Killing It

H&M killing it!

Rocking Hair

Always the funnest style for hair.

Eternity In The Breeze

There's nothing quite as magical 

As the wind blowing through the trees

Today it was a summer breeze

Barley noticeable if you weren't listening for it

But one that whispered nonetheless

Beckoning someone to give ear

And it spoke to me

It was if the breeze that gently shook the leaves to and fro

Also ushered in a slew of memories from youthful days spent in this yard

Yet they are somewhat sweeter than they had been when I lived them first

I saw my friends and I splashing in the pool

Sliding into second

And running after the ice cream man barefoot

I saw my family together

I'm not sure when

It is timeless in my mind

I saw pain as well

Yet it blew in just as sweet as the rest

The apparitions are thick now

I can drink them in

They sustain my wants and desires for the time being

I see now that they are a part of my life eternal

They are sweeter now because as I look back

I see Christ in them

How often I forget to drink in the past

How often I miss a breeze begging to be heard

But for now I sit alone and listen to eternity

That comes with the rustling leaves.

-Anonymous 

Anouk Aimee

After watching 8 1/2 and a La Dolce Vita, I am officially smitten with Anouk Aimee. 

Not Quite Yet, Dreams of Coziness

Ok, so it's 100 degrees in LA right now and I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this sweater. But a girl can dream of being cozy in the fall can't she?

French Melodies

I don't understand a lick of this song, but Coeur de Pirate delivers some beautiful sounds and melodies, enjoy!

Monday's Memorable Movie Scene

Happy Monday! Keep doing that thing you do ;)

Etsy's Song of the Day

The StoryBookRabbit's "Little Doe" illustrated plate is just one of a slew of cute and original dinnerware designs.

"There May Be Danger In The Love Of Beauty"

"I had always served beauty. Davy and I together had loved beauty. Now, maybe, I was worshiping beauty in the Christian God while Davy was worshiping God. There may be danger in the love of beauty, though it seems treason to say it."

- Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy

Things are only beautiful because the Creator has made them to be beautiful. As believers it is healthy to be meticulous observers of all things beautiful: trees, stars, the sound of the early bird in the otherwise soundless mourning, poetry, art, people, food; by observing the work of the Lord we are able to praise Him for it. Yet I fear sometimes, like Sheldon admits, I often acknowledge God's hand in making something beautiful but I praise the fact that God did make it beautiful for the object's or subject's sake but not for the glory of God. For the beauty of the object/subject will fade; what once glittered will soon wither, but God is forever and He is so much more than the beauty He has crafted on earth. Lord, it is my desire that beauty would wholly lead me to the praise your name not to the praise of the beautiful things themselves, or even to the praise of the fact that you create earthly beauty, it is all useless unless it leads me to praise You, my God, in all your Glory. Spirit help me to do this.

Ogni Gioia E Pace Nella Fede

Il Dio della speranza vi riempia di ogni gioia e pace nella fede, perché abbondiate nella speranza per la virtù dello Spirito Santo.

-Lettera Ai Romani 15:13

I bought an Italian Bible to help me learn Italian, I just think its cool to hear the same Truth in a different language. 

And it sounds real perrrty too!

Zara For The Youngins

How awesome is Zara's new kids line! Looks like all my friends with children might be getting a random present or two.

Husband Criteria

I love these illustrations by Katie Turner and I love that my husband meets all these requirements. The dog part we are working on but thats only us being smart and practical, otherwise He loves all dogs.

Morning

Christ, who is our life.

-Colossians iii. 4

Paul's marvellously rich expression indicates, that Christ is the source of our life... The same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb raised us to newness of life. He is now the substance of our spiritual life. It is by His life that we live; He is in us, the hope of glory, the spring of our actions, the central thought which moves every other thought. 

Christ is the sustenance of our life. What can the Christian feed upon but Jesus' flesh and blood? "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die"...

Christ is the solace of our life. All our true joys come from Him; and in times of trouble, His presence is our consolation....

Christ is the object of our life. As speeds the ship towards the port, so hastes the believer towards the haven of his Saviour's bosom... As the soldier fights for his captain, and is crowned in His captain's victory, so the believer contends for Christ, and gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his Master...

