My favorites: music

#5- Music.

Although I have nearly zero musical ability, my soul re-awakens to the sound of music... which leads into song obsession #22 :)

My favorites: my forever roomie

#4- Liz Snyder- although we no longer live together, she will forever be my roommate, my dear friend, and my cat's brother's mother (we have a complex relationship :)

My favorites: Summer Project roommates

#3- Rachel, Tonnie, Denise, Hunter, and Jess- Virginia Beach roommates whose wisdom, patience and love helped radically transform my life over the summer of 2010.

AND Lara, Lori, Lorena, Amanda, Penny, Chelsea, and Emily- Wildwood, New Jersey roommates who loved me so well this past summer as I cried, struggled, and wrestled with God over questions I may never have answers to. I am so grateful for them every single day.

My favorites: Oxford

#2- Oxford, Ohio

My favorites: MUCS

As the year concludes, it seems like a good idea to reflect on the people, things, events, and places that have shaped not only 2012, but my life in general.

#1: Miami University Club Softball

I cried like a baby reading this. Weird, I know, but seriously- that woman loves her kid. And a love like that brings tears to my eyes... even in a hotel lobby where the entire public can see.

http://gma.yahoo.com/moms-18-point-iphone-rules-son-143831843--abc-news-parenting.html

I'm lucky enough to have parents like that. Also, they would
kill me if they knew I put this picture online :)

I want this t-shirt. And if you haven't seen this movie yet, you need to asap.

Pretty much how I make all of my decisions now.

Family Christmas

Hanging out with our baby cousins, aka a glimpse
into what it will look like when my brother and I
eventually become parents of our own. I think it comes
 slightly more naturally to me... but I'm sure he'll
figure it out someday :)

Movie Night w/ the BFF

The other night, I went to see Red Dawn and although it was pretty entertaining, I'm still a huge fan of Australia's version called "Tomorrow When the War Began." If you're interested in watching it, movie rental places here in the States actually have it! Which is super exciting, but also weird because there are a lot of American-made movies/shows that they don't have. 

Like Parenthood. Which is a major bummer for people who don't have internet access and can't watch it on Netflix. Sorry Liz :)

But seriously, go watch "Tomorrow..." It's so good.

Australia

The U.S.

Some more wisdom from "The Very Worst Missionary".... not me. Her name is Jamie, and she is actually a really great missionary. Check out her blog below!

http://www.theveryworstmissionary.com/2012/12/this.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JamieTheVeryWorstMissionary+%28Jamie+the+Very+Worst+Missionary%29

Random "2nd Family Thanksgiving" flashback

Found this old article about my cousin's band from the 80's/90's- so cool.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19931005&id=OzoiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wawFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3222,3151715

The reason I began creepily looking up info on Tim's band was because I watched "The Runaways" last night, googled to find out which bands The Runaways had opened for, and remembered that Tim's band had opened for some of the same bands. And since I'd never really tried looking up any info on his rockstar days, I decided to give it a whirl. Pretty neat stuff.

This video just kicked my ass, check it out

A much-needed reflection on the things that bring me life

- Skyline

- snuggling with my cats

- crisp winter days (the kind that makes your nose sting when you breathe in)

- sunsets (sunrises are pretty amazing too and I'm sure I'd appreciate them more if I didn't absolutely despise getting up as early as I have to in order to see them)

- coffee shops

- the state of Colorado

- hotels/cafeterias/airports (I have a weird obsession with all three)

- kissing sweet little babies
- impromptu dance parties
- music

Morning hitting for softball= being at the Colerain Starbucks' drive-thru by 5:59am... hello adulthood. (Kofenya doesn't open until 6:45am for all those secretly challenging my loyalty :)

Small Group Christmas!

My small group had a Christmas party last week and I decided to make buffalo chicken mac n' cheese. I went a little heavy on the Frank's Red Hot and bleu cheese, which are definitely the best parts of the recipe, and I must say it was pretty good.

