Lately...

A few recent pictures...

The fabulous wreaths Rach and Mom made for me!! Yay! :)

Caroling at Aberdeen Heights with LG friends!

Girls' night... White Christmas + decorating sugar cookies! =)

Lauralai's birthday week... 

Chuy's fun + Laura attempting to keep warm at my house on the night that Ruby (my car) died!

(No worries, she has since been revived!)

This time of year is really busy, but it's mainly a really good busy!  Thanks to my mom being amazing - proofreading, stamping, signing, etc - I've had an incredibly productive weekend (66 plea transcripts ready to go)!!  Very close to being totally caught up at work!  I'm also trying to finish up some practicum stuff and get ready for my 12-12-12 Christmas Party. :)  Get excited!

So I'll write more later, but that requires time to sit and think.  For now, I'm going with music videos again. =)

This is possibly my favorite song ever.  Like, ever. ;)
David Archuleta is truly precious and his voice is so pure, and for whatever reason, I love and adore the lyrics to this song!


And this is definitely my favorite "Christmas carol" ...and while I normally don't care for Sugarland and find the woman super-annoying, this version of the song is pretty much perfection (especially if you just listen and ignore the video slideshow)!
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel by Sugarland

Birthday Tribute

Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Laura Bower!!

Lauralai Allison, 

You are truly one of my favorite people.  You are kind, trustworthy, and a great listener... you care about the details and you make me feel heard and loved and understood, and I so appreciate that (and hope the reverse is also true).  You have a wonderfully witty sense of humor that brightens everyone's day!  You are beautiful, inside and out.  You are delightfully quirky, and you know and appreciate most of my delightful quirks. ;)  You're fantastic and vibrant and one-of-a-kind, but so unaware of the reality of your own awesomeness - which just makes you all the more lovable. :)  And most importantly, you genuinely seek to serve God and "call on Him in truth," and you encourage me to draw closer to Him!  

Whether we're walking with Molly and Clara at "Crescent Park Ridge Roll" or singing to OneRepublic or dining at Panera or "waiving the wheat" at the OSU game or narcissistically editing all of our pictures or discussing the love of Katniss and Peeta or spontaneously going to the open house party or almost running over an entire family of racoons... I always love hanging out with you! :)  I'm so very thankful for our friendship - for all the fun memories and heart-to-heart talks over the past four years, and looking forward to many more in the years to come.

I hope you're having a fabulous time in Houston - can't wait to hear all about it!  And again, Happy Birthday!  

Love you!!

~Lindsey Lou

 My first memory of hanging out with Laura - Election Night 2008

The girls at Cheesecake Factory for Laura's birthday a couple years back!

And finally... a fun-filled, birthday-themed Laura & Lindsey picture slideshow!

Day 30

Today, I'm thankful for Jesus Christ!!

Pic = Description of Jesus in Isaiah 42:1-9

I especially love verse 3 - "He will not crush those who are weak or quench the smallest hope.  He will bring full justice to all who have been wronged."

...Yessss, awesome!

Day 29

Today, I'm thankful that there's only one more day of this challenge. lol

Kidding, sort of.  I just get the feeling December is going to require me to be super-focused and incredibly productive at work and school!  I'll be finishing 2012 off strong! ;-)

But today, I'm thankful for... Montgomery Exterminators, and a typically bug-free house!  Not kidding at all about that one.  I despise and have an almost phobia-like fear of most bugs, so I get my house sprayed four times a year (today being one of those days).  Most people would think that's extreme, but it's definitely worth it to me for peace of mind!

Pic = my bug-free happy Christmas living room! :)

Day 28

Today, I'm thankful for Malori Riah, my genuine and hilarious and brilliant and truly secure and all around freaking awesome best friend!!  I'm thankful for the way our friendship has grown and continues to grow... and for all the fun memories and great conversations along the way!

Happy Friend-iversary! :)

Pic = Malori and I at Bow Bridge in Central Park

As of today, we've officially been friends for five years...... and two months. lol  I missed celebrating the official five-year mark on September 28th :( but I'm celebrating it now, so get excited!  And by celebrating, I of course mean creating a ridiculously cheesy through-the-years picture slideshow to Queen's You're My Best Friend. lol  I kinda cracked myself up picking that one.
Enjoy...

Day 27

Today, I'm thankful for being part of a book club for the first time tonight... that's right, I'm driving down to OKC to join Malori's book club to talk about The Book Thief! =)

Also thankful for the way that God is working things out behind the scenes when we least expect it!  

GIGATT.

Pic = The Book Thief

Day 26

Today, I'm thankful for blogging - both writing and reading the blogs of others!  I really love having this as a sort of online journal, timeline, and scrapbook for my life and spiritual journey!  And on the rare occasion when Malori, Laura, or Chet decide to write, I love reading their posts!

But I also love reading posts by a few awesome people that I've never had the privilege of meeting in 'real life,' most notably Ashley Campbell and Fabs Harford!

Pic = an excerpt from Fabs' blog today... a letter to her 16-year-old self.  

(Or to my 28-year-old self.)  

"People are drawn to the reality that you don't need them to keep breathing... that kind of confidence is only possible if you have a guaranteed supply of love and affection coming your way for eternity."  I LOVE that. ❤