Sunday Snippets: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: Oh what a week! That doesn't even capture the cray cray, but such is life as of late. One of the good things is the amazing news about same sex marriage rights. Not only am I in favor of this, I also know that the world has so many other things worth worrying about that aren't anti-love rights. Another great piece of this last week that totally worth sharing with all who love a feel-good movie is Paddington. Check it out!

BAD: Feelings of disbelief & people saying the world is coming to an end because of recent governmental & other happenings. Really people? I believe there'll be other happenings that'll be the end of the world. But do we really want to go there?

AWESOME: All the heart finds that have popped up out of everything amidst the chaos.

WORD: Lamentations 3:22-33 is one of my favorite pieces of scripture. Everything about it is poignant. As the commentator says, this is not the end of the laments for this poet & it isn't the end of our laments. But have hope that Easter comes & comes again.

coming up: work & meetings & gorgeous Pure MI summer weather & a celebration of 4 years as JZ. Love, Life, Spirit, & Sparkle to all!

Friday Favorite!

It's my birthday!!! Call me narcissistic, vain, or whatever, but it's one of my favorite days of the year. 

It's always filled with lots of love & well wishes & a touch of adventure. Today's adventure is exploring more of Pure Michigan with my partner who never fails to lead an adventure or two while jumping in full energy to the adventures I provide.

Life together is beautifully crazily overflowing with Life, Spirit, & Sparkle thanks to Z & all of you!

A giant donut to help with the morning birthday shenanigans!

Tuesday Tea Time!

One of the beauties of living in Pure Michigan - especially up North - is there isn't a single day that isn't good for a campfire. There also isn't a single day that isn't good for a warm cup of tea & we all know that's like a hug in a cup!

Some days are more suited for outside fire-pit fires & others for indoors fireplace fires. The chillier temps & rain on Memorial Day meant an indoor fireplace fire was in order.

Cuddled up by the fire with MG - who's a tad bruised this week recovering from playing with her big dog friends - & my Bubba tumbler of Topsy Turvy Tea Party Tea, I bring you this Tuesday Tea Time!

Today's image brings a smile to my heart knowing the conversations & moments that happen around the table that this little teapot decorates. It's owner proudly stated this past week the "He's (referring to her husband) not a tea snob, but I AM!" We come by this honestly. Though, as much as my mom loves buying me tea & all the accessories, she herself is not much of a tea drinker. BGeG, her mom, & I all are though! Our days start with a good cup of tea, are refreshed in the early afternoon with a second - possibly a third by this point depending on the day - cup, & often end with a final cup. We know the steeping times we prefer for each kind of tea & to some degree the temperature the water needs to be to best suit the different types of tea. BGeG & I even shared our tea bags making two cups of good tea - one for each of us - this past week.

It's a heart smile, heart find, heart warming kinda connection to be able to share a tea bag!

So who wants to come for tea on the porch - after the roof is redone - & share a Tuesday Tea Time?

Friday Favorites!

It's Friday & here's a Favorite!

Yes, rocks, big giant rocks. They're not just any big, giant rocks though. They're Michigan big, giant rocks.

Growing up going camping in MI you knew when you saw big, giant rocks - some may call them boulders - you were deeper into the mitten state & further away from home. According to my mom, it isn't vacation if it's closer than 4 hours to home.

I'm not sure she'd say that any longer, but that's what classified a family vacation for my childhood. We didn't often go too much further than 4 hours away either, which is why it was safe for my mom to say that made a vacation.

These rocks strike me today as one of the few things in life that seems to withstand time. While no doubt these rocks have changed season by season with the Northern Michigan weather & regular visitors climbing on them despite the neighboring signs that say "stay off the rocks." They still seem quite large & untouched.

I post these giant, untouchable, Michigan rocks in memory of my Uncle Ted. Uncle Ted was man who had a story for every adventure & had an adventure for every part of life. Uncle Ted loved Michigan, it's lakes, mushroom hunting, & miniature schnauzers. While there's so much more one could say about Uncle Ted, the stories are what keep the spirit alive, so we'll save the others for another day.

Tuesday Tea Time!

Welcome to Tuesday Tea Time in a piece of Wonderland!

Not only was this tea a fun find back on vacation in February, it has been a tasty delight to many a morning.

This week we're struggling to find that warmer Spring air in the tip of the mitt. I think the sea trolls are mad about the melting ice & trying to make it stick a little longer on their waters under the bridge! Or maybe it's just Spring North of the 45th parallel. You choose!

