here's to the new year!

1. goodbye, 2010! you were an awesome year for us, but i'm also excited about what 2011 will hold. although there are so many things that will, Lord-willing, be happening in the coming years, i wish time would just slow down. i love right now. even though right now isn't perfect and is difficult at times, i love seeing Him at work, and love what He is doing.

2. Colin and i have had Sufjan's Christmas albums for years, but for some reason i've never really noticed this song. i love it. i love it. i love it and i can't stop listening to it. It's on Vol. V of his Songs for Christmas albums.



3. this article about David Bazan and his walking away from the faith/first solo album (he used to be a part of Pedro the Lion) Curse Your Branches (which is described as a, "harrowing breakup record—except he's dumping God, Jesus, and the evangelical life"). really sad. raises a lot of questions in my mind..

4. so, i love world market. we've talked about this before. most of all (well, besides their rugs, throw pillows, and curtains... haha), i love their glass moroccan-style lanterns. i picked up a few in various shapes, sizes and colors this past week since they were on sale, and am really excited to find a spot for them to hang in our little place! if only i had a back patio, i would string the smaller ones up outside.


5. Also, i made this last night for Colin and I... and we can't stop thinking about it, it's that good. this Spicy Shrimp recipe is a meal fit for the summer, with good friends sitting around a newspaper-covered table. highly recommend you make this! don't forget the toasted french bread with it!

via the Pioneer Woman Cooks.

6.. thank you, all, for the affirmation we have received on this blog (whether it be in person, personal messages, facebook, comments...). it has surprised me that people like to read our thoughts and about our life and find it interesting and encouraging, but we are so glad! i think the next post we write together will be on why we blog. anyways, thanks guys!

grace and peace!

cool.

i just have to share this.



how fun is this? this is, of course, my personal favorite. such talent, love it! i also really like his renditions of "dynamite" by Taio Cruz and Rihanna's "only girl".

enjoy!

brrrr.

1. this week has been so busy, non-stop! typical holiday season. between applying/interviewing for jobs (pretty sure i landed one!), seeing friends (and their sweet babies!), Bible study, Colin's work Christmas party (where we won a $40 giftcard to Arizona's steakhouse at Sandhills! yay date night!), a graduation party, a wedding, and tonight our church's Christmas ball... whew. it's been a lot of fun, though!

2. two nights ago, at a graduation party, i was standing around with a few guys and one other girl. we soon realized through talking that there is a great disparity between what women men find attractive and what women think. It almost reminded me of the Office episode where they have a debate on whether or not Hilary Swank is "hot". In my opinion, these are some of the most beautiful women i've ever seen:

a. Camilla Belle.


b. Emma Watson.


c. Zooey Deschanel.


anyways, i'll bet most of you can guess some of the women that the guys named. what do you think? agree, disagree?

3. Saw this article this morning on A Cup Of Jo. How fun! A columnist for the NY times and his son did dough art. here are some of my favorites:

via.

4. also, peppermint mocha coffeemate creamer > anything else. i still like black coffee, but this creamer is delicious and so festive!

6 days until Christmas!

the wife.

Colin here.

Apologies for the long absence. Much has transpired and blogging has been on the far distant burner.

1. Currently at coolbeans musing on James 2. What a shocking and provocative passage for protestants of all shades! Every once in a while I'll read scripture and come out of the experience winded. Pneumatic workout.

If you got that last one, you're a geek like me.

2. Radiohead: yes. If you haven't ever listened to "optimistic" or "in limbo" together, you lackin'!
I do think they almost pulled off a masterpiece in these two songs. It's rock with a pillow under your tush. I jet off into a far galaxy when I listen to the whole album (Kid A).

3. Watch this and then let's talk about it.



Call social services. Other than the irony of these "ladies'" extreme singleness, there's not much to grin at in this one, folks. Rachel brought a great point over dinner about this video and in light of the "Whip my hair" song by Willow Smith, who is 10 years old. The issue is that our media-centric culture is luring children into social, emotional and physical development faster than ever. In short, we're growing our kids up too fast. In reference to the "single ladies" we just viewed, they are seven years old. that's right. siete anos. When I was seven years old I was playing street hockey everyday after school. These girls are playing with barbies in the afternoon, then going to striptease-esque dance lessons after dinner. hhmmm. What's worse is that any person who speaks out against this video on youtube (like one guy we saw, with a vlog) is consistently called a "pedo" or "pervert" for saying the video is sexually charged and inappropriate. REALLY?

not trying to be uber critical, just...GOMMORAH, people!

