The HAIR Post

OK! So you all keep talking about my hair. I thank you for the compliments but I can't take credit for it. My mother is a hair dresser, has been for 35 years. My hair didn't always look like this though, it looked more like this growing up...

I know! Scary!

This is pretty much what my hair looked like all growing up. I didn't really care what my hair was doing until I got to high school. Then the pressure was on. However, I had braces and glasses all through high school so my hair was the least of my worries.

When I wanted my hair to do fun stuff like this...

...I started to care more. Even now though, the less I have to mess with it the better!

Here are the products I use:

Redken All Soft Shampoo & Conditioner

I alternate between the regular conditioner and the heavy cream conditioner every other time I wash my hair

Redken All Soft Heavy Cream

When my hair is still damp, I use just a smidge of the It's A 10 Miracle Hair Mask on my ends.

It's intended to be used as a hair mask that you wash out of your hair but I use it as a leave in conditioner since I have an ombre. If you don't have any bleach in your hair, I would not suggest leaving this product in. It will cause your hair to feel filmy... and that's a yucky feeling. I would still suggest this product, just be sure to wash it out.

The It's A 10 spray is an awesome product as well. I use this when I'm having trouble with knots, and I have long hair so that is pretty much all the time!

To curl my hair I use Conair hot rollers.

My mom bought me this exact set in high school & I looked at her like she was crazy. "You think ALL my hair is going to fit in FIVE hot rollers???" Luckily, my step mom had two of the exact same sets and she gave them to me so now I have 3 of these little travel babies that I use to curl my whole head. I should just buy one huge set of them but you know what they say, "if it aint broke..."

After I leave the rollers in for about 20 minutes, I use the ever so popular Big Sexy Hair hair spray

You can't go wrong with The Best!

When I just want the straight look, I use my Porcelain Flat Iron

 

That's pretty much it. Pretty simple.

 

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Book Challenge

I am not an avid reader by any means. I love books! What I mean is, I love the idea of books. I will hear about certain books and be so interested that I purchase them and then they end up sitting on my shelf for years (literally). Not because I don't want to read them but because I never make the time for them. I have unread books from birthdays and Christmas' past that I want to read so... I am challenging myself to read every single unread book I own. I am starting with the following five and then working my way over to the others. I am giving myself one month to read each book and I'm hoping if I put this challenge on the internet you all will hold me accountable in completing my mission. If you've read any of these books, please feel free to leave comments below to keep me motivated :D

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp: I have started this book and am loving it but her writing is so "full". That's the best way I can describe her writing. It's amazingly artistic, I have to read every sentence over and over to digest everything she is communicating. She is like the female equivalent to C.S. Lewis.

Forgotten God by Francis Chan: This is one of the few that I haven't started yet. Very excited to dive into this book about the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Manifesto by Frank Viola & Leonard Sweet: Started this book and was in love with it! Can't wait to pick it up again.

Girls With Swords by Lisa Bevere: Currently reading this! Loving it! It's incredible! Pick up a copy on February 12th.

Authority In Prayer by Dutch Sheets: Started that book too!!! Ugh, I'm sensing a pattern. This book started to change the way I look at prayer. I'm sure that when I finally get through it, my prayers will be most authoritative. :)

If you've read any of these please tell me what you thought. I need all the encouragement I can get!

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The Calm Before The Storm

sunnies Free People scarf H&M jacket Ross top Last Chance pants Target boots H&M

Today is going to get a little crazy busy. As I sit at my desk I think to myself it's the calm before the storm. Of course that thought was meant for today's work but I can't help but feel like the Holy Spirit is saying that to me personally as well.

The past few months I've been bored with my life and stuck in a rut I can't seem to get out of.

My best friend is so amazing at describing how I feel. She explains how I feel when I can't and she's ALWAYS right, it's frightening & awesome at the same time! She describes me in this way:

She said that I am a very passionate person. That whatever I do, I do it BIG! Which is true. Go big or go home, right? When she got married, I wanted her to have the best wedding with everything she wanted because I love her to death and she deserves it! When she got pregnant, gosh darn it, she was going to have the best baby shower EVER! (I guess that's my love language - grand gestures. Is that even a love language?)

