Blame it on the...

This is the way I like to listen to pop music!
 I can be exposed to it, but not overwhelmed or sucked into everything it entails (questionable morals/lyrics).
My kinda music :)


I liked the one from last year soo much!
However, I felt that it had a bit more variety whereas this year's video was very heavy on r&b/artists with multiple songs or I just wasn't familiar with many of them like I was last year (and for good reason).

For comparison's sake.

or Pete's sake.

or whoever:

Last year's Blame It On The Pop


Thoughts?
Comments?
Concerns?

A recipe for a blog

In light of some goals&dreams, I have decided to make some changes here in my blog & in my life.

*warning, this becomes a sort of "this is the house that Jack built" post in how it builds on ideas
please bear with me :)*

First, let me tell you something: I love stories.
The reason why I first started reading blogs was because I loved to follow along with someone's life, see where they were & where they were going.
Then, I started writing things on my own blog because, well, I like stories. I like to remember where I came from, where I'm at, and where I might end up. I like seeing and knowing history, whether in my life, in the things in my life, or in things in general.
When I read blogs, it isn't always what a blog looks like that draws me in, but what it actually says. If someone has a nice layout and a muted background, but talks about things I do not stand for or am completely uninterested in, I will quickly click away from that blog & move on.
The same goes with spelling. If you can't spell, edit, or even take the time to proofread, maybe use more pictures or links to express yourself :)

Also, I'm sentimental, which contributes a lot to me being a pack rat. Liking stories & being sentimental about them equals a never-throw-anything-away Grace. But that is for another time & place.

Anyways, because I like stories, I also like pictures.
Pictures show a visual story of someone's life and very clearly demonstrates with great visual acuity the past & present of someone.

Also, because I like stories, am sentimental, and like pictures, I also like videos.
I do not like to simply read/learn about someone, become familiar with their life, and recognize their face, it's also helpful to hear their voice. Hearing someone's voice can come from their own personal videos, but most often it comes the way they write, include pictures, how honest they are, and what type of personal information they share. A good example I can think of is: . On her blog, Molly uses just the right amount of words to explain herself, she shares things that are important to her, and she develops her literary voice by using different fonts, font sizes, and colors.

After addressing some main things, here is one last thing: I like blogs that spark creativity.
For me, some blogs are purely fore inspiring in that they lack written stories in favor of visual stories.
I also like good mixes in a blog. Blogs that inspire, have a clear voice, share stories, and pictures take the cake for me. These are the ones I click back to over time.

In the end, some of the changes I want to make:
.being honest.
I want to reason in writing why I understand/like/dislike/love/hate/am intrigued by certain things.

.share more stories.
Big or small, if it's important enough for me to want to remember in 2 months, I'll share it!

.share more pictures
(Which means I need to actually take some.)

.create a clear voice.
I think I'm on track for this, but need to bump things up visually/design-wise. Not to worry, things are in the works.

.expand my blog-iverse
By commenting on favorite blogs, sharing on other blogs, and sharing myself with others, and sharing my blog with family/friends.

.share more & often!

Ugh.

Ugh.

That sister of mine.


Little voice of reason is a better title.

I know, I know- I need to go to bed.
I stay up late way too often & then my days get all funky.

Thanks for being the willpower I don't have.



Darn night owl.
That's a fitting title for sheepish little, ol' me :)

jan. 17-21

In one week I have:
.painted my nails
.made a huge batch of yummy soup
.watched about 3 disks of Friends,
.un-decorated my apt. from Christmas  : (
.gone to Bako & back,
.earnestly job searched,
.cried so much I think I broke blood vessels in my eyes,
.decided where I'm going to live (here, with trips home during the week for awhile),
.renewed my lease,
.given a Christmas gift,
.took down my Christmas tree,
.talked to my older sister on the phone for 45 min. (this is huuge for us -we're not phone people),
.gone to Bako & back,
.gone to church in Bako & here in Fresyes,
.prayed -a TON,
.cried so much I feel like I now have a sinus cold,
.told my sister many, many times: "With everything going on in our family, we can't ever, ever get mad at each other too!"
.slept terribly. in bed at 12 + lie awake til 2:30 + wake up at 9 = exhaustion
.read really inspiring things like: Psalm 4:8

