Wild & Free

I am such a fan of Jess Connolly. When I heard she was co-writing a book I was like YES! Finally! It took me awhile to get my hands on it (aka I totally forgot about it…) but last week I was in the library and it all but jumped out at me from a shelf. Divine intervention?

This book would be a perfect beach read, although as it stands I have just been reading it from the comfort of my couch, which makes me pretty happy too. It is such a great “Gospel refresher”- a reminder of who we are in Christ and what that actually means for our day-to-day lives. It is specifically geared towards women, which I kind of love.

Here is a brief excerpt:

“The world may tell us we’re too much and never enough.
But we can walk wildly in who God created us to be
and rest freely in the work Jesus did for us.
We do not have to be confined or conformed by cultural expectations.
We are unchained from our past and unafraid of our future.
We choose compassion over comparison.
We love without condition, without reserve.
Our eyes are on God; we hold nothing back;
we run fast and strong; we do not hide our light.
We aren’t wild and free for our sake alone;
rather we sing life, hope, and truth over the world
with abandon – just as our God sings over us.
We are wild and free.
And we are poised to do might things, in Christ alone.”

Also pretty excited about some other books I have on tap- Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (a re-read), Wonder by RJ Palacio, and The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp. I’m envisioning lots of Eno time in the near future…!

Simply Tuesday

Several months ago I came across a concept introduced by author Emily Freeman called “simply Tuesday.” She wrote a book on it (which I haven’t read yet) and also started an Instagram hashtag to promote slowing down and noticing the simple moments in life. I love this quote from her:

“It’s time to release our obsession with building a life, and believe in the life Christ is building within us- one simple Tuesday at a time.”

I wanted to intertwine this “simply Tuesday” idea with another post on intuitive eating, since a few people messaged me to say they enjoyed my “What I Ate Wednesday” post. On this particular Tuesday I had the day off, so I captured my eats and also a few simple moments here and there to share with you. I am not one to always have my phone out, but it actually helped me slow down and notice the little things a bit more.

The day started off gray and gloomy, which I secretly love because I think it’s so cozy! I stepped out on our patio to enjoy the cooler weather and some decaf “bulletproof” coffee. I’ve been doing either decaf or half-caff lately, because all of a sudden regular coffee gets me wayyy too jacked up.

I love slow mornings because it gives me extra devo time! This particular morning I read through 1 Peter 4:7-11. Just a few simple verses, but so beautiful. “Above all, love each other deeply…”

Breakfast was eaten on our coffee table: toast (one side with butter and one with cheddar), scrambled eggs with spinach, and OJ.

After breakfast, I skyped one of my very best friends who is in Greece right now! I love that girl so much. Our conversations always encourage me and remind me to look to Jesus for my joy. Friendships are such a gift, and one that I try to never take for granted.

I have to confess a weird guilty pleasure of mine… watching Rachael Ray while I fold the laundry. I love Rachael Ray (haters to the left) and, strangely, I love folding laundry, so combining the two feels so nice and relaxing to me. It almost never happens since Rachael rudely scheduled her show at 10am on weekdays when I am typically at work, but when it does happen, it makes me so happy!

I spent the rest of the morning running errands, and snacked on these honey roasted peanuts while I was out and about.

I also popped into Barnes & Noble to peruse some books. I am dying to read Love Lives Here by Maria Goff but can’t bring myself to pay $17.99 for it! I’ll have to see if they carry it at our library.

Lunch was soup + crackers, plus I finished off a dark chocolate bar from Trader Joe’s. PSA: Stop making low-sodium soup! Soup is meant to be salty! I think I used like half a shaker of salt on this bowl. Unfortunately I impulsively bought the 8-pack from BJ’s, so I am going to have to find a way to doctor it up in the future to make it more appealing.

My afternoon was super relaxing. I napped, took a walk outside while listening to a podcast, and then started randomly looking at old photographs while I was “cleaning.” I think this might be my new hobby. Nostalgia overload!

This picture is from Halloween of 1997 (or maybe ’98?) and it cracks. me. up. because my brother is a telephone. A TELEPHONE! I wonder if he was smiling for the camera?! We’ll never know.