Christ is the exemplar of our life... If we live in near fellowship with the Lord Jesus we shall grow like Him. We shall set Him before us as our Divine copy, and we shall seek to tread in His footsteps, until He shall become the crown of our life in glory. Oh! how safe, how honoured, how happy is the Christian, since Christ is our life!

-C.H. Spurgeon

Etsy's Song of the Day

This may be a bit too girlie for me to pull off, but it is still super cute! Plus it comes in your choice of color combos.

Lets Get Personal: Finding The Way

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

-Jeremiah 11:23

I believe the single overarching folly of mankind is that we believe "our way" is somewhere within us. That if we search deep enough and work hard enough our steps will eventually lead us to truth and satisfaction. We are fools; though we are able to walk we do not know the way. 

"Our way" cannot be found within ourselves, or within any man for that matter, only God can direct our steps to the truth of who we are and what we are to be about to be completely satisfied.

But if we do decide to call on His name for answers, He leads us in a direction none would expect. For He does not reach inside the depths of our hearts and souls to show us the "self" we could never discover on our own, but leads us to the feet of His throne, with Christ at His right hand, and bids us to gaze upward so that we might discover God. For it is only then we realize our inherent worthlessness, the glory and perfection of God and the incredible fact that, in Christ, He sees us as sons and daughters and heirs to His kingdom. This is "our way," it is directed by who God is and subsequently our position in Him, not ourselves. Let us walk in it.

PenStory

As if I wasn't drooling over the vintage inspired Olympus Pen already, this video makes me want one even more! Plus it's just a rad video period.

Monday's Memorable Movie Scene

Hope your Monday is "excellent!"

Morning

They weave the spider's web.

-Isaiah lix. 5

See the spider's web, and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite's religion. It is meant to catch his prey: the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the poud profession of pretenders,... custom, reputation praise, advancement, and other flies, are the samll game which hypocrites take in their nets.

A spider's web  is a marvel skill: look at it and admire the cunning hunter's wiles. Is not a deceiver's religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be truth?...

But a spider's web is very frail. It is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured... The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hope to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying work.

Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord's house: He will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be destroyed for ever. O my soul, be thou resting on something better than a spider's web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.

-C.H. Spurgeon

Etsy's Song of the Day

Pyramid posts.

Coralie Does it Again

Currently I own and very much enjoy Coralie Bickford-Smith's 1st edition of cloth-bound books; they are soo gorgeous! But her latest installment, a set of F. Scott Fitzgerald books, takes gorgeous to a whole new level! They are all designed in art deco black, white and gold patterns; double drool all the way!

Very Versailles

Thought this was a really imaginative and fun photo spread from Elle Sweden.

Bringing it Back

The 50's are back in a big way and I'm not opposed.

Morning

 Behold, I am vile.

-Job xl. 4

...You think you must not come to God because you are vile. Now, there is not a saint living on earth but has been made to feel that he is vile. If Job, and Isaiah, and Paul were obliged to say I am vile, oh, poor sinner, wilt thou be ashamed to join in the same confession? If divine grace does not eradicate all sin from the believer, how dost thou hope to do it thyself? and if God loves His people while they are yet vile, dost thou think thy vileness will prevent His loving thee?... Jesus calls thee, and such as thou art.

"Not the righteous, not the righteous; 

Sinners, Jesus came to call."

Even now say, "Thou hast died for sinners; I am a sinner, Lord Jesus sprinkle Thy blood on me;" if thou wilt confess thy sin thou shalt find pardon. If, now, with all thy heart, thou wilt say, "I am vile, wash me," thou shalt be washed now. Thou shalt rise from reading this morning's portion with all thy sins pardoned; and though thou didst wake this morning with every sin that man hath ever committed on thy head, thou shalt rest to-night accepted in the Beloved; though once degraded with the rags of sin, thou shalt be adorned with a robe of righteousness, and appear white as the angels are.... Oh! may the Holy Spirit give thee saving faith in Him who receives the vilest.

-C.H. Spurgeon

Good Day LA

"Stay on the light side" LA.

