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Words To Live By

There are millions billions of cheesy, inspirational quotes out there to "brighten your day". They come in your Hallmark cards, charity brochures and probably even cereal boxes (the fact that Cheerios will lower your cholesterol is inspiring right?). While comforting a friend today, I threw one out of my own...

(You're laughing...ha, I knew it. Should have kept it to myself....well for those of you who can get over my very own cheesiness, keep on reading for something slightly deeper.)

Why as people, and more specifically girls, is it so hard for us to just let go? Someone complements our hair and we automatically say how gross it looks "but thanks!" (I'm a culprit of this!) How come we can't just be in the moment whether it's going for a run, reading a book, laying in the grass (or in Dallas, the pool) without constantly making judgements and worrying about how we look...

Remembered

We love your kingdom, O God, with its promise of justice, its feeling of compassion, its dimensions of joy and hope, its sense of eternity. In our times of darkest despair, it encourages us. In our moments of deepest exhaustion with life it bids us stand and go forward. Therefore we pray for those this morning who have come here tired and discouraged for any reason, that they may remember that your kingdom is both now and forever, and that the seeds of belief and trust may be reawakened in their lives, to bring them once more to a harvest of love and excitement in living. Help us to voice to you our most intimate thoughts, and, having done so, to find healing and support for our entire existence. Amen.

- Credit: St. Andrew United Methodist and Brian Wellman

Finally Found - A Place To Call Home

Yes, you read that right - I turned in a lease application today at The Park in The Village. It's located at Lovers and Amesbury. It's a "quaint" (yea, I guess I'll use that word) 1 bedroom apartment on the 2nd floor close to the pool. It has all new appliances and carpet as well as a fresh coat of paint. Laundry facilities are just at the end of the building. I'm really happy about my final decision because I'm going to be saving about $250 a month living at this place instead. Now I'm on the hunt for a couch (might already have one lined up...), a TV, a coffee table, some dining chairs....oh man this could get ugly. If anyone's got connections to people who are selling stuff, be sure to let me know!

I've got some decorating plans in mind that go along with a nautical, navy/white theme (what else would you expect) with some pops of orange and mint candy apple. hmmm we'll see - I promise to post a few pics and maybe even some DIY inspiration along the way.

My Lazy Friday Evening

Me...

plus 

plus

plus 

equals a GREAT evening. 

William & Kate - the world wishes you well. May you have a blessed marriage with many years of health and happiness!

One year down...a whole lot to go

March 25th, 2010 - I got a call that changed everything. It was my first job offer. A real big girl job! I was about to give a tour of the SMU to a bunch of prospective students, when my phone rang and the voice on the other end said "We'd like to offer you the position". It was just a thrill to be able to share the good news with my tour group as parents constantly ask what your post-grad plans are when they find out that their tour guide is a graduating senior. What a joy it was to be able to tell them that I had a job!

NOOKbook Reading List

I love reading on my NOOK which is a big surprise because I normally love paperback books. I also love that I can store a wishlist on my NOOK so I always have a new book pending. Here is my list at this point:

Any other suggestions? Have you read any of these? Reviews?

A House To Call Home

We just may solved the housing issue but I don't want to jinx it. For those of you who were worried about me being homeless, thank you and you can no longer panic. I'll be sure to post a full update on this situation on Monday.

This Changes Everything...

My church has been doing a sermon series with the following theme:
Ever had something happen in your life that completely changed everything about your life?  Maybe a phone call, an accident, a chance meeting, a discovery? Whatever it was, after "it" happened, nothing in your life was ever the same. Jesus was the catalyst for that type of change for the people he encountered. Sometimes it was a chance encounter with him on the street. And sometimes it was something he did for all the public to see. Regardless, those who encountered Christ usually walked away saying, "This Changes Everything".

There have been a few times in my life when I thought "wow, this changes everything..." - graduating high school, moving away to college, graduating college, etc. Lately, there hasn't been any huge, life changing events happen until this weekend. The management company of the lovely, over-sized townhouse we live in just raised the rent...$500 so it would now cost us over $1000 each. INSANE and totally unacceptable. Long story short, we're all moving and not together. This is where the "this changes everything" part comes in. One of my roommates is taking a huge leap of faith and possibly moving in with her boyfriend and my other roommate is branching out on her own to live by herself for the first time ever! Now you're thinking "And where the heck do you think you're going to live, missy?"

