multitude monday.

93. holding my sleeping baby girl.

94. yellow pom-pom flowers. so cheeful and happy. i'm obsessed with them.

95. gloomy days and pajamas.

96. homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee on a lazy sunday morning.

97. bella's soft, chubby hands and how they feel grasped in mine.

98. an inspiring church service.

99. soft blankets.

100. the familiarity and comfort of my husband.

101. sharing cadillac fajitas at seven salsas with the man i went on a first date with there four years ago.

102. hanging out with my cousin, rachel who i haven't gotten to spend a lot of time with in probably ten years thanks to college, grad school and living out of state.

103. snuggling with my sick bella. even at two oclock in the morning, i am thankful for the sweet time with my baby in our rocking chair.

pretty-ing up a bedroom.

i love decorating. i *especially* love decorating when i can create something cheap and pretty. it just makes my heart happy.

this weekend, a few changes/additions to our bedroom was exactly that thing that made my heart happy. we've lived in our apartment for almost two years and had yet to hang anything on our bedroom walls. b-o-r-i-n-g. it was driving me crazy. i loved our bedding, which you can see here, but we needed to add some wall decor very badly.

about two months ago, i made these frames on a craft night with one of my girlfriends, amanda. i simply took one of our pillowcases that matched our bedspread and framed them in some old white frames i had laying around. perfect. and the cost? zero dollars. even better.

yes, it took about two months for them to actually make it up on our wall, but ta-da! here they are hung above our dresser.

love. it. i love little knick-knacks, but not tacky ones. pretty ones. here i have used a few to embellish the top of our dresser.

- clearance picture frames: i found these silver frames on clearance at target. i made some black and white prints and here is one of bella; a newborn shot from the hospital. so sweet. i love decorating with art that's us. in my opinion, using pictures of our family to fill empty spaces and add a nice touch is so much better than pictures of random things.

- money jar: nick&i have a "money jar". it's actually a vase you can see peeking out from the back that we throw all of our spare change in. if my wallet gets bulging with change, i dump it into this vase. if nick has spare coins that he leaves by his wallet, i snag them and throw them in the vase. it isn't much now, but it's adding up and our hope is to be saving towards a treat for ourselves at some point (maybe a 5 year anniversary trip?? one can dream... i guess we still have two years to save!)

- vase filled with stones: i got the square vase at target (again, on clearance) and filled it with river rocks that i found at wal-mart. we used these river rocks everywhere in the decor for our wedding, so i love incorporating them into our home. i think it's important--and fun--to be able to look around your home and see memories in the items that you use to decorate.

- white vase with flowers: my favorite. this sweet little vase we had on our wedding registry at crate&barrel, that i filled with some sweet lil yellow pom-pom flowers. they just make me feel cheerful. and add a fun pop of color to the room. love it!

on the other side...

- clearance picture frames: again. i have another frame from clearance at target (can you tell i love that aisle?) this time with a print of one of our wedding pictures.

- candle holder: a quartz-like candle holder we got as a wedding gift that i think is so quirky and great! i love character pieces like this that are unique and add a great twist to decorating. especially if it's something special and sentimental like a wedding gift.

- necklace holder: i found this silver tree at target (yep, you guessed it... in the clearance aisle) that is originally meant to be a necklace holder, but i just loved it for a little accessory to add to our room decor. i love it, and it matches the nature theme of our bedding. i'm a huge fan of re-purposing items in decorating and being creative with what you find.

i have a few other projects i'll be working on... it will probably take me a few months to finish those ones, too ;) but i'll be sure to post them when i do.

happy decorating!

what's for dinner tonight {healthy chinese chicken salad}.

i *love* salads. i really, really do. and i really love chinese chicken salads... and yall know how much i love my crockpot, so this recipe changed my life.

seriously.

you need to try this!! lately whenever i cook something asian, nick doesn't love it so much. which is especially strange because i could "make" him a bowl of cereal for dinner and he would love it. i made a stir fry the other night with bok choy, carrot, water chestnuts, lean organic pork in soy sauce with fresh garlic and ginger... yum. he wasn't a big fan. i also make amazing peanut noodles with my own peanut sauce by whisking together peanut butter, soy sauce, honey and orange juice. he says it's too "peanut-buttery" {sigh} so... i was pretty sure he may not like this one, but i wanted to give it a try anyway.

end result: one. happy. husband. he loved it. maybe even more than i did, which is pretty amazing! here's the recipe. go make it. right now.

