blogspot is SO last season.

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friday.

i've been dreaming in technicolor lately and thought i might share.

happy friday.

1. purple

i've been wanting to make these

this guy on vinyl...magic

and these beauties growing in my backyard

2. brown

homemade table...swoon

sun tea- my newest addiction

handmade gift idea

3. yellow

Awesome outdoor dining idea!

(http://blissfulfetes.blogspot.com)

anthropologie, of course

oh hello mustard cardigan, you would look great on these broad shoulders

uh huh.

finals are over.

that is a statement accompanied by multiple fist pumps and a gigantic, ginormous sigh of relief.

now that school is over, i have been able to do things that have really been needing to be done.

i cleaned the house.

washed 2 cycles of dishes.

did the laundry.

washed our sheets.

went grocery shopping.

also, i've been able to spend more time with this fool.

isnt he cute?

i'm glad we've been able to hang out and spend time together, especially since life hasn't completely settled down.

this is my relieved face. SO glad to be done with school for the semester.

AND good friends of mine are getting married tomorrow. i cant believe it. i couldnt be happier for them. tomorrow is going to be awesome and that will be the perfect end to this crazy week.

finals.

its finals week. tomorrow i will be done and i can almost taste it.

which means now i'm here putting off studying with the cub.

i've noticed i dont do well towards the end. heres hoping i snap out of this.

air.

on saturday, nay and i had the great pleasure of starting a new church service at our church on saturday nights. we ended our thursday night college group and dove into something scary and wonderful. nathan spent all day setting up and making sure mics worked and the decorations didn't look like my kindergartners did them. he worked so hard to make sure this service was uplifting, from God, and true.

he did a great job. he was nervous, but i love seeing him nervous. he is so good at what he does, and i couldnt be more thankful.

this time in our lives has come with a great price. our saturdays are now spent in preparation and awaiting what God is going to do that night. relationships are being tested and rifts are starting to take the spot, nail by nail and plank by plank. it is an odd feeling when you know God is taking something away in order to give you something better, but that taking away, it is painful. it leaves a hole. it is like that spot on your back you cant scratch.

there is movement in the air. there is change blowing around us tempting for us to take it.

and i think we will.

new life

hello.

i've never been great at keeping this thing updated, but i feel like I've been really bad lately.

which came in handy today.

i started to blog yesterday and then remembered that i have way too much homework so i closed the screen and started on that.

this so happened to be a good thing, and i'll tell you why.

it just so happens that last night we went to dinner at our friends house and while we were making dinner, our good friends announced they were having a baby.

a baby!

like a living thing that is inside her belly that is part him and part her. that will give them joy and pave the way towards a new future.

it is a step that is long and difficult and will bring them closer together. it will make them a real family. it will make her a mother, and him a father. they have held many titles: friend, daughter, son, wife, husband, secretary, ministry partners, drape slingers, disneyland parters, muppet lovers, movie goers, roommates and the list goes on.

but now.

now they are parents.

mother and father.

i am spending more time looking for baby clothes, deals on cribs and strollers.

i still am in shock and it's not even me!

CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO!

P.s. Hawaii was good. i mean great. i mean over the top perfect. i didnt bring my camera since most of the trip was really just to enjoy the island, but i did manage to snap these on a hike we took.

you say hello, i say goodbye.

this coming week will be glorious.

nathan and i will be going to Hawaii to enjoy some much needed rest and relaxation. we will walk and white beaches and enjoy the sun browning our skin. we will hike to waterfalls and caves, and swim in oceans bluer than we have ever known.

this coming week will be exactly what we need, because last week, well it blew chunks.

nathan and i have always wanted a bulldog. i'm not quite sure what it is about bulldogs that get us so gaga (who am i kidding? i know! it's their slobbery faces, droopy eyes, tongues that dont fit in their mouths, paws too big for their body, and simply pathetic faces) but they do. they get us every time.

we will drive slowly past homes we know have bulldogs. we will interrupt a conversation in order to point out the bulldog walking by. we have books devoted to the care and training of bulldogs, but we have never had one- until last week.

we finally got a bulldog.

and two days later we had to return him to his original owners because he and duke couldnt get alone. growling, fighting, and mean playing ensued and it left duke whimpering and the bulldog unable to deal with our dog. we took the long drive to return him, and i sobbed as we left their house with no bulldog.

