"Happy Happy Hap!"

Okay, how freaking great are Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon!?  Both hilarious and talented and ultra-cool-but-lovably-awkward. :)  They're such fun friends!!  

They're not in all of them, but here are 7 youtube videos that make me happy lately.  Enjoy!

#Hashtag (Love it!  And I'm totally using that hand signal and throwing "hashtag" into conversation now... so this video may have had the opposite effect of what they were going for. lol)


Evolution of End Zone Dancing


Timberweek Recap


History of Rap... epic!


T-Swift totally freaking out over JT :)  (One of many things I love about her!)


Jennifer Lawrence being hilariously awkward :)


My precious nephew, Carter, is very into singing lately!  

This is a short video of him singing a couple happy songs he made up. :)  I listen to this whenever I need a little something to cheer myself up!  Rach didn't film his face directly because he would've stopped singing, but hearing it is quite good enough. :)  (He has a speech impediment and struggles a bit with the "S" sound right now, making it a "K," which just makes his songs all the cuter!)

"Be happy evwee day.  Happy, happy, hap!  Don't be kad."
"We luh-view, God, becaud we going to be wit-chu, up wit-chu, becaud we love you tho much!"
Lol, soooo PRECIOUS. =D

Top Ten Tuesday ~ Fall Tribute

I realized something in writing this post... I like Fall even better than I thought!  I wrote a Winter Tribute a while back (HERE!) -- it's still my very favorite season, but Fall is growing on me!  It was surprisingly hard to narrow this post down for a Top 10 list.  Hence the collages. :)  I consider the beginning of September to be "Fall," but the calendar says it's September 22nd.  Either way, it's officially here now, so I thought I'd celebrate that! =)

10.  FALL FOODS ~ It's the season for Frito Chili Pie, Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Pumpkin Bread, Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, Apple Cider, Pumpkin Spice Latte, Chocolate Cinnamon Bread, Brach's Autumn Mix, etc.  Yum!!

9.  FOOTBALL SEASON ~ You may notice that I included no pictures of actual football. lol  I could care less who's playing or who wins, but I really love the atmosphere at football games!  It's a blast being able to use Dad's suite tickets at the OSU games with Laura... and I love the family get-togethers at Mom and Dad's to watch football games (where the girls look at scrapbooks, tell stories, and play cards)!  ...except for my Mom - she's very serious about her love of football!! lol

8.  BONFIRES AND HAYRIDES ~ Always great memories with fun friends!  I want s'more! ;)

7.  PUMPKIN CARVING CONTESTS ~ Good times at Dentist Neil's... who always wins his own competition. lol  It's just fun to work together with friends, and always interesting to see the finished product!

6.  SCARVES, HOODIES, & RED HAIR ~ I love, love, love wearing scarves and hoodies.  And this always feels like the perfect time of year to amp up the red hair! :)

5.  THE GRAND STATE FAIR OF OKLAHOMA ~ Worth a trip once a year, if only for the food and the people watching!  Lots of funny State Fair memories with family and friends!!

4.  PERFECT PARK WEATHER ~ The best time of year to eat outside, hang out outside, read, reflect, play (or in my case watch) games at the park, walk or jog with friends at Crescent Park, etc. 

3.  AUTUMN SIGHTS AND SCENTS ~ The trees are gorgeous - the brighter the red, the better! Walking through the fallen leaves is fantastic.  And the fall smells are by far the best candles to use for any season.  (My current favorites are "Cider Donut" and "Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin" from Bath & Body Works.  Mmmm!)

2.  FUN MEMORIES WITH FRIENDS ~ "I recall Central Park in Fall..." Every time I look at the NY pics, I get Danke Shoen stuck in my head. lol  Lots of great memories of fun vacations, road trips, and celebrating Fall birthdays!!

1.  THE EMPHASIS ON GRATITUDE!!  ~ I really love the season of Thanksgiving - it's refreshing and uplifting to spend the month of November specifically dwelling on and writing down everything you're thankful for - yay, God! =)

*BONUS:  COSTUME PARTIES & HALLOWEEN CANDY!! :)

*DOUBLE BONUS:  LATE-OCTOBER = TIME TO DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS ~ According to the Muecke family, at least!  ;-)

Happy Fall, Friends!!

Beauty for Ashes...

Well, friends, the awesome joy I felt this morning has given way to intense grief. 

I did everything that I could possibly do, but the loss of this friendship has officially been finalized... and as much as I know God is in this and it has to happen for me to become who He wants me to be, I am in pain right now. (The beauty and gladness will undoubtedly come later - but today, it's the mourning and the ashes.)

I want to give myself time to process this with God, to really turn to Him rather than distracting myself by writing. And I want to be very careful with my words, as I believe this is a critical turning point in my life. All that to say, I'm going to take a blogging break for the next month or so!

"It's not brutal in the sense of you chew the other person out and tell them what a worthless piece of garbage they are.  It's brutal in a way where you act like they don't exist, which is perhaps one of the worst things you can do to someone: to pretend that they don't exist... or that they might as well have never existed to you."

I'll leave you with this quote, which really speaks to me right now.

God truly is good, all the time, and I am so thankful that He will never give up on me or let me go!! See you a bit later this year - prayers appreciated.

Photo Friday!!

