2018 BEDROOM TOUR

WELCOME TO MY LITTLE COVE.

where...............

• my vinyls are playing 24/7
• books are EVVVEEEERRRRRRRRYYYYWHERE
• its usually incredibly messy but I cleaned it and was like LOL BETTER TAKE PICTURES WHILE ITS CLEAN 
• btw huge shoutout to sarah who took the said pics + edited them (LIKE THE SKILLS AM I RIGHT) 
• i also have too many notebooks hahaaaaaaaaaa
• my wonderful christmas gifts of the tapestry and REALLLL  fairylights!!! (that turn on and off with a remote need i say more) 

so like back in august or september of 2017, I decided a terribly insane thing. to rip off my beloved library wall and completely start over from my original theme of fill-every-imaginable-spot-on-the-wall-ness. my slightly modern came out once I bought my record player xD but ACKKKK painting my walls white from my soft grey was haaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrd. it took me awhile to even think it was the right decision. 

ALSO LOOK REALLY CLOSELY AT MY BOOKS! 

LOOK

LOOK

LOOK

LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yup. I recovered them. for many many reasons. The main one being that they were all different colors..red, blue, green, yellow, brown, black... IT WAS DRIVING ME BONKERS. so *coughcough* my sisters and I brainstormed (and still aren't sure who's original idea it was lol) to recover my books with craft paper and then letter stamp the titles on. 

I LOVE IT. LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. 

lemme know if you want a diy blogpost on that ^^ and I'll see if I can make time lol 

HAVE A FANTASTIC WEDNESDAY MY FRIENDS 

thoughts on my bedroom???? would you recover your old books?

what would you re-do in your bedroom if you could????

FEBRUARY 2018 WRAP UP

FEBRUARY 2018

when your family has like an hour dance party on a Sunday afternoon just cuz

I put the pb away in the fridge lol

THIS IS WHY I HAVE A SOLID FEAR and never ever ever ever walk on them lol 

so my little sis asked me to get signing time dvd bc "I HAVE to learn sign language just in case I can't talk when I get old. I have to prepare."
me: "k"

me : "you tired dad?"
dad :"beyond"
Sarah : 

- little sis "you can save candy for a really long time..."

you know when you drop something and you try to catch it? I just watch things fall

Little sis "I'm full as a blueberry"

^^ LOL SARE 

*little sis is looking at book* *points to page number* "look I have that much money!"
- me "you have 25?!!"
- her "yup."
- me "how did you get 25 dollars??"
- her "oh. It's not dollars."

this month i baked : a cheesecake IT WAS SO GOOD, focaccia bread MY LOOOVVVEEE, lemon cheesecake bars FEED MEEEEE NOOWWW, beef stew OH HAPPINESS, fancy brownies MMMMM, baked ziti SO MUCH YUM
ME :

OK so I lost my fit bit in goodwill 😭 OR SO I THOUGHT. Went out to the parking lot, and there it was, right next to Wilson..not even scratched

oh yeah...and I lost my phone charger. Someone please help me.
UPDATE : Found it a week later lol

#ENDITMOVEMENT

we got dumped with a foot of snow. it all melted. its been raining. we've got flooding. and now its warm?? SO WEIRD

legit walked past my youngest sister and she looked at me and then did the "I love you" ASL sign with her hand. LOVE THAT KID.

- me "how old am I?"
- little sis "99?..40?.."
- me "sis."
- little sis "alright fine idk..."

VALENTINES DAY HAPPENED 

my mom got a new anti theft wallet and gave her old one to my younger sister to play with
- little sis "I'm NEVER going to bring this to the store cuz I don't want it to get scanned."
she has two dollars in it

I legit trailed this car 18 out of my 20 minute drive home I'm 10/10 sure they thought I was a creep LOL

being like I WANT PIZZA and then making some

guys. We are only half way thru winter HEELLLPPPPPP

??????

