Homework

Posted on February 18, 2015 by coffeeandtacos

I have been thoroughly enjoying everything about my French class – my beautiful Parisian professor, my lovely classmates, taking copious amounts of notes in a new, pretty notebook, even the homework. Actually, especially the homework. I know, I know, homework can be tedious, laborious, and even unnecessary in a lot of cases, but the completion of my homework seems so imperative now that I’m learning a new language. I was out sick a few weeks ago and I had to miss my beloved French lessons, so I wasn’t in class to receive my packet of homework for the following session. I felt totally lost when I returned to the classroom – it was almost as if I had stumbled into the room where the Mandarin Chinese lessons were being taught, that’s how foreign French sounded to my ear that evening. Conversely, I spent plenty of time working through a packet of homework this past week and I felt totally prepared (and super smart!) as we went through the answers in class last night. It made the hugest difference. I guess I hadn’t realized the importance of thoroughly, intently completing my assignments until I didn’t have the opportunity to do so and really experienced the feeling of being far behind.

This mindset about homework translates to real world experiences, too, I think. In my early years in the non-profit world (or even while on job interviews after college), a time or two I definitely made the mistake of not doing enough (okay, or any) research on the person/company I was meeting with prior to our time together. I didn’t put enough effort into my homework, making me completely ill-prepared and poorly equipped to have a productive conversation. I don’t think this was because I intentionally chose not to prepare or because I was lazy – sometimes I think I just didn’t know the proper etiquette, forgetting that while people wanted to get to know me and my work, I also needed to get to know them and theirs. This goes for writing, too, in the fact that extensive research needs to be done before submitting a pitch to a publication. It’s this kind of extra work and thoughtfulness that can make your pitch or presentation stand out. Completing my French homework reminded me of the distance that you can travel if only you make the effort to do some legwork in advance.

So, aside from grammatical structure and key vocabulary words, my French class is teaching me a lot of things, things about life and preparedness and the value of homework. I’m thankful for the opportunity to stretch and grow and learn in a whole myriad of ways.

Image via Kimberly Chau for Sugar & Cloth

My Favorite Verse

Posted on February 4, 2015 by coffeeandtacos

Today I am so motivated and inspired by my favorite verse:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11

I have always loved this verse. I remember that it first struck me profoundly during my senior year of college (while I was running on the beach, specifically – those were the days!) as I was considering what I wanted to do with my life. I have always felt that God speaks to me most clearly through the people I love – through family and friends, especially – and through books, speaking engagements, and powerful quotes. So it was surprising to me on that when I asked God what I was supposed to do with my life, I heard Him whisper this simple response: It will present itself to you. It was profound and overwhelming and comforting all at once. The verse from Ecclesiastes came to the forefront of my mind shortly thereafter, jumping off the page at me and becoming my daily mantra. Over and over and over again the verse has presented itself to me, providing me comfort and guidance and direction. And it has always proven true, always – even though things may not turn out how I imagine the would, they always end up transpiring beautifully, completed within God’s very perfect timetable.

Do you have a favorite go-to verse that provides you with motivation and inspiration when you find yourself looking for help or comfort? If so, share it in the comments section – I’d love to add it to my arsenal!

Image via Trendland

On “Parenthood” & Family Gatherings

Posted on January 8, 2015 by coffeeandtacos

Tonight is a special night in TV Land – “Parenthood” finally returns from its several-week hiatus, just in time to mark the series’s 100th show! “Parenthood” is unanimously our favorite TV show. We actually watch it live on Thursday nights, which feels like a lost art in this day and age of Rokus and Netflix and DVRs. We count down the minutes until the show begins, then watch the hourlong program in rapt, agonizing through frequent commercial breaks. We laugh and we cry (usually James more than me – real talk) and then we bite our nails while watching the preview for next week’s show, thereby starting the waiting process all over again. Clearly, this ritual has become an obsession, but I like that we’ve started a fun little tradition all the same.

