Read today....

"Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean revel in him!"
Philippians 4:4 (The Message)

"...I've learned by how to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little....Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am."
Philippians 4:11,13 (The Message)

Read this post (you have to look at the pictures. I've been admiring them all day!) today. These verses jumped out at me. I dove into my little version of the Message that I've had borrowed from the library for the last few weeks. I sat and just soaked in the whole book of Philippians. It was one of those "oh, right. That's why I've been feeling so lousy" moments. Must keep priorities in check. Must focus on the most important Thing and leave the "things" to be forgotten. Must live in a way that He is overshadowing all the other thoughts in my head. Must "revel in Him" more. Revel! What a cool way of describing it! I can revel in so many things, but it's not very often that it's Him and Him alone and not the things I want Him to do.
Good lessons today. Off to enjoy our first thunderstorm of the year! Yummy smell of rain. Windows open. Enjoying Spring.

Sunday tree climbin'

Row houses in the city

strange mix

Have you ever taken a step back and looked at the things that interest you? The things that make your heart beat a little faster. The things that you can't wait to be involved with. Do you ever think about how very diverse and almost contradictory they are?
For instance.....

• I'm super excited for Battlestar Galactica's season finale tonight. Really, really excited. Space ships, Cylons, Caprica, Gaius Baltar, the Adama's, dead Starbuck. However, I am sitting at my desk getting ready to play with paint and glue and paper while listening to Joshua Radin's Winter and wiping away the tears from the episode of Scrubs I just finished watching that used that song at a tear filled moment. And my favorite books are Anne of Green Gables. Don't those things seem totally opposite?
  
• I hate reality TV. I can't stand Survivor, no that's too nice. I despise it! But I can sit in an airport for hours upon hours and watch people. It's so fascinating to me. Aren't those things similar?
  
• I don't like playing games and am not competitive. Yet, for 5 summers I was the program coordinator for a camp and was in charge of games and coming up with them and leading them and doing the 3 times a day for 8 weeks. I LOVED that job. The only reason, other than God saying time was up, that I quit was that I was mentally tapped.
  
• When I was growing up, I hated babysitting. The kids drove me crazy. I did it cause I needed the money and I was good with kids (yes, I was). I've worked in ministry with kids for almost all of my life. I LOVE that part of ministry. I love working at a camp with kids. LOVE it. There is nothing else in life that I would rather do right now. Yet, I still try to avoid babysitting like the plague. Of course all that changes when those little ones belong to my best friends. Then I can't get enough of them! I want to spend too much time with them. Doesn't that seem wacko?
  

It just makes me think about how very diverse some of my likes and dislikes are. Guess that makes me either well rounded or just plain crazy. ...... ..... ... I'm hoping for well rounded....

hmm...

Okay, so today I was clicking in on one of my daily blog fixes. I read a ton (as in 20 in my favorites and another who knows how many I click on as a link from one of those). I have 4 favorites that I *need* to read everyday (Ali, Tara, Gblog {password protected so I can't share}, Elsie...these women are constant sources of inspiration) or I feel like I'm missing out on something important. I love it! I've *met* so many new *friends* and learned SO much on so many different subjects. I have 3 different folders for my little bloggy friends and almost all of them fit into one of the 3. *CHINA* *PHOTOG* *SCRAP* Guess those 3 little words say a lot about where my interests lie. There are, of course, a couple that definitely don't fit into those categories, like my sister's, Zach Braff, Pam Beesley and Poppy Ink (which isn't technically a blog).
Anyway...I was reading Tara's post today. She added some new links on her blog. {{{I LovE it when people put links on their blogs. That's how I found 3 of my top 4 favs. I was looking on a China adoption blog one day almost 2 years ago when I found a link to Tara's site which lead me into the whole world of scrapbooking and paper crafts.}}} One of the links was this which was so cute and fun that I followed the other link on that page which lead me to this blog. Now, I'm obsessed! It's that undiagnosed OCD again...Please follow my link game one more time and read this post. I think I've re-read it about 10 times since this morning. I can't get it out of my head! I actually went to Whole Foods and bought a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Almond Soap. Mostly because it was cheap and my skin has been very unhappy as of late and I'm ready to try anything. I've tried a bazillion different type of soaps and cleansers and toners and lotions and acne creams. Now, the older I get, I see how much damage I've done thinking I needed something stronger and harsher to kill whatever was causing the problems. This little post made me think. This isn't the first time I've heard about all natural stuff. The organic food craze is HUGE here where I live. We have 2 of the big chains, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's within about 5 miles of each other. Plus a couple other little co-ops. It's a very trendy area full of people with lots of money. But I've never bought into it. That post, I'm tellin' you, just made me think. It's worth a try, right? Who knows how much cancer and disease is caused by the way we live today.
These are the thoughts rolling around in my little brain. I tend to over think something I find interesting. Over think = research and beat to death until I come to a conclusion I feel comfortable with.
What do you guys think? Is all the organic/natural stuff worth it's weight? And do any of you read good blogs? Any good links to share? I'm always ready for a new one to add to my favorites!!!

