Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas friends!!!

<3

I'll post soon but for more updates on my life check out my tumblr.

Today is such a happy day.

Christmas Eve happiness. More like weirdness. Photo by Becca Jones.

Love, me

Bird

This is exciting.

Click on the link below to listen to my song. 

My older brother Andrew and I recorded it here in Suzhou and you can read the rest when you click on the link.

The Link.

<3

Love, me

FORGET IT || forget it

Wouldn't it be nice if sometimes we could just forget about boys? I don't normally talk about boys on my blog but it's something that I think about a. lot. sooo... ha. That was a big confession.

Anyway whenever I tell myself to just forget about boys or at least stop thinking about them so much I walk out my door and there stands... a cute boy.

Never mind let's talk about something else now.

Today after Church I ate lunch with my sister at Secret Recipe and we laughed most of the time. We ate too of course but the laughing part is more important. After a bit my friend Alena came and we finished off some good Malaysian food with some really good cake and swallowed it with some more laughter. As Alena, Becca and I were walking away our waiter came running after us and then all of a sudden we remembered something... we forgot to pay! We all laughed so hard and I...III went back in to pay and apologize for being stupid.

Such fun memories we're making huh? I think so too.

We also went and tried to ride some unicycles which was super hard and none of us could even really get up on it.

Then we got Cocos and sat in a gazebo in Times Square and talked. Then Becca left and Alena and I talked some more, walked some more and found a bathroom. We sat under a bridge and chatted for the last twenty five minutes and she gave me an adorable hat for a Christmas present. She's a sweet friend. We walked to the bus stop and I jumped on my bus and she walked back to the subway stop and went home. I like these kinds of dates with friends. <3

Oh and listen to this song. All the Chinesey-ness throughout the song ties it to me in a way. Xizi She Knows.

And here's a picture of my new scarf. It's practically like Christmas wrapped around my neck. 

 And now I'm going to go put on my reindeer pajama pants and enjoy this Christmas holiday I'm on. 

I'm starting to say/spell certain things differently. I have a British teacher :)

Please comment and tell me how your December is going! It would make my December better.

xo.

Love, me

laguna

It's about my bedtime but I just wanted to tell you guys that I got a tumblr. 

Yes sirree, I made myself a tumblr yo. Don't think me weird for saying yo; for one, I've been wanting to say it for a while (it slides right off your tongue) and two, I'm tired. 

So hop on over here to read about how lovely a night I had and to see some recent shots I've taken. 

And if you want to... follow me? 

I'll write again soon.

December is flying.

Goodnight world <3

Love, me

good job December

Heyo.

I've been busy! Today I had a test. Eh. Soo hope I did well. 

After that I went to the Christmas concert and hung out with my buds. 

This next Saturday I'm going to a Tri Fed game to watch my buds;

and that night I'm going to a Winter Formal with... my buds.

Tonight I was at the recording studio again too! My older brother and I are working on another new song and it's coming along nicely. I can't wait to get it finished... but darn that metronome!
All this Christmasy-ness too... I love it.

Yeah, I'm enjoying this December quite a bit.

How's your December going!? You know me... I'd love to know.

Oh and here's a couple photos of just me in a recent shoot with Beth.

Oh and listen to this song. I don't want to turn it off.

Another new pair of socks! Told you I had a weakness. They're higher than the other ones and mint green. Yeees.

Love, me

a macchiato sort of day

I'm sort of laughing right now. 

After I got home from class I decided to leave by myself and get a coffee at my favorite coffee shop here. I took a bus (like I always do, lucky me), listened to Christmas music, Lana Del Rey and Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz' Lucky on repeat, bought mint green and candy cane socks (I have a weakness for socks) and then I ordered my delicious drink called a brown sugar with macchiato from a really smiley barista. I love college town a lot. 

When I got to the bus stop, I sat down... I had my iPod in one pocket, my phone in one hand (I was texting my sister at home) and my drink and bus card in the other hand. I took off the lid of my drink to get some whipped cream and then forgot to put it back on properly... so when I went to take another drink it spilled alllll over me. Down the front of my jacket and pants. Ew. And there were several kindasorta cute guys near me. I don't think they saw though. Whew. 

When I went to get on the bus one of the guys motioned for me to go before him and it was so sweet :D

I got on and there was an older, western guy on the bus and because of what had just happened and because I was getting funny texts from my sister, I smiled almost all the way home. It feels good not to be able to stop smiling. The guy must've thought that I was really happy. He was right. 