Etsy's Song of the Day

What a fanciful, 1900's, way to embellish your hair.

The Latest From Hedi Slimane

    (Hedi Slimane)

Morning

Watchman, what of the night?

-Isaiah xxi 11

...Our heavenly Protector foresees all the attacks which are about to be made upon us, and when as yet the evil designed us is but in the desire of Satan, He prays for us that our faith fail not, when we are sifted as wheat... 

Watchman, what of the night? What weather is coming for the church?... We must care for the Church of God with anxious love; and now that Popery and infidelity are both threatening, let us observe the signs of the times and prepare for conflict.

Watchman, what of the night? What stars are visible? What precious promises suit our present case? You should the alarm, give us the consolation also. Christ, the pole-star, is ever fixed in His place, and all the stars are secure in the right hand of their Lord.

But watchman, when comes the morning?... Has not the morning star arisen as the pledge of day? When will the day dawn, and the shadows flee away? O Jesus, if Thou come not in person to thy waiting Church this day, yet come in Spirit to my sighing heart, and make it sing for joy...

-C.H. Spurgeon

Etsy's Song of the Day

Because you never know when the urge to go on a treasure hunt will strike.

Poetry Explored

I will admit, I have never been one to appreciate, or even read, poetry. However, as of late, I have had a sudden desire to make up for lost time and delve face first into poetry. I don't know, maybe in my mature old age I am beginning to appreciate the twists and tangles of word that poets so skilfully design into a beautiful rose; maybe I should be a poet myself. So here is the first of "Poetry explored."

A Dream Within A Dream

-Edgar Allen Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream? 

Now Look Sassy and Say Cheese!

Post Midsummer Night's Dream dance performance, just a guess.

Morning

The Lamb is the light thereof.

-Rev. xxi. 23

Quietly contemplate the Lamb as the light of heaven. Light in scripture is the emblem of joy. The joy of the saints in heaven is comprised in this: Jesus chose us, loved us, bought us, cleansed us, kept us, glorified us... Light is also the cause of beauty. Nought of beauty is left when light is gone... and thus all the beauty of the saints above comes from Jesus. As planets, they reflect the light of the Sun of Righteousness; they live as beams proceeding from the central orb... If He withdrew, they must die...

Light is also the emblem of knowledge. In heaven our knowledge will be perfect, but the Lord Jesus Himself will be the fountain of it... and all that puzzles us now will become plain to us in the Light of the Lamb. Light also means manifestation... God's people are a hidden people, but when Christ receives His people into heaven, He will touch them with the wand of His own love, and change them into the image of His manifested glory... They were stained with sin, but one touch of His finger, and they are bright as the sun... Oh! what a manifestation! All this proceeds from the exalted Lamb. Whatever there may be of effulgent splendour, Jesus shall be the centre and soul of it all...

-C.H. Spurgeon 

Etsy's Song of the Day

I always wanted a green beret, and I finally got one. Join the elite special forces with this one here.

In Shape

What a great shape for the fall.

Morning

Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.

-Eph. i. 11

Our belief in God's wisdom supposes and necessitates that He has a settled purpose and plan in the work of salvation. What would  creation have been without His design? Is there a... fowl in the air, which was left to chance for its formation? Nay, in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood-vessel, you mark the presence of a God working everything according to the design of infinite wisdom. And shall God be present in creation, ruling over all, and not in grace?... Look at Providence! Who knoweth not that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father? Even the hairs of your head are all numbered... And shall there be a God in providence and not in grace?... No; He knows the end from the beginning. He sees in its appointed place, not merely the corner-stone which He has laid in fair colours, in the blood of His dear Son, but He beholds in their ordained position each of the chosen stones taken out of the quarry of nature, and polished by His grace; He sees the whole from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from foundation to pinnacle. He hath in His mind a clear knowledge of every stone which shall be laid in its prepared space, and how vast the edifice shall be, and when the top-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings of "Grace! Grace! unto it." At the last it shall be clearly seen that in every chosen vessel of mercy, Jehovah did as He willed with His own; and that in every part of the work of grace He accomplished His purpose, and glorified His own name.

-C.H. Spurgeon