Emily's Blahg

Thrift Store Finds

2010-06-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

Steph and Megan and I are planning to move into an apartment on July 1st, so we've been scouting for furniture. We just did our applications yesterday and put down a deposit. It's so fun to be finally doing that. Look what I found at the Habitat Store:

A little mid-century night stand, very well made, but with heinous drawer hardware and no character.
Megan and I painted it cream with tan inside the drawer and on the back of the shelf. Then we put the zinnia motif on the back and inside the drawer. We filled the holes from the other drawer hardware and used something more updated. I love it.

An adorable Hepplewhite chair, just what I've always wanted for my bedroom as a little desk chair. I've always thought Hepplewhite chairs were so classic, but I like them lacquered in color or in white more so than I do in the classic wood.
So there you have it...lacquered in red with a houndstooth seat. Classic.

More to come as we pull things together. I'm blessed to have roommates with incredibly good taste, so it will be fun to see what we can come up with together to make this little apartment a home. :)

Things I Did in a Dress Today

2010-05-30T17:12:00.001-07:00

Took off baseboard molding
Put air in a low tire
Moved furniture
Packed up a kitchen
Carried boxes

Just goes to show you that you never know what you might need to do when you get dressed in the morning.

Covet This

2010-05-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

How stinking cute is this adorable chair? It is desperately in need of reupholstery, but wonderful nonetheless. I am hoping to do a fabric on the back that is hopelessly impractical with maybe a matching lumbar pillow. Not sure what I'll do on the seat and back...something that can stand to be tufted though, for sure.

Never Too Old to Play Dress Up

2010-05-10T02:07:00.000-07:00

At one of the antique stores, we found a great little corner dedicated to vintage hats and jewelry. A couple of the girls get into that kind of thing, I really don't. I prefer dishes. Nevertheless, we all had a great time trying on the many hats and I think these pictures are super fun.

Rebecca and me, caned purses and all.

Erin.

Tanya.

Marya.

Rebecca. Definitely wins the award for most adorable in a hat.

So this was the moment of truth...hats don't fit my head. I tried on a ton of the hats in this booth and found my head was um...living up to it's name (Stirn means "large forehead" in German. What a name.)

There we go. The obnoxiously large one with giant flowers fits just fine. I'll take what I can get.

Antiquing with a Limit

2010-05-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

I have come to believe that it is positively cruel to send me on a weekend trip antiquing with the design girls with only a carry on suitcase to bring back my loot. Perhaps it was good for me to have a limit, but I started two collections I've been looking to create.

When my grandma died, the one thing I knew I wanted to remember her by were her set of Pyrex mixing bowls from the 1950s. She probably got them brand new as a newlywed and they were likely all the rage.

Since getting those, I have started a bit of a love affair with vintage Pyrex glass and have been wanting some fun little storage containers for leftovers.

Behold, the precursor to Tupperware.
I own these. *Heart.*

My other fabulous find were four luncheon plates in pink depression glass. Can you imagine the bridal and baby showers that will necessitate? Can't wait! Of course, I will need quite a few more to do that. That shouldn't be a problem.

Items I would have snatched up if I had a small U-haul to take back:

I have a little problem that I call being sentimental over other people's family photos. If this were smaller and didn't practically demand an explanation as to who these people were, I might have snagged it for my shameful collection of other people's family photos. I don't even pretend that its not weird. Don't you worry.

What do you do with a little forgotten corner in your home? You put a beautiful, old, lead paint covered fluted column in it. And then you celebrate because it is just that beautiful.

I needed this whole set so very, very badly, but I would have had to throw all of my clothes out of my suitcase to fit them. This is just one of three, varying sizes, with a wonderful faceted crystal ball on the top of each one. How cute would this be for flour, sugar, and who knows what else that you usually put in canisters?! Unfortunately, TSA has made this an unrealized dream.

Becky, if you're reading this, this is exactly what I meant when I said you needed a mirror with some "body" over your sofa. Love it.

Interior Design Girls Reunion 2010

2010-05-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

I graduated from design school with five other girls. As you might imagine, spending several hours a day locked into a little closet of a studio together made us close friends. We're all really different, but we have some important things in common, and it's fun when we get together. I feel blessed by their sweet, unexpected friendship. When we graduated, we said we'd get together again every couple of years and have a little reunion. We've had two already because Erin and Marya both got married. True to our word though, we met in Charleston this year and had a great time.

We spent an afternoon walking on the beach together. It was beautiful and warm and fun to have sand between my toes again! My apologies for the eighties hair I am sporting...the wind styled for me.

True to our past travels, we visited a fun local restaurant, Rebecca's favorite dive in Mount Pleasant. If you ever visit, it's a must. They had great salads, sandwiches, and desserts and a fun, local feel.

Tanya was pretty much willing her shorts to dry because we spilled an entire glass of water in her lap taking this picture. Luckily, we're still all smiles.

Tanya had to leave us before our last evening together, but we headed down to the Battery in downtown Charleston, walked along the pier, and had dinner. It was so fun...and poor Erin had blisters to prove it.

Thanks for such a fun weekend girls. Hope I can make it til the next time we get together! :)

It's Been a Year...

2010-05-01T22:00:00.001-07:00

I was journaling this morning and realized...I graduated exactly one year ago. Hard to believe. This has been an unexpected, productive, and needful season and one that I would not be quick to give up if I had to do it all over again. I have learned more in this year than I did in all four years of college.

I came out of college like most recent grads do, believing that my hardwork and education would take me far if I would just try. Well, try I did and I found myself working at Macys full time. Not exactly what I had in mind. I had envisioned a career as a designer. I had maybe even half expected (sigh...must I admit this?!) that Mountain View's coffee date/ring by spring/marriage within a year thing might actually be a go for me. I envisioned living with a couple of my girlfriends since high school who I had remained close with throughout college in an apartment, on our own. I am learning that I have a right to none of my plans and that sometimes, God has something to teach me in delaying or completely changing the plans I have for myself as I learn to yield to His will for my life.

In this season, I have...

Begun to see that my education and interest in design is more than anything a "giftedness" that God has given and that I can and should use it for his glory. I maybe had a glimpse of this in college, but didn't really understand it until I was given the opportunity to use it to serve my church body. It has blessed me immensely to work with the other women I get to come alongside and it has humbled me greatly to realize that no one is a better designer than the Lord.
Learned that I like people, including their quirks and difficulties, more than I thought. I had always said I'd hate residential design because of having to really work with people. I've done a little bit of residential work since graduating and I actually love it. And, the people I sell shoes to at Macys are sometimes downright weird, cranky, or hard to deal with...and strangely I find I like those customers the most.
Learned to work hard at whatever I do, even if it is selling shoes!
Understood what it is to live "on mission." Coming out a of a Baptist school, I had forgotten what it was to be surrounded by the world and have an opportunity to be salt and light to a world desperately in need of Him. I have seen God move in miraculous, undeniable ways in the hearts of my co-workers. It has been sweet to see Him naturally develop spiritual conversations.
Become genuinely broken for the lost for the first time in my life. I hate that it took this long. Seen myself, more clearly than ever, as being just the same as every unbeliever in my life if not for Christ.
Learned to long for my family to know the Lord, to see them be radically and unequivocally changed by Him, rather than to desire for behaviors or circumstances to change.
Glimpsed the beautiful picture of biblical community in my church body and in my Life Group. Enjoyed what it is to bear others' burdens, serve others, and meet practical needs. I have learned to labor in prayer for those dearest to me.
Been wooed to the Word more intimately than ever before. I can't think of another time in my life where I have been this delighted with the Lord. That feels so weird to say, and I'm far from where I'd want to be, but I always thought being delighted in Him to be an elusive concept, and I'm learning that it is tangible. I am finally beginning to know what David spoke of in the Psalms when he said he longed and panted for the Word.
Learned that I love children and enjoy teaching them in the context of Sunday school. Before I went to college, I had no desire to ever have my own children. Throughout college, that slowly changed and I developed an interest in children's ministry that was well nurtured at Newspring Church. Since coming back, I'm enjoying planning lessons for 4, 5, and 6 year olds and loving the opportunity to present the gospel in an age appropriate, engaging way. I am learning that I am priming hearts for salvation when I teach Sunday school and this feels heavier and heavier every single week.
Come to understand that God can redeem my heritage and He will. This has given me abundant hope for a bright future. I am enjoying how He is letting me love on other people's kids and be a part of seeing another generation love the Lord.
Learned that when Christ saved me, He desired for me to enjoy the fullness of my salvation by being in bondage to nothing. I have learned to surrender the lies I have believed for years and bring them under the authority of scripture.
Finally understood that to glorify God means to make Him known.
Learned the many Hebrew names of God and become enamored with the fullness of God's character revealed in them. I did a series of water color paintings of the names (picture will follow...eventually). I have never so wrestled with the character of God, but it was a good struggle and one that left me loving Him more.
Become burdened for prayer in a way I can't say I've ever been before.
Seen that God has cast a vision for this season of my life to be used to minister to other young women. It has been unbelievably satisfying to meet with other young women and share my life with them. The Lord has developed sweet friendships with several girls, and I think we have been mutually encouraged by what He has brought about.
Experienced first hand that God saying "no" can be evidence of His faithfulness. I can think of at least four "nos" this year that did just that. They are a gift, looking back on it.
Been blessed by friendships with young men who love the Lord and want to serve Him faithfully. It has been sweet to see some of those friends date my friends and it is a privilege to be surrounded by young men of such character.
Experienced a opening of the floodgates! For years, I have been virtually numb and unable to cry over things I find sad, painful, or difficult. My heart has really tendered in the past year and God has allowed me to cry when that seems like an appropriate emotion.
Learned that real life means trusting God's timing and that, in this stage of my life, I will no longer just be doing exactly the same thing as others in my same season. God brings about different things for different people at different times. He's sovereign and I can trust His timing!

