Friday Favorites

one | Trader Joes' cookie butter.  I bought a jar last weekend & it's empty already.  And that is a problem.

two | Our "herb garden."  So far this consists of one basil plant that we bought & some seeds Grayson planted that have yet to sprout.  Not sure there's really enough sun on our balcony, but we're trying!

three | I think I've finally mastered fish tacos.  Maybe not mastered...I'm sure they can be better, but they're much better than any I've tried to make before & we will probably have them every week now.

four | Still loving my new camera lens.  This little bird kept posing for me right outside our apartment yesterday morning.

five | Grayson discovered this list yesterday of Yelp's top 100 highest rated restaurants.  A lot of them are in California, & quite a few in the San Francisco area, so we're now planning to try to go to as many of them as possible!

six | This week I've been in decorating mode.  Even if it's just rearranging the things I already have, or painting over something I don't love to make something new, it makes me happy.  I got the big photo canvas for my birthday, already had the black one, & just recovered another with burlap & painted a $2 "C" & glued on there.  No more blank walls!

Rainy Days

It rained all yesterday afternoon.  And I love rainy days, especially when we haven't had many the last 6 months.  So as soon as I got off work, I went to Michael's armed with a gift card I got for Christmas & this Pinterest board & proceeded to buy everything I needed for an afternoon of crafting.  Got home, made myself a cup of coffee, put in Steel Magnolias, & had a perfectly perfect afternoon.

Rest.

Our culture today encourages busyness.  Going from one activity to the next, & priding yourself on how many things you can be involved in.  A life like this will eventually reach a breaking point.  I think we've forgotten what it's like to rest & be still.  We forget that God rested.

Even right now, in a not-so-busy phase of my life, I find that it's easy to try to fill my time just for the sake of always doing something.  But there's nothing wrong with sitting & reading a book, or painting, or taking a nap.  God created in us a need to be still.  And being still & resting is not the same as being lazy.


As soon as I saw the forecast for this past weekend, I asked Grayson if we could go on a picnic when I got off work on Saturday.  I packed a blanket, kindle, & Bible, we picked up lunch, & found a park nearby.  It was so nice to eat & just rest in the sunshine & read.

[side note:  At the beginning of the year, I bought this Bible for us to read together.  I've never read one of the One Year bibles but I really like how it's set up & tells you what to read each day.  We have the chronological version in NLT, but there are so many different ones.  We get behind & have to read a couple at a time some days, but I love being able to see how much we've read already just in these first 2 months of the year, & I love that by the end of the year we will have read the whole Bible out loud together.]

After that we went on a short hike walk (Grayson always thinks I'll be more willing to do what he wants to do if he doesn't call it a hike.  He's right...) on the trails at the park.

Living in California, there's not much of a winter & some days I missed that, but I really can't complain about days like this.

Go listen to this song & take a moment to rest & be thankful that God created that need in us.

Friday Favorites

A few of my favorite things I've come across lately...because who doesn't love a good list?

one | This eyeliner by e.l.f.  I have it in black & midnight, but black is my favorite.  I've always liked liquid eyeliner but am not very good with it, but this pen I can handle.  And it's only $2, so it's a win-win.

two | This post by Blair at wild & precious.

three | This blog.  One of my sorority sisters from college + some of her friends started You Can Sit With Us recently & I love it.  It's a great mix of decorating, faith, fashion, travel, food, etc.

four | This scarf.  I've been wanting a leopard scarf for probably a year & couldn't ever find one I loved.  Cait surprised me with it when we went home last week!  It seems to go with every outfit, & I especially love it with my new $7 red jeans from Entourage (my new favorite store...too bad it's only in Georgia).

five | New glasses.  These are what I want to wear, but not what I would usually be brave enough to wear.  I decided to risk it & be brave & I love them.

six | This birthday present from Rachel!  She's so talented & creative & always gives the best handmade presents & cards...my kind of girl!

1st Trip Home!

Last week we finally got to go home for a visit...our first trip back to Georgia since we moved almost 7 months ago.  We got to stay with Grayson's parents for a few days & then with my parents.  Thanks to the odd winter Georgia is having, they got their second snow of the season & we ended up having to change our plans around a little bit, but were glad we got to see as many people as we did!

My parents saved the top layer of our wedding cake for us, so on our 1 year (+ 44 day...) anniversary, we got to eat it!  It was surprisingly good!

Can't wait to go back as soon as possible...I'll really be wanting to after May 5th because I'll be dying to get my hands on a little baby Hollenbeck girl!

Six Things

Lately, I want to blog, but I don't find that I really have much to say.  So...here are six things.  Maybe one day I'll come up with a more worthy post.

one.  Seeley has spent much of her time the past few days in this box.  It's nothing special...just a box we had brought groceries in from Costco, but it has quickly become her most prized possession.

two. We leave early early Saturday morning for a trip home & could not be more excited!

three. I've found that you're lucky to find elf makeup at a California Target.  They just don't seem to carry much, if any.  So I finally was almost out of everything & they had a free shipping deal online, so I bought several things, some for the first time.  I've never spent much on makeup.  I'm picky about eye shadow, & love my Urban Decay I got for Christmas, but everything else, cheap is great & I've loved all of this so far.  Even the foundation...I usually use Bare Minerals, but I can't even tell the difference between the two aside from $5 vs. $30.

four. The bad thing about California: it's a long way from Georgia.  The good thing about California: hikes with friends on sunny January days.

five. ...& sunsets & waves.

six. I went to the eye doctor last week & have new glasses on their way to me.  And I got brave.  I decided to get what I like on other people even though I'm a little scared of them on me.  We'll call this the red lipstick principle.  [I got red lipstick for Christmas.  I love it on other people, but I've always been terrified to wear red lipstick.  As it turns out, when you move thousands of miles away from home, not that many people know you, so you don't care too much if you look goofy.  So I've come to love my red lipstick...& I hope the glasses stick to the principle.]