Archive | September, 2011

Dear amazing readers,

Today is the wedding!!!  I’m really excited to be able to witness the joining of my sweet cousin to a wonderful man.  (Plus I love that marriage is a reflection of Christ and the Church.)  I’m off to help with hair and pre wedding prep and then tonight we are going to dance till we drop.  😀  Hope you are having a great weekend!

Sorry but I just can’t help myself… today’s quote is from the movie Princess Bride… “Mawage. Mawage is what bwings us togever today. Wuv, true wuv that bwessed awangement, that dweam within a dweam.”
-Priest

UPDATE:  $35,699.45 😀  Woo Hoo!!! Push it over the 700??

Dear wonderful readers,

Today is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  Going to be busy and fun!
So here are the quotes for the day on the topic of Joy:

Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.  ~Albert Einstein

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.  ~C. S. Lewis

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

xxx

Note about this dress:  I think I need a different hem length…

Check out this UPDATE: $35,599.45 😀  Can we push it over to 600?  🙂

I’m off to Minnesota! Going to be flying all day… While I don’t particularly enjoy being strapped into a seat for hours I do love the anticipation of  getting to my destination.  I’m excited to be going with my mom to my cousin’s wedding and seeing family I haven’t seen for over a year.  So since I’m gone this week posting is going to be a tad bit different.  I hope you like it! 🙂  Question for today:  What is the farthest trip you have ever made and where to?  As always let me know in the comments. 🙂

P.S.  Outfits are going to be VERY simple this week…Going to be showing you some dresses from my “collection”. 😉  Oh yeah and it was windy when I took this pic…

UPDATE:   $35,299.45  😀  Who wants to push it over to 300?

Can you believe I have been blogging for 130 days straight?  I can’t.  Actually I can because I’m a tad bit tired. 🙂  Today I am off to the beach with my best friends (also known as my mum and dad).  I’m looking forward to squishing my toes in sand and getting chills from the cold water.  Looking out into the seeming endless expanse of water and watching the waves come methodically up on the beach always gives me a sense of how small I am.  And it’s a wonderful feeling.  This type of small is healthy because I get a tiny glimmer of how big my God is.  This infinite God holds me and loves me.  Living in the knowledge of that gives me such peace.

P.S.  My ten year old self wore this shirt…when we were in Greece 13 years ago I begged my dad to get this for me.  He did and I have worn it many times since then.  I love it.  I know it’s a bit childish but hey it makes me smile. 🙂

UPDATE:  $35,264.45 going up a tiny bit. 🙂

I’m going on a trip but this…well this needed to happen first.  I walked into my basement with an armful of dirty laundry and started sorting it into dark and light little mountains yesterday.  I tossed in the first load and left to do other things.  Later when I came down to see how it was going I could tell something wasn’t right with the washer.  It was making a disgruntled sound.  Yes, it decided to quit on me.  So I started to hand wash my clothes and it was right then surrounded by a pile of messy rumpled clothes with my arms sunk deep into the sink that I saw.   I saw how we are people with messy lives and we try to wash ourselves but we just get disgruntled and pretty soon the spinning cycle we are in just has to stop.  I ponder this and pick up my green dress and let the water soak deep and I watch as the water turns the shade of the dress.  And I realize we’re a people who are green with envy.  We covet each others status, looks, wealth, health, personality, family, friends, and the list goes on.  A part of the reason we are discontent is because we compare.  Clear, cold water gushes from the spout and I hold my dress under the stream of liquid so pure.  The water runs through it and makes it clean.  Gradually I gently but firmly wring out the dress.  It is then that I realize again how in my life Jesus is the One who has washed me.  I couldn’t do it on my own.  It takes him to get out the dye, the sin that I must die to.  At times in our lives we feel squeezed but it is the Lord refining us.  Yet just as I reshape my dress and let it be warmed by the sun so God reforms our lives and teaches us about the loving warmth of his Son.  It is in the warmth of his love that we realize we have everything we could ever need or want.  There are times that are difficult for us but in God’s hands we become clean.  The dirt is washed away and fresh abundant life is right there for us.  I  look at my dress.  It’s better than ever and I go into the house smiling because my soul has been washed and I can rejoice in the knowledge that I am clean.

