stay creative.

i saw this video on jon acuff's blog and loved it so much, i'm posting it on mine as well.

enjoy.

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

friday photos: 2011.34

friday, august 19

t.g.i.f.

saturday, august 20

mr. & mrs. grubbs!

sunday, august 21

day-after-nashiversary

monday, august 22

my roommate babysits cute kids.

tuesday, august 23

lame.

wednesday, august 24

ryan. seth. jessica.

thursday, august 25

don't waste the paste.

another thankful thursday

today i'm thankful for living in a city of dreamers. there's something to be said for a community focused on the arts, chasing ones dreams, and living out its passions. it's inspiring for someone like me who is still trying to figure it all out.

wednesday wisdom #21

"we have the idea that god is going to do some exceptional thing, that he is preparing and fitting us for some extraordinary thing by and by, but as we go on in grace we find that god is glorifying himself here and now, in the present minute. if we have god's say-so behind us, the most amazing strength comes, and we learn to sing in the ordinary days and ways."


-oswald chambers

the beginning of the end.

august is flying by. i usually consider it my least favorite month of the year, primarily due to the outrageous heat. however, this august in nashville has been pretty mild, especially in comparison to earlier summer months. october remains my favorite month, with september falling not too far behind. i love everything about fall, and as usual i have several exciting plans to look forward to in the months ahead, leading up to the end of the year. i know it will all go by much quicker than i would like, but such is life.

i'm also realizing how few of my "11 in 11" i have accomplished. but there is still time to get stuff done, and honestly some of it i don't really care about anymore.

here's to the next four months, the best four of the year.

five moments in five years

as of this past saturday, i have officially lived in nashville for five years. and so, i've compiled a list of my top 5 nashville moments.

(in no particular order)

1. my friends katie and jess are from the north, like me, so this past december we had no problem bundling up and heading out into one of the worst winter storms i've seen in nashville. to us, it was nothing. we hopped in our car and drove to katie's friend andrew's apartment, where we decided to make our first caroling stop. only, we had the wrong apartment number. so we got a practice run of caroling for strangers. we finally found the right one, appropriately made fools of ourselves (in the best way possible), and drove back to our neighborhood. we stopped in on a few friends and also went door-to-door to old neighbors and strangers. we even got free hot chocolate from our favorite coffee shop. we had so much fun that katie (who no longer lives in nashville) promised to come back around christmas this year just so we can do it again.

2. nashville is obviously known for its live music, and a few years ago the mayor helped get a new, free, concert series going, called live on the green. they have pretty well-known artists perform on the lawn outside the courthouse, in the heart of downtown. there was one night in particular where the artist had the crowd sing part of the chorus. and as we did, he backed away from the mike and the band stopped playing their instruments. it was just the sound of 500 or more nashvillians singing... and when nashvillians sing, it might as well be a giant professional choir. listening to that while surrounded by the night sky and the city lights, it definitely ranks as one of my favorite moments in nashville.

3. easter 2010. there wasn't anything super magically about that day, but my family came down for the weekend and it was my first time ever hosting a real holiday. we had absolutely perfect weather the whole weekend (minus the massive amounts of pollen jaundicing everything it landed on). we also all piled in my car and drove down to the jack daniel's distillery in lynchburg, which is an absolutely gorgeous drive.

4. i previously wrote about how i got to be an extra on the set of a movie based off one of my favorite books. after writing that blog entry, i got to go back 3 or 4 other times, and so i have a feeling i might be all over the film. it's set to release this fall and i can't wait to see it. (you can watch the trailer here). also, here's a picture from a scene i'm in:



5. the flood. it seems strange to consider a natural disaster which killed over 20 people one of my favorite moments in nashville; but the way this city pulled together to help out neighbors, friends, and strangers really struck a chord with me. i think it's rare to find the kind of community this town has, especially in a city. nashville has always been a big small town, and that's one of the things i love about it. the flood gave proof to the old saying that it's when we are at our weakest that we are our strongest. if there was ever any doubt in my mind that nashville was home, the city's reaction to the flood changed that forever.

friday photos: 2011.33

friday, august 12

my old college roommate visited for the weekend. these were our plans. we failed. and we were perfectly okay with that.

saturday, august 13

one of the contenders for the 'ugliest tomato' at the east nashville tomato art fest

sunday, august 14

a beautiful evening with the windows open.

monday, august 15

most recent movie choices the roommates made; eerily similar covers

tuesday, august 16

dentistreats.

wednesday, august 17

don't act surprised by this picture.

thursday, august 18

isn't being confused by technology one of the first signs of aging? first google+, now crazy tv remotes.

