happy weekend!

Since I am seemingly incapable of writing new content myself, I'm gonna direct you to enjoy other, more productive parts of the internet! My weekend will be filled with seeing Eric Metaxas (you know him, the Bonhoeffer biographer) speak tonight, and helping some dear friends move into their newly renovated house tomorrow. Hope your weekend is fabulous!

This kale caesar salad is consuming my thoughts. I feel like an actual trip to San Francisco is in order.

The Jesus Juke duck is a great baby present. Think about it.

Very excited about getting my first Stitchfix in the mail next week; it's going to be awesome!

Broccoli Basil Mac and Cheese? Yes, please.

I can't imagine going to sleep and being swallowed by a sinkhole.  Hi, Florida! See ya never!

David Platt wrote a great article about many Christians' obsession with finding God's will for your life.

Story of my life: "I don't know who wrote this book dedication, but it's hilarious."

Now forget that kale salad, go to Muddy's bakeshop and eat a cupcake. It's Friday, dangit!

the nut cottage.

We were in downtown Helen, Georgia (the Myrtle Beach of the North Georgia mountains) last weekend with my family when I spotted this sign.  I'm seriously considering re-naming our home after this business.

In the last two months, we have:
- hosted my family for Christmas in Memphis
- traveled to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon
- endured two of Donald's toughest months of intern year of family medicine residency
- somehow decided to eat a vegan diet for three of those weeks
- visited with our great friends, the Campbells, who are moving overseas soon!
- put a deposit on a house in Orange Mound
- are attempting to renovate said house
- threw a very fun Super Bowl party in our rental house
- filled out our initial paperwork for an adoption agency (Are we crazy for adding another kid into this crazy mix? Absolutely. But I like crazy.)
- chased a toddler all over the place
- chased a toddler throughout her role as a flower girl in a wedding in Charleston
- visited Donald's grandmother who had to have some emergency surgery
- hiked to see some beautiful waterfalls in the mountains of Georgia
- started running on a regular basis, in an attempt to regain a semblance of my sanity

And now you know. If you really read that list, I owe you a cup of coffee or something.

music mixup.

So, I'm not a big "swap" type person, but when I heard that Kim at The K.O. Story was hosting a music swap, I was 100% in.  Finding new bands to listen to was an obsession of mine for years back in high school and college-- my old desktop computer had thousands of albums (with the help of a handy little external hard drive).  There's just something magical about music, you know?? The right song can set a mood in a way that not much else can.

Making playlist for Kim required a lot of thought!  It's tough to figure out what you are going to send   The theme was "New Beginnings", which happens to be one of the best themes possible in my opinion-- the concepts of change and redemption are the catalyst to writing amazing music.

Take for example my third song, Needtobreathe's "Keep Your Eyes Open"... it was our family's theme song last year while we were making all kinds of big decisions about moving and residency. The song states, "If you never leave home, if you never let go, you'll never make it to the great unknown."  See?! Music says things so much better than I ever could. (PS- my friend and our wedding photographer Josh Drake shot & edited this music video for Needtobreathe!! Isn't he amazing!?)

Without further ado, here's the playlist I sent to Kim.  I wished that I'd more time to write out every single song and meaning, because each of these are significant to me, in some way.  My favorite new band made it on the playlist, Meager Fare. These are guys that I've know for almost 9 years now; they are good friends who I met in college! So talented.


On Wednesday, my post-man delivered Kim's mix...  I knew right away that we were a musical match. She's a Damien Rice fan, who is one of my favorite artists of all time; and Kim did an amazing job of compiling a mix for me.  Here's a little peek at my favorite song from the mix-- it immediately made it's way onto my workout playlist!



Had so much fun with this little project... we'll definitely be doing another music mixup.

silence + observance.

I'm just finishing a very interesting book, called "Drop Dead Healthy".  The author is one of those hilarious people whose writing style makes me want to invite him over for dinner with my family to talk about ridiculous and random topics-- but I digress.  The premise of the book is this:  after a serious scare in a third world hospital, the author decides to learn everything he possibly can about being healthy, and implement all of it into practice.  Even the kooky stuff.

In the 3rd chapter of the book, he interviews a professional who emphasizes the health benefits of... silence?   Uh, yeah. I guess to each his own.  Af first, I didn't quite know what to think hanging your academic "hat" on such a mundane topic, but the more I think about it, the more it seems to make sense.  The reality is: as I am sitting here, I can identify several noises.




- the Fed-Ex plane flying overhead
- Adelaide's box fan whirring in her bedroom aiding her sleep
- the chirping of birds in the backyard garden next door
- our ancient heat pump working to keep us warm
- the train horns from the railroad tracks at the end of our street

So you know, maybe silence is a good thing.  I often wonder if I would observe more in the presence of silence-- I think often because I can hear something so know it's there, I don't have to actually look at it.  (This seems really mundane, but I am talking about a unifying human experience here, so it's pertinent to all of you, I guess.)

Earlier this week, I returned from a run through the neighborhood with Adelaide and my next-door neighbor greeted me (in my chest-heaving, desperate for a icy shower, breathless about-to-enter-the-house state).  She informed me that her power had been off for about 45 minutes (the entirety of my run) and wanted to know what information I knew about the matter.  Having just spent the last almost-hour of my existence cursing my legs, lungs, and generally making the effort just to take another step/breath, I knew nothing about the outage.  After hopping in the car to run errands, I realized that I ran right past the power trucks working on the lines-- literally right past them-- and never noticed.  How's that for observance?!

