blue.

so, this one time i bought a button down.
from maurice's.
it felt amazing, was a different style that i normally delve into, and it was in my favorite color.
so of course i bought it. lol.

after maurice's, i walked to panera and sat down with a chai tea latte and an orange scone. mmmmm. then i drove mum home from our lovely run of errands, and here i am.

my throat feels funny. i need some tea. and a nap. :P

elenowen. interiors. baby shower. spring!

oh my.
i think i've found the next best thing to the civil wars.
yes.
can you believe it??
me neither.

and i stumbled upon them while creeping jessica's fb likes. heheheh.
elenowen.
here's their musiccityunsigned site.
their myspace. 
here's the list of their interests in their fb page: playing honest music, drinking coffee, and connecting with YOU. 
come. on.
does that not make you like them even more, after listening to their music?
it did me.
:)
not to mention they have some cute pictures in their fb profile of americanos and pretty sunsets.
heck yeah.
my favorite so far is the one that greeted me when i first pressed play.
the storm.
shocker of shockers, this morning i ended up deleting several (okay, 30ish) pictures off my already-full sd card. tomorrow i plan on coercing the van to wallyworld so i can pick a new one up for the 6 hours of driving, and the week ahead.

 

so i took some pictures at the baby shower we had for sarah and justin's new little one due at the end of june.
i tell ya, it's baby season!
random fact: a few weeks ago, i went through my dashboard and counted every pregnant blogger. out of the 100 or so blogs i follow, there were 8 or 9. dude, that' around 10%. that's a lot. that's more than one or two. hah.

undecorate; christiane lemieux

yesterday i had a frog in my throat, yes? well, i didn't sing at church today (on the stage) instead i stood in the same row as the rest of my dear family and croaked about 1 sentence per song. my voice was still that bad this morning at 10. but it was a good time, not being up in front of people and all. relaxing.
now, though, is another story. i've had probably 5 cups of green tea today, at church and home... and my voice --the talking one;)-- is getting much better. hardly any crackle/smoker quality to it.

my second thought while inspecting this photo was: i can imagine spiders and insects such as that hiding and making homes behind that bed backdrop.

i love the shelves and all the light in this one. :)

ahhh! i'm excited.
just remembered that america's next great restaurant is on tonight. and...do you see that tree, above? yes, indeed, there are buds! it's blooming!

i don't think i'll ever fall out of love with trader joe's mango-apricot greek yogurt.
ever. ever. ever.

quirk  (kwûrk)
n.
1. A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy: "Every man had his own quirks and twists" (Harriet Beecher Stowe).
2. An unpredictable or unaccountable act or event; a vagary: a quirk of fate.
3. A sudden sharp turn or twist.
4. An equivocation; a quibble.
5. Architecture A lengthwise groove on a molding between the convex upper part and the soffit.

p.s. happy may day!

my book list....

so i'm sitting here, reading a few other blogs, catching up on some fb stuff, writing messages...
and when i came back to this post waiting to be written, i thought, gosh, i'm sooo drawing a blank! how wrong is that?
and then i remembered.
i glanced at the title and it all came back to me.
no work, really, to be put into this post.
today there was the mom's Bible study, and i read the last half of a smallish book that ended abruptly.
read the majority of lovely stuff bloggers that posted today....
then, later, i read about 40-50 pages of a different non-fiction book about young adult life.
heh.

helped make dinner--minestrone soup. so. good.

