I'm spending Christmas in Oklahoma with family, so it will be an interesting, more-layering-than-known, kind of week!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Dressember...half way there...
This has been so much fun! Thanks to my friend, Blythe for putting this together, I have been forced to get somewhat creative at times with my wardrobe.
I'm spending Christmas in Oklahoma with family, so it will be an interesting, more-layering-than-known, kind of week!
I'm spending Christmas in Oklahoma with family, so it will be an interesting, more-layering-than-known, kind of week!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
..thankful for the simple things...
For the past two weeks, I have had health issues, debilitating at times, that have hindered my everyday life. I had to take three and a half days off of work due to pain and fevers, and therefore my life stopped; literally.
It was not really until tonight, as I was getting ready to get ready for bed, when I realized how much I am thankful for. About a week and a half ago, my dear friend Simone Knepper hosted her annual Thankful Brunch, in which we all come to the table (again, I'm being literal here) and share the things that we were thankful for throughout the year. Unfortunately, this was when my health issues began, so not only was I ill-prepared with my list, but in midst of pain it is difficult to remember exactly what I am thankful for.
In the next several bullet points, I will attempt to convey those things, simple or grand, that I am thankful for for the 2011 year...up to this point, at least.
*my family
(cliche, but simply stating I am thankful for them will never suffice to convey the depth of how thankful and grateful I truly am for them)
*my health
(it has been up and down throughout the year, possibly more than usual, but I am thankful for both good health and bad health - bad health because it reminds me to appreciate the small, simplest of things ~walking with ease, laughing without pain, etc.~ even more)
*my apartment
(especially throughout the past week of being nearly under house arrest, I am so thankful that I still love the small details of my house ~ the cups/plates I have acquired from Anthropologie, the pillow I so love from Pier 1, the small owl figurines and various bird salt and pepper shakers I have begun to, unknowingly, collect)
*my iPhone
*Instagram, Phonto, Diptic, the camera on the phone!
*sunrise/sunsets
*pain killers and antibiotics
*hummingbirds
*a smile from a complete stranger, or someone close to me that I can share their joy
*finishing a good book
*Pride & Prejudice - the book and movies
*Coke Zero
*the lamp I retrieved from my dad's childhood room that I use on my desk (which I am continually getting compliments on!)
*pictures
*my job (as a teacher and a coach)
*my computer
*friends that, though I may speak to them but once or twice a year, we pick up as if not time has elapsed
*living in a free country
*the ability to travel easily
*my car
*air conditioning
*after the rain...
~a leaf with raindrops still lingering
~puffy white clouds with a brilliant blue sky backdrop'
~the smell of wet dirt and wet asphalt
*a breeze that cools the temperature just enough to raise a slight goosebump..or the sun shining on my skin to raise that same slight goosebump
*the tree outside my front door
~and that though I often forget to water it, it is stubborn enough to keep on keepin'on
*my coffee cup from Anthropologie with an "M" on it
*Donut Shop coffee pods
*Peppermint Mocha creamer from CoffeeMate
This list could go on, and I plan to continue it. Right now, however, I must get some rest before I make the trek back to work tomorrow...of which I am thankful.
It was not really until tonight, as I was getting ready to get ready for bed, when I realized how much I am thankful for. About a week and a half ago, my dear friend Simone Knepper hosted her annual Thankful Brunch, in which we all come to the table (again, I'm being literal here) and share the things that we were thankful for throughout the year. Unfortunately, this was when my health issues began, so not only was I ill-prepared with my list, but in midst of pain it is difficult to remember exactly what I am thankful for.
In the next several bullet points, I will attempt to convey those things, simple or grand, that I am thankful for for the 2011 year...up to this point, at least.
