I Love Clouds

For the past few weeks, we have not had a lot of rain in our area. That could be said for a lot of the country (except Texas and Oklahoma, of course!). But even though we haven't had a lot of rain, we have had some massive cloud formations. Which has been fine by me.

Ever since I was little I have loved finding shapes in the clouds. I don't do it as often now, but that doesn't mean my love for clouds has diminished. Now I just love looking at clouds for their simple beauty. I can think of little else that is as beautiful as a billowing pink, yellow, and white cloud electrified with lightning strikes within it.

Even though I don't have a picture of that particular occurrence, I do have a few that I thought were pretty spectacular.

Now THIS is a cloud! This is also the kind I was talking about having lightening in it. This particular one did not (thankfully...since we were at the ball field).

One of my favorite combinations in the world is sun + clouds. Can you see why?

I think sunrise and sunset just wouldn't be the same without clouds enhancing the beauty...

This shot is a little blurry, but it's probably because I was a little blurry...this was sunrise. As sleepy as I was, I knew I'd be sorry if I let those beautiful clouds get away without a picture of them. They look like they're on fire!

This sunset picture was taken after a huge, HUGE storm had cleared out. As scary as that day had been, just looking at those clouds on the horizon reflected in the pond gave peace to the ones gazing at them.

So...what do you love to look at? Rainbows? Birds? Clearance aisles? I'd love to see your pics!

What Do You Love in Your Home?

The other day I was just going about my daily business when I noticed something that I see every day. This time, however, I looked at it, thought about the person who gave it to me, and realized that I loved having it in my home. It made me smile.

If you've ever read FlyLady you know what she says about things in your home: if you don't love it, get rid of it. If it doesn't make you smile, it doesn't need to be cluttering up your home. Now, honestly, my home is one big clutter pile right now. Sound Man is working on getting his and Kiddo's project finished, I have tassel stuff out the wazoo, and I'm still getting things back in order from when my men went camping a few weekends ago. I'm a slow mover, what can I say?

My point is, I looked at this little object and smiled. And it got me to thinking...what else in my home do I love? Here are a few of the things that caught my eye...and believe me this list is far from finished.

My bird vignette. I love the nest with the eggs in it, I love the birds, I love the Nester tassel, and I love the person who gave me the tassel...Kat. She gave it to me for my birthday last year. The bird book was one Sound Man has had for years. I love it used this way. The mug came from Old Time Pottery; the branch/nest came from JoAnn's and I glued some eggs in it; the little birdies came from a home decor store that is just up the street from me. And that lamp? Oooh, I can't wait to get a hold of it soon. As soon as I saw Centsational Girl's post about redoing her crystal lamp, I knew I would redo mine. I will post pics when I finish.

My bird's nest picture and a sweet church bird house that came from my beloved Piney. Sorry the picture is kind of dark. My house faces north, and I have NO windows on the east, therefore I have NO beautiful morning light streaming in. Sigh...oh, well. I haven't told you about Piney yet. I will when I'm able to without bursting into tears. Not that the bird house makes me burst into...oh, nevermind.

Oh, and did you see the Kimba bird back there? I have several of those, and they make me smile big. As does Kimba. She sent me an email this week that had my laughing so hard I was crying.

My Tuesday Morning round toile box. It has a pretty bow on top of it. It's my favorite color. It was $4.99. All of which makes me smile.

Pictures of my ancestors. My sister had these pictures copied for me one Christmas. The one on the left is my great-great-grandmother; the one on the right is her daughter, my great-grandmother; and the picture in the middle is of her daughters, my great aunt and grandmother in their college uniforms. I was privileged to go to the same college they did.

My little black shelf. It holds several little treasures, most of which belonged to my precious Mimmie. The fact that I took that sad little country blue shelf and made it into something beautiful makes me smile, too. And that rooster. Oh, my goodness. What a mess of trouble he's gotten me into. He was the inspiration for my tassels. Do you remember who gave him to me?

Speaking of tassels, they make me smile, too. All except the Ole Miss ones. I had to make those, but I didn't have to like it. Hee hee.

So what started this introspective post? What colossal thing did I gaze upon that had me going through my house taking pictures at 7:00 in the morning? This...