And that's my funny, little China story for the day. 

I have plenty more to share but I can't always do them justice.

Oh and last night we put up our Christmas tree and decorations!! It looks gorgeous and I'm likin' all this festivity quite a bit. Becca and I made yummy cappuccinos too.

Do you have a funny story from your day? Tellmetellme. 

Love, me

newsie

Okay so now that Thanksgiving is over I can start listening to Christmas music right?

Never mind. You're way too late.

:D 

It's so fun how Christmas happens not matter where you are. You get the same feelings, just in a different place. Even if snow doesn't fall the cold fills in the cracks and huge jackets, scarves, hats and gloves are a must have here in the Winter. It all works out perfectly and I'm so blessed to be able to celebrate this season all the way on the other side of the world from my home.

I miss my brothers and sister though. Like a lot a lot? Yeah, like that.

So my weekend/week in Shanghai was pretty perfect. Our big feast was delicious and being with family is always so nice. It continued to rain all week and that was a little uh... blah. Who cares though.

The retreat was so much fun. We met new, amazing people and basically got to spend two days with them. Staying up late, getting up early (three and a half hours of sleep), taking cold showers, eating bad food, walking around in the cold...? Yeah it's all fun with a friend. Oh and look! I have pictures :)

 So excited for this season and so happy that I have wonderful friends and family who make life the best.

<3

Left to right: Nuna, Me, Sarah and Becca.

My cousin Aaron and I. <3

Sarah and I being posin'.

All photo credit goes to Nuna. Thanks girls (and guys) for an amazing weekend full of everything great.

Love, me

p.s. Another design change. What the heck it's Winter guys. Even the xoxo changed!

happy girl

So today it rained. I normally love rain but when I have to ride my e-bike to school where I see cute people then I don't particularly like it. 

After school though I stayed inside and the rain didn't bother me anymore. ;)

Tomorrow I'm heading to Shanghai! Thanksgiving break yayayaya. I'll pack in the morning, go to class around noon and come home and my brother and I will go to the train station together and jump on a train. I'm excited for this next week/weekend. Thursday and Friday we'll spend the day cooking for our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night (cannottt wait) and after our feast my sister and I are going with my cousins to a retreat! We'll be there until Sunday afternoon and then Becca and I will take the train home. 

It'll be so relaxing and I'm looking forward to some time away. Being with my Shanghai family is always a plus too. 

Other than that I'm going to share some things from my happy list... that is, this is my happy list.

Glittery gold nail polish that looks like Christmas.

Christmas tunes. (Tonight was the first night I listened to some!)

People from my school. They're the best.

New Winter coats, pants and shirts that I needed :)

Coco dates.

Hot floors. haha that sounds funny. It's actually called floor heating and it's soo great. It's works especially well in our bathroom and it makes me never wanna leave that place.

Stupid, catchy songs like this one. I did say catchy and I so mean it.

There is also nothing better than a new pair of socks. Striped pink and orange? The best.
And Skype.
With lots of love and thankfulness,
me

Ooo. Socks.

p.s. I'll post some pictures soon <3

#socontent

Hi.

What do you think of the new header?

All of a sudden (well pretty much) I like neon yellow a lot. Neon is hot.

So that's why there is a big slash of neon yellow right up there. 

I also like the way it looks a little crooked.

:D
Check out these cute neon yellow things... that I sort of wish I had. ;)
this bag
or this clutch.
These oxfords
or maybe this hat.

I don't know why I'm not feeling very inspired tonight. I can't seem to write anything that I'm happy with. I'm trying. I'll just go look at some more cute winter clothes online and listen to some peppy music and maybe talk to a friend.

Oh and tomorrow after school I'm going to watch a bunch of the guys (from my school) play a sport called Tri Federation and after that a few of us are going to get Coco together. And the next night I'm going to a dance!
Fun. Fun? Fun.

Photo taken by Margaux while out on a photo shoot (really great adventure) with her, Becca and Alena. <3

In class with one of my awesome Korean friends. SSIS spirit!

Oh and I'm also wondering if any of you are still following my posts? I'm hoping you do even though  I don't post all the time. :) :)

 #blessed.
Yes.
Love, me

heyo

Oh boy I like showing off my brothers to my friends. It's fun when you have such cute brothers.

