Halloween re-cap, this week in podcasting, and an Advent Calendar in 7QT's

1. 
Ok you guys. Don't judge me, but this song has been playing on repeat in my house all week.  I just have to share it!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKu3QjOBJW0

2. 
I am still thinking about how fun Halloween was last weekend with Mia.  We started the night off with a potluck neighborhood block party, and then went out trick-or-treating like it was our j-o-b.

I think maybe because I had Zero expectation for Mia having very much fun, is why when she started having fun, it was SO MUCH FUN!  

After her first few houses, she started getting the hang of it and  r u n n i n g  up to the houses with her little candy bag in hand.  The funny thing was, she didn't know it was candy! She just thought it was fun to grab these wrapper things out of other people's baskets.  She would keep grabbing one-by-one until she got cut off.  It was so funny.

Yes I am wearing shorts and a tank top on Halloween night.  I, too, think this is crazy.

I'm still sad she refused to wear the first costume I bought for her this year...she was just the cutest little unhappy ladybug. 

3. 
On the Podcast this week, Bonnie Engstrom shares her amazing miracle story, along with a fun conversation about blogging!!  She ends with 5 blogging tips.  She's so awesome.

She gives a super funny rendition on her blog of the hilariousness going on at her house during the interview.  It truly was very funny as it all happened, because of course there's just nothing you can do!  All the noise gave me a fun peak into what a house with many kids sounds like...and I loved it. :)

4. 
Next week - on the Podcast - you guys.  It is going to be another amazing episode.  My heart is literally bursting at the seams.  I can't tell you who it is yet, but I can tell you that you are going to Love It.

For any of you who went to college with me, you may get a hint from this photo, dug up from the deep college photo abyss. 

 Little Flowers - May 2005

And that's all I'll tell you.

5.
My last podcast take and then I promise to move on, but I am just so so excited that This Inspired Life made it to #1 on Christianity's New & Noteworthy!! <<Photo evidence to keep tucked near my heart forever because I'm such a nerd, of course.

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has helped spread the word!!! I am just blown away. Thank You Thank You!!!


6. 
Another super fun announcement. So for the past few Advents I have been looking for just the right kind of calendar for me.  One that is beautiful, decorative, and that also includes the daily mass readings. All-In-One.

Well everybody, I thought about it all year, and then finally decided a month ago to just make my own.

Eek!  I am so excited about it.  My amazing and talented friend Clarissa created the artwork, and on the backs are the daily Gospel readings and a short reflection by me.  I am selling it on Etsy, so if you're interested check it out!

7. 
Lastly, a quote by C.S. Lewis about miracles in honor of Bonnie's story she shared on my podcast this week. Because he's so awesome at making me think.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!! And GO ND, BEAT ASU!!!  I'll be there in person since it's here in AZ...pretty much deserves it's own miraculous take.  I have the best husband in the world.

Don't forget to checkout the rest of the Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!  

31 Days of Awesome!

Ok guys, here goes nothin!  I have joined The Nester and the rest of the 31 Dayers and have committed to writing a blog post every day for the month of October.

Yikes!  Crazy, I know.  But I'm really excited about the theme I've chosen, because I think it will be a really good exercise for me.  So here's the deal: in the spirit of The Book of Awesome (affiliate link), I am going to be looking for and reflecting on all those "little" awesome things that happen, or that we realize, throughout my day.

Like that time a friend returns a shirt you forgot you had.
Or when your kid takes a 2 hour nap.  
Or when you find $5.
Or when the temperature outside is perfect for a walk.
Or when the salt on your salted chocolate chip cookies from LGO is just right. (Phoenix peeps whatUP!)

Those are the awesome moments I think we really need to acknowledge, because they are the ones that make up our live on a daily basis.  Not just those awesome moments of holding your child for the first time, or your wedding day, or graduating from college. Those are AWESOME of course, but they are few and far between, and the days in between seem long and uneventful.  

But they are not, my friends! They are filled with even the tiniest glimmer of awesome, and this is something I need to remind myself.  So 31 days of reflecting on it, it is.

And just for fun, here are a few Awesome quotes from Neil Pasricha's book:

"Life is so great that we only get a tiny moment to enjoy everything we see.  And that moment is right now.  And that moment is counting down.  And that moment is always fleeting.  You will ever be as young as you are right now."

"The point is it's such a great feeling to scarf cookies with abandon like Cookie Monster.
Truly, he is the role model for us all."
--The book of (Even More) Awesome

"The [Five Second Rule] has may variations, including The Three Second Rule, The Seven Second Rule, and the extremely handy and versatile The However Long It Takes Me To Pick Up This Food Rule."

