[thirsty hearts]

the grammy award for best status.

2012-02-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

did you watch the grammy's?

I watched them partly through twitter/facebook:

here are the winner's of pure gold status award:

"The only way I could love Adele any more is if she stuffed her Grammys in a pillow case and beat the s*** out of Chris brown."

---------------------

"Dear Lord, when I fall asleep please don't let me dream of Nicki Minaj"

words can't express how i felt during this performance.

Other than praying for nicki minaj's soul. And finding a memory eraser from men in black. ya.

hungry eyes

2012-02-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

what have we been doing lately, you ask?

well you should just ask silas.

because apparently his mother is no longer the only one on his radar.

enjoy your thursday, i will be keeping silas indoors away from anyone else that would distract him from viewing me as the only woman in his life.

~~i promise i'm not this crazy.~~

for Chloe

2012-02-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

listen, i'm not one for chains. you know those chain letters that people send through your email...

"send this to 10 people or you will die tomorrow... or you'll never find love"

i hate em. i defy them.

but. i do love to answer questions. And i do love the blogger who "tagged" me to do so. So listen, only for you, Chloe, will I answer these questions. and then i'm gonna add my own spin on it.. "answer these or you'll have bad luck for the rest of you life."

call me cynical. I'll call it awesome.

Here is how it works:

1. Post these rules.

2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.

4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them.

~~6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.~~

1. At my heaviest weight during pregnancy to now, i have lost 51 pounds. From the weight that i began pregnancy with, i have lost twenty-five pounds. All due to running my little heart out. But the truth is, i still look at myself and feel "unsatisfied" and overweight (which i'm not). But when i was 25 pounds heavier, i looked at pics of me at a heavier version of me now, and thought i looked skinny. Goes to show that a woman's mind can be very warped.

2. I thought i was a great singer up until midway through high school. I found out by laughter from judges during an audition to get into the "elite" singing group. they obviously never saw my rendition of "always be my baby" by mariah carey in the fifth grade.

3. I cannot get a "saying" right. You know, "that's the pot calling the kettle black" or "For pete's sake."
My mother would continually yell "what in the Sam Hill are you doing?" I thought she said "what in the Sam HELL are you doing?" i thought my mother was a continual cusser. turns out.. she may still have been, but i also can't get a "saying" right to save my life. And i continue to attempt them every day of my life.

4. Speaking of my mom. I've got a million stories. Stories she may not want me to share in public. But you should know they are awesome. But one time, in middle school, my brother and his friends were riding in the car on the way home from school, and my mom told us "she made a "boner." a-w-e-s-o-m-e

5. my middle name is renee. I couldn't spell it correctly for a long time. Longer than I care to admit.

6. in middle school, i called our local radio station and dedicated "head over feet" by alanis morrisette to my long term crush. He never loved me back. I know this because i may have "asked him out" several times over the course of 4 years. dont judge.

7. sometimes i view my life as a movie. I have music planned out, and snapshot moments.

8. i was the girl who tried out for everything as a kid. And never got it. But i'd like to think it only made me stronger :)

9. speaking of trying out, i played volleyball for 8 years, year round for 4. I WAS good at that. Too bad, they don't have a lot of room for 5'6 volleyball girls in the olympics.

10. When i was single, i would take myself out on dates. Dates that consisted of candles, chinese food and a chick flick.

11. I learned graphic design through a job that I couldn't stand. I taught myself, and began the love while i was sinking in a corner office that faced a wall...in the back of a copy room. In between copies and mindless work, i began my love affair of graphic design. I've had three jobs since college. All were stepping stones to where i am now.

Now onto Chloe's questions for me :)

(one) If you had to perform one of the following, which would you choose: running a marathon, having braces (again!) for a month, or not watching any TV for a year? probably running a marathon... I hate when things interfere with my eating, and my need to "veg" which is probably a good thing that i choose to run, if i'm going to choose to do the others :)

(two) If you could only choose three foods to eat for the rest of your life, what would they be? steak. dt. coke. Mezzaluna (from Carrabbas).

(three) Do you have a bucket list? If so, what are some things on your list? Yes! I got to do one of them, going to NYC, and i'm pretty sure i put it back on the list for the heck of it. But also to hike the grand canyon. All the way down. maybe ride a donkey up, b/c i may be tired and over "the bucket list"

(four) What is the best book you have ever read? (The Bible doesn't count!) Um... im notorious for starting a TON of books that i really love, but then never finishing them. However i did finish "Redeeming Love" by francine rivers... and i'm about to finish 1,000 gifts by Ann Voskamp. Both are incredible.

(five) What is your least favorite word and why? awesome. b/c i overuse it, and i'm so very aware of it.

(six) Would you rather be Miss America or an Olympic athlete? If the former, what would be your talent? If the latter, what would be your sport? olympic athlete. volleyball. I may need to grow a few inches...

(seven) Tell the world why your favorite vacation spot far exceeds any other in the world. I'd say "adventuring" is my vacation spot. Anywhere that i can do that? i'm there.

(eight) Do you play a musical instrument? If yes, which one? If no, do you wish you did? Nope, my brother sucked all of the musical talent up in my family. i do have a dream however of randomly pulling out a guitar and having the most ~~awesome~~ amazing voice in the world.

(nine) What item in your closet costs the most? My jeans. they cost me 30 bucks.

(ten) You've been called as a missionary to Africa, and on your first day there, there is a lion lurking off in the not-so-far-distance. You turn to the person nearest you and say.... i would scream and push the person down to great a diversion for the lion. haha j/k. orami...

(eleven) What is your biggest pet peeve about Facebook? it can be the replacement of truly investing in people.

im going to end this little blog with a ransom to anyone who has been reading it.

answer the questions yourself, or you will have bad luck for the rest of you life...

muahahahahahaha. i make my own rules, people.

enjoy your weekend!!

silas has already started his list....

don't adjust your screen, it's a new post...

2012-02-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

well hello, i've come up from the ashes. the ashes of the blog.

but she's still here folks. And so are we. So instead of the whostartedtheargumentfirst shananigans, let's just get you caught up with what we have been doing, shall we?....

1. My sweeter-than-your-son's birthday birthday party.

seriously. i could die right now, a happy woman. This picture alone could send me over the edge.

i LOVE throwing a party. throwing a party for my favorite little boy in the world? that's a no brainer. A good way to watch the cost for your favorite two year old? DONUTS. have a "breakfast" party, and serve butt-ton of donuts, and sprinkle a few quick, easy and cheap breakfast goodies like THESE.

we got big giant ballons, cute decor from around the house, and the happiest two year old on the planet. Our bubbaboo LOVES some powdered donuts. They are his favorite. In fact, i'm pretty sure i'm still finding powdery goodness in between our couches...

2. Room update: I will have a big reveal by the end of the week for you. My sweeter-than-your-husband actually MADE his bed. yep, that's right. Jackpot, ladies. Never knew how handy he was. It's like, finding out the man you married was actually a prince, and now you own a kingdom. Except, I'm not an actual princess, but i do think i live like one :)

in fact, let me show a little something he made me for christmas!

c'mon, you can make this too. treat!

But back to the room:

We had a little... "incident".... one night as apparently our 2 year old must play monster trucks in his sleep. He rolled right out the bottom of the bed. One thud was enough at 2 in the morning to realize he needed a header and a footboard STAT. Since then, we have played the dontgetoutofyourbed game for the first hour of bedtime. We thought we would be the crafty parents and decide that if he couldn't handle the big boy bed, he would end up in the pack 'n play.

turns out our child can climb out of the pack 'n play.

Someone call Bear Grylls. We have his match.

3. In the game of pleaseeatyourdinner....

i believe it's Diddy: 1 Parents: 0

Yep, those are chicken nuggets on his plate. Don't judge. This is after an hour of attempted force feeding of healthy homemade food by yours truly.

Do i send him to bed with no dinner?

He's only two years old; i can't just NOT feed him.

But if i give in now, he'll continue to do this...

it's a vicious cycle, people. I'm eating all my words, when i was a single onlooker to moms with picky eaters.

I'm guessing from the picture, you know how the war ended. chicken nuggets. And a defiant boy. we're learning people. i never said i knew everything.

4. And speaking of scores....

GREAT CLIPS: 10,000,000 DIDDY (and me): 0 ... maybe -10

YES.

You are seeing that picture correctly. That's a giant hole behind my son's ears. And two suckers in his hand given by a guilt-stricken mother. Horrified could not explain what i felt as my sweet precious son got out of the chair.

maybe you are a hair dresser. and maybe you happen to work at a Great clips. But ya'll.

DO.YOU.SEE.HIS.HAIR.

you'd expect the inner redneck inside of me to lash out at the "beautician." Nope. I was speechless. That's what complete shock and horror will do to a person.

I will be buying a pair of scissors, and document how i learned to cut my son's hair.

Sweet Silas, at least this happened now, as opposed to middle school.

____________________________

Now don't you worry, his hair is growing back. I see new growth as we speak. Unfortunately this will probably be his life, seeing as though he is my son. Sweet Silas, this kind of stuff is what happens to mommy. I'm sorry that it seems to be a generational thing.

Maybe one day, you'll make light of it all and write a blog about it :)

we're back people, and you're caught up.

Want to see some new design work?

here

first night as a big boy 1-9-12

2012-01-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

tonight my sweet little baby is sleeping in a

"big boy bed."

And ya'll, this is so much harder than i could have imagined.

no one prepared me for this?! where were you people?!

my heart broke last night as I grieved my first son's last night in his crib. Last night as a "baby." Last night that I would rock him before laying him down. Last night night with bars all around him, protecting him.

I'm a bit dramatic people, but seriously. SERIOUSLY.

this endeavor progressed a bit faster when our son, who we will also refer to as, "Macgyvor," straddled the bar one too many times. So our decision to bump up his move to the i'm-no-longer-a-baby-bed became first on our "to-do" list.

i realize i have been m.i.a this new year, but i needed to document this milestone in bubaboo's life. he loves it. everything. the freedom. the jumping. the endless amounts of room. the freedom.

But i sit here tonight, and my heart aches a bit. People tell you that it will go by fast. That you'll blink, and they will be graduating high school, and onto college. But these past two years. Where have they gone? My son is asleep soundly in his twin bed. Possibly naked. He likes to unzip his pajamas, and sometimes its hard to tell on the monitor. But nevertheless, he is this growing little boy that continues to amaze me everyday. Micah tonight called me "sweetie," and silas responded with an agreed "sweetie."

Break-my-freaking-heart.

Oh my sweet son. You are precious. Knowing you puts me in a profound, humble, dumfounded state of bewilderment, knowing that God loves YOU and ME ten times that amount. And that is crazy to me. Because here I am in "mourning" youknowhowyourmothergets.... over you entering this new stage in life. We love you so much. Stop growing up so fast. It's too fast for me. I just never knew about this moment. The moment your first baby goes to a bed, rather than a crib. To a simple goodnight kiss, rather than prolonged rocking and singing. To a step closer to independence, rather than me controlling everything. Well, lets be honest son, i'll always have a problem with this. i'm sorry, silas. And i'm sorry to your future wife. I hope my overall funny disposition and cheerful light heartedness will cover up my "crazy" enough.

i kid, i kid. kinda

you look so tiny in your big boy bed. and for that, i will be grateful. Because one day, you will be huge, and I will be doing everything short of kicking you to get out of it.

that tie.

2011-12-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

christmas is over, and i'm still eating.

there's a problem with this.

anyways, in case there is nothing until the new year, due to detox and setting up 200+ pieces to train tracks, car tracks and such....

A few things for your monday :)

1. new song:

2. new pic:

be still my beating heart: diddy on new years eve.

the tie, people. THAT. TIE.

3. new design:

Being Fran(K).

seriously, this girl is not only hysterical and a genius with her words and wit..... but she was one of my favorites to design for. Follow her. Now. If you love me, you'll click on that follow me button on her blog. Have I ever steered you wrong?

dontanswerthat.

She's a flight attendant, journaling through her adventures. And her adventures are far more wonderful than mine:)

Hope you had a merry christmas! Update on ours soon!

spoiler alert!

2011-12-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

tonight, we went to christmas eve service with my family. Micah decides to provoke my sister as he begins to explain that he is going to tell rachel, her daughter, that there is, in fact....

NO SANTA.

just as the words leave his lips, the 5 year old in front of him turns and looks at him with a gasp.

merry christmas, ya'll. sheer horror inevitably followed as micah slid out the back after service.

treat.

Good thing we have a savior who fills every need in every way. Santa can't do that, kids.

Isaiah 9:6

⁶ For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

i can honestly say i have never been more thankful in this season of my life to know that i have a God who sent his son to redeem my soul and rescue me. What a brilliant plan. And it all started at night led by the light. how fitting.

merry christmas! I pray the profound gravity of this night weighs on you and on me.

i love New York: Day4-BBN

2011-12-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

this may have been micah's favorite day.

he's such a guy.

:) the great anticipated UK vs. North Carolina game.

But first...

on the subway we went....

to serendipity!!! Now if you my age, then you know the movie. And no doubt you have swooned at the thought of drinking a frozen hot chocolate there to reminisce on lost gloves and phone numbers...

it was wonderful... unfortunately we were in a bit of a hurry because of the *ahem. game.

but hubby was all for the frozen hot chocolate and a sundae.

At 10:00am.

hey, it's 5 o'clock somewhere.

The next part, we were totally unprepared for. Our friend told us of a bar that was owned by a UK alumni. She spoke of a sea blue and flags printed with giant cats on them. All right there in the middle of Manhattan.

Micah and I were blown away. But apparently we were the last in the Big Blue Nation to know about this gem in New York City.

hello, jack dempseys.

you would have thought we entered into room full of friends from back home. Every single UK friend, alumni, fan were in this room. " On On U of K!" chanting throughout the bar. It was our "cheers." You know, the television show that was based in bar that your parents always made you go to bed as it came on? You know the tune.

if there was a deal breaker in whether or not we wanted to live here? this was it. Which in actuality is quite shallow seeing as though it was a bar centered around the team we love...

but nevertheless...

DEAL. BREAKER.

Come to find out this game would go down in the books as most exciting, and the joint erupted!

when we left, it felt like we were leaving about 100 of our friends.

a real gem i tell ya.

that night we ate, we laughed, we fought the mob in times square. We both looked at each other and almost in unison, we proclaimed that we no longer had a desire to come to times square on new years eve.

not.ever.

the time we spent there was magical and ended the night with a delicious chocolate treat from:

oh i miss it. it was rejuvenating. For our souls, our marriage, our friendship.

and speaking of friendship and marriage, guess who is the most awesome wife ever?

merry christmas micah!

in case you didn't know, we're HUGE Uk fans over here. And this awesome wife, managed to score tickets to a game.

just call me santa.

without the gut and facial hair; of course.

i love New York: Day 3

2011-12-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

maybe it's taking me so long to get through our trip because

a) it was that awesome

b) i dont want it to end.

If you have not ventured there, I urge you... do it. It will not disappoint. There's a reason why so many songs are written about it.

on that note. you should know that i LOVE kathie lee and hoda. LOVE THEM. this was one of the items on my list that i so desperately wanted to make happen. I wanted to meet them. BUT. If i couldn't do that, then i at least wanted to see them. So we waited. and waited friday morning for them to come on. I sent my sweeter-than-your-hubby off to countless TODAY show employees to ask when and where they would be. i mean, come on people. I didn't want to seem desperate.

Alas, it is nearing the time of the show and we find out that kathie lee and hoda, of all days, are not taping downstairs. In fact, they are taping in their upstairs studio. So what does that mean for me? I only get to see their backs.

I was heart broken people. Someone out there in blog-land. Give me the chance to meet them. It's unhealthy and maybe unnatural but c'mon. it's my dream.

you can imagine that after this let down, Micah didn't know what to do with me. So naturally, he took me to eat. At a bakery.

Magnolia bakery to be exact. It was delightful in there. From garland to pretty designs, to pretty baked goods.... it was just lovely. I ordered a red velvet cupcake. Unfortunately the raved reviews I had heard all about on this bakery did not serve me well as I may have gotten a bad batch cupcake.

It's ok, magnolia. to be honest, after the letdown of kathie lee and hoda... no cupcake would have been good enough. However their hot chocolate was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

If you're still reading this, i'm impressed. Or worried. From my random ramblings of my trip to crazy talk on kathie lee and hoda. well... hats off to you.

We ventured to FAO schwartz where we were greeted by carolers. And not just any carolers.

Again, i had a mixture of the movie "BIG" and "home alone 2" in my head when heading into this joint. Well, turns out I had the wrong place in my head for home alone 2, but the movie BIG was more along the lines.

I wanted so badly to take my shoes off and dive across the keys. These stupid kids were in the way though. Ha. lets see if you're still reading now.

A stroll through central park. It is as grand as you would imagine. And then some. This is on my bucket list now. To come back and stroll through central park when my fingers and face won't feel like it's going to fall off due to lack of circulation/blood flow. it was cold ya'll.

we ate at the shake shack that can be seen here:

we didn't eat at this specific one; but it was GOOD. go there. it won't disappoint.

you can imagine that at this point, our legs were limp and we were pounding advil as if they were brown m&m's. However, it would not stop us for the romantic night ahead.

What better thing to see at christmas time, than the NYC ballet at christmas time. That's right, we went to see the Nutcracker at the Lincoln Center.

I just don't know if I remembered where exactly we were going, or was expecting what we found. All of a sudden countless memories of seeing this place on TV came back and again; it was just as marvelous as what I imagined it would be like.

sweet micah was a good sport. After all, The nutcracker, is not exactly the most enticing place to be for a guy. Before the performance began, we sat drinking our fancy red wine in our fancy attire waiting on our fancy play....

At intermission we were pounding dt. coke and sour gummy worms to make ourselves stay awake. It was as if someone laced our drink with nyquil and as soon as the show began, my eyelids felt like 50 ton bricks. this pick was taken outside at intermission to wake ourselves up.

ya'll, it wasn't like we weren't thankful to be there, or enjoyed what we were viewing and the magnificence of it all. But geeze...

parents of a toddler+walking all day+glass of red wine+sweet orchestra music = sotiredimaydie.

But happy to tell you that the dt. coke and gummy words revived us me. The nutcracker is fabulous. But way better in NYC.

seriously, sometimes i need to pinch myself. NYC at christmas time? magical.

Hope you guys are soaking up Christmas. I know we are. If someone wants to buy us tickets to new york... it is the season of giving.

Poston family 2011

2011-12-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

i have talented friends. talented friends that dont mind to take pictures of my family, and our 2 year old son. And because today, i've designed my little heart out.... you will get to see pictures :)

pictures from her.

our little family. We have a toddler. A "hambone," hilarious, animated toddler. More on him in another post. For now, enjoy.

and because we like to keep it real here:

our sweet toddler throwing a tantrum. this would really sum up the course of the day. turns out taking pictures as a two year old, is waaaay different than being a one year old. good thing he's cute. new moms? In the words taken from jurassic park:

hold on to your butts.

I love New York: Day 2

2011-12-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Is it a trip, or a vacation?

That's the way a question was posed to us by a good, older and wiser friend of ours. She explained that this was the way her and her husband termed things. Trips are for adventuring. Vacations are for relaxing. He is get up and go type. She is a relax and chill type. Do you know which one I am?

this was a TRIP. and ya'll, 7am was our calling every morning. We could not soak in the city enough. Late nights; early mornings.

And this early morning began with a little TODAY show.

you should just know that i pretty much watch this every day. Every day little diddy and I go to our local YMCA where I will run and watch a combination of the Today show and Kathie Lee and Hoda. They spur me on to run. seriously.

Here I am taking a picture of Al. He's wonderful. again, here i am merely holding a camera and grunting as he walked by. Look at him, shakin hands with everyone. I'm standing there with a point and shoot with a **** eating grin.

Again, Matt Lauer. Grunt, point and shoot, **** eating grin. Not shaking his hand.

the end. just kidding. But it could have been. That's how much of a geek I am about this.
We were all OVER that camera. Our good friend actually sent us this little gem:

"hi mom" That's what i was saying there. I'm proud to be "that guy" on camera. And i'm more ecstatic that someone caught it on their television.

After hangin out with al, matt and savannah... we headed off towards downtown. The financial district, and the ol' lady liberty.

We took the subway everywhere. We were some regular New Yorkers. Good thing the hubs is GREAT at directions, or else I'd probably still be on the subway today, trying to find a way out.

Our next stop was to find a boat that would take us to the statue of liberty and ellis island. And friends, it was magnificent. She's a looker.

She was beautiful, and it was quite remarkable seeing her so close. The boat stopped for us to get off and stand at her feet, but to be honest, our sights were set on something else. Ellis Island. We knew that we only had so much time to spend in this city, and Ellis Island was somewhere you couldn't just sit on a boat and see. You had to get up close and personal with it.

To stand in a place where someone way down the ancestry line of mine stood, was profound. It really was incredible to see exactly where and what it looked like.

We soaked it up and got back on the boat to venture to our next destination.
But first? Lunch.

We ate at a cute little restaurant called Heartland Brewery. I took this shot when we were eating, then posted it on my instagram. The next day, Heartland shot me a tweet saying "thanks for coming in."
1. how did heartland find my twitter account?
2. how did they get my name?
Big brother is WATCHING, people.

nevertheless it was delicious. After all we needed the energy as we were about to cross the brooklyn bridge :)

this was totally another breathtaking moment. Standing on the brooklyn bridge, with my hubby, strollin' along. Everything I thought it would be.

After we walked the bridge, we headed back to manhattan and towards the financial district. We saw wall street, we saw the people occupying it, we saw the places that were touched by the horrific day of 9/11. And we began our walk through the 9/11 memorial.

This was one thing that I really wanted to see. I sat there in Mr. Bryant's class room, my senior year of high school as I watched the second plane hit the world trade center on live footage. We thought it was a replay of the first plane. It was not. This event... that was so horrific and life-changing to our lives as we knew it. I remember so vividly seeing families desperately searching for loved ones, and the feeling of helplessness. That night, a group of us drove to the red cross to give blood for victims. As an 18 year old, it's hard to wrap your mind around that gravity of it all. The evil. But all we could do was hope with eager hearts that what was meant for evil, God would heal.

10 years later, there i stood for the first time at the place, that would be forever etched in my mind. The place where my family and friends have fought before and since.... fighting for our protection. I will never forget 9/11. And I will forever be grateful for the men and woman who serve our country and give us the opportunity to walk freely and secure. How quickly we can forget.

it was somber. a place where you never forget, and also look towards the future. Sometimes the rebuilding process takes a while. But it's the fact that you are rebuilding that matters. That's where the healing begins.

After a good amount of time here, we decided to venture off to Little Italy. We got off the subway at chinatown, and well... lets just say that turning into little italy was a sight for sore eyes.

the food was INCREDIBLE. The people were wonderful. It truly was so romantic. There is just something about eating pasta, with a glass of wine and reminiscing on life. It felt like Lady and the Tramp. And i ain't no tramp.

The cannoli. Ah, the cannoli. And yes, this was the second night that we ate pasta for dinner. New York does Italian right. And Im not talking sbarro's either.

We took our time at dinner, made friends with the family next to us, and creeped them out as the night went on. It's not our fault they saw us in china town, we ate next to them at dinner, we got on the same train as them, etc. At first they laughed... then they thought we were following them. I mean c'mon. what are the chances of seeing the same people that many times in NYC?? We just wanted to be friends.

:) That night, I wanted to saw my feet off. But I was anxious for another day in this beautiful city.

christmas treat & a bubaboo.

2011-12-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

if you are on pinterest, there is no doubt you have seen these:

well, do NOT wait any longer to make them.

merry christmas to us.

YUM. And si liked them too. But seriously, how can you wrong with chocolate, marshmallow's and sugar?

For hot chocolate ~ marshmallows dipped in chocolate, rolled in sugar and speared with a peppermint stick.

Oh, and we recently shot some 2 year photos with sweet Silas.

Here's a little preview :)

photos by jenna nicole photography

new york: day 2 TOMORROW!!

i love new york: Day 1

2011-12-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

LOVE it. Love all of it. The city is everything I imagined it would be and more.

This has literally been on my "bucket list" since as long as I can remember. In fact, it probably all began when one of my bff's, Britt, and I would lay on her driveway at night and light our "man" candle. You know, a candle that smells like a guy's cologne. It was glorious. We would we stay up and recount our day and talk about future plans. All included coffee, twinkle lights, romantic evenings, and big adventures. And as "you've got mail" is one of our FAVORITE movies, new york was on the top of the list for places to see. And to be honest with you, I had no idea what to expect. I think I had such big plans in my head, that i was somewhat afraid what I would find, when we got there.

But oh, New York. You did not disappoint.

We were eager. Reminiscent of our plane ride to the honeymoon. Seriously, getting time together as parents without your children is needed. I love my "diddy" more than my heart knew I could love someone, but as someone smart once told us, "one day, Silas will grow up and move out of the house, and you guys better still like each other." So we will invest. Invest in times together, Invest in these shared experiences of exploration... in cities, in life, in each other.

You can imagine my giddiness when we landed in the city. Of those who know me, you know that i can get a bit... excited. I'm a lover of feelings, ya'll. And I got a lot of feelings, and a lot of passion. New York was the untouchable. The golden place I'd long to see, but never got to.

Naturally, i was a bat out of hell when the plane landed. Micah, at numerous occasions, had to bring me back to completing sentences and filling him in on where we were going. I was everywhere. My brain was everywhere. I was in the city. The city i've never seen, but had longed to for so long. It was perfect. All of it. Would you believe that we even heard our song blaring on the streets as we were walking?

I was intimated as well, though. I mean... i was born and raised in kentucky. We are southern. We kill 'em with kindness, or a "bless your heart." Was a I ready for the stereotypical new york, eatyouupandspityouout?

We didn't even know how we were getting to our hotel. A cab. But maybe that's only what happens in movies? at least, that's what i thought. But oh friends, the cabs are there. Lined up. And it was reminiscent to a roller coaster. But I didn't care. To me, the gas/hard break, honking, gas/hardbreak was worth everything to me to enter into a city with building as tall as the sky and twinkle lights around every corner.

our cab.

We were dropped off at our hotel at about 930 in the morning. Check in wasn't until 230 at the earliest. So adventuring we went.

first stop:

coincidently right near our hotel. It was everything I imagined. Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade as a kid was a highlight to the day. Some people look forward to football, I look forward to larger than life inflatable balloons.

Now listen, ya'll. It's just Macy's. But in New York, it was fabulous. The inside looked just like the movies. And that was enough for me. HA.

My only complaint would be the birds. I dont know if you know this about me, but i HATE birds. I was attacked by one once. No joke. It has scarred me for life. And in New York? the birds are included in demographics.

Next stop?

the empire state building. it's tall. Just like i imagined it would be; naturally.
Maybe i've said this before, but it was just so difficult to grasp what New York city would look like in person. What would the empire state building look like? Would I feel small next to it?
magnificent. And yes.

As we began to wander the city, there was one thing for CERTAIN that we had to do.
And that was to eat a hot dog from a street vendor.

New York city hot dog. I'll be real honest with you, it tasted good. And exactly what the pre-packaged ones taste like at our local grocery store. Maybe I could have added more "fun" ingredients. But ya'll, i'm a ketchup and mustard kinda girl.

But Low and behold, right in front of us was the magnificent public library. We ate out hot dogs on those little benches and proceeded into the library. Ghostbuster free.

And then we strolled...
and strolled...
and strolled...
eating up every second, drinking up all of the sights around me.
It was magical.

Here we are standing in the middle of times square. Wearing the same clothes since 5 in the morning tht day. perfect :)

One really cool thing that happened, was that we got an invite to go see the pre-monologue with Jimmy Fallon to try out all of his jokes on us. There were 30 of us in the studios with Jimmy. This seriously was a HUGE highlight because we had wanted to see him so badly but couldn't get tickets. That day, someone just hands us a free pass to see him with a small group of people. Priceless. Unfortunately there are no pics of it. We were threatened with our lives. But he was awesome. Jimmy, you totally made our trip.

And not like i need to mention this, but christmas was E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E.

And so were Al and Savannah from the Today show. I'm a geek. A geek for the Today show. And a geek for Al and Savannah. And kathy lee and HODA. but more on that later. If you could see my face while taking this picture, it may disturb you. I froze when he came by us to shake hands. All I could muster up was a grunt. I know.

Al and Savannah, (bffl's... MY bffl's), were preparing for the night. It was the lighting of the grand christmas tree that stands in Rockefeller Center. At this point, Micah and I had no idea what was comin to us. The words "gridlock" and "don't drive anywhere today" didn't seem to sink in with us until it happened.

you know, going from this:

To this:

And people, those sorry saps couldn't even see the tree. No, they were watching a giant jumbo tv. Before we realized, we were herded like cows into our pens. And that's what the city became. A giant rodeo. Where the cops and VIP holders could walk through and stare at the cattle who are smashed into tiny pens waiting for release.

But ya'll, there was no releasing. Not until the tree was lit. This was the only place we could go. No Faith Hill singing "o holy night," No beiber fever. No nothin. From where we were standing, pushed up against the metal bars; I could see half of the tree. And hear nothing. I couldn't even see the tv to see what was going on.

So we made an exectutive decision, after standing there for two hours with 3 more to go; we left. A kind NYPD officer lifted us out of our pens, and we ran free down the the road like freed prisoners with endless opportunities. Luckily our sweet friend Annie, who has lived there the past 3 years was there and decided to ditch the lighting so we could go to dinner.

We ate at a place called Rocco's. An italian restaurant, actually run by italians. It was delicious. And Micah geeked over the owners. We love italians. And Annie. Great conversation over pasta and wine will always trump standing in frigid cold to see a tree, that I can see, in all it's glory, the next night. But relationships....these must trump all other things. Talks about life, God, ministry, love, hurts. That was a really special night for us. Nothing like being in the company of genuine friendships. No matter where you are, you pick up.

Day was one was incredible. We literally laid on our hotel bed, with sore feet, in awe of everything we had done that day. Day 2 was SURE not to disappoint.

i am the mother of a two year old.

2011-12-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

those words have not quite sunk in yet.

But I can tell you what has sunk in. Joy.

Every night, Micah and I pray with Silas before he goes to bed. We pray for his heart. We pray for grandparents. We pray for friends who are dealing with stuff. We pray for our stuff. We pray for wisdom, lots of wisdom. It's a raw time with our little family of 3. Our time with the Lord. Thanking Him, Asking of Him, begging for forgiveness. We will never stop doing this. I want Silas to know that we pray continually. And we have a Father in Heaven who hears us, and is with us in that time.

Tonight, I cried thinking about the past two years. God knew. He knew all along how this little man would change our lives forever. Change it in a way I could never have imagined. The way i know Jesus more, and the way my heart is overwhelmed with love for this little soul.... well, it just blows me away.

He's talking so much more these days. Asking me questions in english, and his language that I still can't completely figure out yet... He tells me he loves me. He tells me he is sorry. He loves to sing. He sings with me all the time, and will change the octave in his voice, just to make himself laugh. He is a goofy guy, who is animated, sweet and a lover of people.

Remember last year?

welp, 1 year later, he's still laughing

sheesh. He has gotten so big. We came home from New York (adventures I will document soon) and surprised him with balloons as he woke up. Seriously, the best thing ever. We will do this every single birthday from now on. He carried around his balloons all day long.

birthday dinner: grilled cheese sandwich, sweet potato fries. Coke cake and ice cream for dessert. Silas, how do you feel about that??

We literally spent the day carrying balloons, jumping on inflatables, eating with friends and dancing in the kitchen. It was perfect.

Silas' top 5 for year two:

1. Harry the Dirty dog. Harry has outranked Llama llama for the moment. He grabs his book and says "there's harry." And in a sneaky voice says "you diirrrrrty doooUUUg." I hope you can hear us say that.

2. giving kisses. Giving big giant kisses. Like the kind where you grab the back of the head and pull the person in close like some mob boss who just gave you the kiss of death before he grabs the gun instead of the cannoli. And i love em.

3. Squealing. We can't figure this out. He has the highest pitch squeal. He loves it. We could leave it. Nevertheless, he loves to squeal.

4. Dancing. He sways back and forth in dramatic movements and smiles. Unfortunately I realized the other day that he was just mimicking what i was doing. treat.

5. Singing. This kid loves him so david crowder band. I have a worship music cd that plays pretty constantly in my car. He has all the songs memorized. I hear him sing to himself about "how high and deep His Love" and that "healing is in His hands." His sweet voice. I pray those words are seeping into his pours. His soul.

6. He still loves being naked. Right before bath time, he likes to take a lap around the house, squealing. It is a highlight of my day. seriously. Those little cheeks are the cutest.

This saturday we will be celebrating his little life with friends and family. The theme? I'll give you one guess....

My super si, you are perfect.

2 has never looked better on you.

bucket list

2011-11-29T10:23:00.000-08:00

I will be out of commission for a few.

I'll give you ONE hint ;)

coming up on 2

2011-11-27T11:39:00.000-08:00

i've neglected the blog. Between holidays, design stuff and getting the stomach flu of sorts, i've been out of commission. But alas, i will be back. I was rummaging through some old pictures today, eating crackers and sipping sprite, and i ran into this.

This picture was taken the night before I realized I was pregnant. I felt so sick, and ended up leaving a friend's wedding early. But luckily managed to capture the shot. The shot before I knew what hit me.

and coming up on friday, 2 years and 10 months later..... my precious son will end his baby era, and enter toddlerhood. I'm not sure i'm ready for it either. Time is flying by so quickly it seems. But alas, our sweet healthy boy is turning two and it could not look cuter on him.

I'd show some old school photos from the childbirth, but alas, it COULD HAVE been cuter on me. And today, with my stomach in knots, I will hold off on those pictures. Because it's my blog.

a bubaboo and a birthday

2011-11-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

the grandparents have been askin for more silas pics. And since i obviously don't swoon over him enough... here' s a bit of what we have been doing. Apparently silas loves Santa. Well honestly anything dressed up larger than life, he seems to like. Almost as if he maybe was switched from birth and santa and/or the chick fil-a cow could be his real parents.

sorry to disappoint, son. We will not always give you an endless supply of toys, nor will you be allowed to moo at me in public.

Young Life all City Club: where we played with high school friends and listened to daddy tell kids about our God who fills every need in every way.

but first, seriously we have a problem. And the problem, is the cell phone. It's like he has a hidden magnet inside of him that finds the phone and immediately begins to franticly push buttons.

"cheese"

thankfully the sweet girls from another high school let my sweeter-than-your-son jump with them.

He makes friends quickly. I would to if i had the opportunity to jump on a larger than life blow up pillow with a wall I can stick to.

we traveled to louisville to experience the firsts of christmas with granny

the motley crew of cousins. One kid who does not want to be in the stroller. One kid having a meltdown due to not wanting help with pushing the said stroller. Aaand one kid who is older and a girl, and who will always trump younger boys on "what to do next"

Can't just picture when they are older?

I caught him twirling.

And then we met Santa. And had breakfast with him. Santa loves pancakes... and ya'll, that is not a knock on his weight, he truly does love them. I saw it. And Silas LOVES Santa. Like love love. I believe santa loved him too. They shared a moment. Silas also shared a moment with the chick fil a cow.... unfortunately I do not photo documentation of that. However I do have video. Maybe one day i'll show you.

And some extra gems from that weekend :) We love nanas.

and Mr. giraffe.

and finally friends, happy birthday to my dearest friend lib.

blast from the past.. this was technically one of the first times we met. And right before we became roomies for a bit. Lib, i'm so glad you were born. I'm also glad I have eyebrows now, as opposed to this picture.

but seriously, what a year to celebrate! A year to celebrate so many more birthdays!!! love you so much, who knew where life would take us after this picture?? So thankful for you and for birthdays.

happy birthday hubs!!

2011-11-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

to my hot husband:

you are 29 today. This will be the last year in your "twenties" and we are going to soak up every bit of it :) Diddy wanted me to write you and tell you that he loves you and wants to grow up to be like you one day.

Of course this was right before he had a tantrum and fell down to the ground in limp form.

But he loves you, and he promises to snap out of this stage at least by 18.

an ode to you later on today, until then...

we love you!!!

friday goodies

2011-11-04T06:51:00.000-07:00

new music:

here

-----------------------------------

new photo:

some of our awesome high school friends at Lafayette. Michael jackson, work out instructor?, redneck pregnant lady, and football player. Nice :) This was right before Club. New around here? Learn more here.

------------------------------

new design:

Coffee at Nordstrom

Yep, i've been a busy little bee here of late. Crystal was so wonderful to work for and made the design process super easy :) She has a great blog, and I think she's even having a giveaway going on right now?! holla! Go check her out & her new kickin' design. Let her know i sent you!

have a great weekend!

a case of the wednesdays

2011-11-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Going....

Going.....

Gone.

Sometimes wednesdays just feel like this, ya know?

im typing this, on this wednesday, as my child is kicking the wall. (not sleeping)

Which by the way, he should now be nick named "the boy who cried ~~wolf~~ poo poo"

He tells me when he "poo poo's" is there really a better word for it? In which i proceed to take him to sit on the potty as any new mother of a 2 year old would do and we sit. And wait.

He smiles. I'm wondering if he's schooling me.

No poop. But we do have a happy camper with no pants on the potty.

oy.

happy wednesday ya'll.

we like to throw parties

2011-11-01T05:36:00.000-07:00

i love a good party. more importantly than that, i love to throw a good party. I love the preparation, the planning, the envisioning of all our friends having a lot of fun in our home. It brings me joy. For years we did a Christmas party at our home that consited of dance parties that almost broke our floor, lots of consumption of egg nog, tacky christmas sweaters and lots of friends. When we had silas, we had to put the breakers on our huge parties because of our rowdy friends and/or baby bedtimes and thin walls. However, it has not stopped the frequent hangouts where 20+ people have been known to cram in our back "cabin." What can i say? we love fellowship.

"may our house never be too small to hold all of our friends."

And friends, now that si is a tad older with a later bed time and more flexible schedule...

Game On.

Welcome to our now annual Poston Oktoberfest...

I imagined a giant long table where all of our friends could sit, eat and laugh with each other. I love a big long table. And i love that we are able to fill it with people who mean the world to us.

we just got a bunch of tables, lined them up, covered them in table cloth and burlap. We lined the tables with mason jars & tea lights. We drank hot cider and ate bbq, ribs and pie. we strung lights and bunting to create a little getaway atmosphere in our own backyard. Because ya'll, sometimes we just need to have some fun and getaway.

all non-iphone pics are hers :)

the night felt so perfect. Our family, friends, and babies were all there. I remember just stopping and looking around and being so thankful to a) have food b)have friends and c)have all of these things at our house. It was humbling, and i am grateful.

and to end the night, we found nemo.

my mom laughed because she basically had to steal him away to change a "dirty" diaper because so many people were loving on him. There is nothing more joyful than seeing a room full of people loving on your son so well. Si literally laughed the whole day. I love that he is growing up around some of the most bold & courageous people of the Lord i know. They will be his "paul" and he will be there "timothy." i love it.

there will be many more gatherings here between now and the "2nd annual" Oktoberfest.

And for that i am grateful.

for those of you curious:

mason jars: borrowed all from my sweet neighbor, Lenore. Her mom and her used to can and turns out she has an abundance of unused mason jars. Score for me. I stuck tea lights in all of them.

flowers/weeds: literally the day of we went to a park and cut weeds. Weeds that looked like "wheat" and fall themed; but weeds nonetheless. See, you can do it too :)

tables: borrowed picnic tables, card tables, and outdoor furniture

table cloth: gray plastic from a party store

runner: burlap from a fabric store, cut.

lights: strung from a giant pole, that was our horizontal fence bar that our other neighbor had currently been pulling up. we simply strung cords up the center of the cord and strung them to adjacent trees.

bunting: sewn by me, thanks to jen: my teacher.

pumpkin cookies with maple cinnamon cream cheese spread

2011-10-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

I respect Eminem. At least he is passionate about what he raps about. As opposed to rhianna creepily singing "i'll drink to that," like some alcoholic ponying up to the bar sitting in a bottomless pit of despair. I do NOT want to drink to that, rhianna.

Eminem songs may be full of filth; but at least, when he is singing love lyrics to Dr. Dre, i know he means it. "I need a Doctor" is basically Eminem's love letter to Dre. They're best friends. And that song makes me smile:)

It must be hard being Dr. Dre's friend... not that being friends with Eminem would be a walk in the park. But every single song I hear Dr. Dre rap in; he is complaining about someone screwing him over or not giving him the credit and that they should be sorry 'cause he is so awesome. Dr. Dre is carrying a huge chip on his should and it's been going on since the 90's. No wonder Eminem likes to rap love songs to him. Just good old fashioned encouragement.

in a rap song.

food for thought.

And speaking of food; i've got a tasty little recipe for you :)

I love pumpkin. Pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin pie, pumpkin everything. So naturally I hunted the internet to find a good pumpkin cookie recipe. Well folks, i've found it.

It has a light and fluffy texture with the perfect amount of spice. And the best part yet? super easy to make. Not only that, but after reading darby's post on her pumpkin bread and maple cinnamon cream cheese spread; naturally i'm going to jump at the chance to slap that on my ~~thighs~~ pumpkin cookies.

flythroughourwindow

dang it, i should have totally taken a picture of my cookie on a doily. It looks so much better.

Nevertheless; run and make these cookies. They will not disappoint.

Pumpkin Cookies- Allrecipe.com

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Maple Cream Cheese Icing- flythroughourwindow

8 ounces of cream cheese {softened to room temperature}
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
a couple drops of vanilla
3 Tablespoons real maple syrup {or more to your liking}

Whip cream cheese with mixer until smooth. Mix in cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup. {You can add more maple syrup but my opinion is 3 T is just right sweetness-wise.} Refrigerate until set and the best part is it’s always spreadable even straight from the fridge.

happy monday!

bubaboos & friends

2011-10-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

i'm about to cram a week full of activities in one post.
on a friday night.
at 9:18pm.
cause that's how i roll.

This past weekend, my dear friend libby and her sweet daughter ava surprised us with a two night stay :) You could not imagine how ecstatic i was. There is nothing like, in the midst of storms in life; having real friends right beside you; cheering you on in the battle. And for me, I got a lot of that this past week, and weekend. Ava and Silas loved each other. Like they were made to play with each other or something...

The first night all of our girl friends and babies gathered and hung out at my house. It was awesome. These friendships run so deep and I love that our little families are growing up together, and that Silas has some pretty amazing women to look up to when he's looking for a little wifey one day :)

Here's parker: he makes the funniest faces

And my sweet bubaboo, here saying "cheese" for the camera. No doubt this followed up with a quick dart towards the camera to either a) look at himself or b) take it... fiercely.

melt.my.heart.

and sweet ava. shew. im gonna sign her up for a gap modeling ad i think. and not tell libby; and pocket all the money. is that possible? i kid...

there was loving...

and then there was ~~fighting~~.. learning to "share"
I wonder if this is what silas' face will look like in 16 years when I tell him he can't have the car for the night...

Silas has lots of "aunts." and let me tell you, each of them have a very special place in his little heart. Here is playing with "aunt holly" He tries to give her kisses on the lips. not on the cheeks, people. the LIPS.

and the night ended with bathing the kiddo's and putting them to bed so that all of us could just sit and hang out in a room we like to call "the cabin." I'll have to show you sometime. My handier-than-your-hubby micah made it for me. Like my little safe haven. We stayed up till 2 in the morning laughing and eating; sharing in joys and pains. It was so good for my soul. You just need those times with good friends to sit and connect and eat a butt ton of chocolate covered pretzels.

silas will kill me for this pic one day... or maybe ava will. oh well :)

The next day we ventured off to Joseph Beth Bookstores and adventured. I love that place. It reminds me of "the shop around the corner." guess what movie
Except this place is a tag bigger...

i'm pretty sure we rode the elevator 15 times. It's the little things in life; ya know?

And then of course we went out to look at ducks. I swear, having a kid, brings out the biggest kid in me. Like i'm experiencing everything all over again; for the first time. love it.

I kept thinking,"what do i do if my kid falls in?" Cause with my luck and reputation; this is bound to happen to him sooner or later. I'm sorry, si. You have my genes.

Oh man that sweet kid;. The rest of our time was spent hanging out, eating, and playing with hair. I've had short hair all of my life. Which means: product, hairspray, blow-drying, straightening. I don't get the luxury of leaving with my hair wet. Quite frankly, it would scare people. So I got to help sweet lib enter into the world of short hair complete with product/spray galore. She had no idea what was comin to her. After all, i have lived in kentucky my whole life and have heard the slogan many a time
"the bigger the hair, the closer to jesus"

It was so sad to see her go. I hate that as we all get older; it seems people just keep spreading out. Why can't i just live on a street with all of my dear friends?

--------------

i've got big things planned for ya'll. And it includes the Poston Oktoberfest that will be taking place tomorrow. And I am in p-a-r-t-y mode. I think i was made to plan parties. I love every bit of it; and micah does too. We both feel passionately about people being in our home, and having fun while they are there.

i got three pies sitting in my fridge right now. And people; it is taking everything in me to not eat them.

**all non-instagram pics are from my dear friend jen

2011-10-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

motherhood.

If I could write a book on motherhood, i would simply put this picture in it. A one page book. I wish I had those in high school. Nevertheless, i'm pretty sure that would be it.

oh, and don't ever assume you know what your child is doing in the next room.

You may or may not find them dipping their fingers in the toilet.

sigh.

fun things around here

2011-10-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

new music:

here

new photo:

new design:

Mrs. Rachel Ridd of Stella Bella

leave her a sweet note; tell her i sent you :)

my next couple days will consist of campfire, dear friends, amos lee and laughing. lots of laughing.

hope you had a great weekend!!

Day7: something new

2011-10-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

this post may get worse before it gets better. Then again, it may just stay bad.

I tried really hard to think of something "new." So much so i waited a day or two. I didn't just want to put something on here, ya know? I wanted to be authentic to what is going on in my life right now. After all, i started the 30 day challenge to document God's workings in my life during this particular time. His workings in my life with things that I am unable to share with blog-land about yet. I'm sure you have things like that. Things you felt deep in your heart that you wish people just "got." Without having to explain, without having to retell a story or to put into words exactly what you are feeling.

So for that, I am posting. To those who appreciate the DIY's and the cute pictures, and uplifting stories.... but also appreciate that every now and then you just need a word. That in the midst of rain. Which is what it's doing today; there is hope. That rain is purposeful. And only for a season. A day or two. And then sometimes there are months like "April" where they decide to tag it as the inevitable.

So that's what's new today. More rain. You know that old phrase, "when it rains, it pours?" It sure does pour here in lexington. It's never a quick rain. It usually lasts a couple days. That's why i bought rain boots last year. For dreary days of rain. But i'm sure you know i'm not just talking about the rain.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

I sat in my car today after a phone call and i could not move. i literally could not force myself to move my legs and get out of the car. thankfully micah came home about the same time and took sweet silas into the house for his lunch. I just sat there. cried. and watched the rain come down. We just got through talking about "what is God trying to break through with you?" in bible study this morning. I sat there thinking that the break through felt more like a breaking to me. Anyone relate?

God broke through prejudices in the early church; he broke through to peter in his spiritual walk; he broke through prayer in the early church; showing up in might ways: breaking chains from peter in jail, adding to their number daily: those who were putting their hope in the Lord. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14. I just finished telling my small group about this. That we have a God who fights for us. And he does. And i believe that with everything in me.

but my word. In the process; it feels like a breaking; not a break through. I wonder if Peter felt like that? When he sat in jail; sitting in the unknown. When he was beaten and threatened. I bet he felt like he was breaking. I wonder if he had himself a pair of rain boots?

You see, it's really easy to claim Christ when all is right in the world, and you're biggest problem is that you've lost your keys before work. I think i heard a song about that once. But will we claim christ still when there's a downpour? I will. I'm mad. I'm numb. and I still don't have feeling in my legs right now. But I claim Jesus. I will still claim that He is everything. I just really need him to clue me in soon. Until then, I will rest on His lap. I debated on whether to write about this. For a second, and then thoughtlessly I began to pour out my thoughts through this little keyboard. Because for you people who need a word today, as beth moore always says... For you people who are wishing you had rain bibs on top of your rain boots:

Jesus loves you. {ephesians 3:18} He is fighting for you. {exodus 14:14} He will not fail you. {exodus 15:13}He never does anything without purpose, and he sure as heck breaks through.

{proverbs 19:21} {all of Acts} His promise is that He will not break; and we won't either. {hebrews 4:15}

music for the rainy days: here

Day 6: childhood memory

2011-10-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

That's an RV, my friends. Recreation Vehicle.

And i swear to you, every time i see one out, i instantly go back to childhood summers. You see, my family, are somewhat like the griswolds. And if you do not know what i'm referencing; well then i'm sorry for you. And if you do? Well than you know that to be in my family is quite a treat.

East or West?

This was the question my dad would ask us as we were backing out of the driveway for family vacation. No agenda. No plan. No timeline, really. Well i'm sure my parent's needed to be back for work; but i didn't. We would always say west.

We ventured off in our 6 passenger van with 1 RV, 2 parents, 3 kids and one shelty. Her name was Tess. I get emotional thinking about her. She was my childhood dog and was basically apart of the family. We've never replaced her. She was that awesome.

Sometimes we would drive through the night. And by "we," i mean my dad. And sometimes we would anxiously look up the closest KOA (kampgrounds of america) and find the most luxiourous one we could find. That probably entailed having a swimming pool and pool table... Sing it with me now "we're on our way to K.O.A." candlelit dinners outside the RV, home cooked meals out our traveling camper, late nights playing card games with the fam. priceless.

Are you feeling a little "red" yet? Ok, i'll keep going...

My dad also had a CB radio that he liked to keep in the van. He may or may not have communicated with the fellow truckers on the highway. His handle was "lightening bolt." And ya'll, my dad is a certified public accountant. We like to hang loose and do it right in our family.

I honestly feel so privileged when i look back on my family and our sweet time together growing up. I have been to every state west of kentucky i believe. Driving for three weeks will do that for you :) I've seen the Grand Canyon at sunset, Mt. Rushmore in all of its glory, the badlands, snow-capped mountains in the summer, Mt. St. Helens, bears and moose in Yellowstone National Park, the grand Tetons.... just to name a few.

And let me tell you, i do not take it for granted for one second. The west is etched in my heart; and all of the memories that it holds for me. That RV could be the mascot of past, and hopefully one day, my future too :) Micah and I dream of taking our kids on trips like that.

Maybe that's why adventuring runs so deep in my veins. I love an adventure. One of my bucket list goals would be to get an RV and take my parents back out there. out west. family means everything to me; and i desire with every fiber in my being for silas and our future kids to experience it the way that i have... not to mention go on a couple trips with granny and pops. I dont think they would mind that :)

so what would it be for you? East or west?

a song on repeat

2011-10-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

we sing a lot in this house. when i was younger, i aspired to be a singer. I tried out for every solo I could get my vocal chords around. One time, when i was about 10, I got it. I was the understudy, and the girl fell "ill".... but i still got it.

It wasn't until about 30 auditions later, through middle school/high school that I realized that I did not, in fact, have the voice of whitney houston. I'd like to think people just don't know what they're missin.

I digress.

So naturally, i love singing. Silas and I love singing. We/I have sung praise songs together since he was a wee embryo. I sing and sing, and he smiles and/or cries. Depends on the day. But friends, in the past few months; he has entered into the duo. He has begun singing songs that I have been singing to him in the early hours of the morning; rocking his sick little body to sleep. From when he bumped his head; fell on the ground and was sung back to goodness. From when we are rejoicing in the car and my living room when it is just him and I pal-ing around.

He sings. And the song that he has continually kept singing over and over again is "how he loves" by david crowder band. I can't help but think our divine Lord has something to do with this. A reminder, in my sweet sweet son, that His love for me and for him is more than I can even fathom. That He is fighting for me. And that I am His.

I was able to catch silas singing a long to it on my handy computer. However, b/c he can see himself in the screen, he may get a bit distracted at times. He loves watching himself, and thinks it's the most hysterical thing... you'll note he yells out "baby" in the beginning. Yep buddy, that's you.

And my little protege begins...

FALL = JOY

2011-10-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

we loved florida. But one thing I cannot wrap my mind around is the fact they do not get to experience seasons the way that we do. The colors changing, the falling leaves, the chill air, drinking pumpkin spice lattes in hoodies. Oh, and Huber's orchard.

this past saturday, we took a family trip to Huber's farm. We played with cousins, grandparents, and lots of pumpkins.

ha, and with three children under the age of 4; pictures where everyone is smiling are hard to come by.

I think they have just about everything here. Giant tractors, pumpkin picking, apple picking, wine, food, apple butter, live music, a general store with all of your fall favorites. This is one of the places i cannot wait to go to every fall. I grew up coming here; picking my own pumpkins and silas will get to also. Love it.

and diddy seriously had the time of his life. Last year we went, but he couldn't walk on his own and he was still so young. Still young this year, but oh goodness, his little personality and legs with speed made this trip unforgettable.

on our way to the pumpkin patch:)

my cuter-than-your-niece, rachel and diddy held hands everywhere. They love each other. Rachel would call silas her "best friend cousin" Oh, and see the sling on her arm? poor girl fell off the monkey bars at school and broke her collar bone. Those monkey bars, they get ya every time. I bet everyone has a "monkey bars" incident. It's like your rite of passage into childhood.

remember last year? gosh, how much has changed...

2010

but you know what hasn't changed since last year?
2010:

2011:

Note: it will be a SAD day when i must retire these shoes.

we even got a chance to take a little family picture

and because i like to keep it real here; this happened shortly after

and to wrap up our day; we entered the amazing world of a petting zoo. Silas "moo'd" at the cows at the top of his lungs. It's cool, he likes to communicate on their level.

The weekend was so much fun, and a great thing to come home to. Today we rounded it off at cracker barrel with granny and pops

oh fall, how i love thee.

Family Vacation 2011

2011-10-07T17:45:00.000-07:00

we are BACK! and i'd be lying to you if i said i wasn't a teensy bit sad about it. however, i told micah on our last day "you know i hate when vacations end, but the best part is, I get to come home with you guys."

Seriously, this vacation was needed. In every fiber of my dramatic being; i mean that word. And it was GOOD. So so good. Micah and I (speaking for the bubbaboo as well) thought this was the best trip we've gone on together. Broken air conditioning, beach ruined adventures due to sunscreen filled eyes, and almost missing our flight home; all worth it. We'll be telling Silas these stories of his "first vacation" till we are old and gray. and then some.

We went to the beach (successfully and unsuccessfully). We ate powdered donuts every morning for breakfast. Seriously. We went to a botanical garden; climbed trees and ran through sprinklers. We stayed up late to watch sunsets. We ate ice cream. We adventured. Put a bubaboo to bed late every night, and stayed up laughing, crying and talking.

Silas, this vacation marked the first one you've ever taken, and marked a significant moment in mine and your dad's lives. In the old testament they would place rocks where God did something huge to remind their ancestors of God's faithfulness and redemption.

I'd place a rock here.

shew. ya'll, my hubs is hot.

please notice how most of these shots are of my sweet two year old's back. Seems like that's all i see these days :)

"look babe, i left our mark"- my sweeter-than-your-hubby

hope you enjoy you're weekend:) We will be heading off to pumpkin picking, drinking apple cider and petting zoo's. 30 day challenge will be back on monday!

Vacation: Day 1

2011-10-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

Welp, my friends, we have arrived… barely. I should have known this was going to be a little adventure…

So far, we ended up flying into the wrong airport....

Well, technically it wasn’t wrong, but not where we had thought; therefore setting us back a few details; such as:

Switching the rental car reservation from said airport, we did NOT fly into.

Drove towards our house, with coughing baby in tow.

Went to good ol’ tgif and ate dinner.

Diddy then vomited up “said” dinner. At the table. In my hands; and then immediately into micah’s face.

Micah then ran with vomiting baby outside while I stood with puke ridden hands, asking for towels, while onlookers....trying to eat their food; look at me in disgust.

Managed to travel straight to the house-no stopping for groceries anymore. Proceeded into the gated community with a shirtless husband explaining to the neighborhood attendant that she should, in fact, let us in. Nevermind the shirtless man and naked baby in the backseat…

Came into the house to find No AC. Ya’ll, it’s 82 degrees here. So we’re a little toasty, but it’s fine. Good thing I married a man who knows his A.C.

Which brings me to now: sitting outside diddy’s new bedroom for the week, praying that he would stay healthy, and sleep all the way through the night tonight.

OH, and in the midst of all of this; I hand silas my cell phone to keep him occupied. When we arrive at the house I find that he has called an ex boyfriend 6 times in a row.

I believe tonight is the night I clean my cell numbers out.

Shew. We’re here. WHO’S READY FOR THE BEACH TOMORROW?!

Day 5: Someone I love

2011-10-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

I mean, is this even a question?

our little man. Seriously people, words cannot express how much love I have for him. Never could I ever have imagined before having him that I could love somebody that much. As far as a little update on him, he now says his "peas" and "thank you's", I love you that comes out in "bye bye you" sometimes, oh man, alllrriiiggghht, and a handful of others:) He sings "jesus loves me," "abc's," and a bunch of other songs that he likes to make up. He's been known to incorporate "mommy" into his own little ballad. He counts to ten, but prefers the number 9.

And people, he's so smart. He goes in the kitchen, opens up the refrigerator and pulls out his sippy cup of milk. He returns it when he's finished. I've pretty much trained him to help me be as lazy as possible (if you can even use the term "lazy" as a stay at home mom. HA.) I once let him pull around a swifter. Hey, he likes it. He picks up on everything we say now: mimics it, repeats it, everything. I'm in real trouble people. He's gonna let all my cats out of the bag...

He's wearing 2T clothes now and has the sweetest cheeks known to man. Both sets. He's shy when he first meets you; and then warms up real quick. He has the sweetest demeanor, and super affectionate. man, he's the coolest kid i know. I wish you all knew him ( who read this and don't), you would love him. I bet you would even have him as your 30 day challenge picture of "someone you love."

maybe, that's the mom in me talking... But i doubt it.

And of course my sweeter-than-your-hubby Micah. I tell him all of the time that he is my "breath of fresh air." I know that when I am with him, I am the most comfortable. I love it. God so specifically put us together. And for this season of my life; I have never been more affirmed. We laughed a lot tonight imagining ourselves 50 years from now... I will have lost something, and he will STILL know exactly where it is. He'll also be the one holding me back when I become senile and start mouthing off whatever is on my mind. That could be dangerous for all.
I just don't think life would be as fun without him.