She said that because I go big in everything I do, I tend to get bored when big things aren't happening in my life. WHICH IS TOTALLY TRUE!!!! I have a hard time finding joy in the smaller less epic moments. I believe in this season, God is teaching me to find joy in the every day smaller moments since they are more frequent than the epic moments in life. 

The Lord is showing me all the little ways I see Him incorrectly. For example, when I don't see God doing big things in my life, I tend to relate that to Him not loving me - which is completely absurd, I know!

I can't help but think this season is my "calm before the storm".

God is always working behind the scenes, I'm ready to see what He's got.

Hope is rising.

God is faithful!

“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” -C.S. Lewis

#21   surprise chocolate hearts

#20   friendships reconciled

#19   women's ministry leader (more details soon)

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Top Ten Pickup Lines For Valentines Day!

Need some help finding a date this Valentines Day? Here are a few pickup lines that are sure to work!

Top Five Pickup Lines

5.   "On a scale of 1 to America, how free are you tonight?"

4.   "Do you have a shovel? Cause I'm diggin' you!"

3.   "Do you have a map? [No, why?] Because I just got lost in your eyes."

2.   "Will you go out with me?" Check one [   ]Yes  [   ]Back flip

1.   "Hi, my name is Tim Tebow" ***this only works if you are in fact, Tim Tebow***

Top Five Christian Pickup Lines

5.   "Need a ride to church?"

4.   "I believe one of my ribs belongs to you"

3.   "I've been reading the book of Joshua. How many times do I have to walk around you before you fall for me?"

2.   "My name is Will, God's Will"

1.   "What do you think Paul meant when he said, "Greet everyone with a holy kiss?"

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Revive {A Phoenix, AZ Blog Conference}

 Click here to register for Revive!

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Oh yeah, that one.

jacket old shirt Forever 21 pants Forever 21 heels Kohls {Jennifer Lopez}

It's Tuesday!!! Have a blessed 1/22/2013

#18 dreams about your dreams

#17 clear nasal passages

#16 friends who fully understand you (Mimzi)

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Sooo...this weekend I got married and had a kid

Okay, okay so I didn't really get married and have a kid.

This weekend I had a photo shoot for a local magazine. I can't give you an details until the magazine come out but here are a few behind the scenes shots from the shoot.

totally feelin' this ^

My SJP hair ^ I was in love with it.

and a few of the amazing people who made this shoot possible.

Christina - hair/make up and comedic relief

Jordan - model and my fake husband

Sarahbel - photographer and all around rock star!

Have a wonderful Monday!

#15 friends who have a passion for the fashion world and for God

#14 fully paid trip to NY with my momma (details to come)

#13 sleep

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Do you REALLY want to be healed?

Last week, I was studying The Healing At The Pool On The Sabbath in John 5. I was reading a commentary on it by David Guzik - he's my favorite so far- and something really struck me. Jesus asks the sick man "Do you want to be healed?". Isn't that such a silly question? I mean, don't we all want to be healed and whole? What person who has an illness doesn't want to be healed???

As I read through the commentary, David Guzik states that "Jesus knew that not every sick person wants to be healed, and that some are so discouraged that they put away all hope. Jesus was dealing with a man who may have had his heart withered as well as his legs."

Upon reading that, I thought, "What?!? Not everyone wants to be healed?!? That's crazy!"

David's commentary goes on by giving the following examples so people like me can understand why Jesus' question was a reasonable one.