4. I love my job. Frenzy Screen Printers! I've posted about it before and told of God's providential grace in giving it to me after months of prayer asking for a job just like it. I enjoy going to work everyday knowing that, to a large extent, the fate of the business rests on my (and Savannah's, my co-worker) shoulders. It is a grand responsibility, but infinitely better than being a cog in the wheel at a factory. I'm in a new store on Harbison Blvd, right next to Chili's and Barnes and Noble. If you need anything printed on t-shirts, hoodies, sweat pants, etc., give us a call (781.3755).

5. God is so abundantly worthy. He is deserving of our devotion and obedience/trust/praise at all times. When we don't have intense religious affections for Him, I firmly believe in THAT time we can honor Him in a very special way, even if just by being with Him intentionally. May we never shrink away from Him because of self-inflicted shame.

Be with God this week. I'll be seeking to do the same.

Grace and Peace to you from the only glorious God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

it's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees...

winter is upon us! high of 37 on wednesday?? aah. moving our little space heater into our bathroom for when i get out of the shower was one of the best ideas i've had in forever. toasty. also, a sprinkle of cinnamon in your cup of coffee does, in fact, brighten your day, just a little bit.

this looks really good right about now.. 43 degrees. BLAGH.

via Oh Joy!

what. the. heck. what is this? so cool! when Colin saw it, he said, "No. no. NO." haha.

the Wood between the Worlds.


why have i not been listening to Joni Mitchell all my life? I love her! I'm finding more and more lately that I love the sound of music from earlier days. If anyone has good recommendations for other artists, please let me know.



James Taylor at Christmas, also. I will always have love for sweet baby James... always.

trusting in Jesus in the midst of sorrow does not go unnoticed by Him. As a sweet friend instructed me, "you just walk." I have found a compassion that is incomparable to anything else. It is such a sweet truth that He is near to us in our grief. i am hungry for His presence. thank you, Lord, for grace to trust You.

grace and peace.

rest.

"Then I said to you, 'Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place."

Deuteronomy 1:29-31 (emphasis mine)

the sleeptalking chronicles. (IV)

some of these sleeptalking chronicles almost seem made up, right? every time i tell Colin about them, i preface them with "i could not exaggerate or make this up if i tried." so..

Colin: "DIE.
gyuhyuhyuhyuhyuhyuhyuh. (kind of like someone is strangling him??)
...give me the bid, batch!"




don't really know what to do but laugh when my husband firmly says 'DIE.' in his sleep.

christmas came early.

Colin and I have never been the couple to give each other extravagant christmas gifts. To us, it has always been more valuable to exchange meaningful but smaller gifts, and then treat each other to a nice dinner out (usually sushi) and spend time together around christmastime. we're usually much bigger on spending money to do things together rather than just giving things.

Colin is a funny guy. There hasn't been a special occasion in our marriage or our dating relationship that he has held off on giving me my birthday/christmas/anniversary gift until the day of, simply because he is too excited and can't keep it from me any longer. it's really cute. i thought this year would be different for some reason, but of course i was wrong :)

last night, after telling me (twice) that my breath stunk and that i needed to swig (how sweet), i finally give in, walk in the bathroom, and there is a little tiny drawstring sack sitting in the sink. I had no idea what it was, but all of a sudden, Colin is behind me, grinning like a fool, telling me that my breath really didn't stink, and to open it. this is what was inside..

the bronze and gold river rock ring i have been eying on etsy for over a year, with four skinny silver bands to put around it! you may remember, i blogged about it here. it's so incredibly dainty, unique, and beautiful! he did so, so good. my mouth just fell open, i was almost speechless. very unexpected, especially since it was only december 5th (haha).

hope everyone's enjoying the chilly weather and the beginning of the christmas season!

the sleeptalking chronicles. (III)

Colin sleeptalking last night: (mumbles and looks at me) "oh. i thought we were talking about pay-raises. nevermind."





..yes, my dear, sweet Colin. because we typically do talk about pay-raises and other fiscal things at 1 am.

happy list.

because i am sick, and because i've been feeling glum for the past while... things that have cheered me up this week.