If I had cash to spend...

it would go here......at URBAN OUTFITTERS....

I would get this

And this

Ooo and this

Plus this (in blue)

And this is my favorite


Their catalog is a work of art. So many fun ideas and colors and mixtures. It like instant inspiration to create something.

This morning

wish I was in Vacouver BC.

My mom talked up this city before we left on our trip last September. There are so many really cool cities (Seattle, Annapolis, NYC, Boston, Paris) that I didn't see how this one could be so different or amazing. But oh, how she was right. I just fell in love with it. I miss Lion's Gate Bridge and Stanley Park and film crews everywhere!!

Have this CD on repeat.

Even if you don't love the show, this CD is incredible in it's own right. Number #13 has been on repeat for almost a half an hour now. It's just a beautiful piece of music with lovely violin melodies. They used it (#13) again on an episode this season and I literally stopped listening to the diologue and just listened to the music. Enchanting. Plus, Sunday is the season finale and it's been picked up for season 4! Glory hallelujah!

Thinking about these photos by Tara Whitney.

She inspires me. Her post today is just a taste of why she is so amazing. Everytime she posts a new photo, my eyes are glued to the screen. I would love to meet her one day and just watch her do a photo shoot.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm going to see HIM next weekend?!!!

Happy early birthday to me from my dear little sister and her hubby.

pass along

I was reading one of my favorite blogs this morning.

Ali's blog is always full of fun new ideas and creative tangents.

Here's today's entry.

It had a link to the cutest little B&B in Oregon. The Sylvia Beach Hotel.

There was also a link to a magazine article that explained the journals in each room.

I'm ready to jump on a plane and spend a couple days there. How about you?!!

just around the river bend

Come on summer!! After a few days of wonderful, warm weather (even though today is rainy and cold again), I'm so ready to be in the thick of summer again.

***photo edited in picnik. They have tons of new, super FUN, FREE features to play with.

Defining

This post from Elsie's blog has had me thinking. The question

"Can you name one moment in your life that has defined you? How/Why?"

I've been thinking about it for a couple days. There are 2 distinct ones that always stand out to me.

