I decided I want to find some new blogs.  Some good blogs.  Some smart blogs.  

My gift to you today: 

Inky Fool

I've only read one post so far, but seeing as it was on Nightmare Abbey (which I just read a few months ago), and the commentary made me smile, I'm sharing.  And then, I'm going back to read more.  

Enjoy. 

outside our window

majesty sets in tides
beckons, calls and burns our eyes

reminds us, reminds us

outside our window

a sight that makes us slow

 a power that's fierce as fire,

melts stone,

and burns for hearts below.

I have a lot of different people in my life.  Emphasis on different.  And quite often I think how fun it would be to gather them all together and lock them in a (big) room.  And just watch. 

 *BIG SMILE*

I seriously want to decorate a man's flat/ apartment/ home someday. I think there are some incredible manly styles.  I probably dream as much about decorating a man cave for my husband as I do about anything else. Dark leathers, black or brown depending on his taste, woods, a bar, an amazing desk... I don't know, so many options and it all depends on him. :) But, in the meantime, I'd really love to help design/decorate. *hint*

Isn't this amazing?  It wouldn't have to be a guy's apartment, it just made me think of it.

Mr. Grinch,

...Your mind is full of spiders...your soul is full of garlic...

The key words that define you, and I quote: stink stank stunk.

I may or may not have been called a Grinch a few weeks ago (for the first time in my life!!).  And while I whole-heartedly disagree, seeing as I have for many years now been referred to as "Christmas Spirit" and teased immensely for my yuletide enthusiasm, I just caught these words in the song and had to stop and "Hmm" for a second.  Some of you will get those lines.  Some of you will get them more.  And some of you will get who called me a Grinch simply by my method. ;) 

P.S.
This is Yuletide. In case, like me, you just wondered, "What exactly does yuletide look like?"

Oh Love!

Stole this unashamedly from Elsa.

For Brado.

Who's currently on his way across the ocean and to the other side of the world.

Christmas time!!!

I love it- I love when our building gets all decorated and the piano comes out.  I walk in on blistery cold days and my lobby is full of live Christmas carols.

Buy it. -->

Truly, sooo good!!

Staring at my phone!!!!!

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I have a terrible love for garlic.  Terrible.  I've been thinking about it all day, especially because I threw away the red onions from my gyro at lunch.  I don't like the taste of red onions, but I like the smell even less.

 Truly, if I had realized that my desk would smell like red onions for the rest of the day, I'd have suffered through eating them.  I've been wishing they were garlic cloves for hours.  It's a smell I can suffer.  And a flavor I can't resist.

Clive Staples Lewis

29 November 1898 - 22 November 1963

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

An author who changed most all of our lives.  I've never met a person who's said "Oh yes, Lewis, I read his books but never cared for one."  No, he seems to be all of our favorite, creating worlds for us as children and unveiling truths and priorities for us as adults. 

This photo project makes me want to get married.

365 Days of Marriage

I saw this house in Madison Park on Sunday and went a bit crazy... neither of these photos really capture how incredible this little plot really is! The front of the actual home has tons of massive windows that show the brilliant interior, and the little guest house in the back is INCREDIBLE!!

Taking photos while running looks


A  BiT  l i Ke   t H I s.....

But I just wanted to document how much I enjoy my gym time these days (and let's be honest, no girl really loves having photos taken of her while she's exercising anyways, so we didn't mind the blur so much).  With these two on my right and Els on my left, and usually Kate nearby... I look forward to the gym so much more. And I don't find myself in such a rush to get it done and get out.

Also I feel it worth noting: Elsa has perfect running form.  I mean, we've been running buddies for nearly two years now (maybe?), but today it struck me.  Perfect.  Her back is straight, her arms flexed, all her limbs just seem to be pulled by threads at a ridiculous rate.  The girl could be a running model.  I don't have that good of posture when I'm walking... or laying on a flat board!  Maybe the trick was how fast she was going?  I have no clue.  But it was enough that I felt distracted and mortified at my shortcomings and decided to stop my treadmill and admire her gate and form.  Truly, I marveled.

It's good thing I look forward to the gym so much now, because most of my time not at the gym, and not at work, is spent like this... And while it's happy for the heart, well...

