A Little Birdy...In my Wreath!

My wreath was hanging on the garage door when I came into the house the other night.  What was it doing there, I thought?

That's when my husband told me he had to move it because a little birdy had been building a nest in my wreath.  Claiming it as her very own home. 

When my husband (who is much taller then me) took the wreath down from the hanger, low and behold it was true...there was a small, neatly kept looking nest right there in the center of my wreath.  Apparently it was a smart little birdy, who knew that our porch would provide it with just the right amount of protection from the spring showers and weather elements.

Here it is!

One of the most beautiful times

One of my favorite times of the year in this area of the world is Spring! The buds on the trees are popping, the mornings are perfectly cool, and the evenings are filled with the sounds of chirping crickets. The Lord has given us such beauty!

What we become in life.

I really like this part

"Your worldview does determine everything else in your life. It determines your decisions, it determines your relationships, it determines your level of confidence.

What we believe determines our behavior, and our behavior determines what we become in life."

Dear Life

Dear Life,
I love the way you are always challenging me to be a better person.  I love that you like to throw me curve balls once in awhile to make sure I'm really practicing what I'm preaching. You're good like that.  You say "make your heart bigger!"

I also love that March always brings rain.  And by rain I mean giant puddles for me to jump over when I run from place to place.

Thanks again!
Me

Pinterest

This is one interesting site!  It's a virtual pinboard!! If I didn't have quite so much going on right now I'm sure I could easily spend hours browsing and liking and pinning items!

Love Marta Writes (blog) and her pinterest just as cute! http://pinterest.com/martawrites/

Love the inspiration flowing off pinterest. Too fun for words.

Now for a visual of the weekend to come....

Source: flourishdesignandstyle.blogspot.com via amanda on Pinterest

Source: s1198.photobucket.com via Tamara on Pinterest

Holy Bikes!

How awesome is this!  A bike shop in Germany hung 120 bicycles outside their shop to advertise.

Love it!

Beliefs

Lately I've been thinking hard about what it means to be a Christian, especially in today's world.  It's tough. If you think for a minute it's easy, you are kidding yourself. 

The world throws messages at us all day.  About what to think. What to eat, what to wear, and what to watch.  About what to do.  And even about what to believe and take as truth.

I have to wonder if I went around asking people, "Are you Christian?" how many would say yes.  And then if asked "Why are you Christian?" would answer because I believe in Jesus.

So does that make you a Christian? And who is this Jesus that you believe in?


In the same way that I may believe in the devil, it doesn't make me a devil worshiper.

So who is it that we believe in?  Who is this Jesus?  What is He like? And what does He demand of us? Yes, I use the word demand because He does demand certain things of His people. This is the question that really speaks to me.  This is the question we should all want to answer.

This is where being a Christian calls us to put in the hard work and to study, and wrestle, and learn the word of God (the bible).  For how can we truly know who God is without studying and learning his word. We cannot simply go by what the world tells us about Him, we need to learn it for ourselves. For how can we be expected to share about Him if we don't know it ourselves.


How can we know how to love? How to worship?  How to treat our friends? Our family? Or our co-workers.  How to handle money? And enemies?

When I open my bible, all the answers are before me.  It is my job to learn them.

Matthew 4:4

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’a”

Weekend Recap

What a great weekend! Blessings everywhere.  The weather was beautiful Saturday, and we were able to get outside and get a hike in.  We found a new area to explore not far from our house.  We ended up hiking for an hour and a half, and were able to take Gibson along!

Here he is after the hike on the car ride home.  Passed out! Cute little guy.

In other exciting news, we finished our entry way organizer system!  A big shout out to my Mr. who really put a lot of time into this.  I helped, mostly with the staining work.  But we built this from scratch using plans from Ana White's blog!  We just hung it up this afternoon.  Next up, having fun decorating it!

I hope your weekend has treated you just as GrEat!

Our House in the Morning

The dog always gets breakfast first.

Weekend

I took a bunch of pictures this weekend of what we were up to...I just have to post them!

My dearest and I don't really get all into the Valentine's Day stuff.  We think it's really something just fun for kids to celebrate, and that Hallmark truly invented it.

My thoughts are that I don't need one day to remind my man of what he does everyday! I am one lucky girl that my husband declares his love to me each day.

While we might seem all grinch-like, I'll have you know we will go out to a fun dinner tonight (just so we don't have to cook:))!

ps I also made cupcakes for my husband to bring to work!

