A few pretty things I've found in my ramblings:

so many blogs, so little time.

I've been so busy reading everyone else's blogs I've neglected my own.

I'm trying to decide whether to put out the Christmas decorations yet. Usually I wait a while, but last year I wait to long and felt jipped. Also a little bummed that I don't think we're going to have the cash to get a real tree again this year. We were doing really well until that whole car-getting-towed-and-twice-repaired-thing.

Aren't you glad that Christmas is more than a pretty tree?

O Come O Come Emmanuel :Lyrics

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

But I do love a tree!

mmmmm....

So I'm sitting here smelling the stew that I have simmering in the kitchen and feeling oh so excited to eat it. And it occurs to me, "it's awesome to love your own cooking."

I dunno if its great cooking. You might not like it. For instance, I know a lot of people don't like their food as spicy as I like it. I put cayenne pepper in everything I cook. And lots of aromatics. Garlic, onions, celery and carrots in practically everything...

But I love it.

And that's a really good feeling.

Now, if only it would cook faster.

something fun

So Rocky told me to go home and blog about something fun, and since Jon is hooked on his new game... I think I'll give it a go.

My apartment right now is made up of whatever we have gotten for free. Seriously. We bought: our bed, a small entertainment center, and a microwave cart...and recently a 35 dollar loveseat from craigslist. That's it. We're cheap, poor, and we have super generous friends and family... so it works for us for the time being. But.

A girl can dream can't she?

One of my current favorites is to look at all the amazingly creative ways to make a home homey.
I've bookmarked a ton of fun blogs/websites so I can start to visualize what I want the feel of my home to be; and little by little add things that will make it a reality.

I like things to be open and airy, cozy but not cluttered. I really want my home to be fun. I want people to feel like they can be just as chill or as crazy as they feel like being. I also want to introduce my children (whether my own or foster or adopted or daycare...) to beauty early on. CS Lewis talks about the first time he remembers experiencing something as beautiful... apparently most of his childhood was drab. I want my children to learn to love all things beautiful, both because they'll be more joyful life-livers and because beauty is one of my favorite shadows of heaven and the Author of all beauty.

As for color... i dunno. I've always been a neutrals-woodsy tones kinda gal, but I'm beginning to be a color-convert. The other day when I was eating an absurd amount of clementines, I smelled my cuticles and thought..."I want to paint something orange!" Maybe just a shelf. Definitely not a whole wall... but something.

Anywho. Here's a few of my favorite inspirations:

I love the simplicity of this kitchen. The antique-y looking barnwood counter especially. I would add more plants (my herbs of course!) and perhaps paint a few of the bricks.


I love the dark green and cream with splashes of magenta here. The french door frames painted green makes me feel so cheerful.

I like the idea of unique throw pillows. Its cheaper than an awesome couch and easily replacable if a little one sneaks grape juice out of the kitchen.


I don't know how well you can see these but they're super delicate ceramic leaves that hang from the ceiling. So beautiful. Along these same lines: wind chimes. Love 'em.

This just came to me but what about picture frames painted different colors instead of just black, gold, or wood? Maybe all in the same color but different shades?


So, that's a few of my ideas that I'll be trying to improvise for super cheap... Now I gotta go 'cause Bones is on and then THE OFFFICE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ba ba ba da ba da ba BA!!!!

So, I've been feeling pretty blue the past few days. I'm so frustrated with Washington and all the incredible things that they've been doing. I love this country and I love this country's constitution, and I hate that our elected officials have been deciding little by little that the constitution is "more like guidelines, anyway." The economy is a mess, the troops are hung out to dry, our president doesn't believe in evil, they are one bill away from controlling 49% of our economy, there are no jobs, taxes keep going up, everything in Fort hood... so on and so on...
And then other stuff. People that I know who are suffering unjustly. Or justly. Broken lives.

BUT:

The words of the Lord are pure words;
as silver tried in the furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

And

(He) will arise...will set him in the safety for which he longs.

...when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

ps. 12


Its times like this when I can relate to Ps. 119, and feel like singing about the Word. There's nothing like it. It cleans me up when I'm stuck in the muck. It gives me hope when I've none.

Its times like this when I shake my head at myself and wonder how on earth He puts up with me.

favorite things

So... for those of you who don't know me personally, (You like how I write this like there's actually someone reading?) I'm a bit of an obsessive kinda gal. Not stressed or anal, just temporarily very, very enthusiastic. New books are usually finished within a day or two, new movies watched over again immediately, new discoveries raved about until all my acquaintances are so sick of hearing about it that they wouldn't like it even if they DID listen to me and experience the awesomeness.

Here are the latest things that I love.

-this blog/HTML... yep, that's right, I'm learning code. So that I can widen my margins. Its crazy. There are some brilliant people out there. Who comes up with this stuff?

-Locally grown apples. Particularly "Gingergold" yum.


-Etsy... already posted about this. Its so, so much fun... just to peruse and dream and plot gifts that I'll never be able to afford. And most importantly, to figure out cheap ways to replicate the more expensive things.

-Worst Week. A show that only got one season, but that one season is on Netflix Watch it Now... and it is HILARIOUS. Seriously... gut wrenching... side splitting... ridiculous weeping funny. Also the new NBC show Community, Soooooo good. May steal 30 Rock's thunder. (30 Rock's new season sucks...)

-Walking. This has been going on since like february or so. I've been walking everyday, listening to books on tape, through the beautiful Roland Park Neighborhood. I feel SO good. Seriously. I used to be a adament anti-exerciser. But I love it. Its beautiful, and it makes me feel so CS Lewis-y.


-Along the same lines...crispy leaves. How amazing are they?!


-Food Blogs. They are sooooo much fun. I feel so inspired and delighted to be alive and enjoying simple things like... lunch.


- Borderlands. I get to snipe. And yell things like "Take that, Pyscho Fire Midget!" Pretty sweet.


-Tebow. A college Quarterback who's AMAZING. Almost as good at running as he is at passing. And a Christian. Can't wait to see what happens with the draft.


-MacClaren strollers. Baby Lana has one and it's like a dream come true. So easy to use and push... and Lana hasn't told me this but it looks Darn comfy.


So... there's a few of my favorite things... and now I'm pretending to be Julie Andrews, luckily Jon's not home to be tormented.