Becca passed along this link to me: ‘Parenthood’ Cast Share What They Learned From Being a Braverman. I got emotional reading through it, not only because it brings about an air of finality about the show itself (this is “Parenthood’s” last season, so it will come to a close by spring) but also because it is such a bold reminder of the importance of family. In today’s culture, it’s common to be separated by several states (if not a few countries), and while sometimes that space is important, this shift is wildly different than the way things used to be when families lived mere miles (heck, even blocks) from one another. I don’t think this is necessarily bad, but it’s markedly different, to be sure. Technology and ease of travel has made maintaining relationships simpler but a lot of planning and effort have to go into coordinating schedules, visits, and memory-making. And, frankly, for those families who live down the street from one another, there still can be a lot of planning and effort that goes into connecting with one another. So this begs the question, what do we have to do to connect to our families in meaningful ways?

Of all of the answers to the question of what the cast members learned from their roles on “Parenthood,” I like Lauren Graham’s response best:

“I think for me, the thing I’ve gotten is when in doubt, gather a group. Just fill your house with people, and something good will happen.”

This. Yes. Exactly! Pile your family into your home for a weekend visit, whether or not you have enough space (or clean sheets or blow-up mattresses or spare toiletries). Go over to your mom’s house for dinner, show up to your cousin’s birthday party, invite your brother and his friends over for cocktails. Form a habit, a routine, a tradition. Get people together in the good times and the bad. Celebrate together, grieve together, eat together, read together, rest together. Gather a group, your group. Fill your house with people, and something good will happen.

Image via NBC

Things I Don’t Do

Posted on January 6, 2015 by coffeeandtacos

The start of a new year is so exciting, so full of promise. It’s easy to get carried away thinking about all of the fun things there are to do in a new year – all of the new habits you can make, classes you can take, projects you can start (or finish), places you can go. I personally have a long list of resolutions for 2015, and, for me, the practice of annual goal-setting hasn’t changed much over time – I love writing down goals for myself each January (and each spring and summer and fall, for that matter). But I’ve also found that there’s a necessary counterbalance to all of the resolution-making, an exercise inspired by Shauna Niequist. This year, in addition to writing down the things I hope to do, I’m starting a tradition of jotting down a list of things I don’t do. As Shauna writes,

“It’s brutal, making the list of Things I Don’t Do, especially for someone like me, who refuses most of the time to acknowledge that there is, in fact, a limit to her personal ability to get things done. But I’ve discovered that the list sets me free. I have it written in black and white, sitting on my desk, and when I’m tempted to go rogue and bake muffins because all the other moms do, I come back to both lists, and I remind myself about the important things: that time is finite, as is energy. And that one day I’ll stand before God and account for what I did with my life. There is work that is only mine to do: a child that is ours to raise, stories that are mine to tell, friends that are mine to walk with. The grandest seduction of all is the myth that DOING EVERYTHING BETTER gets us where we want to be. It gets us somewhere, certainly, but not anywhere worth being.”

So! Here goes nothing – my 2015 list of Things I Don’t Do.

Journal

Oh, this is a shameful one to admit. I love writing, clearly – whether it’s here on this blog, for Darling Magazine, or for Bungalow Magazine. I have tried journaling so many times (and I have stacks of beautiful blank journals to show how that turned out). I admire people who journal, who carve the time out to write and write and write, just for themselves. I often think about what an amazing keepsake a journal is, a place to catalogue your thoughts and fears and dreams and hopes. But this year I am saying it aloud: I don’t journal. I don’t keep up with it, going months and months without penning an entry. I channel my writing energy into other places and journaling goes to the wayside. This year I am saying that that is just fine. I have other ways of documenting my life – through photos and this blog and such – and I think it’s okay to reserve my pretty blank journals for to-do lists and recipes and other notes.

Attempt Crafting/DIY Projects

If I believed in reincarnation, I would hope to come back in another life as someone who is so effortlessly talented at crafting and successfully completing DIY projects. I see so many amazing ideas on Pinterest, making me want to invest in crafting supplies and a dedicated space in which to complete projects. However, in this very real life of mine, the closest I can get to any sort of crafting project is putting pictures in frames. So, yeah, there is no need for me to pursue this type of hobby. The only caveat is if a group of girlfriends wants to get together to do some sort of craft or activity – I can always get behind a group project (especially if a little bubbly is involved).

