Midweek Favorites

Some of my favorite things this week:

Song:

This song is really powerful. My prayer is that I have a husband who will do this. I also pray that I am the kind of wife who says these things to her husband, if necessary.

Worship song:

It's not really a new song, but it's incredible.

Candy:

I'd love a huge chunk of this airy, sugary goodness.

Nail Polish:

Princesses Rule by O.P.I. 

I'm currently wearing it, and it's lighter than this picture. I love the glitter, but what I really love is the barely-there color - gives my nails a clean, pretty look without being harsh.

Hairstyle to experiment:

Michael Kors inspired - double knot. 

Divide hair in two sections and tie a double knot. Sounds simple, looks interesting, and it's a new, fast 'do. Bonus: looks beachy.

Lotion:

St. Ive's Soothing Oatmeal and Shea Butter.

We have a bottle of this sitting in a basket in our bathroom. This is seriously the most amazing lotion I've ever used, and a little goes a long way. I'm already looking forward to having it in my dorm room next year. Apparently my step-dad keeps a bottle in his art room at school, and Holly brought a bottle to school-and soon all her friends each had their own too. Trust me-it works. Also, at Target it's $3.49.

[If you want t.m.i.: I always put this on my armpits after I shave them, and now they're much smoother]

Movie:

This is a few years old, but if you haven't seen it-you need to! I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but this movie's incredible. I've read the book too, and guess what - I actually like the movie more! So try it, even if it's not something you'd automatically be drawn to.

Scent:

Unconditional Love - Philosophy. 

This perfume is one of my favorites, ever. My sister got me a small bottle of it for Christmas, and I seriously would use it every day if I wasn't scared of it running out. She got it at Sephora, but I'm sure it can be found at other stores too.

Hair Product:

Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Anti-Humidity Smoothing Milk.

I've used this for two years now, and I swear by it. My hair is naturally unruly and often frizzes, especially when I'm in Maine, where it's very humid. I like this in particular because I've tried the serum form of this and it worked well, but left my hair feeling greasy (I just didn't learn the right amount). But since this is a more milky substance, it doesn't make my hair greasy, but soft.

Website:

Bakerella

&

Food Gawker

I know, I cheated by having two. But they're both amazing!

& finally,

Quote:

"Faith endures the disappointment, the hardships, and the heartaches of life by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind. So long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart, nor peace for the mind."
A.W. Pink

Count It All Joy: rainbow cake

Note to self: make this cake.

Rainbow Cake

All I Need

Life is so hard sometimes. You try to always do the right thing and try to always follow the Lord's leading in your life, only to have it be really hard. It's hard knowing you did the right thing and that you did what was best when other people question that and when they question your motives. It's hard when you feel like everyone is judging you for your decisions. It's also hard when the people you think will be there for you, aren't. You don't want to feel betrayed by certain actions, but you do. There's no avoiding it. And then you have to act like everything is fine because you know you're just being selfish anyway and not putting others first. When times like this come, it's easy to feel alone and jaded. It's so easy to be hurt by the small things that normally wouldn't bother you. It's so easy to think that you have no one who's really got your back. It's easy to become bitter and develop "trust issues". When this sort of thing happens, you just want to get away from all of it. You feel like really, there's only Jesus you can cling to. You only have Him to comfort you in your time of pain. I know I'm guilty of seeing it that way. But this is where your thinking is wrong.

There's no such thing as having "only Jesus". He really and truly is ALL we need.
-"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." -Hebrews 4:15
He's been there. Jesus Christ felt the same way - He was truly betrayed, yet He didn't sin.

-"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." -II Corinthians 1:3-4

Who knows why God puts certain trials in our lives? Maybe it's so we can relate to others who are hurting.

-"Destitute, despised, forsaken/Thou from hence my all shall be/Perish every fond ambition/All I've sought, or hoped, or known/Yet how rich is my condition/God and heaven are still my own."
"Let the world despise and leave me/They have left my Savior too/Human hearts and looks deceive me/Thou art not like them untrue."
"In Thy service pain is pleasure/With Thy favor loss is gain"
"Man may trouble and distress me/'Twill but drive me to Thy breast/Life with trials hard may press me/Heaven will bring me sweeter rest"
[all from "Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken" by Henry Francis Lyte]

-"He's all that my hungering spirit needs/I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead"
[from I'd Rather Have Jesus by Rhea F. Miller]

-"Hallelujah! All I have is Christ/Hallelujah! Jesus is my life"
[from All I Have is Christ by Jordan Kauflin]

-"When I fall down You pick me up/When I am dry You fill my cup/You are my all in all"
[from All in All by Dennis Jernigan]

-"You are all I need when I'm surrounded/You are all I need if I'm by myself/You fill me when I'm empty/There is no one else/You're all I need"
[from All I Need by Bethany Dillion]