personally, i can't wait to be dark again like in this picture....yes. it's happening this weekend. diy, baby! as someone wise once said, you pick your poison!! hahaha.

~~~

so.
to the book list.
sorry. i started rambling back there...
:)
genesis trilogy; barnett-gramckow
jack & rochelle; sutin
peace like a river; leif enger
wild at heart; eldredge
circle trilogy, etc; dekker
the lost books; dekker
living water; yun
hinds' feet on high places; hurnard
the face of God; myers
crazy love; chan
my utmost for His highest; chambers
captivating; eldredge
forgotten God; chan
the irresistible revolution; claiborne
making peace with a dangerous God; clare & ingram
the heavenly man; yun
the notebook; sparks
the wedding; sparks
the practice of the presence of God; lawrence
this present darkness; peretti
piercing the darkness; peretti

...what are some of your favorite titles?
...some of your favorite authors??
...and why?
what are some books you hope to read?

p.s. --who's from pataskala ohio?? i'm curious!! comment or email me! :)

beautiful, windy tuesday. with tea.

Boy, have we got one moody day on our hands. Windy, blue sky, overcast, sunny, cloudy, rainy. Oh, so windy. It's one of those Fall days. Once again, coffee and painting and music . . . Fail Us Not. [click here to listen]

Some of the trees are getting naked. :(

That there above...is a sneak peek of what I did yesterday and today.... one of them:)
It's an "inspired".

Talk about moody:)

I really have quite a few to catch up on posting here. :)

Me and Ben started practicing this song by 1000 Generations today... it's beautiful. One of my favorite songs.

It's raining right now.
And nearly all the way dark. At only 6:11pm.
Dang.
Well, I finally got around to taking a lovely picture of the book I started reading last Friday:

Ohmaword, can I just say I love this picture. 
The contrasts...the shading...the angle. I could print and frame it. I totally could.
I totally would. 
Should.
Um...nevermind. Onto another shot. hahah. 
I made some green tea after singing that song maybe 8 times. :) My voice was going, so we took a break.  
....Don't think I haven't had my share of coffee today. ;) And painting. And....well, it's been a pretty good day.

Have a wonderful Tuesday night:) 


If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.
[C. S. Lewis]

finished with "moon over tokyo."

I liked that book.

Not as much as Chateau of Echoes (ha, it didn't have half as much food/cooking stuff as CoE), . . . but it was good.
:)

And it's a wonderful Sunday afternoon. Ha, I'm your weather report today. It's much cooler than the past week and weekend was. Thank goodness.
In fact, I just stepped outside to take out a bag of tons of papers from this weekend. It was amazing. Shocking.
Weird.
Totally weird.
There was practically no humidity in the air.
Well, what I mean to say is, it's at normal levels today.
Which is always nice. And I'm sooo thankful for that.

Well, I'm getting off now....going to make myself some green tea or something. Anna is watching Spooks on YouTube...it's the newest season, not going to be released in the U.S. for quite a while. She loves it. I really like it. When I'm not reading an interesting book. I mean, hey. I can watch stuff later, yes? Books, from the library (at the moment) cannot wait. Especially if I'm hooked. :)
Today was interesting.
I woke up. And took killers. After a good bowl of fresh, hot oatmeal doused in milk and Sugar In The Raw. (killers: a.k.a., my nickname for painkillers.) What a wonderful day to be a woman. I envied all the older women, little girls, and moms who are currently constantly nursing or currently pregnant. What the heck. Oh, to go without it for longer than a month......
Today I sang solo at church for a special music. The Valley Song, by Jars of Clay.
It went well....I just kept asking Him to help me sing it for Him, not for anything or anyone else....it can be a bit nerve-wracking, once in a while, because heck, it's been a full year since the last time I did a solo.
I love that song, though.
So....I'll save you the trouble of finding the lyrics so ya know what it says.

You have led me to the sadness
i have carried this pain
on a back bruised, nearly broken
i'm crying out to You

i will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy

when death, like a gypsy
comes to steal what i love
i will still look to the heavens
i will still seek your face
but i fear You aren't listening
because there are no words
just the stillness
and the hunger
for a faith that assures