i cried and nathan held me and told me he was sorry and things would be ok.

i know it sounds silly, but he meant so much to us.

we cant wait for this week to be over and this new one to start.

goodbye bully and hello hawaii.

grow.

this past weekend was not spent with hands deep in the earth doing yard work or lazy days of movies and catching up on our favorite shows.

cough, cough (park and recreation, the office, csi) cough, cough.

but it was spent on the couch. doing homework. ugh.

a 10 page paper. varies discussion posts for my online classes, 25 homework questions for my statistics class, a 2 page review of one of my textbooks, oh and a MIDTERM!

it was insane.

luckily nathan so graciously picked up where i left off and did laundry, washed dishes, and even cleaned up the pit of doom. thats what we nicknamed our room this week because it was dreadful.

i just sat on our stupid (but comfy) couch and did assignment after assignment. and once one was done i would start to get distracted and want to go outside for some good ol' vitamin D, but my laptop would just sit there judging me.

so i kept going.

i kept going until i had to go to school today, and believe you me, i'm exhausted. it's only 7:15 p.m. and i'm wondering when i can get into my p.j.'s and not be judged.

oh well, it's over and thats all that i need to know for right now.

on another note, i have been suffering from a repressed green thumb. ever since we bought our house i have been aching to plant flowers and fruit trees and veggies, but with all the other stuff we are doing back there, planting seems to be the last thing on that list.

so since i cant go to the dirt, i decided to bring the dirt to me. they had these little guys in the dollar bin at target, and since i am in such a desperate state for anything that can grow, i gave in and bought three.

parsley, basil, and chives

they sit on my window sill and i look at them everyday in amazement that these green things springing up from the dirt are now alive. what was once dry seeds in a paper bag are now green plants growing on my windowsill.

and they sit there and remind me that i too am growing. i too was once dead but am now sprouting new growth in areas that have once been desolate.

pruning my branches to make room for new growth.

here is to hoping that your branches are starting to sprout and winter hasnt left you too bare.

Video.

this video is awesome and i think more ladies should hear about their men.

Valentines

this was our valentines day.

it was spent with friends of our whom we love and whose paths together are just beginning.

nathan brought home a ton of drape and made this tent for us outside. the twinkle lights and the cold air made the night perfect.

except for the fact that the chicken we made wasnt cooked. like at all. and we had to put it back in and we didnt end up eating until almost 10 o'clock at night.

but we all had a great time talking and laughing and baking and cooking and remembering why that day was so special.

and when we were finished eating we sat in our living room and talked until i had to go to bed.

we had a great time. and love was rejoiced. and relationships were reveled in.

realize.

today kicked my butt.

like a school girl crush trampled by the reality of a love that will never come.

today knocked the air out of my already tired lungs and i lay here in bed just wishing for sleep.

today has made me grateful for the flawless sunny days where my couch engulfs me and surrounds me with silly dreams. thankful for the brief moments of laughter nathan and i shared today watching the westminster dog show.

although today was bad, it wasnt awful.

a storm is brewing and the way i approach it will change everything.

everything.

everything.

i cant get over it. that word gives me chills.

this is not impossible. it is not a situation that will shake my foundation and crumble my spirits.

but they are bruised. they are black and blue with blows that life gives out when you least expect it. and each blow comes without grace or mercy. they come over, and over, and over, and over.

unfortunately, nay had this kind of day today too. we were a bunch of sad saps who just looked at each other hoping this day would end sooner.

but tomorrow has a promise and hope that i have taken for granted. i love how the terrible, no good days make us realize what a blessing those mundane days really are.

times.

hello friends.

i cant believe that it is already february. it seems like just yesterday we were buying our christmas tree and nathan was so bravely putting up thousands of twinkling christmas lights on our house to make me happy. the feeling of christmas going is almost as sad as i am happy when it comes.

does that make sense?

anyway, it's february and that means valentines day, THREE days off of school for presidents and their days, a couple birthday parties, and hopefully catching up on some of the projects here at the jones house. and boy, do we have projects. when they said we would always be working on the house they didnt lie. holy smokes, and most of these projects are things we started but couldnt finish because of weather, time, or supplies.

it's quite rude that those projects dont just finish themselves! dont they see we have too much to do?!

