~CUPCAKE ATM~

Just found out about the world's first ATM that dispenses cupcakes! Blog worthy? I think so!

Located in Beverly Hills, It's just like a regular ATM only you choose which flavor you want, pay with your credit card and out pops a freshly baked cupcake! open 24 hours. genius? :)

::weekend getaway::

 Matt just got home after an 11 day business trip so we decided to we take some time for ourselves. We went to Barton Hill Hotel & Spa, SO NICE! Would recommend it to anyone! It was so quiet and quaint, perfect!

 


morning :)

  


Reading the morning paper at the local bakery

 


strolling down Main St.

 
 

Spontaneous Roadtrip...

to Baltimore....because really, why not?!
Matt had to take a business trip there and he invited me to join him.
We had plenty of time to do some gallivanting around the inner harbor area,
also, marriage is fun... just had to throw that in there!! ;)

Spent sometime at the National Aquarium



venture into the "rainforest"




Matt was obssessed with the Jellies...and now wants his own tank. grrrreat ;)




watch out Matty!!




it was bright and sunny!



Valentine's Day through Instagram photos

 We hosted a Valentine's Day party this past weekend and it was LEGENDARY!! ....well maybe not legendary but it was a lot of fun :)

 

 vintage records

 Home made cake pops!!

 and yes I wore pink ruffles to work today because it was Valentine's Day...I am that person.

I also won a trip to the Spa in a raffle at work. Very unexpected.

Happy Vday!!!!

Friday "Foto"

I can't tell you how ready for spring I am! My body has been missing the sunshine and warm air!
If you get a chance check out http://becjohnsonphotography.blogspot.com/
This photo is from a wedding she shot. I am in LOVE with every photo she posted from this wedding!!! Just can't get enough of things that make me feel "springy" lately :)

Jewelry Box DIY

I made my own jewelry box! I was sick of my long necklaces all over my dresser. Right now our bedroom is so small we don't have room for a jewelry armoire so I wanted something that wouldn't take up much space and something that didn't have to sit on the floor, or on my dresser. I found this great idea from abeautifulmess.typepade.com. I love it because it also creates some shelf space!

I stained the crate and put cup hooks on the side. The bottom of the crate is quark which I covered with fabric I liked. You can use T-pins in the quark to to hang bracelets and other necklaces. I also painted the glass bowel I put in there for my rings just for fun!

Cupcake-ology ((Fav thing Friday))





(photo credit: abeautifulmess.typepad.com)

 I have been LOVING cupcakes recently for some reason...they are so cute and you can dress them up anyway you want! I will be making red velvet ones with cream cheese frosting for a Valentine's day party this year. YUM.

My favorite cupcake place in Rochester by far is http://www.sugarmountainbakeshoppe.com/

they have a ton of unique flavors, including bacon which is pretty good for all you doubters out there ;)

The Metamorphosis of Me.

Note: If you don’t want to read anything raw or real then I would suggest you stop reading now. ;)

If there is anything I have learned these past few years it is that it is more than okay to break the status quo! 3 or 4 years ago I’m not sure I would have said that. Not because I didn't believe it but because I never really wanted to or had to do it. These past few years, just in my everyday life, opportunities have presented themselves to me in which I just couldn’t do what everyone else was doing. Not physically couldn’t do it but something just felt off on the inside. Trust me, I have tried to just “go with the flow” and “jump on the bandwagon” so to speak, but every time afterward my conscious would be kicking me and my heart would eventually sink.

In recent months I have been fascinated with people who are ‘forerunners’, in other words, the first person to do something. I have read story after story of people that have not just went along with everyone else but have stood up for what they believed, or they had a new idea that had never been done before and they did it.

I respect these people and I have found that they all have one thing in common, they were all criticized for it. When you step out and do something “different” we probably will be criticized for it. And I hate to say this, but most often the worst criticism will come from those inside the church not outside of it. That’s the price to pay for “thinking different” (in a positive way not in a destructive way), but eventually once the way is paved history shows others will probably follow. 