i will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy

alleluia, alleluia
alleluia, alleluia

while we wait for rescue
with our eyes tightly shut
face to the ground using our hands
to cover the fatal cut
though the pain is an ocean
tossing us around, around, around
You have calmed greater waters
higher mountains have come down

i will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy
i will sing of Your mercy
that leads me through valleys of sorrow
to rivers of joy
[The Valley Song; Jars of Clay]

p.s.:
6:45pm
I think I may have fallen in love with a mango.
It's gone. I completely finished it off. And I mean completely.
p.p.s.: Can't believe it's only 3 more posts, then the giveaway!! Wow. :)

i miss coffee. :)

Green tea all day yesterday. It helped with the sore throat. While Gram napped and I read all sorts of things; statuses, blogs, and the book I'm reading right now called The Mailbox. 

Looks like a good idea, but I just had this picture of an egg....starting at the highest section of the island, rolling....rolling....disaster. :)

This made me want to get up, run to Jackson Do it Best, and do something...but then I remembered it's not my house.

Yeah, Brownberry Healthy Nut bread drizzled with honey....hot green or echinacea tea with a drizzle of honey...the book, I had to get used to Marybeth Whalen's writing style. It is an adjustment to be sure. A bit plain in the writing, the description, and even though it's a slower-paced book and it's pretty easy reading, it doesn't have that spark that makes you want to read just one more chapter before sleeping. 

Sigh.

I guess I was spoiled with the two books I've read so far by Siri Mitchell. 

That lady is truly one of my absolute favorites now.

Monday, while catching up on the David Bible study....with coffee and a pasta dish Lyd and a few others whipped up. Oh heck, here's a picture.

I miss coffee. Haven't drank any since Thursday, when I woke up with the beginnings of a sore throat. Which, praise God, I'm almost over...

I absolutely love animal crackers.

Namely, the organic/vegan ones that Sarah and Justin picked up for us while they were at Trader Joe's yesterday. :) Mmmmm......thank you, Sarah. :) 

bread, mondays, and ....sleep. ;)

I had some thoughts --quite funny ones at that-- for what I would write in this post today.

Like... I feel and look like a hodge-podge, tired, weird, funky, person. Those are just a few words that popped into my head when thinking, feeling and seeing what I look like today. And how today is. Affecting everyone.

Blank canvas. (no makeup today, but that not the point) 
Red-black plaid flannel pj pants as the house heats up for the first time since last Thursday.
Hair up in a haphazardly-looking messy bun stuck with a dpn (double-pointed knitting needle). 
Eating copious amounts of Trader Joe's chocolate-covered coffee beans (well...only about 2 handfuls...ahem.) 
Cream aran cabled sweater.
I never wear sweaters.
Have I mentioned that before? I'm more of a zip-up hoodie person. And not those really crazy kind of zip-ups, either. Nice and simple. Not too colorful or primary...
You know it's a weird, slow, messy-house day when I'm wearing a sweater.
Oh, and pink-red-white "x's and o's" socks? No one matches their clothes on days at home, do they? Because heck, I'm not. Not today, I'm not.
Not to mention I woke up really late. Went to bed around 8pm, (holy cow! someone call the...nevermind. just pray for me.) 
I was reading until the words weren't making any sense, then shut off my light before 9pm. Yeah....I never go to sleep and words never stop making sense to me before 9. Heck, before 11. It was weird.
:)
I won't say the time that I woke up at, because some of you will be jealous, some of you will be disgusted, and some of you . . . well. I don't see how I didn't wake up earlier than that all by myself, considering how early I went to sleep.

But with all that said, Caleb needs to clean the wreck of a kitchen.
And I need some tea.
Hope y'all have a lovely Monday. :) I'm going to blog-hop a wee bit more, then make myself some green tea and stop myself from eating more coffee beans. :)
In fact, I need to catch up in reading John. I didn't read anything this weekend; there was no time...yeah, I know. No excuses. So anyways. I'll go catch up on that soon....

p.s. I was making these on Thursday night at 10:30pm, for the Shabbat dinner we have on Saturday nights with the families and Nancy and Colin Campbell.

And here are the lovelies, in the oven...

