cup of kindness

The other day through some blog I stumbled upon Operation Nice.  It's a blog/site that encourages people to be proactively nice!  This was one story I came upon I liked.  :]

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NICE Testimony: Cup of Kindness - Dec 7, 2010, written by Elyse

Today was one of those days that kind of got off to a rough start. My favorite pair of jeans totally split down the leg. There must be some sort of invisible seam there or something. Anyways, I went to do some errands before class at Target. The lovely smell of Starbucks was tempting me, so I decided to go in. I remarked to my friend, Emma, who was with me, how much I liked this cup Starbucks had on display. I decided against buying it and went on ordering my drink.

The man behind me picked up the cup and remarked how nice it was. He then proceeded to ask the barista how much it was. Being told it was $10 he said okay and purchased it. He then turned around and handed the cup to me with a simple "Merry Christmas" and walked away.

I was absolutely gobsmacked. I did not know what to say. I just said thank you and Merry Christmas. I then proceeded to buy the next person's drink because this simple act of kindness touched my heart so much. I know it's the holidays and everyone has the spirit, but wouldn't life be a little better if we passed on little acts of kindness through out the year? It genuinely touched my heart and I will always remember how this act turned my day completely around. And to that anonymous gentleman out there, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

LIKE.  :]  Visit Operation Nice for nice stories.  :]

             

love mercy part 2

  A few weeks ago, I wrote about  "Love Mercy: A Mother and Daughter's Journey from the American Dream to the Kingdom of God."  I finally finished it last week and here are two more quotes I liked and found thought provoking that I want to share, both from Lisa Samson (the mom):

How much different would my life be if I ran my actions through fewer filters?  Can you imagine Jesus being asked to heal and responding," Oh I was on my way to the synagogue.  I'll catch you when I'm finished, and we'll take care of that disease then."  What would it look like if I lived in imitation of the Father, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and says his mercies are from everlasting to everlasting?

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God's great love for me means I can't misrepresent that love to anyone else.  His great love is the model for how to run our charities and churches.  Above all, his love shows us how to love each other.

Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  ~  John 13:34-35
                                        

background

I haven't changed my laptop background since sometime after Halloween, so I decided it was time to do that.  I originally put this one up:

Then it occured to me.  This is what it looks outside.   Why would I want to look at it on my computer?!  So I decided to look through my "Summer 2010" album and decided on this one:

To remind me that the day when it'll look like this will indeed come again.  Today's lows are in the teens/20s.  (Though my cousin said it's -30° where she is so... I shouldn't complain.)  This will do for now.  Though it sort of feels scenic-ly boring.  haha.

What's on your computer background?  Are they usually of stockphoto/downloaded backgrounds or your own pictures?

                    

likes of the day

Saw this on Mrs. Pashmina's post about wavy hair, and it's orginally from Style Me Pretty.  But it was the simple but awesome invite in the middle picture that caught my eye!

I love cities and cityscapes and skylines.  Their other pictures are also nice.  :oP  (Source)

Thought this cup from Starbucks is really cute!  The Starbucks that is closest to work is like... the slowest Starbucks ever so I usually have a few minutes to let my eyes wander over to the "products"/sale section.... before they wander over the pastry case... before I have to make eye contact (it's a nice human courtesy thing to do, right?) with the barista.

I may pick it up.  After Valentine's Day.  :-P  (Source)

I also love people who give me Starbucks giftcards (two for Christmas!) and feed my coffee addiction.  :oP  And at $1.62 for a tall coffee (silly tax), those giftcards last awhile!  Once in awhile I'll splurge on a mocha.  Or latte.  But seriously, one of those equal two days worth of coffee!

              

ivy tree

What do you think of this picture?  Do you like it?  Color?  Editing?  Perspective?  Angle?  Tell me.

                       

learning!

The words of the day are:

 

Quotidian: commonplace, ordinary, or everyday.

 

Indefatigable: incapable or seemingly incapable of being fatigued; tireless.

 

 

And do you remember these?  Logic puzzles?  Variables, clues, and a bunch of squares?