I'm being a complete creeper right now.  I have found the perfect apartment.  In Seattle.  Trouble is, I only know this through some random photos of a "blog" - of people I don't know.  I literally have out a sticky pad and I'm writing down "clues" for what neighborhood it's in.  I know it's within walking distance to downtown, looks like a cute neighborhood, has beautiful exposed brick walls inside, hardwood floors, and is afforadble enough for two students to be living there on a shared income somehow.  I'm hoping that it might be an unknown truth that "If you creep, you will find."  (See what I did there?)

I want to live in this apartment complex... or one just like it.  Though I might have to avoid some neighbors so as to not feel it necessary to admit "OH hey, yeah, I follow your blog.  It's actually how I found this place."  :/ 

(Did I end up posting this yet? I love this clutch... and I typically save and hide photos with rings like this.  PS, my sister's finger nails look like this today.)

"Why am I afraid to dance, I who love music and rhythm and grace and song and laughter?   Why I am afraid to live, I who love life and the beauty of the flesh and the living colors of the earth and sky and sea?   Why am I afraid to love, I who love love?"

- Eugene O'Neill from The Great God Brown

(vis my sister Kristin, via The Ragamuffin Gospel)  Perhaps a new favorite quote - it will be written down many places.  Journals, walls, phones, minds.

Just saw this artsy little photo on Abby's blog.

And all I can think is, "Oh my gosh. That's our tv." We had a tv just like this.... until just a couple years ago. We used it lovingly until the day it died. Who'd have known it could have had an afterlife on Tumblr. (I could make a comment here about Tumblr being the place trends go to die, or the dead go to trend... but, oh sorry. I really don't mean that, I just couldn't resist.)

Over-sharing Monday.

I had doll houses like every other little girl when I was little.  Only, the houses were filled with little critters.  That's right.  My parents bought me little families of toy bears, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, etc.  My favorites were the raccoons, but I think that was because I had the baby raccoon the longest (I always especially loved very little things, and babies, lots of babies.... so it came naturally to love all the babies in the families the most.  It also came naturally to lose them first.)  As I saw the above photo this morning, I melted into internal "oooohs" and then wondered, "Why?"  Dangit, Why am I like this? 

And then those little toy critters came to mind.... and I wondered just how much that has melded me into the girl I am.  The girl who gets way too attached to pets, and seems to have a strange affinity to owls, elephants, and animals in general.

Thanksgiving morning.

Yes, I branched out from tradition a bit.  And I watched the boys play their Turkey Bowl, beside this special lady.  :)  I kind of really hope we get to watch countless more games together, football, soccer, basketball... who knows.  But I think we could make some pretty fantastic soccer moms together.  What else do soccer girls do when they grow past their prime?  They begin plotting how to live vicariously through their children, right?  :)

I'm going to guess the majority audience of this blog, is women.  
And at that, young ones. 

Etiquette for a Gentleman

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"Vision will prioritize your values.  A clear vision has the power to bring what's most important to the surface of your schedule and lifestyle.  A clear vision makes it easy to weed out of your life those things that stand in the way of achieving what matters most.  Vision empowers you to move purposefully in a predetermined direction.  Once you have clarified your vision, or visions, many decisions are already made.  Without vision, good things hinder you from achieving the best things.

My observation is that people without clear vision are easily distracted.  They have a tendency to drift from one activity, pleasure, or relationship to another.  Without vision, there is no relational, financial, or moral compass.  Consequently, they often make foolish decisions.  Decisions that rob them of their dreams."

Andy Stanley, Visioneering

Prepare to behold a dream.  (mine.)  
(watch through to the end, if you prefer, you can start it at 4:01.)

Today.

I hit my reading goal for the year.  I spent time with close friends.  My best friend's daughter began calling me "Kay."  I laughed with my "family."  I decorated the Christmas tree, ate sugar cookies and sipped tea with a friend I feel so blessed to know, to hear her thoughts, and to share time with on her visits.  Today was a very favorite day, a true blessing.  One of those days that reminds you how sweet life is and how loving and kind God is to create family, friends, and life-long stories.

Today is why I love the holidays.  :)

25/25

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Quiet Time.

I learned today that longboarding in the fall is a bit difficult.  Wet leaves and sticks can make it slippery, slow or suddenly send you flying from your board.  Still fun. :)