At some point during the afternoon I snacked on my new obsession: Puffins + blueberries. I crave cold cereal so much in the spring and summer!

Eventually I changed out of stretchy pants (sad) and got ready to go to dinner with friends. Josh got home around 6 so we hung out for a bit before heading to Bar Louie for a triple date with friends from our old bible study in Chapel Hill. I don’t think I’ve been on a triple date before? It was fun!

The Tuesday $5 burger special will forever have a place in my heart. I got a turkey burger topped with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and pickles. Plus TOTS on the side! (Can anyone my age eat tater tots without thinking of Napoleon Dynamite?)

We got home and for some reason I was exhausted, so I crashed into bed almost immediately. The day was nothing spectacular, but at the same time, I went to bed that night feeling so grateful. To have amazing friends, a husband I adore, a job I love, delicious food every day, books and music and photographs… Life is good, y’all.

“And what does the Lord require of you…?”

It seems that suddenly, Josh and I have found ourselves in a season of busyness. When we first moved to the Raleigh area last October, we were not fully involved in anything yet aside from going to church once a week and hanging out with friends here and there. These days, though, it seems like there are so many things on the table that we either: a) are already involved in, or b) could be involved in. The kicker for me is that they are all good things! There don’t seem to be many easy “no’s.”

Fresh eggs from one of Josh’s patients 🙂

One day as I was driving home from work, I was talking to God about this and basically asking Him, “What do You want from me, Lord?!” I felt like the Holy Spirit prompted me to think of Micah 6:8. When I got home, I went to read the verse in its context.

       “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
       He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you
but to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?“ -Micah 6:6-8

First of all, I love verse 7 because it points to the Gospel! God sacrificed His firstborn son for our transgressions, and Jesus gave His body for the sins of our souls. I’m pretty sure that atonement is the only reason we can live out verse 8.

On my own, I can’t live out those things very well because my sin causes me to be constantly bent towards myself, seeking my own glory and honor rather than God’s. But since we are new creations with new spirits inside of us, we can submit to the Spirit and walk humbly with God.

I feel like God used these verses set me free in a way, because they reminded me that He isn’t sitting there with a mile-long checklist for us to complete. All of those events and ministry opportunities that Josh and I are contemplating are good things, but God never tells us to pack our schedules so full that we don’t even have time to rest in His presence and cultivate the character that He desires for us. How can I walk humbly with God when my pride is in the way?

Flowers at the Durham farmers market

I so desperately do not want to be one of those people who is involved in 8 million things and doing zero of them well. Because I have a hard time “doing nothing” (aka resting, which is totally necessary and good) and because I truly do enjoy being involved in a variety of activities, it’s so difficult for me to say no to opportunities that come my way. I love that when I asked God for wisdom about this, the answer He gave me was so simple. It wasn’t a to-do list so long that I got anxiety just looking at it, but instead it was three simple items that reflect a heart surrendered to Him.

I’m convinced that God cares more about our hearts than He does about our schedules. Of course God delights in the details of our lives, and I guess in some ways, our schedules reflect what is in our hearts. At the same time, I don’t think He’s looking for a bunch of robots to do “busy work” for Him (flashback to sitting in 6th grade doing worksheets while the teacher was planning their spring break vacation or something). God will accomplish His will on earth whether His followers are involved in two things or 20. What He wants is genuine believers with hearts of love and mercy, who are walking humbly with Him not just in church but in the grocery store, at work, in the kitchen…

I can’t say that I am now crystal clear on the specific things that Josh and I should or shouldn’t commit to. What I do feel clear on, however, is what God wants of me no matter what I’m doing- to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him.

Unhurried

Does anyone else feel like God is patiently teaching them the same lesson over and over and over again? I’m thankful He is so gracious with my stubborn little heart. For me lately, the theme has been slowing down, which I have written about before here.

I am rereading a book by Alan Fadling called “An Unhurried Life,” and it is dramatically shifting my whole mindset. I think that somewhere along the way (I’m guessing sometime between college and entering the workforce), my default mode became HURRY HURRY HURRY. I once read a quote that said, “Life is not an emergency,” and I literally had to think about it for awhile to let it sink in. It’s not??