Busy Little Bee

Back in December I know this post outlining events that were coming up and things I wanted to do. I thought it might be good to revisit this list and see what I have accomplished and what events I need to add to the list....

Books I want(ed) to read: (instead I've been reading Businessweek and finance books...)

• Shantaram - started it!
• The Devil In the White City
• Water for Elephants (before the movie comes out!) - read it, can't wait for the movie staring my FAVORITE, Reese Witherspoon
• The Help - bought it, didn't read it, then gave it to Becca (must purchase the digital copy for my Nook)

You throw like a girl!

Well it should probably read - You Swing Like A Girl... but here's the catch, I don't! I found out last night that my clubhead speed is 90mph! That is within the range of the swing speed of the average male golfer (read: NOT Tiger Woods). I'm not going to lie...I was pretty impressed if you don't mind me tooting my own horn.

And now I've been bit by the bug again...the golf bug to be exact. Always strikes right around this time of year - possibly because the Masters is on and I get to watch dreamy Adam Scott  make birdies left and right and yet he comes in tied for second, sad day....  Back in high school, golf season would just be starting. We probably would have had a couple of matches already and taken our annual yearbook picture. The JV team would have 75 girls in the picture who came out to practice the first day and never came back again. Figures, they just wanted to try to meet the cute golf boys.

Margaux Webster Sarin

My sister, wow, is honestly one of the coolest people I know. Mom, if you're reading this, I really mean it!! I know it's pretty hard to believe but my sister and I used to fight...bad. We are only 2 years apart so there was a lot of hair pulling, face scratching and chaos in our household. As kids, we both rode horses which caused a lot of competition between us. However, we soon branched out on our own paths and have gotten closer every year. Now, we talk almost every other day and we actually like to hang out with each other, not to mention miss each other.

The basics:
She's 20 years old (but she'll want me to tell you that she'll be 21 on June 29th, let the countdown begin!)
She has light brown hair and brown eyes and she's taller...taller than me.
She's a junior at UMASS Amherst.
She's an Alpha Chi Omega.
She had her appendix out in Ecuador.
She speaks pretty good Spanish.
She used to call me Ya-Ya when she couldn't say my name. Now she calls me San-San. Somethings never change.
She loves animals especially our cats (Mikey-RIP, Maddie-RIP and Millie).

Fool-proof healthy muffins

I promise you, these are the easiest and most delicious muffins I've every had/made. You will love them too mainly because they are so easy and bonus HEALTHY! Thank Picky-Palate for the great recipe!

“Healthier” Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 Tablespoons softened butter
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 Cup plain low-fat vanilla yogurt (I happened to have Yoplait Banana Cream Pie yogurt on hand so I just used that)
2/3 Cup sugar
heaping 1/4 Cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 Cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 Cup coarse sugar (I used Turbinado sugar)
1/2 Cup shredded sweetened coconut (I didn't add this)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place butter, eggs, bananas, yogurt, sugar and peanut butter into a large mixing bowl. Mix to combine. Place all dry ingredients into a separate large bowl and stir to combine. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with the chocolate chips until just combined. Scoop into muffin tins lined with paper cups 2/3 way full. Sprinkle with coarse sugar and shredded coconut. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center.

12 muffins

This recipe can be found here. 

"All my life I've been good, but now...."

It probably took me a good 3-4 weeks to realize that this song "What the Hell" that they've been playing on the radio for a while now was in fact by Avril Lavigne. Way to make a comeback, Avril. It's been years since I've listening to Sk8ter Boi and get Avril still looks exactly the same as she did 7 years ago....she clearly knows all the anti-aging secrets.

Are your ears bored?

I rarely listen to the radio since I typically just play music from my iPod in the car. However, lately I've been pretty bored with what's on my iPod and what's on the radio. After listening to the Mumford & Sons album on repeat for about a month now, I think I'm ready for something new (or for them to come out with another album). Luckily, my friends are great music connoisseurs and are always suggesting new bands to listen to. Pandora stations are also a great way to learn about new bands/musicians (but I've even been getting bored of that!) Below are a few favorites from the latest suggestions that I've received. Don't worry friends, you'll get credit where credit's due. Also, if you're looking for a great site to look up/listen to specific songs/albums try Grooveshark. It's FREE and totally awesome.

