Simple Renewal

Moving to a new city is hard work!  I am so blessed to not have any feelings of regret when I look back on my decision to move to this city; Tampa is simply perfect for this season of my life.  However, all the details involved with a major life change have been doing their best to weigh me down these past weeks.  Then I remembered my poor neglected blog and the reason I started it, which is to make a JOYFUL NOISE no matter the circumstances!  Knowing I needed help making that joyful noise right now I did something that I know always gives results in the 'feeling renewed' department: I went to confession.

I have been trying to go to confession literally for weeks now and for a million and one frustrating reasons it just wasn't happening.  I finally realized that one of the churches around here actually has daily confession (how did I miss that??) and so I rushed over and stood in line, anxiously awaiting my turn for that soul-freeing sacrament.  How people go so long without taking advantage of this beautiful gift is beyond me!  My prayer time before and after was so very fulfilling and I worked through some of my bothers with Our Lady there to glorify her Son with me!  

I am continually struck by how profound an experience confession is practically every time I go.  Its as though the Holy Spirit is so dang excited about us admitting our wrongs with the intent of trying very hard not to do them again that He throws us a prayer party.  Problems that had me in tears even yesterday seem so laughably easy today; my mind is filled with prayerful solutions and I now have time to simply bask in loving God.  I am filled with humble thanksgiving that makes me want to shower others with love.

My current feelings toward our Creator

I'm not saying that confession is the cure-all for any and every problem life throws at us.  We are not yet in our eternal home and this life can be very hard.  However, if you turn on your television and watch the commercials, 9/10 times the products or services being offered are to make your day-to-day life simpler.  So we run out and buy all these things and our houses end up cluttered and we are spending all our time fixing things that break and we blink and realize our lives are passing us by without us really LIVING.  That might be a bit harsh, but the point is going to confession simplifies my life in the most real, profound, and LASTING way.  If I gave that and my prayer life in general the time I give to shopping or cruising around the internet, I know I would have much more time to spend enjoying with humble thanksgiving the little gifts God showers us with every moment, instead of worrying about how I'm going to make everything work.
Some of His little gifts that have made my day when I took time to really see them:

A random pink bird when at the beach

This spectacular view

Who knew a pistachio was so beautiful??

One of my all-time favorites; a simple leaf that stopped me in my tracks

Traffic on a bridge; perfect reminder :)

What are some ways God has shown you His love lately?

P.S. Pope Francis has called for a world-wide hour of adoration this Sunday, June 6!  Its 5-6pm Roman time, which is 11am EST.  Spread the news!

Hot Sun and Rainbows

I'm not a huge fan of heat.  As an iridescently pale and freckled Orphan Annie look-alike, I have always been very aware of when I last applied sunscreen and where my big floppy hat is.  I become cranky with too much sun and am more of a sit-in-the-shade-sipping-sangria than a lay-on-a-towel-sweating type.  So what did I do?

I moved to Florida.  Family: the ties that bind :)

For the most part, Florida is better than I wanted to admit for many years, especially now that I have moved to a city that is much more my style than perfectly-manicured Naples.  The best part, hands down, is that with my huge family that loves to celebrate milestones, there is no shortage of amazing parties to attend.  Makes the heat much more bearable!
This weekend I drove the short 2 and a half hours back to Naples to attend my niece's 8th birthday party.  Traditionally, this has been the huge party that everyone in the area who knows my family makes a real effort to attend; a reunion of sorts.  This year, it was being held at my niece's uncle and aunt's new super-party fortress (aka, their home on 5 acres) and so it was also a house warming party.  This means that, at 150 people, this party was bigger than many weddings.  Go big or go home right? It also had a theme- something I am a huge fan of at parties!  This theme was rainbows, and while I simply arrived in time to help set things up for the party and had no creative input whatsoever, I thought the whole idea was so cute I had to share it here!   A bonus to this theme is that there is a lot of lee-way to make the rainbows out of whatever food you want!

