Branding or Scrapbooking?

Because when you start your own business at 22, company branding looks a lot like arts and craft time. 

Do what you love

College is finally over and I can definitely breath a huge sigh of relief as I close the door to a somewhat daunting chapter of my life. I doubt that I will ever miss those countless all-nighters, painful cram sessions, $350 parking passes and many long commutes to and from class. Yet as relieved as I am to check that life goal off of my list, the next chapter of my life is just as intimidating as the last. 

Now comes the uncertainty of it all. 

No more spoonfed education and no more professors hounding you to present your best work.. Essentially, no more accountability. I'm on my own now and this great big world is full of endless opportunities. I'm equal parts ecstatic and equal parts terrified. It's a crazy feeling to have this much freedom and yet not know what to do with it. Where do you begin? Always drawn to the beauty of  the entrepreneurial lifestyle, I have no desire to work for a major corporation. Instead, I want to create something from the ground up and to be able to make it my own. 

Everyone's always telling you, "Do what you love" but its hard to pick when there are so many things that pull on your heart strings. Graphic design, interior design, wedding photography, commercial photography, missions, teaching, sales, working with students, creating art, styling, making handmade goods, performing... I have so many different passions which I'm sure is a good problem to have but it makes deciding a path a tricky place to be..

Yet at the end of the day I really don't care what it is that I end up doing as long as It is something that I truly love and I am doing it with love. It really does seem like work sometimes trying to ensure that you are doing the things that you truly love. I wish I knew why it is that way.

This year I am pledging to live a passion infused life. To fight to find meaning and to challenge myself to spiritual, mental and physical growth. I want to end each day assured that my passions were not ignored or suppressed buy exposed and used for the glory of God. I don't want to compartmentalize love into its own limited part of my life but I want to include it in all I do. To do what I love and love those that I encounter with a Christ-like love every single day... Ya feel me?

Image by A pair and a Spare.

Enjoying God's Presence

I'm reading Beth Moore's book "Breaking Free" and so many truths have been impacting my heart so deeply. Today's read was all about experiencing the presence of the Lord and I couldn't have read these words at a better time. I know I'm not the only one who needs to hear these words so I thought I would pass them on to you.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (ISA. 43: 2– 3)

I doubt any believer feels God's wonderful presence every second of every day. Sometimes we’re challenged to believe He's with us simply because He promised (Heb. 13: 5). That's faith. God's Word often tells us not to fear, yet not all of our fears are unfounded. Think about it. Our present society poses many real threats. Did you notice Isaiah 43: 2 said, “When you pass through the waters”? God is not suggesting that difficult things don’t happen to His children. If nothing frightening will happen to us, how could the assurance of God's constant presence still be the quieter of our fears? Psalm 139: 7– 12 assures us that God's presence is with us always. “Even the darkness will not be dark” to our God (v. 12). Hebrews 13: 5 assures us: “Never will I leave you; / never will I forsake you.” We cannot escape God's presence, but we do not always sense His presence. God's presence in our lives is absolutely unchanging, but the evidence of His presence is not. On some occasions God may purposely alter the evidences of His presence to bring the most benefit from our experience. Sometimes we receive the most benefit from seeing many visible “prints” of His invisible hands during a difficult season. Other times we profit most from seeing fewer evidences. God does not love us less when He gives us fewer evidences. He simply desires to grow us up and teach us to walk by faith.

As I sat silently watching this incredible sunset tonight. I couldn't deny the presence of the Lord.

A week in review

Sadly, Erick and I both have realized just how bad our memory is so I've decided to try to start trying to keep better track of our day to day. It would be such a shame to look back and miss these little moments that made our life worth while. 

This week had ups and downs. Erick spent three days in bed with a gnarly cold that has been going around so that was a total bust. Saturday I spent the whole day with my sweet friend Kelsey which included long beach walks, lots of errands and ended with a 4.5 mile run/walk to and from the beach. Saturday night and Sunday we spent with my mom celebrating her birthday. Sleepover saturday night at their house and then dinner and three hours of tennis at ours on Sunday! Throughout the week we kept up with our healthy eating for the most part which means lots of green smoothies and not missing breakfast like we used to. One night we caved and made cookies but hey, you gotta have cheat days right?

First Tries

This year has been all about trying new things and being more creative so today I took on a new hobby. After collecting lots of little treasures on our beach walk the other day I was convinced to try to make a necklace out of one.. I have no idea what I'm doing, it's messy and uneven but first tries are never perfect are they?

Orange Julius Green Smoothie

Since the new year, Erick and I have been doing our best to eat better and live a more active lifestyle. Last week I ran a total of ten miles which if you know me, you know thats a miracle. We've been experimenting with tons of different smoothies and today's was so delicious I had to share. These are my guesstimates on the measurements because I usually just wing it but this should be close! This green smoothie tasted so much like an Orange Julius. I hope you get a chance to try it.

I cup pineapple

1 banana

1 orange

2.5 cups spinach

1 cup banana/orange/pineapple juice

1 cup coconut milk

Because the little things are the big things

I've been hesitant to make any of my New Year's resolutions public this year because I never end up following up with them and then I just feel guilty. I'm a very inconsistent person so sticking to commitments is not my forte. But this year one of my resolutions was to take more pictures of every day life. The things we do day-in and day-out each week don't always seem worth capturing but I know I will look back on these years and wish I had made a point to capture it better. I've always loved this quote by Robert Brault:

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

Today's little things included a long walk to the beach, sneaking in to a resort so we could see a gorgeous view, Erick teaching me how to skip rocks, getting hyped up on way too much caffeine and seeing pods of dolphins pass by. This year we will enjoy the sweet simplicity of the little things and hopefully capture some of them as we experience them.