I have never set out to be this kind of person. My whole life I have always been trying to fit in, I have always had this fear of standing out because it meant possible rejection. As long as I can remember I have always feared critics and rejection, but for a while now some of these situations have been in my face, and in my heart I know there is only one right answer. I feel like I have been choosing to make decisions that cause me to go against the flow…at first I hated it, it brought up every insecurity I had and even the ones I didn't know I had. But choosing the other option made me feel even worse, and so did choosing not to choose (complacency). Vulnerability, uncomfortably, and fear were pretty much all I felt when I would go to sleep at night…for a long time.

Looking back I really didn't know if I could withstand resistance and rejection and eventually not change myself. But difficulty has a way of letting you know what’s on the inside, and everything that I felt that has been challenged in my life these past few years has only given me a resolve of steel not to change, bend, or be a man pleaser under any circumstance, especially when it comes to my faith. (and thank you to a few encouraging fiery friends!) The criticism may hurt me but now I know it won’t change me. I’m just stating all this matter of factly, it’s just sincerely where I’m at right now.

I have come into a new appreciation for individuality. I’m really starting to resent cookie cutter molds set in place that quietly define the way people are expected to be/think in the church. Nobody was made to be like anyone else, period. Just because it's always been done this way does that mean we have to keep doing it that way? Just because it's never been done before does that mean it can't be? ...just asking. I feel like our man-made systems puts standards on us that God does not. Am I making any sense? I’m not going rogue here or trying to break tradition just expressing something that’s been stirring in me for quite a while now. Break the status quo today, not just to break it but because the status quo isn’t always right. The status quo can be good but sometimes on the other side of it lays the best. I don’t want to settle for good, I truly desire the best, whatever that may be.  

So with all that to say, I can finally feel the fear of man leaving me in some areas of my life. I don’t have to prove myself to anyone, and I’m willing to be lonely for what I believe in, although I don’t want to be, but I now know I am willing to be.
So the very thing I have feared is the very thing I have had to face these past couple years, and what I thought would take me out is actually helping set me free. Wow. I guess He really does know what He is doing…not that I ever doubted Him ;) 


...sometimes it takes the thing we fear to draw that very fear to the surface so we can overcome it...

Thank God for the people who had the courage to break the norm and “be different”, they are some of my teachers right now. If they didn’t we wouldn’t have some major companies, inventions, outreaches, music, and breakthroughs that we enjoy today.

I hope we all learn how to live life with courage, (and sometimes that means doing it afraid), because that’s what it takes to truly live. Can I get an amen? ;)

"The arrvial of a critic doesn't mean you're headed in the wrong direction, it probably means you're headed in the right one."

-Jon Acuff


"I will not forfeit His presence just to gain the approval of man. For in doing so I would be giving up much to receive much less."
-me

Friday Foto

I love these English Tea Cups! They're perfect!

I also like BIG photographs...I'm sure you couldn't tell ;)

Morning Musings

So I blew a fuse in one half of the house this morning. Note to self: do not use blow dryer and space heater at the same time. But in my defense they were in completely different rooms! And to top it off our landlord “conveniently” had a guy doing some construction work on our basement stairs this morning so I could not get to the box. So, let’s recap, I blew a major fuse in the house (which I have never done before) and there was a guy there doing work on the stairs leading to the box (which has never happened before either!) so these two rare occurrences happened on the same morning at the same time. Great, lol. So I left the house late and with half dry to hair...did I mention I had a meeting with my executive director this morning?! Ha, can I start this day over? ;)

And as a side note due to a wind storm the night before our power was off for 8 hours, yes it was 20degrees outside AND inside the house. Awesome. I would like for our power to stay on for at least 24 hours straight! That would be nice ;)

Well, that’s it for my morning musings! Hope you have an awesome Thursday!!