Happy Thursday

Little happenings

Today my alarm went off. Silently. And when my eyes finally popped open, I jumped out of bed. 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave my house.
Once I scrambled out of the door, I scraped the ice off of my car and opened the door. Only it didn't open.
As I shivered in the cold, I realized: I locked my keys in the car (again).

Today I walked across West Main Street to eat at Subway. Crossing a "busy" street in a small town may seem like a small feat to you, but to me it was quite the adventure.

Today a man in his eighties tried to convince me to get a Big Mac from McDonald's with him.

Today I learned a new word. In Spurgeon's Morning + Evening, he says, "Let your conversation be redolent of heaven."

red·o·lent  

/ˈredl-ənt/

Adjective Strongly reminiscent or suggestive of (something): "names redolent of history and tradition". Strongly smelling of something: "the church was old, dark, and redolent of incense".

Synonyms fragrant - odoriferous - odorous - aromatic - scented

Today the whole family gathered in the living room for lovely music, laughter, and conversation.

Today I learned once again that Romans 8:28 is absolutely and completely and wonderfully true.

thankful

We live in an abundant, prosperous, free, yet greedy and discontent nation. But despite knowing nothing but poverty, these Ugandan's children's voices resound with thanksgiving.

Here's lookin' at you, kid.

Name that movie quote.

This Spring break I made a list of things I wanted to do. Here's what I did:

- clean out my car
- write letters
- go on picnics
- run
- sleep in the hammock  I slept in them hammock, I read in the hammock, I ate in the hammock, I laughed in the hammock. Needless to say, I love that thing.
- play frisbee
- thrift store shopping I didn't get anything, but I went twice. I may go back and buy some records and really cheap picture frames.
- spend less time on the computer and more time outside The weather was perfect for this!
- read I didn't finish Delta Wedding, but I did read it and other good books on my list.
- pick flowers One day, I had to stop and pick a handful of Wisteria. It's blooming everywhere, and I love it!
- play piano all day long Okay, so I didn't play all day, but I did play.
- add to my memory jar
- knit
- get a tan I'm not exactly tan - but I'm not so white anymore!
- drink lemonade
- blog

I even finished a few that weren't on my list:
- take senior portraits
- apply for a job
- have an outdoor movie/pizza night

 It was a wonderful week. Here are some Instagrams from my life lately:

Trolley Wood

On very short notice, my sweet sister was willing to shoot some senior pictures for me. We woke up bright and early Thursday morning (after staying up until 2:30 the night...um, morning...before), she grabbed her camera and we drove to a pretty field I had hoped to get some good pictures in. There was only one problem. The sun was nowhere to be found. (This is actually a serious dilemma for a photographer. Lighting is key, guys.) We didn't let that put a damper on our little adventure, however. I turned the car around and we chased the sun. No, really. That was plan B. I drove on down Old 78, until we pulled over on a little county road to find a darling field full of sunshine. Okay, so it wasn't full of sunshine. It was slightly overcast, but still lovely and sunny enough for us. It turned out to be a Trolley Wood kind of day.

Here are a few of our favorites:

I couldn't let my beautiful photographer stay behind the camera all day.

Most of the fun was actually had afterward. The rest of the day was spent in shorts and t-shirts, in the hammock, and on the frisbee field. It was definitely one of my most favorite days.

 We're so dysfunctional.

On that note, Happy Tuesday!

This Spring Break, I will...

There is beauty in simplicity

{all lovely pins via Pinterest}

Weekend according to Instagram

I spent Columbus Day weekend with (most of) the family at our friend's penthouse in Fort Walton Beach, FL. There was a hammock. On the deck of the penthouse. The weather was perfect and my weekend consisted of sleeping on the beach, sleeping in the hammock, sleeping in my bed, reading on the beach, reading in the hammock, reading in my bed. Oh, and a liiittle bit of watching movies, playing bananagrams, and snuggling with friends' puppy. It was wonderful. Did I mention there was a hammock on the deck of the penthouse?

So many beautiful reasons to be happy

This week I'm thankful for:

books
parents who love one another even more after almost 26 years
fall weather

smiles

the story of Esther
Sum Xu (Chinese for "pine rat" or squirrel) - the baby squirrel in our care
the delicious fragrance of sweet olive trees that leave the whole yard smelling like autumn
handwritten letters
sheet music (and the Public Domain)

Out with the old, in with the new

 

Goodbye, 12-year-old tastes, stripes, and crazy daisies.

My sweet Jeremiah

After vacationing in the Tennessee mountains, 

 We brought this guy home.

 He helped celebrate my birthday.

 And there was laughter.

 And much dancing.

Life without Jeremiah? I don't even want to think of it.