best things on the internet

Single Ladies (Cover) -Sara Bareilles
She's so stinking talented!! I'm obsessed with her.

This wedding by Andria Lindquist is one of the most amazing I've ever seen. And their story is precious. And they eloped, which is my favorite thing ever. Ever. Go ahead and drool, you can thank me later.

2011 in Twitter Review

And my Kelly Clarkson obsession continues to grow. I don't care how cheesy and cliche this song is, it could pretty much be the Fearless theme song. 

Lastly: Love, Lace, & Life Changes is back on the air. Not that any of you noticed that it was down, but it went through some major renovations, and now it's back! I still haven't updated since...oh....September, but I'm going to! I promise! Anyway, you can still go look at how pretty it is and ooh and ahh at all my hard work, right? Quit judging me and just go.

run for cover

I give you my favorite youtube covers. They're pretty fantastic. Happy Friday!

Super Bass -the Shures


Someone Like You -Charlie Puth & Emily Luther


Hallelujah -Michael Henry & Justin Robinett
Michael Jackson Medley -Sam Tsui & Kurt Schneider

i love that you get cold when it's 71° out

The only movie scene I would ever need to watch. Happy New Years, guys.

Oh, also, you should go watch this.

merry + bright

Have you seen this youtube video? Dancing with an iPod in Public? It's my new favorite. And then he went and made a Christmas edition. I've decided I want to re-create it {as I'm sure plenty have people have}. Anyone down to video for me?

And while enjoying this video yesterday, I somehow ended up in the youtube world of flash mobs. It's one of my life goals to be in a flash mob {no really, it's number 12 on my 30 before 30 list}. So I thought I'd share a couple of  my favorites.

For some reason, this one makes me cry every time. I don't know why! Maybe it's the nostalgic factor of the song or the idea of that many people doing something like this, but it just gets me every time.




And this one's just fantastic as hell. Get it girls!
{Fun fact about me: I know all the choreography to Single Ladies. Yes. My roommate and I spent an unnecessary amount of time our sophomore year of college learning it. Makes for great party entertainment. I also know all the moves to Britney's Slave 4 U.}
Happy 3 days before Christmas!

i was a kind of sucky blogger this week

I know I didn't crank out a whole lot of high quality blogs this week. Sometimes inspiration hits hard, and sometimes it doesn't. I've had to learn to be okay with that. I have a couple heavy ones in the chamber for next week, currently working on amping myself up to post them.

But for now I will day dream about {short} road tripping with J this weekend for family Christmas with his family, preparing myself for all the "when are y'all getting married?"s, and getting hype about the fact that Christmas is but a week away {oh & putting stickers on manilla folders. so glamorous.} So because I totally short changed y'all this week, here's a snippet of my out of this world Christmas playlist. I'll share more later.

Also, what's up 50 followers! Kind of crazy that about a month & a half ago I was at 16? Crazy humbled and thankful to have the chance to share my story with people. If you read Fearless on the reg & want to subscribe, it's super easy. Just hit that blue button on the left & follow the steps. Happy Friday guys! Have a good weekend.

i'm not internationally known, but i'm known to rock the microphone

I'm pretty much the definition of "white girl".

LBDs, private school, pumps, country boyfriend, trips to the salon, sassy attitude, girls nights, extensions, red lipstick. It all fits. Except one thing...

My deep, deep love for rap music and gettin' down. I discovered around the 4th grade {while attending a Christian private school} that I had this inate ability to memorize all the words to a rap within a few times of listening to it. I just love it. I know it's dirty, I know most of it's awful, and I honestly don't listen to it very often because of that. But it's a part of what makes me me. So in honor of that, I'm doing you guys the great favor of sharing my playlist of favorite raps. It ranges from N.W.A. to Nicki Minaj, but it's my favorites, the ones I know all the words to.

Happy thuggin' Friday.

{Some of these are pop songs that don't seem to fit, but I just really love Lil Mama & Nelly's contributions. Bear with me.}



Toot your own horn

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and immediately thought yea...that's pretty much written about me. Don't lie, you totally have. And all the sudden you've taken it on as your theme song. Your walk in music. Yea, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It changes every time you find a new one, and that's totally okay. I just found my new one, and I thought I'd share it as an opportunity to hear y'alls!

{past theme songs: childhood theme, high school theme 1, high school theme 2, college theme}

So, what do you consider your theme song?

Imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed.

