Friday

Something BIG!!

Hello awesome blog readers! This weekend Matt and I are going to pick up something very exciting!

Can you guess what it is??

Check back on Monday for pictures.

I hope you have a fun weekend and enjoy the heat (or manage to tolerate it ).

See you Monday!

Thursday

Throw Back!

I love looking through my old pictures! It has been about 6 years since these were taken!



I had so much fun being a ballerina:)

Even though I may not get to wear an awesome tutu like that anymore y'all know i'm still a dancing fool-


What can I say? It's just in my blood.

Wednesday

Favorite Places- Machu Picchu

I have gotten to go to some awesome places so far in my life. Here are some pictures of when my brother and I went to Peru with our awesome cousin in 2007-

Pretty Church

Me with a baby Alpaca

Looking out over Machu Picchu

Early Morning at Machu Picchu

The beautiful Incan ruins

Check out those mountains! How did the Incas haul all those stones all the way up here?
Guinea Pig is a popular item on the menu in Peru. Poor little guys. At least they have a nice habitat behind the restaurant before they are cooked.

And there is the Guinea Pig, cooked and ready to be eaten.

Thursday

My Ideal Day

At night as I fall asleep, I like to imagine what my perfect/ideal day would look like.

First, I would wake up in a beach bungalow preferably in Hawaii, Bora Bora, or any other beautiful South Pacific Island around 8:30-9am.



Then, I would take a leisurely bike ride over to the beach front yoga studio and start the day off with a wonderful 1 hour yoga class.

Next, I would ride back over to the bungalow and get in the pool overlooking the ocean to cool off. Next, I would enjoy a lovely bagel with lox and a coffee for brunch.

Next up, I would like to go do something adventurous such as snorkeling, sailing, or surfing for a few hours.

Around 1 or 2, I would then like to enjoy a small lunch, maybe some sushi and some fruit by the pool along with a tropical drink, most likely a lava flow

Then I would spend the next few hours sleeping/reading by the pool or on the beach while listening to The Zac Brown Band until about 5 pm.

After my long fabulous day outside, I would then go back to my beach bungalow to clean up and chill for about an hour before going out to a delicious dinner of fish tacos and sweet potato fries with my favorite people (they would all be with me of course). We would talk and laugh for a couple of hours and then enjoy some ice cream on our walk back to the beach bungalow.

I would wrap up the night by taking one last dip in the pool under the stars and then watch/fall asleep to a good movie with my husband.

What does your ideal day look like??

Wednesday

Who Loves the Lake?

I do!


P.S. This is Patrick Dempsey's lake house! No kidding!! It is on Lake Jacksonville in Jacksonville, TX! Just a canoe ride away from my cousin's lake house!

Friday

Have a Fun Weekend!

I hope your weekend is lots of fun!

This weekend Matt and I are going to see Harry Potter! I bought our tickets today. When I was in college, I went to all of the midnight showings. I am still a hard core fan but I decided I could wait until Saturday and still get my sleep on Thursday night:)


We are also going to P.F. Changs which I love! If you like their Facebook page, you can get free Lettuce Wraps! Offer ends July 31st.

Saturday night we are going to our local observatory to gaze at the stars. It should be fun.

This afternoon I went by Trader Joe's which opened today! It was insanely crowded so I did not buy anything but, I wrote a list of all the things I would like to buy when the store is not so crowded.

Happy Weekend!

Tuesday

The Hiding Place- By Corrie ten Boom

I cannot rave about "The Hiding Place" enough! This book, written by Corrie ten Boom ( what an awesome name by the way! ) is the story of her and her family during World War II when Holland became occupied by Germany.

Even though Holland was a neutral country and the Dutch government assured their people that their neutrality would be respected, Nazi Germany soon took over. Corrie lived with her father and sister in their old beloved home. Corrie and her father ran the century old watch shop that sat at the front of their home.

The ten Booms were faithful Christians that read the Bible as a family twice a day. They opened their home to the outcasts, fed the hungry, and housed the homeless.

When the Nazi's began to persecute the Jews in Holland Corrie and her family began helping them without even questioning their own safety.

Corrie and her family slowly began to create a web of an underground operation that allowed them to take in Jews, find them a safe hiding place, feed them, and just protect them from the Nazis.

When a Jew was an exceptionally big risk for a family to hide ( they looked exceptionally Jewish or were too old and sick ) the ten Booms would take them in.

All of their work during the war was phenomenal. They risked their safety, their business, used their precious food rations, and spent their money to help the hunted.

The story does not end there though! In 1944, the ten Booms were finally caught by the Gestapo when a Dutch man tricked Corrie into giving him some information ( it was hard to know who you could and could not trust during that time ).

Corrie at age 51, her older sister, her 80 year old father, and many other underground workers were arrested at their home one night.

Corrie and her family were taken to a Dutch prison and two concentration camps before the war finally ended.

Even though she saw the horrors of prison camps Corrie still found that God is good and that Jesus is deeper still than any pit you could possibly be in. Even though it was hard, Corrie still thanked God in all things. The stories she tells in her book will reveal the living God to you.

I was reminded time and again as I read this book that our strength or talents to do anything to not come from us but from the Lord. Corrie would often just come out and ask for things from God that she could not do on her own. For example, after she was released from prison, she met one of the guards that had made her life so miserable in the prison camp. He came to shake her hand and she could not bring herself to do it. She could not forgive this man for what he had done. So, she asked God right there to give her his forgiveness because she was not able to forgive him on her own.

This book is full of wonderful history. It brings the power of God to life and shows the incredible strength of a family that trusted God and did what he told them to do.

The Hiding Place is an incredible story you do not want to miss. Corrie's mission, after surviving the horrors of prison camp, was to tell the world what she learned. You have the opportunity to hear her message through this book!

Friday

My Top Four Favorite Books














All four of these books taught me something. I was sad to finish each of these books because I wanted them to continue, they were that good.

If you are looking for your next book I highly recommend these!

Thursday

Summer is the Best

Our strawberry plant produced us a beautiful little strawberry! We should have tomatoes and bell peppers soon too.

We also had a delicious summery salad for dinner tonight! I somewhat copied the recipe from here (I didn't make succotash, I just put corn in with the salad)-

The reason this salad is so good is because it is made of BBQ chicken, sweet potatoes, and lime (all things I love!)

Tuesday

Happy Birthday Purse!

I've been using my purple Longchamp purse that I bought in Paris for almost 2 years now!

That should tell you what a durable bag this is. I haven't used only this purse for the past 2 years but I have used is an awful lot.

It makes me so happy to use it and remember where it came from and who I was with when I bought it!

Friday

Happy Fourth of July!

Matt & I are going to Texas for the weekend! We get to go to a wedding in Fort Worth and spend the 4th at the lake! We are also going to Canton!

I am going to try to make this cake for the 4th-

Have a wonderful long weekend!