treasures.

i hate the fluorescent lighting in my office. it makes my walls look like a sea foam green nightmare. it totally stresses me out. this morning, tom and i talked about it on our walk on the deschutes river. he texted me an hour or so later. bought me this lamp. perfect. it's gunna make my sea foam green nightmare disappear. (and so will the daffodils i bought last night at the grocery store.)

went to a wedding the day before valentine's day. i think two other couples from antioch got married that same weekend. love. a lot of red. white. pink. cute. i don't think i'd ever want to get married on or close to valentine's day. but that's just me. i'd be stressed out from some unspoken pressure for it to be perfect or something. i'm sure most people feel like that on their wedding day. but for some reason i feel like it would be worse. (i think i'm trying to justify my own words in case someone reads this who got married around then and now thinks i'm a jerk.) anyways. tom and i danced our hearts out. like total dorks. it is one of my favorite things about us. a treasure. like tom. and this little picture.

day drive this past saturday. listened to music with my windows down. i love this picture. the colors make me feel warm. suny (i like spelling it that way). wires. they make it simple and beautiful. i feel like i can smell the

air. still. the mountains were covered in snow. you can kind of see the base of them. this inspires me. to write music. to think about God. to try and understand how big he is. how he works. why he works the way he does. this picture makes me want to love. really love. the way i should. my friends. tom. my family. people that come and go. intentionally. with all of my little heart.

I'll eat you up, I love you so.

My sister Shauna is the one who made me want to start blogging again. Want to have somewhere where I can write down my thoughts. Be me, and feel good about it even if no one in the whole world ever reads this (besides myself and probably her.) She is my family. The reason I want to post videos of me singing. Songs I'm listening to. Thoughts on poetry that speaks to me. So she might feel connected to me and I to her from so far away (their are definitely five lives to coordinate for just a phone or ichat date these days...)

I love that this will be another avenue for me to love my family. Even though we sleep a thousand miles apart. I know we live our lives each day thinking of the other. Always sending words and thoughts and prayers to our God for one another. For this, I am grateful. It has made me appreciate the invaluable friendship that Shauna and I have. What her children truly mean to me. This has turned into an array of "I love Shauna Noel" thoughts. I love it.

(Shauna-na, I'll eat you up.)

happy friday.

i've decided to be more intentional with this whole blog thing. not to worry about having something perfectly edited or "profound" to say every time.

to just be grace.

mainly for my family and friends to know what's going on with me up here in the pacific northwest. that they might feel connected to me.

through music. pictures. videos. truth. quotes. thoughts. simple things. important things.

even though i'm a thousand miles away. because i love them.

with all of my little soul.