to be a bird

i know birds are so trendy right now, feather extensions, bird cages in the living room, chicken for dinner (haha), but my gram has always been big into birds. and over the past few years i've begun to see the beauty.

lately i've been wishing i was a bird. there are many perks.

sweet birds can flit from tree to tree, enjoying the sunshine and blue skies
or if they don't want to go anywhere they just sit on a tree limb and sing.
birds are often the symbol of peace because even in storms they stay true, and like Jesus said, they don't freak out about where they will eat or live, but they trust the Lord to care for them.
birds are usually beautiful and graceful.

so today in the midst of life, i want to be a bird, flying from place to place, living the dream, singing a song, sitting on a limb, trusting the Lord.

on side note, Steve Moakler's new album "Watching Time Run" came out today on iTunes and its really good, especially if you love acoustic pop rock, which obviously i do :)

not that good at this

apparently i'm not that good at keeping a blog.
i wish that i was better at it. but i don't ever really know what to say.
the stuff that i think of to write is often super deep or its crazy shallow. so i don't know how to do it. but i'm trying. this is my attempt.

this week marks seven years since my mom passed away.
i was in a wedding last week and while i LOVE that i got to celebrate my friends forging their lives together, it is difficult for me to not think that at my own wedding the family parts will go a lot differently.

its strange to think that my mom will have never known the man that i will marry.

so much has happened in the last seven years and she hasn't been a part of any of it.

this world is broken.
we are in desperate need for a savior.
He came to make all things new.
Revelation 21:5

Only in Jesus will I hope.

a little monster brings a big smile

This little monster was given to me by my sweet friend Heather.
There is this really cute store in Fort Collins called "Kansas City Kitty" and they sell these "friendly monsters".
They are adorable and have a little identification tag on them, my monster's says "hello. my names is GIDGET. i am a friendly monster. i like sushi and green tea."

so i guess my little monster would like the animé I helped produce as part of The JESUS Film Project, in association with Brethren Entertainment and Studio 4°C see it here

i'm so thankful for this little gift and the smile it brings to my face!

fourth of july fun!

i'm in fort collins, co this summer.

and it is awesome. and beautiful.

i love being outside in the sunshine and seeing the mountains everyday.

i can't believe i have lived in such flat places for the last 11 years...

yesterday was the fourth of july and we took advantage of being so close to the foothills.

we climbed to the top of horsetooth (in the foothills of the rockies) and had this view:

i've never climbed to the top of anything, except maybe a roof, so to climb to the top of this tiny mountain to watch the fireworks was so great.

it was cool to see the fireworks from up top:

it was even more fun to go down the sketchy parts of the trail by flashlight :)

adventures abound.

music. and life.

so i guess i haven't been keeping up my end of the bargin since i haven't been blogging. although i'm not be inundated with emails, so apparently i'm not breaking anyone's heart :)

i once heard this talk from Keith Johnson on the "music of the Gospel". he talks about how we sometimes mimic others who hear the music of the Gospel. he gives the example of someone who is dancing, listening to headphones and how another person can mimic the dance moves, even if they aren't hearing the music. Keith challenges his listeners to not just mimic, but really hear the music and so dance.

today i read this blog from ajposts.com "Science and Psalms" and it reminded me again of how much i need to continue to listen to the music.

so i am encouraged to be in colorado learning about leadership and spiritual development, but i'm also excited to take some time to listen to the music. to rest. to sabbath.

Getting Settled

It's funny to think about getting settled at home when you are on vacation in California and a mere week away from 6 weeks in Colorado, but getting settled is what's on my mind.

I've lived in my current home since August, yep 10 months and I have still not hung shelves and have a couple boxes yet to be unpacked.
How is that possible?
I think it's because I'm a little afraid of getting settled. What if I unpack and just have to move again? Or worse what if I unpack and settle in and my life is still the same?

I think I like the idea that I can leave at any moment. I like the idea that I could pack my stuff,say goodbye, and be out.

I think part of my enjoyment of the nomadic lifestyle is that it is a great excuse for things not being quite what I would hope they might be.

Leaving town every other month makes it okay that sometimes I have single serving friendships. It also makes it okay that I'm a little bit of a mess---piles on the floor are alright if you run in and out of your house.

So, by faith, I'm moving in. When I get back in august, I am moving in.
Hanging shelves, hanging pictures, unpacking, getting flowers to pot. I'm thinking about a chandelier of some sort. I might even get a sewing machine. And if in a year I do move away it won't have been a waste to get set up. It will have created a place of refuge and comfort for me and hopefully others.