(Picture taken on my mom’s iphone)

I went shopping for pants.  Jeans in particular.  That means it was an event.  If you are a girl you get this.  If you are a guy listen up because you should understand this too.  So I grabbed several pairs of pants to try on and went to the dressing room.  Let me just stop right here and say WHAT IS WITH THOSE ROOMS?!?!?  I mean seriously.  You’d think they are trying to make you leave without buying anything.  For reals.  The lighting always makes you look like death warmed over and lets not even get started with the mirrors!  O.K. back to the pants.  Yah know if you have to dance to get into your jeans well…they are probably a little to tight.  Just maybe???  Then there are the ones you put on and think look all cute until you…turn around.  Let’s just say that as a general rule sagging should never be a term used while shopping.  If you hear it run away from that pair.  So after maybe the 98th pair of jeans you finally slip into a pair that fits just right.  You hear yourself give a sigh of relief and then you look at the price tag…and.have.a.heart.attack.  Thud.  Now what?  My thought is “I’m going to have to sell a kidney to buy this pair of jeans!!!”  So I walk out of the dressing room and hand over the rejects (she about falls over from the stack. yes it is that big).  So that is why it’s epic.  And why I left without ANYTHING.  The only thing worse to shop for is a bathing suit… Guys this is why we spend so much time shopping. 🙂  Have compassion please. 😉  Maybe I should just go back to wearing my dress… 😉

P.S.  On a totally different topic…I am feeling that this next $15K is going to be challenging to raise.  You with me on getting this goal met??  O.K.  Thanks you wonderful people!

“It’s a small world.”  Ever heard that line before?  Usually it is in the context of talking about how one person knows that person and so on and so forth.  Honestly though most of the time I don’t feel like it is that small.  I mean “my” sweet orphans feel far away.  I love them but I have never had the opportunity to connect with them.  Yet this blog has showed me differently.  Here’s the crazy, cool story:  I “met” an incredible girl via this blog (actually I have “met” a lot of incredible people through this blog…).  We emailed back and forth.  We became good friends.  She lives in Australia.  That’s one third of the story.  Another third of the story is that I have friends from here who have been on an EPIC sailing trip from America down to..wait for it…Australia for the last six months.  A few days ago I found out that they docked in Brisbane.  Annnnddd that’s where my Aussie friend comes in for the other third of this story.  I Facebooked her and told her they were in the same city as she is!!! They ended up being 15 minutes away from each other…  She is part of a film production team so naturally she wanted to interview them.  In something like 48 hours from the time I told her about it she had met them.  Between all of us we have been sending messages back and forth like crazy.  I like to think of it as popcorn mail. 😉  As soon as you write to one person another email or message pops up.  It is so funny how friends from here could meet a good friend of mine who I have never technically met all because of one Facebook wall post! I guess it is a small world after all…  I’d LOVE to hear about any “small world” stories you might have.  Leave em’ in the comments if you get a chance! 🙂

I love enjoyable “firsts”.  Like the first time seeing my nephew ride his bike or my first time in a wedding.  Last night I saw a movie outdoors for the first time and it was such fun.  Sometimes firsts come in the form of little things but they can definitely be big as well.  What are some of your favorite firsts? A visit to a country you have never been to or a taste of a new food?  Maybe something you were scared to do but did anyways and loved it?  If you can’t think of anything that you have done recently that is a “first” then I would challenge you to go find something new whether it be a different style of books to read or a visit to a park you have never been to.  Looking forward to hearing about your “firsts” in the comments. 🙂

UPDATE:  $35,254.45 😀

Wow Day 125 of daily blogging…. I have something that I think you will really like.  I received this email from the sweet lady at Warm Blankets yesterday:  “By the way, I wanted to encourage you that all the support you have raised is providing for the daily needs of all of the new homes. Not only did it help them open, but it is helping to stabilize the children as we look for sponsors for the homes. This transition period is so crucial, and thanks to you it has been smooth and seamless for these new kids.”  She hopes to send pictures soon as well. 🙂  You all are making such a difference!

O.K.  About this outfit.  So I am hoping to go see Roman Holiday in the park this evening.  Since it stars Audrey Hepburn I felt that it was fitting to wear a shirt with her on it. 😉  She is one of my style icons after all.  The movie is in black and white so I decided to make this picture black and white. 🙂

You did it! You put us over the $35K mark.  Check out the new total: $35,219.45 😀  You are amazing!!!!!

Yesterday evening my dad and I grabbed a blanket and went to the park to hear jazz.  A few friends of mine showed up and joined us and we swing danced on the lawn.  The band played, we danced, and we people watched.  Don’t you just love people watching?  Not in a creepy stalker way of course.  Not (of course) in a “Didn’t your mother teach you not to stare?” type of way.  Hey we were just being observant that’s all. 😉  Some of the older couples were just adorable.  One older gentleman had a hat on and was salsa dancing with his wife.  To cute.  I loved how the children had no inhibitions.  They didn’t care what they looked like and they were just having fun.  Are you the type that jumps in and dances through life or would you rather sit and watch?  I used to be the later but I am growing and learning the beauty of being like a child and not caring what others think.  (Growing is a key word…I have by NO means arrived.)  🙂  Love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

UPDATE: Think we can get to the $35K mark today?  Look we are almost there!!! $34,979.60 😀