Typical. Complicating the simple

Pinned it here

Set your standard, goal. Make your dream known. The universe will fall into place accordingly. It's for us. Not against us.

Be vulnerable

let love be genuine

Prodigy in me

Defining a Prodigy from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Wedding Season 2011: the kind not in neat blogs, but a happily ever after nonetheless.

Dear Wedding Season 2011,

You have given me temporary depression quickly erased with great hope, many smiles, telling-grandchildren-worthy memories-many which are unforgettable thanks to Facebook and the moments captured by friends with my camera phone-sweaty southern nights, more engagements, expensive dry cleaning and alterations bills, more strapless dresses, glory days reminiscing, priceless dancing lessons, experimentations with white wine, reunions with best friends, and above all, love.

Sincerely,

me

p.s. I'll be getting hitched on New Year's Eve in the unforeseen though no less exciting future.

What Strunk and White Elements of Style forgot to mention

"So avoid using the word 'very' because it's lazy. A man in not very tired, he is exhausted. Don't use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won't do in your essays." -Dead Poets Society

found them here

reality

"I'd like to refocus everyone's attention away from the Kardashians and onto Doctors Without Borders or aid workers. Let's redefine scandal. Scandal is not who so-and-so is dating; scandal is the fact that 1.2 million people are still living in tents in Haiti, and cholera is rampant because Nepalese U.N. soldiers dumped *cuss from their Porta-Potties into the river.
That's a *cussing scandal. If the average 15-year-old was hearing about that instead of so-and-so's plastic surgery or cheating in Hollywood, I'd feel better about our future."
Olivia Wilde to Marie Claire
via damned if you dont, damned if you do

E-mails at work... and online dating

A friend e-mailed me this extremely disturbing video at work. I think he thinks I'm a lot more concerned with my single status and feels the need terrify me about finding love online...

Here's the transcript of what every other non-Serzone-addicted and functional American is thinking (God forbid this has gotten out of the country):

#1. Where's Miss South Carolina and that awful map answer because at least while she was failing the female species and living up to every pageant stereotype, she's smokin hot and perfectly lip glossed.

Setting: Apartment or hospital room

"Hello. My name is I-Just-Sucked-In-Every-Helium-Balloon-at-Party-City. I'm saying this is my first attempt at online dating bc I'm scared to say what I'm ab to confess about CATS has made every boy everrrr run away upon first meeting me making conventional dating impossible." (insert spastic fairy-like black finger painted hand waves and adjusting of her sports bra top, which even if she was Pam Anderson wouldn't make her look better after the word vomit she's ab to spew)

"I have no idea what I'm feeling and Heaven forbid I make a rational decision based on the state of my mental health, which would save me from the 720,463 and rising views of people who will confirm I am psycho."

"I'm just going to humiliate myself, family, friends, community, hairdresser and woman who slices deli meet at my local Publix, and hope I get replies." (o hun, replies? I'd bet my 401K that statement is the most understated of your young life)

"Villanova MBA is a joke and needs better recruiters/admission process."

(she looks away picking the perfect next few words)

"I love purring, scratching, finicky CATS." (insert: wait, what...)

"Sorry, this first attempt at making an online dating profile makes me so upset..." (noo. she's just upset bc she loves CATS. wait,what...)

(insert: black finger painted hands wiping away mascara she obviously didn't take the time to put on despite this desperate attempt to find a soul mate)

"Sorry, I just realllly love CATS." (insert: wait, what...)

"Blah, blah, I just want to. I want to." (insert: more spastic black finger painted hand waving bc she's somehow getting more upset ab loving CATS. wait, what...)

"I promised myself I wouldn't do this." (admitting this isn't a one-time emotional outbreak but a serious condition of hers)

"I'm a CAT-lover" (insert chest beating like Tarzan's gf, Jane)

"I'm redeeming myself somewhat bc I also love to run... Nope, just can't let this CAT thing go" (insert: wait, what...)

"Despite that people across America are without homes, I canNOT stop thinking ab soul-less CATS and how these 11-inch creatures will live without running water... And how their ears. and the whiskers. and the nose"

(Insert: At this point, I'm thinking this is a drinking game. Every cat reference means a sip, shot or something I am not in on. But I'm also hoping she'll pick up a hotel-looking glass tumbler full of a dark liqour known as Absinthe or at least Scotch.)

