{T.I.L. #10}

I'm kinda spent this evening (I'll share more tomorrow) so tonight is short and sweet {spoiler alert: no it's not. Short and sweet is just not in my realm of possibilities.}

I love books. Like so much. I read about people and their real-life memoirs, fictional works, self-help books, post-apocalyptic teen drama...you know, the normal stuff.

But what I love the most is the actual storytelling. Whether it is shooting the breeze with friends to recount the work stories of the day or Bible stories that tell about historical events, I often become engrossed in a good story.

I wanted to highlight a story that I've been following and it truly fills my heart with joy to think about this person and her life trajectory. Her name is Katie Davis and you can read about her journey in the book Kisses from Katie. Though I was crying every 6 pages, I found this book to be very challenging.

This single girl basically felt a pull from God to move across the world and adopt young girls who had no one to turn to. 

Katie & her girls...picture from Katie's blog

Honestly, I became aware of how selfish my single life suddenly felt as I thought about my greatest worry being whether they put water in my chai latte or whether Downton Abbey had released yet in the US.

This girl is caring for the fatherless and cleaning wounds of village drunks and buying property in a foreign country and starting a non-profit to help poor working-class women...all in her single 20's. What the ever-loving crap have *I* been doing?

That's not the message of the book or the great story. Her message is that she does it all for the glory and honor of Jesus. That's the best part. That's good news for all of us, including my selfish self. I recommend the book with no hesitation. 

But recently, something was added to her already amazing story and heart for the Lord. Katie Davis got married. 
 

Her wedding...picture from her blog post

You can read her blog post about her process of trusting God for a husband to enhance her relationship with God, rather than detract from it. 

When I am tempted to go inside myself and wallow, I am consistently reminded of stories like Katie's. When I am seduced by the world's advice to 'go out and get a husband' by using my body and sex appeal, I am reminded of a girl who served Jesus by washing feet and drying the eyes of orphans; orphans who now had a mother. God provides her every need as she depends on Him. On top of that, He gives good gifts...the best gifts. Why am I not convinced of that by now?

There are so many great stories out there, but my favorites are the ones with happy endings.

{T.I.L #9}

This one needs no introduction...

I know saying 'in love' makes me sound like an alcoholic, but I promise I'm not. I'm just an exaggerator. I also grew up with people who showed me that alcohol addiction can be no joke. So, I'm pretty careful with rules around my drinking:

1. No drinking alone--there's a reason for this one!

2. Only drink when I'm happy--not using alcohol to 'take the edge off' of a tough day

3. Do not drink 2 days in a row--within reason, this keeps it a 'few and far between' thing instead of 'why not finish this bottle I started yesterday?' thing.

4. Pretty strictly stay within 1-2 drinks in one session

Those rules are there for a reason and most are there because I pushed past a boundary and knew it wasn't good. I'm fairly relaxed about it all and don't expect others to follow these rules, just me. Alcoholism runs in my family and I've already got a Starbucks addiction...I don't need another expensive addiction to add to the list! At least Starbucks won't ruin my life.

With that said, I love a good glass of whiskey. Mostly, I like my whiskey like I like my men: strong, high-quality, and neat. Just kidding, I've never said that in my life. Though I do like my whiskey neat. No fuss. {I mean, I won't say no to a whiskey on the rocks but I kinda want the flavor to take my breath away}

Yummers.

Fun story: Rule #1 came about the night I thought it'd be super cool to have a quiet time with Jesus while drinking Revel Stoke spiced whiskey (my fave) from a mustached glass tumbler.

Cuteness, huh?

Then, I got the bright idea to take all that fun into the bath tub to relax by candlelight. Can you see where this is going? Jesus. Prayer. Spiced whiskey. Hot water.

I didn't even give it a second thought as I prayed and sipped my whiskey. It wasn't until I got up that I realized I could barely stand. Not only was my face hot from the bath, it was also hot from embarrassment as I realized I had accidentally gotten drunk before the Lord. Oooooops.

So now, I don't really drink alone & definitely not while sitting in hot water--it saves me from drunken quiet times and drowning my sorrows all in one fell swoop!

My friend, Chrissy, recently posted this article about whiskey girls and it fit me to a T. I joked that I should use it as my dating profile because it is a pretty accurate description. 

Now, don't get the erroneous idea that I like to booze it up. But a good whiskey on a random weekend is all right by me. In fact, I had one this past weekend at Cottonwood in Houston. Dee-lish.

Peach + whiskey = yes!

{T.I.L. #8}

I'm a big traveler and I love taking trips to see people I care about (that's another TIL post though!) or to do something fun. Last weekend, I flew to LA for family and this weekend I drove to Houston for a woodworking class (aha! another TIL post for later this month...man, I'm full of these things.) No trip of mine is complete without a great book and good music.

In honor of my travels, I thought I'd share that...

I kinda hate driving {though my car has helped that tremendously} but I find it tolerable when I can jam out to a variety of bands on my old school iPod. When the screen on my iPod broke a few years back, I thought it was useless. But being able to hook it up to my car's USB port has been nothing short of amazing. And also have it all on my iPhone? Thanks, Apple. I love that I can pick from my entire music collection as I'm cruising through the air at 35,000 feet or about to nod off during the flat stretches of the Texas highways. We may have great sunsets, but a pink sky doesn't stop my eyelids from drooping...Arcade Fire's Reflektor album does.