1. this music video. not only have I started to fall in love with the Black Keys, but this video literally made me grin from ear to ear when I saw it. Go, Funkasaurus Rex!



2. this yellow door. My dream house includes this door along with a brick fireplace that I can paint white...or maybe just one brick accent wall.

via ish and chi

3. this. hahaha. titled, "Haters Gonna Hate"

via totally looks like

4. this video of a sloth nursery. again, grinning.

5. Color Me Katie. She's a street artist from Brooklyn. her blog is by far the most colorful and cheerful blog I've ever read. here she went out on her street and traced her footsteps in bright colors, then ran back upstairs to watch random passersby enjoy them. love.

color me katie

6. This engagement shoot. I absolutely love it, so unique. I would have loved this shoot to be ours, especially since Colin and I love playing poker.

via snippet & ink

7. And lastly but certainly not least. this boy. It has been such a privilege to experience our marriage and love grow with time. Hardship has been used by the Lord to develop and mature our respect for each other as well as the warmth between us. Colin has served me so well, with great strength and compassion... it is all God's grace.



grace and peace.

the sleeptalking chronicles. (II)

(I get back into bed after not being able to sleep.)

Colin: I love you. I vove you. I dove you.
Me: I love you too, Colin!
Colin:.... from the bottom of my haw-uht. (think Forrest gump accent, "heart").

endlessly entertaining/endearing.

real.

it's been almost a month.

we've struggled with whether or not to make it plain on our blog what's been going on this past month. for a multitude of reasons (wanting to be transparent, wanting people to know so we don't have to verbalize it to everyone in person...) we have decided yes. we hope this comes off as earnest, because our lives aren't solely consisted of social commentary/pretty things/good music.

we found out near the end of september that we were pregnant. what an amazing, beautiful surprise! we were scared and excited (definitely more excited, though). systematically over the next few weeks we began sharing the news with our immediate families and our best friends. the dreams of kissing sweet little hands and feet and meeting our little one were swirling in our heads for almost a month. just short of announcing our news to the general public, i began to show symptoms of a threatened miscarriage. i was put on bed rest by our midwife, but a few days later i woke up to a 'symptom' that is unmistakable. I began to miscarry at 10 weeks.

it was a physically difficult time for me, as the miscarriage took almost 2 1/2 weeks to complete. During that time, Colin and I knew our baby had gone to be with the Lord, so dealing with the physical symptoms and the waiting was devastating as it coupled with the most extreme grief we've ever felt.

I remembered something today that Michael Card wrote in his book A Sacred Sorrow... "The degree to which I am willing to enter into the suffering of another person reveals the level of my commitment and love for them. If I am not interested in your hurts, I am not really interested in you. Neither am I willing to suffer to know you nor to be known by you. Jesus' example of these truths comes alive in our hearts. He is the One who suffered to know us, who then suffered for us on the cross. In all this, He revealed the hesed of His Father."

we have been loved so well in this time. Colin and I didn't need to cook for weeks because of the meals that were brought over. We have been flooded with prayers and encouragement. Those who love us have sat with us and cried, listened, offered healthy diversion, and driven down to accompany us to doctor's appointments/cook meals/clean our house (thanks, mama fien!). It is one of the biggest times in our lives where we have felt the Body of Christ accomplishing God's work "with skin on", as people say.

God has held us. He is our Peace, our Treasure. He is our only Good Thing, and He IS good. We have entrusted our little one to Him and know, because of His character, that our baby is safe with Him, experiencing Him in such a way as we haven't yet. We are so grateful to know and worship the Lord.

I (Rachel) know and am reminding myself that, although I believe and trust those things, I am allowed to be sad. I don't have to be ashamed of my grief or try to mask my hurt. There's something in our culture that makes sadness into something like a lack of faith or failure. If I'm being transparent...I am hurting. Every day seems to have a heaviness to it that I'm never sure I'm ready to face. But... I trust in the Lord's plans, I trust that His heart for us is good, and I trust that He will see us through this. Although this Truth doesn't change the physical reality that I am no longer pregnant with our little one, it does change these things from utter despair to hope. For that I am so, so thankful.

please pray for us. thank you, friends.

grace and peace,
the husband and wife.

booya!

in order to celebrate opening day of Harry Potter 7! one of my favorite things is hearing non-americans speak with an american accent. "Charlie Sheen. Glenn Beck."




love it.

save it for a rainy day.

things i am in like with.