(note: this recipe is for 2 servings although you will have alot of dressing... just double other ingredients for larger serving amounts and keep the dressing the same; you should have enough of this dressing for four salads. adapted from fix it and forget it lightly cookbook, p.34)

healthy chinese chicken salad

marinade:
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 T. fresh ginger, grated
* 2 T. honey
* 3 T. low sodium soy sauce
* 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, frozen

dressing:
* 1/2 c. rice wine vinegar (i just used white since we had it on hand)
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 t. fresh ginger, grated
* 1 T. honey
* i added a few dashes of soy sauce, too... just season according to your preference

salad:
* shredded romaine lettuce
* 1 lg. carrot, julienned
* 1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
* 1 pkg. tofu shirataki noodles (LOVE these! they are lowfat, lowcarb, gluten-free and taste amazing!!)
* crushed peanuts for garnish (i used sunflower seeds since we didn't have any peanuts)

- whisk marinade together. place chicken in crockpot, coat with marinade. cook chicken on low 6 to 8 hrs. (note: i put my meat in frozen since i am gone in the afternoons... that way, it cooks longer and i find it is more moist this way)
- remove chicken from crockpot, set aside to cook. in a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients and whisk together.
- place lettuce, carrot and cilantro on plates. with two forks, shred chicken and place ontop of salads.
- remove noodles from package and rinse well in cold water. after thouroughly rinsing and draining dry, place ontop of chicken. drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with peanuts.

a-maz-ing. not even joking. and healthy, too which is a double bonus in our house.
nutritional facts: (130 calories, 2.5 g fat, 21 g protein, 6 g carbohydrate)

enjoy!

thursday three.

well, it's 11:43 and i had fallen asleep but woke up to a huge coughing fit. we are seeming to pass allergies and colds around this house and it's kind of a drag. i decided to get up and use my trusty netti pot and get some water, while also allowing time for my husband (who i undoubtedly startled half to death with my racking coughs) to fall blissfully off to sleep once again.

and here i sit.

which gives me time to write the thursday three in the fifteen minutes i have left before it is no longer thursday.

nick
miracle of all miracles this week is no guessing game (although i guessed it right on my first try... i told you i know the mind of my husband!) i actually remembered to ask nick today what his top moment of the week was... and alas, it was going to the mavs game last night with three of his best friends for *free*. that's right, people... f-r-e-e. love that! his friend matt won free tickets because he won some score-guessing-contest (and actually guessed the score to a mavs game spot on which is pretty crazy) and was awarded four free tickets to last night's mavs game against the jazz. i know my husband acted like the crazy sports fan that he is; complete with his mavs t-shirt, screaming&yelling and his giant-number-one-foam-hand waving in the air (just kidding on the giant hand... but still.) anyone who knows my husband knows he loves his sports, and i just love watching him in action, as does everyone else. love. that. man.

meg
i would have to say my highlight of the week may sound like a shallow one, but please hear me out... these days shopping for myself is an extremely rare occasion. but as i have been learning over the past several months, the lord reminded me of again this week: god always takes care of our needs... and sometimes he chooses to take care of our wants. this week with some sale-watching, coupon clipping and store credit at the gap, i managed to snag a pair of $70 skinny jeans for a mere twenty bucks. yep, i loved it. almost as much as i love. these. jeans. aaaaand due to a shipping mishap (long story) i also was blessed with a super cute easter dress for bel for practically free. i definitely tend to struggle sometimes with our lack of "things" or the means to obtain "things" especially since we chose to have me be a stay-at-home-mom for our family. i wouldn't have it any other way; it just makes finances a bit tighter. i've been asking jesus to help me with that this week, and to keep my mind stayed on the many things i'm so thankful for. he--as always--has been faithfully changing my heart and helping me focus on the irreplaceable blessings around me that i could never even imagine my life being without. the "things" that are worth *far* more than all the money in the entire world. so that, my friends, is really the highlight of my week :) doesn't mean my struggle is over, but it's always good to have those little reminders... and god is so sweet to give them.

bel
our poor little sweetie has not been feeling so hot the past few days. she's had a runny nose, cough and just doesn't look or act like herself. it's quite sad. but this has also meant more time in her pjs, more cuddle time with daddy and mama, and more "praisebaby" and "baby einstein" (which we ordinarily limit to a few times a week... but this week i think she has watched one or the other every single day. ahhh well.) i think bella's highlight this week was getting a couple new toys from grammie and grampy! they had given bel her first tea set (plastic, of course) for christmas, and i stashed it in the closet to bring out later when the newness of some of her other christmas toys had worn off. we brought it out this week, much to her excitement in only the way a baby can show it. as soon as she saw the box, she began squealing and kicking her feet with a huge smile on her face. so. cute. so we've been playing "tea" which she hasn't quite gotten the hang of yet and certainly has no manners. the english would be sorely disappointed. for valentines day, grammie and grampy gave her an activity walker that we just picked up this week. it makes lots of noises and has tons of buttons that light up and play songs. it keeps her entertained for a while. hard to imagine that she will soon be pushing it all over the apartment as she waddles behind it! it seems like just yesterday when all she did was lay on a blanket and blink. she has been growing up so fast i think i cry about it every day. just kidding, but i do get teary-eyed. a lot.

and there you have it, friends. our thursday three just before midnight. i will now go back to bed and hopefully be asleep within seconds. stay away, cough. stay away.

multitude monday.