So, now it's in writing, I'd better do it. In August I'll post pictures, to prove it :)

An art adventure

So I'm thinking pretty seriously about signing up for this thing called "the sketchbook project" () I'm not a wonderful artist, but I like to do it.

Is the point of sharing art for the sheer enjoyment of the loveliness of the piece or is it about sharing a part of the artist. Enjoying a shared human experience, appreciating the way we experience the world?

So maybe I'll do a sketchbook. That'd be pretty rad.

Speaking of art...I'm currently sitting in the Salt Lake City airport and the view here is beautiful. The mountains here look so serene and magnificent. I guess I should put Utah on my list of places to visit. Breathtaking. Creation really is the best illustration of beauty and somehow of truth too.

It seems like truth and beauty go together, I like that.

airplane ride

i have been on a lot of planes in the last couple weeks, in fact i have spent 46 hours on 10 of them and tomorrow I get on two more...it can't be that healthy to be on 14 planes in 2 weeks, can it? but really weird stuff happens when you are traveling and funny stuff and funny stuff that wasn't funny at the time but is probably funny now :)

i love it, so i'm not complaining.

i also drove to Pittsburgh two and a half weeks ago and am driving to Colorado in a week and a half, man that's a lot of miles

but i was reminded by this blog of a story that i want to share.

i was on my way out of central asia and on this smaller plane, not even affiliated with a major airline...so you know its a bit sketchy.

i get my ticket and see its an aisle seat [now i'm used to having status which kind of makes me a little carnal and snobby about travel]. i board the plane, find my seat and my heart sinks when i see that the man sitting in the window seat is the size of the Rock, as in Dwayne Johnson. he is a huge man. and his bicep definitely comes about 6 inches over into my seat.

so i squeeze in, kind of sit forward so as to not touch this man. before we even take off i'm so frustrated in my heart that i'm praying that this flight won't take off and we will have to be on a different flight or something.

which is crazy, don't ever pray for travel delays when you have 3 more connections that day.

any way i'm super frustrated by giant arms and he is not even making an effort to stay in his assigned area. we take off and i'm fuming. eventually he adjusts for a second and i ninja my arm back there. so finally i feel like, okay i can make this happen, i can get through the rest of the flight. i was feeling a little nauseous, but i thought that was because i had no personal space.

but then i see, giant arms has a clear pepsi bottle that he's spitting into. the guy is totally chewing tobacco. its the smell that makes me want to puke, probably mixed with the fact that i had no personal space. and now i've seen it.

that's just rude.

at least get a bottle that i can't see through.

when i finally got off that flight, i was relieved and when i boarded my next flight, which was 8 hours long, i was happy to see a normal sized man was my seat buddy.

its the little things

i've found something i really enjoy: letterpress stationary

image found here: http://www.lintcoat.com/cards/paperwheels-letterpress-cards

I think its something about the texture, it is just beautiful.

also, isn't that card adorable, it makes me want to do something wrong, so i can send it :)

Blogging More

I set really strange goals for myself
For example, this year I said I wanted to wear high heels and lipstick once a week this year. And it has been so fun to do that.
I also said, I want to run a sprint triathlon and guess what, I did it!
So I'm what some would call tenacious. I've decided that I want to set that tenacity to a new goal:
To blog more.
I don't know who reads this, if anyone. And even if people used to read it, I've been slacking for 6 months, so you might not still be reading it :)
But I don't think readership is the point of blogging.
My journal is filled with emotion and depth of this particular time in my life, but the silliness and random things are not quite captured and definitely not shared, so while I have tended to write deepish stuff, now I'm just going to put whatever up here.
The new rule is that there are no rules. So maybe there will be pictures of adventures and stories of funny airport interactions. Maybe there will be stuff I'm learning through books and articles. Maybe there will be culinary adventures or even pictures I've taken. Some art might show up. And there just might be some depth too.
I was told that setting goals have to be quantifiable in order to find success, so my goal is to write a new post once a week. Beginning the week of June 5, because I'm about to board a plane to a place where I won't have Internet for two weeks.

So no blog the next two weeks, but also no high heels and lipstick :)

check out these blogs :)

I’m posting this to enter a contest offered by MeridaHome at Design For Mankind! I want to win the iPad 2! (and I love Erin’s shoes!)

erin's blog is amazing, if you love any kind of design, you'll love it!
i always feel inspired after checking out the beauty on her site :)
and erin is fantastic, just as a person.