The Fruity Rainbow

The Veggie Rainbow

The Glorious Cupcake Rainbow

The Chip Rainbow

I just love how there are clouds at the bottom of every rainbow!  The cupcakes were made by the birthday girl's mom, my lovely SIL Ruth (the creative genius behind the party), so they were all gluten-free goodness.  My family loves making as much homemade food as possible, and I love to contribute to both the eating and the cooking in equal parts.  I come from a family of eaters, and true eaters make the best food!
One recipe from the day is the dip that makes up the cloud of the fruit rainbow.  To make some really good (and simple) fruit dip, take a container of Cool Whip and mix it with an 8-oz package of your favorite cream cheese.  Wait for the cream cheese to soften, as you need to mix it by hand to retain the fluffiness of the Cool Whip.  Get ready for your arm work out!  The end result is just perfect though :)  Happy partying!

A Place to Hang My Hat

Today work was the busiest it has been since I started a mere week and half ago.  I was running around, pretending everything was hunky-dory even though it was quite plain I was no different than this fellow enthusiastic noob:

I too was lucky no one was hurt

Anyway, the day ended well and I somehow have a fatter wallet to show for it!  I then came home and finally got all my things packed away in the correct room, with a place for everything!  This is VERY exciting news as I have been living out of my space-bagged suitcases for 6 weeks now!  I couldn't be happier to be staying in this cozy room for a few weeks until I can get my wallet a bit fatter and find a place of my own :)  Just look at this perfect space!

Such a sunny happy place!  Thanks Gail and Zig!

Things may be going a little slower than I'd like, but I keep reminding myself that I have everything I really NEED and all the rest will be taken care of in its own time.  I am so blessed :)  I am reminded of this oh-so-fitting verse:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 (doesn't it just give you the warm fuzzies?)  And all we have to do is Trust!  

What are some ways you are really feeling blessed right now?

Painting Glass

I decided to actually DO something from one of the pins on Pinterest, making that first step to really justifying spending so much time on a website.  I'm not sure I have achieved that justification today, but the results are still enjoyable :)  I attempted to turn some glass blue, as inspired by Lucy over at Craftberry Bush.  Check out her site!  Especially for the full instructions to this craft- I mostly just give my experience.

Isn't that lovely?  That's why I wanted to try!

I visited an honest-to-goodness hoarder house that made my thrift store shopping fingers just itch to take a week's vacation and clean house to procure some real treasures!  The only thing I left with, however, was an old cider jug and a lasting regret for the things left behind.  I consoled myself with thoughts of how much change my new jug could hold.
I thought to myself, "Why store my soon-to-be riches in some boring clear jug (can you just hear the disdain?) when it could be stored in a BLUE jug?!"  I know, life-altering thoughts here folks!   So I remembered what I had read on Lucy's blog, gathered some glue, a paintbrush, and some food coloring and looked over the instructions once more.

Now, I have to say that recipes and I have a very open relationship.  I see a recipe and think, "Ok I've got the general idea.  Let's see what happens!" Generally, this works (and obviously, there are those that require a more exact following) but sometimes, I know the original creator had something a little different *cough* better in mind.  Other times, I know it wasn't what they were going for but it still works.  I think that was the case in this instance.  I did ATTEMPT to follow the recipe but as I was trying to catch up on the season finale of Once Upon a Time at the same time, it didn't work out too well.  I switched teaspoons to Tablespoons (oopsies) and didn't get the number of each right at all.  So I think mine was too glue-y versus the more watery one at Lucy's site.  Anyway, I decided to try my mixture since you can wash it off and try again if its too terrible.

The streaks pretty much disappear as it dries

Lucy says you have to paint really thin and be patient adding numerous coats only after each one fully dries.  Try as I might (I had to wash it clean twice!) I could not seem to make it to more than 3 coats without messing up.  I also kept missing that there was still wet spots between the second and third coats so it was smear the wet and half-dry together, making it clump.  It was getting a little frustrating so I decided to just step back for a few minutes and see what happened.

The slightly balding outcome of 3 coats.