85. movie nights with my best friend (aka: "my husband").
86. lazy weekends.
87. hazelnut coffee creamer.
88. gap clearance sales.
89. target gift cards.
90. weekend mornings in bed snuggling with my loves. bella squealing with excitement and learning to play peek-a-boo on her own. so cute.
91. homemade fajitas.
92. riding in the car with windows done, sunroof open, music blaring. spring is here in dallas!

thursday three.

it's been a good week. nothing extraordinary, but good. spring is in the air... after a couple of weeks of snow&ice, it's been in the 70s the past few days here in dallas.

crazy.

there's something about valentines day that i love, even though i think it's annoying it's become such a commercial "holiday". i still think its fun. i've had to convince nick of this fact a little bit... he always says he'd rather show me he loves me every day, rather than one day dictated by the pink and red aisles at target and flowers-chocolate-and-candy-businesses. true, but i'm still a fan. i've been real nostalgic lately... amazed and thankful at how our life has changed in the past year. this year, i had two valentines; last year one of them was hiding out in my belly:

can't believe how fast time flies... so thankful for where we are right. this. moment. here is this week's thursday three.

nick
as usual, i forgot to ask him about his highlight this week. but i like to think i know the mind of my husband so well that i can figure it out on my own. here goes. nick was the assistant coach for the second year in a row for the girls varsity basketball team at his school, first baptist academy. while he enjoyed it, and it was fun for bel&i to go to his games, the season ended on saturday and i know he was relieved to have a bit of a break! his girls were so sweet and gave him a big bag full of gift cards and other goodies, which was really nice. seriously, i think my husband has gotten close to $100 in starbucks gift cards over the past couple of months. crazy. and he loves it, that coffee addict that i married. i would also guess that another highlight for nick would be our date night on saturday which we used as our "valentines date". we dropped bella off at his parents, went and got take out from our fav sushi place, brought it home and watched a movie on our couch. we've done this alot lately for date night, but it is our favorite. with our weeks being so busy, it's so nice to be able to relax together, baby-free, at home in our pj's. our idea of a perfect date night.

meg
definitely date night would be a highlight for sure (goes without saying). we also wrote each other letters this year for valentines day... which is always the *best* gift ever to me! another highlight for me was some "me" time i was given this past weekend! on saturday afternoon, nick took bella to his sisters while he was at his game and i got to go have some great time with my girlfriends. it's such a blessing for me to have time to myself, and i was so excited! even better: we had an "anne of green gables" marathon. can we say blast from the past?! so fun. i grew up on those movies, so it brought me right back to being an eight year old girl watching them with my sister. we ate snacks all day and got lost in the world of prince edward island. it was pure bliss. so thankful for my girl friends!

bel
baby girl is changing *so* much. it's pretty unbelievable. she has her four front teeth, is eating chicken and toast and graham crackers, and loooooves people; mostly when they're giving her attention :) if she could tell me what her highlight was this week, i think she would say getting to see so much family. she spent the afternoon on saturday with her aunt jessica, uncle james and her favorite: her cousin wyatt :) then, she got to spend the night at her nonni and papa's saturday night, which she loves! and sunday she skyped with her grammie and grampy in maine, smiling, shrieking and kicking her feet with excitement! such a fun weekend for our little social butterfly.

there you have it, friends. this week's thursday three. so much to be thankful for.

before--or after--you say "i do" (part three).

here is part three of my three part series of an article i wrote on marriage. if you need parts one and two, read those first and then come back. it will make alot more sense that way!

not having those hard conversations

oftentimes in dating or marriage, we are afraid to deal with areas of potential conflict, so instead we resort to avoidance... a behavior that is fatal to the level of intimacy within a relationship. everyone has issues, struggles and things that we'd rather not have someone else see. every relationship deals with areas of conflict--whether how to squeeze toothpaste from the tube or working through communication differences--and it seems easier sometimes to just bottle in our anger rather than address it. we are oftentimes afraid to deal with these struggles or "hot button" issues so we don't share with our partner, and thus avoid bringing up these hard conversations altogether. we don't want to "upset the apple cart" so instead we choose to compromise our closeness as a couple.