I imagine that's not all that has been accomplished in my heart, but that is what I can think of off hand. I can't imagine what my life would be if God had not done all of that and really settled my heart on Him. This has been good.

Belated

2010-04-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

If you were wondering if the Chubby Chicks quilt ever got finished (and I am well aware that you are not), it did. Four months ago, just in time for Christmas. Don't judge me in this picture. I finished it at 2am.

Time With the Fam

2010-04-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

I got to spend some time with my family this weekend, which was so fun. Betsy and her husband, Rocky, and daughter, Elise came from Nebraska. We celebrated my dad and Elise's birthdays (she's ONE!!) together. Rachel and her boys came up from Denver. It felt comfortable and normal and it was good to be together. A few family pictures...
My sister Betsy (left) and Rachel (right). We discovered I was the tallest and should stand in the middle. Do you know how momentous this was? I have never been the tallest in any other picture in my life. Write it down. Big day.
My sweet nephews and niece. Orion (9), Elise (1), and Coda (4). Coda has such a sweet relationship with Elise and loves her dearly, you can tell. It is such a tender thing about him.

The whole family...fun to see our family growing! Elise, Rocky, Betsy, me, my dad, Rachel, Orion, Coda, and my mom. And...big news...Betsy is pregnant again and due in December. How exciting!

My One and Only

2010-04-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

Easter was just a couple of weeks ago, and I thought I'd share a couple of reflections. At our Christmas eve service at church, one of our pastor's asked if our hearts were prepared for Christmas. I'd been working crazy holiday hours at the Mace, been shopping for Christmas gifts, helping with decorating at church...it was a crazy time of year and as I sat there I realized...my heart was not at all prepared for the very holiday I had been running myself ragged to celebrate. I think everyone has had this realization, and, if you're anything like me, you probably have it every year. *Sigh* But at that moment, I decided that I didn't want to feel that way about Easter this year. I really wanted my heart to be readied for Easter. I picked out a Bible study that would focus my heart on Christ and began it shortly after Christmas. I didn't necessarily time it this way, but I finished it Easter day and it was such a blessing. Easter has never meant more to me, because I have never been so intimately acquainted with the life and heart of the One who bled and died and then rose again on that day. Here are the highlights of what God taught me in the past several weeks:

Jesus' birth was preceded by a 400 year period of silence from God. How the people must have ached for a Savior and how much faith it must have required to continue to believe that Christ was coming when it had been generations since God had been heard!
God is faithful and inconceivably enjoyable even when a request goes unmet (Zechariah and Elizabeth)
Jesus' mother Mary was chosen by God for a special role. Her song (Luke 1:46-55) reflects that she must have loved scripture and had a unique heart for the Lord, including more than 12 Old Testament references.
Christ's very job description is given in Isaiah 61, including to heal the brokenhearted. The original word for heal means "to mend by stitching." He had to be pierced to make us whole again!
Every need humanity possesses is secondary to the need to hear and receive the gospel.
Christ holds us responsible for the things we only say to ourselves. We are accountable for our thoughts! (Luke 7:39 and surrounding story). Our innermost places need daily purification. Part of the process is recognizing and confessing judgmental, impure, or critical thoughts before they make their way into our mouths and actions.
Hearing God's Word is fundamental to growth of any kind! (Luke 8:11-15)
"Wrath" means "utter abhorrence to sin but with longing mixed with grief for those who live in it." Even in His wrath, God is merciful!
Few things cause people to sin like unforgiveness!
The four cups of the passover meal represent the "I will" statements of Exodus 6:6-7: I will deliver you, I will redeem you, I will take you as my people, I will be your God. How profound that we are His chosen ones.
The cost for me to become a new creation was beyond what I can fathom!

Things I am praying as a result of this season:

That God would motivate me to actively engage myself in every message I hear or read, to be teachable because His Word is always living and active, regardless of delivery.
That I would develop God's taste: desire what He loves, hate what He hates, marvel at the things He finds marvelous...
That God would give me a longing for the sinners of this world to be forgiven, not for the sinners of the world to be judged.
That God would search my heart, soul, and mind for vulnerabilities to foolish decisions.

On the last day of my study, Beth Moore poses this question:
"Has Jesus become your One and Only? Is he transcending all else in your life? Is he beyond compare? Your one and only Savior? Your one and only deliverer? The one and only lover of your soul."
I am so blessed by God's goodness. He does not allow me to draw near to Him without changing me. I feel like I know Him so much more now and I can honestly answer more truly than before, yes, He is my One and Only.

What a Mess...

2010-04-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am realizing that I am truly my mother's daughter. For the longest time, I have always thought of my mom's van as a sort of black hole slash Walmart because it has EVERYTHING you could ever need in it. It is chock full of a bunch of stuff and there isn't a lot of room to sit in it and actually go places.

Shamefully, I must admit that my car has become the same. *Sigh.* So, I cleaned it out yesterday and you just won't even believe the contents. Thought you'd find it entertaining:

Snow boots
Lunch box
2 translations of the Bible
Book
3 clothes hangers
Package of thank you notes
Googly eyes (like for crafts)
Painting clothes
Favorite jeans...was wondering where the heck those were
Diaper wipes (Sunday school kids)
Tacky glue
White label stickers
Red acrylic paint
Character bandaids in 2 varieties (Sunday school)
Bandaids (obviously, I'm set should I ever need one)
Pair of socks
I Pod cord
Lint brush
Interior design idea book
Hot pad
Dress pants
Green purse
Plum purse
Red marker
Saline nasal spray
Phil Wicam CD
Polka dotted flip flops
Winter scarf
And here's the kicker...a fondue pot and 6 forks.

What in the world?! You'll be happy to know that my car is now vacuumed and washed and that today I was all that is man and refilled my very own wiper fluid. I deserve a ribbon.

From Indoorsy to Outdoorsy

2010-04-05T09:30:00.001-07:00

I bet you thought I'd never go four-wheeling and camping for five full days. I certainly never did. I left during the middle of last week to go to beautiful Moab, Utah and enjoy quite an adventure. I had so much fun and was completely out of my comfort zone. Here are a couple of pictures:

This was my first obstacle. I was a little bit of a dare devil, I guess, because I really wanted to do this whole Jeep Safari thing 100% if I was going to do it at all. So I rode along for some really scary obstacles. This one wasn't bad once I had something to compare it to, but at the time it was terrifying!
I was laughing and screaming at the same time and this is kind of what that looks like. :)

One of the most interesting things for me to watch on this trip was how all of the guys seemed to just have a sense about them with four wheeling. There would be a problem and they'd just all jump out, pop the hood and start checking things out. They always seemed to know what to do but they rarely communicated about it. They just kind of worked together. It was fascinating. We were going up this really steep obstacle when Colby popped his tire off of the rim. It was sitting right on a rock and the guys didn't want him to move it because it would ruin his rim. They needed to change his tire, but the truck was at a 45 degree angle. They all got in there and assessed the situation...

Then they jacked it up a little bit and put the rim on a piece of wood so that it would be so bad. The tied a strap to Ben's truck (parked in front) to give Colby's truck stability.
Then they changed the tire and it was finished. The whole thing probably only took 15 or 2o minutes. I could not believe that, almost without a word, all of these guys could solve the problem.
This was the scariest thing we did the whole trip, and I got to ride along!! This is called the Escalator. The way this whole thing works is that the boys walk the obstacle and decide where they want their tires, etc. This is called "a line." Then someone is in charge of making sure they keep their tires where the driver wanted them and they get going. It's a pretty controlled environment, really.
So at this point we're on a pretty steep incline and I am almost completely laying flat in the truck because of it. You really can't see anything at certain points and that is terrifying.

There is then a big hole in the ground and it has water in it, which isn't great because the water doesn't help traction. So the goal was to keep the tire out of the water.

This is Ben telling Briton that there is not way the tire will be able to clear the hole without doing through the water a little bit.
Feeling a little bit scared at this point and pretty unstable but trying not to make that known.

Yep, that's three tires making contact with the rock. Scary.

So at this point we were pretty much stuck in a hole.
Here are the guys trying to figure out how they should get the driver rear tire out of it's little rut.

So they tied a strap onto the truck and then they all pulled on it. They're not really pulling the truck out, they're just providing tension so it doesn't roll down the very steep rock we were on.

What a fun time! Might post some more pictures later.

Been Away for Awhile...

2010-04-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Haven't been too into blogging recently, but I guess people want some updates, so I'll see what I can muster up. :)

What's happened during this little blogging hiatus...

My sister and her family moved to Nebraska. This was met by tears on my end for sure, and I miss having her and little Elise nearby.
I moved out of my parent's house.
I took classes to learn to be a nursing assistant, enjoyed them, got through clinicals, got offered a job then failed the strength test to do the job, hence, still at Macys.
God used that disappointment to stir in my a greater longing for the lost, and that is exciting.
I've thought much more seriously about getting my masters.
I celebrated my 23rd birthday a couple weeks ago with a bunch of friends. It was great! Hard to believe all of the wonderful friends I have made since being here less than a year. What a blessing!

Brr

2009-12-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

The other day I was driving to work, basking in the no-need-for-a-coat weather and thinking...I am so dramatic! I can't believe I always thought it was so unbearably cold here when I would return over Christmas from South Carolina.

Twenty four hours later I was freezing to death (practically). It has been in the single digits all week...like 5 degrees today. My iPod nearly froze just being in my car, while I was driving it.

And I bought snow boots. They're so tacky they're almost cute.

Chubby Chicks

2009-12-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

I'm making this for my niece for Christmas. I started today. :) Hopefully...it will be done on time. Isn't it so fun and cute? I am excited to see how it turns out. I'm doing pinks, greens, and robin's egg blue. I needed my sweet old grandmother in the quilt shop today to help me choose fabrics that would work together. :(

Happy Holidays

2009-11-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving a little bit differently than I remember doing it last time I celebrated with my family (four years ago). We always used to go to my grandma's house, but since she passed away we've done it here. This year, our kitchen is being redone, so we ordered our whole meal from Whole Foods...except the pies.