-"Faith endures the disappointment, the hardships, and the heartaches of life by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind. So long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart, nor peace for the mind."
A.W. Pink

This is where the rubber meets the road. Do I really believe that He is all I need? It's often easy to say those words, and I've grown up singing "All in All", but do I really mean it? This is a key time in my life where I need to remember not to listen to myself but to talk to myself. I can't listen to my doubts, my insecurities, and the lies that are so easy to tell myself ("you really have no one", "no one has your back", "you just can't trust people these days", etc). I must remind myself of truth- I do have people that are here for me no matter what, and even if I didn't, I don't need them - I have Christ, who really is the only One I need. I just need to cling to Christ and remember that this world is not my home. God loves me so much, and I know He will never leave me or forsake me. He is all I need.

Comforting Hymn

Day by Day

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,

I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure

Gives unto each day what He deems best-

Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me

With a special mercy for each hour;

All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,

He Whose Name is Counselor and Pow'r.

The protection of His child and treasure

Is a charge that on Himself He laid;

"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"

This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation

So to trust Thy promises O Lord,

That I lose not faith's sweet consolation

Offered me within Thy holy Word.

Help me Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,

E'er to take, as from a father's hand,

One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,

Till I reach the promised land.

-Karolina W. Sandell-Berg, 1865

New Challenge?

I have seen floral nails popping up everywhere recently. 

Definitely not something I ever thought I'd see. Usually if you think of floral nail art, it's with one flower on one or two fingers, like a typical manicure.

But no, floral nails like this are in. Super cute, and definitely something I want to try this summer.

We shall see, I'm not the most artistic person :)

Anyway, this is Lauren Conrad's first attempt.

(found on her twitter)

Summer Job

This year, God's blessed me with an incredible job opportunity for the summer.

What will I be doing you ask? Well first I'll tell you what I'm doing before the fun job.

I'm cleaning here and there currently. Every weekend while I'm in Maine, I'm cleaning the doctors' office my mom works at with my little sister. I also may be helping my older sister clean this building (as well as maybe working for a friend's cleaning business one day):

But when I get back to California, the fun job will commence.

Where? I'll be working at the State Fair for about 3 weeks, selling this:

  chocolate-covered bacon.

Yep, I'm excited. I'll be working with my best friend Lindsay and her two brothers, and some people I know from their church. I may work from open to close...which is looong shifts. But I'm so excited for it.

And I'll be ready to be crazy busy, working as many days as possible. I love summer but I do miss the busyness of school. Though I don't miss the homework.

Anyway, I'm so blessed to have this opportunity and I'm very grateful for it.

And REALLY excited. Lindsay's brothers Zach and Jordan worked there last year and loved it.

So yeah, to say I'm excited is an understatement.

have a wonderful day :)

mmmm

So, tonight my friend/temporary sister Chynna (she and her dad are living with us off and on this summer!) and I were babysitting at my house and we were watching Toy Story 3 when the younger of the two kids walked downstairs. I followed him and walked into the kitchen to see a box of funfetti cake and a container pink vanilla frosting with sprinkles. I seriously hoped Abby was planning on making them tonight.

Turns out at work (she works at a local grocery store, Hannaford) someone had bought cupcakes, and planted a thought in her mind she couldn't shake. Which turned out to be for our benefit. So she made them, with a little help from some of us, and before long, they were ready!

I later forgot about the cupcakes (right after asking Abby if they were ready) and went downstairs to brush my teeth. I had to pass through the kitchen to get to the bathroom though, and walked in on Abby frosting those lovely little cakes. She enlisted my help, and we had soon frosted all of them. 

Here's a picture of the final product, which was delish

Graduation Fun

Yesterday was a day I'll never forget: my youngest sister graduated high school.

Our family is not your typical, run-of-the-mill family. It's pretty unique. There are four girls (three of which are full sisters - Sarah, me, and Holly, all 2 years apart - and one step-sister - Abby, who is 2 weeks younger and a grade behind Holly - who we see as another full sister) and our parents, my mom Brenda and step-dad James. If you include my mom, there are five girls. So we always have a surplus of things like makeup, hair products, tampons, cleansers, scrubs, nail polish, etc. If you ever need a bobby pin, chances are you will find one, no matter what room you're in, as they seem to turn up everywhere. We all share clothes and shoes, too. It's really fun! The only tough part is when we all are super emotional or hormonal...then we wish for brothers.

