on repeat.

Also, please listen to this:



Exactly how I feel right now.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

just one more day.

tomorrow i will have finished three semesters of grad school.
tomorrow i will be one step closer to becoming a SLP.
tomorrow i will be free from studying for three weeks.

these happy thoughts, coffee and my iPod are the things keeping me going.

just one more day.

need to make this happen.

top five artists i need to see in concert ASAP:

1. joshua radin
2. ray lamontagne
3. the fray
4. patty griffin
5. the weepies

enough?

all of You
is more than enough for
all of me
for every thirst
and every need
You satisfy me
with Your love
and all i have in You
is more than enough

do i really believe that? recently God has laid this subject on my heart. after a difficult examination of my life, i think i have come to realize that there are some things standing in the way of God truly being enough for me. getting wrapped up in the materialistic things that our culture daily throws in our faces is an area of weakness for me.

i think God has been cultivating a desire in my life to live more simply for quite some time now. i have learned to want and need less and less, and i feel like i have grown tremendously in this area. i challenged myself during Lent this year to only purchase essential items, and God taught me so much during that season about simplifying my life.

however, i still feel the pull to buy things i don't need. i was reading a bit of the Irresistible Revolution today and really identified with a section on the "theology of enough." the author referenced a verse in Proverbs that says:

Give me neither poverty or riches,
but give me only my daily bread
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You
and say, "who is the Lord?"
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:8-9

of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with having money or "things." the problem only lies in what you put your hope in. for me, having too much is something that could easily separate me from the Lord. i want to be able to say that the Lord is really enough for me.

i. love. this.

who dances down the aisle to "forever" at their wedding? these people, i guess, and it looks they had a dang good time doing it. i love it when people are just themselves and don't let tradition or what other people think stand in the way of what they want to do. if you want to dance to chris brown at your wedding, do it. if you want to wear jeans to your wedding, do it. if you want to have cupcakes instead of a cake at your wedding, do it (that's what i'll be doing). live it up!

broadway, baby!

i've been in a musical mood today (favorite of the day: Rent). i just love them. seriously, how can you not love people randomly breaking out in song? wouldn't life be a little sweeter if that happened every so often?

i am quite ready to see Wicked (for the third time!) this weekend. a little trip to Oz is always welcome.

random facts.

in case you wanted to know...

- i am the proud owner of a Hello Kitty toaster that, no joke, prints Hello Kitty's face on every piece of toast. how cool is that?
- i prefer to drink most cold beverages out of pint glasses (like the ones you would get beer in at a bar).
- i love buying school supplies. it makes me so happy to get a new notebook and a fresh package of pens.
- i would love to live somewhere in the Southeast. i particularly adore South Carolina's whimsy.
- i get really excited about Halloween, and i have to bust out the jack-o-lantern decorations on the very first day of October.

what if?

And If I stumble, and if I stall
And if I slip now, and if I should fall
And if I can't be, all that I could be
Will you, will you wait for me?

what if we could love people in this way? to love in such a way that is free from judgment and free from expectation. to not dismiss people their time of need, but to love them and support them. why do we look down upon those who we think are worse off than we are? are we afraid that they will figure out that we don't have it all together either?

God is continuously waiting for us. He knows we are works in progress. He doesn't ask that we be perfect, just that we are open to changing. i know i fall down all the time. i make my fair share of mistakes. but through the grace and love of the Lord, i can be redeemed. how amazing it is to be able to take that gift of grace that God shows us and extend it to others. i want to live to love others in the same way He loves us.

what if we all loved in that way? what could happen then?

lovely weekend.

harry potter. duck pond. late-night conversations. mini-road trip. away we go. laughter. pops. personality tests. church. the earth deli.

time well spent with a wonderful friend.

chocolat goodness

if you haven't seen the movie Chocolat, you need to watch it. here is one reason, among many: beautiful truths.

"We can't go around measuring our goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include."

sometimes a song says it best

i feel this:

I went up to the mountain
Because you asked me to
Up over the clouds
To where the sky was blue
I could see all around me
Everywhere
I could see all around me
Everywhere

Sometimes I feel like
I've never been nothing but tired
And I'll be working
Till the day I expire
Sometimes I lay down
No more can I do
But then I go on again
Because you ask me to

Some days I look down
Afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines
I see nothing at all
Then I hear your sweet voice, oh
Oh, come and then go, come and then go
Telling me softly
You love me so

The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It's there I will go
Sooner or later
It's there I will go

-"Up to the Mountain," Patty Griffin

wise words.

"If the praise of man elates me and his blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

-Amy Carmichael

cowboy take me away

confession: i have a bit of a penchant for country music. maybe it's because i grew up in the "south," or maybe it's because i have a lot of friends who have insisted i listen to it, but i enjoy it on occasion.

at one point i considered myself a city girl through and through, so the idea of listening to country music was completely unappealing to me. however, now i find something so real about country music. i think it speaks to the more carefree aspect of my soul, the part that just wants to kick up my heels and say "yee-haw!" (ok, i never really want to say that, but you get the idea). the music is entertaining and the lyrics are simple and always tell a story, whether it be uplifting or heartbreaking.

also, the idea of being in "the country," completely free, with no buildings or lights or loud noises sounds divine. the weight of my daily dependence on my planner and my cell phone is heavy. to be able to spend time with no schedule and no restrictions, nothing but God and wide open spaces (and maybe a cowboy of my own) sounds absolutely perfect.

