Saturday, September 1, 2012

Photo a Day in August

I participated in fatmumslim's Photo a Day challenge again this past month.

I honestly can't believe I've been able to keep up with something like this for four months!

 1. Outside 2. One - sparkly little shoe 3. Coin 4. Somewhere I sat
5. Logo 6. Writing 7. 8'clock 8. Glasses
9. Messy - the messy part of my desk 10. Ring - my pretty Silpada ring with a little justlove.ly love 11. Purple 12. Spoon
13. Simple - the life of a baby 14. Arrow 15. Ready (almost) 16. Food

17. Faces - the many faces of my niece. She's getting so big! 18. Inside - get inside my belly! 19. Hole 20. Today - working on a little project
21. Cool - I wish I was somewhere this cool 22. Home 23. Pair - beta fish 24. Path
25. Fresh 26. Dream - that little beauty on the left being here is a dream come true for so many 27. Tap - water 28. Clock
29. Down - the countdown is on! 30. Card - my hubby gave me the $20 Starbucks card someone else gave to him. I am a lucky wife! 31. Hidden

August was a fun month, but it sure flew by! I am definitely ready for fall!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Refresh

I was reading in Proverbs the other night.

I stumbled upon this verse and it really stuck out to me:

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
(Proverbs 11:25, NIV)

I looked up the word refresh on studylight because I wanted to know what the word meant when it was written.

It can either mean to bring back, to restore, or to turn back to God.

It made me think of many of the conversations I've had lately with different people in my life...people who, like myself, have needed a little refreshing recently.

(Be still my heart. Love this pic of my niece)

It makes me want to be the kind of person that refreshes others.

As I've experienced a lot of changes in my life in this past year, one thing has remained: my need to focus more on my Savior and on those He's put in my path.

(My oldest niece. I was so happy to see her last week. I missed her a lot)

Because I've experienced the refreshing that comes from helping to restore someone else, I know how important of a part of my life it should be.

(My sister and her niece. I love watching her interact with this little beauty)

My hope and prayer is that my actions, as well as my words, will be refreshing to those around me.


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

You're Not Alone

I had coffee with a good friend today.

It's amazing how refreshing it can be to sit with someone and be honest with where you're at and what you've been dealing with...and to hear them say they've been there as well.

It constantly amazes me how God uses the body of Christ to encourage one another and lift each other up.

I feel so blessed to have some people in my life that really care about me and what's going on in my heart...and who want me to be a better person.


I write a lot on this blog about my friendships and how much they mean to me. While people change and relationships evolve with time and life situations, it's the friends that stick around for the long haul that truly are a huge blessing. I love watching the way things can change over the years...and yet that bond somehow always remains intact...even if it may be slightly different than it was to begin with.

My heart has been longing for some good ol' honesty lately...and today was just what I needed.

(pics taken on a short trip a couple of weekends ago)

I think that is why I have such a passion to help other women...because I know that all of us, whether we realize it or not, crave that gut level honesty in our friendships. We just want someone to know us...and not just on a surface level. It's easy to ask someone how they are doing in passing...but much harder to really take the time to find out how they are really doing. We are all guilty of it, but it needs to stop. We need to care more about each other and what's going on in each other's lives. It can't stop at the surface.

My hope and prayer is that all of us will find someone (or someones) we can confide in that will fill this need in our lives.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Dreamin'...

It's over 100 degrees here today (as it has been most days this past week)...and all I can think about is fall.

Pumpkin spice lattes...

 (via Pinterest, pinned by Molly)

Cute boots...

Scarves...

Browns, oranges, and greens...

Leaves falling and cool breezes blowing...

Pumpkins, acorns, and pinecones...

 (via Pinterest, pinned by Ashley)

Halloween and Thanksgiving...

Please, oh please, can it be that time already?!?

(to see more of my fall loves, check out my Fall board on Pinterest)

Saturday, August 11, 2012

The Good Life

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, we went to visit our sweet friends in Colorado last month.

It's amazing to me that we've been there three times now and we still haven't seen all there is to see around where they live! It's gorgeous there, and I feel like every time we leave, a little piece of my heart stays behind.

Side note: I'm listening to my Young the Giant station on Pandora while I'm writing this. I love it. You should check it out sometime.

The first day we were there, we walked around downtown and went to a museum. I always find it fascinating to learn about the history of an area and to look at old pictures of what things used to look like.

(All taken inside the museum)

Our second day was mostly spent relaxing and hanging out with their kiddos. They had their second child since the last time we'd been there and he's adorable. This was only our second time spending time with him. He's such a happy kid.

 (Phin)

Our third day there, we went to a really cute soda shop called Squeak. They have a whole bunch of different flavors of soda. They encourage you to smell the different flavors before you pick one, and you get to pick the color of your soda as well if you want. They had so many amazing different options, but I knew what I was going to get as soon as I saw the name.

 (The flavor bottles of the sodas, my husband sniffing one, and part of the list of the different flavors they offer)


 (With our yummy sodas)

(My Butterbeer soda. Just the way I pictured it would taste after reading all those Harry Potter books)


(The boys)

We spent our fourth day driving to a few different places. We stopped a couple of times to walk around and explore.



Em and I also went out dancing that night with a friend of hers and had a blast.

Our last day there, we drove up to the top of Pike's Peak. It was so beautiful and peaceful up there. It started to rain while we were outside and we had to run inside very quickly. It was cold up there, so the rain was coming down in ice chunks.

 (The view from the top of Pike's Peak)

(This little guy kept peeking up at us while we were taking our pictures)

 (Em and I on top of Pike's Peak!)

 (The hubby and I)
(All of us, taken with Emily's camera)

(Playing down by the water on the way down the mountain)

We then headed to downtown Denver to eat dinner and walk around. It reminded me a little bit of San Francisco.

(The capitol building in Denver)

Some of the other things we did while we were there (that aren't pictured):

We ate at Which Wich, Chipotle, Chik Fil A, Old Chicago, Cy's Drive In, Jimmy John's, Pita Pit, and Smash Burger.

We went to their Bible study with their friends that they have each week. They are going through a book on marriage and it sounded amazing from what everyone else was saying during the discussion. Josh and I fell in love with the format of their study, the honesty of everyone in the group, and the fact that everyone was very real with who they are. It was very refreshing for both of us.

We saw the Dark Knight Rises. While my heart still breaks for those involved in that horrific shooting not far from where we were, it was a good movie and I really enjoyed it.

We also had some great conversations with our friends. We always have amazing conversations with them and it always makes me wish we saw them more often. They challenge us, encourage us, and get us. We feel completely comfortable with them, and I'm pretty sure they feel pretty comfortable with us as well.

We were sad to leave, but so grateful that we were able to make it out there again. I'm already looking forward to our next trip...whenever it may be.