Another day, Another Song

Turn your eyes from all this way,
I have prove to live a dastardly day I,
hid my face from the Saints and the Angels who sing of Your glory.
What you had in mind,
when we seek we'll find shine show me grace.

A little more than I can give,
a little more than I deserve.
On earth this holiness I can't earn, It's a,
little more than I can give, A little more than I deserve.

For all the sin that lives in me,
it took a nail to set me free still,
what I do I don't wanna do and so goes the story.
What you had in mind,
When we seek we'll find shine show me grace.

A little more than I can give,
a little more than I deserve.
On earth this holiness I can't earn, It's a,
little more than I can give, A little more than I deserve.

With all this motivation,
I still find a hesistation deep in my soul, Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
Despite all my demanding, I still find you understanding.
Show me grace, Show me grace, is....

A little more than I can give,
a little more than I deserve.
On earth this holiness I can't earn, It's a,
little more than I can give, A little more than I deserve.

A little more by Jennifer Knapp

If I die young

Tonight's project.. Needs a lot of love but we'll get there!

Enough is enough

I've been talking about working out for what seems like YEARS and it just never happens.. I don't have time, a work out partner or I don't have money for an expensive gym membership. My good friend Kailey told me about this gym called crunch which is right down the road from me. We went there last night for a free trial and I absolutely loved it! All the equipment is brand new and as clean as a whistle. We ran 2 miles on the treadmill, then did lots of legs on various machines and finished up with a ton of abs. It felt so good to have someone to work out with, keeping me motivated and accountable and overall it was a super productive work out! I even got a free 10 minute hydromassage... amazing! So Kailey left with a new gym membership and I'm going to join next month, I need to save up a little :)

I would encourage you to join if you live near one of their locations. Its so nice and SO cheap.. It's only $10/month with a $29.00 annual fee. So reasonable!! And for $19.99/month you get unlimited tanning and massages, a nice perk! They offer tons of classes like zumba, yoga and kickboxing which are all included in you $10/month. Kailey and I are going to try zumba once I become a member!! I can't wait!

Bring on the new music

Have you heard of SPOTIFY? Its a free music downloading program with every song, album and artist you could possibly think of. It links to your facebook and posts all of the music which you are listening to which is sort of annoying but that has been the only complaint that I have had about this program. I've been able to find so many new artists and download their entire albums and listen to them for hours on end. It's amazing. So here are a few good picks that I've discovered recently.

In addition to my discovery of spotify, my passion for new music was sparked by the two live concerts I got to go to last week. My professor is a professional musician and played last weekend at Dizzy's jazz club in dowtown san diego so I went to see his performance (for extra credit of course). Then on thursday Lindsey invited me to see Aloe Blacc with her at the Casbah in San Diego as well. I am now in love with Aloe Blacc... he is amazing!! I posted a couple of his songs here but you should browse through youtube or spotify and check out a few more. His stuff is great and he is quite the entertainer I must say!!

Inspired Moments

In my short 21 years here I have realized quickly that in life there are inevitable cycles. We cycle through seasons, months, and weeks. And in the same way, each day has a cycle of its own. We find ourselves caught up in our daily routine which is full of a lot "have to's" and only a few "want to’s". Currently on my “have to” list are the all consuming tasks of getting my education and working which together consumes more than 50 hours of my week. Then tack on the additional 15 hours a week of homework, allow some time for the necessities like sleeping and eating and just like Houdini my time for “want to’s” seems to vanish before my own eyes. I find myself skimming through my calendar on a daily basis trying to schedule something artistic and relaxing, anything to take my mind off of the “R” word responsibilities… then once I’m two weeks out I just give up and hope to squeeze it in somewhere along the way. It kills the mood of excitement when you have to flip your calendar to the next month to schedule some time to relax. “Ahhh the joys of becoming an adult.” Don’t get me wrong, this is not to be misinterpreted as a pity party about my life. I am astonished by the blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon me and do not take one aspect of my life for granted. My family, my boyfriend, my friends, my job, my classes, the food I eat, the sleep I get… these are all blessings straight from God. BUT I have realized that no matter how much God blesses you with incredible things, you will still have to work to be inspired by the life that you live. It is your life after all, you are in charge of making it extraordinary because no one else is going to do it for you.  You may have to search high and low for moments of inspiration within your day because simply put, life isn’t always as exciting as you expected to be, people aren’t always as kind as you hoped and passion isn’t always as prevalent as you desired. But with the right mindset you can bring excitement to the mundane, find the joy in every person and infuse your believes with an uncontrollable passion that you can’t deny. It all depends on the perspective that you have towards your circumstances and the realization that inspiration doesn’t always come in the form of an epiphany or that light bulb moment when it “just clicks”. Just as the Lord doesn’t hang flashing neon signs over our heads when He wants our attention, He asks us to stop, be still and listen for a still small voice (which seems like a LOT to ask when you’re in the midst of your daily cycle, right?). Inspiration is not always obvious and in your face. It hides in the shadows and if you can't find it then you might just have to BECOME the very inspiration that you are searching for. I have been thinking about this since I started working as a barista The starbucks I work at is a a drive thru and often times I am standing at that window for 8 hours straight. I have had hundreds of encounters with people since I first started working there. Every day, at least once a day I have an encounter with someone who seems to be genuinely rude, stone-faced and unresponsive to my attempts of bringing them a little joy to their day. It drives me crazy. Its moments like these when I feel the LEAST inspired. However, I started an experiment inspired by this cheesy little quote “If you see someone without a smile give them yours." It sounds a little silly but try it! It’s not as easy as it sounds. Looking someone in the eye and smiling after they’ve given you a dirty look, made a rude comment or are on their phone completely ignoring you is not easy. Although this is a miniscule example, I learned through this that in order to represent JOY and encounter inspiration I will have to BECOME it by humbling myself and making the choice, the sacrifice to be kind. Live inspired. Make sacrifices. Abide in Humility. Cultivate change by setting an example to others. I may not think I have the power to “be the change I want to see in the world” but I can start by being THE JOY and THE INSPIRATION that I want to see in others.