The above photo will be featured in the November issue of O {Oprah's Mag}. This is Katie Halchishick, co-founder of Healthy is the New Skinny. And she's my new hero. The dotted lines in the picture show where Katie would need to be cut and nipped in order to obtain the same dimensions as the Barbie she's holding. Uh yeah. Take a second look. That waist is outrageous. And that's what society is pushing us towards. Skinny=beautiful. Beautiful=acceptable. Acceptable=secure. Secure=happy. Such crap, and you know it! I know you know it! I know I know it. But we so easily forget that these are all straight lies we're being fed. You know what one of Satan's biggest enemies is? A woman who loves the Lord and is completely secure in that. He can't twist the truth to make them hate themselves, he can't drive them to self-destruction in the name of beauty, and he can't rip apart her relationships with insecurity. He just can't do it. And that is awesome.

Ok, ok, I'll get off my healthy, not skinny soapbox {because you can read it here, here, & here}, & let a couple of other well-spoken women get on their's for a moment. 

"You cannot be a healthy person, let alone hope for healthy children, if you sigh and moan every time you encounter your own image, eat a cookie, or see an airbrushed model on a billboard. Even if it amounts to wholesale pretending, go pretend. Walk around pretending to be a woman who likes her body… Because every step toward self-love you take, and every inch of confidence you give someone’s daughter, makes the world a better place….

You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful."

-Amy Bloom

"Is 'fat' really the worst thing a human being can be? Is 'fat' worse than 'vindictive', 'jealous', 'shallow', 'vain', 'boring' or 'cruel'? I've got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don't want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I'd rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before 'thin'. And frankly, I'd rather they didn't give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons. Let them never be Stupid Girls."

-J.K. Rowling

Grasping the reality that if I forever spend my days hating my body, then that's what I'm reflecting to any girl who ever looks up to me and eventually, to my daughters, is a game changer. So I pray that I will always be the refreshing breath of air who is thankful for the body she's in, not pining for someone else's.

A girl who is far more focused on being a reflection of the Savior and the attributes that follow than a reflection of beauty and thinness.

Lord, let my heart not sink when I dig into that awesome piece of pizza or reach for that tall glass of sweet tea. Let my sense of self not come from the second looks of men and the cat-calls of strangers on the street. Let me not leer at skinny girls or cry over size 0 jeans. Let me be someone who takes ownership of her frame, and makes no apologies for it. Let me be more focused on being independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, & funny than looking like girls who are airbrushed to death. Amen.

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& this playlist is my baby. Pretty much the greatest 90's playlist ever. Ya welcome.

 

{YouTube Thursday}

I hate to make it sound like I spend all day on YouTube. I really don't. I'm actually pretty run around like a chicken with it's head cut off busy all day. But I have moments of solitude {read: lunch hour}, and I spend a majority of that time on YouTube. So I thought I'd share some of my favorites today! Yay!

First of all, I've had this song stuck in my head for the last 3 days. I mean...it's Augustana. Where does that even come from? I don't know, but I can't {won't} stop.

Best. Marriage. Proposal. Ever. Ok, the dancing at the end is crazy cheesy, but I'm so in love with this.

I think this is how I reacted when I found out I was going to Disney World the first time. But I was 17.

Another song I've been basically listening to on repeat. And linked to previously. I'm sorry, I'm just all about power anthems right now.

Solid prank bro. Solid.

I think this might be my most favorite video on youtube at the moment. Brilliance.

New York, New York

I'm a big dreamer. Always have been, just talk to my parents about my childhood for 10 seconds and I'm sure they could spout off plenty of ridiculous things I said.

I have two versions of my "life long dream". The wild one, and the attainable one.

Am I really about to share my dreams on the world wide web? Ah, guess so. Here goes.

New York. Never been, but I want it so bad I can taste it sometimes. And not to make it on Broadway or anything like that, I'm not an idiot, I know I can't sing. I just want to be all up in that hustle and bustle, dog eat dog-ness of it. A writer for SNL. Eventually a cast member? That's the big dream. Not that I think I'm nearly as funny as Gilda Radner or Amy Poehler, but it's just so inspiring to see how these hilarious, witty women have broken into the boys' club that used to control SNL and marked their territory. It makes a whole lot of pride well up inside of me and really makes me want to be a part of it.