I wrote about liking good music in my first round of Things I Love, but that was more about loving live music (which I deffo do!) Rather than do a re-hash, I thought I'd give you a few links to new music I'm currently loving. This is soooo the tip of my music iceberg, but I could honestly make a whole month of music posts (March Music Madness? Many Musics March?) I'll just give ya my top three as of February 8:

--Taylor Swift's 1989

I took the pic of Shake it Off but my current fave on this album is the song 'Wildest Dreams'. Can't get enough of it. 

Some people dog on Tay-Tay but honestly, someone that can write so many hits, play their own instruments, put on a stellar performance, and keep cranking it out album after album...and you think they are a hack? That's just silly talk. I don't care if you don't like the style of her music. Hell, I loathe opera music but that doesn't mean they aren't mad-talented musicians. So, I gotta plug my Taylor when I can because I really do love her style, music, and confidence.

--Max Frost 

I really didn't have to include a picture but I have to. Don't let his handsome face and well-dressed exterior distract you from the fact that this fool has soul. 

I love when great music comes from unexpected people. This dude is suuuuuper young (don't ask me why I checked his age) but he sounds like he's been making music forever. His voice has experience if that makes sense.

I'll link his more popular song but check out his website and follow him for reals.

My favorite song of his is 'Nice and Slow'. Weird vid but the song is so so good:

 --Rhodes

Oh, Rhodes. Speaking of music coming from unexpected people, Rhodes is the epitome of this. 

Rhodes on left with Sam Smith--from Rhodes' Facebook

He looks like a Freshman in high school sometimes, but wowee. My mom actually introduced me to Rhodes (the music, not the guy...I'd probably fangirl up and ramble if given the chance) and I've been hooked ever since. I honestly can't pick a favorite but I'll link the first song I ever heard of his:

My mom is ob.sessed. with this next song (and made me and my sister happily watch the video more than once, no lie):

So, there ya go...a peek into my current iPod re-plays. 

Taylor is already coming to Dallas this year and I'm-a-goin'. Max Frost came to Dallas last weekend but I was out of town. Big boo. Let's start a campaign to get both Max Frost & Rhodes to come to Dallas. Together.

My mind would explode.

{T.I.L. #7}

Since it is the weekend, I thought I'd slip in some of the Things I Love that don't need a whole post of their own. I mean, it is pretty self-explanatory to know that I love Starbucks no-water chai tea lattes. What else can I really say about it? {Other than the fact that it is completely true.}

So, here we go: 

I had wanted to watch this show from the beginning but never made the time to get into it. And, as you know, I have great friends who suggest great shows to me so I finally took the plunge and started at Season 1. Oh.em.gee. Not only is Amy Poehler one of my favorite comediennes, the whole cast is just so great together. My favorite scenes are Leslie's "I'm just a girl" rant, Tom Haverford's food language, and Jean-Ralphio and Mona-Lisa harmonizing their point. You probably gotta watch it to appreciate it, but there ya go.

Also, 

I never realized quite how sedentary some of my days can be until I got my Fitbit flex. Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to increase their health. 

 Speaking of stuff to buy, Amazon Prime has been amazing as I've had to purchase things for my new house. I love that you can get things quickly or you can choose the 'slow route' and get credits toward digital purchases. If anyone is debating about it being worth it, it is. Plus, I like the video streaming and Seasons of Fixer Upper and Rehab Addict on there (its Rehab for houses, not people. Ain't nobody got time to watch real addicts go to rehab. That's called 'my childhood.')

That's pretty much it for now. I'm sure next weekend I'll find a couple more things I can clump together. I know it looks like I'm materialistic after all these posts, so I'll throw in a few that should be obvious. Just in case...

{T.I.L. #6}

Yesterday I talked about art prints from a blogger I really love. Well, that's not the only talented blogger I buy stuff from. My other favorite blogger, Elise Blaha Cripe at Enjoy It Blog is super-talented and somehow manages to be Type-A with a chillax personality. She's kinda the best of both worlds in my opinion. 

Her designs are super simplified (it's obvi that I like simple at this point) but they all have a sort of thematic element that I'm drawn to. I'm so drawn to it that I pretty much own her entire rubber stamp collection.

But that's not the point of this post. 'It's nooooot?' you cry. No it isn't. The thing I really love right now that she just churned out is like having her art prints & stamps at your own fingertips. So:

Digital stamps are one of those "I didn't realize those existed and yet why didn't I think of that?" things. 

I can make my own personalized versions of her work and use it for framing, scrapbooking, screensavers, whatev.

I'm just learning tricks to make it fun and she has some videos on her site to give you ideas. Gosh, I love this girl and all her craftiness she puts out into the world (I actually have another post about her coming up this month.) So, I'll use her favorite word to describe these digital stamps...Rad.

And since it is Friday, I'll leave you with one of the pics I created from her digital stamp set: