baby f

see more here.

another 365 days

via

happy birthday love of mine.

lets celebrate!

a single battle lost, but not the war

so google plus is supposed to be the latest and greatest right? so when I got an invite, I signed up, thinking oh another fun google thing... whatever. then I noticed there was a link to picassa web albums. I’d never used them before so when I saw there were a bunch of albums with all my blog's photos in it I was confused. I thought google+ must have copied all these photos from my google blogger account… I don’t really want these on my google+ account. so I proceeded to delete all the unwanted albums.

the secret is...

when you upload an image through blogger it is hosted in picassa web albums, deleting those albums broke all the links to every image I had ever posted.

{translation every image I'd ever posted was now a tiny blue box with a question mark}

painful. so very painful.

I just had to die for a few minutes for the hours of work I’d put into my blogs. I mean blood.sweat.tears.

it was all gonzo. this teeny tiny little corner of the giant www is my place and it means something to me. something big. even though it means next to nothing to most everyone else, it was a haven for me. a therapy.

and now it is oh so broken. if i am really being truthful it is was not a sadness for the loss of my years of blogging, but a sadness for all the losses I've had these past few months. It was the last straw.

it was sadness and tiredness. I felt 100% spent.

and then God stepped in. I could sense Him touching my life through others.

melissa sent me this post to read

”Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.

I’ve called your name. You’re mine. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.

When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—Because I am God, your personal God,

The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you:

(from the sanctified pearl blog)

and very slowly my heart started beating again.

and I was humbled like I have never been before.

because I know that he has called my name, that these rough waters will not bring me down. I am beginning to truly understand the healing power that can come from simply having gratitude.

so now I am rebuilding day by day… post by post and I know that I am not alone.

l&M: very married

see it all here

hey, ya know what is nice...

waking up early and taking your sweet time getting ready.

this morning was so  nice:
 chatted with jordan, got a few t.i.b.s items of business checked off my list, and even curled my hair.

 too bad I suck at getting up and this whole morning leisure thing will probably never happen again. today was just a fluke.
boo.
on the other hand when you are trying to stay asleep sleep masks (see above) are the bestest. I have three and they've helped me sleep for years. you laugh but Im telling ya they are crucial.

xxoo

thank goodness for the swedes

so let me lay it out for you

 apt = shoebox

selling all our old furniture = shopping time

first stop = ikea

which set the weekend up pretty nicely (see photos below):

took moving truck to new neighborhood

unloaded all our crap

ate late night pizza

unpacked some more (nice face jray)

built some stuff

more unpacking (went for some rides)

the place is still a disaster

naturally we went in for about 3 things  and we left ikea with about 79. we actually decided we need some more stuff during check-out so we took one load out, put it in the car, went back in, and did the whole thing again. by the end of it both J and I wanted to  just sleep in the showroom.

 after we got the 12 hours of ikea behind us things started shaping up and coming together.  

of course J did all the building while I did all the organizing... J somehow seemed to think he was getting away with something with that deal, but I felt the same way.

.win.win.

and to top it all off in the midst of the building J stopped, called to me in the kitchen and said "hey motocon (one of the current odd nicknames we've been using), I'd wouldn't want to be married to anyone but you" 

not sure why he said it or what he was thinking about, but I'll take it.

home is where the heart is

here we are

I cannot believe it is already July.

I feel like I was aching for the summer to come and now it is slipping away so fast, but doesn't it always...

it rained today too. that was rude.

but the sun is coming out and I can see it shining
(along with a glimmer of hope that everything is going to work out)

tomorrow is moving day number two. which means we will pile in twice the amount of the stuff than can actually fit in our apartment, unpack it all so I can get rid of the boxes, and then try to get furniture and paint before a few months fly by.
Im anxious.hopeful.excited.nervous
{all at once}

the last few weeks I've been drooling over pictures of beautiful interiors and thinking "oh how I wish my home could look like that"  then I decided "what the heck"
 it can look however I want it. 
why shouldn't my home be any less the dreamy even if it is a shoebox? I finally have a brand new clean slate to work with and if I kills me I'm going to turn it into a place I am proud of.

for the longest time I've just whipped things together just so there was something there, with my home, my hair, my meals... my life has been a series of get it done. sure I made some things happen, but I feel like all I produced was a bunch of mediocre stuff instead of something really great. Im just smooshed together with good intentions and no patience which only makes for a big modge podge of who knows what barely sticking together.

well...
"times are a changin"

Im on a new adventure of refining. a rededication to slowing down and doing things right. because after all
"If you don't have the time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?"  Coach John Wooden

vistors

part of living away from home (in a tourist city) means loads of visitors... not kidding we have someone here almost once a month.

in june we had justin (jordan's bother), his wife jessica, and baby owen in town.

we've loved having our family visit since we are both so far from home.
here is a photog recap of the weekend

of course we hit up soho and did some shopping. I love to find treasures... sometimes a lot of the street vendor stuff is boring, but this one had lots of good stuff!

it was a success :)
 I love uniqlo... it sorta reminds me of primark (one of my staples in londontown) hit or miss but most of the time you can get a few great gems for next to nothing

then we stopped at our fav ( la escina ) for tacos and corn. YUM
this is one of those meals that ALWAYS sound good to me... anyone else have those?

you bet I gave him a hug!

we decided to make lunch true perfection by polishing off our tacos with a toasted marshmallow shake. 
one of the best treats the city has to offer hands down.

then we walked down to washington square park to people watch and cool our feet in the fountain

owen had a ball in the water

really he couldn't been any cuter!

isn't this cool... the artist was making it out of colored sand. I was impressed.

we carried on to highline park for a little sight-seeing

after that we all walked over to chelsea market

on sunday we went to church and then to central park

owen seriously liked jordan (probably because he thought he was justin)

the weather was heavenly the whole time they were here. ok thats a lie... it was a total storm the first day they got here but it didn't cause too much damage to the plans so Im calling it good.

we toured, ate lots, played, shopped, and the boys even babysat so jess and I could go see a musical that our sweet mother in law treated us to. it was a fantastic weekend, we are so happy justin is going to USC dental school and we'll get to have them in CA!

thx for stopping by

lately...

 I saw catch me if you can with my sister-in-law & recognized the lead from gossip girl.
also saw this guy and LOVED him.

went with some of the gang to see hg in the hospital (next day the little angel below joined us)

when we left the hospital we discovered some punks had tried to take the combs scooter! sadly there was some damage, but lucky for us they left behind their bike and crystal ball :)

we had a lucky day when this little lady bug landed on jordan's tie while we were drivin on the scoot.

we spent some time with family

we said goodbye to our first apartment with one last bbq. I guess I'm kinda sad to say goodbye to our place now that I think about it, but don't doubt that feeling will subside once we actually get into our new home.
{home is where you make it}

& we've been enjoying summer fruit & flowers

sunday share.hustle

"Things may come to those who wait... but only the things left by those who hustle"

- Abraham Lincoln