I saw the movie Funny Girl for the first time when I was 9, and it changed my life. Untainted then by the actress's political propaganda, I realized that Fannie {good ole' Babs Streisand} was me. I was Fannie Brice. Unrelenting, refusing to be just another pretty face, and funny {try to read that sentence remebering I was 9, so it was innocent confidence, not cockiness}. And Fannie does it, dammit! I mean, her husband goes to jail for embezzlement, and that's not exactly what I've dreamed for myself, but Fannie doesn't bend. And while my dreams of being on stage have long given way to the reality of life, I just know watching that movie as a 9 year old (and now as a 22 year old) brings me back to life everytime. It makes me feel so inspired. I love that woman. So if someone asked me what my big dream is, this would selfishly be it. SNL.

But yeah, that's not really in the cards, and I'm so okay with that. Because my attainable dreams are pretty awesome too...

You know the drill. Wife and mom. But not just any wife and mom. A woman that other wives can walk next to and can seek Godly advice from, and when I speak they can hear wisdom and God's words, not mine. Mentoring girls and walking them through things like the amazing women in my life have walked with me. Raising kids that are on fire for Jesus and know He is the Way and the Truth and the Light. Being the kind of wife who makes her husband's life easier, rather than more difficult. The kind of wife who builds her mate up and is the kind who her children call blessed. I know those dreams are in reach, and one day I'll be able to look around and know I'm living in these things I've dreamed for so long.

A while back I asked my Twitter friends if they could live out some dream they have, and know they wouldn't fail, what would they do? The answers were awesome, here's a few of my favorites:

"Lead Kanye West to Christ."

"Open an orphanage and share Jesus' love with every orphan in the world. Or take care of every orphaned child who has a disability."

"A home with a somewhat revolving door where souls could get care. And selfishly, barefoot Saturdays in our backyard with my mate and wee ones."

"Lead mission trips across the world for a living while being a dedicated wife and raising sweet babies that love Jesus."

"Run an organic baby food company complete with a farm and use profits to feed hungry kids around the world."

I mean...how can you read that and not feel inspired? I read a quote the other day that said "if your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough." Dreams are supposed to be scary. They're supposed to be leaps of faith. It's scary to think about leaving all this and hiking my butt up to New York and trying to make it. So scary, in fact, that I'll never try. And that's okay. It's an equally scary thought that one day I'll be responsible for someone else's well-being, but it's awesome, and I know God'll be right next to me every step of the way.

So I'll ask you the question. If you could live out your biggest dream, and knew you wouldn't fail, what would you do?
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This playlist is just where I'm at today. Join me.

Over @ LLLC

{link}

&&&
Happy September 22nd

Salty + Bright

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

-Matthew 5:13-16

I don't really feel like I can do these verses any justice with my rhetoric, except that this is it. This is what it's about. Everything inside of me longs to look like this. To look different. And I fail epically on a daily basis. I get pulled into gossip, I get negative and grumpy, I end up looking just like the world says I'm totally justified in feeling. The world. Am I really taking advice from the world?

Sometimes I think I'm just talking to myself on here, which is totally okay. I'm so thankful I started Fearless a year and a half ago, simply to be able to look back over a year and a half's worth of mountains and valleys and change. Makes my heart jump a little to see right in my face how much I've changed and grown {thank you Jesus}. But just in case I'm not just talking to myself-choose to be different than everyone around you today. Choose to be salty & bright. Choose to better your environment rather than succumb to it. "Season" your surroundings with building-up and a smile and joy. Find your joy in the Lord and let that shine through you so much that people can't help but notice. And I'm not preaching, I'm trying to get myself to understand this too. Big time. Salty & bright. That's what I keep telling myself.

{Btw, have you listened to Matt Redman's 10,000 Reasons? Um, so good. Do it now.}



Tricks & Kids

{What I'm doing today vs. what I'd like to be doing}

I'm trying to trick myself today. Into multiple things.

1. That it's cold outside.

2. That I'm not stuck behind a desk.

3. That I won't be stuck behind this desk for 4 more hours today.

4. That I'm not so tired I'm fighting with my eyeballs to make them not roll around in my head.

5. That my heart's not super heavy because I'm feeling a tiny bit abandoned by God {even though my brain knows this is outrageous, I'm trying to get my extra-hormonal emotions to remember it as well.}

How am I achieving this incredible feat?

1. This office is typical at sub 0°, so my little heater and this mug of Lady Grey tea are making the first one relatively easy. Plus it's overcast. Overcast=cold. Right?