when my husband, nick and i began dating, he suggested from the start that we share with one another our struggles and issues--whether past or current. though we were both nervous and scared to be so vulnerable, it helped establish a pattern for us early on... we were able to fall in love with each other for who we really were; not who we pretended to be. this didn't just start (or stop) when we met each other. we both had mentor figures in our lives that helped us see things that we may not otherwise see. they helped give us guidance, godly advice and provided wisdom and discernment for us before we even met one another. throughout our dating relationship, we had these relationships and sought advice from those around us to help keep us level-headed and clear minded amidst the brain-cloudiness that often happens when falling in love. by god's grace, we both got involved in a recovery ministry through my job on staff at a church and began recognizing even more not only our shortcomings and issues, but the root of them as well. we say over and over this was god's grace at work in our lives... we don't know where we would be had that not been such an integral foundation to our marriage! we are far from perfect; that goes without saying! god graciously allowed us to be engaged in dealing with our struggles, seeking accountability and allowing others to ask tough questions of our lives.

not only did our mentor relationships and the support around us open us up to the practice of having hard, vulnerable conversations, but it also helped us deal with our "junk" before dragging it with us into a marriage where it has the ability to hurt another person so deeply. we've had some pretty tough conversations throughout our dating relationship, engagement and marriage. we've both had to work through dealing with each other's sin and the things that make us insecure and afraid. these moments of truth can be scary. they can tempt me to retreat back into my desire for a cozy, comfortable marriage... however, i know that's not what i desire at all. we cannot possibly have complete oneness in marriage if we're not willing to go to the dark places with our spouse. the battlefields. intimacy will only happen to the level of which we are willing to be open and honest with ourselves and with one another.

for me there is great fear in having these conversations because it feels like i am exposed to my husband; walking around without my skin on. and that is scary. vulnerability is oftentimes something that causes most of us great fear. we all, on some level, have the need for security. and baring our soul to another person (or having them bare theirs to us) seems like we are being robbed of that sense of safety. however, learning to communicate through these hard issues will only result in a greater sense of security and trust within a marital relationship. this must first begin in the dating process. all too often, people sign on to marry someone that doesn't really exist; they marry who that person pretends to be--or who they desire that person to be--rather than the reality. this is when the most intimate of relationships is established on shaky ground. a couple must work even harder then to re-establish crumbled trust and security within the relationship.

opening up our wounds to one another also allows the beauty of the healing process to take place. shame and guilt are met with grace... this is where the gospel gets to live within a marriage. while it is a scary process, a marriage can be deepened as the result. more importantly, god is glorified as we allow his grace and love to transform us from the inside out. authors jim and sarah sumner have truly lived this out in their marriage. though they write honestly about their struggle to live the gospel out within their marriage, their example implores to live the deeper marital relationship god desires for us. jim (a former male stripper) met sarah (a seminary graduate and theologian) after he had first met christ at willow creek church just outside of chicago. their story is marked by the beauty of oneness and christ's restoration as we take ownership of our junk and ask him to help us live authentically with one another. jim writes this:

"whatever we had been fighting about may have started with a hot button, but it ended in rage. yet god was right there with us. because i had turned to god, and sarah had turned to god while i was away, both of us had gained a fresh willingness to take ownership of our stuff. time and again we have gone to god, rediscovering our need for his forgiveness. in all our pettiness from past pain, immaturity from 'hot buttons' and sin from marital fights, we have found forgiveness in the lord. because god has forgiven us in christ jesus, we can forgive each other. we are partners in forgiveness. that is how we managed our engagement, and that is how we live together now. our relationship isn't easy, but it's strong--because forgiveness is the method that enables us to venture through this humbling life as one flesh." (just how married do you want to be? p. 137)

their book begs an intriguing question... just how married do you want to be? now, or someday in the future? how deeply do you want to experience intimacy in your relationship? how far do you want to practice oneness and allow the gospel to live out in your marriage--current or future? it may be scary to open up to one another on such an authentic level, but it allows us to experience god's design for marriage: total reliance on him, allowing him to chisel us more into the image of his son, and practicing his grace and forgiveness with ourselves and with our spouse.

god's purpose for marriage is far different than our culture's; and far more rewarding. marriage is an amazing journey... good, hard, messy and beautiful. all rolled into one. god wants us to experience nothing less. we can be sharpening ourselves now--whether married or single--in these areas of our lives. dependency on the lord, making him our number one love and passion, developing an understanding of holiness vs. happiness and living in authenticity with ourselves and others. it's what god calls us to.