Mmm, I got to be very very good at braiding fast and good; Thursday night alone I made 12 loaves like these. :) Before that, I don't know how many I made. 

A batch of the bread recipe I use with everything (including this) makes anywhere from 8 huge ones to 12+ nice cute-sized, braided challah's.

So anyways. G'bye for now.

wordless wednesday

Too bad for Bubby; he had to fill in for a sick farm helper, and therefore woke up wayyyyyy before the crack of dawn (3:30am, anyone? and he says to tell everyone that I'm standing on tiptoes...haha) . . . He's so tired. :) But I made him look alive. Somewhat.

Ah, Starbucks brewed . . . (thank you, PJ!) 

And the mug, I loooove. ;) (thanks, heath and steph!)

There. It so was not a wordless wednesday.

But you're okay with that, right? And besides, I had to explain why Ben looked so . . . haggard. ;) Anyways, g'day!!!

some people just don't know how to restrain themselves...hey, i'm not talking about me! ;)

10:47pm
Yay, I'm celebrating 15 Followers with the thought of a hot mug of green-peach tea. ;)
And, I randomly found Joy Williams and her new, funky little addition to her musical journey of life...sheesh, that was a long, wordy sentence for this late at night.
The Civil Wars.
Once again, I have practically nothing to say, except for the fact that Mom, Anna and I had a wonderfee time at Target and stop-in at Caribou . . . I got a medium of the daily brew, drizzled in a wee bit of half-and-half, and tore open a cute little brown packet of Sugar In The Raw. Mmmmm. :)

 

This is me and one of those darn good books responsible for keeping me up late at night...into the morning. #1: Operation: Firebrand.  

So good. :)

This is, of course, the sky on our way home from Target. :) Where we had a good time, and Anna went temporarily crazy...we dropped a bit of moula (not literally; we bought a few things) . . . But do you see that sky? Yahweh is amazing.

Somehow, I've found I just can't restrain myself from taking pictures . . . and more pictures. :)

This, my friends, is Danny boy. He was . . . um, I believe working on his diaper. And maybe a bit sleepy. Who knows. We picked him up from his grandma's to watch him for a few hours. Before this picture was taken, though, he was grinning at me and stealing glances while pretending shyness:)

So, I believe this one speaks for itself. :) The road. Stretching out before us.

. . . And I think it's time for bed now.

Well, at least get in bed and pick up a book...

I'm on #2: Operation Firebrand: Crusade.

[Last: #3: Operation Firebrand: Deliverance.]
By Jefferson Scott, peoples. Check him out. Sorry I didn't have much of interest to say tonight . . . going off to read . . .  (excuse me while I go off in my brain to think--) James. Yes, in the Bible. And yes, it's the book that talks about how the tongue has a lot of power --to start fires and wound and curse and bless.

books. reading. i love them. :) oh, and pictures. hahaha

 

Okay. Believe it or not, this is my personal least-favorite. I was fiddling around in my little program, and had a bit of fun. :)


I just love the natural light from the window sill. Three angled windows, though you can't see them. They're lovely.

That, my dear, is me. Nevermind that.
Then, that is the lovely copy of Mere Christianity that I got in the mail from my dear friend, Phelisha. :)
That book is sitting atop my favorite composition notebook (journal) to date. :) I decorate my journals. Yes. With a bit of potent permanent marker, by the end of my art session I'm scribbling strange-looking doodles and desperately in need of fresh air.
I'm just kidding.
It doesn't take that long for me to draw/write, etc if I'm inspired. :) Which, this one of course, was inspired. Wow. I love it. And the color of that notebook? couldn't beat it. The best for my favorite colored markers to show up on.

Talk about my favorite collage of these pictures. :) Yup.
These were randomly shot in the kitchen, on a countertop. Heh heh.
Ben, fortunately, is going to undertake the lovely job of refinishing our cabinets in the kitchen, pretty soon. I'm told I'll be helping him sometimes. With sanding. Oh, my favorite job. Yay.
(ah-hehe-hem. not really!!!)
But one can't complain. Especially in the case that I think the finish they've had since they were created . . . . um, quite a while back, is kind of yellowing.
But then, I'm not expert. :)

Today was a tea day. Tomorrow, the world.
Um. I mean... coffee. :)