"I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O Lord,
make me dwell in safety."

by: thewheatfield via etsy

I found this last night when I could not sleep until I had journaled, prayed, & found a comforting verse from la Biblia, Ps. 4:8

.I saw things like: this etsy print -->

.read things like: this funny post
.became obsessed with my new hat
.picked up these things from the library:
-The Cookbook Collector: A Novel. by Allegra Goodman.
-Counting on God by New Life Worship
-Craft, Inc.: turn your creative hobby into a business. by Meg Mateo Ilasco.
-Delivering Happiness: a path to profits, passion, and purpose. by Tony Hsieh
-Sex and the city. Volume 2  .please no judgement
-Very Merry Christmas. by Dave Barnes
.Measure B & the library make me happy!

Today, I am choosing joy, love, & peace.
I am choosing Psalm 3-5
I'm choosing a fun sized kit-kat (or four)
& a cute outfit :)




Psalm 3-5:
Ch. 3
O Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
Many are saying of my,
"God will not deliver him."

Selah.

But you are a shield around me, O Lord;
you bestow your glory on me and lift up
my head.
To the Lord I cry aloud,
and he answers me from his holy hill.

Selah.

I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
I will not fear the tens of thousands
drawn up against me on every side.

Arise, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.

Selah.

From the Lord comes deliverance.May your blessing be on your people.

Selah.

Ch. 4
Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

Selah.

How long, O men, will you turn my glory
into shame?
How long will you love delusions and
seek false gods?

Selah.

Know that the Lord has set apart the godly
for himself;
the Lord will hear when I call to him.

In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.

Selah.

Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the Lord.

Many are asking, "Who can show us any
good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.
You have fulfilled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine
abound.
I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you, alone, O Lord,
make me dwell in safety.
Ch. 5
Give ear to my words, O Lord,
consider my sighing.
Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray.In the morning, O Lord, you hear my
voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before
you
and wait in expectation.

You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.
You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men
the Lord abhors.

But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies--
make straight your way before me.

Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.
Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.

But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as
with a shield."

Amen!

musings of JanuarylyDecemberly

*As I've been working on my blog the last few days,
I've found some things in my draft folder.
Some are still relevant so I thought I would still share them.
It's always cool to look back -even if only a few weeks back!*

This is a combo post of things from December-January.

Hence the weird title of this post & made up words.

Yes, I like to make up words & add on suffixes.
It stems from my older sister.
So sue me. 

except.........don't

If you can handle an extremely emotionally driven post, here's: An Edited Thanksgiving from November 27th

If you're a list person, and apparently I am, here are 23 Things (12/5/10)

bittersweet, part dos it's a little look in on my life during my very last finals week. ever! (12/13/10)

Here's a look at where my heart was in the first of January (1.3.11): End of The Year

Much, much lighter reading: mukluk weather (1.9.11)

a haberdashery jumble of "lately's": seen on 1.17.11 here
*Also, this was when I received my first ever comments from 2 whole people I know simply from blogs! And one even followed! (When I told my friend about the comments- she asked if they were famous because I was so excited. I then explained, that they aren't, but it's just so exciting for me to have people actually reading about what's going on in my little life, head, & heart!)*

And if you forgot how to use that little thing we call a mouse to do the little maneuver we call 'scrolling down', here's a look at my most recent post at Thus Far....



And now, onto bigger & better things!

here's something I started on last night on Thursday, January 20th:

So what if I had my Christmas tree up -fully adorned until January ...?

And then unadorned until January ....?


I like it!
And it makes my living room cozy.
And I like to turn on the lights at night. and in the morning. and before I leave so they'll be on when I come back home.

And, I feel  like my tree is more generic tree than most. I mean, sure, it's obviously a tree you use at Christmas time, but why can't it be a Valentine's Tree? Or uh, Washington's birthday tree?
And expensive things like fake Christmas trees should be put to better use than for just a few weeks out of a whole year.
Kinda like tennis shoes. You can wear them year-round.
Not that you always want to or need to, and not that you even should in the summer. -my feet are super claustrophobic in the summer & there is cold concrete to be walked on!
but still, you can wear them year round.