1. not only sufjan, but this picture also gives me the warm fuzzies. especially on a rainy day like today. I am so bummed that we are poor and couldn't go see him when he was in atlanta last month.

2. bob dylan. love this man and his music. while Colin mocks the heck out of him (ask him to do his dylan impression, it's pretty funny), i could listen to him all day. the Whitman Demos and the Mono recordings... has anyone purchased or heard them yet?

3. swagbucks. i will soon be receiving these little moccasin babies and am excited. yay for free things! I've made $215 to date using swagbucks. sign up here.

4. Kate and Leo. c'mon. how good are these two together? enough said.



5. amos lee. There is so much to say about this beautiful man and his beautiful voice. he is easily one of my favorites, and recently i have been craving his music non-stop. love it.

Let Your Kingdom come in my world and in my life.

This is the Truth that we cling to.

Two things You told me,
That You are strong
And You love me,
Yes You love me.

if you were an ice cream flavor, you would be my favorite one.

we are back from a wonderful vacation (that we literally almost missed! more on that later.) It was incredibly fun and restful. we had a great time! Colin will blog about our cruise later this week. for now... likes!

1. Mindy Gledhill. I've loved her since the first time I heard her on nienie's video blog. her music is just...flowy and sing-songy.



2. teaching and being involved in youth group. I love the people i work with, and i love the girls! teaching has been really good for my heart and relationship with the Lord. it drives me harder to pull application from the passage and mull it over in my heart as i go through the week. challenging, for sure.

3. also, my google reader was blown up with quilts today. it made me want one. i don't think i have the patience (or talent) to actually make one, but if someone wanted to gift me this one i would be quite alright with that :)

from CarsonToo's etsy shop.

4. His House. I have blogged about this before, but i love His House! today I went thrifting (honestly completely for my sanity's sake rather than any desire to shop) and left with 4 skirts and a blouse for $5. I love that some elements of 80's fashion have come back in style-- high waisted skirts, bold patterns... this is good, because all His House has in the way of clothing is from the 80's and 90's. most of it is horrendous, of course, but oh, the thrill of the hunt.

5. and... fires! with friends! it's that time again and it makes us so happy. i don't think we ever laugh as hard as when we're sitting around the fire.

dislikes..

1. being far away from some of my favorite people in the world.


we love you guys! grace and peace,
the wife.

another week of summer!

Sorry the blog's been a little bare lately! There will be more updates after we get back from our cruise. We leave Saturday! so excited. Can't wait to spend uninterrupted time with Colin, for an entire week, in the caribbean. And they even upgraded our room for us! sweeeeet. Although the weather here has been lovely, breezy and cool, I'm ready for one last taste of sun and salt water.

We are going snorkeling in roatan, honduras. Most of you know what that means for Colin! Hopefully more funny stories to come.. Because honestly I still chuckle to myself when I think back to our honeymoon snorkeling trip. :)

The past few weeks have been full of happiness-the-second-your-eyes-open-up-in-the-morning days. what a sweet gift.

another thought: is there any show out there as funny as arrested development? we certainly don't think so.


"i'm charmed, i'm sure!"

also, if you like thai food, give this Gai Pad King recipe a try! we had it for dinner tonight. I made it for the first time shortly after we got married, and it is a frequent flyer in the Kiser household. for the spice we use a mixture of sambal olek garlic chili paste and sriracha hot chili sauce (about two spoonfuls). we also skip the mushrooms and oyster sauce. serve over long grain rice. deeelish.

and i leave you with this. i think i'm in love with Over the Rhine...

rainy day, please stay.

there is just something about this song that's hard to describe. so, so beautiful. simple. it is by far my favorite song by death cab. it sort of fit in with the calm climate of today--

encouraged, because God cares for me and anticipates my needs,
tired, because my body can't seem to fall asleep lately,
peaceful, because of the rain,
content, because i know that, even when things are ambiguous, they're not to Him,
thankful, because even though Colin is far from perfect, he's sure perfect for me.


grace and peace,
the wife.

that 70's shirt.