It's a little bell jar I have in my red bathroom (which also makes me smile) that has some little tags in it. They came from my sweet bloggy friend that I also now know IRL, Susie Harris. She put them in the package with my rooster tassel that I won. I just looked at this...this painted thrift store pedestal (it was the ugliest shade of purple), a thrift store bell jar, and paper and ribbon...and smiled.

Now, I want to know...what do you have in your home that makes you smile?

Edited 6/29/09 to add: link up at What Makes Me Smile to show me what you love!

Edited 6/30/09 to add this to Emily's Tuesdays Unwrapped. Just reading her Tuesday posts puts a smile on my face!

Edited 9/14/09 to add this to Teri Lynne's 100th Post Party!

Pillow Parade!

I'm so glad Kari & Kijsa are having a Pillow Parade today! I'm a little late getting in on it, but I had to re-share my pillow that I made.

This pillow was handmade by me with fabric that used to cover a mattress that was at my Mimmie and Grandaddy's house since before I was born. I had that mattress but really needed to get rid of it (hello, it was almost 40 years old!), but I couldn't bear the thought of throwing it or the covered boxspring out altogether. So, I cut the fabric off and made this pillow, using fringe I found at Hobby Lobby. It matched perfectly, and I LOVE this pillow. It pretty much sums up my personality...I am dreadfully sentimental, miss my Grandparents, love soft, earthy colors, enjoy looking at pretty things in my home, and can actually use a sewing machine when I have to. Read the whole story here.

Now, head on over to Kari & Kijsa's and join in the pillow fun!

Things I love: October Sky

Have you ever noticed how blue the sky is in the month of October? I wait patiently for the fall skies to soften to the beautiful blue I love so much. Here are some pictures taken at sunset around my crepe myrtle. Oh, and by the way, I looked up the correct spelling of crepe myrtle and it turns out that you can spell it however you want according to this. I know...random.

I love how this shot is peeking through my crepe myrtle bush. All shadowy on the inside, glowy on the outside. Whatever. See how the blue is just so...blue? It gets even blue-er. Er.I love the form of crepe myrtles after their gorgeous blooms have fallen off and litter the ground like shredded pieces of the paper they're named for. The seed heads are just as interesting to look at, and their leaves turn beautifully autumnal hues. The sky in the background seems to be just a bit blue-er. I totally know I'm making these words up.
I think this is my favorite shot. See the tee-niney spider web between the top seedhead and the one to it's left? I wonder how tee-niney the spider was that made that web. Oh, we have lots of webs around our house. You just wait 'til Halloween and I'll SHOW you a spider web. Anyway, back to my subject. This is also my favorite because the sun is casting such a beautiful glow on the upper branches of the myrtle. And look how blue the sky is!

Okay, so I totally messed up my shot of the myrtle in this picture, but the color of the sky was too periwinkle-y gorgeous not to post. It's just beautiful!

Not only do I love October for it's beautiful skies, I also love the fact that our windows have been open EVERY day for the past week. Probably the cause of my allergy-fed sinus infection that just cost me $40, but I love it anyway.

What do you like about October (besides Halloween!)?

Things I love: Music Part II

Here is the continuation of my post about one of my favorite things: Christian music. There is so much to say and I know I'll leave stuff out. But I'll try my best. Please click on the links to hear from the various groups and artists if you'd like to hear them.

As far as groups go, my old stand-by is Hillsong Australia, and my new favorite is Gateway Worship. Kari Jobe is simply amazing. She has recorded a solo CD independent of Gateway, and if you haven't heard her, please take a moment to go to her site.

Now, my absolute favorite is Chris Tomlin. This whole post was going to be about him, but I decided that might be a little too stalker-ish. Plus my husband might get a complex if I spend more time talking about CT than I do about him. If you've never heard of Chris Tomlin, here you go:

He does such a good job with this beautiful old hymn, adding his own style and chorus to it. So, so beautiful. I'll probably do a post about him anyway, eventually. Hee hee.

Christian music has evolved so much over the years that anything you listen to in the secular realm, you can find the same sound (with better lyrics) in Christian music. Do you like Rascal Flatts? 33 Miles is for you. Do you like Southern rock (think "Sweet Home Alabama")? Then Third Day is right up your alley. Or if you are hooked on American Idol, there's Chris Sligh and Mandisa. I could go on and on. Each of these bands and artists, while being influenced by others, have their own unique sound.