anyway , valentines day is coming up which is sort of a tough idea for me. dont get me wrong, i like that there is a day dedicated to being loving and showing someone that you love them, but i just feel that the expectations are completely unrealistic. i mean, i think this is cool:

but i just wish that there wasnt so much pressure for the dude to make the girl happy. it's really a holiday for us ladies. and it's not like i am exempt from this- i've been plenty bummed with nay for not doing something cool or forgetting what i asked for.

so, this year, i just told him what i wanted- him to learn, play, and record some love songs for me but to do them his own way. change the melody or the words- whatever he wanted. i gave him a list of songs and one of them is 'fools rush in' by elvis. dog gone that song is amazing. i have been hearing him now and then playing some of the songs and it literally gets me all teary. i love it. (in case you are curious, other songs are: the way you look tonight, follow you into the dark by death cab, and when i'm 64 by the beatles.)
i love elvis. and johnny. i've been listening to some johnny cash as of late and it has been filling my heart with happy. anyway, the fact that it says 1:03 p.m. in the upper right hand corner of my computer means that i need to get my stuff together to get ready to go to class. having class in the middle of the day is sort of a bummer but if we end up getting a scooter it will serve me well.

nothing new

it's been a while. but it usually takes a while for me to blog so i'm not really that bummed about it. i do however get sad when someone blogs something truly profound and exciting, and then nothing for DAYS. it just feels mean.

anyway, nothing much new here. i started school this week and i'm not as freaked about my schedule as i thought i would be, especially taking a stat class. (eek!)

but a few things have been going on...

we have been thinking about getting one of these:

started eating better and sweating it out to the grueling work outs of this drill Sargent. (still havent noticed ANY ANY ANY difference. it's been a couple weeks but so what? i want results now!)

it is finally friday- which is so great because i dont think i could take one more day with boogers and sticky fingers in my face. a girl can only take so many boogers ya know?

i just got new shoes. they are SO cute, but the size 7 was too small and the 71/2 are too big.

really?

boo i say to you target shoe selection.

vices

i've found that the blogging world is pretty forgiving.

i've read blogs devoted to stories of mothers who are at their wits end with the pickiness of their children and the monotony that comes with marriage and children. entire blogs devoted to their failures and their genuine journey to find themselves cleaner than when they started. there is a comfort behind these letters that form these words that came from thoughts that occurred during an event that changed something in us, and there is something about sharing that with someone.

there is a unity and an intense venerability as we post pictures of children, our wedding days, holidays spent with family and friends, these are invaluable moments that we care enough to capture with a camera, and we upload them for the world to see.

i love that we love to share.

these things make me feel better about confessing some of my vices to you all.

CAUTION: if you are afraid of learning these tid-bits about your dear friend than i suggest that you look away and switch to another blogger that you stalk from afar. dont act like you dont do it.

vices of mine:

1. mark wahlberg movies. i'm not sure what it is, but i can always go for a mark wahlberg movie.

2. 90210. when i was a kid i wasnt really supposed to be watching it, but i loved it then, and continue to feed that addiction by owning seasons 1-8. (insert judgment here)

3. blue push pops. they are heaven in candy formation and make your spit taste like fruit juice after hours of finishing the sticky monster!

4. thrift store shopping. it's not that bad, i dont go super often or spend lots of money, but the feeling of going into a thrift store fills my heart with happy.

5. crap t.v. i cant help it, i love watching shows like 'tool academy' and 'celebrity rehab with dr.

drew'.

which leads me to the reason for the blog. i have vices sure, but i have never had an addiction. never a substance that i couldnt go without (other than the obvious air and water). i cant even begin to fathom the depths of pain that causes someone to fill their body with things that will kill them. that numb them so life is easy. to calm them because there is too much going on.

and there is an unspeakable bond between addicts.

they share a connection that no one who hasnt been in their situation understands. on the show one of the alumni patients was asked how long he had been sober to which the answer was 6 months. the current patients roared with applause and there wasnt a dry eye in the house. to me, 6 months is no big shakes. it is the equivalent of 2 semesters at school, which is not a huge deal.

but for these people, it is monumental.

it is worthy of applause and tears and words of encouragement.

i want to start to think of myself in that way. i am so hard on myself.

i pick apart my appearance, weight, education, and status until i am left with nothing but more weight on me than i would like and a sad face.

but i am going to try to look at myself with hope, and every day that i get closer to who i want to be deserves applause and encouragement and love.

because after all, all you need is love. and jesus.

and apparently mark wahlberg.