Today I came home to find Micah and Silas hanging out the window to greet me. My heart melted. Under Jesus, nothing is greater.

And folks, tomorrow we will be taking our first family vacation.

The Poston's are packing up and heading to the beach.
30 day challenge will go on hold as I am soaking up the rays, and/or chasing my almost two year old in the sand....

let the adventurous and hilarity of us taking a toddler on his first plane ride and first beach trip begin.
thisoughtabeagoodone.

**Also, I got the chance to design my friend, Libby's blog :) Let me know what ya think!! I got lots of design stuff in the making... i'll be posting away when they are completed!

Day 4: favorite color

2011-09-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

listen, this is a terrible picture. I'm acknowledging that now.

But I love me some muted yellow. And I love wood. So in this picture we get a "win, win"

this picture is a lot better. I ganked it off Pinterest. My favorite color + fall leaves = heaven.

carmel apple spice, no whip

pumpkins

apple pie

sweater weather

fall is good for the soul. And so is muted yellow.

Day 3: Clouds

2011-09-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

Genesis 1:8

it is a beautiful fall day, friends. So here are my clouds, as I go outside and soak it up!

day 2: what I wore

2011-09-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

I woke up today thinking I should wear something really cute for today; you know since i'm blogging about it and all.

Then I thought it may be obvious that i wouldn't normally wear a dress as a stay at home mom. And truth be told, this is kind of "dressing up" for me. Normally my hair is not down, and jewelry is not even an afterthought. Lucky for you, I was heading out to BSF (bible study fellowship) where t-shirt and shorts are not the typical "attire."

brown cardigan

turquoise necklace

white tank

jeans

yellow shoes

You know, the normal "outfit" you wear, that you no doubt always think of when you go to the mall and think, "i need to pick out something I don't wear all of the time."

And then inevitably you will leave the story with the same "said" cardigan and tank that you have forty versions of in your closet.

yep, that's about right.

You should have seen Silas' outfit today though. He sat on a strawberry at lunch, which resulted in an unfortunate situation of him appearing to have started his period. We played on the playground a bit like that. I just smiled and nodded at the onlookers.

Day 1: Self Portrait

2011-09-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

photo challenge

A picture says a thousand words...and that is a big picture of my face.

I have evidence that some people really don't mind doing this; but for me, taking my own picture is awkward. It literally makes me uncomfortable. It also doesn't help that my roots are showing. Figuratively, and physically (my hair).

As of today, this is my self portrait. Me, after taking a deep breath. You know, you experience things in your life and wonder, "if anyone really knew what I was thinking..." Or if your face could be like a mirror image into your life. Where you have come from, what you are about, what has shaped you. Sometimes I can literally see it in people's eyes. I can see the worn-ness. But in a good way. Like their eyes ooze of wiseness and peace. I like to surround myself with people like that.

So what would my face say? It would say that my past, present, and future are being held in the arms of my loving father. And friend's, i'm making my bed there. So the experiences, the joys, the hurts, the love, the pain... at a mere 27 years old.... I will let my heavenly father bind them up for safe keeping. Cause after all, that's really what anyone's self portrait really is.

It's a picture, a glimpse, of the current state they are in.... the sum of their life thus far.

and the resounding song in my head is "oh, how he loves us." Cause that's really all I want to think about, when I think of myself.

What would your self portrait be? What would it capture?

2011-09-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

this past weekend was incredible. I will begin the 30 day photo challenge tomorrow. Because today? Today I'm going to show you where I spent my last weekend. A dear friend of ours got married in greenville, sc. And all of our friends road tripped to go celebrate the joyous day with her. It was fantastic. Not to mention, her wedding and reception were straight out of a pinterest-wish-you-had-this-wedding-board. So, all i have are some sneak peaks that my dear friend, and talented photographer, Jenna, took and my fabulous instagram pics.

enjoy:) hope it's not raining where you are. Cause it is here.

most.beautiful.dress.ever.

Vintage Suitcase to hold wedding gifts? yes please.

Grooming helping the bride get a bug out of her dress. Perfect. That is a good man right there.

Shannon, we LOVED getting to share this weekend with you!!

fresh air

2011-09-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

I needed a breath of fresh air a couple days ago. It was beautiful outside; 70 degrees outside with zero humidity. So I decided to go out for a run. It was one of those runs where every song that came on my pandora made me run a little faster and breathe a little harder. I've really enjoyed running since my training for Team libby and our half marathon was finished. So much so that I run every day. I think my soul needs it.

This song came on:

Please ignore the bad hair-do and the fact that this guy has to be in his thirties, since his old days in Blink 182, and is wearing skinny jeans. Or the fact that his hair looks like a pimply emo punk 15 year old kid.

i digress.

{Here we go, life's waiting to begin; tonight.}

You can imagine, my heart began to beat a little faster after hearing every lyric. Because if I were to be honest with you, this past month has been a bit painful. Mainly dealing with past stuff. That maybe one day, I will write out on here how I came to know the Lord; and his redeeming love that brought me from death to life.

Until then, this season of my life will be that of healing, restoration and "rebuilding the ancient ruins and restoring the places long devastated."

I will be claiming Isaiah 61. Eating, breathing, drinking this chunk of scripture.

And while i'm doing this, i'm going to join my friend Jen, as she embarks on this 30 day challenge of pictures; from the originator: here Because If i were a betting woman, I would bet that i'm not the only one who needs a breath of fresh air; sometimes. So I will document this next month: God's workings in my life. The restoration. The gut checks. The everything. For the reminder that in the midst of restoration; there is still building.

join me. i'm anxious to see how God will use things like, pictures on instagram, to tell a story. My story. Just for a month. Maybe they are serious pictures, or funny ones. Light ones, or heavy. Either way. It's my next month. And Friends, your guess is as good as mine.

the farm

2011-09-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

a couple weekends ago, we took a trip to "the farm."

The farm is where my dad grew up and where my grandmother has lived for over 60 years. We haven't gotten to travel here often, but my memories of it are fond. Seeing my grandfather here, who passed away when I was younger, playing with cousins, and endless amount of land for a child to run and run fast.

My dad has endless stories of working on the farm, milking cows (as it was a dairy farm), and working hard. You know the saying, "were you born in a barn??" Well, if my dad ever combatted me with that after my notorious habits of leaving doors opened, I would simply reply...

"well, you were. And you raised me."

I was a real gem back then ;)

You should also know that while we were touring the milkbarn with my dad, my brother in law decided it would be a funny time to ask, "so is this where they get the expression, rollin' around in the hay?"

note: this question was asked to my dad.

awkward silence inevitably followed.

Nevertheless, it was a joy to see family that we have not gotten to see in quite a long time, and for them to meet Silas and the other grandkids.

I think it would be safe to say that Silas had the time of his life. Cousins, family, swings, and lots of room to run.

The only problem we had was with the sand. Apparently the kids aren't at the age yet of processing when sand is thrown, it WILL get in your eye. And you will no doubt fight that battle for the rest of the day until you hit a body of water. Sweet Rachel kept her eyes closed for the majority of her time in the sand.

Meet my brother, and his son, Harry. Harry gives me this look a lot. A LOT. i'm trying not to take it personal...

And here is where my son thinks any kind of ledge/drop off is surely a slide that he can go down. I just better be there when he's pushing off....

And then in pure farm fashion, the kids stripped down to their unmentionables and danced the day away in the water.

i mean can you get a cuter picture (in chandler, from FRIENDS, voice)

Tractor rides. Endless amounts of tractor rides.

Oh, the farm was good to us. It was good time to simply just "be." The kids loved their great grandma, and she LOVED them. I tell ya that woman is incredible. She still mows the grass on the farm HERSELF. And ya'll, it's a lot of grass.

Literally, five minutes into the trip home, this guy fell asleep with his cup of applejacks and Mr. giraffe tightly in hand.

happy monday!

Rapuntzel, let down your HAIRRRR!

2011-09-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

My cuter-than-your-neice, Rachel.

She just turned 4.

Her favorite past times are twirling, hosting tea parties and watching the movie, tangled.

She could not, for the life of her, understand why her hair would not glow like Rapuntzel's. Devastation and tears were the results when said hair remained a mere, shiny blonde.

On many occasions I have found her rubbing her hair and singing "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine..."

Apart from Christ, I can do nothing. But I've found myself lately relating a lot to the whole glowing hair problem, when i'm trying desperately to do everything on my own. Anyone relate?

Oh, and rachel? No need for glowing, you got way more volume gurl.

tiny silas

2011-08-31T16:13:00.000-07:00

any other moms relate?

I looked at him down the hallway and noticed he wasn't quite as tall as the door knob.

and then I got really sad that he will not always be this tiny :/

Being a mom has been one of the greatest joys in my life.

5 year anniversary: i still choose you.

2011-08-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

Our vows.

And these vows mean so much more to me now, than they did 5 years ago.

Happy anniversary darling.

5 years later from that day we stood in a black tux and white dress?

i still choose you.

awkward moment wednesday

2011-08-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

#thatawkwardmomentwhen

you are at the lady doctor and all of a sudden you realize that you have reached the age where your dr was born the same year as you. And that same age lady doctor is now examining your lady parts.

there was always just a comfort when someone your Mom's age was doing the examination. Now i feel like I just had coffee with my best friend, and now she's going to do pap smear to check everything out.

treat.

thirsty hearts design

2011-08-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

two posts in a day?! woo!

In case you were wondering, my exciting news is not that I am pregnant.

nope my friends, no bun in the oven here. My exciting news is something else...

The ol' graphic design business is up and running!! And one of my first portfolio examples to show is none other than my dear friend Jen, from with grace & lace.

I majored in Integrated Strategic Communications with a focus in Public Relations while at the University of Kentucky and since graduation, God has led me through a whirlwind of adventures.
My learned skills (since graduating college) have consisted of; but are not limited to:

cutting paper
burning paper to make it look old for hundreds of people
counting kid's offering money
making copies
sending reminder cards
making copies
sending emails
bulk mailling
teaching middleschool/highschool kids about sex
making copies
taking procrastination to the next level
the craft of killing time
teaching middleschool/highschool kids about the reproductive system.
teaching middleschool/highschool kids about how to make smart decisions
answering absurd questions from said middle school/ high school students.
people. sometimes there is such a thing as a dumb question. I promise you.

Through those adventures, with a sporadic bad job here and there; I also learned the craft of graphic design and knew that it was growing to be something i loved doing. Now as a stay at home mom, God has opened so many doors to allow me to not only stay at home with my cuter-than-your-baby si, but now I get to dabble into stuff that I really love to do! My little creative outlet, if you will.

You can check out my new design page up at the top and click through....

I'd love to design your blog!

You can also go check out her blog; she was so sweet to write about my new little business today and show off her new look! Got any questions for me? just email me!

Who knows where this will take me, but i'm excited for the adventure!

Hiking at the gorge

2011-08-22T05:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we decided we would venture to the Red River Gorge here in Kentucky. We borrowed a hiking baby backpack from our friends, and stacked our backpack full of water and marshmallows. don't judge.

this happy little face lasted a long time. And then we drove... and drove... and drove...

Mommy and daddy got a little lost. People, i tell ya, it was the MAP.

But eventually, we found the perfect trail. And we ventured off for our little hike, hauling 27 pounds to be exact.

I told Micah to take pictures... and my sweeter-than-your-husband got a little confused on the iphone app that we were taking pictures from. He took a lot of them. Documented most of our journey. However, none of the pictures were saved....

bless his heart.

But don't fret; we do have one picture with diddy and i.... I think I was smiling, and he was desperately trying to take off his hat. But lets just say he was laughing so hard he was almost crying....

We walked down many steps; which of course, in hiking, requires you to walk back up. But it was worth it.

