Tea and Books (Experimenting with Light)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Inspiration

"To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name."

~ Thomas Merton

" Come now, my love. My lovely one, come. For you, the winter has passed the snows are over and gone, the flowers appear in the land, the season of joyful songs has come, The cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land. Come now my love. Come. Let me see your face and let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful. Come now, my love, my lovely one come."

~Jesus

100 Happy Days Week 1

1. I ordered some Instagram pics from my phone using the Printic AP. They turn them into Polaroids.

2. The envelope the photos come in is adorable. I almost didn't want to open it because I like the anticipation.

3. Found this book by accident at a secondhand bookstore for 2 bucks! It's been so inspiring. I think all creative people who need encouragement should read this book. It's helped me with photography.

4. I started the morning early with Yogi tea, prayer and yoga. It was a really great memory.

 5.  Found this old frame and decided to spruce it up a bit with some of my photos that came in the mail this week.

6. I found these fun dish towels at Target! The make me excited for the warm weather.

7. Founds this 1980's hat in my closet. My dad gave it to me along time ago. I thought it looked cute with a little sundress.

8. I put some of our honeymoon pics up in the dining area. It's nice to be able to look at them while I eat dinner.

9. I've been trying to write more freely. It was fun using my old typewriter to do this.

10. I poached some eggs for the very first time. They were delisious.

11. One of my latest darkroom pics of downtown Chattanooga.

12. I've been reading some of Van Gogh's letters. I love the way he saw the world. He wrote so beautifully. Brenda Ueland often references his letters throughout her book. It inspired me to read more of them.

http://vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let001a/letter.html

Miss me? (6 things I've been up to...)

So thank you Colleen for holding up this blog single-handedly as of late. I've enjoyed seeing your pictures and reading your posts. Honestly I've been intentionally out of the blog-sphere for a little while. I haven't had the energy or desire for any visibility.

But since Spring is coming, (I mean) here, and I'm all about new starts, I thought I share a few things I've been up to lately:

1) Reading!
I've been plowing through books: From memoirs to cookbooks, spiritual reading to very nonspiritual self-help. Here are a few books I've particularly enjoyed:

The Gifts of Imperfection Brene Brown

The Inner Voice of Love Henri Nouwen

WomanCode Alisa Vitti

When We Were On Fire Addie Zimmerman

2) Becoming Addicted to TED talks. 
I have seen (or listening to on NPR) several TED talks over the last few years, but lately I'm pretty much obsessed. These are some of my must-see favorites:

The Power of Vulnerability

Body Language Can Change Your Life

How to Make Stress Your Friend

Looks aren't Everything; Believe Me I'm a Model

Ok wow... I could add like 5 more to that. Needless to say, if you haven't been watching TED, you should.

3) Wearing the most comfortable thing I own for days in a row. 
I've lost any interest in creatively getting dressed, which used to be a passion. But I pretty confident that Spring will bring new life in that area.

4) Planning Children's Ministry!
Little Disciples, basically a Liturgy of the Word for PreK-K, will begin in the fall at St Agnes, woohoo! I have been busying myself with recruiting volunteers and developing a detailed plan... I have quite a list of things to do before Fall, and being a controversial thing in our parish, I feel a like it needs to be flawless to succeed. But I've been trying to remember (or Peter has been, in my breakdown moments) that it's in God's hands whether it's succeeds I just need to be faithful. And that takes the edge off a bit.

5) Minimalism Wannabe-ing :)
I've been decluttering A LOT. In the 2014 for 2014 Challenge, I'm above par for my goal before March ends, by purging over 630 items from my house. I still have been receiving a lot and Peter think I should count the Net Total not the Gross Total. But I will stick to my way, I feel better about it. Beyond just purging, I've been rearranging and simpilfying. I feel like decluttering is a stress outlet. It feels so freeing, but alas decluttering my mind has been my biggest challenge.

6) Surviving and TRYING to live in the moment. 
I'm not saying I'm good at it. But I realize that these days will pass and I will miss the fun, cuddly, silly, and awe-filled moments of this time in my life. More then ever I am aware of it, and yet so often I just am getting by, holding my breath or counting down until the next moment. But His mercies are new every morning and everyday I can start over and try to be present again.

What have you been up to?

100 Happy Days

A Beautiful Mess blog is doing this 100 Happy Day's challenge where you take a picture of something that makes you happy each day! I thought that was a cool idea. Here is the link:

http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2014/03/100-happy-days.html

I'm going to try and do that on here. Feel free to join me :)

Bedtime Yoga

Here is a good bedtime yoga video. 

I've been doing this and having Bedtime Yogi tea afterwards. 

It really helps me relax.

Feeling Free People-ish

Round Sunglasses, Gypsy Tie and other Vintage Finds

Spring-Ish Outfit with Red Lips

Paul always says I can't wink very well but this lipstick made me want to wink. So that's why I winked in this picture.The red lipstick I'm wearing was the one I told ya'll about in the last post :)

 I absolutely love this skirt from Forever21. It's so adorable and can go with anything.

This isn't a great picture but you can see my outfit fully in the mirror. I couldn't decide which shoe to wear. I ended up wearing the cowboy boots. You could wear either.

Fake Bangs and New Lipstick

 

 Sometimes you just need a little change. Today I decided to have fake bangs by adding a bobby pin to hold my hair in place. I also decided to add a little color to my lips.

Over the weekend I bought the best lipstick I've ever had in my entire life. Revlon came out with these Velvet Creme Matte lipsticks. Here are my two favorite Showy Flamboyant 220 (Pink) and Striking Spectacular 240 (Red). I love the texture it creates on my lips. It adds the perfect amount of color to my face. It lasts a long time and I can still smooch Paul without it getting on his lips. They are about $7 each. Everyone should buy at least these colors;)

Happy almost spring!

Darkroom Photography

I love darkroom photography.  Next week I have my last lesson. I'll still be able to rent out the darkroom when we are finished. I plan to do so until I can make my own darkroom:)

 

My proofs.

 

My very first photo ever.

Visit from Meaggy Moo

Last weekend Meag came to visit. We had a wonderful time. Having her around made me miss home.

Friday I took Meag to all my favorite shops. 

Then we came home relaxed with some homemade sangria.

Saturday we went to a used bookstore after we had Cracker Barrel for breakfast. 

We read books and watched the Audrey Hepburn movies I found.

Later we went out to dinner and then came home and played rummy and drank espresso.

Sunday we had lunch at Taco Mamacitas and then bought a matching feather ring and locket from Homegrown Silver.

 We each have a picture of the other twin inside now :)

We searched for records and books at Winder Binder Gallery and Bookstore.

We also got Cappuccinos and sat on the Walnut bridge. 

 One of my favorite sites in downtown Chattanooga.