my new favorite

i love, love, love this chapstick lipstick!

perfect amount of shimmer.

under $3!

i think i used an entire tube last week.
one of my few guilt-free beauty purchases - one tube costs less than my morning latte.

(not sure if that's good or bad).

we're not ready!

little man's first day of school is two weeks from today. and, i do mean FIRST DAY. he will be starting kindergarten.

i anticipated the emotions. however, what i did not anticipate is this feeling: HE'S NOT READY! Or, more to the point, I HAVE FAILED TO PREPARE HIM! these emotions wash over me continually. as i result, i have shifted into high gear - i feel as if i'm "cramming" him now for a big test!

"6 is not 9 and 9 is not 6. please, sweetheart, get it straight!"

"our address is NOT our phone number!"

"pleeeeeeease, remember to say, ma'am! how many times a day do i have to remind you to say ma'am?"

"we do not tackle anyone at school! and, no, you cannot wear your shoulder pads the first day."

"in an emergency, we dial 9-1-1 not 6-1-1!" (see above)

"your daddy's first name is not "coach"."

"your middle name is spelled d-a-v-i-d not d-a-d-i-d."

see? we're not ready. how did kindergarten get to be 14 days away? don't you realize i was just holding him - for the first time in my arms - yesterday.

dot dot dot

{i found this snippet in my journal - written sometime last year.

so sorry i can't remember exactly where i read it and i've expounded on it a little bit}.

i trust GOD for...

for what?

what do you trust GOD for?

for keeping your marriage your strong? your children safe? your job secure?

what would be on your list?

and, what are the things not on your list?

what are the things that you struggle to trust GOD with?

think about it. those are the things that rob you of your peace of mind. that keep you up at night.

so, how about instead of: i trust GOD...

try: i trust GOD.

see? NO dot, dot, dot.

simply, I trust GOD {period}.

you'll sleep better at night :)

teasing aside

coach visited my blog, made an anonymous comment (which i did not post), teasing me about how "deep" my post was yesterday.

my palms immediately sweat at the thought of anyone actually reading this blog. mostly, i write it for myself - if i think about people reading it, then i tend to write to please others. yesterday's post was an example of writing for myself...for better or for worse. some days better. some days worse. :)

regardless of the teasing, i heart this man!

The one in the middle of course.

Go Green. Go White. GO SPARTANS!

to no one in particular

i read this statement recently: i no longer care if you agree with me.

i found that statement liberating. i'm trying to make it applicable.

i'm not implying disrespect. i'm not being mean-spirited. matter of fact, i respect you more now than i ever have. to illustrate that, please DON'T agree with me. it's okay.

but the fact that i don't care if you agree with me is not the same as i don't care. get it?

i care about you. i. care. i just no longer care if we agree.

please see that for what it is - liberating.

little man is visiting his ya-ya and pa-paw this week.

i can't quit laughing!

then go do that

don't ask what the world needs. ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

~ howard thurman

when i least expected it. with no plan of my own in place. my gracious, gracious GOD put something in my life that has made me feel more alive than i've felt in a very, very long time. alive and on-point.

isn't that just like HIM?

i don't know why

look at that bride. just look at her! un-done with laughter!

a beautiful bride - who earlier in the day i'm confident was perfectly made-up, perfectly done -now un-done with laughter. i find myself smiling - almost laughing out loud - with her.

is it just me? it's okay if it's just me. but for whatever reason - i don't know why - this picture captivated me. maybe it's the contradiction of a bride and a belly laugh. or, simply my imagination leading me to believe that when the appropriate time came for an appropriate toast, a completely inappropriate - but hysterically funny - comment was made. i LOVE that!

what a beautiful, authentic moment capture by Our Labor of Love. check out their work. their photos are surreal.

think I can pull this off?

i have a large, undecorated wall in my study. it's right off the foyer, through french doors. oh yea, and it's chocolate! a BIG chocolate brown wall! can you say intimidating?

of course, my first thought is an over-sized print - perhaps flowers - that would add a pop of color to the room. but, you see, my goal is to make the study more masculine. i'm trying to create a nice "space" for husband. long story.

now, you might say to me, "good luck doing that, with that girly chandelier hanging there?"

and, my husband (the coach) might say to me, "how 'bout puttin' up a picture of Spartan Stadium (and taking down that girly chandelier)?"

hmmm...how to marry the two?

fast forward to this...



i ordered this from Chatty Walls - vinyl lettering! it's arrived and i'm working on rounding up my photos and frames.

now, the BIG question: can i pull this off? stayed tuned. if i can, pictures will follow next week!

He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:19

it's not over until it's over

it's over. well, not really but it will soon feel like it. it will feel like summer is over and fall is upon us. why? why would it feel this way the first full week of august? the answer to that question is easy. one word - FOOTBALL.

camp starts sunday. coach will simply sleep here. come in very late, leave very early - of course, 7 days a week. it's a grueling, grueling schedule. i only wish people knew the hours and sacrifices (i'll leave that for another day.)

so in a matter of days our family will transition into football mode. thus, we begin thinking of fall, breezing through these weeks of august with saturdays in september weighing - sometimes heavily - on our minds.

but wait! in an effort to keep summer around a few more weeks, i made a list of activities for little man and i to do. i saw this idea on several different blogs. loved it. right now this is hanging on our pantry door. little man is very excited to get started on our list. i hope it will help some - he is going to miss his daddy something awful in the weeks and months to come. the first couple of weeks are usually the toughest.

the first thing we're doing is swimming with danny on sunday! what fun that will be. i'm especially looking forward to a picnic in the backyard and, of course, ice cream. i'm embarrassed to admit but we've only done ice cream ONCE this summer. not sure why?!?


yes, it's a simple, simple list. not overly creative. but, sometimes the simple things get shuffled aside in the craziness of everyday life. so here's to keeping it simple. here's to making summer last!

blooming where i am planted - brrrr...

i am enjoying my second summer living in michigan. and, beating the heat has NOT been a problem this year. can you say, chilly?

i have been reassured - time and time again - that "we" are having an "unseasonably" cool summer to which - i am tempted to point out - has followed an "unseasonably" cold winter and an "unseasonably" wet spring.

i'll let the below speak for itself. this was in last night's lansing state journal, front page article discussing our cool summer.

may - average temperature 57.2 degrees
june - average temperature 66 degrees
july - average temperature 66.6 degrees

it is beautiful here. and, on most days, i do my very best to "bloom where i am planted." but, i've decided - as far as "blooming" goes - i surely must be a echinopsis spachiana, that is, a cactus flower! i thrive in extremely arid and hot environments.

come on, august! i need heat. i need humidity. i need summer to arrive in michigan!

happy birthday, alex!

this weekend we celebrated sweet Alex's 19th birthday.

it was so fun to have her visit for a few days!

she starts her sophomore year at KU in a few weeks.

her and her daddy saturday evening.