- little sis watching princess bride "HE HAS A LITTLE PONYTAIL!"

DID YOU KNOW THAT NEW ZEELAND DOESNT HAVE ANY SNAKES imma moving

MY CO-WORKERS BROUGHT ME A SHAKE AT WORK *sobs*

I lost all my family's library cards...................................................
UPDATE : found them

when you realize you're the first person to read the Daring to Hope by Katie Davis Majors copy from your library EEP

also I spotted a bald eagle !!!!!!!! 

me vs life

me * quietly sitting in couch*
me *sees hair on sleeve* *pulls at it*
also me "ow!"
apparently it was still attached LOL

Sarah made me choke on ice cream ITS BAD CUZ IT FREEZES THE THROAT

------------------------------------

I AM. SO. EXCITED. TO. ANNOUNCE. THAT. ITS. ALMOST. MARCH. YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! 

spring is coming my friends. spring is on its way. *tackle hugs warmth* 

also yes lol this is a little early but *coughcough* eh XD

what made you crack up from above???

top 2 hysterically unplanned moments in Feb for you? 

CAST DOWN BUT UNCONQUERED

(don't worry i was at a complete stop while I took this) 

I'm sure you could tell from a lot of my recent posts that I've been feeling a bit down of late. A little bit overwhelmed and exhausted and broken. I found something I wanted to share with you all - that we have this treasure in earthen vessels....

THAT THE EXCELLENCE OF THE POWER MAY BE OF GOD AND NOT OF US. 

we are hard pressed on every side; yet not crushed. we are perplexed, but not in despair.

persecuted, but not forsaken. struck down, but not destroyed. 

What do those words say to you? To me, they scream of HOPE. I was reading in my Bible the other night when I found them. Yup. That's a straight up quote from the Bible. (2. Corinthians 4:7-9)

after I sat there for a moment I was like "WOAH GOD YOU JUST LEGIT SPOKE MY LINGO" bc you know how sometimes the Bible is ssoooooo clear and then others its hard to understand and sometimes you're like "yup this was what I needed rn". Well, this was one of those times, but like it was poetic and I just got it. right away. it made sense. 

GOD DESERVES THE CREDIT AND PRAISE FOR EVERYTHING AND I DON'T. and yet when it seems impossible... I will get up and keep going bc of the power of Jesus and bc of His excellence and love. I AM HARD PRESSED ON EVERY SIDE. BUT. NOT. CRUSHED. 

hello hope and goodbye everything else. 

what verse(s) bring you hope? 

is it rainy or snowy or foggy or icy or warm or cold by you rn??

COME ON WORLD LETS SING IN HARMONY

I love part of the song where it goes "I want to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony." it seems like a beautiful picture of peace to me. of gentle love bc can you imagine the world singing together? Sadly, I know that this world is not perfect and that this is not the story of the planet at the moment...

BUT. still. (tiny image of heaven am I right?)

In a previous blogpost, I asked you all what your DREAM JOB was. so if you already answered, ignore me asking again. If not, comment below bc you guys legit inspire me so much!

DREAM JOB :
DREAM PLACE TO LIVE :
DREAM LIFE GOAL INVOLVING HELPING OTHER(s) : 

I'm curious bc the world is cracking under pressure - and I know that you feel that way too. maybe not every moment of every day, but there are moments in days when you just are exhausted. that's okay, truly. my precious friend gave me sound advice on this topic recently.

there is a very valid reason to be afraid - but there is also a VERY valid God who is walking through with you. He is crying with you and holding you in the depths of despair. This is confusing. This is scary. And His character is constant. The God who split the Red Sea and multiplied a little boy's loaves and fish is the God that is holding you under His wings, and is protecting your very fragile heart. 

Yes, I cried after she texted me that.