*my family
(cliche, but simply stating I am thankful for them will never suffice to convey the depth of how thankful and grateful I truly am for them)
*my health
(it has been up and down throughout the year, possibly more than usual, but I am thankful for both good health and bad health - bad health because it reminds me to appreciate the small, simplest of things ~walking with ease, laughing without pain, etc.~ even more)
*my apartment
(especially throughout the past week of being nearly under house arrest, I am so thankful that I still love the small details of my house ~ the cups/plates I have acquired from Anthropologie, the pillow I so love from Pier 1, the small owl figurines and various bird salt and pepper shakers I have begun to, unknowingly, collect)
*my iPhone
*Instagram, Phonto, Diptic, the camera on the phone!
*sunrise/sunsets
*pain killers and antibiotics
*hummingbirds
*a smile from a complete stranger, or someone close to me that I can share their joy
*finishing a good book
*Pride & Prejudice - the book and movies
*Coke Zero
*the lamp I retrieved from my dad's childhood room that I use on my desk (which I am continually getting compliments on!)
*pictures
*my job (as a teacher and a coach)
*my computer
*friends that, though I may speak to them but once or twice a year, we pick up as if not time has elapsed
*living in a free country
*the ability to travel easily
*my car
*air conditioning
*after the rain...
~a leaf with raindrops still lingering
~puffy white clouds with a brilliant blue sky backdrop'
~the smell of wet dirt and wet asphalt
*a breeze that cools the temperature just enough to raise a slight goosebump..or the sun shining on my skin to raise that same slight goosebump
*the tree outside my front door
~and that though I often forget to water it, it is stubborn enough to keep on keepin'on
*my coffee cup from Anthropologie with an "M" on it
*Donut Shop coffee pods
*Peppermint Mocha creamer from CoffeeMate
This list could go on, and I plan to continue it. Right now, however, I must get some rest before I make the trek back to work tomorrow...of which I am thankful.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Dressember...
...starts tomorrow.
If all goes as planned, I will be feeling better and will be able to join the real world again with my first dress...
Get. Excited.
For more information, go to http://blythehill.blogspot.com/
*Photo Cred to Blythe Hill
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Abby-Girl's 1st Birthday
the princess...
...and her cakes
{my talented sister-in-law, Caila, made the beautiful fondant cake, and i made the cupcakes}
...and her cakes
{my talented sister-in-law, Caila, made the beautiful fondant cake, and i made the cupcakes}
Friday, February 18, 2011
Beautiful...
Though I have read this passage several times over the last 11 years of being a Christian, for some reason it stuck out to me more today...maybe because of the people God has put into my life; maybe due to the different circumstances I have found myself in lately; maybe because I am reading at noon and not at midnight and can comprehend it more; maybe because I am at a place of maturity in my faith to be able to see it as such? Regardless of the reason, I am glad that I see it today.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
God is so gracious and merciful beyond my ability to understand! God so loves His children that regardless of when one gives their life to Him, regardless of what he/she has done in their life, He accepts them with His arms and heart wide open. To know that our God is so good, not reserving His love for only the fullest of faith or the smallest of sinners, but for everyone who gives their life to him, whether early in life or late, is something that is beyond me.
I hate to admit, but must, that I have at times felt at times like those workers that grumbled, not necessarily in this way, but others. I have felt that I deserved more, or better; what a wonderful, simple reminder that I do not. I am humbled by these words today, and I pray I continue to be until the day I see my God.
One word comes to mind: Beautiful.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
God is so gracious and merciful beyond my ability to understand! God so loves His children that regardless of when one gives their life to Him, regardless of what he/she has done in their life, He accepts them with His arms and heart wide open. To know that our God is so good, not reserving His love for only the fullest of faith or the smallest of sinners, but for everyone who gives their life to him, whether early in life or late, is something that is beyond me.
I hate to admit, but must, that I have at times felt at times like those workers that grumbled, not necessarily in this way, but others. I have felt that I deserved more, or better; what a wonderful, simple reminder that I do not. I am humbled by these words today, and I pray I continue to be until the day I see my God.
One word comes to mind: Beautiful.
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