another year in the books, walking with the LORD, stumbling, failing, but learning and growing in love as He teaches me.  thankful for so many beautiful and hard times... each one gifts from the most beautiful Giver!  i'm so excited to see what 2015 is gonna look like!  blessings to you!

lots to do and see all around this great land!  everywhere!  i'm missin my buddies at school (kind of a ton) but i'm learning so much (particularly from this outta-the-park-world-series-kind-of-stuff book that i'm reading called, cold tangerines by shauna niequist) about how to enjoy the gift of life & i can't wait to share what i'm learning and keep learning more!  this month's gonna be some good practice of that stuff, looking around a bit more and enjoying everything a bit deeper... tasting life to the full, with joy and gladness.  i want to be a person who practices that all of my days!  glad to be home for just a bit.  so here's to the month!  let the good times roll... more adventurin to come!  you too, yeah?!  let's love where we are and who's around us deeply!

...i'm back on etsy, friends!  i've been a busy bee all day, doin this thing that i love.. making cards!  seriously, this art is my great JOY!  i've always been a firm believer in the power of a handwritten note or card to really be thoughtful and loving in your words towards someone.  i'm so thrilled that this break from school will give me a little wiggle room to do more of it!

if you'd mosey on over to https://www.etsy.com/shop/whateverislovelyy (also the "shop" category on the top of this blog page will take ya there!), it'd be my honor.
hopefully more to come!  oh, yay!

(:

goooood mornin!  i hope you all had beautiful christmases with a bunch of loved ones!  here's a few pics from the day with my fam yesterday, if ya wanna see!  i love that we throw a party in the form of gifts and decorations and feastin and homemade pies and bein together, all in the name of Jesus coming to earth to dwell among us!  i know these other things often get in the way of the meaning behind it all, but when you think about it, how cool that we go all out to celebrate because of the LORD's goodness.  and praise Him, huh?!  Jesus is Lord!

(p.s. i never want my pictures to give you the impression that my life and my family have it all together and all is perfect, because i think pictures can be deceptive sometimes and we have hurtful moments and chaos and family quirks just like the next person, but these are just glimpses of a few joyful ones throughout the day as i learn to notice and capture beauty that might otherwise be easily missed.)

^^ christmas mornin every year!  we always have egg bake and i love it!  this year, followed by a lil tswifty dancin! ^^

^ paige & emily.. i love that emily and my other cousin, taylor, grew up so closely with us because we went to the same small elementary and high school and my siblings and i had day care at their house growing up.. i really cherish that as i'm older. ^

^ this table i love!  the cousins sit at a fold-up table in the main entryway for the meal, but afterwards when everyone kind of scatters, i look forward to joining the adults at grandma's table for dessert and loungin all together.. seriously, the coziest, blessed of times!  i love the conversations that happen around this table! ^

^^^ cousin table!  i just like this one, cozy!  and i like grandma's silhouette. ^^^

^ grandma's hands cutting her pies.. i love pics of hands!

merry, merry christmas!

here's christmas last year and the year before, blogged if you wanna see!

t w o  d o l l a s

c a s s  &  e d n a

f i r s t  s n o w

b e c c a  b u d d y

d y i n g  s u c c u l e n t  ( s o r r y  b e c c a )

h o l l

b e a u t y

s i c k

f o g

m u g  s m a s h i n

w r e a t h s

r o o m i e s 

j o y

b a n q u e t

s e e n y a  s i s t e r s

h o m e m a d e

l o v e b i r d s

f r i e n d m a s

k i t c h e n  d a n c e

s p l o r i n

c a m e l

l o v e l y

e g g s  f o r  a l l

my sister, sidney.  ya know, i love that word lovely SO much!  she is the most lovely.  and i really love that she's my sister.  i love her fifteen-year-old-stinker self.  i love that she's [usually] game for whatever adventure i might have up my sleeve, no matter how odd or spontaneous!  i love that she goes with the flow.  i love that she laughs at me and with me.  i love how she takes care of her body and feeds it well and dresses it beautifully!  i love the ways God is shaping her and teaching her.  i love that i could spend most of my childhood growing with her.  & i mostly love that i get to spend a whole month with that lil pinto bean!  let the good times roll!

ohhhh we're baaaack!!  da bedhead!  my only regret in posting these gorgeous shots is missing so many other mornings where my bedhead (believe it or not) was worse!  oh, and i included that middle pic of paige just for your viewing pleasure (:  it's like she's saying "merry christmas, ya filthy animal" (: haha!  it was too good not to share!  i love messing with that little rugrat...
i hope these pics can relieve some poor little stressed out college student out there, finishing their last finals (my last one's tonight... HOLLER!)

see more bedhead here, in my first post!

happy thurs to you and yours! ha... i'm goofy during finals week..