If you guys haven't read the book, it's definitely one to check out!

Have an awesome day :)
Kristin

Framed Magazine Clippings Quote

I was reading my friend Sheena's awesome blog, like, a minute ago, and realized while reading her post about using cool pictures from a magazine as art that I have YET to post about a gift I made last Christmas!

So, instead of waiting until November to be more seasonally appropriate (maybe my plan all along. You'll never know.), here it is..

It was for my work's Secret Santa homemade gift exchange, with a $15 cap on spending.

Here's what I put together:

--Colorful magazine pictures, ads, graphics, etc. that I cut into letters (free)
--Cream-colored fabric (already had - free)
--Glitter paper (Michael's, $1.99)
--Frame (Michael's, $8 after 40% off coupon)
--Glue, scissors (already had)

I knew my Secret Santa giftee liked St. Catherine of Siena and so I figured a quote from her would be perfect.

Also, I got the inspiration for this framed-quote-using-magazine-clippings idea from a picture of one, believe it or not, in a magazine, with the quote

Do

What

You

LOVE

What 

You 

Do

I thought this was a great quote too, but went with St. Catherine instead.  You could of course also use the actual printed letters from magazines as well for framed quotes!

Anyway here's a close-up.  I was going for a multi-textured look by using the fabric, but you can always just use some clean white paper, or any color for that matter.  

Now go see Sheena's awesome Magazine Art idea too!

A Guest Post, an Anniversary, and Bangs

Hello!
I have two things to talk about today,

#1. Today Joel and I celebrate our 2nd Anniversary!

SUCCESS!

We plan on celebrating this weekend, when a) it's the weekend, and b) it feels a little more like our anniversary anyway, since we were married the Saturday after Thanksgiving, which feels more accurate and festive than a Tuesday.

I hope it includes a great cocktail, and a babysitter.

Here are two of my favorite photos from the day...

About 96% of this event was DIY.  Maybe a post in the future about the details?  Yes, I think so.

Well, I love my husband and I feel like we've been married forever (in a good way). 

This girl <<-- 
She's lucky.

Though, come to think of it, I just learned something new about Joel last night - he uses the small spoon for his soup instead of the big spoon.  But he uses a big fork instead of the small fork for regular meals.  He's just full of surprises, that guy.

Ok Ok on to #2) I wrote a "guest post" over at the Maggie's Place Blog - check it out if you're interested!  Here is a quote from the post, which is actually me quoting Elizabeth over at Lark & Bloom:

“We don’t love so that we have great stories of happy endings. We love people because God loves them, and that is reason enough.”

And here is another throw-back photo that went with the post.  For a tutorial on bangs, you'll have to ask the little one. I gave up soon after this photo.

circa 2008

I hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!  We'll be celebrating the day here in Phoenix, and I don't know if it will ever get easier celebrating a holiday away from our immediate family, but at least the forecast is for 72 degrees every. single. day this weekend!  And of course we have our amazing adopted family here to spend the day with.

What a lot to be thankful for this year.  Have a great day!  

Rap and I'm Back

My dad was in town a few weeks ago and after driving in my car a few times he asked me, "Um, do you listen to rap?"  (my dad doesn't say the word 'um' but that's how it sounded in my head.)

This is him hanging with Mia back in the day (i.e. 2 months ago)

I said sheepishly, "Well....sometimes, yes."

So there it is.  I do.  Sorry dad!
Not that that's all I listen to of course, by a long shot.  I prefer Mumford over almost anything most times. But a dose of some hip hop and rap every once-in-a-while for my workout or jammin in the car does a mama right.

The other day I was listening to my FAVE song on Macklemore's new album.  (this guy shops at thrift stores, raps about being clean and gives Reaganomics and Malcolm Gladwell shout-outs.  Who doesn't like that in their rappers?) Anyway, I have heard the song many times before, and have even thought extra about this lyric a few times, but this time it finally got to me.  In the second line he says,

"Don't die holdin' on to your words."

This line has been taunting me for long enough! I thought.  It's time to get that blog back up.  So here we are...I have a lot of words in my head and it's time to get them out.  As you can probably see on this site, I blogged a few years ago and decided to include it here.  Check that out if you're interested below, or start fresh.  We'll be celebrating all things healthy, happy and for the home.

Yep, that could mean just about anything.

Now go enjoy a great song!
(disclosure: this song is mostly clean)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV5aNqe2cCI

Love and Parties

In our lives we will go many places, do many things, meet and love many people, and plan many parties.