There are so many other artists I could list here as my favorites, including our worship pastor Brent's band, Altered. Not to mention my good friend, Jennifer Begrin. I was even in a band called Driven for several years with my friends Sherry and Billy. We are still each other's favorites to sing with...with the addition now of Brent. You put the four of us together in a room with no intention of singing, and eventually the guys will drag out the guitars and we'll start singing four part harmony like nobody's business. And laughing till we cry. There's even a line about that in a Newsboys song...

Listening to this kind of music makes me excited to go to church and be able to, with our worship team, lead our congregation to worship the God who loves us so much. This is the kind of stuff we sing on Sunday mornings. Relevant, alive songs that fit today's generation. Yes, we also sing the hymns of yesterday, because some of those old songs never get old, but we do them with updated music so that the average person who hasn't lived in church like I have all my life can listen to them and know that they still apply to their lives.

I'm not sure if this conveys how much I have loved and will forever love Christian music, but I hope it does give you a glimpse into the genre. You can always head over to K-LOVE to find out if they broadcast in your area, or you can listen online.

So, those of you who listen to Christian music, who are you favorites? David Crowder? Natalie Grant? Jars of Clay? I'd love to find out!

Things I love: Music

Man, a week since I posted last! I hope you don't think I fell off the face of the earth. I've just been thinking a lot about this post. It's really too much to put into just one post. Hmmm, I might split it up. Well, here's the first part:

In thinking about things, people, animals, etc. that I love naturally brought me to music. I love music. I love songs, I love instrumentals, I love movie scores, I love Broadway tunes, I love classical pieces...I love music. I laughed a few weeks ago when I read some of my journal entries I wrote when I was in Australia. In one of them I mentioned that I was just then realizing how much I loved music. How a song could just move me like nothing else could. I had no idea how much music would become part of my life. If I had known then that I would be in a studio working on a CD project, I would have died from shock.

Now, let me say here that I don't love ALL music. Rap...um, not so much. And I can only take head-banging so long (like, half of one song) before the screaming just gets to me. And there are certain genres of music I like more than others. While I don't mind a pop song here and there, and Country Music makes me smile more often than not, you can probably guess by my whole blog that I love Christian music. Love it. Breathe it. Sing it in my sleep. No kidding.

I mean, I was a Christian music addict by the tender age of 13. Yeah, that would be in 1983. Not a very hip time in the realm of Christian music. However, that was the year that one of my all-time favorite artists, Michael W. Smith came out with this HUGE hit:

This is the oldest clip I could find of it. I'm thinking he did this particular one in the early 90's. Knowing that helps me forgive that jacket/overshirt thing. Appearance aside, this is how the song is meant to be heard. Simply piano. How many of us had this song played at our graduations or baccalaureates? I know I did. Of course, back then, the song was still "new." But the thing is, IT'S STILL BEING SUNG! I wonder if MWS ever gets sick of singing this song. I think I would. I mean, I don't even sing professionally and I get sick of singing some of the same songs over and over ("Sing to the King," anyone?).

But I digress (I wonder how many times I've said that since this blog's inception?). The thing is, I was listening to Christian music when Christian music wasn't that cool. Now, the music I listened to was cooler than this:

I...just...don't...know...what...to...say... I wish someone had told the tall dude in the back that white-man dancing on television is just not pretty, no matter how groovy your beard is. Then again, the other dude in the back isn't moving AT ALL, so maybe beard dude was making up for that. No, wait, the guitar player is doing his part, too. ZAP!

Whoa. I totally got off subject. That point of that video was to say that back in its infancy, Christian music was sort of um...blah. It has come so far since "Friends" (and I don't mean the T.V. show). Here are a couple more of my past and current favorites...

When I started college, Steven Curtis Chapman became a favorite, and still is. He just gets better with age. Having followed him for so many years and watched his family grow, it absolutely broke my heart when Maria, his youngest daughter, was in a fatal accident at home. My heart still hurts for this family.

As far as groups go, my old stand-by is Hillsong Australia, and my new favorite is Gateway Worship. Kari Jobe is simply amazing. She has recorded a solo CD independent of Gateway. If you haven't heard her, please take a moment to go to her site.

I think I'll stop here and pick up later. It IS turning into a looooong post! I hope you will bear with me while I continue talking about a great passion of mine. Thanks for "listening."