Start Beginning - Nizlopi
This suggestion comes from Stew Fuller who's always jamming out to something great. While sadly this band is no longer together, they've left behind a few great albums that really hit the spot. Great music for chilling out or playing in the background at the office (since I'm rarely on a beach somewhere "chilling out).


I Got - Young the Giant
This suggestion comes from Mitch Brown and it is not his first. He's been known to make awesome mix CDs with all kinds of great "discoveries" on them. This band it relatively new (1 year old) and has some great upbeat stuff to get you through the "4pms on friday".



January Wedding - The Avett Brothers
Big thanks to Crooked Tree Coffee House and all the amazing music they play. This song quickly became one of my favorites from The Avett Brothers. Most of you (um yea I'm talking to my 7 readers) have probably heard of them but I just particularly like this song. And who's better to blend harmonies to perfectly then two brothers (Scott and Seth Avett).



Let me know what you think and as always, send over any and all music suggestions!

The Roof Is On Fire

...Ok well maybe not the roof, but the oven was definitely on fire last night. That's right, this kitchen perfectionist screwed up and set the oven on fire last night while trying to bake the most perfect french apple tart. This all happened because we're missing our particularly useful jelly roll pan. Basically, it's a cookie sheet with 1 inch sides all the way around. GreatPerfect for baking tarts, roasting veggies, basically anything that you need a shallow flat pan for where juices might run. Since this pan is missing, I opted to bake the tart on a regular, side-less cookie sheet. HUGE mistake. On top of that, I got a little carried away with the butter and added more than I should have. Butter + hot oven + side-less pan = butter all over the bottom of the oven, which then lit on fire. I'm talking full blown flames. (If I hadn't been so worried about burning my house down, or better yet, burning the tart, I would have taken a few pictures.) So after successfully retrieving the tart from the flaming oven, which required reaching my own oven mit covered hands INTO the flames....and setting off the fire alarm, the flames subsided and all was well again at Thomas Manor. The tart finished cooking in the toaster oven on the bake setting but with the excessive amount of butter I added, the outside edges were the really only edible parts. Delicious nevertheless!

But the real issue here is not the fire, believe it or not. It's my pride. Confession: I am a PERFECTIONIST in the kitchen. I have actually been known to throw away whole cakes/cookies just because they weren't pretty. I rarely have such disasters happen in the kitchen because I'm careful to choose the right tools and ingredients as well as learning all kinds of tips/tricks from watching the food network and my mom. So as the flames are spilling out of the oven last night, all I could think about was how I didn't want my roommates to know - that I had royally screwed up in the kitchen.

Moral of the story: A little hurt pride is always better than running the risk of setting your house on fire.

Spring has sprung in Dallas!

Pictures from Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark from when my mom came to visit!

While Dallas has been experiencing temps in the high 70s for a few weeks now, today officially marks the first day of spring! We've now survived the cold, dark, dreary winter (read: mild, slightly snowy and sunny in the case of Dallas) and the warmer temperatures are moving in. My roommate bought me beautiful daffodils for my birthday that have been blooming in our kitchen for weeks. A few weeks ago, I planted a few pots of fresh herbs that are beginning to sprout and give off their wonderful herby scents. Keelie bought a gorgeous orange geranium from the farmer's market and now our front porch looks so fresh! This is the first time I've spent a full cycle of seasons in Dallas and it's been really beautiful to see the transformation. Each day, as I drive to work, I take note of the progress of all the blooming trees with their sweet white blossoms. Lucky for me, I just took a photography class yesterday and I'm feeling more inspired than ever to get outside and capture this season. For now, the pictures below will have to do...