Downtown Durham

In “An Unhurried Life,” Fadling talks about how Jesus was relaxed, yet fruitful. I think a big problem for me is that I equate being relaxed with being lazy, and that is just not true.

The book cites the classic Bible story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) as evidence that we are called to be willing to abandon our own agendas and slow down in the name of loving others. If you remember from the story, there was a man laying on the side of the road bleeding and in need of help. Two different people, a priest and a Levite, saw the man but passed him by without so much as a word. The third man, the Samaritan, not only stopped and “bandaged his wounds” but paid for him to stay the night at an inn and then came back the next day to check on him. Wow. After reading that, I had to ask myself some hard questions- would I have stopped and cared for the man in that way? Or am I too busy following my own schedule and trying to be “productive” and “efficient” that I pass by people in need?

This little bouquet sitting on our table has been making me so happy 🙂

One reason I love my job is because it gives me so many opportunities to directly care for others. As I’ve been reading this book, however, I’ve been realizing how often I do a poor job of that because my mind is so focused on being efficient- getting our tasks completed, achieving goals, finishing documentation, and wrapping up the day in a neat and tidy bow. I will be the first to admit that I have so much to learn when it comes to being present and loving others. I know it is possible to go through the day in a relaxed and unhurried way while still getting everything done that I need to, and I have been asking God to show me how to do that.

Fadling prompts us to ask ourselves, “Is the pace of my life Christlike?” He goes on to say, “What if I learned to work from a place of unhurried abiding? Isn’t that what Jesus did? We find no evidence that Jesus was ever in a rush. In fact, there is more evidence that at times Jesus frustrated His followers because of His lack of hurry. Jesus lived an unhurried and fruitful life. This fact can sound like an oxymoron to us.”

Slow meals eaten outside with good conversation and wine = the best.

I want to live an unhurried yet fruitful life; to create margin so that I have time to slow down and meet the needs of others. Listening, loving, and caring for others cannot be rushed, as much as I often try to make it that way. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13- love is patient. Am I patient? These are the things I’ve been thinking about and asking myself these days. I don’t want to get to the end of my life, or even to the end of the day, and feel like I just sprinted through the finish line of a marathon but didn’t notice any of my surroundings or talk to any of the people that were running alongside me. I want to reach the end of each day knowing that I walked in step with Jesus, that I loved others in His name, and that I completed the good works He prepared in advance for me to do. I am becoming increasingly convinced that those things can only happen as I seek to eliminate anxious striving and instead live an unhurried life.

Dinnering

Soo before I was married, I could make a crockpot meal on Sunday and have it last nearly all week for dinners. Now… not so much! Sometimes I love cooking in the evenings and other nights I just want to pour a bowl of cereal and call it a day. Anyone else? I thought it would be fun to write a post on some of the easy (my #1 criteria for recipes) and delicious dinners we’ve been making lately! I apologize in advance for all of the shameless Trader Joe’s plugs I’ll be making.

This weekend was so warm and sunny that I was really craving a salad, which almost never happens. I picked up the salad kit pictured below from Trader Joe’s, then added roasted butternut squash, chicken, avocado, and some extra sunflower seeds.

This is what my salad dreams are made of!!! Josh boldly claimed that it was the best salad he’d ever had, and I might have to humbly agree. 😉

I’ve also been craving pesto! I need to make some of my own this summer, but for now, I think the grocery store is doing a great job. For this meal I cooked pasta and then when it was done I mixed in about half a jar of pesto, sundried tomatoes, some spinach, and chicken.

Easy peasy. This felt so “summery” to me! Will definitely be making it again.

Since we had leftover pesto, I decided to mix it up with some potatoes and salmon for another dinner. The salmon is from Costco and it is the bomb dot com.

If you haven’t tried pesto roasted potatoes yet, you must!

Another easy weeknight meal is crockpot BBQ chicken. Throw in frozen chicken thighs along with Carolina Gold BBQ sauce (from Trader Joe’s, where else?), chopped onion, apple cider vinegar, and then cook on low for 6 hours.