Check E-Mail Before Going to Work…or Before Going to Bed

I have literally zero reason to check my e-mail early in the morning before going into the office or late in the evening before turning in. I am thankful that as far as Touch A Life-related e-mails are concerned, there is nothing so urgent that it can’t be addressed during work hours – and, if there is some sort of emergency, I will receive a phone call or text. Nothing pressing will show up in my inbox, forcing me to miss out on some important bit of information before I can get to the office. The only thing that checking e-mail before work or before going to bed does is stress my little mind out. In the morning it makes me feel rushed to get into the office (even if the e-mails aren’t that urgent – just knowing that they’re there makes me fired up) and at night it keeps me up thinking about my to-do list instead of drifting off to dreamland. There is no point to that madness, so it ends now.

Say Yes to Every Event/Coffee Date/Party I’m Invited To

I have been working on this a bit over the course of the last several months, but I want to make 2015 the year that it sticks. I love a full calendar, one that’s packed to the brim with project deadlines and weekend trips and dinner dates and exercise classes. But I am an introvert at heart – I recharge best by myself, soaking in some quiet time, whether that’s by done by reading or napping or going for a jog or trying a new recipe. So I burn out easily when my social calendar is packed to the brim. I have learned that it is indeed okay to say no to things even though I don’t actually have a conflict that prevents me from saying yes. Since I truly love spending quality time with people, I feel guilty when I turn invitations down without having a “legitimate” reason for doing so. But if I’m not refreshed and engaging, the person I’m with won’t enjoy our time together anyway – I frequently have to remind myself of that. I don’t need to run myself ragged in order to spend time with people I love.

Finish Books That Aren’t Good

There are millions of wonderful books in the world, so many that I don’t need to waste my time on reading the ones that aren’t great. This is not to say that I can decide, say, two pages in, that a book is bad – sometimes I’ve had to persevere through a tough section of a book to find out that, by the end, I love it. But if I’m over halfway through and the content or the writing style are just not improving, it is okay to put the book down and be done with it. The perfectionist in me rejects this idea wholeheartedly but I need to stop wasting time by finishing mediocre books. A plus – they can always be donated to good causes or sold at Half Price Books, majorly reducing clutter in our house.

There you have it! What do you think of a Things I Don’t Do list? Will you make one?

Image via Erin + Tara Photography for Ruffled

Eat Well & Travel Often

Posted on November 19, 2014 by coffeeandtacos

I have the print pictured above hanging in our kitchen, and I love the way it inspires me every time I wander in for a cup of coffee or a glass of water. I consider it my mantra, a motivating phrase that lifts my spirits any time I ponder the thought. Eating well and traveling often, as surely you’ve noticed, are my two favorite hobbies, the experiences in my life that are the richest, partly because, in and of themselves, they are two of the best ways I can think of to spend my time and mostly because they are activities typically spent with people I love. All of my favorite memories revolve around what we ate and where we went, and all of my daydreams consist of delicious meals and faraway places.

As you may imagine, I’m experiencing massive withdrawals from my recent trip to northern California, and I plan to regale you of our adventures in San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, and Big Sur just as soon as I get my photos uploaded and sorted. It was an incredible trip, and I’m missing the coast in a major way (though not as much as I’m missing Mom & Andrew). Stay tuned!

Photo & print via chloevaux

Six Months

Posted on October 13, 2014 by coffeeandtacos

Today is our six month wedding anniversary! How did that happen?! I feel like our beautiful ceremony and reception were just yesterday. I wish I could teleport back to April 13th, reliving every single glorious moment of our sweet day. I was thinking about our vows, the words that we wrote for one another and said aloud in front of the people we love most, and I thought I would share them here with you today. We worked hard to craft these vows, cobbling them together from our thoughts and prayers and dreams as well as from inspiration found in the Bible, in books, and in beautiful wedding ceremonies. I absolutely love how they turned out – they perfectly encapsulate our spirit both as individuals and as a couple. I get all teary just typing them!

