the details: part 2

i hope you all took some time over the past 10 days to really think about the small things in your life. it's those little things that really get us. at least for me.

i promised a recap, so here are some of the things I shared via twitter this week: 

ice cold water. *glug glug glug aahhh* 

the sound of brock's heartbeat when i lay on his chest.

little sun kisses all over your skin. warm. comforting. relaxing.

that first salt and vinegar chip that makes your cheeks suck in and jaw tense up. 

to see others i tweeted about, check out my twitter! or you can see some things that i noticed with camera in hand on my instagram. 

i have to be honest, i really paid a lot more attention. i appreciated more, thought more, and smiled more. and i am a lot more grateful for those simple things in my life that we sometimes skip over and miss. don't miss those things! soak them up! talk about them.

cherish them.

what little things have you noticed lately? 

for the details on the details, check out part one.

a little craziness + a beautiful mess

after the storm last week, you'd think life would be a little better. but it really feels like a whirlwind of everything happening all at once!

i started a new job, i'm working on projects, trying to do some summer cleaning (not spring cleaning because i was in school then, but it's the same principle), running errands and theeeen... a three day weekend. how nice! we had a relaxing one, which was great. just hanging out. we also went to the last day of the norman rockwell exhibit at our local art museum which was awesome! unfortunately, i wasn't allowed to take pictures. sad day. but way cool! he's fabulous!

on another note, has anyone downloaded the new app from a beautiful mess?? love it! here's some of my little edited shots since i downloaded it a couple weeks ago. well worth the dollar!

pray for moore

i was going to start a new series yesterday called my life monday, but i was a little on edge//preoccupied//freaked out. so how about a tornado tuesday? let's start at the beginning:

i was sitting at the piano with my student, circling the three black keys in his piano book when i heard it. ever so softly. my very first thought was: they don't usually test the tornado sirens at night. my second thought was: is this for real? tornadoes don't happen too often in fort smith. my third thought: ssshhh, {student}, do you hear that? he didn't hear it, so we kept going. until i heard my neighbors outside. we went to the front door and then the sound of the siren was easily recognizable.

i didn't know what to do. i had never been in this situation. it would have been a completely different situation if brock had not left an hour ago and wasn't thirty minutes away with a car that wasn't working at his parents' house. it would have also be quite different if i were not the adult in the situation and an 8 year old was depending on me to keep him safe. 

i freaked out.

but calmly, i didn't let {student} know i was freaking out and calmly called my husband. he immediately said to get to the nearest shelter, so we started unplugging everything, i grabbed the emergency radio from the closet as {student} started putting his piano books back in his bag. and then there was silence. the sirens were gone and brock said that we would be fine if we stayed. so we tried to get back to our lesson, but neither of us could focus. i called {student's} mom and she was on her way.

he left soon after and i was home alone. i decided to do something to get my mind off the storm, texting one of my sweet church girls who was making sure i was ok {weird... i should have been checking on her. i'm lame}.

an hour or so later, brock called to see how i was. i was fine. he told me to turn on the radio so i could be updated. i did. the storm was right outside of fort smith and severe warnings were in effect for my county and the county he was currently in. brock couldn't come home because of the car. i was alone.

he told me to grab some clothes for tomorrow and leave right away. my heart started racing as i scrambled through his drawers and then mine. i made sure i grabbed the radio in case i ended up stranded. silly? i don't know. i called my mom and dad in arizona to let them know what was going on and that i was safe. i wasn't sure if they new the storm was even in our area. i uttered a quick prayer, praying i would make it safely. then got in the truck with a quick look at the still night sky. the stillness scared me. i knew it would be still right before it hit.

then the radio was on from my driveway on out. the severe weather warning list kept adding county after county. severe weather warning until 9:15, then 9:30, 10:00, 10:45.

no one was on the road, it made me feel even more alone. i felt like i was the only idiot out driving. my forearms and hand muscles started aching from the strong grip i had on the steering wheel. every ten seconds, i suddenly didn't need my headlights. the lightning was like a strobe light, constant and bright with strikes that filled the entire sky frequently.

my heart skipped a beat when i got to the turn only minutes away from the house. i was so close, i just had to stay ahead of the storm. curve after curve, i knew i was getting closer, my mind was easing, but i grip was still tight. i couldn't shake it. when i pulled in the drive, brock came out and waved me down to the best parking spot under the carport.

the moment i backed the truck in, the very second i was under the shelter, the rain started. buckets and buckets, it started falling. i knew that was an answer to a prayer and it suddenly added to the  overwhelmed feeling i was fighting. when brock and i were safely inside, i still couldn't shake it. he wrapped me in his arms and i wanted to break down.

i don't know if i had ever been so scared, but at the same time, i felt silly and childish. brock was calm. his parents were calm. we were safe. we were together. and rain couldn't hurt us. only a few hundred miles away in moore, oklahoma, people had recently become homeless. they didn't have food, they didn't have water, they didn't have things. it was all gone. some were even missing that one thing we cling to most in these situations; family. how could i feel so afraid in the safety i had?  but i did.



i'm safe. and i'm fine. but pray for moore. pray for the victims of the storm. pray for their families. and pray that the storms are over. because what i went through last night was nothing compared to the devastation that entered their lives only hours before.

image via

a little push + thoughts on multitasking

life is nuts.

i don't really have much more to say about it. you have probably noticed in my recent posts how overwhelmed i am.

and when i am overwhelmed, i tend to shut down and not do any of those things on the ridiculously long list i have. it's a shame, but that's just my natural instinct.

thankfully, i am quite a lucky girl. see, i have this husband. he's probably too good for me. he pushes me to be better. he works hard all the time. he strives for growth and progress. and he treats my like a queen.

i tell him every day i want to quit life. mostly school, but life would be good, too. and he usually says, "me too" {he also hates school}. but monday when i was feeling particularly overwhelmed he gave me hug and told me:

don't multitask. just focus on one thing at time. 

and you know what? it worked! i love to multitask, i don't know why. maybe it helps me feel more productive? but really it just creates a little chaos in my brain. i accomplished quite a lot on monday and have been taking to heart those words. it really does help to just sit down and focus on one thing at a time.

don't move on until you finish.

do the most difficult things first.

prioritize.

and reward yourself after you have accomplished all those daunting tasks {like with blogging or a quick break!}.

thanks, brock!

old picture from our honeymoon | grand canyon, nov 2011

foliophoto {link-up} memories

it's a foliophoto day!

i hope you have been keeping up! if not, my last two contributions can be found here and here.

this week's prompt, memories, was pretty open to a lot of options. i chose something not so long ago, because it is one of my favorites.

camera: iphone3 | filter: orton via picmonkey

brock and i love love love camping. this was on our first trip camping just us two. i love camping with my family, and brock and i have been with some friends. but it was so great to go last fall, just us. we  drove up the mountain through all the fall-colored trees. we worked together to set up camp {in the dark}. we built a nice cozy fire and roast marshmallows. side-note: we wrapped them in a crescent roll sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and i loooved it. end side-note. and then we spent several hours just talking.

before the sun came up, we woke up and hiked to the edge of the site.mountain to watch the sunrise!

and then this picture took place. we drove down to the lake after a breakfast of fresh fruit and nuts and granola bars. and then we just took pictures. and this was my favorite. in case you can't tell, i took a sneak shot of brock taking photos.

next week is twins. oh buddy... i'm gonna have to get creative.