Laguna wedding

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of working a wedding job in Laguna Beach. The girls were pretty much all from somewhere in the south and were super sweet. In my down time I took some pictures of my set up just to pass the time. I will do a separet post of the ladies on my actual make up blog once I get the photos from the photographer. hip hip hurray!

MAIN EVENT

I have a list of things I want to do or see on my bed side table. One event that was on said list was to go on the orange balloon at the Great Park in Irvine. As we neared the park I was almost hyperventilating. I couldn't believe we were going to go on. Once we arrived, we walked into the room where you sign your life away in the event that... well you know... THEN they hand you a pager much like one you would get at a restaurant while waiting for your table. We walked out of that room and down the way a bit toward the balloon. Once our pager went off we took it back to the room to receive our balloon tickets and waited in line for our turn. ahhh!!!! so exciting. They let us on and as we all walked on, I thought, maybe this wasn't a good idea. maggie and I faced each other as the balloon began to rise to over 400 feet in the air. It shook and shook, but once we were at our desired height, we were able to relax a bit and walk around to take pictures. It was already night time by the time we went up so we were able to see the city all lit up. though in the commotion and rocking of the balloon and the effects of night with not a great camera, some pictures came out a little rough. But who really cares?! It was AWESOME!!!!

joel's day

A while back we celebrated our friend Joe's birthday with a birthday party that we had no idea was actually a birthday party. I received a text message from him telling me that I was to skip church to come hang out with him at his house. I didn't question it. As we sat there and person after person came filing in the house, we ( maggie and I) realized this WAS a birthday party... and we had no present. So we promised him we would take out one day to celebrate him being born- a day in which he would not have to pay a dime and have WAY too much fun.

AGENDA:

1. pick Jadge up from SOW

2. get lunch

3. ice cream at Rite Aid

4. swing at a park (unplanned)

5. Barnes and Nobel to kill time before the movie (unplanned)

6. candy from candy shop around the corner from movie theatre

7. toy store

8. Movie (Karate Kid)

9. MAIN EVENT

10. Dinner at Laventina's

11. eating dinner on life guard stand at the wedge

*some photos were deleted and unable to be recovered because of an unforeseen happening.

"We've changed alot since High School, Huh?"

Yesterday was Beautiful here in Orange County. During the morning there was a light sprinkle, and as the day progressed, the sun slowly made its way past the dark clouds- a Ten in my book. In the afternoon I met up with one of my lovely friends and we went to get Acai bowls from Bonzai Bowl. With our two " Shark Coves" in hand, we set off to go walking at the back bay.

Toward the beginning of our walk, I saw a trail ( or not so much of a trail) heading up one of the hills, and all of a sudden the need to Hike came flowing through my veins... that's never happened before. I'm no North Face girl. As we were were just about to end our little escapade and make our way back toward the ground below, we saw a snake. Now, usually I'm not a little girl about certain things but I definitely screamed when I Saw it. After making sure it was completely gone, we got off that hill as fast as we could, and started walking once more; 20 lizards, 1 snake,1 crane, and a High School cross country team later, we headed back to our city life.

In the Evening, my friend Darla ( who was the one with me earlier), and I drove over to our friend Reid's house. We hung out for a bit and then decided or more so Reid decided ice cream was a good idea, Cold Stone ice cream. After eating our ice cream and returning back to our friends house, we waited out front for more of our guy friends back from high school to meet up with us. It was so nice to see all of them. We definitely miss hang'n with these boys. A good night!

He restores my soul.

I had had a discussion with a friend a while back about how we are opposites on certain things. He loves living alone and is perfectly fine being by himself throughout the day, and I would rather have someone by my side- someone to witness my life, and me to witness theirs. Well, almost a week ago, he reminded me of that certain talk. I won't get into the whole conversation (it was a duzzy), but I was telling him how there are certain times I actually enjoy being alone. When everyones gone or asleep, that's my time. It's a time for me to hash out the days' ruin, the past couple of years' yuck, and/or just the ever so special, "this sucks, Lord." which always seems to end in praise. ha ha ...God is good!

All this to say, the two other crazy people that reside in my house have left for the weekend. They both came home from work around the same time and decided it was a good idea to drive up north to Santa Rosa, to visit my brother, my sister n law and my nephew and niece. I however, am still here. It's only been 7 hours and already the Lord has showed me some hard things... pockets of resistance; nooks and crannies God should have free reign over but doesn't.

A while back, after trusting the Lord for what seemed like too long, I became cynical. And as my cynicism grew I developed layers and layers of armor that sadly, blocked out the Lord. Most people don't know this cause I keep it under-wraps pretty well, but I'm not always as pleasing to the Lord as I should be. I fail a lot, and I guess people just give me too much credit. I have these hands that are stained with sin, and no one seems to see them but me. As a sinner, I'm winning.

Al Abdula recently lead a Bible study at Reality Carpinteria on verse three of Psalm 23. " He Restores my soul." There were too many good things that were said so go listen to the study (august 15th),but for now two things that gripped my heart. Are we delighting in the Shepherd more than the blessing? And I need to Confess where I've substituted righteousness for other things. If the Lord's gonna lead me, He has to make me right again.

Well thats all for now. sorry to exhaust, and congratulations if you made it this far.

I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Selah

I would like to take the time to let the body of Christ encourage one another. As Iron sharpens Iron... This is for the person/people that need(s) to be at the feet of Jesus but just can't seem to find the time to be still. May this be a stepping stone to the main event. ( actually sitting at His feet) Leave a comment about what God has been teaching you or just an encouraging word for someone else. This is for edification.

"Come and hear, all you who fear God, and i will declare what He has done for my soul."

Psalm 66:16

"I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on your wondrous works "

Psalm 145:5

Let's everyone dislike her all at once...

I don't know how to embroider, but i've always wanted to. This was jillian's first attempt trying her hand at embroidering, and after seeing this mini quilt, it has both inspired me to start and give it up all at once. So thank you Jillian Tamaki for saving me time and many many needle pricks.

adventure beanie

After an awful wednesday a while back, maggie and i took and unexpected trip down to Encinitas to blow off some steam... mostly my steam.

Maggie- "per usual"

Allison- " yourrr a jerk"

So this evening, not because today was awful, but just 'cause it's nice to get away every once in a while, we headed down south. However, down south ended up being not as down south as we both would've liked, so we left dana point and headed back. Once almost home, and no adventure to speak of, an idea popped in my mind. I remembered a place high above the street where we had sat a couple times before. It's the kind of place you go to talk about things... important things. Be that as it may, by the time we reached this place all of our meaningful conversation had been used up, and we were just happy to sit in silence.

Our silent sitting ended abruptly as a bunny came hopping toward us. Thus tonight became the night we went bunny hunting... Though mostly, he was the one chasing us.