 

 

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I really liked them as a kid.  The not-too-hard-ones I could solve anyway.  Last night I decided I wanted to do some and was delighted to find out they exist online now.  With clickable squares!  You don't even have to print them out!  Whoo hoo.  There are ones of course that just tell you the variables and clues without even providing squares.  I don't do those.  I'm currently working on this one about people, prize money, coffee, and wine.  I'm not entirely sure the storyline really works.  And I probably should've started with one with less variables after um... like 15 years of... not doing them.  Though I should be smarter now, right?  Hmm....

 

Did you like logic puzzles as a kid (or do you still, as a grown-up now)?

                  

Valentine's Day cards

So in addition to my animal cut outs crafting, I have bookmarked a few ideas from Martha for Valentine's Day cards!  I know I know, it's only mid January.  But... it's only a MONTH until Valentine's day and I'm sure there are lots of important things I need to tend to between now and then.  :oP  Plus I'd be making these for friends (and not specifically for Tim) so I'd have to make a bunch!

Heart bookmark.  A useful Valentine!  (Source)

Hearts and blocks card.  Instead of stamping, I would probably just use four little squares of cardstock. 

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Ribbon-punched.  The only downside (as in how hard it will be to combat my laziness) to this project would be... I'd probably want a smaller sized hole-punch (only have the office size one and those holes are pretty big) and I'd need ribbon.  (Source)

Which one do you think I should tackle?

                                                           

"It All Begins with Once Upon a Time"

Umm.... what could possibly be more whimsical, cute, and delightful?  These are drawn by Kit of the Etsy shop, Trafalgars Square.

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Kit also has a blog at LullaLoo.  She of course has no idea who I am and I just wanted to toot about such cuteness!

Hmm.  When is the next gift giving holiday where I can make suggestions for purchases?  :-P  I'm not big on buying art (sorry) but these are just too darling!  So simple, so lovely.  Watercolor  + cute animals = great art.  haha.  Plus, the 5x7 prints are only $8!  Which is an acceptable price for art, right?  :]

The characters and scenes would be perfect gifts for a new baby!  The adorable animals are definitely nursery worthy, especially in a series of white frames.  Can you see it?!

                       

animal cut outs!

How cute are these???  They are magnetic bookmarks from Etsy shop A Paper Playground!

Look at that panda!!!

Especially love the beaver and the bronto!  (Source)

These magnetic bookmarks are sold at $1 a pop!  (Though initial $2.50 shipping).  I was thinking of picking up a few for keeps and a few for gifts.  But then I had a day off and I was like, "Hey, I can make these!"  So I set off to make my own!  I think A Paper Playground uses like a Circut or something that makes nice symmetrical, straight lines.  Or she cuts really well.

Mine was less tidy and neat and has more... character!  :-P  See!  Meet Mr. Froggy:

Each item is a piece of cardstock paper (except for the eyes and mouth).

Hopefully I won't get sued for design plagarism.  I just wanted to play on paper playground too!  I came up with the lilypad all on my own!

Then today when I was browsing at TY stuffed animals and stumbled on this CUTIE!

His name is Arctic.  (Source)

So I used him as my inspiration for today's cut out!  :]

Colored scarf pieces courtesy of the latest Crate&Barrel Bestbuys catalog.  :oP

I'll have to work on my animals.  But they're kind of fun to put together.  :]  I can use the practice, so which animal would you like?

                                 

baby squirrel

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WHAT.  Could possibly be cuter.  Hm?

                         

love mercy

Before we left for Christmas, I randomly scoured the shelves at our library and picked up two small paperback books, since our copy of The Path of Daggers (WoT book 8) is like... the size of a hardback encyclopedia (too heavy for the airplane!) 

