Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces, calling out the best of who we are. It comes in small inspirations. It comes in loving community. It comes in helping a soul find its worth. I want to add to the beauty, to tell a better story. I want to shine with the light that's burning up inside. This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful.
You can't understand light unless you understand darkness, because that's where life is most often lived - somewhere between the two. It's messy and it's beautiful all at the same time.
What we must do is to stop regarding unpleasant or unexpected things as interruptions of real life. The truth is that interruptions are real life, the real life that God sends us day by day. What we call our real life is but a phantom of our imagination.

kindred spirits

Posted on 9/6/2010 at 2:19:42 PM

blowing

"A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that gentle hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away." ~ George Eliot

Seven Quick Takes, Tomato-Tomäto Edition

Posted on 9/3/2010 at 4:08:29 PM

tomato-table_realsimple

One. Painting: check! Organization of belongings: check! Artwork returned to walls: check! Besides installing the new window blinds which have yet to arrive, I have finished revamping Caroline's bedroom and have been enjoying it immensely this week. I've got a comfy bed, a little desk, a nice chair, a new ceiling fan, some scented candles, ...

Wordless Wednesday: Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Posted on 9/1/2010 at 11:34:39 AM

yellowtulipsagainstwhite

Happy September 1st!

E is for Eggplant

Posted on 8/31/2010 at 6:58:15 PM

eggplant

Mom and I stopped at a farm stand this afternoon on our way back from visiting Nana and, among several other types of fresh produce, we bought eggplants! Besides being purple (my favorite color!), they were 3 for $1. So, clearly, it was meant to be. Lately, I've been reading a bunch of cookbooks, food blogs, ...

next

Posted on 8/30/2010 at 9:35:22 PM

freeflying

Seven Quick Takes, Domestic Edition

Posted on 8/27/2010 at 10:11:16 PM

kitchen

One. I often joke about my lack of both natural domesticity and learned domestic skills, though always alongside vows to practice and improve in that area. This year, unlike previous years, I've been mildly successful in following through on those vows. I made bread (from scratch and in the bread machine) for the first time ...

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on 8/25/2010 at 5:22:27 PM

breadandjam

Because sometimes words just get in the way...

i’m siiiiiiiick

Posted on 8/22/2010 at 1:33:40 PM

2384837378_0024e25cd3

I don't usually get sick. In fact, during my John Jay Institute fellowship in Colorado last fall/winter, when I was living with 5 other girls and in close proximity to 8 other people, I never once got sick. Even when some weird illness descended upon us (swine flu? the Plague? we still don't know) and my ...

Seven Quick Takes, Written in a Foggy Haze Edition

Posted on 8/20/2010 at 9:06:18 PM

vanilla-ice-cream

One. Somehow I've come down with averyannoyingandstrangebecauseitisaugust cold that is making it very hard for me to A) breathe (the pile of tissues next to me just keeps growing), B) sleep (only 4 hours last night), and C) think (especially now that the nighttime cold medicine has finally started to kick in), the combination of ...

that time of year

Posted on 8/15/2010 at 7:44:03 AM

4675929889_9fcaaeccdb_o

Summer is most definitely the season with the most engagements and weddings. Almost everyone I know has either attended or been in at least one wedding sometime this summer, and those of you on facebook can probably testify to having your news feeds full of wedding- or engagement-related photos and announcements every week. Frankly, it's ...