Beauty.

"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

Lately.

My family traveled to North Carolina for my cousins graduation back at the end of May....sadly, I didn't get any pictures with my cousin (my camera died for awhile)...but I did manage to take two pictures of places we visited:

The first being a horticulture garden where you can explore and get ideas for your own yard. It was beautiful, and not something I would normally enjoy.....but I did enjoy it immensely. It was so calming (and I found this cute little door):


The second was an airport in the middle of NOWHERE, North Carolina that also housed a BBQ place. One of my fondest memories growing up was finding these places all over the sticks of North Carolina so I welcomed that we were trying a local favorite in one of my favorite states.


Recently, I've been ultra busy with work and showers -- baby, lingerie, etc. We had a sip and see at the country club for my sweet friend AH and her daughter Anna Dixon. It was a blessing! (The baby was being passed around when this pic was taken.)

Campbell's created the cake based on the invite. It was so cute and YUM!

These are a few of my friends at Laura's lingerie shower.

Me and Laura.

Kathy and I. I was trying to teach her how to slim her face up in a picture. I've seemingly mastered it (or I've lost weight). We were almost crying we were laughing so hard.

Being Stalked.

These days being stalked has become the norm. We all know that by even having a Facebook page we are being watched. Carefully. Our friends, acquaintances, retailers, marketers, etc. What we may not realize is that anywhere you go on the web, there is something tracking you. Your habits, your likes, your trends, patterns, desires, etc. It's really kind of freaky. The analytics reports have become so intelligent its ridiculous the amount of information they have on us and how easily it is to target us.

If I type an email in my gmail account about _______, google suggests links to read further about _______ at the top of the page. It's saying to me, "I'm reading your emails. Big brother lives and exists in the internet."

So one day recently I found this site: Modcloth. I think it was through a friend at work but I honestly don't remember. And today when checking my facebook, I noticed I was being targeted by one of their ads (perfect example of them following me to the places I go). So I clicked the link (doing what the proper target should do -- hey look, I work in advertising). And found these pretty dresses.




The site kind of makes me think of Anthropologie, but the prices are much happier. And we all love happy prices! Here's to being stalked!

Helpmate.

This weekend I gracefully backed out of my fun weekend travel plans and bowed in to getting my home in order. If you know me you know I live in a state of organized chaos, complete with a little OCD that causes me to be crazy about being clean...but because I go so hard, those "crazy clean" times have to be planned and become quite consuming.

So, that's what I did this weekend.

• I cleaned the freezer (my dad and movers let a diet coke explode in it when I moved in -- in October)
  
• I cloroxed my kitchen
• I cloroxed my bathrooms
• I swept/dust-mopped/mopped my floors
• I dusted
• I did five loads of laundry (including cleaning my bathrugs)
• I mowed my yard
• I killed weeds
• I fed my plants (yes, really...I "fed" them)
• I put out 15 bails of pine straw
• I put about 20 boxes in my attic
• I "straightened" up my garage and swept
• I changed the sheets on my bed

My garage before I took over. 1/2 of it is my parents crap -- it looks so much better. I forgot to take an after photo.



And then I went to the pool.

Ridiculous that I just wrote all that out but sometimes I want to remember that when I am so tired at the end of the day and feel like doing nothing, I am capable of all of the above in a 16-hour period. I also say all of that to remember how challenging as an individual it is to do those things by yourself. It is oftentimes in those "crazy clean" times, I have the sweetest and most memorable conversations with the Lord. And sometimes they aren't sweet, but more of a cry of being forsaken. Saturday I had one. It was sweet. A time of being reminded that relationships are not for our own well-being. Not just for us to be loved. Relationships were created in order to be helpmates for one another. I am so grateful the Lord reminds me of that and pushes me toward prayer for my helpmate. For I need a helpmate, while I want great love. Need is greater than want but I believe he is preparing both. So thankful he grants me such sweet wisdom in the wait.