Here's a little bit about Abs. When we first met her, she was about 4 or 5. Holly was the same age, and I was two years older than them and Sarah two years older than me. Sarah and Holly and I loved our dolls and especially loved playing with Barbies. We met Abby, and were surprised to find out she had no dolls or Barbies that she really played with. Nope, Abby played with dinosaurs and sea creatures. She loved stuffed animals too, especially her Beanie Baby platypus, Platy. [One of my favorite Abby stories is when she was like 2 she had a giraffe that she cleverly named "Yellow Bright Orange"...so cute!]. Abs always the creative one and came up with the best games. She often acted as peace maker between the sisters. 

And now she's graduating high school, having participated in a number of extra-curricular activities (especially drama and various choruses) while keeping good grades and also having a plethora of things to balance on top of all of that - friends, boyfriend, two families (her mom, stepdad, and half sister live in the next town), and a job. She and two of her closest friends chose to sing together and separately for various places such as nursing homes for their senior project (lucky for us, they made a cd of their songs!). Next year she's attending Fairfield University in Connecticut. 

Here are some pictures from her graduation:

Me with the grad!!!

The fam bam: Me, Sarah, Abby, Holly, my mom, James

love my mom!

Right before Abby left to take pictures with her mom and family, James was like "Group shot! Everybody in" so my mom, me, Sarah, James, Abby, Holly, and our friend/honorary sister squished in.

After Ab left to take pics with her mom, we got a couple more pics!

love them :D

After graduation and the following reception, there was time for everyone to go home, which allowed the seniors to be able to change into normal clothes and meet back at the school where they'd soon embark on "project grad", their grad night. Before they leave for grad night each year, they load on buses and are paraded down Main Street escorted by police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, all driving slowly and baring their sirens and flashing their lights. We live on Main Street so we get to watch as the parade goes down and cheer and wave. We had a bunch of people over, including the family of another graduate, Brianna Thurston. We all waved signs and yelled our loudest and some people even had trumpets or other instruments they played. During the whole parade, the seniors lean out the bus windows to wave at everyone they pass. It's a loud, insane time and it's really fun! Such a small town thing and I love it!

Here's Flynnie and I holding our signs right before the parade

Sarah, Chynna and I holding our signs.

All in all, yesterday was an amazing day. I'm sad all our graduations are over. We had one in '07, '09, '10, and '11. But soon we start with the college ones! We are planning to have college graduations in '12, '13, '14, and '15. In case you didn't notice, from 09 through 15, we have a graduation every year. Crazy! But I love it!

Random Interest of Mine

Ok, this may be pretty dorky. But we all have random things that we enjoy. One random thing I've always loved to look at is cool staircases. I think it all started when I was young and we used to go to my dad's uncle John and aunt Ellen's house in Santa Monica. In their backyard, they had a small turquoise metal spiral staircase that went from the ground up to the roof, which was flat. Anyway, I really like looking at them now. Here are some cool ones I've found:

This one is gorgeous and just fun to look at

This makes me sad, in a happy way.
"Sad is happy, for deep people" - Sally Sparrow, Dr. Who

These are so cool! Painted steps with writing may be
the coolest steps I'll ever get

These are my favorite. I don't know why. 

So Predictable/Update on my life

So, life gets crazy and unpredictable. I thought blogging every day would be easy because currently I don't have a ton to do. But...then I got busier and kept getting home too late to write and then my computer got a nasty virus and went to the geeks for a few days. I got it back last night, but I'm already 7 days behind on the 30 day challenge...which is a quarter of it...so yeah. I think I'm dropping out. Or maybe I'll continue, but not make it 30 consecutive days.

On another note, I've really been experiencing and appreciating the Lord's mercy the past week or so. He is infinitely forgiving. It's like the song goes, "A thousand times I've failed, still your mercy remains." So thankful for this truth.

Tonight, I leave (at 11:51) to go to Maine! I have a 5 hr flight from Sacramento into New York's JFK international airport (which is my favorite airport to have a layover in, by the way) and then an hour and a half before my flight into the small jetport in Portland, ME. That's my favorite flight as it's only a little more than an hour. Then I'll be able to see my Maine family (which includes my mom Brenda, step dad James, older sister Sarah, and younger sisters Holly and Abby). Wicked excited for that ;).

My best friend from high school and her boyfriend (whom I've known since first grade) were recently engaged. Being home has made their engagement and upcoming wedding and marriage come alive for me. All this wedding talk has made me really excited for September 10 (9/10/11!). I'll only have been back in Santa Clarita for a weeks before I come home for the weekend to be in my first wedding (unless my dad and step mom's counts).

One more thing: today is my boyfriend Trevor's birthday!! He's 21! Unfortunately I won't be able to see him because he lives in Santa Clarita and I live in Roseville (Sacramento) and am leaving for Maine. We like to skype at night (except while my computer had the virus) but since I'll be going to the airport and hanging out there, it's not very likely to happen. Which might be good if he's busy anyway. Anyway....happy birthday Trevor!!