attitude check and leaves of many colors

Today when I drove back to work from my lunch break, I saw a neighbor raking up a bunch of leaves. Ah! I love fall! It’s not even truly here yet… so the sight of rakes and piles of leaves makes me so ready. Of course, Columbia isn’t the prettiest place to be when fall arrives. But, lucky me! I’ll be at North Greenville on the first day of fall next week and I will absolutely be taking some time to ride around and experience all of the colors.

Today I heard this quote… and needed to hear it quite a bit.
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. it will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day  regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day…. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.” –Charles Swindoll

bk.

Happy Birthday to my sweet best friend Bethy! Beth is one of those people that can make you laugh no matter what… she has always been one of those friends that I can tell anything to, cry with, and just be still and do nothing with. I can’t ever tell her how grateful I am for her friendship. I love you BK! Have a good day full of wearing jeans to work, eating free pizza, and sneaking to the beach for a getaway! Happy Birthday!!

life update.

• Cook out with Bran’s family Friday night…haven’t spent good quality time with them in months!
• Clemson game with my family and most of my lifegroup on Saturday. Go Tigers! Spiller got hurt… Jacoby let me down at first but then turned his game around… and I loved watching Morgan Hale (yes, a USC student) cheer on the Tigers with a tiger paw on her face and everything!
• Courtney and I headed to Mount Pleasant on Sunday afternoon and stayed through the day Monday. We stayed with the Coleman’s, biked the IOP Connector, ate Chickfila for free, layed on the beach and of course got stuck in traffic on the way home. It was restful and relaxing and I wish I could do it every weekend!
• Date night with hubby last night ended up being me watching the game while cleaning out closets and Brandon sleeping until the last quarter. (Yay for Miami pulling a big win!)

September is proving to be about as busy as August… how did that happen?

old.

Sorry that the pictures are so ugly and worn looking! My camera chord is missing, so photobooth will have to do. I am loving this fall’s feel… vintage, antique, warm colors. Vintage is my thing. Namely because my whole house is filled with vintage pieces from my great grandmother and Brandon’s family (oh, the barn filled with goodness!) Piece by piece, I fell in love with the things that fill our home and now my eye is always drawn towards things that are at least 50 years old. So my love for antiques plays into my love for vintage fabrics and the old glamorous silks and scarves and rustic everything. I started playing around with some of those inspirations this week and came up with some headbands, pins, and a recycled-everything bag. The bag is made from a recycled blue and white skirt that I got from Goodwill and a belt that I’ve had since high school (or maybe middle school). The inner lining is just the skirt as well. Sorry about the pillow behind the bag… ghetto pictures, I know!
And I made lots of different hair pins and headbands. But my favorite is below: you can barely see it, but this picture is the sweetest little hairpin made from a goodwill silk shirt that I found for 20 cents. It will make at least 30 pins if I had the time.

And it’s Labor Day LONG weekend for me. Loving the fact that Football started tonight… it’s fall season!! Happy Labor Day!

september.

I can’t believe it’s already September. This week holds many great things, like: everyone commenting on how the “fall weather” is here (and it’s 84 degrees outside), COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!, getting to live in Columbia–Home of the Gamecocks–as we cheer for the Tigers, Fall Cleaning because I never get around to Spring Cleaning and back to school for everyone except me!

And I leave you with a new favorite “I’m bored” time killer… fail.

mallory ellen.

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.  ~Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

Today marks three whole years that my best friend died.
Sometimes I sit and think of her and cry.
or laugh.
or just shake my head at her silly personality.
I can’t wait to see her again.
But, then again, I have to wait.
Yet, If I didn’t have this sadness, I wouldn’t have gained a sister.
That’s not something I want to give away.
Even if it was taken from me.
Our plans to live on a cul-de-sac and make our kids be friends are gone.
I worry sometimes that I’ll forget.
I look at pictures to remember and try to hear her voice.
I refuse to forget.
She had so much life to live.
She is now more fulfilled than anything on this earth has to offer.
I’ve heard it called a beautiful sadness.
and it’s just that.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1.6-10

sustained.

^{Psalm 25.1}
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust.

^{Psalm 103.14}
For he knows our frame;  he remembers that we are dust.

This weekend I went home to spend some time with family. I went running a few times and spent most of that time thinking, praying, giving thanks… the neighbor “on the other side of the woods” behind my parent’s house has acres and acres of land that used to be a farm and still has corn fields. So Pacey and I ran all around his ‘farm’ and walked through the corn fields. It was just so peaceful… (I’m going to try to talk Bran into moving to Gilbert or something and owning a farm. Ha!) This week is usually an emotionally hard week. Wednesday will mark three years since Mallory died. In one word this week is always: tough. I continue trying to trick myself into thinking “it’s just another 26th day of the month” but it still hits me like a ton of bricks. I’ve learned to praise God for what He gave me… the best friend that was like a sister…instead of cursing Him for what was taken away. I don’t deserve the friendship that I had with Mallory, therefore I praise Him for letting me hold onto that friendship for three years. It’s so neat to watch God continue reassuring me. This weekend was so beneficial for the week coming up—simply time alone and time of rest was much needed. But then this morning, a guy came and spoke at chapel for work that had lost his son a year ago on August 8. He talked about the goodness of God and told a story that was “one of those stories” that reassures any doubts that God is in control and is so, so good. I love seeing God work in my heart and know that He is doing it just at the right time. Oh, how He loves us.

• Our new LG started last night… oh my, it’s going to be fun. We had Tim Tams from Australia, drank coffee for Jennings, prayed with one another, and talked about what we are going to be doing for this season. All of the New Testament read by Christmas? Done. 
• Quotable: “They are so good! You put them in your mouth and chocolate melts down your throat! I had to shake with someone and make a deal to not eat them anymore for the rest of the time in Australia.” -Katie Holcombe(s)
• Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what it can see. -William Newton Clark
• Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. -Colossians 3.16
• Loving this.
• & why didn’t I think of this for my wedding? love it!

sometimes…

I wish I had this life.

be the voice.

http://thingsweforget.blogspot.com/