VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

Just a little request today. I entered myself and my daughter into a local contest today. Our very first Mother/Daughter photo contest!!! I never do these sort of things, but thought what the heck? Of course, we were a late entry and there is already someone with 700+ votes ahead. But here's hoping!! 

Be a gem and please take a second to click on the link below, find this photo, and vote!!! 

VOTE HERE!!!!

[you can vote once every 24 hours]

Love ALL

While currently striving to motivate myself in this matter, I thought I would share it with others in case they needed it, as well.

"Above all, love each other deeply, 

because love covers a multitude of sins." 

1 Peter 4:8 [NIV]

Bunny Ears & Egg Hunts

What a weekend!! Pretty lazy this morning, writing this post via phone. With an early church service, two family gatherings, Easter egg hunts, and even a family stroll to a park, here's a glimpse into the day that now has me so [gratefully] exhausted. 

And yes I'm aware of the floral jeans with gray converse; no judgement please. You do what you can with what ya got.

Meanwhile, little man was quite the trooper. 

Blessed is He who died for us, to make this life we live so beautiful. Without His sacrifice we wouldn't be able to endure such precious moments.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter weekend!! 

It's Fun To Be A Kid

With Easter around the corner, we have jumped right into the necessary activities building up to the holiday; dying eggs, and making any and all kinds of goodies that pertain to a bunny, egg, or just candy in general.

 

And the outcome of our egg decor was a bit of everything. We each had our own egg, including her teachers. But my favorite? Well that would be the one with the band aid. Not only did it come out discolored [poor thing] but she dropped it resulting in a few cracks; hints the band aid. It still makes me laugh every time I see that thing. Gotta love kids.

There Should Be Meetings For This

Not a lot of content today, or filter for that matter. But while constantly hearing about the bitchy-resting-face, I had to chime in. As one who suffers from this, I have thoroughly enjoyed the jokes and youtube videos online. Although I want to say I was one ahead of the game, since I have been told I have "this face" for majority of my years. But I was only just recently introduced to the infamous YouTube video, and now I'm seeing it talked about everywhere. If you're unaware of the video, you can watch it here, otherwise I'll continue with some of my most recent finds. These in particular I can totally relate to.

If you can relate, then you too may suffer from bitchy-resting-face.

Have a good day!!!! And don't forget to smile, just in case.

Obsession Overload: Idina Menzel

As we all know, Frozen has been Hollywood's most recent phenomenon. One of my own personal reasons I love it so much is because of Elsa's character voice, by Idina Menzel. I have been quite a silent fan of hers since seeing the broadway show Wicked [whom she plays Elphaba, the wicked witch]. I have not been fortunate enough to actually see her live, but her live performance of the infamous number "Defying Gravity" streamed on YouTube had me glued. And now deemed a forever fan.

What is the point of all this? Well not only does she possess one of the most powerful voices in broadway, stars in one of my ultimately favorite broadway plays, and now characterizes one of the most famous animated voices in Frozen, but I just recently discovered she also has incredible taste in men. Yes, she was once married to (and bares a beautiful son with) the incredibly talented, and hands down most handsome man alive... besides my hubby *wink*... TAYE DIGGS!

Yes, this guy...

I have loved him in all movies from Brown Sugar, The Best Man, even the classic late 90s film The Wood.  

So I'm thinking as if I'm not obsessed with her enough, this just adds to it a million bajillion times more. And no I don't mean obsessed like omg I want a lock of her hair, lock your doors, jack up the security kind of obsession. That's scary. By "obsessed", I simply mean I'm an even bigger fan.

You go girl!

This Night Though......

Well, here's the FOLLOW UP from the other night!!! There are no words to describe it. It was the most emotionally fulfilling evening I have ever experienced. The event was held at our local church, Northside Christian, and there to accompany me was my mama and my good friend, Amy.

The performances were by six of the greatest christian artists in the industry; Sidewalk Prophets, Natalie Grant, Francesca Battistelli, Chris August, Jason Gray, and Meredith Andrews. Each one of them blew it out of the park. With music I am usually a beginning fan by just simply hearing a good song, but to hear it live can turn me into a serious fanatic... and that is exactly what happened. I was blown away.

Here's a short accumulation [from my Instagram] of the night.

Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting the next tour... 

Bucket List [check off]

If you listen to or follow Way-FM radio, then you would be familiar with the "Son of God" tour advertised all over the country. Well, the time has come for its next stop... location?... Here!! And I am so excited that me and some others get to be in attendance!! The list of artists performing is incredible. I am STOKED.

Pertaining to my recent growth with Christ, this was definitely an addition on my bucket list. Not just this particular concert, but the opportunity to worship with a large crowd. Although my church is big and the worship is never failing, a performance of this magnitude will be unforgettable. It reminds me of one of my absolute favorite skits, performed to Lifehouse's song "Everything".  

The POWER in this performance [especially towards the end] is miraculous. For some it is just a skit, but if you read into its message it is incredibly moving. I choke up every time. Unbeknown to the details of this evening's concert, I can't say it will be anything to this extreme or not. But if so, I can already tell you I will be completely overwhelmed. 

I'm just simply looking forward to a night gathered with everyone who is there for one purpose and one purpose only ... to PRAISE.

Some Would Say I'm Weird

I really can't dispute the fact idea that I do weird things. I do. But I don't often notice it until someone calls me out. So you could say I'm unconsciously aware that I do or say anything abnormal.