i wanna walk and not run
i wanna skip and not fall
i wanna look at the horizon
and not see a building standing tall
i wanna be the only one
for miles and miles
except for maybe you
and your simple smile

oh it sounds good to me
yes it sounds so good to me

cowboy take me away
fly this girl as high as you can
into the wild blue
set me free, oh i pray
closer to heaven above
and closer to you

-dixie chicks

p.s. i just saw keith urban perform this weekend, and it was an excellent concert!

my prayer

chains be broken
lives be healed
eyes be opened
christ is revealed

-hillsong

uncovering my vintage heart

growing up, whenever my mom and i went shopping we always had to hit a thrift store or vintage shop. i hated it. rather, if there is an emotion harsher than hate, that was how i felt. it drove me crazy to browse at those stores, impatiently waiting on my mom to find whatever "junk" she could. at that point in my life, i was very much attracted to all things new and trendy. owning anything that was "old" or that had previously been used by someone else was appalling to me.

i find it quite humorous and ironic that now i find much intrigue in vintage and antique things, things from previous eras: clothes, household items, architecture, music. i think there is something so charming about old things. they have a story. they've been used and loved. they've played a role in shaping someone's life at a certain time. it's fascinating to imagine what the person who used to own them might have been like.

i haven't fully delved into the world of vintage shops yet, but it's on the list of things to do. i'd absolutely love to find some steals to add to my wardrobe or to furnish my future grown-up apartment. it's going to be wonderful to go on a search for things that are new to me, old to someone else.

thank you, mom, for introducing me to vintage treasures.

another reason why i love my (future) career

i have a class this summer on swallowing disorders. that probably sounds incredibly dull. i mean, who cares about how you swallow anyway? well, you probably would if you couldn't eat or if you had gobs of saliva pouring out of your mouth because you couldn't swallow (did you know the average person produces one liter of saliva a day?). it's a fascinating thing to learn about and quite important for our survival and quality of life.

one of our assignments for this class is to have a fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) done on us. we will have a tiny camera stuck through our nose and down into our throat to watch how we swallow. it's a little creepy, but it's going to be so awesome to see.

also, next year i will get to do a rotation with head and neck cancer and trauma patients at a hospital where we get to do swallow studies and watch surgeries where they remove the larynx. i cannot wait.

seriously, in what other field can your responsibilities span from playing games with preschoolers to working with patients who have just had major surgery? i love speech pathology.

current happiness.

• four weeks of school left, then three weeks of freedom before the fall semester


• the unintentional humor of preschoolers


• cupcakes and coffee, i.e. Cuppies & Joe (love this place)


• sales at the Gap


• weekend getaways to see friends


• discovering local restaurants


• G-chat


• trying new beers


• the upcoming release date of the sixth Harry Potter movie

radical.

on the heels of the last book i read, Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell, and my weekend revelation that i'm quite liberal in my political beliefs (yet still somewhat conservative), comes the next book in my stack, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne. i am beyond excited to read this book. here's an excerpt:

"I have a confession I'm sure many of you will find refreshing and familiar. I don't really fit into the old liberal-conservative boxes, so it's a good thing that we are moving onto something new. My activist friends call me conservative, and my religious friends call me liberal. What I often get branded is radical. But radical is not something reserved for saints and martyrs, which is why I like to compliment it with ordinary. Ordinary does not mean normal, and I lament the dreadful seduction which has resulted in Christians becoming so normal. Thankfully, there is a movement of ordinary radicals sweeping the land, and ordinary people are choosing to live in radical new ways."

here's to the ordinary radicals who are out there fighting for justice and peace while following in the footsteps of the ultimate radical, Jesus. i can only hope to live in a way that i could be counted as one of them.

what's going on?

this video was made after 9/11, but i was recently listening to the original marvin gaye version on my iPod and was reminded of it. the problems we faced when this song was written are still present today and are probably even more prominent now than ever. i know that so often it's overwhelming to realize how messed up the world is, but that doesn't mean that we have to feel hopeless. change starts with you and me, with our attitudes and actions. i love what it says in the song and depicts in the video about dropping labels and prejudices, ending poverty and war, coming together and loving people.

we can help, even in the smallest of ways. find something to stand for. choose a cause to support. at the risk of sounding horribly trite, i really do believe we can all make a difference somewhere for someone else. and who knows, maybe someday that effort you make may turn into a revolution.

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
-Bishop Desmond Tutu

you've got mail

oh, how i love the sheer joy received from opening my mailbox and finding a letter waiting for me!

i know most people view snail mail as old fashioned and inconvenient. however, i see it as incredibly charming and sincere. i love seeing the handwriting of my friends or family on the page, each one of them unique and special. there is something so powerful to me about reading what my friend took the time to write so that i could read it just a few days later. e-mail is wonderful and quick, however, it cannot compare to the experience of receiving a written letter.

my love language is words of affirmation (if you haven't read the book The Five Love Languages, you should. it will change your life). encouraging and kind words make me feel most loved. i think this is one of the reasons why letters and notes are so appealing to me.

i will, of course, accept words of affirmation in all forms (spoken, e-mail, facebook messages, etc), however, letters are the way to my heart. now, if only i could find a man who would write me love letters. wishful thinking, i suppose.

return of the pie maker and chuck

pushing daisies season two comes out on DVD july 21! i absolutely cannot wait. no other show has quite captured what pushing daisies did with its clever story lines, charming characters and whimsical wardrobe. creative genius.

p.s. i need to marry lee pace (aka ned).