I was also chatting with another friend lol and I couldn't decide what to post about this week. She mentioned doing a Valentines post, since I am posting on Valentines day lol. so HAPPY VALENTINES DAY FOLKS. but I was like "eh. I don't think it would turn out" bc right now I'm facing a cracking earth with the lava a little too close. God is near but fear is too. That makes sense right?...

those 3 questions I asked at the beginning of the post are really what I've been thinking about lately. mainly the last one, tbh. it makes sense that we surviving together, plugging along making it thru monday onto tuesday thru wednesday, hoping thursday won't be awful and begging for friday to hurry up so saturday will arrive, bringing sunday and then monday happens again. x52 weeks x a life

it's the truth. but
WHO ELSE IS SICK OF SURVIVING AND IS REALLY HOLDING OUT HOPE FOR THRIVING

This is my Valentine for the world. I want you all to know that God has indeed won the battle. That He is in control. That God knows. He knows your pain, your struggles, your fears...He will hold them for you.

stop waiting for the weekends in your life and live the weeks you've got. learn to sing when the you're falling through the cracks. (lol trust me i'm pretty sure its okay if the song sounds a little like a scream once in awhile)  

ALSO SHOUTOUT TO BREE WHO WAS WILLING TO GO OUTSIDE IN OUR 12 INCHES OF SNOW WHEN IT WAS 8 DEGREES FOR A PHOTOSHOOT (sorry i forgot your gloves)

so HAVE A GREAT DAY REMINDING PEOPLE YOU LOVE THEM + DON'T FORGET GOD HAS A RADICAL LOVE FOR YOU

WHY NON FICTION BOOKS ARE MY FAVORITE

I grew up being an intense reader. It started out as most kids do. when I hit 10-12, we switched our library to the one I still go to. (not the one I am working at rn tho) It is a FANTASTIC place.

In fact, this May it'll be hitting 100 years old. yes... I'm really excited. XD It's a library jammed with history. I kid you not 90% of the books I read involved history - real life people living real life. I got attached pretty quickly. 

To this day, a majority of the books I read are historical fiction. This isn't bc I have anything against different genres! In fact, I've read some pretty cool sci-fy and fantasy books, but I always pull back to what is my personal favorite - learning about people. 

and then one day I discovered NON FICTION AND BROOOOOOO. that was a good day, yup. 

It's just that I found learning from lives that have already been lived is an amazing thing. There is a lot of respect to be held for a lot of the people who have written the books as well. like SOME SUPER TOUGH THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. but they press on. they share their story. they share what has helped them thru the pain. 

SOME OF MY TOP FAVORITE NON FICTION BOOKS

1. The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom 
2. JESUS FREAKS - D.C Talk
3. Life without Limits + Unstoppable - Nick Vujicic 
4. SISTER FREAKS + HEARTS ON FIRE 
5. Maria - Maria Von Trapp 
6. Kisses from Katie - Katie Davis (ALSO I REALLY WANNA READ HER NEW ONE!!!)
7. Into the Deep - Robert Rongers (don't read unless you wanna bawl at 4 am like I did..)
8. The Magnolia Story - Chip + Joanna Gaines 
9. My name is Malala 
10. also all the cookbooks and gardening books and herb books. YUS 

sorry I don't have more to list rn. I'm afraid I often forget to list the non-fiction books I read............NEED TO WORK ON THAT. I also have waaayyy too many biographies that I want to read *covers face* 

Last month I was asked to pick a favorite new book that I would recommend at the library. I actually seriously struggled with this. as you now know, most of the books I love are old. In the end, I did pick one about herbs bc dude. ITS SUCH A COOL BOOK. that was kinda the moment when I realized loving non-fiction was actually me. 

and yes..... I freak out every single time we get a new food book/cook book. ITS LIKE FOOD BLOGS BUT OH MAN THE PHOTOS. I check them all out hahhaaaa XD #lovemyjob

me with food and books lol

I'll admit that I am a book addict. about 99% of my day involves them + words. AND I'M 100% OKAY WITH THAT. 

what is your favorite genre + 1 book in it....

most liked non fiction book you've read?