IF you live around here, you should make it a point to go hiking in the Gorge. It's beautiful. The outlooks into the mini canyons are incredible. I wish I could show you all the pics we took of them.... ~~but they weren't saved~~

Man i love these guys. It was such a sweet day with my men. We got lost together, found out where we were together, and ventured through our hike. We sang songs, laughed, and ate lots of marshmallows. I cannot tell you what it was like to hear Silas laugh at the site of the cliff we looked out from. I could not think of any better place to spend our morning than to be in the midst of God's creation; celebrating HIM and thanking him for our Joy in Him.

Needless to say, after boycotting a nap, and a day of hiking...

this equals =

A little diddy, snuggled with a mr. giraffe, horizontal on his pillow.

We like to call this, "paranormal baby." Hope your weekend was great too! I have some EXCITING news to share with you all later today!!

Our life in pictures: the last week

2011-08-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

Summer fun.

BBQ's.

Relaxing.

County Fairs.

Meeting horses & neighing to them.

Soccer games at Lafayette High School.

I'd say it's been a busy, good week :)

The story of Us: Part 6: marriage > wedding.

2011-08-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

But that doesn't mean that the wedding wasn't a freaking blast.

But before I get into that incredible day: a bit on marriage.

I was reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller the other day and I ran across the chapter in "romance." and Don asked his friend Paul about marriage, and whether or not he was happy; this is how he responded:

"Are you happy?" "Define happy." "Are you glad you married Danielle?" Paul puts the stem of his pipe back in his mouth. " I am happy, Don. I am very happy." "What do you mean it isn't what I think it is then?" I was expecting him to talk about sex. " Well, maybe I can't say what you think marriage is. Maybe I should say it isn't what I thought it would be. I thought to be married was to be known. And it is; it is to be known. But Danielle can only know me so much; do you know what I mean?" "There are things you haven't told her?" I ask. "I've told her everything." "Then I don't know what you are saying." Paul pushed himself up a little to the pitch of the roof from which you can see the Portland skyline. I joined him. "We all want to be loved, right?" "Right." "And the scary thing about relationships, intimate relationships, is that if somebody gets to know us, the us that we usually hide, they might not love us; they might reject us." "Right," I tell him. Paul continued. "I'm saying there is stuff I can't tell her, not because I don't want to, but because there aren't words. It's like we are separate people, and there is no getting inside each other to read each other's thoughts, each other's beings. Marriage is amazing because it is the closest two people can get, but they can't get all the way to that place of absolute knowing. Marriage is the most beautiful thing I have ever dreamed of, Don, but it isn't everything. It isn't Mecca. Danielle loves everything about me; she accepts me and tolerates me and encourages me. She knows me better than anybody else in the world, but she doesn't know all of me, and I don't know all of her. And i never thought after I got married there would still be something lacking. I always thought marriage, especially after I first met Danielle, would be the ultimate fulfillment. It is great, don't get me wrong, and I am glad I married Danielle, and I will be with her forever. But there are places in our lives that only God can go."

"So marriage isn't all that it is cracked up to be?" I ask. "No, it is so much more than I ever thought it would be. One of the ways God shows me He loves me is through Danielle, and one of the ways God shows Danielle He loves her is through me. And because she loves me, and teaches me that I am lovable, I can better interact with God." "What do you mean?" " I mean that to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is; a Being that is love.

I can't tell you how true these words are. I am in LOVE with Micah. He is my absolute best friend. But God, my Father, is my everything. He fills every need in every way. He loves me purely and furiously and knows me more than I know myself. He knows the stuff I can't express to anyone else. Marriage is tough, but is so so so good. It is fun, it is joyful. But it is not MECCA. It is not the end all. No my friends, the wedding; the pictures, the everything. All of that is meaningless. Jesus is everything. Our marriage is held together because we hold to this truth. All because of Jesus. And He has made this love story, our marriage something beautiful. A beautiful description of Jesus and Us. And that my friends is the real Love story. A God who loves us so furiously and passionately pursues us to redeem, love and flourish.

Shew. So these wedding pics: I pray you rejoice with me in that awesome day, knowing that it is all because of Christ that we can love; be loved.

August 26, 2006 We tied the knot. I kid you not, it was the most beautiful day. I woke up that morning with my friend, lib, one of my most cherished friends, in the apartment that would soon be the place where Micah and I would BOTH live together. We were giddy. The day was finally here!! My family came over and we made breakfast, watched a wedding movie and counted down the minutes until we would arrive at the church.

I remember people always saying "that day was such a blur." Well, i'm one of those people who likes to take a mental "snapshot" whenever I realize i'm in a place where I need to remember what just happened. I literally "click" in my head. I made an effort to just be in the moment all day. With the people i cared the most about. It was wonderful. And five years later, i still remember:)

We arrived anxiously and Micah and I had decided to not see each other before. So we got ready; anxiously and joyfully.

I remember the room being hot. We all laughed, reminisced. For the first time in my life; I was on time. All my bridesmaids? Late. But it gave me the chance again to just be still. I believe God did that, seeing as though my life, is a mix of an over-exaggeration of emotions and rushed tendencies. Sue me.

This picture makes me laugh. 1. I look naked. 2. It looks so glamorous, but really I was trying to hold my veil as they used the jaws of life to clamp me into my dress. "Make it as tight as you possible can" I said. No need to be able to breathe, I thought. To me that dress was the epitome of what is now called "spanx."

Our friends, Justin and Cliff, played our music. A page is turned, was what our parents came down too. And then Cliff and Justin played their version of "come thou fount" for our bridesmaids to come down too. That song was monumental in my beginnings of knowing I was being pursued by the Lord. It was the most beautiful version to this day I have ever heard. ever.

I walked down to Cannon in D. But a dainty version. Micah says it took forever for me to come out. They just waited, and for a brief second, he thought I may not be coming...

Oh, but I was. You know... i just like a grand entrance.

I tried so hard not to the do the "ugly cry." But honestly, seeing Micah was a breathe of fresh air. That's what I always tell him. He really is my breath of fresh air. I can just "be" with him.

To be honest, this was before Pinterest, and an endless supply of knowledge and ideas for weddings. We were on a tight budget, and I didn't spend a whole lot of time on decor. But what I did spend a lot of time on, was the ceremony. The meaning of it; the symbolism; everything. Cliff and Justin Played "Come and listen" by David Crowder while we took communion. That song speaks to my soul of how I feel about my high school friends knowing the Love of Jesus. Micah and I knew that at the end of our ceremony, we wanted people to think of nothing else but Jesus. About the God who loves us so unfathomably. Micah's YL leader, the man who lead him to Christ, married us. Rick. He is still a YL leader today and that man has impacted more people than I can even dream of.

We found some props in the back; and made Rick put it on. It's Only natural.

You know what true love is? Micah eating the bread crumb that was dangling off my lip when he went in for our first kiss as "man and wife." I didn't know until after the fact, but he told me he didn't want for me to be embarrassed about the giant crumb on my lipstick. Thank you Micah, i would have. He is the biggest servant i know. Still, to this day.

This pictures sums us up. micah saying something inappropriate, and my facial expression afterwards.

As if the ceremony wasn't the best, we still had a reception of our most favorite people in the world waiting for us to arrive. But to be honest, i don't think people were really fretting over where we were. Ya'll, we have got P-A-R-T-Y- A-N-I-M-A-L-S as friends. And we LOVE some dance parties.

yes, that is someone crowd surfing.

I believe this face was "Micah, i don't think i'm physically capable of getting back up from this position."

We ate cake.

We through bouquets and giant rubberbands that go around your thigh...

Threw my bouquet to Libby, because I knew that while we were on our honeymoon, she would be getting engaged to our friend "ryder." And from there, would start an incredible journey for her. Read about her here, if you haven't already.

Micah on the other hand...

would apparently be giving everyone "the bird" whilst throwing said rubberband. This will go down as most epic wedding pic. We like to keep it classy here.

The night ended to us plowing through extremely excited friends carelessly flinging their sparklers for our tunnel of love. I want you to note how close these sparklers are to our faces. But for the pic? I'd get singed again and again.

Oh Micah, next week we will celebrate 5 years of marriage. I have loved every single moment with you. The good, the bad, the ugly. These have been some of the best five years of my life.

DIY- Rustic Bookshelf

2011-08-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

TGIF people.

This week has been exhausting, and I have come to discover today, that I live in a pile of dust. It's like everywhere I look, there is a new spot that I have not seen in 4 years.

new spot i haven't seen in four years = crap ton of dust.

But you know what is NOT dusty? Our new/old rustic bookshelf!

We happen to live by a wonderful antique store. Literally, it's called "The antique store." A while back, I saw that they had giant wooden crates. She was just trying to sell them, and I scored them for 10 bucks each. She thought they were ugly. I thought they were PERFECT. I knew right away what I was going to do with them.

I grabbed four of them, because i'm a hoarder. I knew I only needed 3. But people.

wooden. crates.

Micah and I got to working. We stacked each crate open side out, and screwed them all together to make a brand "new" bookshelf!

Even though this is more of a Find-It-Yourself, it help you think outside of the box when trying to find pieces of furniture for your house!

With the crates, they were perfect as they were: the scrappy paint colors on the side, the old shipping labels... we left it all on to give it some more character.

Check your local antique stores, flea markets, etc: even ask the store manager, because they had about 20 of these beauties in a garage of an employee that wanted to get RID of them! seriously?! I would take all 20 if Micah would let me.

you never know when you need a wooden crate. They are kinda my downfall.

Good Luck on your searches! Oh, and in case you were wondering, we screwed this sucker to the wall... we happen to have a little friend who likes to wreak havoc on things...

Si also likes to pet your hair. Mainly a few choice friends of ours. He has a "moment."

Don't worry Si, it's kinda how mommy feels about wooden crates....

awkward moment wednesday

2011-08-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

#thatawkwardmomentwhen

you are running outside and you trip, skid and bounce across the concrete in the middle of the road.

all in front of a car turning out on the other side of the street.

Don't worry folks, my pride was hurt more than anything. I just made that dude's day.

And that has, in fact, been the kind of day i've had.

cheers.

pretty friends= face i made right after falling... probably.

the Jesus Storybook Bible = must have for kiddos

2011-08-09T10:26:00.001-07:00

Being a parent is one of the hardest things i've ever done. Growing them up, teaching, loving, correcting. Let's be honest, it's not for the faint of heart. Discipling our children and teaching them to love the Lord passionately and fearlessly.... this is the biggest. I want Silas to grow up learning from us. Learning that we are flawed people who follow a flawless God who loves us passionately. Learning that we will spend our last breath serving and telling people of our God that fills every need in every way. Learning that we are called to be real and transparent, and that our lives are not perfect but we will always point to the one who is. We will love others. All others. Learning that everything in this life points to our Creator.

With that, I have searched high and low to find a bible for Silas that can speak to him on his level; that stays fluent in the Truth that is scripture. Because lets be honest people, there is some stuff out there that is labeled "christian," that could be the farthest thing from it. There is stuff out there that will label itself as "truth" and it is laced with many lies. So i've been kind of particular. But Moms and dad's out there: i've found it!

The Jesus Storybook Bible.

I love it. Every bit of it. Silas wants to read it every day. He says "bible." And we open up and learn about the God who loves us and him so much. My favorite part of it, is that through every chunk of scripture that it touches on, it "whispers the name of jesus." It always foreshadows the accounts of the old testament to jesus. I love it.

"Because of his Never Stopping, Never Giving up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love." This sentence is repeated over and over again in every story. Seriously? yes please, I will read this over and over again to teach Silas that THIS is truth. Our love story: a story of our rescuer.

Some samples: ( just portions of the whole story)

:: Daniel and the scary sleepover::

Daniel and the lions' den, from Daniel 6

:: Get ready!::

God's people return from being slaves,

from Nehemiah 8-10, Malachi 1, 3 and 4, Ezra 7

Oh sweet Si, Jesus IS our rescuer, and His love for us is bigger than we can fathom.