Anyways, back to the tree, I finally took it down last night with my friend.
It's kind of an awkward chore so a helper is nice -especially if your tree is a substantial size, kinda brittle, & heavy like my free tree is that I scored from my childhood-next-door-neighbor-adopted-grandparents.

Did I mention it was free?

Oh and did I mention it's from the 70's?
It looks & acts pretty good for it's age!

And no, I do not have the pictures of the flocked one I could have had.

Read: a flocked tree made in the 70's = hot mess in 2010.

Insert a big, drawwn-out :       Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!


Despite the well intended gift of said flocked yucky tree, I have enjoyed the lesser of two evils of said 70's trees.

So, here's a hearty: Thank you Mrs. Fab!

(Don't you wish your name was Fabrizius so you could go by Mrs. Fab? -pronounced like young & fabulous/fab-)

and that's the end of my tale.


P.S. Question: how is it that twenty whole days have gone by another year, this year of 2011?? Can someone answer that for me?
How has your first 20 days of 2011 been?

Thus far...

I've had a crazy December & January.
To Say The Least!
And, I've been working on making changes in my life and my blog.
At first, I thought I could cut corners simply to please myself and achieve my end goals (speaking very figuratively here).
And you know what? After doing some thinking, praying, & searching, I know for certain that that is a very vain & pathetic way to live. Attempting the last step in a 20 step process will not allow you to have desired results. On top of that, you will not be able to learn, grow, meet challenges, face adversity, or make tough decisions. By cutting corners this way, you cannot enjoy the process of growing & finally achieving your goal.

I know what you're thinking: "Well, of course, Grace! Isn't that common sense?"

And my response? "I know, right?! I just said a big, delayed, DUH!  finally :)"

Okay, so to shorten things up,
I've decided not to cut corners, but to truly figure out my priorities, seek God & godly advice, and not to listen to anything else that only gets in the way of all of this!

Here are some verses that have been giving me encouragement & hope:

"Though he slay me, I will trust in him."

Job 13:15

"And let us not grow weary of doing good,
for in due season we will reap,
if we do not give up."

Galatians 6:9

Have you had any "DUH!!" moments lately?
&
What's been encouraging you lately?

Monday, Monday

in case you didn't know, you were supposed to sing the title of this post to the tune of the Mama's & The Papa's song.
fyi.

>Now that you know,
here are some things that I've been enjoying lately:
. tons of new blogs!

. Love this post from a long loved blog. She had me laughing so hard!

. & this post about upholstering your own headboard was quite funny!

. ruche, ruche, ruche! A slightly more affordable Anthropologie-type clothing Co.  (& cause I'm cool I linked to the sale page. Cause that's how I roll. sale section first & drool shopping, er, windowshopping later)

. & a fun link from ruche for some desktop wallpapers

. lovely, lovely soup I'm making for din-nah!

. a lovely post by a very lovely girl, on a very lovely blog! via March Rielo

. is it okay to admit that I want to copy/emulate this etsy store very closely? :)

. wistfully wanting to buy something again from this etsy store. sigh. Valentine's gift anyone?
wishing I had 'My Favorite Hoops', 'I Think Olive You', and 'Double Heart Stamped Goodness'. siiiigh.

. link for a quick rundown of the functions of your keyboard.
. confused? I wanted to know what the blue fn button did so I experimented a bit!

. also, I now know how to take a screen shot on my computer! Woop!

. All this to say, here's a look at the before of my wee little blog you're reading at this very moment

Like my new desktop wallpaper? It's a calendar! And you're in luck bc it's a free download! Click here

And here's a sneak peek at my runner-up in my blog layout revamp!  -->

'Blog layout revamp' you ask?
Why yes!
I'm trying a few things on for size & with some ideas I have for 2011, I wanted a fresh new take on my little blog!
Check back in soon for changes!



Off to make some garlic herb& butter penne pasta, broiled chicken, & steamed carrots for lunch!
yum, yum, yum!

mukluk weather

Today, coziness is........

