21 Graces | Week 3

My favorite weekly link up - 21 Graces.  See an introduction here.

one. Discovering a Starbucks gift card we didn't know we had.

two. Starting to decorate & make our apartment look more homey.

 

 three. Someone to eat things that I bake.

four. Weather cool enough to wear the Brooks running shirt I got on a realllly good sale a few months ago.

five. Finding a park where I can run.

six. Open windows.

seven. Having new pictures printed.

eight. Perfect sunroof weather.

nine. Real letters in the mail.

ten. Book recommendations from friends.

eleven. Kitchen gadgets that just make me happy.

 twelve. Making pretty letters.

thirteen. Funny-looking California squirrels.

fourteen. Quality people watching.

fifteen. Good nail polish that actually stays on for more than a day without getting chipped.

sixteen. Salted caramel sauce.

seventeen. A mantel to decorate.  Still a work in progress...

eighteen. Walks around the little downtown areas around here.

nineteen. Old tv shows.

twenty. Spending some time in a Hebrew/Greek dictionary.

twenty-one. A recovered journal.  Sometimes I just get tired of one before it's out of pages, so it requires a little makeover.

Desperate.

The devotional I read today was on the Samaritan woman that Jesus encountered at the well (John 4).  This woman had a bad reputation.  Everyone in town knew about her.  She'd sought out satisfaction in many men, but had never found fulfillment.  These words from the devotional today really stood out to me:

"We can't know Him as Savior until we recognize our desperate, sinful condition without Him."
[She Reads Truth]

I grew up in church.  I was a good kid.  I never really got in much trouble.  But my sin is no different than the sins of the Samaritan woman.

How often do we recognize our own desperate need for Jesus?  If I'd only sinned once, I would need Jesus.

Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The penalty for ONE sin is death.  One tiny little sin, in our minds.  And we have all sinned much more than that.  That first sin would send us to Hell for eternity.  But that's the beauty of the Gospel...when we find our satisfaction in Jesus & allow His grace to redeem our sins, we are washed clean.

21 Graces | Week 2

Linking up (a little late...) with Jordy Liz Blogs again this week for 21 Graces.

one. A short-lived thunderstorm.  As much as I love all the sunshine & 70s-weather in California, I like rain & I miss it.  It rained for about 10 minutes the other night & everyone at our apartment complex was going outside to look.

two. Hanging things on the walls!  At our old apartment, we found out we'd probably be moving to Cali pretty soon after we moved in, so we never bothered to hang anything.  I'm ready to feel settled again.  I ordered lots of wedding pictures the other day & am ready to start putting them up around the apartment!

three. Having my OWN BED to sleep in again.  And my favorite sheets.

four. A clean kitten.

five. McKinlie starting college.  This seems like the day we've talked about for so long.  With a friend who is 8 years younger than you, it's fun to vicariously experience those exciting days all over again.

six. Trying new recipes.  This week: Flying Biscuit Grits (Flying Biscuit is our favorite breakfast/brunch place in Atlanta), Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo, & Crock Pot Beef Carnitas.

seven. A husband who is great at his job & works really hard.  And I work really hard at not being in a bad mood when he has to work late.

eight. Crafting things for our apartment.

nine. Waking up to bunches of texts every morning because everyone I know lives in a different time zone.

ten. My dad's birthday was this week.  Can't wait til he & my mom come to visit in October!

eleven. Our two year "meetiversary," as Grayson called it.  We met at a Braves game in August 2011 (ironically, since neither of us cares anything about baseball) we went to with our Young Singles department at church.  And then started dating almost a year later.  [This picture was at another Braves game with the YS about a week before we got engaged.]

twelve. And this weekend is a year since we got engaged!  More on that story later.

thirteen. Figuring out where to go to buy what around here.  It's hard getting used to all different brands & figuring out what is cheapest at which grocery store, but I think we've finally got a pretty good idea.

fourteen. Facetiming with my brother!  Technology makes this whole living-on-the-other-side-of-the-country thing a lot easier.

fifteen.  Reorganized Pinterest boards.  Mine had just gotten out of hand.  My recipes are all separated out now & much easier to find.

sixteen.  I also added a board with some of my favorite blogs that I follow & posts that I know I'll need to come back to & read again one day.

seventeen. Unpacking I found lots of treasures.  Some things that were never even unpacked in our old apartment.  Like my favorite cat mug!  [I said this was Cat Eckleberg, but only my brother got it...]

eighteen. I love having our apartment set up.  We have a big window in the living room & I love sitting here in the sun, reading & drinking coffee in the mornings.
 

nineteen. I loved my years in Dahlonega during college & always being able to see the mountains.  Glad to be back near some mountains.

twenty. I love this tree outside our balcony.  I sat outside to paint something the other day & it was just nice to have something pretty & pink to look at.

twenty-one. The countdown is ON.