My nose is stoffed up.

It's what?

It's stoffed up. I can't breathe.

You mean stopped up?

....whatever.

Combining both stuffed and stopped was no big thing to me. But evidently it is weird and so that's just something on my list of weird things I do - along with driving with my right shoe off [until I recently became a germaphobe, so that is now a big negative], putting an asterisk * in text to correct anything I may have spelled wrong even if it was four messages ago... just to name a few.

What brought me to this realization was last night while setting my alarm for the next day. Once I set an alarm for something I never delete it bc I assume I'll use it again in the future so there's quite the assortment of hours going on there [three additional not pictured].

Although I'm not quite sure of the time I arose at the butt crack of dawn?? 4am?? I mean, 4:01?? Why on earth would I have needed an alarm set for that preposterous hour?! I'm thinking it was for an early flight out; most likely my last trip to Miami. In that case it's totally acceptable. I'll get up at ANY hour if I'm going to a beach.

But my point of sharing this is that in addition to not only speaking in tongue, but I apparently view time in a particular manner as well. I never set my clock on the hour or half hour, ever. I'm not sure when I began doing that, and again I had no real consciousness of it being abnormal until my husband once made a joke about those "3 extra minutes making a big difference". Well it just might! Hmmph!

....yea that's all I got today.

Christmas In The Spring

So I'm on the look out for three packages  this week and I'll tell ya it feels like Christmas morning the moment the fed ex guy pulls up. "What's it gonna be???"

I would say they aren't anything super spectacular but I am not a liar and 100% consider these on a high status of importance at the moment. You may think it's silly, but hush your face. I hardly get to a good store or to the mall anymore, so online shopping is how it goes down these days. [thumbs up] 

1. New jeans. If you're with the times you'd know Express just had a blowout sale on their jeans [bogo for $30]. And yes, I was suckered in. But! I really did need a pair of jeans - 2? debatable. Finding one available in-store, I wasn't so lucky with the other. So now I'm waiting on these sweet babies to arrive in the mail at anytime! 

2. LC blazer. If you know me, I'm blazer obsessed. Preferably black or charcoal, but I'm trying to open my horizons. So although I'm not sure how often I'll need a tan blazer, I know I'll be grateful when that time comes and I have it conveniently hanging there in my closet. 

Lastly... [drum roll please]

3. The gold iPhone 5s. Am I late on this? Does it matter? It's gold! I'm stoked.

And that, my folks is what's making my week pretty darn exciting. Obviously it doesn't take a lot these days.

I don't get out much.

Inspired By A Song

If you're like me, you can easily relate your life to lyrics in a song. Not just any song, but there's always that one [or few] where you say, "...that's how I feel!". That's always been me, except I would maybe even write a song as opposed to just relating to one. Regardless, music was my therapy.

Music was often the remedy to any emotional rollercoaster I endured. Majority of the time it all stemmed from most likely a broken heart [oh, high school] but in my adult years they were from a much deeper matter... figuring out "who am I? What's my purpose in this life?"... [whoa megan, where's this going].

Today I heard a song that reminded me of some challenges I encountered a few years back. "Challenges" being that I went through a very young marriage/divorce, getting caught up in a dark place to mask the effects of it all, which only lead me into the wrong direction everywhere I turned. I felt my life was completely out of my control. And what I came to understand was that IT WAS... 100%. But it always has been. We were made by a Creator who opens many doors for us, but initially we decide where we want to go. That isn't how it should be. Too often we trust our own judgement, when we should be trusting His.

Along with many others, [today] the song that brought that all back to me was Francesca Battistelli's "Write Your Story". It's a great reminder that God has our lives already written out, while we are made to just live it out. However, we don't always do it. From the beginning we decide what is good for us, and what fulfills us. We decide what is best to provide for our future and the future of our kids. But doing it alone isn't what He intended. I don't make choices in the household without consulting my husband, we don't make choices in the workplace without consulting our boss. Why is life any different? Let Him be our guide and assurance. Allow Him to show you the right direction and .... trruuuuuuuust me.... it will be fulfilling in more ways than you could imagine.

We are indeed His work of art, and the image we should portray is that of His best. I have learned that the choices I used to make were never consulted with Him and as a result of that I found myself completely empty. The moment I knew my life was not my own, it was a game changer. It really made all the sense in the world. And here I am now... [a short glimpse of my testimony].    

 

My Son The Show Stopper

After about 4 years, I finally decided to set up a bank account for my daughter. However, my quick stop to the bank ended up taking me over an hour and a half [insert ripping-out-hair-from-head]. Going into it I was pretty prepared with everything... everything except knowing to write a novel on the back of evverrryyyyy single savings bond; being that she's a minor. I'm not sure of the exact number of bonds I had, but it was double digits. [insert carpal tunnel]  

Luckily, I had the baby fed and changed before arriving to the bank so I was grateful he was the least of  my worries at that time. At least he was, until he decided to have a massive explosion in his diaper.

Impeccable timing.

To add to the matter, their bathroom was currently occupied, so there I am in their conference room... naked baby, legs in the air, and poo - not the first word to come to mind, but I'll keep this PG. The smell, mind you, is indescribable. For such little creatures, they seem to produce the most pungent of smells.

I suggested for them to find a dumpster OUTSIDE, but the nice teller insisted she would throw it in her trash can. I'm pretty sure after just minutes I saw her and another girl excuse themselves for a moment.

And that was the day my son cleared out the bank.