think about it

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these words ring so true. what words/quotes have you been dwelling on lately?

watch somebody love

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meeting or party?

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we're having a staff meeting tomorrow. i made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. 

so, now it will turn into a party? gosh, i hope so. 

be soft

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be soft. do not let the world make you hard. do not let pain make you hate. do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.

-kurt vonnegut

look ahead

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God's best is always before us.

because i couldn't say it better myself

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i just read this post on thoughts by natalie, and i had to share with you all. i would botch it up big time if i tried to paraphrase it, so here it is straight from her blog.

. . .

Though for the majority of my life I've been a sunrise kind of girl, lately I've come to appreciate what I like to refer to as the transcendent hour. Every afternoon when I take Maggie out for her second outing of the day, I aim to time it just right so that I catch the miraculous moments when heaven feels just that much closer. The sun seems to be on fire in every shade of red, orange and yellow imaginable. The clouds take on new life, painted with purples and pinks.

In these moments, I feel alive in a way that I've never experienced. In that setting sun, peeking through trees and glistening over the Pacific, and dusting everything it touches with deep golden light, I see beauty deeper than I've ever been able to attain or understand. When I see this breathtaking sight, I feel the way Ann Voskamp describes in these excerpts from "One Thousand Gifts"...

I want to see beauty. In the ugly, in the sink, in the suffering, in the daily, in all the days before I die, the moments before I sleep. Isn’t beauty what we yearn to burn with before we die? What else so ignites, hot flame? Beauty is all that is glory and God is Beauty embodied, glory manifested. This is what I crave: I hunger for Beauty. Is that why I must keep up the hunt? When I cease the beauty hunt, is that why I begin to starve, waste away?

.....

Like an addiction, a compulsion that can’t stop its seeking, do I always want to see more beauty—more of the glory of God? Because that is what I am made for—to give Him more glory.

.....

Beauty requires no justification, no explanation; it simply is and transcends. See beauty and we know it in the marrow, even if we have no words for it: Someone is behind it, in it. Beauty Himself completes.

.....

What is this that I feel sitting here, coursing through me relentless, hot, ardent? I have to seek God beauty. Because isn’t my internal circuitry wired to seek out something worthy of worship? Every moment I live, I live bowed to something. And if I don’t see God, I’ll bow down before something else.

.....

Is worship why I’ve run for the moon? Not for lunar worship, but for True Beauty worship, worship of Creator Beauty Himself. God is present in all the moments, but I do not deify the wind in the pines, the snow falling on hemlocks, the moon over harvested wheat. Pantheism, seeing the natural world as divine, is a very different thing than seeing divine God present in all things. I know it here kneeling, the twilight so still: nature is not God but God revealing the weight of Himself, all His glory, through the looking glass of nature.

Wow. Writing out her words, I am just hit to the core. When I read them over, again and again as I do, I can't help but think, "YES! I'm with you, sister!" I crave beauty, hunt for it, yearn for it. It literally consumes my mind sometimes—though admittedly not always for good. I can sometimes let my desire for God Beauty be falsely satisfied through my pursuit of self-beauty. It never fulfills the way God's real beauty does—the way that sunset gives me the teensiest glimpse of the beauty I'll see one day when I meet my Maker.

. . . 

anyone else relate? this is my favorite part: 

"Beauty requires no justification, no explanation; it simply is and transcends. See beauty and we know it in the marrow, even if we have no words for it: Someone is behind it, in it. Beauty Himself completes."

God created some things for no practical purpose except to be beautiful, to show off His creativity. i look at the ocean and daybreak and am wowed. i drive down a tree lined street in the autumn season, and the golds and oranges and reds create and covering above me. i walk past a honeysuckle bush, and the sweet scent makes me take a moment to smell in deeply. the beauty stops me to say thank you. 

sometimes i feel silly by my fascination with the beautiful, the pretty. i feel like i should not be so moved by the way sunlight enters through the window and hits the floor like gold. i feel like i should be sitting somewhere with my head in a book reading about religion and society. but that's not really what motivates me to worship. i am moved to worship the Creator when i appreciate his creation. 

it affects everything

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watch out. here she comes.