I hope you will enjoy reading this with your kiddo the way we have. The best part? It fires ME up, reading it. Sometimes we get so distracted we forget that really we are his children too, running into our father's arms. So bring on the children's version. Truth is Truth. love it.

The Story of Us: Part 5 I like to be me when i'm with you

2011-08-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

We took this picture the first time I met Micah's family. I loved a good "choker." In case you didn't live in my timeline, then what I am referring to is my necklace that seems to be cutting off my circulation in this pic. I look at it now, and my palms get sweaty. Just looking at the tightness around my neck causes my heart to beat faster as if I was in a tiny space surrounded by spiders.

moving on.

Well, the first date went so well that it progressed :) He was turning into my best friend. I love that Drew & Ellie Holcomb song "I like to be with me, when i'm with you." That would describe our dating experience. He knew all about me. The Real me. The pretty me, and the ugly me. And you all know what i'm talking about. We have pretty sides, and we have ugly ones. And I don't mean externally.

Our first kiss? Best first kiss i've ever had. Hands down. Maybe something out of a movie. And seriously there was nothing glitzy about it, the setting wasn't really romantic. But there was something about it. Something different. There was love behind it. And I just had never experienced that before.

We discussed our pasts, we forgave and we moved on. We worked through things together. We stood by each other. We went through really difficult times together. We encouraged each other in ministry. He was a YL leader at Lexington Christian Academy here in Lexington; and I was at our current school now; Lafayette. We did life together. I believe it was around 8 months that we got to a point of breaking it off. I believe every couple will go through that stage. That moment where this is either worth fighting for; or it's not. And my friends, it was worth fighting for. It was about this time that it became very apparent that we were both in it for the long haul.

Us together at YL Camp; separate schools: Same mission mindset.

Our first "I love you's" were shared. Such a sweet moment. I wanted to marry this man. And turns out, he wanted to marry me too ;)

We started dating in November, 2004. On December 16, 2005, we got engaged!

That night I was going over to his house for him to cook me dinner. You should just know that our first valentines day together: I dressed up, I made him cookies, made a Love bin filled with his favorite candy, an awesome cd and love notes. I anxiously drive to his house where I believe he will have the most romantic dinner and evening planned for us. I get there, and am welcomed by my sweet soon to be hubby with his "virginia is for lovers" t-shirt and him explaining, he forgot to thaw out the pork tenderloin and so he just put some spaghetti sauce on the stove. No presents. No romantic evening.

I stood there dressed to the "nines" and he stood there in a t-shirt and jeans; empty handed. On valentines day. So girls. It ain't always roses, and guys don't always "get it." But it doesn't mean they don't love you:) It just means that you may need to "work" with them.

But this night. December 16, 2005. I walked into a candle-lit dinner. We ate, we laughed, we shared stories. After dinner, we went out to look at christmas lights and drink peppermint mochas from Starbucks. Which if you know me, those two things are my absolute favorite things to do. I love me some twinkle lights. If it were socially acceptable; I would hang twinkle lights about my house all year long.

The night was so fun. I have to laugh looking back on it, b/c Micah is the worst surprise keeper EVER. He gets so excited and anxious that somehow he will either beg you to let him tell you, or it will inevitably slip out. We're still working on it.

But that night, when I got into his car to go christmas light looking, he told me

"Ang, i'm not going to propose to you tonight."

Now, the Angie now, knows full well that he was so excited, he had to say something, without "saying it." Hilarious right, who says something like that?? I remember thinking... "seriously? don't get ahead of yourself bud..." I can be a bit feisty.

The Lord must have softened my heart, b/c obviously we went through with the rest of the date fight free about that little misunderstanding :) While we searching for lights, Micah gets a call, and he tells me he needs to go back to the house for something. {I seriously had no clue about anything at this point}

We get back and as we open the door, a fire is burning in the fireplace. I'm perplexed at first, b/c no one else is home. But then I realize, he has set it up. I'm still not thinking anything. I'm thinking he's just set up a romantic evening. He then runs upstairs to play a song for us to slow dance to. We love slow dancing; and still do. Oddly enough, we like to slow dance to "still make Cheyenne" by George Straight. The song is about a wife leaving her husband because his heart is with the rodeo. It's actually quite sad and unfortunate. But the melody is just so perfect. And we love to dance to it. ha.

But tonight, we danced to "sweetness in starlight" by Matt Wertz.

He came back down the stairs and we began dancing. He was breathing so heavily, i honestly was thinking that if he got that winded by running up the stairs, he probably needed to start working out.. But as the song ended, he began to tell me so much stuff. I wish i could tell you exactly what he said; but unfortunately right about this time was when I realized what he was doing... and well; it's all a bit hazy. I know that I cried, that he got down on one knee, and that I said yes!

And ya'll, about 8 months later, we'd be getting hitched.

Which will bring us to the final ongoing chapter:

The Wedding & Marriage :)

DIY Gallery Frame Wall

2011-08-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

Pinterest will be my downfall. I just know it.

It has opened the idea to countless possibilities, endless DIY's, euphoric envisioning of home decorating...

And ya'll, i'm a stay at home mom.

I'm at my house; a lot. I see my living room; a lot. I dream about decor and wooden antiques while my son is dancing to Praise Baby Pandora; a lot.

It's a problem. I know. And i'm not working on it.

Unless working on it means: i've slowly but surely been redecorating. I'm one of those people who rearranges her furniture at least once every two months.

Pictures like this make me swoon:

{all pics from interest}

And this, my friends, is where it all began.

FRAMES. EVERYWHERE.

I can't get enough of it. But I also can't get enough money to afford such a project. Seriously, it's as if all the stores have caught on to this new found trend and upped the prices on any frame. Let alone 20+ frames.. What is a girl to do?

Here's what you need:

White spray paint

Dollar store frames

Old frames from college days that you have no clue where to put because they don't match anything.

Groupons that give you great deals on Canvas'

And here is what you get:

Here's How I did it.

Sign up for Groupons. Very often they have deals where you spend $30 on giant canvas prints. It's worth it people. After all, those canvas puppies usually cost in the hun-duns. You'll see the center pic is a canvas and the "boots" pic is my other canvas.

Gather frames. I bought frames at yard sales for $0.50, people. I also went to the dollar store and picked them up. Some of those suckers are plastic. "But Angie!" you say. "It won't look as cool as if I had the super cute target frames that cost 20 bucks!"

Friends, that's where the white spray paint comes in. I've discovered you can make any frame look good when you spray it white. It looks like a million bucks when you are finished. My friends have never noticed the plastic until I have them touch it. And Yes. I just realized what that sounded like after I wrote it.

The "&" was collected from a little boutique here called HOBBY LOBBY. I've also determined that Hobby Lobby has a permanent sale there. You should refuse to buy anything there full price. It will no doubt go on sale in a few days. I bought that sucker for 2 bucks. Just print off the coupons they provide online;)

The circle frame I bought at a yard sale. Again; this was $2. I used chalkboard spray paint and sprayed the glass.

And this beauty? You know you've seen it on Etsy...

Oh darling, Let's be adventurers. This phrase could some up my life. I love adventuring. Micah is a homebody. But he's learning to love them the way I do. I believe kids will do that to ya ;)

Anyways, I went to good ol' Microsoft word and typed in those words on a sheet of white paper. Then I stuck it in a dollar store frame. Voila! I believe the font is Arial Rounded Bold.

I filled all of the frames with black and white pictures. Some I already had, some I just quick printed off either on our computer or through snappish.

And finally, I just placed the Canvas in the center of the wall, and then literally eyeballed the rest. It doesn't have to be perfect in my opinion. Just begin to set up and see where it leads you. However I understand that this concept of "just go with it" may bring sweaty palms and enclosed throats to some people. In that case. Bring out that ol' measuring tape. Do whatever you got to do:)

But since I like to keep it REAL with you all; i'm not quite finished...

Go ahead, make your framed wall. We filled ours with white frames, and b&w's. But what I love most about it is that we have filled the frames with people, places, moments that have affected our lives greatly. If it doesn't mean something to you; why do it?

I've already begun filling our hallway with extra frames. Slowly but surely those walls will be a gallery of black frames displaying our lives and people and places that mean that world to us. Some people may not like this look, and may just envision a thousand tiny holes in their walls...

But I say... Fill em up!

new look

2011-08-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

hello bloggers!

i'm alive. in case you were in doubt.

We got a cool kid. It runs in the family...

Which brings me to why i've been away...

I have in fact been hanging out with this cool kid, and i've been working on some blog design.

eh?

That's right. Yours truly will be dipping into the design world via blogland. More deets to come soon!

I'm working on a blog right now!

and speaking of new deets, we got some new "digs" around this blog too :)

Don't you worry friends, there will be more love stories, design tales, and DIY's in your near future.

until then...

I was running on the treadmill yesterday and Jimmy Fallon was on the View.

Yes. I was running.

Yes. I chose to watch The View.

Shame.

Wait for the part about when he writes his thank you notes. I literally laughed so hard I had to stop running. Enjoy!

The Story of Us: Part 4 Our first date & a love note

2011-07-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Micah has been pulled over several times. He does not always abide by the "speeding" rule. However on these occasions, he has been asked more than once to step out of the vehicle for further examination. His eyes get bloodshot real easily. Poor guy. This pic makes me laugh and think about how many times he's had to explain to the officer "sir, I promise i'm not on anything, it's just my eyes." My sweet man.

I digress.

Here is our part 4. Our first date. Come to find out that "incredible guy" and I were no longer hanging out, Micah asked me out on a xdate. To Johnny Carinos. An italian restaurant here.

Do you want to know what I said?

Sorry for the cliffhanger, this is kind of a priceless pic of Micah and I. Eyes closed, a classic Micah face. We've had so many cherished memories on the lake. He was the one who introduced me to my first trip on a boat, let alone, the lake.

Friends: enjoy.

I said Yes. I was so excited. What did I wear? a black shirt with white shoes. If I could do one thing over, it would be my clothing attire for this night. What was I thinking? It may not sound bad, but people, trust me. It was bad. It was awkward. My attire; not the night :)

We discussed our family, his grandpa that has recently passed away. Let me pause here to tell you that I got a glimpse into the kind of man Micah was when he began to tear up talking about the people in his life. His grandpa, his old Yl leader, his friends.

These are two of Micah's best friends. They love each other a lot. They have been friends since high school. I will have a lifetime of hearing old "Conner High School" stories, but it is worth it. So very worth it.

We discussed our past girlfriends/boyfriends. After all, his last girlfriend, he had been with for 6 years or so. That's intimidating people. And my last boyfriend was a soul ruiner. lol. no but really. And of course the recent ending between "incredible guy" and I. But it was like these things didn't affect us. We talked. And talked. And talked.

I blabbed on and on about how I got excited about the littlest of things. As some of you may know from reading my blog, I have a lot of feelings. And I feel the need to express to others how much I feel of those feelings.

I told him I got excited over buying school supplies. A new pack of pencils to be exact. You know, one of my blabbing on and on moments of talking really fast and very passionately. I bet you never met someone who felt the need to passionately explain a story about the excitement of new pencils.

Surprise!

The night was wonderful. He let me borrow his giant work jacket, we ate, we laughed and he dropped me off at home. It was such a sweet night. Just a date. Just a gentlemen. Just a friend.

That's enough to make your head turn.

The next morning I woke up to this on my car:

It reads " Hey! You said you could get excited about a pack of pencils and since I like it when you're excited, I thought I would get you some. I had a great time last night. You're so much fun. I'll you tonight at 608{our church service}. Be His, Micah."

Ya'll, this note was left with a new pack of pencils. Sitting on my car. Who remembers something like that? He did.

I had never experienced this before. This detail. This guy. This beginning. I will keep this love note forever. I will show Silas one day, and Lord willing, our other kids. We will re-tell this love note story countless times. And Ya'll, I will NEVER get tired of it.