Weekend Review

This past Saturday, we decided to head north on the Pacific Coast Highway.  

When we visited California back in February, we drove south & loved that...

...so we needed to check out the northern route.  [side note: I couldn't say a lot about our visit when we came because we were considering the move then, but only our families & a few friends knew...maybe a post about that trip later.]

 

My favorite stops this past weekend was at Goat Rock Beach in Sonoma County, [apparently this is where part of The Goonies was filmed.] and the Point Arena Lighthouse.

I feel like I say this all the time, but we really love having new places to explore.  It's especially nice right now while I'm looking for a job, that we can have plenty of cheap or free things to do!

21 Graces | Week 1

Linking up for 21 Graces today with Jordy Liz Blogs.

1. an encouraging husband.
2. trips booked for my parents to visit...
3. ...& for Grayson's parents to come to visit!
4. having a set date of when we'll get all of our furniture & no longer be living in an empty apartment!
5. no-more-air-mattress countdown: 5 more sleeps.
6. real mail from Rachel!
7. having internet again & no more using up all our data on our phones!
8. Skype dates with Cait.
9. a huge Target...
10. ...with a big clearance section that I can't wait to visit once I get a job!
11. apples with peanut butter.
12. a husband who comes home on time at the end of the work day, even if he has more work he has to do from home that night.
13. finding one Christmas tree candle (our favorite & one of the few Grayson approves of) after going to several Yankee Candle stores.
14. free movie tickets.
15. a newly-discovered coffee creamer that I like (though I'm still mourning that I can't find coconut creamer in California).
16. encouraging texts.
17. a Safeway I don't hate (when we came to visit Cali, I apparently only went to the bad ones, but there's a good one close to our apartment).
18. living close to the coast.
19. today was the first time I made coffee since we got married.  223 days ago.  pretty good record.
20. a husband who will come home & play a card game even after he's worked for 12 hours.
21. planning weekend excursions.

San Francisco Woes

This past Saturday we set out to San Francisco, about forty-five minutes from us.  I'm not sure why, but we just don't do San Francisco well.  I think we need some pointers.  Both times we've been, the roads were a nightmare to navigate, GPS got confused, & it was just kind of a let down.  Everyone else I know loves San Francisco...so there must be something we're missing out on.  I think I just need to know the good places to go.

Regardless, we had a good day.  Walked a good ways through Golden Gate park, & then Grayson found a good trail to get a good view of the bridge so I could take pictures.  

I still can't believe the weather.  Or that within 30 minutes we can be standing on the beach!

What are we doing wrong?  Where do we need to be going in San Fran?

July Books

I've always loved reading, but I've never been a very quick reader.  However, I read four books in July!  That's a big deal for me.  I'm not sure if I should attribute that to my kindle, joblessness, or a 4-day road trip, but either way, I'm proud of it.

The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser

Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I loved The Swan House.  I'd pinned this book on Pinterest awhile ago, but then ran across it at a bookstore a few months back when Grayson was perusing (read: spending way more time than he'd actually admit) the "Programming Languages" section.  I sat down in the aisle at the bookstore & read the first few chapters, but then didn't pick it up again until we were at the beach.  Reminded me a little bit of Christy, which is one of my all-time favorites.

Hinds' Feet on High Places is one of my mom's favorites that she rereads every few years, but I'd never read it.  It's a short book, but not necessarily an easy read.  It's an allegorical story of Much Afraid's (the main character) journey to the high places, accompanied by her companions Sorrow & Suffering. 

Divergent & Insurgent were both really good & easy reads.  Divergent is being made into a movie that comes out next spring, so I wanted to have read the books before then.  Can't wait for the next one to come out in October!

I have an Amazon wish list a mile long of books I hope to read, but am always open to more suggestions!