My mom gave me grief for showering and doing my hair and wearing real clothes on Thanksgiving. I wanted to feel human. She thought it was "very Southern" of me. So, she told me to put on my apron and smile for a "Paula Deen" picture of me with the only homemade part of our meal...the pies. Is that not the cutest hutch you have ever seen. My parents just got it at the flea market. I told them to go ahead and put that in the will for me. :)

The weather was so good that we had our meal outside with a fire in the fire pit. It was fun!
The next day, my nephews joined us and my dad was making them so of those gross little potato triangles that you thought you didn't have to eat outside of a school cafeteria. My dad called me over and said, "Hey Emily, Happy Hannukah." Hilarious.

Summer Tugs at My Apron Strings...

2009-11-24T18:50:00.000-08:00

This summer I bought fabric for this apron. It's fun--vintage looking, with bold, graphic lemons.

I finally cut it out and got busy...and here it is!

This is my favorite apron pattern! I love the big bow, the rick-rack edging, the generous pockets, the button back... I think I might love aprons. Wearing them, making them, giving them as gifts.

Next up, I want to make an apron combining robin's egg blue with cherry red. Can't wait!

I Am Learning...

2009-11-19T21:38:00.000-08:00

God has been good to me in the past six months. When I graduated, I didn't think this is what life would look like, but I can honestly say that God could not have accomplished in my heart what He has done if it had looked the way I wanted it to.

When I first became a believer, God gave me a desire for His Word and I really enjoyed being just in the Word, not really using extra studies, etc. As I've grown in my faith, I have come to really enjoy being led through the Bible by various Bible studies. I really had a desire to get back to just enjoying God's Word on it's own for a season. I tried reading Isaiah. It wasn't going well. So, I picked up a Bible study, Beth Moore's Breaking Free, and hoped for the best. And would you believe that this study centers on several key passages in Isaiah? God really does have a sense of humor, doesn't He? God has been faithful these last 10 weeks to really breakthrough in my life and teach me so many things about the liberty He paid so dearly for.

Here is what I have learned:

In Christ, we are liberated into freedom.
God created us for his glory (Is 43:7). Glory belongs to the Lord (Is 42:8) and Christ is the radiance of His glory (Heb 1:3).
To glorify God means to make Him recognizable. We are called to glorify Him in all things (1 Cor 10:31), but we all fall short (Rom 3:23). In Christ, we are able to glorify Him (Col 1:24-27)
God desires for His children to have peace at all times and in every way (2 Thes 3:16). If there had been any exclusions or exceptions, He would have specified!
He has already given us peace as our inheritance (Jn 14:27)
God keeps us in perfect peace. This looks like having a mind that is dependent on Him and trust in Him (Is 26:3)
His peace is a convenant and will not be removed from us (Is 54:10)
The key to peace is authority! Christ is the Prince of Peace (Is 9:6-7). If I am not experiencing peace, I am likely witholding complete surrender to His Sovereign Authority.
God grieves our lack of peace (Lk 19:41-42, Is 48:18)
I need to believe Christ not just for salvation, but also choose to find Him trustworthy day to day.
Certain blessings of God come through prayer alone (Eph 1:17-20). If we claim these, we no longer have to be bound by worrying about the future, being dissatisfied, or understanding the power of God in our lives to accomplish much!
Bondage begins with sin and promotes further sin!
Liberty becomes reality in obedience. They go hand in hand!
God had the right to rule. He sets a high price for rebellion and He pours out safety and blessing for obedience.
Bossing ourselves is a ticket to slavery.
Anytime we attach ourselves to a fraudulent savior, we have to depend on lies to support the habit (Is 30:15)
Our salvation is found in returning and resting (Is 30:15)
If we trust God, there is security in submitting to His leadership (Ex 15:13)
We never find freedom from bondage in independence. We find it by taking the same handcuffs that once bound us to sin and bind ourselves to the wrist of Christ. There is only one Stronghold that frees when it binds (Ps 27:1; Ps 59: 9, 16-17)

Beautiful, Scandalous Night

2009-11-16T15:53:00.000-08:00

This song is pretty much making waves in my heart right now. Beautiful Scandalous Night:

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flowed
For you and for me and for all

CHORUS:
At the wonderful, tragic, mysterious tree
On that beautiful, scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful, scandalous night

On the hillside, you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that poured
From our blessed Savior's side

CHORUS

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

CHORUS

Oldies But Goodies

2009-11-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

I was VERY nervous when Marya said we were going to arrange our own flowers. But look at these boutonnieres. My pride and joy.

As promised, here are a couple pictures of Marya's wedding. Finally! The pictures look great and are done by PatWright Photography.

We Bring the Party

2009-11-07T23:21:00.000-08:00

The Rentel girls and I worked our little tails off to make our friend Jon's 24th birthday one to remember. It all started out with Megan reminding one of the guys that it was his birthday, them going to dinner without a single girl in sight, Megan baking a cake, and us frosting it in the back of her car (while making a candy card). 'Eventful' hardly describes such a momentous evening.

And here is Jon being excited about his candy card:

Costume Party!

2009-11-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

I can't even tell you how long I have wanted to have a costume party on Halloween...I mean, what fun, you know?! So this year, I invited everyone over for a Disney/Pixar themed costume party and it was so fun! I wish I would have gotten pictures of everyone's costumes because people really put together some great ones. Here are a few:

The whole theme started out because the Rentel girls and I wanted to be the Disney princesses...Steph being sleeping beauty because that is most fitting for her. Well, in the end, only Annie and I represented. I'm Snow White. She's Belle.

If you didn't notice, this summer just about every single animal in all of Hollywood was named "Kevin," including the bird from Up. This became kind of a running joke for us throughout the summer and we coined "Kevin" names for everyone: Mean Kevin, Loud Kevin, Soap Kevin, Conviction Kevin, Plan Kevin...and as of Halloween night--Smoke Kevin. I thought Megan's costume was very cute.

Shalynn and me. Shalynn was Cruella deVille from 101 Dalmations. We pretty much resurrected this costume from one my sister wore in elementary school. Look how legit this costume is...this from the girl who called me mid week to see if it would be "really lame" if she didn't come costumed.

By far the BEST couples costumes ever (well...except for one). Dan and Steph were Hook and Tinker Bell and Em and Dave were Peter Pan and Wendy. Cute, cute, cute! A couple of costume highlights...Steph made her own tutu, Dan is wearing a woman's coat, and Emily died that dress herself because she couldn't find one the right color.

My little labor of love for the week before Halloween was making these dwarf costumes. I wanted seven, but while making the costumes, I decided three was actually just fine, thank you! Don't they look like little people!

Trying to recreate the classic pose. How tender.

What a fun night!

Fort Collins Gets it's Glory Day

2009-10-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

So perhaps you've heard recently of the little town of Fort Collins, Colorado what with a little boy tragically named Falcon and his parents wishing for media favor (which they got, by the way...way to go major media outlets...ahem.) I just want to say that Fort Collins is also known for having the most restaurants per capita. Our Old Town is the basis for Disney Land's little town. And we've been voted one of the best cities to live in year after year. AND, we obviously have people who can get a good laugh out of October 15th's sensationalized events.

For example, Sunday's front page story:

This is Beautiful

2009-10-17T14:09:00.000-07:00

I read something absolutely beautiful in God's Word today:

For the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort her in her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song... Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my instruction. Do not fear disgrace by men and do not be shattered by their taunts...And the ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee. I--I am the One who comforts you. Who are you that you should fear man who dies, or a son of man who has given up like grass? ...I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you in the shadow of My and, in order to plant the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, "You are My people."

Isaiah 51: 3, 7, 11-12, 16

Yep.

2009-10-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Today was our first snow in Fort Collins and look! It's accumulating! This calls for fuzzy slippers, a turtle neck, and a scarf. So fun!
He says to the snow, "Fall on the earth," and to the rain shower, "Be a mighty downpour."

Job 37: 6

One More Catch Up Post

2009-08-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

My sabbatical from blogging was mostly triggered by laziness...it's not like I've been busy or anything. I had kind of forgotten about these pictures. The Rentels took me to this great little local dessert place called the Chocolate Cafe to celebrate my graduation. It's got a cute atmosphere and the people who own it are really proud of what they make. It's cute, they kind of watch you while you eat. (When I say cute, I of course mean slightly creepy, but charming nonetheless to see people so proud of what they do.)

When I ordered the Chocolate Lava Cake, the waitress told me I just HAD to try the first bite with my eyes closed and that it would change my world. Well, I humored her and did so since she was watching me and this is the very unattractive look that resulted. I thought all of the bites tasted about the same, eyes opened or closed, but it makes for a good story, I suppose.

This Very Fullfilling Job I Have

2009-08-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

This is kind of old news, but...

I've been working at Macy's all summer until I can find some legitimate employment within my field. Lucky for me, Annie stopped in to surprise me on a very slow night wearing her mom's homely-made prom dress from back in the day (a source of a lot of laughter that week for some reason!). She jokingly asked me if I could find her a shoe for it...and tragically, I could. Thanks, Annie for making my job just a little bit more rewarding. :)

Brave, isn't she?

Scary, isn't it?

Girl's Weekend

2009-08-12T10:36:00.000-07:00

All of the guys went out of town this weekend for our church's men's retreat. They had a great time. We were bummed! They add so much spontaneity and fun to our evenings! So...we set out to have a great girl's weekend together.

