So, I haven’t posted in a while. Mainly because this is my place to keep all I am inspired by; and while I am inspired daily, I have also been busy preparing to move to Los Angeles!

But this… this is just fantastic.

Thanks to following @GOOD on twitter (or their website www.good.is), and receiving their Daily Good emails, I have discovered these place mats!

ReMakes Recycled Billboard Placemats

ReMakes recycles old Billboards, that would normally just further add to our giant landfills, and creates beautiful place mats! Plus, a set of 4 is only $16; which is a very affordable way to make your home a little more unique.

Here is the original GOOD article!

-sass

Yesterday I had an… interesting… experience. I was out and about with a friend, when we ran into an acquaintance. Now this is a person who often comes across as pretty self-centered, but to whom i always give the benefit of the doubt (i believe everyone continuously deserves as much).

As the conversation went on, our dogs came up. Well, my dog and her boyfriend’s dog. Immediately, she informed me that she only liked her boyfriend’s dog… and no other. To encourage her attendance to a party at the dog park, I was assuring her that the dog park is fun. Here is the conversation that followed:

(we will refer to acquaintance  as “P” for prideful)

Me: Really all we do [at the dog park] is follow Adler around and comment “oh, she’s the cutest!”

P: Oh, that’s because you haven’t met [insert dog’s name]! Let me show you pictures!!!!

[This is when “Prideful” pulls out her phone and shows us several pictures of a cute, but average looking dog.]

P: This is my BOYFRIEND’S dog!

Me: Oh, that’s a cute dog! Is she hypoallergenic?

P: YES! Isn’t she cuter than all other dogs? This is the bow I bought her.

Me: Oh, cute! Oh, here is a picture of my dog, Adler.

[this is where i show one picture that’s on the homescreen of my phone]

P: Meh….. Isn’t [insert dog’s name] the cutest!?

Now, this caught me off guard. Not because I love my dog, and was offended… I wasn’t offended. I don’t mind if people don’t feel drawn to my dog; she’s nuts. It was the fact that this person was so self-centered and prideful in what was… not even her’s but her boyfriend’s dog(the word “boyfriend” was repeated several times during the conversation).

But all of this made me start thinking, we all take a little needless pride somewhere in life. This person is of course an extreme version of that, but there are times in all of our lives where we meet this sin. There are even little phrases that we all get caught up in; they usually look something like this: “[insert name] is the greatest/cutest/sweetest/etc [insert term] in the world!” or “Always raisins!”

Now a lot of times these are innocent comments; my innocent “oh, she’s the cutest!” comment, I mentioned earlier, could have been taken in a not innocent way. But what happens when we start thinking them? What happens when we start thinking our “possessions” are the end all be all of not only our lives, but the world?

I don’t have answer for this. I just have thoughts and ponderings. I am going to continue thinking about pride this week, and watch myself to make sure I don’t fall into this trap. Will you?

Reading a lot of Valentine’s Day blogs/tweets/FB status-updates with all of the “special” things the husbands did for the wives has really reminded how lucky I am to be married to Jayson.

On a daily/weekly basis he does the dishes and the laundry! MY treat to him is to take over one of those for the day. —We split up the household duties, and we decided that the best way to divide it all was for him to take on those two tedious tasks and me to take on everything else (though we still help each other with both)!—

But beyond that here are a few joys I have in my marriage:

• waking up and going to sleep laughing daily (and laughing all the way in between)
• having a partner to go on adventures with! (HELLOOOO L.A.!)
• always talking through problems or issues immediately.
• always talking through EVERYTHING together (church sermons, family problems, life plans, dreams, job issues, joys, etc etc etc etc etc!)
• having someone that supports my interests, my ideas, my goals
• and WE cook TOGETHER for EACH OTHER

There are tons of other awesome things I get to experience daily, and I am so lucky! My goal is to always be thankful for these things and to happily reciprocate the best I can. :)

“And I don’t want to miss a thing,”

Sass

Today I’m thinking about several things:

1. The Oscars are next week. I’m excited! For some reason, I LOVE award ceremonies. The dresses, the speeches, the excitement, the recognition of hard work. I kind of want to see more of the movies that are nominated, but i’m also broke. So i will just wait until they come on Netflix Instant.

2. In church today we discussed Ephesians 4:17-32. The first part of that covers idols we give ourselves over to. Sum up: we must not live as [those who don’t know Christ], putting meaningless things first. When we allow our emotions, instead of Christ, to lead us we become “greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”

We went on to discuss the rest of Ephesians 4, but I was stuck dwelling on 4:17-19. It makes me think a lot on my day to day life. What do i put first? What do I think about often? Who do i go to for justification/approval/comfort?

So what is the answer to all of these questions?… it varies.

Every day i put numerous things first. Yes, I do think and dwell on Christ at times, i do go to him for comfort, for guidance, for many things…. but I also go to my husband a lot.

When you’re married, I think it’s incredibly easy to become so reliant on your spouse that he/she can become an idol to you.  My husband is awesome; he laughs at my jokes, he thinks i’m pretty, he makes me feel comfortable when i’m in an awkward social situations. I could very much put him at the very center of my life, and put the base everything I am into our relationship; but that’s not going to bring ultimate joy to me or him. No matter how much we love each other, that love (and our lives on this planet) is finite. Christ’s love is infinite. Christ’s love goes beyond all bounds and is never failing. Placing our life in that love will benefit us so much more than placing our lives only in each other.

So that’s one idol I can be wary of, one area that I must be on guard to make sure I don’t slip. Another:

Because we’re moving, Los Angeles is on my mind all of the time. I have to catch myself from thinking, “L.A. is the answer to everything!” I’ve been doing a pretty good job, but i not only get caught up in the city itself, but the people in the city. Will they approve of me? When we talk am I saying the right things to make them think we WILL make it in the city?

Can you see the trend here? My weakness, my downfall, my sin, my idols are often centered around people. You could psycho-analyze this (i do occasionally); but this time, i’m trying to just focus more not on the problem but the solution. I will be consciously struggling to put God, Christ, the Holy Spirit at the forefront of my thoughts and my actions.

3. L.A. is still at the forefront of my mind. Still thinking on our resumes. (we’ve made lots of progress) Still nervous about timelines, but trying more and more just to relax and enjoy the time we have in Fort Worth!

“i’ve been thinking about something”,

sass