“On this day, I give you my heart, and with it, these promises:

I promise to love you for the rest of my life, following Christ in the journey He’s set out before us.

I promise to dream with you, to challenge you, to travel with you, and to grow with you.

I promise to serve you wholeheartedly, and walk beside you through whatever our lives may bring.

I will be yours in plenty and in want, in sickness and in health, in failure and in triumph.

I promise to be your partner in parenthood, your ally in conflict, your comrade in adventure, your consolation in disappointment, your accountability in darkness, and your accomplice in mischief.

‘Where you go, I will go. And where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.’

You are my person – my love and my life, today and always.”

Photo by Heather Hawkins

School Year Resolutions

Posted on September 17, 2014 by coffeeandtacos

Happy Wednesday, friends! I always feel like I’m in my best rhythm on Wednesdays – does anyone else feel the same way? I seem to have an extra boost of energy that helps me be super productive, allowing me to accomplish lots of tasks on my to-do list.

I wrote about this before, but I really find the month of September to be so invigorating. Don’t get me wrong – summer is still my favorite season, but there’s something about the sentimentality of a fresh new school year that makes me want to set brand new goals for myself. So I started thinking, in lieu of (or in addition to) making New Year’s Resolutions, why don’t we start coming up with School Year Resolutions each fall? We can create new goals for ourselves, using the timeline of a school year to chart our progress. In addition to providing you with some ways that you can make some resolutions of your own on Darling Magazine’s blog, I also thought I’d share my personal School Year Resolutions with you here. This is what I’d like to do:

Research and register for inspiring conferences, classes, and seminars that I could participate in for work. I would love the opportunity to get out and about a bit more, pushing myself to meet new people, explore new avenues of relationship-building and fundraising, and learn lots of new and creative ways to do my job.
Read two new books every month – one novel and one creative/inspiring/motivational book. On that same train of thought, I need to get a library card…
Cook two new recipes per month and categorize them in Evernote. This is an extension of a goal I set for myself in the New Year, and while I have been testing out lots of new recipes (and sharing many of them with you here), I haven’t done the best job of recording and organizing them in Evernote. Extra challenge: memorize some of my favorite recipes.
Complete one house-related project per month. This can be as simple as cleaning out a closet that’s bursting at the seams or choosing a new bedside lamp for the guest room, or it can be more time-consuming, something like repainting our master bedroom nightstands or reupholstering our couch.
Pursue more writing opportunities. I am so grateful that I get to write consistently for the powerhouse that is Darling Magazine and also occasionally for the beautiful Bungalow Magazine. In addition to working on pieces for these publications, I’d like to more intentionally pursue other freelance projects and also work on some essays, query letters, and writing exercises in my free time. I love to write – it’s such a life-giving creative outlet for me – but I’d like to fine-tune some of my skills and also identify my weaknesses so that I can work to improve them.

So there you have it! What do you think – will you make a list of School Year Resolutions?

Image via designlovefest

Five Years

Posted on September 11, 2014 by coffeeandtacos

Five years ago today I piled up my car, said teary goodbyes to my best friends, and began the long road trip from Los Angeles to Dallas. I was moving to Texas for my job at Touch A Life and though I was totally daunted by the transition and anxious about what lay ahead (I had only been to Dallas a handful of times, and I knew hardly anyone besides my coworkers), I knew that taking this step would allow me to live out the plan that God had set out for my life. And now, looking back, I see how vivid and rich that plan was, and I truly can’t imagine my life any other way. By moving to Dallas, I furthered my career, came into my own as a woman, and, most importantly, met my husband and made some of the very best friends in the world, establishing community that I truly could never live without, regardless of where I live.

Of course, I know that September 11th marks a very sad time in our country’s history, and I’ve been thinking about and praying for those affected by the terrorist attacks continually throughout the day; nothing could ever change or trivialize what this day means to us as American citizens. But as far as my personal journey goes, September 11th has come to mean something else, something about trust and hope and promise. I’m reminded to live every day with intentionality, following in the path that God has laid out before me. I’m reminded to never take a single second of this sweet life for granted and to trust that everything, indeed, can be redeemed and made beautiful in His time.