2 & 3.The desk bit I'm attempting with a combination of the below playlist, texting my best friend, and mini pep-talks every 15 minutes.

{You can choose to grow where you are, Blake. You get to choose to shine in the darkness and be thankful for this job the keeps a roof over your head and food in your belly. Smile. Fake it till you make it. It's really not that bad, you're just kind of being a brat.}

4. The tiredness is being combated with healthy doses of caffeine and gum.

5. This one's having to put up quite the fight to survive, because I'm coming at it with Hebrews 13:5 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,  'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you'." & doing my best to hold on to that awesome feeling I got last night while worshipping with 100 of my favorite people, shouting out "O This God" & "A Mighty Fortress" {which caused me to burst into tears last night. that song got me through some of the darkest, hardest times in my life, and I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by how thankful I am to be where I am now.}

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We spent the weekend in Gulfport with J's family. Pretty much consisted of stuffing our faces, complaining about how full we were, eating some more, passing out, and lots of snoring {mostly by J}. All that, and loving on this little man, J's cousin. I've always heard people say that spending extended time around kids is the best birth control, but that just really doesn't apply to me. Even when he was throwing himself on the ground screaming or pinching his sister or punching me in the boob, my heart was just full. As it always is when I'm around babes. I mean, really, I'm supposed to sit there on a Saturday morning and watch J read to him and not want kids? Psh. Please.

Nostalgic.

As the temperature drops below 110°, cool weather lovers rejoice and bust out their cardigans and scarves. At a cool 75°, this is cold in Louisiana. Laugh if you wish. Today I rode around with my windows down and ate lunch at the table outside of my office.

This weather's got me all kinds of nostalgic.

Nostalgic for the days of drinking hot chocolate in Death Valley, seeing your breath when you cheered. For skipping class for no reason other than to lay on the parade grounds and soak in the beauty of what God had blessed you with that day. For the days of BCM banquets and subsequent shenanigans. For concerts and knowing every word to every Andy Davis song ever written, and singing them loudly in the car with my best friend.

But more than nostalgic, this weather's got me thankful. Thankful for amazing memories in my past. For hard times overcome, for lessons learned, for friends gained and lost, and that I lived every second of those four years I did at LSU. And even more, I'm thankful for the future I have in front of me. Endless possibilities. Friends who love me for exactly who I am that moment. A house that finally feels like home, a first since leaving for college. A man who reminds me of Jesus more every day and makes me feel more like who I want to be every second I'm with him.  

Another thing that usually shoots me back in time to cold weather months in college is music. I have this habit of falling in love with an artist or song and playing their music on repeat for weeks. I'm very lucky to have had a roommate for 3 years who did the same. Here's what's bringing me back:

A super witty woman from my church started a twitter trend among the other Ringers, a practice of starting out a tweet with #Gratitudes, and then following it with the things you are thankful for that day. It's become a really cool way to be reminded how lucky we really are.

#Gratitudes: weather below 100°, good memories, a job, a home, caring roommates, parents who call to check on you, a boyfriend that breaks a sweat helping me decorate, friends who are as excited about me as I am about them, another day, good music, being still

Hey, hey sweet daughter.



If you know me, you know I'm a total daddy's girl. So naturally, I just sat at my desk and bawled my eyes out for the last 4 minutes and 17 seconds watching this video. I mean, I hope I've never been as ugly to my Papa as the girl in the video is, but it's definitely a possibility. I was 16 once.

I'm so blessed to have a father that consistantly exemplifies how my heavenly Father loves me. I have never doubted for a second in my life that my Papa would do anything for me and how deeply he loves me. He's the kind of dad who made breakfast in the morning, sat at the kitchen table and read the Bible to us while we ate, & left good morning notes for us when he left for work before we were awake. The kind of papa who picked us up and danced around the living room to the music, who hid in the house and scared the crap out of us, who wrestled on the floor with us. He's the man who taught me to love hiking, the mountains, good music, and better beer.

The kind that scared the first boy who came to pick me up for a date so bad he almost bounced off the doorframe trying to get out the front door, who held me while I sobbed over a break up, and loved me when I got back together with a boy who he'd had to watch break my heart. He's the most amazing example of a Christian man I've ever seen, & I'm lucky to be able to say "I want to marry someone like my daddy" {even though I haven't always dated guys like my daddy}.

I'm getting a little emotional even as I write this. I think it's been too long since I've curled up in my dad's lap and watched an old western. Thank goodness I'm going home this weekend.