Common Grounds Project | Marly

i am so excited to announce this project! this has been rolling around in my head ever since i decided officially i was moving. i want to celebrate friendships and have something i can hold onto after i leave virginia, something to remember friends by even if its just silly things. it didn't really take all that much shape in my brain till this week though.

my friend marly and i have been trying to have once a week dates and that kind of got the ball rolling on this. we decided to have coffee this week and that is where i decided on the name for my project!

i'm calling it the common grounds project and (hopefully) once a week i will be able to interview a least one of the many people who have become important to me here in virginia. and hopefully all over coffee. (or chai like today) hence the "grounds" part and because who doesn't love curling up with a cup of joe and gabbing? in doing so i hope to strengthen friendships, find more common ground with each person, and have a great time photographing people i love! i am so excited to see where it brings our friendships. my goal is that we would grow closer, laugh, and build each other up in Christ.  i am hoping to keep in going even after i move and make more friends. of course i will instagram it with the hashtag #commongroundsproject so keep an eye out for them there. i am excited to have this goal and i'm excited for an excuse to drink coffee.

Today we headed to the Muse after Marly got out of class. Its my day off so I had just spent the morning talking to Pete and reading/writing. The driver over was nice because the sun wasn’t super bright and we just chatted about the things going on since we had last seen each other. I told her about my plans for camping this spring and we talked about how we really never go to the Muse. I think I never go because the times I have, when I walk in people all turn and look at me. I’m not always feeling up to that pressure.  Today was good though. Today we walked in and no one stared. The guy behind the counter was very friendly and talked to us about flavors you can put in chai. I ordered coffee and marly ordered a regular chai because she doesn’t like coffee. We sat up on the top part and after marly ate her lunch and I drank most of my mocha, we started our conversation. . . 

Me: Where are you from?

Marly: Nampa Idaho. N-A-M-P-A.

Me: thanks for spelling that for me. . .do you think you will live there for the rest of your life?

Marly: Um, i think i eventually want to go back, but i think there might be a couple years in-between where i live somewhere else.

Me: nashville?

Marly: yea haha.

Me: if you were a cat, what would your favorite toy be?

Marly: hhmm, i feel like, you know those tower things? you could learn how to do flips off that. and you could perch on them? i could like, start a competition with myself to see how far i could jump off it. like increase my muscle mass. . .

Me: have you thought about being a cat a lot?

Marly: haha no. but everyone would be thinking i was pretty funny because cat humor is big these days. you could get some great pictures of me launching in the air.

Me: take this however you want it, what is the goal?

Marly: what is the goal? wow thats a hard question. . . i think hhmm. i have a couple different goals, i think i would say, as the goals for my life, to be transparent with others in that we may come closer to the fullness of what God created us to be. another is to celebrate differences. i lived a lot of my life not celebrating differences and i think that leads to jealousy, unhappiness, lack of joy, bitterness; but in celebrating differences i think you can truly start to appreciate someone else. you can accomplish more together with that person and grow closer to the Lord. and to dance a lot.

Me: whats the greatest dance party you ever had?

Marly: that one when we were roommates, the one with kim, and i dont know lexi might have been there too. I was wearing your rainboots and a bowtie around my neck. thats the dance party that always sticks out in my mind.

Me: what is another thing from us being roommates that sticks out in your mind?

Marly: i think like, how much i didn't want to go to the annex and how much fear i had in that, and how being roommates with you was exactly what God had in mind. so what sticks out the most is basically that i couldn't have had it better. that i had been so fearful and how my obedience led me to a friendship that will last forever and so many memories i can't even fit them in one memory jar.

Me: that was really sweet!

Marly: haha.

Me: to wrap up, what is your spirit animal?

Marly: wow. . . um, i'm thinking some sort of mountain lion? i don't know, because i don't know about the sweeter side of a mountain lion? because i can be sort of intense but i can also be not intense? i don't know because i don't know much about animals.

Me: thats a really good one.  do you have any final words?

Marly: don't ever confuse the street name drive with doctor.

 a good one to start on for sure! thanks marly for being a good sport and letting me ask you crazy things and take your picture! you are a beautiful person and i love you so very much!


 all photos are taken with a nikon d700 & 50mm