We started out with a late night of movies that the boys would have objected to (While You Were Sleeping and Confessions of a Shopaholic). Only Monica made it through both of the movies, but it was really fun to stay up into the wee hours watching chick flicks. ;)

The next day we all dressed up in black and white and went to Cafe Vino for desserts. It was fun and the desserts were delicious.
We were sorely disappointed that our weekend didn't even begin to top the fun that the guys had during their retreat...but, I have to say that Sunday night was the best night. Dan asked Steph if he could pursue her and she said yes and that resulted in a debrief of the whole conversation until 5am. Needless to say, we were excited! :)

Hmm...maybe I should have titled this "Steph's a Girlfriend Now."

Third Wheeling.

2009-08-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Steph, Dan, and I all went to see Tenth Avenue North in Denver the other night. Great concert! Here are a couple of pictures:

I know this makes me seem like a five year old, but I got a chuckle out of this as we stood in line, Steph and I both boycotting these at all costs. :)

Legos

2009-07-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't been super into blogging since I've been back in Colorado, but couldn't resist sharing this story.

I've been helping with VBS at church all week being a crew leader for second graders. I've had a pretty great group of kids that together make up a nice mix of sweet, inquisitive, adventurous, and strong willed. :) My strong willed little guy has been giving me a preview of parenthood this week, but is finally starting to listen and obey and is having more fun because of it (I'm sure!). This morning they shared the gospel with the kids in a way they could understand. To help them understand sin, we passed around a black trash bag for each child to think of something he or she thought was a sin and confess it to Jesus. While most of my kids asked if "being impolite counted" and if sin was Adam and Eve's fault, one little boy tugged on my leg and said, "Teacher? I have some Legos in my pocket and I'm sorry." I thought he just had them from home so I told him to just keep them there and he could play with them when he got home. But he said, "No, I stole them from downstairs and I'm sorry I did that." I was touched by his little conscience being affected by the message!

You never know how a heart might be softening. I have memories of visiting AWANA with a friend as a little girl and raising my hand when they said "Is there anyone here who hasn't ever done anything bad?" I thought I was that girl! Later, of course, I realized that I was a sinner. It's easy to give up on those kids, but I'm glad the people there didn't push me away.

His mercy covers it all (even Lego thiefs!).

Visitors

2009-06-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

Ashley came to visit and this picture pretty much sums it up...we had a really fun time! So fun to have people come and visit me. Heart.

Basically, it rained because it has been doing that a whole lot lately and we were at the drive in. We made it work, except for a couple of tarp spills down our sleeves. Brr!

Winter?

2009-06-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

What is this? Snow?

Nope. Hail.

Isn't it June?

Two Down!

2009-06-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

Two of the six interior design girls are now marrried. :) I celebrated Erin's wedding this weekend with a quick trip to North and South Carolina.

Marya, Jena (a bridesmaid), Erin, Rebecca, and Me. We missed Tanya!

It was so fun to spend time talking late into the night with these girls and for us to be out of college. It was a weird feeling, but so refreshing. Luckily, I'll be back in September for the next one...Marya.

As you can see, Marya still needs one more ring. :)

Probably the weirdest part of this wedding for me was when they announced that Erin was going to throw her bouquet and I looked at the other girls like "Let's go." and they looked back at me like "I'm married (or) I'm engaged." I went solo, but I didn't catch it.

We Finally Meet!

2009-05-16T10:56:00.001-07:00

When I got home I was so bummed because I got to see Elise everyday, but I couldn't hold her because I had a cold. Finally on Mother's Day I got a chance to hold her!

Poor thing, she was just waking up when this picture was taken.

Catching Up...Graduation Gifts

2009-05-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

At Anderson, a primary focus of our interior design studies is learning all of the iconic chairs, who designed them, what period they fit into, and innovations they display. As a result, all of us become hopelessly in love with famous chairs by the time we graduate. In honor of that, I made each of the interior design girls I graduated with her favorite chair embroidered and then placed in a frame that would suggest the materiality of the chair. Now, I realize no one cares about this, but if you were interested in famous chairs, I promise you, you'd fall in love. :)

The Barcelona: Given to Erin. This one was my favorite because it has little buttons at each of the tufts.

The Tulip: Given to Jena. Probably the best reaction I've ever gotten when giving a gift came from her in response to this. :)

The Bergere: Given to Tanya. When I asked everyone what her favorite chair was, I was thinking modern chairs (because they would be way easier to embroider). Tanya wanted this very ornate one...and I cursed her name as I made it. :) Just kidding... In her defense, once she opened it and found out what I had done with her favorite chair she was so apologetic.

The Wishbone: Given to Marya.

Louis and Clark, Take Two, Days Two and Three

2009-05-05T15:33:00.000-07:00

Day Two started at 10:00am with homemade iced coffees. Iced coffee was the drink of choice for this trip, and, what was once a much hated drink is now the elixer of choice for these two road trippers.
Just in case you're wondering, the recipe is about 1/2 a cup of coffee and about 500 creamers over ice. These were non-dairy, but definitely not non-fat...
Cheers. Let's get on the road.

Crossing into Missouri
Our first stop was the St. Louis Arch. It was very fun to go up inside of it all the way to the top!
Getting read to board the tram.Megan was a little scared.

Crossing into Kansas!

Contest: Who can get rid of her gobstobber first. We could also call this string of pictures: the unattractive faces of Megan and Emily. My grandma's shower is real sketch, so...we went dirty for our last day.

Megan wins. I had a little bit left, Megan chewed hers. Gross picture, for sure.

I was a sore loser.

Over reaction. There was much jubilee.

Louis and Clark, Take Two

2009-05-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Megan and I started out on our journey back to Colorado this morning. Today we made it 592 miles today and are staying in Mount Vernon, IL. Some great moments of the day:

11am: Left church with iced carmel "matchiados" (that's what my mom said).
This is my dad showing us the route on the map...something that neither me nor Megan paid much attention to. Within oh, about 2 seconds, we were going in the opposite direction my dad had suggested. Whoops. We followed our trusty GPS, hereafter called Gigi. :)
Entering "Hot Georgier."

2pm First Stop: Spicy Chicken Sandwiches at Wendy's, just outside of Tennessee

Highlights:

1. A bathroom that smelled like a barn. Really?

2. A mom who changed her child's diaper by laying him directly on the stall floor. Vom.

3. Me, tossing my cookies, as a result.

4. Now at Wendy's you can add flavor to your drink. I love calories. Two pumps, please.

Crossing into Tennessee.

Crossing into Kentucky.

Megan may or may not have said "We need to go there!" when we saw this one.This is how much fun Megan had...studying.

We were packed in pretty tightly with very little visibility.

My alumni sticker needed to go on now that its official.
Yay.
There's a first time for everything. Here's a little consequence for my speeding sin. Crossing into...Illinois?!
We had just gone over a bridge for the Ohio River so we assumed...given our extensive knowledge of geography...that we were going to enter Ohio. So, we were so surprised, we hardly even got the Illinois sign!So, we went back.

Fazolis called my name for the whole afternoon, so we went there and slurped some spagetti.

We had a little bit of anxiety about where we should stay and we had some criteria: hot tub, pool, breakfast, cute, and...oh yes, safe.
Pretty cute, I think.

Graduate from College...Check.

2009-05-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

It hit me today as I sat with the other graduates and watched the ceremony...I never thought I'd get here. I guess I had always been expected to go to college, and maybe even to do well, but I think there have been so many times when I just didn't think I could do it for one more hour that I never thought I'd actually complete four years of school. Now I see how people can get their masters or their doctorate. I thought once I got my bachelors, I'd feel like I knew it all. I don't, so I have a feeling more education is in my not so distant future. We'll see.

Graduation wasn't nostalgic or a big defining moment or anything. It was weird how everyone got emotional and sentimental, and I just kind of graduated and didn't feel anything. I'm one of those non-emotional people who wishes I were emotional at times like these. It seems fitting, but it never seems to happen. I shed one single tear at the cermony. It was pathetic.

The ceremony was great and I love, love, loved the fanfare of the event. I was so thankful for beautiful weather and the beautiful landscaping.

Here's the white horse that led us in.
The money shot if you ask me. Ms. Martin carrying in the School of Interior Design banner.

"Processing."

Receiving my diploma sans handshake because of swine flu. As you can see I weigh 500 pounds with this gown on. I had a huge breakfast.
After graduation. I got Denmark Society (yay!) and that's my diploma.

I have my diploma, but...can I have my friends back? This was really hard. I wept when I had to say bye!

The Parents...matching.

This would be even harder if I didn't have friends like Megan and the other Rentel sisters to return to!

My aunt, uncle and cousins who came for graduation!

Graduation Party

2009-05-02T00:37:00.000-07:00

My parents threw me a little graduation/going away party the other night at Oh La Lolly in downtown Anderson. That place is adorable and has so much personality. The food is great too!

All of the interior design girls, Lilly, and Ms. Martin, squeezing in one more "update" in before we graduate. I'll miss these girls.

Look at Jena's little creative endeavor. I think these are incredible and would have snatched these up in a heartbeat if I saw them in a boutique. Love these! Thanks, Jena!

Me, Mary Kathryn, and Joya.

Me and Lauren.

My sweet friend Megan who flew out for my graduation during her finals week and is driving back with me. At the party, everyone went around and said how they knew me and Megan said "I'm Megan and I'm from Fort Collins, so we get her back..." How funny is that!

"Rich" (one of my professors who said I needed to be on a first name basis with him now), my dad, Jared (my boss in admissions), and Steve.

Joya, Anne, Lauren, Ben, Megan, Scott, and Mary Kathryn.

Well, it's nearly 4am and I can't sleep on the night before graduation, but I guess I had better try.

This is What Hysterical Laughter Looks Like

2009-05-01T05:15:00.001-07:00

So This is College...

2009-04-28T13:23:00.001-07:00

One thing that I always thought I'd do in college was stay up all night and watch movies. Isn't that weird? Yes. Because I have never done that in my life. So...we did our best, but actually didn't last all night. Here we are, looking like pre-teen girls at a sleep over. Hilarious.

So This is College...