One of the slightly humorous recent pieces of life that goes with Wonderland Tea is that I sent a package to a dear friend recently intending to include a sampling of Wonderland tea. Naturally I included a card. In the card I am almost certain that I wrote something about the included tea bags - as I meant to share - but the time between writing the card, putting the package together & actually sticking it in the mail was so long that I forgot to include the tea bags. There's a good chance that I've made this all up & I never mentioned the tea bags in the card & the recipient doesn't know they're missing out. Now I've put it out there though, for all to read & I can almost assure you out of all the posts, my dear friend AJO will read this. Clearly my subconscious is saving the Wonderland Tea to enjoy with AJO in person!

That means she needs to visit soon as it is part of my morning tea at least a couple mornings a week. Despite this week's fight for warm Spring air, everything is turning & starting to sprout buds with promises of flowers & leaves in the air. It's the perfect time of year for visitors!

Friday Favorites!

Oh my goodness, it's Friday & I have lots of Favorites this week!

I narrowed it down to this one photo that captures a piece of this week's adventures.

This week Z & I enjoyed a bit of a staycation. Being so work oriented it was a challenge for us to take time to do the things that you always want to do, but end up doing some more work related things instead.

I'm really good at busying myself with cleaning projects as well. On today's list is a bit of financial awareness work. Fun, not so fun!

We didn't simply take the week to stay at home, but ventured out for just a 2 night stay a few hours away. And what a difference it makes in one's daily pattern to step out of the normal & away from the work & projects! We've been told time & time again that to make life happen living in a more rural part of the country, the best way to keep a piece of sanity, at times, is to go on adventures, big & small. No matter the size of the trip, count it as an adventure.

This week's piece of adventure was watching, listening, & taking in the sights, sounds, & smells of the cracking of the thin layers of ice coming into the bay in the morning. This was just a piece of life that is preparing the town for Summer visitors.

Happy adventures - big & small!

Sunday Snippits:good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: Watching a movie you enjoy the day after watching a movie that horrified you. There are certain movies that you see the previews for & think along the lines of 'if I watch that it will need to be in my home so that I can turn it off or walk away when I want.' Then you find yourself renting the movie & so enthralled by the story line that is horrifying you that you don't turn it off or walk away. I followed Gravity with two episodes of How I Met Your Mother's final season that I'm still working on finishing. Then the next day I chose to watch the movie The Hundred Foot Journey. This second movie was much more my speed! The love for food, travel, adventure & connection to life struggle is beautifully woven into reality throughout the story.

BAD: The desire so many of us who love living in the great north have for Spring to appear soon this time of year. It would be scary - in my opinion - if it came earlier than March. However, we pull out all the tricks to endure the gray winter months & are very thankful for the days with cloudless skies & sunshine. Some people just cannot be shook of the grump that sets in & those of us that can even everything out. All in all making us all a bit mad, bonkers, & off our heads!

AWESOME: Days of unexplainable sunshine in Pure Michigan in January! Go with the flow sorta work days, friends reaching out for prayers & sharing in life near & far.

WORD: While I have yet to finish I Am Malala - & maybe I never will - I have been enjoying The Paraclete Book of Hospitality. This is one of several books that I thought I would use for my graduate studies capstone project & simply did not get around to until the last week or so. A short easy ready & being based in Benedictine thought it gives some great Biblical & other references.

coming up: This is a very exciting week filled with many reunions & many gatherings of new friends at the Extravaganza!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

Credit to The Telegraph

GOOD: Today is Installation day! Some have joked that all these big churchy terms like consecration, ordination, & installation should really just be regal & therefore like a coronation. While consecration made life as a Diaconal Minister that much more real, this will set our current calls in stone (the sword in the stone?!). This week we have experienced the quiet of January, so it is nice to celebrate the church with so many people today. Christmas is put away at the JZ Parsonage with a few remaining wintry decoration pieces filling the shelves. And in place of the Christmas tree now sits a bench we were gifted (by gifting others we were able to gift ourselves) that is really for our front porch. In the middle of January in northern MI it is not so much fun to put things on the front porch, so in the living room it sits for now. Though we think it'll be alright outside year round. It was a decent accomplishment simply to take the pieces out of the box & assemble the bench to start!

BAD: The other day we decided to check out our local Family Video - yes we live in a town without a Redbox & a classic video rental store instead - & it appeared that the majority of the films that were on the wall considered "New Release" were about warfare on a broad spectrum. This could be warfare in history, spiritual worlds, or made up worlds. What's the deal? We don't have enough warfare in our day to day living or world that we need to infiltrate more through media. No thanks!