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i'm one of those people that, the second I walk through the front door, stuff is flying everywhere and i'm basically a tornado. bag/jacket/scarf/shoes/everything on the floor, hair up in a messy bun, I NEED WATER, eat a snack, sit on the floor or the counter for five minutes and contemplate the day... and the stuff i threw in all directions usually stays there for a hundred years. worst habit. i should really change this - maybe consider putting everything in its place instead, so i'm not trying to find it later? what a concept. 

-kelly ann from the flowerchild dwelling

i may not be that bad, but i love this quote. the minute i hit my door after a long day, it's off with the real clothes and on go the comfy clothes. my hair is too short for a bun, so it turns into a small nub at the top of my head. i scan the fridge for leftovers or eat candy from our pantry. check the email. rummage through my purse that is now on the floor where i dropped it. text my mom. what's on hulu?  think about being productive. continue to watch hulu. 

ritual or bad habit? neither of those really fit the bill. let's go with quirk. 

make yourself proud

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i tend to second guess myself. i tend to worry about what people will think of me if i do this over that. i tend to overanalyze imaginary situations and conversations. i tend to keep quiet when i know i should speak up.

what i really need to do is this. pray. think clearly. then, make a choice/choose a path/take a stance.

i will never be able to please everyone at once. it sounds a bit odd, but this always brings me release and comfort. i can be a total people pleaser, wanting everyone to be happy as once. i get stressed if i feel people are unhappy with my decisions. i have to remind myself that if i have considered the Lord in my decision and made myself proud, that's all i can do. and that is enough.

first thing's first

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its monday.

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but i don't wanna. 

know me and love me

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it seems we need someone to know us as we are

-with all we have done-

and forgive us. 

we need to tell. 

we need to be whole in someone's sight. 

know this about me, 

and yet love me. please. 

-sue miller

forget the lipstick

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there is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness. 

-lady blessington

my beautiful friends

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i looked over at her, my beautiful friend, and my heart thickened abruptly with love. how could she imagine there was something she could give me that i wouldn't want, something she would ask of me that i wouldn't try to give? -sue miller

to all my wonderful girlfriends, 

i love you all and couldn't get by without you. you make everything fun and silly. you make it easier to breathe when times are tough. you guys accept me at my worst (bed head, oversized tee) and my best (combed hair.) thank you for accepting me, quirks and all. if i was a millionaire, i'd treat us all to a three week vacation in the tropics. but because i'm poor, this blog post will have to do. 

love,

laces

berg is the word

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"when i sat out on the porch, i saw three teenaged girls walk by in cut-off jeans and t-shirts and flip-flops, engaged in intense conversation. for one moment, i felt again what that was like, being a teenage girl in the summer. i remembered the feel of soft cotton shorts and t-shirts, and the delicious urgency of sharing everything with my best friends. 

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i saw an older man fly by on what looked like a new bicycle, and it made me want to get a new bike, too. nothing like a buying a bike to make you feel like a kid again. i heard voices from near by houses floating out the screen windows, and i heard the pounding of sneakers on pavement and the short, fast exhalations of the runners. the dogs lay with their front paws hooked over the top step, panting, their ears up in the high alert position. 

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and then the fireflies came out. and i thought, ah, who cares what you see in them mirror? look out at the summer night, and the coming and goings of your species, and the enchanting sight of the fireflies blinking on and off, on and off. i never think of them as insects. i think of them as tinkerbell, which is why i will never be a responsible adult. if i could hire someone to be the adult in the house, i would. manage the books, will you? i'd say. i'm going out to play." -elizabeth berg

elizabeth berg is my favorite fiction author. i had the chance to meet her last summer at a book reading and signing at quail ridge books. i think, when it was my turn to get my book signed, i said: 

"ohmygoshyouaretheabsolutebestandiloveeverythingyouhaveeverwritteniwishicouldwritelikeyoubecauseyoureallycapturethewayifeelaboutlifewheredoyougetyourideasdoyoujustthinkofthemordotheycometoyouthroughlifeexperiencesamitalkingtoofast?"