2009-04-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

About a month ago my friends found out that I'd never been to Waffle House before and they said that that HAD to change before I left the South. So, I put it on the list of things to do before graduating, and here we are.

Mary Kathryn couldn't come because her little niece was just born today, but she told me I needed to make sure I got a hat. My head is enormous and the hat didn't fit very well. Next week, I'll be wearing another hat that won't fit very well. Crazy.
I know this isn't attractive, but it's a good example of how unfamiliar I am with Waffle House culture. I ordered a water with lemon. My friends make fun of me a good bit because my inflection is pretty distinct compared to their little southern twangs, so they were all over this. Oh well. The waitress got a good laugh out of it and they explained to her that I was "visiting from Colorado." Four year visit, huh? I've kind of overstayed my welcome.

Post waffle with Ashley. I got a chocolate chip waffle. It was pretty good. This place is really cheap. I must say that whenever we've driven by, it always looked really smoky. That's why I wore something that I didn't care if it smelled like smoke when I left. Not a single person was working on their lung cancer though...

Sweet little Joya in her adorable top. Need one of those. Thanks for treating, Joya! By the way, you can see we chose the best seat in the house...right by the bathroom. Pretty classy place.

Charleston

2009-04-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

I visited Charleston this weekend for my first time. What an inspiring, breathtaking city. I literally had my eyes scouting around looking at all of the architecture the whole time. My mom kept getting onto me about filling up the whole camera with pictures of architecture instead of people. What can I say, I'm a designer. :) Here's a few pictures that inspired me:
I love modillions more than anyone else you know, I promise. So glad that people had such a dedication to the craft that they could do this without machinery! Usually in this style, you see white woodwork with red brick. I appreciated the fresh interpretation in Charleston of bold colors with stark white. Beautiful.

This picture doesn't do a great job, but this door was a bright, red-orange. I love the classicism of the architecture juxtaposed with such a vibrant colored door.

The iron work in Charleston was exquisite. I love it all. And, I loved the putty color of this gate.

Questions, Answered

2009-04-20T20:16:00.001-07:00

I recently read in Real Simple magazine a list of ten questions that someone should ask her mom. I didn't know the answer to any of the ten questions, so while my mom was here, I decided I'd try to ask her all of them. I asked her one. Whoops.

Here's what I asked her: When did you realize you were no longer a child?

We were at a cute little cafe on Meeting Street in Charleston. As she answered, I was doodling on the table with a pink crayon...guess we know that I can't answer that one yet. But, for real...I still feel like a child.

Gallery Opening!

2009-04-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

Our show opened tonight with a really fun reception! We had a great turn out and it was fun to see everyone's work, meet everyone's families, and finally say that it is over!!!!

My mom flew in this morning in time for the opening tonight. I really appreciate having her here, as this feels more important than graduation to me! We're looking forward to a fun weekend!

Several of my friends came out tonight to see my work. I loved having them there. Thanks for keeping me sane over the past four years and forcing me to take breaks! :) And, Lauren...thanks for breaking out the hot glue gun with me and sleeping with the lights on so I could finish projects.The interior design girls and Ms. Martin standing in front of Jena and Erin's hanging space. (Left to right: Marya, Me, Jena, Ms. Martin, Erin, and Tanya). These past four years of hard work would not have been the same (or nearly as fun!) without these girls! I'm going to miss them.

Ms. Martin and I in front of my wall.

Earlier today we had our senior reviews, where we give a 20 minute presentation to the art and interior design faculty and are critiqued for 10 minutes. It went really well and I think everybody did great. It was hilarious when Erin lost her train of thought and said "I'm sorry, I'm just having a brain, uh, a brain toot." It's like she cleaned it up for the jury. Hilarious. We gave her quite a bit of grief for that for the rest of the day. :) Scratch that. Rest of her life. I might post more pictures of this later.

Elise

2009-04-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Orion and Coda got to meet Elise this weekend. Orion didn't know what to do with himself, but Coda was fascinated by Elise. He kept talking about her and wanted to hold her and give her a bottle, but he never called her by name, he always called her "the baby." This picture captures his awe. Hilarious. I laughed out loud.
Look at her sweet face! I can't wait to meet her.

This is What Relief Looks Like

2009-04-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

I know you don't believe it, but that took 7 hours to hang. Ridiculous.

Three Nails

2009-04-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

In the past two or three weeks, God has been reminding me that any time I am tempted to sin, He ALWAYS provides a way out, and I must choose to take that way out to avoid sinning against Him. Needless to say for this stubborn girl, this has not been an easy lesson to apply and I have made very little progress in giving Him the glory He deserves with my life. Last week, I was struck by reading the story of Christ's death and resurrection. I just got a new Bible, and it amazes me how fresh His Word becomes when it doesn't have notes, highlighter, and dates written all over it from the past several years! As I read Luke 22:40-46, I was struck by Jesus' humanity and divinity coming to a very defining intersection. This was make it or break it--would He save us or not? It was this night many years ago, and he had just shared a meal with his friends. He loved them, had taught them, showed them how He was fullfilling God's covenant, but they still didn't get it. They still didn't love Him as much as He loved them. He withdrew from them and prayed to God, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from Me!" I finally got it. Jesus' humanity of being able to choose whether or not to die a gruesome death for us was facing Him. What if He had responded as I do when God gives me a way out of sin and sinned anyway? Oh, how this life would be so very, very different. Shattered and broken and absolutely hopeless for lack of a Redeemer! I hope you will join with me in praising the One who had a choice but still, He loves us!

And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfullness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin." Exodus 34:5-6b

Above all, fear the LORD and worship Him faithfully with all your heart, considering the great things He has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24 (emphasis mine)

Idea Noted

2009-04-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Tell me this is not adorable. Do-able? Not so sure I'd be up for riding one of these in a dress.

She's Here!

2009-04-04T19:14:00.000-07:00

Betsy and Rocky had a beautiful baby girl tonight around 5:30pm! She has long eyelashes and lots of hair! Introducing, Elise Makayla, 6 pounds, 12 ounces:

Betsy looked quite a bit like this herself as a baby...lucky girl, good genes!

The new family!

I have never seen anyone look so radiant after having a baby!

Please Pray!

2009-04-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

Betsy's in labor, just one day before her due date! I'm so excited to have a little niece and see how beautiful this little baby is! She called at 7am, so she said she should be calling again this afternoon to report. I'll post pictures as soon as they're sent to me. In the meantime, please pray for a complication-free delivery!

Small Victory

2009-04-02T21:48:00.001-07:00

I'm in the process of cleaning things up for my senior show, which opens in a week and a half! When I'm under deadline on one of my interior design projects, things tend to get done, but not always to the quality that I want them to be done to. I've had the opportunity to revise things so that they can go up in the gallery. One of them has been this perspective of a studio apartment:

If you hate it, sorry. It looks kind of circus-ey to me, but it's one of those things where you just spec paint colors and you choose walls arbitrarily and then you draw it out and you think...I wish I would have ordered more neutral paint samples. :) Anywho, I like to think it would look good in real life. I designed the bed/bedside tables myself.

This thing represents a small victory because this is the only perspective that I have not cried over! This is not the area of interior design that I excel in. My sophomore year, I had to be enrolled in what was effectively 25 hours of design courses (design courses meet for double the number of hours you register for). It was awful. I literally slept less than 5 hours a night for the entire semester and I would lay in bed and mentally draw a set of construction drawings in my head because I could not sleep. So one weekend, I was going into crunch time on a project. I still needed to draw and render (color with depth and shadow) a perspective. For the life of me I could not get it to look right. I figured out I was maybe drawing it too small, so, after 7 hours of struggling with it, I went to the library to blow up my plan so I could draw it bigger. While I was in the library, it hit me...this project was not going to get done. There was no way. So, I wept my eyes out, right there in public. The librarian came up to me and hugged me. I still cannot look at her. :) Needless to say, that project did get done and now, I'm maybe even a little sad that the projects are over. Sigh.

Dear to Me

2009-03-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

I celebrated my birthday with four girls who I love very much tonight! They all out-did themselves in celebrating my birthday and it was fun to have everybody together and enjoy some sketchy (but delicious!) Mexican food together. I am thankful and will miss them when I leave South Carolina. Oh dear...the nostalgia begins. :)

He Met Me!

2009-03-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

If I had to name two of my biggest pet peeves about Christians, I would say carrying your Bible to church in the box it came in and over-spiritualizing lame experiences. That said, I think I'm about to do the second. I am finding that God is just totally meeting me where I'm at...even when I'm in that whole wallowing spot that accomplishes just about nothing for Him and adds nothing to His glory.

Last night I was bummed. I had just torn a link off of my paper chain and counted how many I had left. 40 days. I wrote a post about that, so, if you read it, you can see that I was just feeling really discouraged. I opened my Bible afterwards to do my quiet time and God just absolutely met me. I began recalling all of the things in the Bible that took forty days: Jesus' temptation, Moses going up on the mountain to be in God's presence and get the 10 commandments, Noah's time in the ark... Then God brought one to mind that I hadn't thought of before...Jesus' time here after his resurrection. I started thinking about it. Jesus died, went to be with his Father in heaven for 3 days, then CAME BACK here and stayed for 40 days. Can you even imagine? I mean, I want to go home...and that is a place filled with sin, hopelessness, sinful people (me included!), and uncertainty. I love it, but it is all of those things. Jesus' home was perfect in every sense of the word but he CAME BACK for 40 days.

I have to confess: I'm a bit of cynic. (Knew that already?! Sorry, I don't do much to hide it!) I have heard people say that Jesus has had any experience that I have ever had and that he can relate to me in every sense of my life. But, honestly, I had not really, personally encountered this to be true until last night.