• One commentator points out: "An eastern beggar often loses a good living by being cured of his disease." (that makes sense, I've heard that people make good money begging on the street nowadays. ***Please don't let that stop you from giving to people***)
• As bad as our current situation is, at least we are familiar with it. We know it. It won’t surprise us. We can be more comfortable in our present misery than taking the steps we need to be free.
• For example, there are some women who on the one hand desperately want their husbands to be saved - yet on the other hand, they dread the idea because they know it would bring so many changes into their relationship.
• In 1993, it was reported that a small order of Franciscan nuns in Prague decided to subsidize their convent by opening the downstairs of their facility - formerly an underground detention center used by the Communists to imprison and torture their enemies - as a hotel. For $33 a night, you could stay in a former prison cell. The proprietors say they try to achieve a middle ground between comfort and authenticity in the "hotel." Many people are really looking for just that - a comfortable prison cell.

Is that true? Have we grown used to walking around crippled and broken? Do we not want a life without limits? Why do we settle for anything less than the abundant life Christ died to give us?

Last week, I had a stomach bug. It was the horrible kind too, ya know when you are throwing up so hard you feel like you're going to throw up a vital organ. I felt everything! Every pain, every ache. I was crying over the toilet asking God to purge me of whatever this bug was that was causing this sickness. I remember thinking why don't I ever pray that prayer about my sin? Maybe because I don't really feel the repercussions of the sin in my life the same way I felt every release of my stomach. But just because I don't feel sin all the time, doesn't mean it isn't making my soul sick. I think we sometimes become numb to our sin because we've lived with it for so long.
"Jesus knows not everyone wants to be healed!" - that still baffled me until Tuesday when I was sick. In one particular pathetic moment I was having, my mother came up to me and laid hands on me & started praying for a divine healing. I remember thinking to myself during her prayer, It's OK, it's just a bug. It will run it's course and then it'll be done - I don't want to waste God's healing power on this little stomach bug. "I didn't want to WASTE Gods healing power on this little stomach bug?!?!?" What was I thinking? As if God is going to run out of power! In that moment I completely understood why God asked the crippled man in John 5 if he wanted to be healed. I had grown comfortable throwing up every half hour, I had grown comfortable with my sickness.
In that moment when I could've just received healing from Jesus, I doubted & brushed off my illness as if God doesn't care about what I was going through. I was in miracle territory and I didn't take advantage of it.
Have we grown comfortable living a life outside of the abundant life in Christ? Let's talk about it. What are your thoughts?



 

Resource: http://www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries/)

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Reflection

"God's timing is always perfect.

His delays are intentional and loaded with purpose."

I've been meditating on this for the past couple...months, now that I think of it.

I get so caught up in what I think my life is supposed to look like.

I guess I'm slowly figuring out that it's... just supposed to look like Jesus, wherever I'm at. It's not so much about the specific details of my life but about how those details point back to Christ. God gave me creative freedom to create a life here on earth and lately I find myself waiting for something to happen. Waiting for him to move, waiting for him to create.

I have a bucket list of dreams that are just chillin' there because I don't want miss something that God has for me.

I marvel at God because he can create something out of nothing and breath life into dead things. So why do I think that I have to stay put in order for him to follow through on the blessings He's promised me? It's not about physical location but the position of my heart. And He knows I am bent towards him.

God is faithful!

#12 surprise cookies

#11 pictureframe mousepad

#10 laughter at lunch with coworkers

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new inspo

Oh man! Oh man! I have a new favorite fashion blog & blogger, Angela from Madame de Rosa!

 

 

Here are a few of my favorite looks by Angela

 

 

 

 

  check out her blog here!

She has the best style in the world.

I'd like to take greater risks with my style... it's just fun!

Brain, I command you to start working in a more creative way!

DONE!

 



HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!



#9 People watching: awkward & awesome

#8 Orange Juice on a sore throat
# 7 gloves on cold hands 

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outfit post

sweater Forever21 dress Cotton On boots H&M



Some behind the scenes shots my friend Kimberly took. She's like "OH! Lets get some of you sitting"... on this freezing cold cement bench!!! Terrific! My butt was freezing!

I am going to soak up every bit of this chilly weather here in Phoenix since in a few days it will be gone! I prefer colder weather to the heat... why do I live here???

Anyways. Have a wonderful Tuesday!

#4 Chocolate chip cookies

#5 Girls with Swords Launch Team

#6 Laughing hysterically with my best friend

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