For sides I microwaved sweet potatoes and then made the easiest coleslaw ever using a bag of broccoli slaw + mayo + a little vinegar and sugar. Side note: we love eating outside but don’t have any patio furniture, hence why this meal was eaten on the ground!

If all else fails, we whip up breakfast for dinner. I actually loooove this meal and would probably be happy eating it every night of the week.

Just so you don’t think I’m some domestic diva who spends hours in the kitchen, rest assured that there are plenty of nights where we eat leftovers or go to Bar Louie for their burger special. Also, I neglected to mention this in the post, but Josh is quite the chef as well and I love it when he cooks for us. 🙂

Hope this gave you some meal inspiration and if you have any easy dinner recipes up your sleeve, send them my way!

 

 

Loving Lately [#9]

First things first: my brother got a puppy and look how adorable he is!!! His name is Ren. On a very much related note, I am unfortunately realizing that if we ever get a puppy of our own, I am probably going to be one of those annoying dog moms who is sure that their dog is the cutest and most intelligent and that everyone wants to know about it.

Here are some other (less cute) things I’ve been enjoying these days:

1. The Kitchen House: A coworker recommended this book to me and I legitimately could not put it down. Josh and I took a 4 hour road trip a couple weekends ago and I think I read this book the entire way, stopping only to express my excitement/sadness/disbelief at how the story line was unfolding. I’m not going to spoil anything, but basically the premise is that an orphaned white girl becomes an indentured servant on a plantation and lives in the “kitchen house” with African American slaves, who become her family. It is a tearjerker, let me warn you, but also such a beautiful story of family and loyalty and all that good stuff. Talking about it makes me want to read it again!

[Source]

2. Bruegger’s Bagels: Last weekend I drove my sister to the airport and she treated me to breakfast! We both got what we consider to be The Classic, because our mom used to order this sandwich there so often. It’s a toasted (crucial) rosemary and olive oil bagel with bacon, egg, and cheese. I also got their cold brew which was amaaazing.

3. Blue Apron: A friend of Josh’s gave us a promo code and we ended up getting three free meals from here- pork burgers, an Asian chicken dish, and falafel pitas. They have all been so so tasty! They do take quite a bit of prep work in my opinion, but that could be because I’m used to throwing some ingredients into a crockpot and hoping for the best. I doubt we will order Blue Apron again in the future just because of the cost, but for now it’s been a fun way to mix things up!

4. Financial Peace University: This is a financial planning class we’ve been taking through our church, and I think it’s safe to say that we are becoming total budgeting nerds. It’s to the point where last week we almost (ALMOST) walked up on stage during class to dramatically cut up our credit card. Say what you want about Dave Ramsey’s extremism, but his program gets people out of debt (hi, student loans), and we can’t argue with that. Plus, the program is based on Scripture and I love seeing how God’s truth is weaved into every aspect of our lives, including finances. If you need us, we’ll be off logging every penny spent into our Every Dollar app.

5. Bar Louie: There is nothing special about this restaurant in and of itself (in my humble opinion, anyway), but on Tuesday nights they do $5 burgers + fries/tots! I am all about a deal (see above) so I was pretty pumped when I found this out. I went last week with some friends and got the Philly burger + fries. Perfect for a girls’ night orrrr just when you don’t feel like cooking on a Tuesday. 😉

Side note: After years of avoiding burgers because I thought they were “unhealthy,” we are happily reunited and I love them! (So excuse me while I include them in every Loving Lately post for the next year or so…)

Love these friends 🙂

Have a great weekend/week and don’t forget to celebrate daylight savings aka that SPRING is coming!

“I press on…”

“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” –Philippians 3:12

Ooooh I love this verse! I love how Paul describes it as Christ taking hold of him, because I can relate to that so much. When I first became a believer, it felt like such a natural response. When I finally got a true glimpse of the love of Jesus, it just took hold of me… there is no other way to put it. It wasn’t a choice I felt forced into out of obligation or drudgery, but simply a joyful response.

In Romans 2:4, we are reminded that it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. Yes! It is that otherworldly kindness and love we find only in Jesus that takes hold of us, and that keeps pursuing us day after day.

