"Polite Grievance"

{Click to enlarge.}

[Parchment/Image by me, via Photoshop. Texture by FantasyStock.]

"Be Still My Soul: Rendition"

"Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on... When we shall be forever with the Lord." -Katharina von Schlegel (Be Still My Soul)

A demo version of my rendition of the LDS hymn, "Be Still My Soul".

Historical note: The original tune name is "Finlandia" and is, originally, one of Finland's national songs.

Religious note: The tune has been used for hymns for other Christian beliefs ("We Rest On Thee", "This is My Song", etc.)

{Original melody: Jean Sibelius

Rendition melody: Ashley S. Harmon

Sounds/compilation: GarageBand

Movie compilation: iMovie}

The live piano version is rather better, in my opinion, but I hope you enjoy this anyways!

"Andre Rieu Concert 2009"

"Music is what life sounds like." -Eric Olson

Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra are masters of music. I loved this concert more than any other I've ever been to before.

The video was shot and edited by yours truly. I uploaded it through YouTube because Blogger was being slow. If you would like to see the photos I captured of this extraordinary event, go to my Facebook pictures, here.

If you wish to see extended clips or have any questions about Andre or the concert, just ask! I would relive this again in a heartbeat.

"Inner Photographer"

"I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive" -Albert Einstein

I've sincerely tried to stretch out my hands and touch every beautiful, interesting genre I've come across so far in my 20 years of life. Photography was one of the areas I never seemed to be able to grasp.

Until today, that is.

I purchased a Canon PowerShot SD 1200 IS Digital ELPH (blue) and it works magically.

After buying this little pretty, I headed for the park with Raine. I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to bother some of the patrons by making her pose, crooning compliments to her, and taking completely random pictures of sand and swing sets.

{The burger I consumed. American ground and grilled.}

{The dog I love.}

{Kira "Monkey" Harmon}

{Beauty Harmon}

{The park in which we walk.}

I also learned how to make my photographs gain a "vintage" feel via Photoshop. Oh, the wizardry you can brew in that magnificent program!

I'm excited to experiment more in the future with angles, light settings, and color balances. Stay tuned!

"A Walk in Spring Rain"

"It's spring fever... And when you've got it, you want--oh, you don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!" -Mark Twain

I took a walk in the rain with my Raine. She and I have a favorite spot we go to that's beautiful all year round. In the summer, it's lush with green. In the autumn, it's colored by leaves. In the winter, it's frozen like art. In the spring... it blooms.

Anyway, here's a silly video I made of clips I took up there. I apologize for the quality; I shot everything on my phone using a "night camera" feature because dusk was settling in (and the feature made it extraordinarily blurry as I moved.)

It's absolutely wonderful to take evening walks in the rain. I love this spot for more reasons than I'll admit. And I believe I'll take my engagement photos here one day.

"Hail from England!"

CLICK TO WATCH "MISSION MONTAGE"

"The best exercise is to reach down and lift someone up." -Zig Ziglar

A picture is worth a thousand words... and a movie is worth a million!

I got a package yesterday from Elder Farnsie (thank you, Saundra) and was ELATED to say the least. Inside were a couple of letters, postcards, a Dr. Who DVD (it's very popular in England,) a "Union Jack" (British flag) and a beehive necklace made from Cornish tin.

After being overwhelmed with all of the goodies, I found that he had also packed his camera's memory card (wrapped in notebook paper.) This discovery was an absolute gold mine experience; we now have all of his photos and videos from his mission (up to this point)!

I'm posting the photos on his website (when I figure out how) as well as his Facebook. As for the videos, I've made a movie (posted here/Facebook) from the files off his memory card. It took a while (there were lots of extended clips) but I finally figured out how to properly edit everything in iMovie.

Hope you enjoy! For more updates on our favorite missionary, just check out his website. (You can find the link on the sidebar of this blog.)

"Notebook Blog"

"Everyone needs to believe in something. I believe I'll have another piece of cake." -Anonymous

It's kinda fun playing with templates. (For those of you viewing this blog post via e-mail, you'll have to go here to be able to see what I'm talking about.)

I think I'll play with colors and font sizes as well.

Much appreciation to Sam for helping me understand html a little better. I may actually make my own template in the future. *le gasp*

Guess what? I'm buying a car. Papere and I went browsing today and found a cute, green Suzuki Forenza '05 within my price range ($5,000). Only problem is... I did some research and found out some not-so-nice facts about the Forenza's history and reputation. Ah well, we'll keep lookin'.

Moving along, Elder Farnsworth wrote home. (YAY!) I'm still waiting for my own letter, and apparently, a package. At the end of the letter to his mother (which she let me read,) he wrote, "I'm sending a small package to Ashley."

Oh, ho ho. I'm growing quite restless just knowing something's in the mail with my name on it.