30 before 30

so i made a list of 30 things to do/accomplish by the time i'm 30... which is in 18 months (let's not go down that road right now, though). anyway. here they are. some are silly. some are boring. but they're all me.


1. reach a healthy weight.
2. read the entire bible, including the apocrypha.
3. read every unread book i own.
4. organize files (paper & electronic).
5. run a 5k.
6. have a small emergency fund.
7. write a hand-written letter and send it via snail mail.
8. leave the country. (it's been five years [minus driving around canada from 3am to 5am once in 2008])
9. visit a new state.
10. go to a drive-in movie.
11. watch the "back to the future" trilogy.
12. watch the dark side of the rainbow.
13. return to warner camp. (it's been six years)
14. buy a little black dress.
15. learn to drive a stick-shift.
16. do something concrete to better my photography.
17. shoot a (real) gun.
18. pay off my 401k loan.
19. become a member of midtown.
20. interview someone who makes a living doing what they love.
21. do something creative with my broken mug.
22. purchase domains for my blog, photographs, and etsy.
23. visit dinosaur world (kentucky).
24. visit mammoth cave.
25. walk the cumberland river pedestrian bridge.
26. make baked caramel apple donuts.
27. go camping. in the woods. in a tent. with friends. (it's been 11 years)
28. visit a physician. (it's been 10 years)
29. discover my story. write it down.
30. make a list of 30 people who have influenced my life.

wednesday wisdom #20

oh the miles we've wasted
in someone else's shoes
empty expectations,
everything to lose
everything that's come to pass,
sand inside the hourglass.

yesterday is broken
tomorrow's far away.
where does that leave us today?
everything that's come to pass,
sand inside the hourglass.

-hourglass, drew holcomb & the neighbors

obsessing over the right things

it seems we live in a world of complainers, debbie-downers, glass-half-empty kind of people. and the thing about these people is they are contagious. after all, misery loves company.

i can easily get caught up in this, and i do far too often. as a means to reverse this trend, i posted a list of things i was thankful for yesterday. and i want to continue.

today i am thankful for friends who feel comfortable enough around me to be themselves. a dear, dear friend shared something with me which she has never told anyone before... and that means more to me then i could ever begin to say in words. today i'm thankful for my dentist (that's for you, jen). for the ability i have to get my teeth cleaned twice a year. something so simple that so many others could never dream of. i'm thankful for cooler temperatures once again, for a working car to get me to the office, for a job that pays my bills, a place to come to at the end of the day which i can call home, the ability to put my feet up on the table, and crack open a good book (and a good bottle of wine doesn't hurt either), and the ability to write in a run-on sentence because this is "merica" and no one is grading my blog. don't tell me what i can't do.

i think it's time we all start obsessing over the good things, no matter how small.

a thankful week

i am thankful for so many things from this past week. and i want to share them with the interwebs.

-rest.

-a rare phenomenon of cooler nashville august.

-gaining new perspective on an old hymn.

-engagements (not my own, just for clarification).

-old friends who, even after going months without seeing each other, can jump immediately into the depths of each others hearts.

-the best roommates a girl could ask for.

friday photos: 2011.32

friday, august 5

an excellent redbox decision.

saturday, august 6

i love lamp.

sunday, august 7

happy birthday, roommate.

monday, august 8

roommate killing it at 12th & porter.

tuesday, august 9

7th read book of 2011 (slightly behind my goal of at least 1 book per month)

wednesday, august 10

roommate's birthday flowers.

thursday, august 11

"now i'll go anywhere i want/i've got ten bucks in my pocket/i'll do anything i want
i've got ten bucks/yeah i still got ten bucks/ten for the lonely street
ten for the friends i'll meet/ten for the love that will shine tomorrow/i still got ten bucks" -"ten bucks", everybody else

a welcomed change.

change is inevitable. sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. the change i want to talk about is most definitely a good one:

the weather.

for the first 23 years of my life, i lived in the north/midwest. (technically michigan and indiana are considered the midwest but this has never really made much sense to me.) that being said, i'm a wuss when it comes to hot weather. as each southern summer goes by i'm realizing that i'm slowly growing accustomed to it, but i still prefer the cooler temperatures.

we had a few lovely spring days here in nashville, but then the cicadas invaded our city for two months and stole the best of what early summer has to offer. by the time they were gone the temperatures were consistently in the mid-to-upper 90's... even as late as 10pm.

but today was different. today was breezy. and in the 80's. oh how i missed the 80's. i know that it's august... and as such i can't depend on these "cooler" temperatures to stick around, but i will most certainly enjoy every cicada-free below-90 day i can.

wednesday wisdom #19

come and rest now, take a breath now.
nothing else can keep us apart.
we're horizon, you and me;
you're the sky and i'm the sea.
bitter storm to peaceful morn,
i will comfort you.
i will comfort you.