It's this little schedule-type thing I'm on to assure mi parentals that I'm not addicted to coffee, and therefore can have days that are just tea and water. :) Yep. Cleanse my body. What a wonderful thing.
And it is, isn't it?

But, as I told PJ (Phelisha) the other day, two mugs a day really isn't that much coffee. Especially if you cut it down like I have: 2 days coffee, 1 day no coffee.
The first no-coffee day, I felt like I was on a fast. Have you ever fasted? Urgh, it can be soooo frustrating sometimes. Anna and I did 3 days, at the beginning of this year. Only drinking water and tea.
Ahem . . . I cheated slightly, getting energy and who knows what else by keeping with my everyday tradition of putting honey in my tea. ;)
But yes. I'm getting used to obstaining. Or however you say and/or spell that word.
It makes you enjoy it more when you do have it.
Just like with anything in life, y'know???

Well. I'm off to read more of Faking Grace, by Tamara Leigh.
Pretty good book. It's about a lady faking Christianity to get a job. Very interesting. And yes, it's Christian.
As if you were wondering... :)

What's sad is that Tea With Hezbollah goes back this Saturday, and I'm only like 50 pages into it, and no one else has hardly set hands on it since we brought home from the library. Need to just buy a copy. :) Brilliant idea, right?
Because gosh, I wanted to read more about Ted and Carl going into the Middle East and asking a bunch of random and important people (true story, here) what they think of Jesus' greatest teaching: Love your enemies.

Fascinating. And can you believe I didn't just devote every spare minute to that book?
Bad me.
Well . . . ya'll have a good night. The family's finishing up The Biggest Loser for tonight, and Danny's here tonight and is in a heck of a tired/whiny mood. Needs to be put down. In his bed. To sleep. :)
'Night!

oatmeal and thoughts of a cast list...and very good friends. :)

11:30am

Mmm, I love oatmeal. With a spoonful of turbinado sugar, and a splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. That was breakfast, and randomly I've been thinking I need to post a "cast-list" of sorts... Just so ya'll know who's who when I relay funny stories and such.
So...sometime I have to get that up.

Thank God, stuffy noses are nearly all cleared out in our house, including mine. {And the left ear clogged/muffled all of yesterday was remedied by prayer and garlic potions downed. Haha.} Today, I'm doing a heck of a lot better. Wow. God is so good.

Last night Anna made cauliflower soup. It may sound a bit . . . interesting, but it was so good, once I got over the fear of my ear problem getting worse from the milk in the soup. :) Goodness, it was yummy. Basically, make a white/bechamel sauce, adding chicken broth to that so it's not straight-up-creamy-white-sauce. Steam the cauliflower like normal, but till it's very very mushy. Then you blend half of that with white sauce, and stir all the stuff together. That's the basics, sorry if it's not enough . . . oh, wait. Also, sautee sliced mushrooms, and add those to it, also. Goodness, our family loves mushrooms. :)

I'm very excited for this weekend.
Sisters Jen and PJ, friends of mine and Anna's, are coming in on the tram on Friday. They'll be staying until Tuesday, and we're going to be doing a lot of talking, laughing, taking pictures, drinking coffee, drinking tea, cooking in the kitchen, scrapbooking (no, not me), playing music (me and Jen on our acoustic guitars), going to the library, and lastly, because it'll be sort of the least of all the things we do, watching movies. Like Emma, like Bright Star...I can't remember the other ones we'll do.
The thing is, we haven't seen them since 2007. Wow. So, we have a lot of catching up to do, even though we obviously keep contact by phone and Facebook. Ah, I can't wait! Heck, I'm barely constraining myself from typing smiley-faces at every corner and turn and sentence.

Well, well, well. Laundry needs to be done, because my gosh has it gotten to mountainous heights again after 1 1/2 weeks since I myself have been down there with the sole intent and purpose of doing something about it . . . heh heh.

Last night I read more of Tea With Hezbollah, and yes, it's a very good book. It just took me pushing through the first 20 pages, and then I was hooked. Definitely read it. And have a good Wednesday, because I'm getting off here, going to make myself a nice big coffee mug of green tea and a drizzle of honey.

That, my friend, is one of the things I love. When I'm not in the mood for drinking coffee. :)
There! I posted a smiley-face! hahaha