Song Obsession #21

Sweet Baby Boy

This is Kyle. This is his 2nd appearance on the blog because I can hardly stand how cute he is and I have to take lots of pictures whenever I see him :)

Dinner Club, episode 5

As you may know by now, I began exploring fun Cincinnati-area restaurants with a group of friends over the past few months. We call ourselves "The Dinner Club" (very official) and have dined in Liberty Township, Hyde Park, West Chester, and Over-the-Rhine so far. Our evening generally consists of borderline-inappropriate conversation (Linder is a member so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise), a ton of laughter, awesome food, and the occasional trip to a fro-yo establishment.

My amazing burger

Mmmm Cake

Made this beauty the other day. Well not this particular one
(I jacked this off google images) but I did make flourless
chocolate cake (Tyler Florence's "cracked earth" recipe).
And I must say it was pretty delicious.

Kitten Snuggle Time

Anders  blocking Liz's attempts to read the Bible...
because sometimes he's selfish and prefers to have
the attention on himself

Cake-pop Adventures

This is Liz making cake pops at Jane's. Liz is a bit of a cynic when it comes to the cake-pop-making process but my hope is that her heart will begin to change. Because they were really delicious.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

On Wednesday, Dec. 5, my dear roommate Jenny celebrated her 32nd birthday and I was fortunate enough to be a part of the festivities- which mainly consisted of snuggling baby Grace and watching Duck Dynasty. Sadly, I had to leave early because I'm old and lame and need to be in bed by 10:30pm at the latest to function well at work the next day :) But it was super fun nonetheless.

Also, our sweet friend Jane made an awesome cake (see below) in recognition of Jenny's love of running. All-in-all, it was a refreshing evening of eating shoes, laughing with friends and hanging out with a really cute baby.

Mmmm. Upgrading to adult cat food! Such an important life step.

I've never seen them eat so fast

Welcome Baby Grace!

This is Grace. She is 2 weeks old and is awesome. And definitely loved my new Scooby Doo hat.

Found this clever compilation of cat poems at the bookstore over the weekend and may have spent a solid 20 minutes reading in the middle of the store

Late-night adventures, Taco Bell runs, and cute kittens.

You can't see Anders but he's in his cage
being a cutie patootie. And Verbal's holding
down the fort. Literally.

New Movie Obsession

Yesterday I saw "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." And it was amazing. Liz said I would like it, and she knows me pretty well, so I figured I would walk out of there being a fan. But little did I know it would become my new "thinker" movie... you know... those movies that leave you thinking about them for days or weeks afterwards. Like "The Butterfly Effect" or "Remember Me" or "It's Kind of a Funny Story."

This one is definitely a thinker. You should check it out.

Floor adventures, the finale

Painting the trim

Floor adventures, part 3

The boxes taking up the living room. Good thing Spen took care of
this while I was at work. Carrying those up 3 flights of stairs would've
been the complete opposite of fun.

Spen leaving his mark on the floor

Sharing my wisdom with the future owners of apt #11

Late-night movie with TT

So thankful for nights like these... just me and mom
hanging out at the Esquire in Clifton at 10pm.
Because she's a cool hipster like that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for all of these crazy blonde women
who happen to look a lot like me :)

I want this.

Random highlighter yellow nail polish

Floor adventures, part 2

Floor Adventures, part 1

Put in a laminate wood floor over the past few days. Here are some highlights.

Part 1= fail. We ended up getting this far after
the first night of work but had to rip it up the next day
because we didn't realize we needed to put padding down first.

Refreshed

A quote my friend sent me. "Her" is Israel in this passage.
Reminded me of God's faithfulness and steadfastness. 

Cru Staff Conference 2012

I spent this past weekend at Great Wolf lodge for Cru's fall staff conference... and it was so refreshing. I was able to hear from great speakers, had the opportunity to reconnect with lots of friends from all over the region, and played in a waterpark on Sunday! One of the highlights was getting to hang with my fellow staff friends from Wildwood Summer Project (Lori and Penny) for a few hours reconnecting on life, celebrating new love, and processing inevitable change. The time went by way too quickly and yet it was so sweet and much-needed.

Hanging in the lobby w/ Lori and Penny.
They are pretty amazing.