Lessons Learned - Great song

I've learned a lot
from you
Over the past
few years
I couldn't
have asked
for
a
better lesson
than
you.

Favorites of the Moment: Cardigans, Early Grey and ...

Fav piece of clothing: the cardigan. My go to piece. Can work with work outfits or cute casual piece

Fav hot beverage: Earl Grey Latte (from Sbucks).  Just the right amount of sweetness, low on calories, and half the amount of caffeine found in coffee.  Cool fact: Bergamot (flavour found in earl grey) is a lime tree that is grown in Italy and the South of France and its fruit gives Earl Grey a light spicy flavour. ***another reason I must go to Italy

Fav Song:  April Smith - Colors and Amos Lee - Windows are Rolled Down (can't wait till it's warm enough to do that again!)

Fav Morning Reading: The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor Writer's Almanac

Fav Pass Time: The Mr. and I play Little Big Planet 2 in the evenings, and laughing hard as we fly around and change our costumes up

Fav Exercise: Still spinnnnn class.  You'd think it might get old, but oh no. It's not. It's still hot in my book.

Fav Book: The Dirty Life - all about a journalist who abandons her NYC heels for farm life

What are some of your favorite things as of late???

Sunshine State of Mind

Good Morning World!

Today I am headed towards the sunshine!  It's my girls weekend and what could be better then meeting up in a sunny place!  On the agenda is: chat, chat, chat, catch up, hot tubbing, shopping, exploring, late night chats, and just in general being together!

Can't wait!

I'm blessed to be able to spend time with my friends:)

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Mind Plays Tricks

My mind played a trick on me last night. It tried to convince me that I was in a funk, and not contributing enough.  It tried to tangle me in a web of doubt.

Do you ever have moments like this?  I know this chapter in life is about building foundations.  But sometimes when I'm not looking the little thorns of the world try to stab me and prick me with feelings of impatience.  I have to remain steady at the helm.

My Grateful List:
1. For my amazing husband
2. For being able to have delicious food on the table every night
3. For the opportunity to teach our young girls class at church
4. For getting to visit with good friends this weekend
5. For a warm office, friendly colleagues, and challenging work
6. For a God who takes me as I am

Hi, pretty little things

Hi! You pretty little things, it's Friday! Yay!  I still get quite the thrill over this simple day of the week.  What have you been up to lately?

This week was made up of visits, goals for the future, and lots of lotion to sooth dry hands. It's the little things again, see.

I'm ready for the full on sunshine of the south to come back.  But until it does, I'm heading down to FL to meet up with my two best college girls next weekend! Woot!

Hello Dear Blog

December 13th 2010

Hello Dear Blog,
It's 2011.  Twenty-eleven!  Yes, it's true.  We had quite the journey over Christmas break.  We started with a road trip up to Chicago, enjoyed the snowy climate, a trip to the emergency vet, and a road trip down to Middle TN.  After that I loved being home for the remainder of 2010 leading up the the new year.

Last year was a wonderful  one.  I have so much to be grateful for.  Health, family, friends, a church to call home, rewarding work, and the list goes on. I am so thankful for my own little family, all three of us (the Mr., Gibson, and myself).  I can't imagine my life without those two.  There was something so great about celebrating our 2nd Christmas together as husband and wife.  To enjoy our own traditions for a 2nd year in a row.  To know where the Christmas tree would go, and all the little memories we had as we took things out of storage.

I'm looking forward to 2011 to cultivate more. More in my relationships, more in creativity, more in God, and more in life. This year is about cultivating the foundation.

It's good to be here.

I hope you and yours had a sparkling holiday season, and are full of hope for 2011.

Always an Em

Gratefulness

Thanksgiving is upon us!  It's hard to believe it's here.

I've been thinking about what I'm thankful for lately.  Just spending a few moments in self reflection, thinking about all the little things adding up to that make my life so great.  The word great doesn't do what I'm trying to describe justice.  My life feels peaceful, joyous, and with just the right of challenge. 

I read today that "Gratefulness is thankfulness in action."  I like that statement.  For a feeling with action is just well, a feeling.

From here till Thanksgiving I'm going to show my gratefulness to those around me and give them a glimpse of how Thankful I really am. 

1 year

It's getting darker outside.

Darkness, like a warm winter comforter stretches itself slowly across the sky.  Blanketing the night, I can no longer see the mountains on the horizon.  It's bitter sweet.  Waking up to the slanting light but by dinner no sign of the dawn.