The other day several of my dear friends and my sister and I had a photo shoot and the pictures below are some I took. It was fun to the least. They're definitely keepers. *wink wink*

Tomorrow night I'm going to a halloween, rooftop party with a bunch of friends from my school! Woohoo. Crossing my fingers it doesn't rain.

Today has been a restless day. 

Tonight I danced around my kitchen to some of my favorite music and those special memories came back to me.

Mumford and Son's song Hopeless Wonderer is so good. 

I'm going to go to bed.

Oh my gosh a real forest right next to my house!?

Love, me

China {a guest post}

Hey! I'm Elisabeth, Annie's littlest sister.

I'm 11 years old. I'm the youngest member in the Jones family, which I don't like.

But I love having four older brothers and three older sisters. 

I want to say thank you to Annie for letting me guest post today!

So, thanks Annie!!!!! I love you tons.

So as most of you know we live in China, a city called Suzhou,

I like it here but it's definitely different from the little town of New Castle.

But it's good and I enjoy living overseas.

I love seeing Chinese people and their culture, China can be so dirty but in a way so very clean!

Like there will be a baby peeing on the side of the road and a little old

lady sweeping and the streets are like never dirty!

The skyline here in Suzhou is amazing. They're still working on it but it's awesome right now.

I love Suzhou!

Really close to our house is the ferris wheel.

This isn't a great picture of it but you can kinda see how great it is ;)

It isn't usually this clear ;) But I just had to put this one in.

Here's one more of the wheel.

So I hope you have enjoyed this guest post!!!

With love, Elisabeth, with an "S"

| my blog | email | photography |

all photos by me,

I wrote

Last night after I'd ate dinner out with friends and family then came home and parked my bike in the garage, I sat down and wrote. I wanted to write about my past week and such, so I did.

Two years ago today I left my American home and moved into a brand new one 6000 miles across the ocean.
Thanks to millions of people, it's been an absolutely amazing experience. Really hard and quite different, but God has blessed me so much.
Happy two years Suzhou, China.

On another note...
This past week we had a holiday. The October holiday. We decided to spend it someplace other than home so we packed our suitcases and went to Shanghai. We camped out at my uncle and aunt's house and spent our days revisiting favorites places. The first day we shopped at the fake market. It's always fun bargaining, and most of the people there know us from previous visits so they usually know what price we end up getting. *wink wink*

I bought a new scarf that I'm pretty psyched about wearing... and a pair of ray-bans. I mean for a buck fifty you can afford getting a new pair each time you go.
I also found gray nail polish that I was pretty excited about but it ended up being truly fake. It was literally like mud.

Other then that I drank a vanilla latte and saw a totally charming man in green shorts buying a subway ticket.
I was also lucky enough to spend the entire day (and week) with my fantastic family. Rachael being one of them. Aren't I blessed?

That night we ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant (I miss eating Mexican food so much when I'm in China!) and talked and laughed plenty.

The other full day we had we went to the old part of Shanghai. I love that place so much and with the weather we had that day it was too perfect. For me it's the kind of place that I get homesick for even though I've never lived there. I've just visited countless times and it's stuck in my mind and clings to my heart.
The first place we stopped at was the French Concession.
We stopped at several bakeries in the first hour. The first one to eat bread, almond croissants and to take a sip of a cappuccino, the second one to eat a yummy lunch. And it was yummy. We even met up with some lovely, lady friends from Suzhou!

This was the kind of day where we walked everywhere. Like I said on Facebook, "such a long day... but long in a really good way."

The four sisters. From left to right: Me, Bethy, Becca and Rachael. Aren't they adorable?

After lunch and more walking we drove over to another spot called Tian Zi Fang, (another crazy, nice place) where there are tons of little shops. Leather shops, cafes, art galleries and about a thousand, Chinese people filing through the small streets, also on their holiday. It's a good kind of crowded though, and crowded means it must be a loved place so... yes, I enjoyed it a whole lot.
After a while several of us decided we really needed a Coco (pearl milk tea) and we succeeded in finding someone who had one of them and proceeded to ask them where the Coco shop was. We found it and we were happy. One of our special Chinese friends came to Shanghai for the day to be with us and she made it a lot of fun. She's the kind of girl that is happy doing whatever and makes for a very entertaining and fun day.

Two of my favorite people.