I wonder how my life would change if I tried intentionally to observe more, and stopped relying on my assumptions.  I think this applies to more than just sight and sound-- how many people do I interact with, but I do not take any notice of them because I am busy thinking about my own concerns?

Living intentionally changes everything; as John chapter three says, "He must be greater, and I must become less."

Have a great weekend!

We've made it to Friday despite the craziness of Christmas preparations and the threatened Mayan apocalypse  (Explaining the Mayan thing to some of the neighborhood girls was one of the more humorous moments of my last few months... they were really concerned that the world was ending!) In light of the holidays, I am leaving you with a few of my favorite reads of the past week:

Christmas in a cold prison.

I love these prints! The blue and orange one of Second Timothy is my very favorite.

Is there a better combination than avocados and eggs? This pita pizza is almost reminiscent of the best breakfast ever-- the black bean burrito from Brother Juniper's!  ( picture ) 

This blogger spends 1/2 her time in a German apartment, and the other half in a home in the United States built from old tires. She is my new hero.

Vegan penne al vodka? Pass the cashew cream, please.

How did I not know Candy Cane pudding existed?

Doctors with too much time on their hands diagnosed the injuries from the robbers in Home Alone.

12 tips for an easier Christmas-- who doesn't want that??

Tourism advertisement for your hometown-- well worth watching.

Gonna decorate these cookies this weekend, as well as make presents for my neighbors. Pioneer Woman for the win! Have a wonderful holiday weekeend.

miscellany monday.

one.  Parenthood easily is the best show I've seen since Friday Night Lights. Interestingly, it's produced by the same person as FNL, so I guess it makes sense that I like it so much!  It's incredibly well written; the characters are fantastic. The plot is a little dramatic, and there's a lot going on, but every single episode has some sort of theme.  It's pretty fun to watch and figure out the writers' point. Give it a try! 

two. This weekend was so. much. fun.  Saturday, I got a much-needed break from the toddler scene, and joined some fellow Memphis bloggers for a meet-up at the Blind Bear-- it's a little speak-easy tucked off South Main Street in downtown Memphis.  When I say speak-easy, I really mean it. As in, the meet-up was in the VIP room hidden behind a one-way mirror looking over the bar.  All we needed was some bathtub gin and a secret exit, and we might have been back in the prohibition!

It was really good to meet these girls-- some of whom I've been reading about their lives for a long time! (Check out their blogs! Among the crew: Paige, Kim, Brenda, Jade, Cameron, and Alyssa.) Between the Muddy's cupcakes I ate, and the goody bag full of truffles, cookies, and candy I took home, my sweet tooth should be taken care of for quite some time!

three. Christmas is fast approaching, and I feel like we've still got some work to do! Today, we did a little surprise ornament making for grandparents-- they read this blog, so I can't highlight Adelaide's handiwork just yet.  I do feel the need to go over the Christmas story with Addie-- we found an interesting arrangement of animals in her Fisher Price nativity this week.  Perhaps you can pick out which one doesn't belong?? I am pretty much living Love Actually.


four. One picture of my sweet one to leave you with:

Happy Monday!!!

Thanksgiving

Let me tell you a story, one that is oddly autobiographical. This story is about a mother.  This mother has a daughter who might have already reached the "terrible twos" behavioral stage, even though she is only technically eighteen months old. The daughter seems to have recently acquired a new personality with three major influences: a wild stallion crossed with a ADHD punk defiant sixteen-year-old crossed with a snapping turtle.  

Things have been a little crazy lately for this mom: many weeks of traveling due to personal obligations and pre-scheduled time off.  A house renovation project stalled by financing issues-- not uncommon for inner city remodels.  A husband who works very long hours.  The aforementioned snapping turtle/toddler hybrid. Perhaps you can consider forgiving her inconsistent updates? This mother thanks you in advance for your understanding.

It's the time of the year when I am reminded at every turn to be thankful: for the little things in my life and the big ones.  I am thankful:

...for steaming hot drinks by an Arkansas river.

... for Essie copper nail polish- it's a seven dollar purchase that looks like a $35 pedicure every time.

... for the WeightWatchers app on my new iPhone (I've joined the smart phone club!) and the self-control to be within a few pounds of my first goal!

...for freshly picked pears.

...for making new friends and visiting old ones.

...for the joy of teaching my daughter how to jump with reckless abandon into piles of leaves.


...for my little family: our ADHD snapping turtle/stallion/toddler, the one that's never home, and the one that's just joined our crew (shoutout to Lacey!)

...for a brand new shiny-red ukelele: my birthday present from a precious husband.

...for our little Memphis family of friends that'll be assembling tomorrow for Thanksgiving at our home.

... for the opportunity to laugh a lot, to cry a little (when necessary), and the gamut of emotions that comes with a new season of life, and a new ministry in a new place.  While I miss our old friends being right around the corner, I know we're exactly where God wants us.  And that's refreshing!


What are you thankful for, in this moment?