I am seriously all about some swagbucks. for real. I was perusing my google reader today and came across this top at kendi everyday...

to die. since i had a pile of amazon giftcards for just such an occasion, i purchased and am super excited. love the 70's vibe that's going on. it's part of the tucker for target collection. they have so many awesome things in this line; target always makes me so proud! thank you, swagbucks (sign up here if you're interested)!

by the way, each and every one of your comments on our last post made me smile SO big. i loved it. thanks, friends!

grace and peace,
the wife.

sick day.

1. y'know, being sick isn't half bad when you:

a) have netflix and can watch hoarders all day.
b) are allowed to sleep in way late and not feel guilty.
c) have a super duper husband who takes care of you (and even cooks!).
d) don't have a job/school to worry about.

2. also, random thought: i have never, ever experienced the sponsored/weirdly decorated crown vic thing until moving to Columbia. As of now I have seen a tweety bird car, a starburst car, a tony the tiger car, a milky way car, and... Colin and I's favorite.. a Child's Play Chucky doll car. yes. this man has two possessed Chucky dolls hanging out of the back windows of his car. cool, right? anybody else seen any good ones around Columbia?


3. i love to cook. i never really had the chance before and didn't know how much i love it, but i do. one of my favorite things is finding a new recipe that sounds good and just doing it. i love the type of recipes that are quick and easy with few ingredients as well as the more demanding ones (like many indian dishes, which require grinding your own spices and all of that). i will say, though, for beginners, the pioneer woman has been fantastic help since being married. first off, she is hilarious. second, she details the cooking process as well as posting pictures of what each step looks like. this woman can cook for sure! here are some of the things we've made of hers and enjoyed:

Chicken Tikka Masala by Pastor Ryan

Simple Sesame Noodles

Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich

Garlic Cheese Bread

Spaghetti with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes

Penne a la Betsy.

4. also, i know you read this blog. yes, you. not by name, necessarily, but we get a good number of hits on this thing so don't be a creeper and lurk around without saying something. not only that, but a lot of people come up to us in real life and say things like "i read that on your blog"...etc. so, like i said, don't be a creeper! make your presence known! we love comments!

i leave you with this. my favorite song by one of my favorite artists.



grace and peace,
the wife.

Gnosticism and Dishes

Colin here.
I knew that title would draw you in. As my lovely wife does, I'm just going to put down some numbered thoughts in no particular order. Some serious, some even more serious!

1. Rachel and I had quite a busy few days last week, and as they love to do, the dishes piled high. I'm bragging on her because in one fell swoop, she beasted those stone, glass, and plastic adversaries! Go Rachel


2. Gnosticism was the Church's first large scale heresy, and was a problem for the first two centuries of the Church's life. In short, the rub with Gnosticism is their emphasis on secret cultish knowledge as the key to salvation, their unbiblical dualism between matter and spirit (the former being inherently evil and the latter good), and the subsequent sexual immorality that ensued when you see your physical body as a dirty prison that doesn't affect your inner "divine spark."

I bring this up because I have the privilege of leading a small bible study on Wednesdays with some great guys. We're studying 1 John. John is obviously combatting Gnostic doctrines in his letter. Right off the bat in chapter 1 he lays the sensory verbs on thick: heard, seen, looked upon, touched, seen, heard. This isn't rote rhetoric, he is saying one thing, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was in space, time, and flesh. The Gnostics held that since flesh was evil, the Son of God could not have obviously been physical, and was therefore an apparition in the form of a man. John says, NO!

This meets you and I today in that our faith is not built on fables and wishful thinking by some followers of a dead Jewish mystic who had a spiritual experience of their teacher post-mortem. Rather, Jesus "became incarnate...and was made man...and was raised from the dead." One day we will look upon Him as He is. Amen

3. Two strange events happened today. First, while listening to a "classic rock" radio station at work, a musical tragedy soared through the airwaves. Sandwiched in between Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd was "Maragritaville" by Jimmy Buffet. ?

Secondly, and even more strangely, I listened to a co-worker explain how he had weird dreams last night because he had eaten ribs for dinner. no lie. When I countered with a comment about my having dreamt weirdly the night before without consumption of ribs, he plainly asked if I had eaten any type of pork for dinner. ?

the end is near.