. listening to Phil Wickham's sing-a-long cd in the shower
. freshly showered, dried, & straightened soft hair
. sipping freshly brewed day-old jasmine tea bags with tons of honey!
. wearing a knit/woven sweater
. tights under jeans
. feeling seams of said tights under your toes inside your moccasins
. eating little cornbread loafs
. watching a partially blinking lit up still-up-even-though-it's-January-8th- fake Christmas tree :)
. eating 7 fun-sized kitkats
. wearing a soft purpley down throw while blogging and
. writing Christmas cards & thank-you notes
. all while listening to In The Name of Love (Christian artists singing U2)

Followed up by a big dose of:
. crocheting,
. while watching Friends,
. going to the library,
. making this soup,
. and reading this catalog as it simmers on the stove,
. and connecting to God, learning about Him, and fellowshipping with others at church later!



Thank you God for Sundays!
:)

End of the Year

*One of my many posts from my draft folder.
I wrote this after attending a Dec. 26th Sunday morning message &
then one on a Sunday night on January 2nd.
This one is dated January 3rd:  *

I have wanted to post for a long time now.
I have been thinking about this for awhile now.
I wanted to write about so many different things during this season of Christmas and New Years.

Then I got a reality check from God and realized some things.
I have been living very selfishly during my 'free time'.
Because of this, I'm not going to post some of those things right now.
But, I am going to mention one thing.

This year, instead of starting off selfishly,
I am going to start off this new year with a prayer.

"God,
I give you this year.
I know that you already 'have' it, but right now,
in this moment, I want You to have it.
Own it.
Take it all.
Take care of it.
Please continue teaching me, stretching me, and making me grow.
I give you this year for only You know what is in store for me.
Please allow me to remember this prayer.
Please remind me to live realistically.
I know that some of the dreams and passions you have given me lately are for a reason.
I know that some of them may come true and some may not taste life or be experienced.
I trust in YOU.
I trust in your provisions, your care, your sovereignty, your ability to teach, mold, shape, & grow.
Please remind me to do all things, "whether in word or deed," to do it all for your glory. (Colossians 3:17)
I have hope in YOU.
I hope that some of said dreams may come to light.
I have hope in the plans you have for my year.
I believe in YOU.
I know that you did not give me this life to live complacently, apathetically, in isolation, or selfishly for myself.
I know that you did not give me this life to reach a destination, but to journey in my pursuit of Christ.
You created me to enjoy this journey.
I recognize you have the controls, Life is impermanent, Take all of me, everything that I am,
Thank you for so much more than I can ever fathom,
Thank you for all of my abundant blessings in life, and for the fact that I have life,
Amen."

attempting un-verboseness

In lieu of a more verbose update,
here is a little look at some of the things I have been looking at lately on this here little internet.
AKA, my tabs that are open right now :)

+ for all of those questions about what I want to do with my life. And what I will now need to do become said professional: Child Life: Getting Certified

+ research about internship locations for said profession: Children's Hospital LA

+ a new, fun song I want to learn: Hazy -Rosi Golan

+ Etsy: Boots, what else?!

+ a DIY I have now wanted to make for a long time: designmom.com

+ a John MacArthur Bible studies I plan on buying asap: John, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians

+a tutorial on: How To Crochet in The Round

+ a disarming, challenging, needed, & timely article: Letter to a Frustrated SingleYoung Woman

+ something to listen to while crocheting!Adventures in Odyssey!

+ google search for an awesome worship song from church last month: Oh, oh, hallelujah

+ an enlightening website regarding sweatshops: laborrights.org

+ another awesome worship song: Deliverer -Vicky Beeching

+ interviews behind the passionate motivation of women in various careers: iwantherjob.com

+ crazy/insane phenomenon from 2006: Social Rank

+ I have liked this for a long time: Live What You Love

+ a fun diy+design+fashion+inspiring blog: a beautiful mess

+ Merry Christmas to me! (a la Target giftcards:) Black Boots

+ and ohmagoodness I want to make these!

So there you go, these are some things that I have been doing lately!