While You Weren't Watching......

While downloading some pictures from my camera, I found these (snapped when everyone else was watching Alabama win the National Championship). Mischievous lil cuties. Love them!

Link Love

I love blogs. My love borders on addiction. I never loved cooking so much until I began to read blogs, or more specifically blogs with beautiful pictures of food. Because I love so many blogs that it would take the whole right side of this page to list them all, I'll highlight a few of my faves each week.

One of my most recent favorites is Knock Off Wood.   Written by a stay-at-home-mom, the blog features plans and step-by-step instructions on how to build your own copycat version of some of the most loved pieces of brand name furniture. Each week, she also has a 'brag board' where readers send in projects they've completed using her plans (see below).

I have vivid memories of my Dad doing quite a bit of woodworking when I was younger - the result of which produced the most beautiful, humongous Barbie doll house you've ever seen. Now I'm hoping I can talk him into digging those tools out again and building something for me from one of these plans!

And while I"m at it, Copy Cat Chic is also a good site to use when you've had your eye on an expensive item that you can't bear to pay that much for. The site regularly posts more affordable 'look-alike' options for those of us who are poor on a budget.

A Real Fixer Upper

A little less than a month ago Chase and I placed our house on the market. We knew we needed to sell the house, but listing the house in such a low market was really hard to swallow. Chase had purchased the house the summer before he started dental school....and at the height of the housing market (read $$$). 

For some reason, I felt really frustrated when we listed the house. I think it was because I have a healthy obsession with real estate. I could look at MLS listings for hours, I love watching staging shows on HGTV, pouring over Pottery Barn catalogs, and a good 'before & after' renovation. Chase and I had agreed when we got married that we wouldn't put much any money into the house - knowing that we would not likely see a return on our investment. Still, seeing the pictures on the real estate website made we wish that I had painted this wall, or hung that picture, etc.

And then I came across this passage from the book "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequist.

"On my worst days, I start to believe that what God wants is perfection. That God is a new-house God. That everything has to work just right, with no cracks in the plaster and no loose tiles. That I need to be completely fixed up. I think that God's kind of people are squeaky-clean people whose garages don't leak, but really a lot of the people God uses to do amazing things are people who don't necessarily have it all together. A lot of the best stories in the Bible, the ones where God does sacred, magical things through people, have a cast of characters with kind of shady pasts, some serious fixer-uppers.

On my very best days, as an act of solidarity with my house, since we're both kind of odd, mismatched, screwed-up things, I practice letting it be an old not-fixed-up house, while I practice being a not-fixed-up person. I wear my ugly pants, the saggy yellow terry-cloth ones with the permanently dirty hems, and I walk around my house, looking at all the things that I should fix someday, but I don't fix them just yet, and I imagine God noticing all the things about me that should get fixed up one day, and loving me anyway and being okay with the mess for the time being."

A friend recently reminded me that our house has come a long way from its beginnings. Here are a few shots of what the house looked like when Chase bought it (with the previous owner's belongings).

And for all who care to see, here's the link to our MLS listing: www.3049SummitDrive.BestHomeAround.com 

Musical Musings

There's nothing I love more than a good praise and worship session. That's one of the reasons Chase and I adore our church home. Neither of us came from churches with a big choir, but you wouldn't believe the energy and passion that they add to our Sunday morning services - it's a blessing just to witness their worship. I think it's so amazing that God can be glorified through any genre of music - though it's not surprising; He did create all things.

One of the artists I love to worship with is Kari Jobe. Her music and voice take me back to the days when I worshiped at Discovery Church. She doesn't make very many trips to our area, but she's coming to Church of the Highlands on April 7th, and I"m dragging Chase with me. I can't wait!

If you've never heard any of Kari Jobe's music, listen here (for my Mother, who always asks me "Is it on YouTube?" ha).

Leave of Absence

I'm back. I know all 3 of you missed my infrequent posts :)

Truth is, we Tysons have been busy since the last time I wrote! We spent most of our weekends in February and March on the road.

We went to Gatlinburg with Chase's family for a nice little weekend getaway - whole family in tow(National Lampoon style, ha). It snowed while we were there, but not enough to stick. I wish I had taken pictures....

Speaking of snow, we finally got more than a dusting here in Birmingham. It was lovely!

We celebrated Dad's birthday with the Walker grandparents(again, I didn't take any pictures). But here's one of my favorites of Dad and I from my wedding.

We also said goodbye to a dear friend and loved pastor. If you never got a chance to hear him share the Word, you sincerely missed out. He was a true example of faith, and will be greatly missed.