3 of my favorite words (ok, it’s actually four….).
just found out that Matt Hasselbeck is doing a 35th birthday campaign with charity:water! check it out here….SO NEAT….what a great role model to have in professional sports.
oh, i’m so excited about clean water right now….watch out!
“We’re one generation…one body, one voice rising up to speak for compassion and truth in our world. We have different gifts and passions, but are united to make a difference in our generation and our world.”
i’m so excited about the topic this month at Rising Voice. i’ve just signed on as a freelance writer with them and i had the privilege of writing the web content on our August topic: Preventable Death: Diseases of the Marginalized.
take a peek; the facts are shocking; the reality is that we CAN be involved and make a difference….will you??
…it’s been raining here. a lot for colorado. and i love it.
missing seattle a bit lately. feeling a bit more at home when it clouds up and rains semi-regularly. 
the rain is fresh. the rain is cleansing for the earth. the rain makes everything more green. the rain makes people dash to and fro. it’s the most relaxing sound and it smells good.
i love rain.
so many memories in the rain…ultimate frisbee on tuesday nights and being drenched when i laid out for the disc in the end zone; running up the Spanish Steps in Rome with friends only to find shelter in a quaint cafe that made hot chocolate out of real melted chocolate and milk, falling asleep to the sound of it countless night in Seattle, hiking through a cedar bog with friends on the Olympic Peninsula in the pouring rain….
stumbled onto this blog {logo is linked}. love all the texture of tone-on-tone design. not much color but terrifically layered imagery.
photo credit: www.greige.blogspot.com
i found this photo and was instantly transported here with a little summer dress on surrounded by all my dearest friends, eating fresh, good food and sharing life.
**sigh.**
i love all the old, mismatched wooden chairs; i love the aluminum table top; i love the old-fashioned greenhouse; and i love the dirt floor.
“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today….The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Ex 14:13-14
“Stand still-keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, ‘Go forward.’”
this passage and devotional spoke directly to the most impatient parts of my heart the other day.
it’s hard to be still. i love being active. i love change and lots of it. i love new things and places and adventures. i love spontaneity and surprises…
oddly enough, i protect my alone time and down time fiercely because it’s absolutely necessary time to think, pray and get my heart settled on the things of God. it’s so easy to get distracted with the busy pace of life and i crave that down time….
this love of change and newness coupled with true delight in times of solitude and slowness is an odd combination, i know.
yet when i think about life (i.e. living places, jobs, etc….) i crave change. i’ve been joking with my girlfriends that i’ll have to have an “intervention” after the movie Eat, Pray, Love comes out because i just know that the next day, i’m going to want to quit my job and just go. i’ve been wanting to do that for two years now and i think it’s going to be about another two before it actually happens. in the meantime, i struggle to be content consistently. i have days i love everything about my life here; where i feel so utterly blessed and fulfilled here. other days i can think of 100 other places that i’ve not been to yet that seem much more invigorating and fulfilling than being here. i’m not crazy; i’m not a flaky person, i just dream a lot and BIG. i hate that practicality and reality pop the balloons of my dreams consistently although i’m bound and determined to fight the everyday norm.
i usually think about things for a while, then i make up my mind and i’m literally ready to go right then…..so the “waiting”, the “staying” becomes challenging.
in seattle, when i reached the year mark at my job and realized i didn’t want to do Commercial Space Planning anymore i was ready to move on. within a week of being back from Christmas vacation, i was ready to clear out my desk and be gone. things didn’t quite happen that way. no matter how fervently i pursued job opportunities and grad school, nothing opened up. no doors opened for me to make a move. i felt totally trapped and i just faded into the background of life as i tried to just “make it through” each day. WARNING: that mindset is absolutely viral and destructive. it’s an awful way to live and i learned that the hard way.
the next year was “agonizing”-partly because of things outside my control and partly because of choices, mindsets and attitudes i had. i’ve learned much from that experience and am very conscious not to repeat. coulda, shoulda, woulda….life’s always like that, right?! retrospect is always 20/20 and i’m grateful to have learned some pretty massive things about the Lord and my own heart.
i’ve been evaluating and praying through what makes me crave this change and feel so frustrated with just “staying”…and i don’t know the answer. i do know that change isn’t something i am always going to be privileged to experience. i know that change doesn’t solve “root issues” and that it’s SO IMPORTANT to do the hard work of knowing myself well. only then can i be honest with myself and before the Lord, addressing things that are hindering relationship with Him and striving to really become more like Him. symptoms can be so deceiving but no progress is made unless the root issue is revealed-this i’ve learned.
more important than all this, no matter how fulfilled or unfulfilled i am at the time, is pursuing knowledge of Jesus Christ more and more. for it is in this that i find my purpose; it is in this that the fighting turns into surrendering; it is in this that my desires and plans become more aligned with the heart of the Savior.