#1 A girl in my church gave me a scholarship to a college that I wasn't even considering. It wasn't even on my radar. After I got the scholarship (which wasn't huge, but significant), my parents made me go and try it out. It was a good school and not at all a bad choice, but I was terrified. I was so insecure and shy in school. REALLY shy. The thought of going to a place where I didn't know anyone and staying in a dorm room with girls I had never met made me want to throw up. But I went. I think that weekend changed the path that my life would take. I honestly don't think that I would be the person I am today without that weekend and the people I met. That place instantly felt like home. Isn't that the coolest feeling? A place you have never been, but you could swear that you were there last week. God was there waiting for me. I had a fantastic weekend and left after giving the girls I had stayed with a big hug and a huge thank you. Went home, filled out my application and prayed that I would get accepted even though I just knew that that was there I was supposed to be.
The next 4 years were some of my favorite in my entire life. I met my best friends. They helped me grow up, laugh and just become who I am today. I love them just like they were my sisters by blood. They are constantly in my thoughts and on my heart. You know who you are girls!
I found classes and professors that taught me more than just school learnin'. I did projects and learned to develop pictures in a dark room. I edited videos, studied musicals, tried to figure out life in Philosphy, dove into the Old Testement, did hours of praise and worship at Wednesday night campus church. I was exposed to amazing speakers and bands and pastors.
I became independent. Had my first apartment, paid rent, learned to conserve electricity and drove my blue Sunbird. I lived on a 20 hour a week job salary at J Crew's catalog store. I learned to manage my time and my time became valuable.
My graduation day was one of the proudest of my life. I couldn't stop smiling. It was like God was showing me in a slideshow in my mind all these blessings that I had been given over the past 4 years. That diploma, where ever it may be now, is so much more than academic achievement. It was like being recongnized for growing up. It represented all my memories and lessons in life learned.
But the best part, the absolute best part, was that I truly began to understand who God was. I was challenged in 100's of different ways to explore and learn and find out who God was. He became real to me. He wasn't just the God I had known growing up (and those years were important too to get me to the next level), but He was alive, next to me, loving me, guiding me. I was put in a place that constantly challenged me and made me want to grow. My friends were girls who wanted the same things. We had long discussion about life and scripture and who GOd was. It was like a drug that I couldn't get enough of, this constant search for God, and I when I left I thought I would never find it again. (how stupid was that?!! Like God is confined to that one place in this world. I never said I learned everything...) But knowing that I wanted to follow where God was leading, I had faith that there was more amazing things in life to come.

That place changed my life. I am the person I am today because of it. That little school in Lynchburg. Liberty University. It holds a dear place in my heart.

And there is a #2, but I'll save that for another time...

Caught my attention

Just a couple things that have been running through my head lately. Bits and pieces of things that I've found in the last few days.

#1 This book recommended by several of my gal pals. Really interesting. It's really hard for me to read non-fictions sometimes. It has to capture me in some way. This one did. Really enjoying it right now.

"Creation itself is a great work of art, and all works after it are echoes of the original." -quoted from what I read in it today.

#2 This book I picked it up at the library. After reading the Bible for years upon years, sometimes it feels so amazing to try a different version without my underlines and notes on the side. It's like re-discovering all the amazing things that God continually says to me in new ways. Example:

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen, When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." - Jeremiah 29:11-13

#3 This post from Elsie's blog. I couldn't stop looking at the pictures. And the question about a defining moment has had me thinking for a couple days now. Do any of you have a defining moment that really changed you?

#4 My journal. I can't stop writing. My thoughts have been pouring out by the 100's. It's been a life saver lately.

#5 "Patience is a hard discipline. It's not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not waiting passively until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to its fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient, we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later, and somewhere else. Let's be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand." Henri Nowen

This quote is so good for me, a girl who stuggles so often with patience on so many levels. Found it on another blog. The entry was about how a family was waiting for their daughter in China.

#6 Just talking to God. Where-ever. When-ever. Long conversations. Short ones. Words out loud. Thoughts. It just feels like He's getting ready to do something big and wants me to be ready. Exciting and terrifying at the same time.

My thoughts are always a million different directions. Different things catch me off guard at the weirdest times. Like finding a God-lesson in the middle of Harry Potter #6. Or the out-of-the-blue generosity of a friend reminding me how blessed I am to have the friends I have in my life. Just having my eyes open for new things is a fun lesson to learn over and over.

New tunes

Cool music I found last night....

Jeremy Larson My favorite is "Swim." It was on repeat last night for a while.

Have I mentioned how much I love Myspace Music!! Entire songs for free!

One on one

Two nights ago, God and I had the coolest talk. Ever had one of those? Where you just know that He's sitting there next to you listening intently. I was pouring my heart out and just being totally honest (so, so hard to do) with Him. It was amazing. This photo was taken just a couple minutes before the talk. Kinda looks like He was waiting for me, huh? Totally cool. Moments like that give me chills. Moments like that make everything else I worry about seem so stupid. Moments like that give me the kind of peace I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Love that this photo will always remind me of that talk.