Little did she know...

Here's another quick and fun and relatively cheap upcycle I did from this pinsperation . My roommate was getting rid of some Plane Jane cork board and I gladly snatched it up (yay, free stuff!) This was a no-sew project (winning), so me and my new friend, the glue stick, had some bonding time and whipped out some spiffy little new wall decorations. I got some fat quarters from the local quilt shop (which was probably the most spendy part of this project), since i don't have random cloth scraps hanging around. Voila! I used 3M command strips to hang them up, and with some new thumb tacks, I have a fun new place to hang holiday cards/pictures!

I am in love with their entire self-titled album, so there is no ways that I could pick just one song for #musicmonday.  Are you kidding me with those harmonies? They slay me. Ok, sorry for the excessive video posts. But not really. They're worth it. I AM sorry if VEVO won't let you watch them on my blog, but they're worth the extra work ;) 

yeah, we're tight.

this song was on one of my theme albums last year around this time. we introduced it in church yesterday and I was thankful for the reminder of how great of a refuge God is to my "weary soul." 

It's been one of those shifts that you just have to laugh at all of the stereotypical calls: the drunk friends, the loud tv's, the chronic lying. the vomit, the blood, the B.O., the "I love you guys." and, "Are you a good driver?" The routine of it is comforting somehow: the feel of Velcro on the blood pressure cuff, the weight of the first in bag, the smell of stale air in the back of the rig, exchanged amused glances and muttered inside jokes. Camaraderie between shift partners, nurses, other ambulance companies, and the cops all are so much "the norm," that I almost forget how much of the awkward I had to go through to get here. I am glad to be done with that phase. I am glad that my work partners are like a second family, because in the back of my mind I am still carrying the hard, hard goodbyes that I had to tell to my siblings after our short reunion this past week. The fact that we could be together for even just over 24 hours is nothin

"I've been worrying that we all live our lives in the confines of fear." -Ben Howard "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." -2 Timothy 1:7 God gave us the spirit of POWER and LOVE and SELF-CONTROL. What is holding me back? 

tap them toes. and repeat. I listened to this song approximately 10 times the same day that I discovered it.  (WHY did I just discover this song????) Also, check out this other video that uses this same song for a marvelous visual montage of one second a day for 366 days. 

It snowed and snowed and snowed. Love. I am currently reading: The Hole in our Holiness On the Rez Mark Advanced EMT: a clinical reasoning approach  Saying farewell to one of my mentors/friends/antagonist from work today. He's moving on to bigger and better things and I am stoked for how God worked everything out for him and his beautiful family, but I am bummed to be left behind. Thankful for this guideline for workouts . And an accountability partner. And youtube instruction videos. Stuck on another song. But you'll have to wait til Monday to find out which one. ;) Beyond stoked to see two of my best friends/brothers next week. Loving this self portrait I found on my camera.  Getting back in the groove of being a student. Blown away by this simple truth . " God is searching for people for whom he can show his strength ...God aims to glorify himself in everything he does. And the glory of his self-sufficient power and wisdom shine

these guys have been the soundtrack to several seasons of my life. last night i dreamed that they came to my house and hung out/played a backyard concert for my birthday. so therefore, it is only fitting that they are today's #musicmonday post. "If you never leave home, never let go, You'll never make it to the great unknown Til you keep your eyes open, my love." PS, if anybody has connections and can actually make that a reality for my birthday, i will love you forever. 

I'm not actually working this weekend, which is a weird. But I am eating tacos.Tacos rule. Cheers.

Twenty twelve was quite possibly the fastest year of my life.  I got back from South Africa and have spent countless days missing and thinking about and missing my roommate, the kids, the mammas, the church, the dudes who kept me laughing and made me feel welcome, and the crazy taxi drivers (no, really).  I went on an amazing ski trip with some work buddies. And had the most memorable birthday of my life (besides being born, that is). I added some metal to my leg and got a ride in an ambulance on the other side.  I (finally) got back in the swing of work and made some more great memories with my work buddies. I also got to know all the words to some of the most annoying pop songs of the summer. (thanks, Nate. thanks, Mitch. thanks, Brandon.)  I made it to KC twice and loved every second of the short friend reunions in one of my favy cities. I also got to tour a brand new Mormon temple, which is a rare occurrence, indeed. (we had to wear little white footies. stylin)   M

I have been pretty stoked about this project, from it's inspiration to the feelings of "dare I?" to its final completion. I have a thing for maps, and when I saw this tutorial for a map stained on wood planks, I knew i wanted to incorporate that into my apartment somehow. I knew I didn't have a lot of random wood at my disposal, let alone the saw, hammer, nails, etc necessary for building it. That's when I started looking at my table. It's a third hand table passed on to my from my brother who got it from his landlord, and who knows where else it has been. The table had plenty of it's own nicks and scratches and stains to testify to it's sordid past. So I thought, "What the heck. Why not give it a face lift?" And so I did. :)  *note: i happened to time my inspiration with my roommate being out of town, which left only me with the inconvenience of not having a table ;) First things first, I had my broski help me haul the table from my ki