live the dream

What do your dreams look like?
Dreams are a hard thing to nail down.
So many things are impossible, no matter how much people tell you to just follow them, some things really are impractical, irresponsible, or some other combination of unrealities.

I know my dream is to serve people. I know my passion is being with other people and meeting needs.
My dream used to be going overseas to work, to dive into those big situations.
But what happens when your dreams and your heart don't line up?
My dreams are big.
My heart belongs to home.

I want to someday climb to the top of the Eiffel tower and wrap my arms around someone I love and dream that we own the world together.

I want to take words, my words, and reach inside of someone and reveal something they never saw before.
I want to bring a marvel.

I love books.
I love fall and sunshine and playing the piano and coffee and reading and laughing and making other people happy.
I love the thing I've had just a few times in my life: the moment when you dive in and believe so deeply in what you are doing that everything else is just that something extra. The times when life takes on a glow, when you can pour your heart out and still find it full.

Here's what I know.
Somehow, somewhere in this world, there is a way to combine the things I love:

being sunshine
Books
The elderly
joy
passion
playing piano
words
hope
companionship
meeting physical needs
kids
meeting new people
variety
making people feel welcome
restoration
the great cause


Together, into some kind of perfect God-given whole.
But how do I find it?

 

I've always taken this verse to mean that, if I let Him, He will clear away all the many little distractions that come along: that in the end, the path He takes me on will be the perfect one, and He alone will show me the true desires He placed deep inside my heart.

Weekend Recap

Well I finally took the time to get some photos off my camera again - remember that recipe I gave you a link to awhile back, for the brownie in a mug? it's AMAZING. It looks like this:

I didn't have any cocoa like the recipe asked for, so I just made the batter with the peanut butter and threw in the chocolate chips and it worked out just fine - heavenly, in fact!

I had a blast at the wedding this weekend! There are no pictures however, because like a fool I neglected to bring my camera with me. Someday, I will get better at this. Of course someday, maybe I will have a camera that takes decent pictures.

I got pretty adventurous tonight: first, I went on a super fun website that offers a great window into your fashion - awesome for those of us who are what you might call "not gifted" in the whole fashion thing.
I also concocted my own recipe to use up the eggplant I purchased specifically to teach myself how to make eggplant.

I cut half the eggplant into slices and tossed them in a frying pan with some tomatoes, a little olive oil, and some garlic salt

 I browned the eggplant, and while I was doing that I toasted an English muffin from the good old IGA store.

 After the eggplant was well-browned, I layered half of the tomatoes on each half of the English muffin and topped those with slices of the eggplant. I sprinkled a little more olive oil on, and then added mozzarella cheese over the top of them.

 I did have to throw them in the microwave to finish melting the cheese, but overall they were pretty good. I can't say I adore the texture of the eggplant but I can deal with it, and this was a tasty and healthy meal. Of course I had to finish it off with the world's best gift to man.

Aldi's brand my friends. It will change your life.

Anyways, that's all the news I think. Got any updates from your weekend?? Hope it was great!

Wantings and Havings

This is going to be random - not that I'm ever NOT random., but this might be somewhat more than usual. Prepare yourselves.

I have started my Christmas list already. On it you will find a pair of TOMS, the last couple seasons of I Love Lucy, fuzzy slippers, the latest NCIS, a mac computer, and this:

Which just so happens to be a shirt from Forever 21 featuring my absolute favorite of all time, I Love Lucy. So in love right now.

I found some super cool/funny/interesting things while trolling about this evening:

1) Freerice.com.  Go there.
2)This recipe, which I fully intend to try as soon as I am done here.

3) This hilarious list: 
4) College Fashion - google it and go to the website, I love poking around there.
5) And this website - I was laughing out loud at some of them.

I went shopping at Maurice's today - is it just me or is there something awfully enticing about that place? They just luuuuure me in, with their lovely minty colors and gorgeous designs and 10 for 10 punch cards....and then suddenly I am left dazed on the pavement much poorer than I was.
Anyways, I bought a dress for the family wedding I have this weekend: super gorgeous, but it's cream, which is not a color my clumsy self typically wears, and it's a little shorter than I would usually wear. I'm excited though!
I also bought a couple sweaters, including one I would like to start living in, and a couple shirts as well as dress pants for work.

I saw a nifty Idea on a website today, and it was all about finding 60 things everyday that you have and want to have again - things within your power basically. So here's some of mine from today, to give you an idea:
1) Beautiful sunrise 2) Good cup of coffee 3) Awesome two-hour visit with a splendid old lady 4) Fabulous shopping trip 5) Wore a soft sweater
And so forth...basically it help you realize the value of your life, and the things in it that make it that way so you can replicate them. Told you it was nifty.

Final thought, promise: I am copying the writing on the side panel of my Maurice's bag because I just like it. So, from me and Maurice's to you:

"My bedroom closet is my sanctuary, my confessional, my runway. It is the place where with damp towel and fuzzy slippers, I transform into the woman I hope to be.  The place I pretend to fire my boss, kiss my boyfriend, and play dress up. My closet is filled with low-rise jeans, a sweater that witnessed the first date with my fiance, a bikini I'm planning to fit into and the wrap I'm planning to cover it all up with. It's where I dress for brunches, beaches, boardrooms and bull-fights. (I'm not sure what one wears to a bullfight but it was a spread in a magazine once.)  My closet is where I practice pirouettes, check the progress of my bangs, and tape my crumbling homecoming corsage, crinkled pictures of celebrities, and looks I love onto the full-length mirror. It's where I've vowed to someday marry against a slew of ugly bridesmaid dresses."

When Misty Moisty was the Weather...

Not art, but a bit pretty and English-y, with the fog hanging over everything so lightly.