November 24, 2011

thankfulnesses

I've been struggling with joy lately. Not happiness, but real deep-seeded, genuinely Jesus joy. It's not that I'm bumming around hating life, but I think that it's too easy to get discouraged by the small things. You get so discouraged by stupid insignificant things that you miss when God wants to bash you over the head with these incredible, abundant blessings. Why do we let that happen, over and over again? Humans are so dumb.

Some friends in my church small group always seem to be so in awe. Where's my awe? I want awe. I want to awe-stricken by the things God is doing - little and big. Since I came to this realization a little over a week ago, I've been trying to put these things into practice in small ways. 

Like complaining less when the people leaving our hoity-toity community basically bring their car to a complete stop when rolling over the speed bumps. Instead, you flip that around and say, "Wow. How blessed am I to live in this beautiful hoity-toity community, ritzy enough to have speed bump?" See? Magic.

So in light of this Thanksgiving day, and the fact that I've been dwelling on this joy more lately anyway, here's a list of thankfulnesses - trying to be as non cliche as possible.

the shallow list

1. Starbucks' non-fat chai with caramel drizzle: for the 9 hour drive down to Philadelphia we had yesterday, where I was all white-knuckles on the highway because the drivers were so scary. Some sweet, fast energy was what I needed in that moment and it was quite refreshing. Never fails.

2. Scrabble: for a fun way to bond with co-workers on Thanksgiving Eve - when you shouldn't be working anyway.

3. Wool socks: for cozy warm feet, even on the dreariest of days. Thanks, Smartwool.

the meaningful list

1. Family: for having multiple homes and and parents and places we could be this holiday season. We're so blessed to have so many people around that love us (and who we love too!).

2. Husband: for the goofiest, snuggliest thing that I have the pleasure of spending all of my time with. He loves me so well, and I wouldn't change a thing about the life we have together.

3. Home: for the seaside apartment that we simply don't deserve. It's so refreshing to have this amazingly beautiful place to call home. Even if it's just for six months. It'll be a six month retreat in our ocean paradise, and we're so grateful.

4. Friends: the old ones, the new ones, the near ones, the far ones, the ones you haven't talked to in a while but leave lots of voicemails for, the ones who stop by your desk unannounced, the ones you need to make more time for, the ones who moved away... I love them all.

5. Church: for a place where we're learning, growing, meeting new friends, that feels like home.

6. Job: for the stability it provides, even when I complain about it. I'm so blessed to have a place to go forty hours a week that's filled with people I actually care about.

7. Money: for a college graduate who knows her situation could look much different. Even when you feel like it's tight, we need to be reminded that we have more money that about 98% of the world. It's humbling and we need to complain about it much less, and pay a lot more attention to where it goes.

8. Grace: For God's baffling grace that has the ability to stop us dead in our tracks. Let's be open to it and let it change us.

Let's always aim for our "meaningful" lists to be much longer than our "shallow" lists.

I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and friends. I also hope you day didn't look like this. 


Or maybe I do. That looks like fun for everyone.

Happy holiday weekend :)

November 22, 2011

a musical announcement

Dear music fans and supporters of local bands! This one is for you.

If you haven't heard of Glass America, you're missing out. 

For fans of Explosions in the Sky and Sigur Ros, you must must give a listen to the talented guys of Glass America. Their sound is so deep and moving and their songs are wonderfully intricate. You can tell that they've been working on this second album tediously for months. I actually have the pleasure of knowing them in real life, and trust me, they've been slaving over it and it's a masterpiece.

They can be light and dreamy one minute, yet strong and forceful the next. Their brilliant instrumentation keeps me on the edge of my seat, and I know you won't be disappointed. 

Their new album Fathom is officially released today! You can find it on iTunes, Amazon mp3, or at glassamerica.bandcamp.com. Or you can also stream it live on Spotify if that's more your style. Look them up and let me know what you think! 



November 17, 2011

in business

It's not even Thanksgiving yet but Christmas is on the brain. I didn't start it this time, I swear. 

I was asked to design a Christmas card for a friend's friend's non-profit, and that got me in the mood before mid-November. Hey, I don't hate it.

It was kind of a tricky job because I had to stifle a lot of ideas that I wanted to see come to life, so I just wrapped up that project and started designing my own cards! And yes, they're for sale and they're cheap cheap cheap. Way cheaper than any card you'd see online. Below are a few of my favorite styles.











There are 11 styles total and 3 sizes available - 5.25" square, 5x7" and 4.25x5.25". These are all samples and phrases and colors can be edited to your personal preference. All cards will be printed on recycled paper and cards can be shipped to your location.

50 cards = $27
100 cards =$53
(This includes the cost of card stock,
printing, cutting and folding. 
Envelopes not included.)

Cards don't need to be purchased in bulk. The exact amount you need can be printed, just contact me for a quote! The deadline to place an order is December 2nd.

As you can see, (and probably know by my pretty naked and simple blog) these greatly reflect my personal style preferences - modern and contemporary with delicious fonts (obv). 