to be quite honest, i will likely struggle with contentedness even tomorrow but i just LOVED the image of being cheerfully and patiently waiting for word from the Lord. it’s almost like even though there are things i don’t love about life right now, it’s ok to be as happy and fulfilled as is within my power knowing that it won’t take away from what is to come but likely enhance it.
praise God for His sovereign plan over our lives…although most days i really do wish i was in control, i am actually exceedingly relieved and grateful that i am not!
the even more adorable than i expected Clara!! she has a head full of strawberry blonde hair, beautiful eyelashes and a button nose….and she’s still floppy
what an amazing experience to see friends begin their families! auntie em is excited that the delgrosso’s live here now!
not really sure what happened…
i hit a few buttons to supposedly update my blog and POOF…one little html thing goes wrong and my blog disappeared. weird. i am pretty tech savvy but the wordpress stuff sometimes is too much.
for now, this will do. it gives me an excuse to freshen up and simplify which i’ve wanted to do. i’ll do some “purging” and what ends up being left will hopefully reflect me even better than before.
patience, my dears.
until then, keep checking back; it’s going to morph but i promise it will be good.
i’m becoming slightly obsessed with yellow.
it’s never ever been a hue that’s caught my eye. i don’t look good in most shades of it. brighter summer colors have always trumped the muted shades of fall (the time of year that yellow is most pronounced in the form of gold) in clothing, decor and style in general. i’ve always thought that only a few skin tones could get away with wearing it. i don’t know. i’ve just never loved it…
Photo Credit: www.mymodernmet.com
….until now! for the last 6 months, i’ve been seeing yellow EVERYWHERE. every other woman who walks in my store has a leather handback dyed in some shade of yellow, from bright sunshine to deep gold. yellow has been showing up mixed with creams, burlaps, and oatmeals in both home decor and fashion creating a tone-on-tone effect while introducing color. it’s being combined stunningly with cool colors, such as greys, blues, greens AND warm tones like reds, oranges, ivorys. it’s just brilliant!!
Photo Credit: www.wedsmack.com
it’s so stinking versatile and i’ve never thought that before. it emerges as a striking neutral, capable of being quite saturated, without overshadowing the pronounced features of almost any color palette, if you get the shade right. like i said earlier, brilliant.
Photo Credit: www.designfabulous.com
yellow is the hardest color for the human eye to perceive. it also stimulates the nervous system, activate your memory and is, historically, the color that makes babies cry the most. (hint: don’t paint your nursery yellow-their eyes can’t process it yet). it’s connotations are split: on the negative side, it can represent cowardice and deceit. on the positive side, it communicates happiness, spotanaity, and optimism.
Photo Credit: www.blog.aromaleigh.comwhat are the first 5 things you think of when you hear the word yellow?
Photo Credit: www.flowerpicturegallery.commine are: taxi cabs, lemonheads, corn, sunflowers, lemons.
Photo Credit: www.rawfoodnation.orgdo you like yellow? hate it? indifferent?
Photo Credit: www.playitfair.com
i received a card in the mail yesterday. i love getting cards! it’s so exciting toactually get out my own stack of paper goods (instead of logging onto the computer all the time) to write a letter back; but i’ve gotten to thinking about stationary and handwritten letters.
it’s a lost art form, sadly. penmanship isn’t prioritized in schools anymore (i only wish mine was more beautiful!) and it seems that life moves too fast for “snail mail”. what a shame; i think we can fight these notions! i think it’s great to take time to handwrite letters. nevermind that sometimes a week goes by before it reaches it’s destination, there’s nothing so thrilling as receiving an actual letter in your mailbox!
a girl i went to college with started her own custom design studio called Papermoss and i LOVE her work! check it out! i also love the Papyrus line of cards.
you know the heavier stationary paper you can tri fold into an envelope and even use sealing wax to close? i love movies that highlight the use of such things like The Scarlet Pimpernel, Pride and Predjudice, and many more that are set in the olden days.
i think that the design of the card is also a way to express yourself; whether you’re clean cut, flowerly, old-fashioned, modern, colorful, monochromatic, etc. what’s your style?
what are some of your favorite stationary companies? where do you purchase cards you send?
i’ll try to put up a few each day…
first day back at work after a break can be tough…but we had a manager’s meeting this morning and it was great to get reinspired right away. thanks to my AMAZING TEAM, our store was the only one to get a “shout out” in colorado for the new visuals we implemented last week-praise God! my manager was super excited which means that no matter how many times i wander around during the day wondering, “who left me in charge?!”…i still have a job! HA.
this month has been crazy…we only have a few more before holiday starts, believe it or not, and then it’s like you blink and it’s february already in the retail business. eeks. i’m not ready for a whole 6 months to be gone but i am also super excited to what God has in store, so bring it on!
i am hopeful for what is to come. i have a renewed desire for freshness and change and growth. it’s permeating all my dreams and i’m so ready for it. i tend to think about things for a while and then once i decide on something-BAM-i’m ready to move on it. i have no idea what is to come but i’ve reached the end of a “brewing” period i think and i’m ready to work hard and move forward towards what is next! as soon as i figure out what that is…