I realized there were going to be some bald spots, and was deciding if I was still in the mood for this when I got an idea.  The food coloring was still there in its 4-hued glory and I realized my blue was simply acting up because it was lonely.  So I mixed in 2 drops of green.

I realize how potent 2 drops of green is and slightly panic for a minute

I filled in the bald spots with the new, greener, better color (yes, I'm playing favorites!) and couldn't be happier!  The result was something that looked like it was molded out of sea glass.  I don't know why my glass is more frosted than the original look I was attempting, other than that there was too much glue in mine.  I love this different effect nonetheless though!

Has anyone else tried something like this?  How did it turn out?  

Moments of Grace

Today was an ups and downs type day.  The downs were really trying and the ups were so gratifying!  I spent long hours at work on my feet, worrying and wishing I was somewhere else.  As soon as work was done, however, time did one of those wonderful tricks where it seemed to mosey on by, happy to be of service (and yes, I did have to look up the spelling of 'mosey').  I relaxed and cooked dinner for loved ones and took a wonderful mother out for an early Mother's Day movie with my main man Michael (ooooo alliteration!).  In the midst of it all, God managed to find more opportunities to give all-knowing me (HA!) a little more of His awesome grace.
Its those little things that really try on you.  The big ones?  Piece of cake!  Sure, I can remember to take a deep breath before responding to that comment that was aimed perfectly for the heart!  No problems here not holding a grudge against the stranger who cut me off in traffic (for the most part....).  What about that lady who sits RIGHT in front of you at the theater when the whole other side is empty and has the nerve to ask you all offended to move your feet off the chair they were occupying before she showed up!

Nope...no difficulty letting THAT go!  (You can see I've let it go right??)
These definable annoyances, the ones we complain about to loved ones at the end of the day and forget about, these are fairly easy to respond to with a Christian attitude.  Its the small moments that boredom or apathy or repetition have reduced to nothings that are tragically passed by without so much as a nod of acknowledgement.  Isn't this lack of acknowledgement the same as discarding it?  Where are these moments, which seem to make up so many moments, in our march to sainthood?
As I stood at work today, irritatedly watching my unattended table of children which was my contribution to serving a 120-person party, I realized how wasteful I was being.  What about this moment was special?  Why was I doing this?  I have always taken these kind of questions as challenges; a rousing soundtrack worthy of any epic drama begins playing in the background as flags majestically wave behind me.  I was meant for more than boredom!  THIS moment was there to teach me something!  I could either be annoyed that the kid just spilled the third soda I brought him after he sucked the first two down so fast I thought there must be a hole in his throat, OR I could look with compassion and meet his apologies with true forgiveness instead of thinly veiled irritation.  I could aimlessly polish wine glasses or I could offer up the work and turn my mindless work into soul-saving work.  When looked at in this light I get so charged up with the amount of good I could be doing in the world, in my own small way!  Imagine saving a soul while doing the dishes...while folding the laundry that never seems to stop...while cooking dinner when you would rather just sit and see if it makes itself.  I guess this is all just what St.Therese of Liseux says in her little way of the cross, but I love it when I get those kind of aha! moments, don't you?

The First Post

Its a daunting thing, writing my first blog post!  Since this is just a blog about whatever is going on in my life, it doesn't leave a lot of focus since today is my day off.

I started this blog because I have just moved to a new city and feel on the cusp of big things in my life, so I really want a way to keep focused.  My mind tends to wander (i.e. I can spend hours being distracted by pinterest or the trees or the clouds or...).  I want to be more aware and grateful of the beautiful gifts around me, even when they are hidden behind pain or confusion or sadness.  There is something so attractive about someone who can be peaceful among crisis or tragedy and I know the key to true happiness lies somewhere in this.  Being content to BE, not to want something different than what is given.  I read somewhere that expectations are where all misery comes from; those who have no expectations can truly accept what a moment gives.  I don't mean that in a cynical way, though it might sound that way.  I'm simply trying to say that life, in all its moments, is a true gift to be cherished, and I want to celebrate that with a JOYFUL NOISE here!

I think this guy has it figured out:

I like how no one else in the gym notices this :)