Do you like them? Which one is your favorite? Support Christmas, Jesus, and the Baldwin family - order some cards ;)

November 16, 2011

super cute restyle

Everyone has an old bummy crewneck lying around, right? If not, it's probably worth it to go thrift one just to do this adorable restyle I saw on A Beautiful Mess.


Click here for the tutorial.

Just wanted to share a pretty find :) Happy Wednesday!

November 15, 2011

the new hood

As some of you know, Will and I moved about two weeks ago or so and things are awesome in our new hood. We used to live on this super congested city street that was a 90 degree hill you're lucky not to slide down, and now we live on the grounds of a swanky yacht club in the middle of no where. Win.

The other night, we were especially energized (given our fight against mono and other fatigue viruses) and we went on a night time adventure! We used to do this all the time in our dating days, and it almost always involves trespassing. We trespassed into the Manchester Boat Yard once and sat to have a lovely conversation on some rich person's yacht. We also went to a private state reservation after hours on numerous occasions to have some adventures (like this one). But this time, I think what we did was surprisingly legal.

In our new backyard lies the Eastern Point Lighthouse, seen here:

[via]
and in the water, sits this little tower:

[via]
and in between the two, lies THIS:

[via]
The monster jetty. It's so enormous. Seriously, so so long. Are jetties (drop the y and add -ies? Never seen it written like that) always this long? The thing had to be well over a mile. On our journey, we ran into many a seagull and nearly fell off the edge a total of zero times. I was a little nervous, but all was well and the surface area was about 10 feet wide. Not as precarious as I originally thought. 

The most nerve-racking thing was honestly the seagulls. They were in herds, people. HERDS. It was a living, breathing Alfred Hitchcock movie. Now, I have a fear of birds to begin with, so you know it's a bad sign when your husband says, "Sweetie, I don't mean to alarm you... but..." after he catches a glimpse of the upcoming herd from the lighthouse's rays. Yep. Roughly 75 birds chillin' for their evening sit/poop.

It was a very poopy jetty.

But the walk was so much fun and it was so quiet out there in the dark. When we got to the end, I teetered dangerously near the edge as monkey-man climbed the tower. We played for a little bit out on what felt like the ends of the earth, and then we trekked back to land. It's comical that it's about a 25 minute walk from our door, to the stone cliff in the middle of the ocean. Tons of fun.

I'm glad that our life is starting to hold adventures once again. Hopefully more to come :)

PS: best friend weekend of fun and girly nothingness was incredible. You can't go wrong when the sun wakes you up at 8:30 but you stay chatting and reading in bed until after 11. What a joy. I love my Ab.

November 11, 2011

11/11/11





























Happy Wish Day, everyone!

November 11th... what a long anticipated day! I've already heard of so many people who chose this as their wedding day, and not gonna lie, it was one that we considered for a short stint! I'm praising God that we didn't settle on that though. First and foremost because an engagement that long would have made me self-destruct, but also because it's extremely blustery out today. Very yuck. Very... November in New England. 

But my co-workers and I were all amped about the day and celebrating at 11:11AM. We were going to dance around, make lots of noise... you know, all the things that are necessary at an arbitrary time on an arbitrary day. But lo and behold, we missed it. What a fail. It wasn't until almost 12:30 that someone said, "Oh no! We missed 11:11!" and we all mourned. And we all know that I won't last until 11:11PM, so there goes that fun. What a waste.

Know any wedding happening today? Any fun plans to celebrate this rare occasion? The hub is going away for the weekend (our longest time spent apart since being wed, by the way - sad), but my very best friend is staying with me all weekend! How could I be so blessed? We'll paint nails, drink tea, and have the ultimate girl's weekend of nothingness. I'm thrilled.

Have a fabulous weekend all! 

Here's some fun thing to peruse in your spare time.

November 10, 2011

a fabulous thing!

Two of the biggest big-leaguers have gone pro... can you go more pro than the big leagues? I didn't think you could. But they did, and they're heaps gorg.

LOOK!

Photobucket
via

I adore the lights and condensed lights in particular. Drool drool. "How do I get them?" she wonders.


Thanks for the tip off Quipsologies.

November 9, 2011

featured!

Today I was featured over on my friend Em's blog, Tales for Karina Marie! While Em has been blogging for a while, she recently redesigned her mission after her best friend Karina tragically passed away in a car accident in September. Now she retitled her blog and writes her entries in honor of Karina, to keep her filled in on the goings on down here. I think it's really sweet :)



She asked me to write about life as a newlywed, so check it out over here!

Hope you're having a lovely week and enjoying this Indian summer weather if you're in the northeast!

November 2, 2011

the color of fall

Here's a tribute to the most fantastic color to wear during the autumn months...

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8

1   2   3   4


It can look bold, it can look neutral - it's so versatile and I love it. I'm especially diggin' the first ModCloth dress and the world's most perfect heels. The dress is so Mad Men. 


What's your favorite color of the season?


November 1, 2011

in love with dinner

Well, not just dinner. All meals, really. But it's easy to be in love with dinner when you find a site that looks as fun and yummy as this one.

When I see things like this...
pan-seared scallops with corn bacon hash
white wine lemon chicken
pretzel chicken


...I know that I'll be going back for more. 

Check out the site here!



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