-seth harper & stacy lantz

p.s. if you didn't notice, those lyrics are linked to a video...

tuesday tunes: eric vinson

back in may i pre-ordered eric vinson's new album, "rhythm of the world." after listening to it regularly since then, it's still on heavy rotation. some albums get better with more listens, and this is definitely one of them. and today he released it on itunes. so you should get it. it'll make your tuesday better. i promise.

oops.

last week i made chicken curry for my small group. it was the first time i had made it in awhile, and i thought i would post the recipe on here. but then i realized i already had done that. oops. here it is again anyway.

friday photos: 2011.31

friday, july 29






my mom, grandma and i took a quick trip to chicago to have dinner with my brother and his girlfriend.

saturday, july 30






the main purpose of my trip across the midwest was to watch one of my good college friends get married in indiana.

sunday, july 31






i love traveling, and i also love coming home.

monday, august 1






jen's melodica.

tuesday, august 2






one step closer to revealing pictures from april 17 & 18.

wednesday, august 3



flowers.

thursday, august 4



another day at the office. exciting.

the big picture

one of my favorite things about blogging and journaling is going back and reading old entries. i recently read part of my journal from my second year of college. at the time, i thought i knew what i wanted: the career i was studying in school, the boy i was interested in, what i hoped to get out of everyday life. eight years later (holy cow!) i found myself laughing at my former dreams. now that so much time has passed, i am able to see the bigger picture. i know now that had all those desires been met, i would have ended up pretty miserable. and i can also see now that not getting what i wanted at the time ultimately lead to where i am today. and life is pretty great today.

i would like to say that seeing the big picture of my past has enabled me to realize god has reasons for not giving my all of my current desires, but it's not that easy. but i think i'm getting there. one step at a time.

wednesday wisdom #18

"be brave. be strong. don't give up. expect god to get here soon."
- psalm 31:24 the message

tuesday tunes: stacy lantz

so if you know me or have read any of my previous blog posts, you have probably heard me mention my lovely, extremely talented roommate, stacy lantz. i have had the privileged of knowing her for six years now, and have enjoyed watching her grow both as a woman and as a musician. one year ago today our little group of friends celebrated the release of her first album, "patchwork plains". i posted about it here when it went up on itunes last year.

well, because stacy is such a kind-hearted generous lady, she is putting "patchwork plains" up on noisetrade where you can get it for free. and who says no to free things? crazy people, that's who. don't be a crazy person. nobody likes a crazy person.

also, feel free to leave stacy a generous tip. after all, she deserves it. and she's currently car-less (although most definitely not care-less) and could use a set of wheels to get around town, or maybe get to your town for a show. so be kind, rewind. wait, what?

traveler's rest

i just returned from a much-needed vacation, where i spent about 28 hours in a car, about 20 of which i spent in solitude. i have always felt a sense of freedom getting away from routine, with my favorite songs and the gently hum of the highway as the soundtrack. this long weekend was no exception.

i left town wednesday afternoon and drove 4.5 hours north to indianpolis where i visited with stacy g., my college roommate (not to be confused with stacy l., my current roommate whom i also lived with during college. confusing. yes. don't be.) anyway. immediately upon graduating college in 2006, stacy g. and i took a trip with the school to japan. while there, we frequently feasted on a dish called okonomiyaki. unfortunately, we have had much difficulty finding it in the states. but no more! a japanese steakhouse near stacy's home serves it, and i was pleased to revisit such a delicious experience.

the next day i drove 4 more hours to my home town of saint joseph, michigan. my mom and i did not let the rain stop us from attempting a trip to the beach, and as soon as we arrived the rain ceased.

friday afternoon my mom, my grandma and i drove 2 hours west to meet my brother and his girlfriend for dinner in their town, chicago. after dinner, it was 2 hours back east to michigan.

saturday morning i drove the 4 hours back south to indianapolis where i met back up with stacy and her husband, and we then drove 2 hours north to wabash to celebrate the marriage of angie and josiah. it was a festive day and one that truly reflected the personality and relationship of the happy couple. post-wedding we drove 2 hours south to indianapolis.

sunday morning i hit the road again: 1 hour north to anderson, my college town, to attend the mercy house. being part of that community before moving to nashville made a huge impact on my life and i can honestly say i'm a different person because of it. i briefly caught up with my friend matt before the service, and then after drove back down to indy for lunch, and finally the 4.5 hour drive south back to nashville.

pictures coming friday. stay tuned.