Friday Favorites!

Happy Harvest Pumpkin from Celestial Seasonings! There's no changing the the cooler weather so why not embrace the crisp mornings with a touch of Fall?

As my sister-in-law pointed out, it's boots & jeans weather. I'll add to that & say, it's scarf weather, but when isn't it scarf weather? Scarf's go with my daily life as much as a mug of tea.

Friday Favorites are inspired this week by my co-worker who sweetly surprised me with a box of this tea earlier in the week. While I did make one last batch of sun tea in the last week in my attempts to cling onto Summer, I am not gently welcoming this touch of Fall.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Happy Tuesday Tea Time!

Woah September! Don't go by too fast my friend. Please, sit & stay for a while. I need you to stay for a while. Your warm end of Summer days to make sun tea & enjoy more bike rides in your dusk, strengthen the inner beings. You help make the middle work.

Making the middle work.

I picked this catchy little phrase up from artist Kelly Barton who is a friend of BGEG - my life long bestie - & therefore somebody I clearly need to meet someday.

There's always something more to achieve in life, but yet the true struggle isn't always in the achievements, but in the being you right where you are & knowing you are enough.

How do you make the middle work?

Tuesday Tea Time is my making of the middle work for me...

Thanks for listening September!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome

GOOD: While Z's & my travels to new things has come to an end, my travels for the summer have only begun. For a couple of months now I was planning to work alongside the staff at Michi-Lu-Ca for part of the summer & by part of the summer it really was planned to be most of the summer. Due to some changes in others' summer plans, I am now at camp all summer long! It is a challenge in my career as I have gone back & forth with my love for outdoor ministries, but it is one that I am choosing to not be afraid of & simply jump in running. As long as I continue to center my heart & my head in that still small voice of God, then I know that I am in the right place & bound to make a few of the right choices.

BAD: This means that posting here may be a challenge. At most I will be able to post using my phone & therefore things will be short & formatted funny. So look for random sparkles throughout the summer when I happen to have WiFi. I wish I could've been more put together to pre-write my posts, but that is not the life I live.

AWESOME: Meeting new people. Hearing people's stories & being asked to share mine. Camp is a great place for this.

WORD: I finally finished 'The Color of Tea.' It took some very unexpected, yet well done turns. I encourage it for a good read. I'm fully submersed in a variety of scripture for this summer's worships, so today I shared the image I shared from K-Love's site on Facebook in my picture.

coming up: FULL FORCE SUMMER MINISTRY!

Tuesday Tea Time!

 Welcome Back!                   It's Tuesday Tea Time!!!

We are back up & running with internet at home & glad to be connecting our lives to yours!

SO many things could be talked about after the last month and a half of transitioning. But I'll spare you the boring parts. If you're an avid follower, you know that we moved, not once, but twice. 

We are now settled into our new home - our first house - in Northern Michigan - but not the UP - where there is a lake, river, or Great Lake within' a short walk or drive in every direction. This also means it's pretty regularly sweatshirt weather. Today though, it's a balmy 84 degrees.

I'm taking this chance to make sun tea at least one last time before it gets too chilly to put things outside. That is, things that you want to heat up & steep in their own herbal goodness & not keep refrigerated.

While Fall is possibly my favorite time of the year, there are some things that I would keep all year, like sun tea, if I could.

Here's to keeping your favorite summer things around for another few weeks! And shoot, if you live in the southern part of our country or world, share the love of sun tea year round with us Northerners!

Friday Foto Fun!

photo courtesy of Kelsli 7/12/13

This summer I have missed having a piece of ground to call my patio. Living on the 3rd floor & without a balcony, it gets pretty small inside our apartment. Today we ventured to Lake Josephine for a little fun in the evening sun. We even made a new friend who really was more interested in our football than us. 

Here's to finding those perfect summer getaways not far from home!

Tuesday Tea Time!

TUESDAY TEA TIME!

I've missed this time & am glad to be back to share Tuesday Tea Time with you.

To my surprise this quirky animation is from a t-shirt company called Ript Apparel.

Today, as I drink my chai (a mix of powder & a simple Lipton black tea bag) I'm wondering how am I Living, acknowledging the Spirit, and Sparkling?

This random design for a t-shirt seems to bring Life, Spirit, & Sparkle to life. I'm sure there are more inspiring photos out there, but this was quirky & involved dancing tea, happy tea bags, & singing (or screaming - you choose) spoons.

Recently I have found myself in a weird place between being a full-time student & a graduate still living in student housing, knowing that there's exciting new things coming in the near future, but we don't know what those things are yet. Seriously, I feel all the expressed emotions in this photo. The dancing tea bags because I completed my master's degree (I was never going to do more school after college), the tangled tea "water" because I'm thankful for what I have & hopeful for what is to come (though dealing with friends moving out is sad too), & the singing/screaming spoons...yeah, who doesn't relate to those?!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR YOUR LIFE, SPIRIT, & SPARKLE?

I want your answers!

My efforts & encouragement to you. GET OUTSIDE! (Bike, Walk, Swing, Sit in the Sun!)  READ (I'm taking suggestions being recently graduated & also digging into scripture more freely) COMMUNICATE! (Call a friend you haven't talked to in a long time, write a letter, set up a tea time date!) EXERCISE! (Zumba, Yoga, Tribal Challenges, whatever your thing is! EAT! (good summer produce & don't forget to drink your tea!