blog award

my good friend, cassie, gave me my first blog award. thanks cass! apparently you are supposed to write down 6 interesting things about yourself and then pass it on to 6 blogging friends. i wanted to think of the not-so-obvious things, so i decided to keep a list on my phone as things came to me. well, of course i ended up having more than 6.

here are my top 6:

1. i like strange color combinations. aqua and red has probably been my favorite the longest. in college i had aqua colored walls and a red comforter. in my head they totally went together. recently this color combo has become popular, so it sort of isn't as exciting to me as it once was. i still love it though. i also love light purple and red. i always wanted light purple walls with a red ceiling? strange i know. in college my awesome roommate, mitchell, let me paint the walls light purple and we had a red slipcovered sofa. that might be the closest i ever get to having my dream...unless i can talk my children into it one day! pink and red together are also another favorite of mine. oooo..and pink and red with aqua. i could probably talk forever about colors!

for visual aide here is a picture of my current den. i loved my room in college so much i painted
my whole house that color! it goes with everything! i love it with green too.




















here is the painting that started my love of aqua and red together. i did this peacock batik in high school.






























2. i like to be organized...sort of to an extreme. just look at my pantry...
























it really might be a problem that i'm this organized. do not confuse this with being clean though. i think they are totally different. i HATE (notice the all-caps...that means i really hate it) doing floors and dusting. i always get sick from the dust, so that's probably why. maybe if i did it more regularly i wouldn't get sick.

3. i LOVE hymns. love them. i love reading them and singing them. my two all-time favorites are "how sweet and awesome is the place" and "holy, holy, holy." how sweet and awesome was originally "how sweet and awful is the place" because it meant full of awe...not some of awe. now it is taken the wrong way, so they changed it.

here are the words to it....

how sweet and awesome is the place
with Christ within the doors,
while everlasting love displays
the choicest of her stores!

while all our hearts and all our songs
join to admire the feast
each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
"Lord, why was i a guest?

"why was i made to hear thy voice,
and enter while there's room,
when thousands make a wretched choice,
and rather starve than come?"

'twas the same love that spread the feast
that sweetly drew us in;
else we had still refused to taste,
and perished in our sin.

pity the nations, o our God!
constrain the earth to come;
send Thy victorious Word abroad,
and bring the strangers home.

we long to see Thy churches full,
that all the chosen race
may with one voice, and heart and soul,
sing Thy redeeming grace.

my church doesn't sing this hymn yet, but they better start singing it soon or i might cry! all my old students know it is my favorite b/c i used to make samuel play it at insight all the time!

holy, holy, holy is just an amazing hymn. we used to sing it at RUF in college. it was usually reserved for the last song after les' sermon before we left. they would not play the instruments on the last verse...i still get chills just thinking back to it. it will always have a special place in my heart b/c it was also a favorite of my sweet friend, laura treppendahl. laura was killed by a drunk driver when we were in college. at dinner the night she died she talked about "holy, holy, holy." she said it was a tease. that when we sang it at RUF it was an appetizer to heaven. i have never heard someone so perfectly describe a song than she did!

some of my other favorites are it is well, o day of rest and gladness, for all the saints, dear refuge of my weary soul, whate'er my God ordains is right, come thou fount, how deep the father's love for us, the church's one foundation, when i survey, on jordan's stromy banks i stand, how sweet the name of jesus sounds, o love that will not let me go, be still my soul, be thou my vision, the sands of time are sinking, jesus i my cross have taken, o come and mourn with me awhile (preferably with carrie everett singing)

there are probably more...those are just off the top of my head. each one has a special meaning to me and reminds me of some time in my life, or some person who has influenced my life in some way.

4. i love valentine's day. so cliche i know. i love walking into a store and seeing everything red and pink...and with hearts everywhere! everyone that doesn't like valentine's day just doesn't get it. they always say..."i don't need a day to tell the person i love that i love them...i do that everyday." do you really? i love christmas and easter too...for what they represent...what they remind us of. i wish i lived every day of my life in rememberance of what Christ did...but let's be honest...i don't. i need those yearly reminders. the same is true of valentine's day! we are able to love others b/c Christ first loved us. i love this reminder!

5. i reserved this one for my 3 favorite places....the beach, peru and oxford. i could write paragraph upon paragraph about these three places...but i won't torture y'all.

i have been known to leave in the middle of the night for a beach trip. one time in college harvey, mitchell and i went on what was later dubbed "the shadiest trip ever"....simply b/c we didn't tell anyone we were going. we left in the middle of the night after a football game. i won't tell the time b/c my mom is probably reading this. we drove 8 hours to the beach, layed out for 6 hours and then got in the car and drove 8 hours back. to this day it was one of the greatest trips ever! i adore the beach.

i also love peru. i have been on 5 mission trips down to peru and fall in love with the country every time i go. check out www.perumission.org to find out more about the ministry down there. they are doing amazing things!!

last on my list is oxford. there just aren't enough words to describe how amazing oxford is. i love when you realize that there is so much more there than ole miss. not that i don't love ole miss!

6. here are all my other favorites...shortly summarized.

i love children...pretty obvious if you know me AT ALL. i love children's art. i love the creativity behind it. i would probably decorate my whole house with only children's art if i could! i love meeting friends for breakfast. i love looking at the stars at night. i have to be able to see the stars where i live! i love flamingos and peacocks. i would have a backyard full of plastic flamingos if my neighbors would allow. even before tv was invented i used to record tv shows. i'm not a fan of live tv. i also love a good tv watching party. in college we had dawson's/felicity parties, then ed parties, bachelor/bachelorette parties and now we have office/lost parties. i watch an episode of friends everynight before i go to bed. i think it is one of the funniest shows ever made! i love scarves. i love buying plain clothes so i can accessorize them to my mood. i have a true love for fresca. i think my family is the only family that still drinks it. my mom always has them in stock. my love for fresca is second to my love for sunkist. i had a sunkist habit a few years ago that i have kicked. i only have water at my house now. i love collecting art. the majority of the art in my house was not done by me. i love seeing other people's creativity. i love tocca candles...the cleopatra scent. i can't find it everywhere, but seda france japanese quince smells very similar to it...i thank ridg for that one! i love game nights with my family. we do it pretty much everytime we are all together. while i'm talking about family...i love sissy nights! i don't know what i would do without my sister! i love to journal. i have journals going back many years. secretly i think that someday i'll become famous and they will discover my journals and publish them...ha! please don't let them! i also love coffee. i love making it the night before, so all i have to do in the morning is push a button. sweet relief!

here are the 6 people i have chosen for the award:

1. my sister: www.thecrazyoreillys.blogspot.com

2. ava aycock: www.avaandbrookie.blogspot.com

3. sally black: www.sallyandwayneblack.blogspot.com

4. brittney strong: www.dstrongfamily.blogspot.com

5. laura estrada: www.justinandlauraestrada.blogspot.com

6. nikki bonham: www.nikkibonham.squarespace.com

7. amanda eaton: www.ericamandafamily.blogspot.com

...i obviously can't count.

and i have two on reserve.....
hallie and harper for when they get back from africa. their internet usage is limited in africa, but maybe this will keep their blog going when they get back!


right click on the blog award picture above. click "save picture as." it will save in your pictures file. write 6 interesting things about yourself and pass it on to 6 people. you may want to comment on their blog and tell them you have nominated them.