I picked up "Crossing Washington Square" by Joanne Rendell (oh my, it's only $2.26 on Amazon)

and "Love Mercy: A Mother and Daughter's Journey from the American Dream to the Kingdom of God" by Lisa Samson and Ty Samson


I finished "Crossing Washington Square" on our flight to Oregon and it was okay.  Girlie fiction?  haha.  But I only started "Love Mercy" after we got back, since I thought I should read it before I returned it.  I'm slowly moving through it, but in short it's about a mom (Lisa) and Ty (her daughter) whose comfortable lives get shaken by God and they are challenged to do more for His Kingdom, starting with an experience and journey to Africa, in particular Swaziland, which has the highest AIDS rate in the world.  This section, by Lisa (page 35-26), resonated with me:

"Jesus couldn't really be followed, could he?  I was supposed to believe in him, sure, but follow?  Nobody really expected any of us to do that, did they?

In the name of grace (a wonderful thing to be sure), I'd watered down faith to mere intellectual assent.  I didn't have to follow Jesus, really -- I had only to believed he was the Son of God and go on my merry way.  Believing correctly was one more thing to check off my to-do list.  But Jesus didn't talk like that.  Not even close.  Nor did James, who wrote, Even the demons believe... and shudder" (James 2:19).

Was God really calling me to be conformed to the image of his Son?  Wasn't it more like a suggestion?  What if I just wanted to make sure I went to heaven and not hell?  What if I simply valued church for the fellowship, the children's programs, and the potlucks? 

What God talking about actually changing my life?  Really?

No wonder the Pharisees hated Jesus.  No wonder the rich man went away sad."

Too often, we are armed with our Sunday school answers and we may have a thorough knowledge of the Bible or be good people but the actual life changing stuff?  That's scary.  I chuckled at the line, "Wasn't it more like a suggestion?" to follow Jesus, but at the same time, it's true.  It's easy for me to "believe" and do church things and be good and serve others.  But to give up my comforts and to truly love others and to allow God to change my life?  It's a lot easier to go on my merry way and think this is how God wants me to live.  Which could be.  But I think deep down inside, I know my laziness and selfishness gets in the way* of all God wants to do, all. the. time.



*Though not in the sense that my laziness and selfishness are obstacles to God because... He can do anything He wants.
             

holiday cuteness

Christmas is over... but just had to share!

Isn't Ducky ADORABLE in his elf pants?  :-P  And Diefy is pretty cute too with his santa hat!

Lil Dief here borrowed my 3D specs...(from the awesome 3D drawing pad I got for Christmas!)

                             

Best of Betty Crocker 2010!

Blogger's picture uploader is being lame again, so I have resorted to Penga's recommendation of using Photobucket. Which I forgot my username and password to (since I haven't used it since them LiveJournal days -- woot woot!), so I had to dig around my email for the username and make up a new password!  All that trouble for this little post!




Just wanted to share my latest recipe find!  Best of Betty Crocker 2010 recipes in a sweet little PDF that you can view and download HERE. 

What's in it?  Well, take a look!  Catagorized by seasons!

Isn't that the cutest font (for the seasons)? 
And "holiday" sounds less depressing than "winter."  :oP

I've already made note of the few I want to try!  :]  Enjoy!
                  

Riley boots

When I got my black no-traction-not-friends-with-snow/ice fashion boots, I wanted to get this brown pair that was more casual but they were slightly scuffed up and I didn't want to ask for another pair.  Remember?

 

Canyon River Blues Women's Riley

Anyway, Sears had this boot sale online right before we left for Oregon, and I ordered it, for $20!!  They came while we were gone but our landlords brought them in from the cold.  The packing slip said $13 + $7 shipping, but whatever, the total was $20!  They are SUPER comfy, I think they're cute, and I really like that there's a side zipper.  :oP  I'm even okay with the fuzzy part.  They are still pretty much fashion boots and don't have super traction, though much better than the black pair.  They are also a suede-ish material and I don't know how well they will do with... water.  But when the sidewalks are dry, I will wear them!

 

And guess what?  They're called "Riley"!  Just like our favorite nephew (and ring bearer).  :]

                        

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!!  :]

I have been the worse December blogger.  >_<  It's been busy!  And traveling never helps with blogging!  But I shall be back with more posts soon!!  :]

Here is our unofficial 2010 Christmas picture:

Silly keyboard... someone please photoshop it out  :-P

We spent New Year's Eve on the train trying to get home from the airport.  How did you spend your New Year's Eve?