We traveled to New York City for our 1 year anniversary.  Central Park was gorgeous, a date at the art museum was cozy, and ice skating in Rockefeller Plaza at midnight was well...unforgettable.


It was the Mr.'s first time ice skating.  So that made it extra special.  I loved watching as he would observe the skaters, seeing how they balanced and shifted their weight from foot to foot.  I loved watching him gradually become more comfortable until he let go and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of gliding on ice.  And I especially loved when he became comfortable enough to let us hold hands. 

Snapshots of trip:

1. Promises, Promises on Broadway
2. Cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery
3. Getting dizzy over the view from our room - it was on the 37th floor! 
4. Macy's holiday windows
5. All the languages we overheard
6. Watching the NYC Marathon the morning of our 1 yr. anniversary
7. 3 filets at Quality Meats
8. Afternoon nap
9. Side trip to Chelsea and Bill's Burgers
10. The Mr.'s ability to warm my hands

Our days of adventure in the city marked us with chilly hands, but warm hearts. That city is magical at night. 

Thank you to my Mr. for making life so grand.  Here's to a great start, our 1 year, and here's to the many more to come.

Be Still and Still Moving

Our world is fast, crazy, sporadic jolts of information, noise, and beauty. I translate one language to another instantly, breathlessly.  Deciphering email, to google, to letters, excel, to human to heart. How does the mind keep up?

Sometimes when it's quiet there is a part of me inside that echoes "you were made for this."  For the stillness.  I was not made for the noisy, clamorous, clanging world.   Often what is seen as my dramatic reactions to loud noises is actually my inner musician proclaiming to the world to turn off the bass drum.



T.S. Eliot touches on this in his poem East Coker part V.

Here and there does not matter
We must be still and still moving <---(He really gets it right here)
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion 

...

"We must be still and still moving."
TS (I'm taking a chance calling him that) perfectly describes that dichotomy of  life.  I must be able to carry that quiet, content peace with me as I'm moving, juggling, and seeking in this often cacophonous, slightly out-of-tune symphony directed by Life. Again...

This practice of being still and still moving is probably one of my life's works in progress.   To walk in a way that wherever I go I'm still inside.  Just think about what that really means.  To not be shaken?  To have contentment beyond what you see? How do you remain still inside amongst such a loud world?  I find hope in that as I become better at being still the world will become just another instrument for me to harmonize with.


...interesting enough the bible talks in detail about being still and knowing that He is God.  Sounds like humans have been working at and pondering this for ages.

Spinning

The Mr. and I have recently discovered the art of spinning.  No, not spinning in circles from our busy schedule, but spinning as in cycling.

Prior to the last few weeks, spin class always seemed  to be that intimidating beast that hides in the dark cave of the gym.  A place where only real warriors with courage would go to slay the dragon.  But one day, the Mr. spotted that little entry on the gym calendar "Spin Class" and beckoned for us to venture into this land of the unknown.  Gathering up courage and gusto, with a cute pair of running shorts we wandered into this new territory.

Ever since then, we've been teasing our athletic appetites with this class.  We've found gears we didn't know existed and a gazillion ways to hold the handlebars.  And above all else, we found we actually liked it. Averaging between 15 - 25 miles per class, spin requires our focus, balance, and use of a whole lot of leg and will power. Slowly but surely we caught on, despite that we didn't wear the spandex and probably never will.

As tired as we feel after class, we keep going back for more.  Endlessly spinning our legs in circles, until they feel as if they are about to fall off. We quickly forget about the agony of the 5 minute sprints and stare at the neon calendar hanging on the fridge looking for the next class we can make.

There in the darker cave of the gym, I adjust my seats and handlebars and hop on the bike ready to take on another personal challenge.  I warm up early.  The Mr. arriving a few minutes later makes a game out of trying to catch up to my mileage.  Even though his legs are twice the length of mine, I still got game.  My body aches, but it's the kind of ache that lets you know you've worked. You've finished.  And that dinner is a well earned prize at the end of the night. 

And while I may not be going into any dark caves to slay dragons anytime soon, I know that spin class is a monster I have strength to overcome.

As the class comes to an end and we fall off our bikes and take our spaghetti legs home, I'm reminded and thankful  I have someone to share the rewarding homemade meal with as well as the personal victory.

We are mad spinners.