4. This still elevates my heart rate...



Til next time, grace and peace

five things.

susanbranch

1. i am not ready to say goodbye to summer. I love autumn, but sadly enough it lasts all of two weeks in the south. i'm not ready for winter. please, no!... at least we'll get to say "hello" to summer again in October... in the caribbean!

Norwegian Cruise Lines

2. one of my favorite small pleasures is when you're washing the dishes and you squeeze the detergent bottle and the tiny little bubbles fly out everywhere. i remember my mom washing dishes when i was little and loving the tiny little rogue bubbles.

3. seriously, HOW adorable is Janelle Monáe? saw this when i was getting my haircut at paul mitchell a while back.



4. This took the words right outta my mouth. Ten Words You Need to Stop Mispelling. :)

5. Also, I love my CotA Bible Study girls already and I very much look forward to Wednesday nights! woo hoo! I've never met a group of highschoolers so ready to encourage and affirm one another.

grace and peace,
the wife.

the best prayers have often more groans than words. -john bunyan

Camon Sushi.

so i really should have mentioned this in the previous post, but it was long and i was distracted. but, in an earlier post we talked about sushi in columbia, and where the best place to get it was. Colin and I have been everywhere-- Inakaya (pretty decent), Miyo's (great, but we have worn out that menu for sure), Tsunami (trendy, mediocre), Sushi Yoshi (no.)... but never had we ever been to Camon on Assembly. we had heard rumors that it was "by far" the best in Columbia, that it was authentic and quaint... but because of a few horrible reviews and cries of "it's way overpriced!" we never went.

but oh, we went on friday for my birthday! seriously, guys. i keep thinking about it now.

i liked the atmosphere. you walk in the first door and you have to slide a traditional japanese paper door to the side. you get a sense when you sit down that the people eating there have eaten there many, many times before. at first glance the menu may seem too expensive or overpriced, but you have to wait until you see the rolls to judge. their dragon roll, which was BY FAR the best sushi roll i've ever eaten, is $15.50. that sounds like a lot, until you see it. it is MASSIVE. it's a traditional dragon roll (only about 2x the size), but the reason it's extra special and yummy is that they put a little bit of cream cheese and then some softshell crab in it. gah. another plus? it was just the right temperature. i hate cold sushi. it needs to be a little warmer than room temperature (not the fish, but everything else) and melt in your mouth. accomplished. Colin and I also ordered some edamame (of course), the rainbow roll (deeeelish), the sashimi platter (deelish, and so, so fresh), and it came with a seaweed salad (which was just right), and we shared two large Sopporos. they even brought out a complimentary few pieces of a crunchy, spicy tuna tempura roll with spicy mayo on it, which was awesome.

all in all, we were super impressed and fell in love with it, basically. the service was so-so... but we're really low maintenance, so as long as we have our food and our drinks we're set. our bill ended up being the exact same (maybe a little less, even) as when we go to MVista for sushi, so that solves that debacle. if you are a sushi lover, go to Camon, bottom line. and get the dragon roll!

some random coffeeshop ponderings.

1. i am sitting in cool beans with Colin, writing our lessons for High School Bible Study tomorrow night. it struck me as we were sitting down that this is bliss-- going to a coffee shop not completely bogged down with the multiple papers i have to write or chapters of books i have to read by the next day. sigh. i knew graduation would be sweet. i haven't felt this measure of rest in so many years. so here we sit-- he with his mango smoothie that he got for free for helping the girls here move a huge refrigerator, me with "the perfect man", and our massive ESV study bibles, compliments of CotA. we decided to teach through the life of David, which i'm super excited about. God's faithfulness through the Old Testament.. ah.

2. Celebrated my second married birthday this weekend. married birthdays are so much better than single birthdays! 22 years old, and i think for the second birthday of my life i feel every bit of it, and thankfully so. i almost feel like my years need to catch up sometimes with all that i've grown in and learned over the past few years. the 22 that i'm experiencing is so vastly different from the 22 many, many of those around me are experiencing (and vice versa, obviously). it's interesting. Colin spoiled me, as did my wonderful family. My birthday was spent in beautiful Charleston with my parents and Colin. What a wonderful place! If you've never been to the spice and tea exchange in Charleston, check it out next time you're there. Colin bought me some Bombay Chai that i'm really excited about. such a cute little place if you're a tea lover like i am.