To use a junior high youth retreat term, God has been "rocking my face off" this semester by teaching me to trust him and drawing me into a deeper and deeper relationship with him. I am more aware of his intimacy now than any other point in my life as a believer. Weird thing is, ever since about 5 days ago, I've been feeling a rift. I was trying to think if there was some kind of sin pattern that was unconfessed or unresolved relationship stuff or what when my memory verse from last month hit me: "Let us go right into the presence of God, with hearts fully trusting him..." That's it! I had quit trusting him, quit believing him for what he said he would do. My heart was divided. How could I expect to be in his presence?!

Well, those are just a few reflections for tonight. Let's just say 39 days seems a whole lot more do-able now and (as usual!) my "problems" are becoming more and more microscopic as I consider this God who holds the span of all of creation between his thumb and forefinger! Praise Him, for He is bigger than us and He has overcome the world!

40 Days

2009-03-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

I miss my friends.

40 days until I graduate. It's hard not to wish it away. I know I never get it back, but right now, I don't even want it! I just want to be back with my dear Rentel sisters and sit around and talk for hours, take forever to make a simple decision, shorten words unnecessarily, have sleep over after sleep over, eat dinner three hours later than anyone else and laugh endlessly. I'm so excited for the day that I don't have to say goodbye for a long time like this anymore.

Six Little Letters

2009-03-13T02:21:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I passed my LEED exam. I'm a LEED AP!!! These six little letters represent more than 100 hours of studying, a goal accomplished, and the faithfullness of my God! He did this!

I've been studying for the exam since January, studying for a total of 2 months before taking the exam. Passing it means I'll be able to work on sustainable interior design projects to help achieve LEED certification. Every single day of studying has been a struggle--to be motivated to do it, to understand what I'm learning, and to remember it. I've been asking God almost every day to help me to be committed to this and to help improve my recall. Last weekend, I finished all of my studying and took a practice test. I got a 45%. I was so discouraged. I kept studying and I kept taking practice tests. I got a 46%, 51%, 90% (yay!), and then on the last night before my exam...a 39%. I was so discouraged. I knew that I couldn't pass this test. I prayed about it and it was like the Lord spoke directly to me telling me that (once again!) I needed to trust Him and that He would come through and that HE (not me!) would receive the glory for it. So, I trusted.

My test was at 2:30 yesterday in Greenville off of exit 48. I live at exit 27, so I left with an hour and 45 minutes to get there. That is more than enough time. As I was leaving, I was amazed that I didn't feel nervous at all, I felt an overwhelming peace. At exit 40, I hit stand still traffic and I sat at this exit for an hour and fifteen minutes. There had been a big accident and I didn't even get to start moving from this exit until 2:35. I made it to the test site at 3:00 and asked if they would please let me take the exam. The lady said I could, but I'd have to finish at the same time I was originally scheduled to, 4:30. That shaved an hour off of my allotted test time, and my practice tests told me I needed the full time. I took it anyway. When I finished the exam, I was amazed. I had passed. Glory be to God! I am experiencing what it means to trust Him in a whole new way. I am learning that he cares about these little things in my life!

Headed back to Colorado today for spring break! Please pray for this family.

2009-03-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

God is using the paraphrase of 2 Cor 5: 14-21 in a powerful way right now! I think this is the verse he is showing me to memorize for the second half of this month. It is incredible, I am seeing that Christ is placing scripture in my life through music, chapel, church, and my quiet times. He is persistently placing the same scriptures before me, over, and over again. I have so much to learn. Here are the verses he's using now:

14-15Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.
16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.
21How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God. -2 Cor 5:14-21 The Message

Aren't We Resourceful?

2009-03-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Mary Chath had an interview this morning. She has a sweating problem and she was worried that her pit stains would show through her blazer by the time she arrived at her interview. Well...I decided to fix this problem by affixing a couple of trusty pantiliners to her top and to the arms of her blazer. Perfect. :)
Mary Chath thinks that I need to have a section of my blog called "I Lack Discretion" for times like this. Puh-lease. Blogs are about real life...and this is it.

And look, she's all ready to go...and no one will know about our secret little helper! :-)

Don't worry, the sporty little t-shirt watch she has on this picture was wrestled away from her before she made it out the door. ;-) Good luck, Mary Kathryn!

So This is College, Part 1.1

2009-03-08T19:44:00.001-07:00

Shoot. My right arm is burned really bad. Nothing else is though. Looking forward to a pretty awkward tan, meanwhile, it's on fire.

So This is College, Part 1

2009-03-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

As I approach graduation, I've begun to get a little bit nostalgic. As I've walked this campus, I've thought of so many memories I cherish of college, but I've also thought of a lot of things that I thought I would do in college, but haven't. I'm on a mission to do these things before it's too late! ;) So,

#1. Sunbathe on the roof.
Since Anderson is a Christian college, they have a designated area where girls are permitted to lay out, and it's on top of our administration building and dining hall. Of course, girls lay out all over, but I really wanted to try out the roof. What a little sanctuary! It's the only place you can be alone on the whole campus. I plan to frequent it 'til I graduate. :)

It took some convincing to get Mary Chath on the roof, but she finally did it!
Unfortunately, I had to study while I was up there...my LEED exam is on Thursday. That's my dorm you see in the background.
#2 is clearly "Grow Mary Chath some facial hair." I laughed for quite awhile about this one!

Beyond the Veil

2009-03-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

I'm going through a Bible study this year that is about the New Testament fullfillment of the Tabernacle and how the Old Testament tabernacle gains it's fullness through the New Covenant through Christ. It is SO neat and I am learning so much. I am seeing how very true God's Word is and how he has carefully planned the redemption of his people. I've been progressing through each part of the tabernacle, the alter, the Holy Place, and now the Holy of Holies. As I stepped for the first time into studying the Holy of Holies today, here were some thoughts:

"Perhaps you will wonder as you complete this week's study how a God so holy could be so committed to reconciling sinful humanity to Himself. Our God is both terrifying and tender, universal and personal."
"So great was God's glory that entrance behind the veil for the masses had to be withheld, or they would die. The veil not only protected God's dwelling place, but also protected the people yet unprepared to stand in His presence.
"We can never partake of God's glory without His presence evoking a change in us. This is exactly why we avoid His presence."
"This is the marvelous two edged sword of intimacy. We see Him more clearly and we see ourselves more clearly. It is the perfect safeguard against pride. You can mark His word on this: true intimacy breeds humility."
When Christ died on the cross, the curtain tore! "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks split." (Matt. 27:51)

Woo Hoo!

2009-03-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

I have an interview scheduled for March 17, while I'm home for spring break!

Snow Day!

2009-03-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day! We got about 4 inches of snow in Anderson last night and had no school today. Last night I tried to go sledding with one of my Rubbermaid tub lids. I got a really big bruise on my leg and didn't go very far. Dangit. :) Today, was more successful. We took a walk around the historical district and campus and snapped some fun snow pictures. Then we went to the coffee shop (surprisingly open) and had coffee. It's fun to have an unexpected day off and to enjoy fun time with my roommates.

I went on a little snow man hunt. This one was at one of the ministry houses...really cute!

Very festive, I thought...but why does the mouth look bloody?
"What if your husband were this tall? It'd be like..." Thanks for that, Lauren.
Look carefully, I'm in there!

Getting on this big snowball was a challenge! We had to get a running start. Our jeans were all soaked after this!
Look at that snow fort. Wish we had made it!
I hate it when I smile like a muppet. Weird.

20 Simple Design-y Things I Can't Do Without

2009-03-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

Ever since this post, I've been itching to do a post about one of my loves, interior design. When people find out that I'm an interior design major, they always want me to come and give them ideas. In truth, I'm primarily interested in promoting health, safety, and welfare in public spaces, so houses don't interest me that much. That said, here are 20 things I think are always worth doing:
1. Attractive concealed storage

One of the things I hear people saying is that they don't want their homes to look like a showhome or a musuem, because then it isn't personal or their own. At the same time, though, people only spend money and energy doing the parts of their homes that other people see first. Ever notice that the master bedroom gets done last and the kitchen and living area are first? If people are to really enjoy their homes as their own, I think that the things that only they see should have just as much design quality as the public spaces in their homes. So, things like drawer organizers, closets, and drawer liner paper are some things worth selecting carefully.

2. Subway Tile

I love it applied on the floor or vertically, in a kitchen, bathroom, foyer... It is so classy.

3. Collections of Art, Tightly Clustered in Stairwells

I love this. Stairwells are such wasted space if you don't do something with them. You can interject an incredible amount of design quality into what is otherwise a meaningless space by hanging a bunch of artwork, photographs, etc. Obviously, something has to be unifying about the arrangement, or it will look amatuer. Go for all black frames in several styles, use all square frames, use all black and white photographs, for example.

4. Apothocary Jars

I'm a huge fan of these to replace the blah canister set on the kitchen counter or in the bathroom to hold bath salts, sea sponges, or cotton balls.

5. Coral

Coral is one of those cliche design things that I just can't get over. I love it on the bottom shelf of a night stand, clustered with books on a bookshelf, or combined with several other coral species in a rough hewn wooden bowl. Of course, use faux (cheaper and eco-friendly).

6. Lamps (in Bathrooms and on Bookshelves)

I love small lamps in unexpected places, like on bookshelves and on bathroom vanities.

7. Glass Lamps

Something about a glass lamp just gets me every time. It is such a nice texture, does great things with the light, and looks classy. My favorites are the stacked glass ball lamps.

8. Wallpaper in Closets

Yes, please. As a general rule of thumb, I don't think that wallpaper is very practical or attractive in large amounts. But, in a small space, like a closet, it's a show-stopper.

9. Euro Shams

These are large, square pillows for a bed. I like them because they pack a lot of punch so you don't have to inundate your bed with throw pillows (so impractical!). I like three on a queen and four on a king.

10. Juxtaposition

I love old with new, like putting antiques with more contemporary pieces. I also love juxtaposition of textures, like linen with velvet. Beautiful.