As the light faded we walked down one last street and I actually found a dress to try on... I didn't buy it but I'm getting an idea of what I want for the Winter Formal. (<--Another post). :D

Yes I had a wonderful day. Yeah I had a really good week. Yep I'm busy (yes) and happy (way) but most of all I'm missing my sister Rachael who jumped on an airplane this morning to fly home.

Walking down the street all linked together.
All photos by Elisabeth Jones.

I'll write again soon. Sometimes it's just really hard to get it all down and to make it sound like you want it to you know?

"Those days we were covered in blue skies."
xoxo.
Love you.
Love, me

p.s. My brother and I recorded one of my songs at a friends, small studio here in Suzhou. I'm really excited to say the least. <3

good gone girl

These days have been filled with multiple (and I mean like three times each) trips to College Town and Times Square. These days have been irresistibly gorgeous. And the breeze? Oh goodness. September baby, New York City. These days I use my e-bike to go most places. And if not on that, it's either on a bike, bus or we walk. So it's all good.

I know I say this a lot but I love living in this city. 

I love life and the way he blesses me.

I love people.

These are from yesterday when we went to Times Square. We were eating seaweed. We'd just been shopping. We'd just got Cocos and talked for a while. 

We're tight.

Love, me

p.s. Imagine Dragons.

those songs || you know?

You know how sometimes you'll get really into a song and it'll be on repeat for a certain part of your life. And then slowly you start listening to other stuff and that song fades slowly away.  

(?)

Then one day you turn that song back on again because it's still one of your many favorites and immediately it brings you straight back to that certain time in your life, and you can even remember smells and feelings from that time. Oh man I love music. Those special songs that connect you to special or even insignificant times in your life. 

Close your eyes and that'll help you picture it to a point.

This one is my couple of weeks before Summer vacation song.

This song is my driving along the coast towards San Diego song.

This one is my look out the airplane window and feel overwhelmed song.

And this one is my miss my brothers like a lot song.

And sometimes when I hear a certain song, my heart gives a little jump and then I feel sort of queer.
Lately it's been Coldplay and Colbie Caillat. They're both making me homesick for West Nanjing Street (Shanghai). Weird huh!?

Love, me

p.s. Nine pictures for a header. Whatdoyathinkofthat!?

too pretty

It's been like two weeks since I've posted. I think it'll probably be this way pretty much always.

Just wanted you all to know that. Hopefully I'll keep posting and you lovely people who read my blog often will keep following. I'd love it if you would. :D

Here are some pictures of a really beautiful night. Too pretty really.

Love, me

this and this

 Yesterday I did this. 

 And this.

 And this.

And this.

I'll be posting about this picture here soon :)

And it all made me happy. 

Love, me

it's a bag

My newly acquired item.

I'm lovin' the little smiley face guy with the crooked eyes up there.

I'll post soon about other such things to be happy about.

Love, me

typhoon

Sing those words to the tune of "Diet Mountain Dew" by Lana Del Rey and think of Suzhou getting blown fiercely about and soaked through and through.

Don't worry though, we're all safe. 

Love, me

p.s. I like the word typhoon. I may have to use it again.

don't let me fall

Try listening to this song,

while sleeping on a coach,

because it's 100 degrees.

The fan is gently blowing cool air onto your skin.

The moon and the stars are above you and all of a sudden you can relate to the song and that makes you feel really happy.

I won't soon forget how it felt.

marco polo

My yesterday was spent snapping photos of people. Family members and a friend. I find that all the hues of blue and green that normally are associated with a pool are amazing photo material.

I like these colors so much.

Laying in the sun, tanning is also pretty fantastic. And that warm-all-over feeling is the best.

After the pool, we headed home only to get ready and head back out. We jumped on the bus and then a subway and got to Ping Jiang Lu, a pretty popular spot. We ate dinner at our favorite noodle place and people watched. 

Ping Jiang was gorgeous with all the lanterns lit and the water running through the canal. We stopped by several postcard stores and stocked up. 

As we headed home we decided to stop at 85 degree cafe and get coffees. It was nighttime but we didn't care. The subway stop we were at is surrounded by skyscrapers and it's extra fun being there at night. 

We went home and slept.

Photo by Beth Jones.

No pool photo shoot is complete without a picture of the lifeguards. In this case several of them are snoozing.

God's making me feel blessed.
Love, me


p.s. And the title? Well duh, marco polo was obviously played in the pool, but did you know that it is also the name of one of the first people to come to Suzhou? Jessica told me that. :D