Another reason I love this verse is because it doesn’t negate personal responsibility. “I press on….”

All throughout the bible we see this theme of endurance and perseverance. Yet, it is only because Jesus has us in the palm of His hand that we can persevere, and that we even want to in the first place.

Hiking in Virginia last weekend! Getting to this view took quite a bit of “pressing on” 😉

In John 6:39, Jesus tells us that He will not lose a single one of His children. In some paradoxical way that I will never understand this side of heaven, we are completely secure as believers because of the work of Jesus, but we are also completely responsible to choose to follow Him and persevere through trials of our faith. While that may not make sense to our logical, black-and-white thinking minds, it is one of those mysteries that I have seen play out in my own life time again.

I could go on and on about what exactly it was that Jesus took hold of us for, but instead I want to end with this encouragement:

During times when it seems most difficult to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, we can press on with confidence, knowing that “He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6).

What I Ate (Intuitively) Wednesday

If you’re an avid food blog reader, you’ve seen occasional “What I Ate Wednesday” posts. I think a lot of these are great and can give some fun food inspiration, but to be honest, a lot of them also seem to promote disordered eating. A quarter cup of oatmeal topped with three blueberries for breakfast is not a meal, people! That is a snack, at best! Maybe those people really aren’t hungry or something? Anyway. Something I have gradually become more passionate about is FREEDOM in regards to food and body image. I see so many people enslaved to what our culture tells us to look like and eat, and I know for a fact that is not how Jesus intends for us to live (holla at Galatians 5:1 if you don’t believe me!). I know from experience that this way of living is shallow and meaningless; a dead-end road that leads only to a perpetual cycle of self-absorption. NO THANKS.

That being said, I thought it would be fun to share my version of “What I Ate Wednesday,” not as a means of comparison, but rather to share what a day of intuitive eating looks like for me. Key words- for me! That’s the beauty of intuitive eating – when we are actually listening to our bodies, we will be free to eat what we want and how much we want without comparing ourselves to other people who have completely different bodies and lives than we do.

I want to set the stage for this post with a beautiful quote I read recently:

“We become so fixated on the food we eat- or don’t eat- that we fail to realize food itself is not our enemy. Food is a good gift from a loving Father, given to turn our hearts and minds to Him in worship.” –Asheritah Ciuciu

Preach it, Asheritah! Ok, here we go:

I love love love getting up early in the mornings (poor Josh) and typically start my day with a cup of coffee as I read the Bible and journal. This makes such a big difference in how the rest of my day goes! Side note: I like to use coconut milk as my coffee creamer- it makes it taste almost (almost!) like a latte.

This particular Wednesday morning I ended up having enough time to make buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, which are one of my faves.

I cooked this bad boy in coconut oil so the bananas would get all sweet and caramelized and it was the best decision ever. I topped the pancake with sunflower seed butter and maple syrup that my cousins in Ohio tapped themselves!

Since I eat breakfast pretty early, I always get a little snacky before my lunch break at noon. I rarely have time for “real” snacks and usually just grab something in between patients. On this day I had a heart-shaped Reese’s to tide me over. We can all agree that candy in holiday shapes tastes way better, right?!

Normally I am on top of my lunch game, but this past week I worked on Sunday which is when I usually prep meals. I decided to throw together chopped sweet potato and black beans and then added a lime dressing, cumin, and smoked paprika. (Cumin + smoked paprika = best friends.) Once at work, I added half of an avocado. For being thrown together last minute, this meal was pretty good and also very filling!

After work I ran some errands and snacked on this trail mix I made with peanuts, raisins, and banana chips. Um… why has no one told me about banana chips before?! They are so good!

Once I got home, Josh and I did a quick 20 minute workout together at our apartment gym. I’m convinced that workouts are Josh’s love language, so we try to do them together a couple times a week depending on our schedules!

That evening we had a neighbor over for dinner and I made turkey burgers with sweet potato fries and roasted broccoli. You guys, this was the easiest and tastiest meal ever. The burgers and buns were from Trader Joe’s, and then I just used frozen broccoli and frozen Alexia sweet potato fries for the sides. The whole thing only took about 30 minutes to come together. (Don’t you worry- I had double the fries pictured!)

