make it/
XOXO
[Images from Anthropologie and Tumblr]
“Compassion and dialogue are essentially vulnerable positions. If you are into control and predictability, you will seldom descend into the weakness of listening or the scariness of dialogue. You will not only be incapable of hearing others, but you will also be incapable of hearing God. How we do anything is usually how we do everything. If we spend all day controlling and blocking others, why would we change when we kneel to pray?”
John Feister, Hope Against Darkness
Happy Friday!
George and Amal meet with Syrian refugees in Berlin, on the fifth anniversary of the Syrian crisis.
Bringing this little gem back, again. People have been reading it a lot lately. It’s back by popular demand.
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Waiting is one of the worst feelings. I remember when I was a kid, when I knew my friend Liz was coming to visit, I would sit by the window and wait. That was always a terrible idea because she and her family always arrived later than planned. I would sit by the window, watching intently; get frustrated; eventually walk away; then, I would be mad for a while; I would annoy my parents with questions, and then, I would try to distract myself by setting up doll houses or American Girl Magazines I wanted us to read through together and the quizzes we would take once she arrived.
No matter how mad I was during the wait, when they [she and her family] arrived, I was so happy. The pain of the wait was forgotten. We would hug upon her arrival, go off and play and use up every minute wisely…
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[Image from World Mag]
By: Gabriela Yareliz
How many of us believe something so strongly that we’d die for it? How many of us have an integrity that allows us to stare death in the face and not flinch?
Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh met in 2005, while studying theology in Turkey.
After completing their studies, they returned to their native Iran and began spreading Christianity. This is a crime punishable by death in Iran. They passed out Bibles to at least 20,000 people and helped home churches grow.
In 2009, both women were arrested in Tehran and sentenced to execution by hanging. Both spent 259 days in the notorious Evin Prison. This prison is known for its torture, rapes and executions. Both women were interrogated for nine hours at a time, each week, and they were often placed in solitary confinement. While in solitary confinement, they would pray for each other.
The women turned the prison into a place of healing, and they shared their faith with fellow prisoners. They would sing and share with the other prisoners how God’s presence was there with them.
Some prisoners scoffed and asked the women why they didn’t just renounce their faith. Denying their beliefs would have gotten them out of prison.
Marziyeh said, “Our insistence on our faith is not our stubbornness… He [God] is my all. We are inseparable. My life has no value without Him. I love God so much that denying Him would be denying my own existence…”
Later in 2009, the worldwide church engaged in prayer and spread awareness, and as a result, international pressure mounted. The women were then cleared of all charges and released.
Both women are the writers of Captive in Iran. Why are they featured, you might ask? These women have an integrity that defied even death. Their faithfulness to their belief served to promote, not only their faith, but the concept of freedom of conscience, which is a human right and fundamental part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And in the end, their faith and the faith of others led to their miraculous release.
What mattered the most was clear to them. They made an unbreakable vow. Their courage is memorialized in their famous words, “It was an honor for both of us to suffer for our faith.”
#ThatShahLife
[A special thanks to David Limbaugh, who featured this story in his book, Jesus on Trial, pg. 101-103].
“Undaunted radiance is not built on anything passing but on the love of God that nothing can alter.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: March 7
“Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” Ps. 34:5
I want to be undauntedly radiant.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 