Found on Pinterest and cutestfood.com

Favorite perfume

Off to a rough start

So it's only 8:30am on this lovely Tuesday morning and you're wondering how could someone be having such a bad day already?! Well  here are the details of this morning's events:

• Woke up at 6am for bible study to a SCREAMING headache so I decided to sleep in
• Woke up again at 7am, turned on a the shower and alas, no hot water - I'm talking only ice cold water. I think there were actually icicles forming inside my shower.
• Now that I'm running late because of the shower fiasco, I throw on some clothes and run out the door only to find that the heel of my awesome Cole Haan pumps is wobbly and probably needs repair. 
• Jump in the car and realize there is very little gas in it - just barely enough to get me all the way to work without having to stop at the gas station (which I obviously didn't want to do in my wobbly heels and the 38 degree temps)

Needless to say, I was probably a little dramatic this morning - much worse things could have gone wrong. I couldn't help remembering one of my favorite childrens books this morning...and feeling a bit like Alexander. Can I have a redo on this morning? Or better yet, I'd like to just go back to bed until tomorrow...

How should I spend the next 40 days?

Today marks the first day of Lent - it is Ash Wednesday, the "holiday" where everyone comes back from their lunch break with ash crosses on their foreheads and declarations to give up Diet Coke, Facebook, Chocolate, etc. Confession: Lent sort of snuck up on me. I didn't really think about what I was going to give up or maybe even take on during these next 40 days. In 7th grade I gave up TV and I'm proud to say that I lasted for over 20 days! In 8th grade, I tried to give up homework - kids, that never works. Even though schools are supposed to respect your religious beliefs, that one somehow doesn't fly. After that, I tried to take on something instead of giving up something - working out, eating right, spending less, all the cliches.

This morning, I clicked on a link to an article (that I found while Facebook stalking, ugh) that actually really hit home.

Lent Isn’t About Denial — It’s About Transformation

by Julie Clawson 02-17-2010

The point of Lent is not denial.

But for a long time I thought it was. Everything I heard about Lent revolved around acts of self-denial. It was all about what object or habit one would give up and how hard it was to deny oneself of that thing. Of course that denial was meant to help one think about God and Christ’s sacrifice, but in truth the focus was always on the act of denial itself. The question always is, “what are you giving up for Lent?” as if that is what the season is about.

On one hand it’s understandable that we miss the point of Lent. In our religious traditions rituals and legalism are far easier to promote, understand, and implement than spirituality and faith. We can grasp rules. It is far easier to tell kids to obey rules than to explain to them why they should desire to act rightly. They then end up following the rules simply because the rules exist. When it comes to Lent we often do the same, denying ourselves something for the sake of denial. We give up chocolate or Facebook, thinking the act of denial is the purpose of Lent. And we end up missing the point.

But Lent isn’t about denial; it is about transformation. It is the season in which we prepare to encounter Christ’s sacrifice by endeavoring to become more Christ like ourselves. Transformation is about letting ourselves be filled with God’s presence so that we can be shaped by God’s grace. Our acts of kenosis — denying ourselves in order to empty ourselves enough to allow God to fill us — are means to an end. They are disciplines that prepare us to be transformed. We deny ourselves so that we can be reborn as new creations — to live more fully as the kingdom citizens God desires us to be.

So I am very tentative in choosing what disciplines I will follow during Lent to open myself up to God’s transforming power. I’ve discovered that for me personally, legalistic denial for the sake of denial often achieves the opposite purpose. Giving up coffee doesn’t make me a better follower of Christ, it just makes me more irritable. Giving up Facebook doesn’t help me build community in the body of Christ; it simply helps me as a detached introverted person creep further into my shell. Those disciplines don’t assist me in emptying myself in order to let God in; they simply fill me with more of me.

I’ve come to learn that in order to become more fully the person God wants me to be, I instead need to make sacrifices that actually allow me to achieve those ends. Often those sacrifices are less about personal denial, and more about following disciplines that encourage me to love others more. In the past I’ve attempted to eat more ethically or shop fairly — which of course required discipline and sacrifice on my part (and a bit of denial as well), but the outcome of these outwardly focused changes was far more personally transformative than if I had just eliminated something from my life for forty days.

So for me the question for Lent is not “what am I giving up?” but instead “what can I do to allow God to transform me this season?” The answers to those questions might be the same for some people; for me, changing the question shifted how I observed Lent. Whatever the case, I think it is important to understand what the ultimate purpose is behind why we engage in certain disciplines unless we miss their very point.
Julie Clawson is the author of Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices. She blogs at julieclawson.com and emergingwomen.us.

Perfectly Captured Moment

Photo cred: Carolyn Angiolillo and ThisIsGlamourous