11. Famous Designer Pieces

Maybe it is just because I've memorized so many chairs, their designers, and the movements they represent in design school, but I love a famous piece here and there. Not practical for most people, probably, but I love it. I'm a big fan of the womb chair and think it'd be cute in a nursery in place of a rocker.

12. Bold Pops of Color on Small Casepieces

If you can use small splashes of color on things like nightstands, small consoles or demilunes, it can look really nice amidst traditional wood or neutral paint finishes.

13. Drum Shades

14. Beautiful Bathroom Mirrors

The architectural standard rectangle hanging in the bathroom has got to go. Get a beautiful framed mirror and hang it in it's place.

15. Patterned Sheets

I think patterned sheets are adorable, and even think you can do cute things with mismatched fitted and flat patterned sheets if you have some unifying element (color, for example).

16. Mismatched Chairs Around a Dining Table

This is fun and practical. You can get new dining chairs on the cheap that are the last in a set or you can antique or junk for them. Be careful, they need to be all about the same scale and have some unifying element (heard that three times now?!).

17. Rounding Dining Tables

They're practical and they look really nice. Round dining tables make conversation happen more naturally and you can squeeze more people in if you need to add seats. They look great with chairs around them or without if you need to set up a buffet on your table. A round dining table looks great draped with a table cloth or naked.

18. Sideboards in Dining Rooms

This is kind of a lost piece of furniture in a lot of homes. People get too large of dining tables for their dining rooms and then can't fit a low, wide console storage piece called a sideboard. They are great because you can store your china, flatware, and your linens in the closed storage and dress up the top with attractive accessories. When you have people over, everything is in the room you need it and you can arrange platters and serving dishes on it and serve food buffet style off of it.

19. Children's Art Work, Hung Gallery Style

There is no better way to inspire a young artist than to give it the respect it deserves. You can make the art more easily replaced by forgoing the glass of the frames and putting in cork. Just tack up the artwork and the cork can serve as an attractive mat that easily adjusts to the size of the art.

20. Proper Lightbulbs and Lighting

I'm a huge fan of CFCs for their longevity and their eco-friendliness, but I much prefer the look of soft white incandescants. In bathrooms or above mirrors, I love pink bulbs. I think as many lights as possible should be on 3-way switches or dimmers. People look most attractive when they are uplighted instead of downlighted, so for a table, I love candles only. For the most part, I could do without overhead fixtures in favor of lots and lots of task lighting.

Esodus

2009-03-01T11:11:00.001-08:00

I've talked on here about my use of a set of spiral bound index cards to keep verses full of Truth at my finger tips. I have been amazed at how God has shown himself faithful to use this to replace lies and strongholds in my life and to propel my prayer life. Recently, I was inspired to take this to the next level with Beth Moore's post here. In her post, she challenges her readers to join with her and commit to memorizing a verse on the 1st and 15th of each month and to pray that God would lead you to memorize specific scriptures that He would want to prioritize in your life. So, I'm a little late in getting on this band wagon, but I'm planning to memorize this verse for the next 15 days:

"Let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting Him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise." Hebrews 10:22-23 (NLT)

Boy, is God working on my heart to trust Him right now! No real prospects as far as jobs go, but God has been reminding me day after day of just how faithful He is, and His peace has not left me that He WILL provide. Today we start a new series for the 2s and 3s at church on trusting God. Timely for me too! Faith like a child, right?! More on this journey later...

Hoping for snow tonight!

Found It

2009-02-24T18:25:00.000-08:00

Perfect...I finally found what I was looking for. I obsessively collect old family photographs from other people's families. I buy them at antique shops, because I can't stand to see people's precious family memories not being displayed and cherished. I know...this is such a weird thing about me! I'm a little bit choosy...they have to have a good story. Today, I was looking through some books about Neoclassicism and look what I found:
How cute is that? And historical (this is Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello). I really envision all of them being framed with white mats, but now I'm thinking I might go for a warm neutral on the mat and either black or wenge oak frames. I think I want it cover the wall of a stairwell, but until I have a stairwell, I love this ribbon idea. Sometime, maybe I'll post some of these antique photographs I have.

Theology

2009-02-22T17:22:00.001-08:00

Tonight at church a little boy named Drew was telling me about how Satan wanted to be greater than God, so God made him leave heaven. He told me he read that on the back of his Bible. I learned this when I was, like...15. So, I was impressed. Then he said, "And God's greater than everybody. No body can be greater than God. (pause) Not even Santa."

Wow.

Love Them

2009-02-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

Joya, Ashley, and I all got together for Valentine's day...and it was so much fun. Here's what happened.

I decided to spiral curl my hair. I did it in 8 layers and hair sprayed it before, during, and after each layer. That's 24 layers of hair spray. That should hold.

We decided to go where everyone else was going for dinner...Greenville...without a reservation. So, by the time we got to the restaurant, the hair was not so "presh." See:

Dangit. Then we sat outside in the freezing cold weather because there was no room inside and we had to wait an hour (which was about 3 hours less than the other 12 places we called...)

As you can see, I decided to wear that zebra dress out...and so did Joya. :) So our dinner was amazing and we had wine, which was a fun new thing to do (I'd never had it with food!). Then we went to the movie New In Town, which by the way is a HILARIOUS movie that I will buy (and I don't buy movies), so you should see it. Then, inspired by the movie I talked in a Minnesota meets Penelope accent almost the whole way home. As you can imagine, everyone loved that. ;)

I had made us chocolate mousse to have at Ashley's apartment. Shh...it's a lot healthier than regular mousse--it's made with tofu and no cream, except for the dollop on top. :)

And then, Joya and I drove home in really bad fog with 25' visability. It was really sketchy, and I wished we had just stayed at Ashley's!

This was one of those nights where you're just glad that you're exactly where you are and you don't want it to end! I have great friends all over this country! Love them.

Chick fil A Makes My Heart Smile

2009-02-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

On this Valentine's "eve" (haha...no, but seriously, someone said that today) my friends and I celebrated with a early morning trip to Chick fil A for their heart-shaped chicken biscuits. If you have not had a chicken breakfast biscuit there, you have yet to live. You must go. Regularly.

I watched their sign turn on this morning I was there so early (that's what you get for having teachers as friends!).

This was well worth it. :)

My dates this morning were Joya and Mary Chath:

I routinely wear pink or red for Valentine's day (or eve, apparently.) I think it's festive and kind of Scrooge-like not to.

Not totally sure how I contorted myself to look like I'm sitting on Joya's lap...it's like she's the Valentine's day Santa or something. :) But, I'm not, for the record.

My List

2009-02-07T14:23:00.001-08:00

My roommate and friend Lauren has this list with a bunch of things on it that she wants to do before she dies. She calls it her "Bucket List," the things she wants to do before she "kicks the bucket." Now, here is what you have to understand about Lauren...the girl has been to China, Guatemala, and Africa. She's got an adventurous spirit. So, her list says things like skydiving. Everytime she talks about something she wants to do on her bucket list, I feel so awkward because I want really simple things in my life...I don't get that excited about world travel or jumping out of an airplane. So, I've been on a quest for the past couple of weeks to figure out what I do want to do or see before I die. Everytime I think of something, I write it down. I think I'm done for now, so here it is:

Hike a fourteener.
Visit the creation muesuem in Cinncinnatti, OH.
Run a half marathon.
Visit an Amish community.
Go to Hawaii.
Ride in a horse drawn carriage.
Go to Israel.
Go to the Met.
Be the recipient of a love letter...and have a lamp with love letters in it (long story).
Go to New York.
Go to Venice and ride the streets in a Gondola.
Impact my family for Christ.
Be a stay at home mom.
Ride a tandem bicycle.
Own a real picnic basket.
Kiss in the rain.
Learn to do classic dances, like the waltz.
Hike the same trail in 4 different seasons.
Provide a home in my home for a pregnant teenage girl.
Have a bona fide collection.
Own a famous chair.
Learn American Sign Language.

Round One...Here Goes Nothing

2009-02-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

The job search has offiically begun! This weekend, I got my first 10 cover letters written and printed and bound my portfolios. On Monday, my first ten potential employers (aren't I optimistic?!) will receive this packet:

My next five will go out by Friday, and the remaining 10 will go out by next Monday. Pray!

Women's Tea!

2009-02-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

The Women's Ministry at Anderson puts on a high tea every year. I love it! Each table is hosted by a woman from our community or from the school. She brings her China and decorates a table and then sits with a group of eight girls and shares her own story with us. Each table is decorated for a holiday. I admit...I'm a little choosy about where I sit, but every year I've ended up at the Valentine's day table! This year it was super cute: she put covers on the folding chairs, used gold chargers, and white roses were the centerpiece. Loved this. Here I am with "Mary Chath."

My second choice for tables was cute too...maybe a summer garden theme? That's not a holiday though, so not sure. But here it is:

I always come away from this event very encouraged. You sit with girls you don't know all that well, and it is fun to see that there are so many commonalities and that you can develop relationships that way. There is usually a speaker, but this year they had four women at their own table up front and they miced their conversation. These women were all in their young 30s and told stories about the pivotal point in their lives where God really changed the direction they were going in and refined their character. I was astonished to hear that these women were talking about things that had happened in high school, as young children, or in college...and they were still dealing with the ramifications, and daily surrendering these things for God's glory. I think I tend to think that if I just get through one season of my life and go into the next, I'll be able to move beyond those defining moments. One woman encouraged us that every thing that happens in your life is a part of your story and that story has value and purpose in impacting the world for Christ. A lot to think about...

Violation

2009-01-28T14:43:00.000-08:00

In all four of my years here at Anderson, I've always passed all of the "Health and Safety Inspections" (read: alcohol checks), but today, I came back from work to find this:

That awesome paper chain I made the other day is a hazard to both my health and my safety, so it had to come down to the wall. ;-)

The Remedy.

This is What Cute Looks Like

2009-01-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

Look at this and tell me you've seen something cuter:
That's Orion, age 8!!! (can you believe it?!)