AWESOME: Sharing in the joy of our friends' ordination & commissioning services happening across the country. While I sincerely wish we lived close enough to each event to be able to attend - & let's be honest, that means living somewhere in Z's part of the mid-west (Minnocentric Midwest) - that is not the case nor the need of the church. We are where we all are because we are called & set apart to live as leaders in the church.

WORD: So I've realized that I've stopped receiving a daily devotional that I often relied on to share something here. I tried to switch the e-mail address it went to & now I don't know where it's actually going. I'm working on starting something new.

coming up: Living the life in the winter wonderland of Pure Michigan!

Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday!

I have to say it has been a delightful couple of days away from the computer & much of technology & enjoying the holiday weekend.

Here's a favorite moment of sharing the beater from mashed potatoes with MG to celebrate having her for 1 full year.

Ever since I was a little girl I've always liked mashed potatoes & I've always enjoyed the beaters, just like you would with cake batter. Don't worry, I also like the beaters after mixing cake batter too!

I've always had a special place in my heart for small dogs too. So it's only appropriate that potatoes & puppies come together, right?!

Friday Favorites!

Yesterday was a beautiful day to bike around Pure Michigan and we just happened to do it by tandem on Mackinac Island.

Happy adventure days await!

Sunday Snippits: good, bad, & awesome!

GOOD: Amidst all the rain there will be sunshine. Tomorrow, tomorrow, the sun will come out eventually tomorrow. Right Annie?! This week was packed with a little of this & a little of that. Each day until yesterday was filled with gray skies & lots of rain. There was so much rain that both Z & I didn't realize how depressing it had been till the sun came out & stayed out & made us so wonderfully happy & warm. The crazy part about the warmth is it was possibly the coldest day of this Fall yet. I actually pulled my winter 3-in-1 jacket out of the closet yesterday & didn't regret it one bit. As you can see from the photos, it was quite brisk. Wednesday we enjoyed the evening with the folks of our church & supported the youth in their annual fundraiser over a meal of spaghetti & a silent auction. We even won our bid for a gift certificate to the Dam Site Inn! Joyous times continued with the a visit from Ma & Pa N. We introduced them to the Cheboygan Brewing Company one evening, spent a low key day around town the next day, & enjoyed an afternoon exploring the local area near Petoskey the day after that. We tasted some wonderful apple donuts from Uncle Frank's & topped off the evening with dinner at the Petoskey Brewing Company. 

BAD: Ebola & other life altering viruses with no distinct remedy or no named diagnosis for some.

AWESOME: Making new friends. Meeting people at random, connecting over furbabies & thinking you'll actually keep in touch. AND getting to talk with friends - even if over Skype - who are together & in the same country as me & hopefully I'll get to see one if not both of them soon & creating so much excitement about these wonderful people that you can't even type in a real sentence. See what sunshine does to me?!

WORD: My friend MBR's blog Stumbling Into Faith

COMING UP: Life on the road again. A few days for work, a few days for fun.

Friday Favorites!

Friday Favorites!

It's Friday! Thursdays I try to stay off of computers & phone because it's Z's day off & so I treat it as my day off. (But if SFC is reading this, I didn't ignore your call, I genuinely believe we are in a game of phone tag!)

This week appears to be a week of little photography. Honestly I generally review my Facebook newsfeed to pick my Friday Favorites. Today nothing caught my eye that wouldn't have been too repetitive.

So today I searched on Google one of the places we visited on our day off yesterday. This picture is an aerial view of the former state hospital in Traverse City now known as The Village. In attempt to preserve the buildings, the city has refurbished the different floors for boutiques, restaurants, law offices, yoga studios, condos, vacation rentals, & more.

As somebody who loves to see historical places being put to use today & thriving in community, this was quite the little piece of adventure in my week.

Now who wants to looks into renting a space for a few days of vacation with me?!

Friday Favorites!

I know I know, most of you who follow me have prolly seeen enough Michi photos to last a life time. This past week though there was so much good that fit into Fridays I had to include this photo simply because it says "Happy Day!"

The first day of Spring, the slightly warmer temps, the adventure back to MI from hoosierland, the delicious turkey burgers we made last night, the changing ministry opportunities, & the connections I continue to make with friends new & old. All are favorites!

May your Friday be filled with many favorites too!

Friday Favorites!

Meet MG!

I know, you're thinking, haven't you had her for a couple of months now? Well it took a couple of months & one of the coldest days of the Winter for us to call the groomer who naturally could squeeze her in on that sub-arctic temperature day.

AND NOW WE CAN SEE HER EYES!

Her fur was masking her true size & now we're reminded how truly little & young she is.

How were your eyes opened to a new light this week?