Books of 2014

[This post will be continually updated with each new book read]

1. The Husband's Secret
by Liane Moriarty



Overall I enjoyed this book. It reminded me a lot of last year's Gone Girl, but with more characters. The Husband's Secret told three separate stories about three families for most of the book that all came together in a plot twist toward the end. For me, the mark of an excellent "plot twist" book is that I don't see it coming, unfortunately I found this one a little too obvious. C+

2. Take One
by Karen Kingsbury

I've never been the Christian that only listens to Christian music and my favorite movies are not Fireproof, Facing the Giants, and others like that. That's just not me. For that reason, I've never even given Karen Kingsbury a chance despite my mother and sister's recommendations. While Take One is far from my favorite book, its not bad. The way Kingsbury uses scripture and the way the characters uplift is a good reminder to do those things in my own life. The story line is predicable and flat though, and it probably didn't help that I listened to it as an audiobook. C

3. Take Two
by Karen Kingsbury

Well I didn't hate it enough to quit reading, plus its easy listening while walking my dog or delivering notices at work. The second book got a bit tedious for me, and became increasingly predictable and unrealistic. I'm starting to doubt if I can stick with the series. D+

4. Bossy Pants

by Tina Fey

Loved this book! Two years ago one of my favorite books was Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" and this one was close to being as funny. I listened to this by audiobook as well, which I highly recommend because Fey reads it herself. The book has charm, wit, and humor. Plus I enjoyed learning more about Fey and how she got to where she is now. I highly recommend this one. B+

5. Heads in Beds
By Jacob Tomsky

My major in school was Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism. This book was written by a long time employee and manager of a major (unnamed) hotel chain. It is an expose on the hotel industry that most people outside of my major and job probably wouldn't have much interest in, but I found it fascinating. If anything everyone can learn how to get a room upgrade, free movies, or never pay for another minibar item again. C+

6. The Fault in Our Stars

By John Green

This book was absolutely heart breaking and wonderful. Everyone one of my favorite books is sad, but if that's not the case for you then you may not be a fan. The story is about two unique teenagers brought together by cancer figuring out how to live without letting their disease define them. As a quote in the book says "Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book”  and that is how I feel about this book. A

7. The Truth About Forever

By: Sarah Dessen

8. The Moon & More

By Sarah Dessen

9. Eleanor & Park

By Rainbow Rowell

Finding Purpose in the Wait

[First off, sorry for the long delay between posts. This year I hope to be more diligent with posting and build a bigger audience. If you linked here from Pinterest and are interested in art, there will be a post coming up about that soon.]

Does anyone really like to wait?

I personally can't stand it. Waiting for a phone call you're expecting seems like it takes hours, waiting to hear big results from a test is excruciating, even waiting in line at the grocery store too long can ruin our mood.

My two biggest "waits" right now that are constantly coming to mind are the long wait for a husband and the wait for my future (as far as my future career path). I do not think that I am alone in either of those.

Yesterday my community group discussed "doubt". For me doubt is closely related to waiting. When I have to wait to. long I start to doubt that I am doing the right thing. Then this morning I read this article on Relevant.com.

Go read it and then come back.

I loved just about everything in there. It was such a great reminder to me that waiting has purpose and I should use it. I love how the author pointed out all of the stories of waiting in the Bible that I've known my whole life, but somehow I still expected that I shouldn't have to wait?

Next time you find yourself waiting remember that God has a purpose in it and look for that. It is an invitation to seek God.

Sovereignty in suffering.

Waiting is expected in the Christian life.

God breaks us to bless us.

Christ is better.

Crafts galore.

Spring is a season for sunshine, pollen, and yard sales. And nothing inspires new crafts more than getting shabby things for dirt cheap.

Spring is also a season for weddings, baby showers, and outdoor parties. That means lots of special occasion crafts.

I've been doing a lot more lately and so I want to share some of the things I have changed, created, or made here recently.

That said, stay tuned for an abundance of new craft posts.

Here's a sneak peak of some.

Change.

Change is never easy.

I feel that many times I resist change and the unknown instead of embracing my new situation.

I do not want where I am in life now to be one of those times.

I love the Jim Elliot quote:

"Wherever you are, be all there."

It inspired my remodel of my blog and also my outlook on this year.

Where I am right now is exactly where God has me or I would not be here. Its time that I start to put down roots. This year I want to take time to explore exactly what that means.

Serving.

Loving.

Leading.

Learning.

Growing.

Those are all action verbs. And that is what I want to do this year, take action.

Please join me as I begin this journey and welcome change.

Confessions of a Birthday Diva

For those who don't know me too well, I am a huge birthday diva. I love my birthday. Its my favorite day of the whole year.

That said, I have had 21 amazing birthdays. When I was younger I had many family parties at the park, swimming pools, and Chuck-e-Cheese. Then I had years of sleepovers with 10-20 giggling friends, cookouts, and camping trips. Recently I've had surprise parties and gotten to celebrate with 100,000 people in Neyland Stadium. Overall I've been incredibly blessed to have so many memorable birthdays.

If you've read my blog before then you know I'm currently living at home with my parents. They are great and I'm glad to spend this time with them, but I also don't have many friends in the Johnson City area so I knew this year my birthday was not going to be a big occasion. I was okay with that simply because, like I said, I've had many great birthdays in my life.

But not everyone is as lucky as me.

My mom is an elementary school principal and she cares a lot about her students, in and out of school. Living at home I've been able to talk to her a lot about her job and students at her school. She had talked to me about a family of little girls in her school who have had a rough home life. Just hearing her talk about these girls made me feel sad. It made me sad that I had been blessed with so much... and they with so little.

I started thinking about my birthday and what I wanted to do for it this year, and all I could think about was that those cute little girls had probably never been able to celebrate their birthday.

So I wanted to change that and celebrate them.

It wasn't much but today I took the 4 girls kids meals and cookies from Chick-fil-a and they got to have a special lunch with my mom and I outside. You could just see their faces light up when they came out of class. They had never even had Chick-fil-a, and before last year they'd never had a birthday party.

To me it was special to get to do this for them and make their day. It was just an hour of my time and only $36. And I thought it would be special to the girls too, but I didn't know how much. Before I left one of their teachers came and found me and said that one of the girls said to her: "This will be a day that I'll never forget". And just hearing that I know that I won't either.

From now on I think I'd like to do something special for someone else on my birthday every year, and maybe y'all will too. Here's some great inspiration from people that are way more impressive than me:

The Birthday Project

38 acts of Kindness

"I have a home… and a car… and a job. Do you need a few bucks for some coffee?"

Here's to 22 great years and blessings!

Love y'all