she was kind and gracious (as i've always imagined her to be), and she took my book and scrawled a very personal and touching message to me, clearly realizing i was her #1 fan. to lacey, warmest wishes. elizabeth berg. did me and elizabeth berg just become best friends? yup. 

what is it about her books that pull me in? i think it's because her female characters remind me so much of myself. sometimes they're brave and sassy. sometimes they feel weak and helpless. they have internal monologues (just like me!) they over think things (all over that.) they take pleasure in simple things like a cup of coffee or a good talk with a girlfriend. i know they're fictional characters, but i wish they were flesh and blood people because i think we would be good friends. we'd have a lot to talk about. and things to over think. 

if you want to find out more about her, you can check her out here. do you have a summer reading list? if so, add these two by ms. berg:

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talk before sleep (read with a box of tissues)

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the year of pleasures (see above)

your turn! is there a certain author that you just adore? what is it about his or her writing that grabs and keeps your attention? 

licorice

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i want to buy you something.

what?

i don't know, a present...

i thought about it for a minute.

licorice. black licorice.

he nodded solemnly.

for you, two packages. 

-from julie and romeo

i can't speak for all girls, but, for me, the simpler the better. jewelry? no, thanks. just licorice. or maybe a black coffee. that's nice, too. 

childhood

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childhood is a strange country. 

it's a place you come from or go to-at least in your mind. 

for me it has an endless, spellbound something in it that feels remote. 

it's like a little sealed vault country of cake breath and grass stains 

where what you do instead of work is spin till you're dizzy. 

-syall bush

a list of gifts

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"joy is the realest reality, the fullest life, 

and joy is always given, never grasped. 

God gives gifts and i give thanks and i unwrap the gift given: joy...

do not disdain the small. 

the whole of the life-even the hard-is made up of minute parts, 

and if i miss the infinitesimals, i miss the whole...

wherever you are, be all there...

i want to slow down and taste life, give thanks, and see God." 

-ann voskamp from one thousand gifts

on this sunday, i am thankful for much. mostly small things, "minute" things, but these small things are what makes up my day, my week, my life. i am thankful for waking up to no alarm, french press coffee, time with Jesus before my days begins fully.

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i am thankful for my mom and step-dad's unconditional love and support, for my dad's generosity and my step-mom's loving nature. for new music, gift giving, baked goods coming out of the oven, kindness in all of its many forms, unexpected compliments, beauty in simplicity.

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i am thankful for employed brothers, authors who can pen books that speak directly to my heart, memories, goals that i have met, cream cheese frosting, adventures, chilled watermelon, looking back at old prayers and seeing how many have been answered, my roommate amy and her sweet boyfriend, visits from friends, rainy days.

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i give thanks for running in the evening, surprise gift cards in the mail from my dad, successfully completing a project, using what i have before i buy something new, baseball hats, laughing, laughing, laughing, finding what i'm looking for...

i'll elaborate more on this list soon. until then, what's on your list?

bedazzled!

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"woman was born to create. in creating she becomes herself, accomplishes her destiny. to create is not merely to produce a work, it is to give out ones own individuality." -jeanne de vietinghoff

yeah, de vietinghoff, preach it. when an artist makes something, the main purpose is not necessarily to make another thing. the process of making and creating and crafting is sometimes the most important, the most therapeutic. it's during this time that i discover my personal crafting style or look. when i make a greeting card, sometimes it takes me an hour just to figure out what color combinations i want to use. it's all a part of the process.

i have more recently been teaching myself how to make earrings, and it's FUN. i get to play with wire cutters and tiny pliers and even tinier beads that i like to knock out of their containers and spill all over our carpet.

there is a great little shop in downtown raleigh that i frequent, well, frequently.

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ornamenta is a craft lovers paradise. they have a huge assortment of beads, scrap booking supplies, craft tools, yards and yards of pretty ribbons and lace, cards, and books. i have no idea how they fit all of their great stuff into such a small space, but they make it work. my favorite item they "carry" is a glass canister full of (free) chocolate kisses. um, OK.

i went in last week to "look around" and ended up coming home with a paper bag full of gorgeous beads. take a look!

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i haven't started crafting with them, yet. i'm still in the honeymoon stage. i have them sitting in a pretty dish, and i just look at them and swoon.