Photo via Heather Hawkins from our engagement photo shoot last year – click on the link to check out more photos from that fun session!

Mondays

Posted on August 11, 2014 by coffeeandtacos

Even if you love your job (like I do) and even if you consciously attempt to express and practice gratitude at every chance you get (like I do), Mondays can still be shrouded with a cloud of gloom. Weekends are just so delicious, after all, making the Mondays that follow them a little hard to swallow.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I was inspired by Camille Styles’s post about looking forward to Mondays instead of dreading them, so I tried item #1 on her list: schedule a lunch date at a fantastic spot with a darling friend. I woke up so excited to spend time with Heather and catch up over a midday meal at CBD Provisions. After some meetings, calls, and e-mails, I headed to the Joule Hotel, the chic spot that houses both CBD and Weekend Coffee, the latter of which, as you know, I have been dying to try. I was a bit early so I popped into the coffee shop for some journaling and a cappuccino (which was the best I’ve had in a very long while – so creamy and delicious), enjoying the beautiful space and the tasty caffeinated beverage (pictured above on that super cool wooden tray, which, of course, now I want). I moved along to CBD to meet Heather and her adorable baby boy, Finn, for lunch, and we caught up over spicy quinoa bowls, which were unbelievably good. The entire adventure was the perfect midday treat, and the whole experience – spending time with a great friend, exploring a new place, enjoying delicious goodies – gave me such a great boost, motivating me to accomplish my tasks for the rest of the day, a goal that can be tough every afternoon but especially on Mondays. I’m thinking that this kind of special event could become a permanent fixture in my game plan for Mondays to come…

Balance

Posted on July 17, 2014 by coffeeandtacos

Is it just me or has this summer been absolutely flying by? Life feels so fast-paced these days, and in many ways, that’s a great thing. Work is stimulating and fulfilling, and our social calendar is filled to the brim with dinners with friends and church commitments and family visits and weekend trips and volunteer work, all beautiful things that I really and truly could not live without. I relish having a full calendar with lots of fun activities on it, and I can never return home from a trip without starting to plan the next one. This is who I am, someone who embraces (and craves!) the fullness and richness of a schedule filled with diverse, meaningful work, events, relationships, and travel opportunities.

But sometimes this fast-paced speed isn’t all that great, mostly because I find myself overlooking the tiny joys that are inherent in each and every day. I had to get some vaccinations recently for my upcoming trip to Ghana (since this will be my 12th visit to West Africa, some of my shots were outdated) and when I called my nurse after my appointment to clarify a few things, she gently mentioned that we had discussed those items during my visit to the doctor’s office. I cannot, for the life of me, remember that conversation. Of course it’s possible that we didn’t have the chat that she referenced (maybe she told another patient?), but this information came on the coattails of me ending up at the bank without the check I needed to deposit, at the grocery store without my list of goodies to purchase, and several other instances that forced me to wonder if maybe I’m moving a bit too fast. Not only am I overlooking some things in my life that need to be checked off of my to-do list (which comes as a shock to such a detail-oriented person), but I am also not taking the time to soak up the little things that I am grateful for because I don’t have the capacity to take all of them in.

I want to redirect my focus, allowing me to fully appreciate every single moment of this beautiful life. That means not checking my e-mail while engaged in a conversation with someone I love, enjoying a relaxing pose during my yoga class instead of contemplating my to-do list, and savoring my lunch at work away from my computer, amongst other things. This means practicing gratitude for the tiny joys in life, the things that can be easily overlooked, things like cuddling with Callie, reading a great book, or feeling the sun on my face.

Ultimately, this is about balance, about celebrating the sweetness that is the proverbial full plate (which includes copious amounts of interesting work assignments, beautiful time with family and friends, delicious food, and the exploration of new places) and savoring the peacefulness in the little moments (those nearly imperceptible things that are so easy to miss if you’re hustling and bustling a bit too much). This is about finding the sacred space in between busy and bored that is equal parts fulfilling and restful.

Image via wifeefiw.tumblr.com

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