"I just love them and want them in a basket" (where is this going...) "with wittle bow ties" (ugly cry. ugly cry) "AND I WANT THEM TO BE ON A RAINBOW. and just in my bed. and instead of building shelters for natural disaster victims, I want to roll around with CATS."

She can no longer continue the online dating profile video she's self-producing bc either the memory of her 7th-grade crush denying her a dance to E. McCain's "I'll Be Your Crying Shoulder" is ripping her heart, the hidden IV pumping her Morphine has stopped or she's legitimately upset ab CATS...

Or she scared herself when she put CATS and rainbows in the same sentence

She's like the Justin Bieber of CAT world. She just wants some less lonely CATS.

That is my personal take on that video and this probs still single girl.

If that's what's online now, I'm thinking, there's either great or absolutely NO hope for souls like mine.

For goodness sake, keep calm and carry on.

Peace on earth... and in my heart

Peace.
I recently read in My Utmost for His Highest that peace is God's mark of approval from when we obey Him.
I recently made a few decisions (insert "duh. you're 22 w a mediocre income, depending on your parents, deciding ab grad school vs real world, still living in a college town with a heart as big and as tossed yet as anchored as a Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon).
I accepted a new job still in Auburn, turned another opportunity down and am patiently waiting to see a few more decisions unfold themselves.
While transitioning into my new position working with development in AU's College of Architecture, Design, and Construction, but still working full-time in my old job with Special Events, I realized there was deep unrest in my heart. I felt hasty despite knowing good and well the Lord will never leave nor forsake me.
I thought I was lacking peace because I didn't pray for months about some of these decisions like I had in the past. ex 1) I have prayed since freshman year for a fulfilling job, and I prayed even more fervently before graduation about which job to take because I was blessed to have two promosing options. ex 2) I pray for my husband, but I admit, I may/may not have asked the Lord to hold off on that one until I had ex 1 at least semi-controlled. Commit-a-phob strikes again. Moving on...
Today, this phase in life, everything is different now. I didn't have months this time.
I had urgency.
Funny because Jesus didn't have months either while praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, but I'm pretty sure the blood sweat came from a deep sense of urgency for His Father's will too. Not that I'm sweating blood bullets here, but I find courage and so should you knowing it's not always the amount of prayer but the need of the prayer. Yes, there have been months and years of counceling/prayer in the Word, so when the time came, I would know His will. I'm not saying Jesus nor I hadn't prayed about a day that would come when we'd need the Lord urgently-just saying, sometimes, He calls for our immediate action, and we should be prepared to pray accordingly.
Never doubt the Lord's response (though it might not be what you want) to the sincerest prayer that come from the most humblest of circumstances asking for the wisdom to do His work.
But be ready because He'll ask you to "go" or "no" or "stop" or "now" at any unannounced moment... And He expects you to do just what you prayed for-His will, not yours, to be done.
So here we are at Christmas, and I can't help but sing,
"Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me."

Hit it Gladys...



live in love,
grace

A little sugar goes a long way

Find the theme:

"Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch. You know that I love you. Can't help myself..." or

"Sugar, Sugar. You are my candy girl, and you got me wanting you..."

And my personal favorite Stevie Wonder's "Sugar" "Sugar, sugar, I want to be your main boy... All I got is good, good lovin."

Geez. Just typing those words makes me want to find an unsuspecting victim (or Fred Astair) and dance floor.... Anywho.

Baking for Good is an online bake sale with peppermint brownies, chocolate crackels, gingersnaps and many more (including vegan options), but that's not all... 15 percent of your purchase supports a cause YOU pick!

You can support nonprofit causes such as American Cancer Society, Action Against Hunger and Art for Change, or you can support community causes such as art.party.theater.company and the Red Swing Project. These are only a few of the manyyyy causes Baking for Good supports. Shoot, you can even e-mail them about adding a cause!

So, not only are you sending a beautifully wrapped, delicious treat to bake, you are supporting national and international causes.

That'll convict me next time I'm tempted to pick up that convenient pre-packaged, shake-and-bake cookie package...

It's a smart choice too. Manhattan-inhabitant and founder, Emily Dubner, grew up raising money for school projects with bake sales, and continued baking for fun while studying at Harvard. (Try to make a woman-in-the-kitchen-joke after that line) After working as a management consultant at a fancy NYC firm, she was inspired by a gift package delivered to her mom and started Baking for Good creating unique, gourmet treats, which support causes all over the world.

Call Barbara Walters. She beats Gaga, Kim K and Betty White for most fascinating woman in my humble, but pretty dang accurate opinion.