Our friend brought over these Harris Teeter chocolate chip cookies for dessert and they were so legit. I love having something sweet to end the night. This is a great example of intuitive eating for me- instead of resisting sweets, I choose the ones I like and let myself fully enjoy them. There is no need to trash up your precious mind with thoughts of calories, sugar, guilt, or the need to “burn off” “bad” foods. Food is morally neutral, and besides that, there are some things that are just good for the soul.

If you made it to the end of this post then I commend you, faithful reader. Now go enjoy some delicious food!

Confessions of a Control Freak

I have a confession to make. At various times in my life, I have attempted to exercise control over the following things/people/situations: my relationships, I-40 traffic, random people in line in front of me at the grocery store, my wedding day, my body, others’ perceptions of me, my family, my husband, our apartment, my hair… The list goes on, unfortunately. But as I continue to seek God and His will for my life, I’m realizing that it isn’t about control at all. It’s about surrendering to something better- namely, God’s Spirit.

[Rebekah Senter Photography]

Oh how I love Romans 8! It says:

“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.“ -Romans 8:6

Our minds are going to be “controlled” by something- that is just the way we’re wired. And if we aren’t in Christ, our default control system will be the sinful nature we inherited from Adam.

According to Galatians 5:19-22, when we follow the desires of our sinful nature, the results include idolatry, quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, and basically everything else that we don’t actually want in our lives. I’ve been there, and it isn’t fun. It isn’t how we were created to live.

BUT!

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” -Galatians 5:22-23

Yes- those are the things I’m always searching for. [Enter girl-raising-hand-emoji here.] All my misguided grasping at control is really an attempt to manhandle this fruit of the Spirit into my life. The problem is, I can only produce that fruit if I stay connected to Jesus and surrender to Him. He tells us, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

What a gracious Savior- we surrender to Him and He gives us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Surrendering to Jesus is a daily, often hourly journey for me. Some days it seems that I wake up back at square one- my mind buzzing with anxieties and grievances. I want to learn to surrender those to Him and, in return, receive love and joy and peace and all the other good fruit that I am incapable of producing on my own.

To quote my favorite band, All Sons and Daughters, “Tomorrow’s freedom is today’s surrender.” I’m praying that all of us, myself included, would experience the freedom that comes only with surrender.

Loving Lately [#8]

1. Bull City Burger and Brewery: Last weekend, Josh and I met up with his parents and brother for dinner in Durham. I am by no means a burger connoisseur, but these things were gooooood. I got a classic burger topped with caramelized onions, sauerkraut, and pickles. Plus some incredible sweet potato fries on the side. Definitely want to come back here!

2. Yoga with Adriene: I go through phases where all I want to do is yoga, and I think it’s safe to say that I am in one of those phases right now. Instead of spending approximately 1 billion dollars on a yoga studio membership, I just grab my mat and my phone and do Adriene’s videos at our apartment gym!

3. Intuitive Eating book: We live in a world that vilifies “unhealthy” food, glorifies “healthy” food, and all but worships being thin and fit. As someone with an interest in health but also a propensity to be a rule follower, I can easily get bogged down in diet dogma and start listening to our culture instead of my own body. This book has reminded me that my body can be trusted to tell me when it wants a burger and fries (see above!) and when it wants some veggies. I recommend this book to anyone who is sick of listening to what the media tells us about food/fitness/our bodies and is ready to take ownership of these things.

4. James: Mercy Triumphs bible study: It’s been a good minute since I did a structured Bible study like this, and so far I am loving it! There are guided readings each day, and so many great insights/historical points that I would likely never find on my own. I have enjoyed learning more about James, a man who knew Jesus well and therefore has so much relevant wisdom for us.

5. 14,000 things to be happy about desk calendar: I just moved into a new office at work and have loved brightening it up with little plants and photos and such. This desk calendar legitimately makes me smile every morning! It really is the little things.

(source)

That’s all for now- hope you all have a great weekend and do something that brings you JOY!