for the closing of a year

"Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal."

My good friend posted a link to this Relevant article this morning, and as I read it while cleaning my house and putting away Christmas decorations -- this verse reverberated inside of me.

This season is about becoming.

Another good friend and I discussed New Year's Resolutions and she said that she was going to choose a word and try to embody that word in 2012. Naturally, that also semeed like a good idea for me. 

As my boyfriend and I were driving home the other night, I was telling him about this idea - the resolution to choose a thing, a word, and become that word. I said, guess what word I chose? and without hesitation, he said 

"Grace."

Talk about knowing a person.

So, as 2012 opens up before me I choose to embrace this season of becoming and try my hardest to become gracious. Filled with grace. Show grace. 

Happy, Happy New Year!

for the sister who looks cuter in your clothes than you do...

the one who smiles your same smile but has a different nose,

 who sparkles gracefully in pointe shoes, 

who shares the same immature taste in movies, 

the one who finds a way to love you no matter how much you leave. 

Above all, love each other deeply

1 Peter 4:8 

when suddenly you notice

When suddenly you notice you had not noticed the trees were yellow and orange, rather than green. And shocked, you follow the leash in your hand down to the puppy in your care and you realize you have quite quickly turned into what you wanted to be.
When suddenly you notice you are busy and overwhelmed and your inbox is almost full while you have 13 drafts saved that need to be sent today for answers. And shocked, you follow your thoughts back, back into the near past when you thought your whole life would always remain twirling around papers and weekends and football games.
When suddenly you notice the blue eyes that belong to the more than six feet of human are the exact eyes that make you go whoa after a long day. And shocked, you feel every tingle as you get the hug that your body and soul have been craving for a very, very long time.
When suddenly you notice that after more than a year of near-constant worry and sadness, tears haven't fallen down your face in multiple months.

And shocked, you realize when you search for happiness you'll very often find it.

the words to rest on

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:12-14

here is where your heart belongs

Sometimes we work very hard to stay even with the day, to cross the things off, to come home at night and feel like you completed the day. Sometimes, we forget it isn't ours to finish.

Sometimes I cry for no reason, watching a commercial or reading a verse. Sometimes, I want someone to hug me, but then I realize what I want is my soul to be still.

So here, in the month of Grace, rain, leaves and wind, here, I want to learn how to find comfort on the inside so that I don't need someone on the outside. Needing someone isn't the same as loving someone.

Needing God is the same as loving God. Same goes for yourself.

television season

I am aware that it is football season, which I do love. I do love crisp fall air and loud yells and the endless repeat of boomer sooner from the stands.

But there's another season and it's one that gets a bad reputation for promoting laziness or generally being bad for you---

MY SHOWS ARE BACK!

I don't care, I'll own this. My TV tastes are less than refined. I love Teen Mom. I DVR Melissa & Joey every week. Grey's Anatomy and Parenthood are my go to roma-dramas.

But the best, by far, is The Ellen DeGeneres show.

She is the most joyous human of them all. She is kind and generous. She is hilarious. She has good guests and funny segments.

She says things like, "the whole is greater than the sum of anyone's parts" and "be kind to one another."

I love three seasons: Autumn, football and television.

Good thing all three start now. Happiness comes from the simple joys.

Boomer!

xo,

cb

celebrating the mundane

Things that have made me happy lately:

a boy who cares if I'm happy

new friends

an entire weekend dedicated to fun activities

packages from my mom to celebrate my first "no school" year

being asked to be a bridesmaid in Taylor's wedding

hour to 2-hour long Skypes with Kate

Audrey tending to her cacti garden

being called CB 

still using sharpies and planners as a "grown up"

using my Life is Good cups

planning trips for the Fall months

finally believing you really can make it good, and having a life that proves that everyday.

I feel so lucky, at least once a day, to be in a place where I have too many things to list in my gratitude journal at night. 

XO,

cb

let the beauty we love be what we do

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a place. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is open.
Don't go back to sleep.
I would love to kiss you.
The price of kissing is your life.
Now my loving is running towards my life shouting,
"What a bargain--
let's buy it."


from "A Great Wagon", Rumi

visiting Austin

I spent this past weekend with my newest friend Taylor and my oldest friend Audrey. We had such a good time! Weekend trips take you away for a little bit, the perfect amount of time to get away and look at new shops and eat good food. I had never been on 6th street and I maybe had my fill in one fell swoop. 

On Saturday we ate the best breakfast at Magnolia, wandered around South Congress and got extremely overheated. Fortunately, we found a cute little taco shop to cool off and drink an afternoon cerveza in! We spent Saturday night at a cool bar that had backyard games and skee-ball.

Sunday, I stopped in Georgetown to eat lunch with my grandparents - such cuties, such delicious foods. 

At a basic level, it was good timing and a good time. I love hanging out with Audrey in what I feel like is her "native" land. 

The following is my new life motto. I have 2 or 3 on a rotating basis, and this one is really speaking to me now.

Here's to hoping your week is simple and happy.

Chelsie

a roadtrip and a sunny morning

The inspiration behind this new blog came from the way I saw the sun coming into the parking garage this morning.
No, seriously, that's what happened.

The sun was coming through the smallest window, shining directly onto my (dirty) car and I thought, how wonderful that it manages to do that.

How wonderful that the sun can shine through a small window. And it hit me, that's what I need to do now. I need to shine, no matter the size of the window. And sometimes, shining means finding what speaks to you on every level, not just logical. So here's my blog that is going to showcase that side of me.

I realized that, while my other blog is filled with aspiration - it's very serious. It's goal oriented and fact-based. I also have bigger dreams, dreams that call at me from the deepest parts of my heart.
Things that seem silly, like a golden retriever, a wrap-around porch, dinner parties in a garden. Things that seem unachievable like a solid, steady love that doesn't seem too hard or too much. Things that seem familar, like a trip to a beach and a glass of wine with a friend.

So here, this will be....dreamy. This blog will see a variety of things. And by doing so, I hope that I can tap into the other part of what's important in life: being grateful for the things I have, being generous with the things I can give, being lofty with the things I can dream.

Elizabeth Gilbert, in Eat Pray Love, said these words that really speak to what I'm trying to do now:
"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.  You fight for it, you strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings. "

Time for a road trip,

Chelsie