Guess what finally arrived in the mail yesterday!?

YAY, it's official!! "Huzzah!" "Mini-wave in celebration of me!" lol

I'm very proud to have been a part of this class. It took a lot of courage and determination to go back to school and choose to start a new course, so I'm thankful for God's timing and His hand in that decision, and I won't allow the enemy to belittle my heart or this accomplishment! I'm a big believer in Joyce's "let emotions subside and then decide" mantra... so as usual, I'm being cautious and slow to make big decisions, but I have a growing desire to help people who feel insignificant understand that they are loved and valued, and I believe God is refining that desire and giving me some practical ideas on how to make it happen. One way or another, I believe He loves me and will keep working in and through me, and will use my life to bring Him glory and bless others! (...And that this degree was an important step in the right direction.)

So get excited!! One down... one to go! ;-)

"The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength..." ~Isaiah 58:11

Thankful Thursday!! (62)

Today, I'm thankful...

1. That Jesus is my Shepherd and "the Guardian of my soul." (1 Peter 2:25) I must've read that before at some point, but it didn't hit me so deeply until now... I really love that description of Him, because my mind, will, and emotions need a guardian to keep me on track. :)
2. That I ordered my sixth "blog book" on August 21st... kind of a minor thing, but it was definitely God's timing. The day I received it, the first 3 posts I randomly flipped to were all really good for me to re-read and remember!

3. For the unexpected strength, security, joy, and peace I feel that could only be coming from Christ in me right now!! I have never before been so aware of being upheld and sustained by God, and I know I wouldn't be functioning at all without Him.
4. For knowing that my parents fully support me going on to get a doctorate as long as it's what I'm sure I want to do!
5. For this picture, captioned "Boo Sammiches!" lol If that doesn't brighten your day, then I don't know what will! :)

6. For my counselor, Del, helping me to sort through what's going on and see myself more clearly.
7. For the uplifting letter that came with the flowers - the closing line said, "The best is yet to come in this life," and I really do believe that!! #thankful #butistillhatehashtags ;)

Song of the Week = Roar by Katy Perry (much to Laura's dismay, I'm sure. lol)

Cheesy, yes, but fun and upbeat and good to run to! (I'm being very careful to avoid depressing songs or shows, and it's making a real difference.)

Parrish Update

I totally plan to be a Mom someday, but for now, being an Aunt is pretty great! :)

Here are a few recent pics of my nephews and my niece!

^^Grandad and Jace swinging and throwing rocks in the fountain in Mom and Dad's backyard. (Sidenote: The green swing is broken, and Kyndal's not old enough yet, so Jace gets the pink swing for now!) I really love the top right pic where Rylee is loking at Mom and carrying her ball. She somehow hasn't learned yet to get out of the way while Jace is throwing rocks. lol

^^T-Man and Carter trying out David's motorcycle! Carter was so excited and seriously ready to test drive it! I love that the helmet is way too big for him, but you can still tell that he's smiling (bottom right)! :)

^^Bubby Jace's turn! He was less excited, but definitely curious.

^^Jace loves going outside, and lately, loves throwing rocks and splashing around in their fountain. He's pretty adorable, I gotta say! A tad spoiled and hilariously overdramatic, but super cute nonetheless, especially when he's in a good mood! :)

^^Speaking of overdramatic, I just love these pics of him getting his hair cut! lol Maybe that's mean, but I laughed pretty hard when I saw them. Such misery and anguish. Life is hard for a Bubby.


This weekend, he was out back swinging with Mom, and as soon as I walked outside, he said, "Wid-Zee!" YAY, he knows me!!!!! We've been working on that for a while, but that was a first, and pretty exciting. :) He's also saying "Mamaw" for Mom (he somehow drags the first syllable into two, which I love).

Mom was clever enough to excitedly say "Riverdance, Riverdance!" when he jumped around moving his little feet one day... and "Moonwalk, Moonwalk!" when he randomly tried walking backwards. So now, when he hears those words (so long as his attention isn't stubbornly focused elsewhere), he will Riverdance or Moonwalk on cue, grinning and looking up at you the whole time... ahhh, cutest thing ever, and so funny!! (I fully intend to get a video and post it here as soon as he'll cooperate - no such luck so far, but seeing it in person was great!)

^^Finally, I got to hold Miss K-Faith (aka "BubbyKyn" or "Kyndalight") for quite a while this weekend. Sooooo little!! I don't even remember Jace being that little. She's such a peaceful baby, at least in the time I've been around her. I just love holding her and watching her and praying for her and making up little lullabies to sing. They're always to the tune of Frere Jacques, for some reason...

"Precious baby, Baby Kyndal,

Kyndal Faith... Kyndal Faith!

Innocent and sweet and

Oh, so very precious,

Kyndal Faith... Kyndal Faith!

Jesus loves her, He is going to

Keep her safe... keep her safe.

He will hold her close 'cause

She is precious to Him.

Kyndal Faith... Kyndal Faith!"

Yeah, I could go all day, but you probably get the gist. lol I just love her so much already!

^^PRESH!

Anyway, Happy Tuesday, everyone! :) Huzzah for a short work week!!
(*Yes, "Huzzah" is from The Patriot. And yes, I watched it again this weekend - love it!)