3. yesterday night i heard Colin laugh a laugh that is literally a privilege to hear-- those of you who know him know it. it's the ear-piercingly loud "UH-HUH!" that causes him to double over (and in this case, writhe on the ground) for a good five minutes, incapacitated, until he's able to get up again. he literally broke Katie and Oliver's folding chair in all of the calamity. Kudos to Oliver, for telling one of the funniest stories we've ever heard. we love the Thompsons.

4. and, keeping with the recent theme of posting videos, listen to this song by A Fine Frenzy. she is wonderful and i love how she rocks the red hair. ( i would post the original video, because it's super cute, but it wasn't allowed.)



grace and peace,
the wife.

oh, the perils of social networking!

one of the things about social networking that i dislike and am wary of is misrepresentation.

i've come to see that, on the internet, we are free to put forth our "best" face, thoughts, opinions, whatever, for the general public to see. Because of the overall impersonal nature of the online world (facebook, twitter, blogger..etc.), we can be who we want others to perceive us as, and alter our appearances accordingly. we can be more friendly and personable, wear our best outfits in the pictures we post, post Bible verse after Bible verse (or john piper quote after john piper quote) because we know that it's a basically unadulterated version of ourselves. someone goes to your facebook and they see your picture-- one that you picked out, and it flatters you. they see the slew of people sharing love and saying "hi" and telling you how amazing you are because they miss you. they see your music section (where, of course, you post only the coolest music that you want people to know you listen to), and all of your interests that make you, well, interesting. but what they don't see is the fact that you're stubborn, or not truly pursuing the Lord in your personal life, or that you're the world's largest procrastinator. they don't see that you idolize your relationship with your significant other, that you are knee-deep in a serious sin struggle, or that you don't actually look like you walked out of an anthropologie catalog 24/7.

i do not want to be that. it's so easy to (knowingly or unknowingly) put the message across that life is "perfect"-- that your marriage is dream-like, that you are walking a walk with Christ that never falters and are some sort of spiritual powerhouse, that you don't struggle with sin, or that you don't have down days (or weeks). Not that it probably isn't at times, that's not what i'm saying. i'm in no way trying to be cynical, but what i want to say is... what about when it's not like that?

i guess this is just a reminder to myself and the few people who actually read this that i...we... are striving for authenticity, because it's conducive to Truth and real community. so i will keep this in mind as i'm tempted to blog through the good times and not the hard.

picture found via paper tissue.

grace and peace,
the wife.

Well it's been a long time, long time now since i've seen you smile..

talk about a pick-me-up. this song/video always brings a smile to my face.
zach condon was only 19 when Beirut was formed-- such talent.
hope you enjoy and your day is brightened a little bit!

Just for now...

Imogen Heap. such a girl crush.

ah, life.

Colin loves his new job. i love his new job. such an awesome provision! how many random trades can a person pick up in his post-college life? serving in fine dining, pizza delivery, working in a bread factory, now screen-printing!

via b dunlap

if i ever were to get a name tattooed on my body, i love the idea of getting a calligrapher to write it out. this tattoo is absolutely beautiful. i know that it can be pretty cliche, but i don't dislike the idea of tattooing your spouses name on you (in a tasteful way, not in a heart with an arrow through it.) Betsy Dunlap is an amazing calligrapher who does work for things like weddings (invitations, placement cards...etc). check out her website, her work is beautiful!

i have a job interview at 3 today. aaahh. please please please.

Ray Lamontagne put out his new album God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise on the 17th, which you can stream in its entirety here. I am such a huge fan of his. I'm not sure exactly how i feel about this new cd... i know that i enjoy listening to it, and it will grow on me, but i'm not sure i yet love it as much as Trouble and Gossip in the Grain.

And lastly.. Publix. Colin and i love going to Publix. Not only do they have GREAT deli subs, but everyone who works there really seems to like their life and their job. it's clean, well-lit, and really does have great sales. it's not a chore, more like a museum. i have never been so amused by the packaging of a grocery store's generic products before! we walk through all the aisles, finding new puns and clever one-liners on their packages. we love it. for example...



"pistachio mustachio".



"panda-which"


"pecan-can"

like, really. whose job is this?? that must be a very happy person. anyway, there are many other great ones, but i couldn't find pictures of them online. go see for yourself.

grace and peace,
the wife.