Eager

2009-01-26T19:01:00.000-08:00

I'm getting pretty eager to be done with school. Last week I had thoughts of going to grad school...feeling thankful that those thoughts were fleeting, because I'm getting to that burned out stage. Let the countdown begin...with the help of a paper chain.

There are 96 links...one for every day until graduation (May 2). The black ones are for the notable days: start of spring break/day I take my LEED exam (46 days), my senior review (80 days), and of course, graduation.

2009-01-20T14:14:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Memo to the President Elect by Madeline Albright. She had some thoughts I found quite appropriate for today, Inauguration Day.

"Our sixteenth and greatest president did not suffer from lack of advice. Since he was thought by so many to be unfit for the office , he was lectured at--in print, at public meetings, even ridiculed to his face. Everyone, it seemed knew better than he how to win the war, reunited the nation, and handle the question of slavery. The story is told that after one especially condescending harangue, delivered with fault-finding zeal by a delegation of New England clergymen, Lincoln asked quietly: "Gentlemen, do you remember that a few years ago a man named Blondin walked across a tightrope stretched over the falls of Niagara?" The men nodded their heads, so Lincoln continued:
Suppose that all the material values in this great country of ours, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, its wealth, its prosperity, its achievements in the present and its hopes for the future--could all have been concentrated and given to Blondin to carry over that awful cross and that their preservation should have depended on his ability to somehow get them across to the other side--and suppose that everything you yourself held dearest in the world, the safety of your family, and the security of your home, also depended upon his crossing?
And suppose you had been on the shore when he was going over, as he was carefully feeling his way along and balancing his pole with all his skill, proceeding with slow, cautious steady steps over the thundering abyss. What would you have done? Would you have begun to shake the cable and shout at him, "Blondin! stand up a little straighter! Blondin! stoop a little more; go a little faster; lean more to the south! Now lean a little more to the north!" Or would you have stood there speechless and held your breath and prayed to the Almighty to guide and help him safely through the trial?

...So God bless you, Mr. President, and keep you and guide you, and help you."

Kids Love Their Mucus

2009-01-18T18:16:00.000-08:00

I work with the 2-3 year olds at church and they are constantly bringing me joy when they say hilarious things. A couple months ago, I had a girl lick her tissue after she blew her nose. This week, we upped the ante.

I had a little boy in my class tonight named Rockford. He was kind of chubby, huge eyes as deep as the ocean, and super rosy cheeks. He was adorable. We were sitting there during "small group" and I'm looking at him because he had just wiped his nose on his sleeve and was now licking it like it was a sucker or something. It never even occured to me to get him a tissue. The whole time I was thinking Oh my gosh...kid's love their mucus. This is a really weird innate human behavior. Then he looks up at me with those adorable bigs eyes and says "Can you get me a tissue?" And I was thinking...you don't need one. You've already wiped your nose and removed the evidence!

Oh, kids...they are hilarious.

This is What Cold Looks Like

2009-01-17T10:31:00.001-08:00

We've had a couple of what I'll call "Colorado cold" days here in the last week. 17 degrees in the morning and a 30 degree wind chill. Brrr, huh?

This is what I saw on my run this morning:

Look at the diagonal one. What an overachiever.

I have to admit, I get a little prideful about the cold I've experienced. People are like "the fountains are frozen!" and I just think to myself...um, I've had snotsicles before, so...

That was gross and pretty unnecessary, so sorry.

On My Mind...

2009-01-12T17:33:00.000-08:00

I'm developing a habit of keeping a stack of index cards with verses pertaining to whatever is on my mind during a certain "season" of my life. During this season, I'm trying hard to trust that God has a plan for my future, but not knowing what that plan is is absolutely wearing on my mind. I'm convinced that if I will replace my own thoughts with God's truth, I'll believe Him and His promises more. So, here's a few verses from my stack that I am absolutely wearing out:

O, LORD God Almighty! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, LORD? Faithfulness is your very character. Psalm 89:8

I can cry out "no one!" to that question. As I look back, I can remember the Lord's faithfulness and I know that He will be faithful once again.

This I declare of the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety: he is my God and I am trusting him. Psalm 91:2
The LORD your God will go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6b

I can be certain that wherever God has me in the future, He is already there, preparing the way for me.

A "Romper," if you will...

2009-01-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

I really can't believe I'm posting this because this is definitely not a cute look for me...but I love these jammies because Mrs. Rentel made them for me. Mrs. Rentel has made these (or other jammies) for her girls since they were babies for Christmas. She's always said I was like a daughter to her...but I guess this year she really meant it...because guess who else got Christmas jammies!? Yep, me. It's really like an enormous onesie with a cleverly placed pocket. My dad laughed at me when he saw me wearing this and told me it was difficult to take me seriously. I can see that. What do you think?! Haha.
By the way, the jammies are made of three fabrics because each of the Rentel girls have theirs made of one of the fabrics. It's fun because I miss them a whole lot so this reminds me of them. :) Love them and love their mom for making this adorable thing!

My Prayers for the New Year

2009-01-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

Here's what I'm praying for myself in the coming year:

To destroy my perception of Christ, that I would believe Him for who He is, not who I've made Him to be and that I would always put Christ before Christianity.
That I would see people as Jesus does and that my heart would break for the lost.
That I would gain a vision for my future post graduation (in May) and that I would believe Him for provision wherever He has me (job, church body, friendships, meaningful relationships with co-workers, etc)
To be reminded of where I was when Christ found me and be compelled by His grace to love others.
For boldness to confess God's goodness with my lips to my family. That I would use my lips for good and not for evil.
That I would fall in love afresh with God's word and that, in that, I would be able to discern His voice.
That I would draw nearer to Christ completing His good work in me and that I would be satisfied in Him.

It would be a privilege to pray for you as well, just let me know how I might do that!

Love This, Part 3

2008-12-30T00:16:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Redeeming Love and can't think of another ordinary book that has affected me so profoundly! The book is a retelling of the book of Hosea in the Bible. I've never read a book so quickly, tears streaming down my face, and turned to the first page right after I'd finished the last! It is an incredible love story, and it is mine. I have prostituted myself to my sin and to this world time and time again and each time, He has rescued me from myself and filled me to overflowing with His grace and mercy. What an incredible and humbling book. If you haven't read it yet, you must.

"Emlily"

2008-12-25T21:47:00.001-08:00

My nephew Orion wrote his own "to/froms" this year. Too cute!

Yep...that's a scratch ticket. We love to train him up in the way he should go. ;-) But...it is a winner, so who can complain?!

Me and My Sister

2008-12-25T21:40:00.003-08:00

I've gotten to enjoy some really fun times with my sister, Betsy since I've been home.

Look, we're practically twins. Betsy thought she looked like an eggplant. This is us being impatient about opening our stockings.

Betsy's got a baby on board, so she finally got bitten by the knitting bug. I think she's doing pretty well. (It's a triangle because you knit it diagonally.) If you look closely, you can see the one I'm working on for her in the background. As you can see, this baby is going to be a girl in love with every shade of pink.

Aren't We Industrious, Part 3

2008-12-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

My sister Betsy and the Rentel girls came over the other night to decorate Christmas cookies. For the most part they look like a bunch of six year olds did them...so I'm not sure the title is all that fitting, but, what can you do?

My "little sister," Annie.

My real sister, Betsy. And my annoying cat, who would not leave us alone. :)

Stephanie being very meticulous.

Steph, Annie, Betsy, Me, and Megan and our one billion cookies, most of which were decorated by Betsy.

Love This, Part 2

2008-12-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

My church's worshipful Christmas trees is one of my favorite things about Christmas. I can hardly ever pay attention at church at this time of the year, because I can't stop looking at the beautiful tree and all of it's symbols! Each ornament represents a name of Jesus in the Bible. Love this. I've already started collecting ornaments for my own tree one day!

Aren't We Industrious, Part 2

2008-12-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

Megan and I made Monster Cookies...aren't we industrious?

These cookies are delicious, so you should make them.

The Big Day!

2008-12-16T12:35:00.001-08:00

Okay, a couple of things:

1. This was absolutely the most beautiful wedding I have ever been too.

2. Rebecca is a stunning bride.

3. This hotel had great finishes. :)

4. And, this was my very first beach wedding. Hopefully I don't look like the land locked girl.

Look at her! Beautiful bride! Poor Stephen, the pastor asked him if he was "about ready" for her to be his bride a couple times during the ceremony and he answered a little over enthusiastically each time, bringing laughs from the crowd. :) They are so cute and at ease with one another.

Rebecca's cute cupcake cake. The star fish are airbrushed white chocolate and were very yummy. And they didn't smear cake all over each other...so much more original.

The Smokey Eye

2008-12-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to do smokey eyes for Rebecca's wedding, so I asked Erin to try it out the night before. I ended up with a black eye. Not cute. The next day was better, but not really smokey at all. :)

Interuption...Rebecca's Lingerie Shower

2008-12-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

Rebecca's maid of honor gave a bachelorette party/lingerie shower for Rebecca a couple of weeks ago and I put together a clever little gift inspired by my church in Fort Collin's pastors' wives. I made this apron and stuffed the pockets with some fun things. :)

I included this little poem explaining the reason for the apron at a lingerie shower! The awkward thing about this is that my dad wrote this for me! My dad writes our Christmas letter every year, and it usually rhymes or follows the same rhyme scheme as a Christmas poem or song, so I knew he'd be good at it. It was a hit! *Thanks, dad.* Awkward.

By the way, I totally ripped these pictures off of Lauren Gossett, who happens to be a fantastic photographer...visit her website.

Pre-Wedding Fun

2008-12-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

We hit the pier and John's Pass for a little pre-wedding fun.

Yena and I dancing on the pier/reliving days of dancing in our room freshman year. Did I just admit that?

Probably the two most rebellious people I know.

More later...