Love and Parties…the things that fill my mind.  I am getting ready to become a wife (out of mushy loove obviously) and plan what I hope to be the best party I (we) have ever thrown.  I hope to share in the coming months the honest, straight-up feelings and events that occur in the midst of all this love and party stuff.  So if you’ve read this blog before, welcome to the name change.

So…let’s get caught up.  First of all, let us not grow weary of reminding everyone that a Marriage needs more preparing for than a Wedding.  Yes yes yes, ok ok OK.

Well of course I agree.  But wedding stuff is just so much FUUN!

So to catch everyone up, we got engaged in January.  It was an awesome day, he proposed on a hike (see below) and surprised me with a small celebration party that evening.  Joel still likes to remind me of the peculiarity that although I am an avid crier, I just so happened to not cry during/after the proposal.  Well I would like to remind him, during this honest record of events, of the peculiarity of us going on a hike, a week after ring shopping, with a camera in his Camelpak. 

No seriously, I was as sure that we would get engaged at the top of that mountain as I was that I would BEAT him up the mountain (we don’t “race” but…we race).  That was - Hopeful, But Not Sure.  And I was wrong about beating him that day, so anything could happen.  All in all, it was awesome.  Ring: Check.

Soon after that we enrolled in Marriage Preparation classes at my church, St. Thomas the Apostle here in Phoenix.  Joel is not Catholic but is totally on-board with the “let’s do everything we can to prepare for and have a great marriage” thing.  I’m a lucky lil Catholic girl.  Check.

Then, on my recent trip back home we decided on the reception venue and officially set the date for Thanksgiving!  The feeling of OMG it’s really happening: CHECK.

In that list of “21 Suggestions for Success” by H. Jackson Brown, the very first suggestion listed is “Marry the right person.  This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.”  I believe this to the extent that the person you decide to daily eat, sleep and negotiate between the Today Show and Good Morning America with (negotiations currently under way) will indeed have a profound effect on the rest of your life.  In the words of my very own naïve, starry-eyed self…We are going to be so awesome at this.  So a little twist on the tip for success, but I’m aiming for “90% happiness” in this thing.  What thing?  The whole thing.  And I know we'll get there.

Next report: how to survive hearing the word 'mucus' 36 times in 120 minutes.

Our Deepest Fear

Alright, I'm heading to the hotel tomorrow (where I'll be staying the whole weekend with the other contestants with little contact with the outside world) but I have one quote to share before I go.  It pretty much speaks for itself.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Marianne Williamson

Maybe read it one more time.  Let it sink in.  Write it down.

And with that....it's time for some fun!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are interested in watching the prelims or the pageant live online, check out
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/miss-arizona-usa-miss-arizona-teen-usa-pageants
7pm MST (AZ), 8pm Central

Womanhood

One of the things I’ve had to submit recently was my “profile,” which consisted of a few questions, one of which being  - What is your favorite quote?

So I thought it was a great opportunity, since I don’t really have a Favorite, favorite, to really pick out a good quote that I love that not a lot of people have heard.  So…you’ll have to wait for my real (much shorter) answer till the pageant of course, but here was the runner up:

“To a great extent, the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood.  When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her.  The higher her virtue, the more her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her…” – Bishop Fulton Sheen

This is one of my favorite quotes, and especially for this situation, because a) it speaks about the value of a virtuous woman, b) pageants are all about “womanhood”, c) a man said the quote, d) women need to hear things like this every once-in-a-while to remember our influence, d) I think it also goes both ways… “better men” in society will also lead to “better women”, e) this has a lot to do with what I am “standing for” in this pageant…what is true womanhood, what is true beauty, etc. 

There was also a good quote I almost chose relating to this from Proverbs 31:30… “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  I think keeping our “beauty” in perspective of our other strengths, virtues, values, etc. is one of the key ingredients to real beauty.

And a key ingredient to real womanhood?  Respectable Undergarments.  So I went over to the house of this lady, as sweet and innocent as my grandmother….wait, I mean I went over to the house of this lady as sweet as my grandmother and also innocent, (you know what I'm talking about, Grandma), to get my evening gown fitted.  She brought me in to her sewing room and without a blink, said “Ok let’s put your dress on.”  I said, “umm, just right here?”  She replied, “Yup. Don’t worry – nobody’s home.”   I mean…ok.   Pretending like this was standard protocol, I got to business.  And literally as my skirt hit the floor I thanked God and my Mother for teaching me to wear respectable underwear.  Let's be serious...there is more than one worst-case scenario floating around in your heads right now.