OH HI THERE

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hiiiii! i’m currently in van with my besties. loving the big city but not loving my inability to shop (practicing some serious self control here…especially during topshop sales…) we lunched at foundation & grabbed a lucky donut at 49th parallel (picked up some espresso too which i’m excited to try!) and tonight we’re watching mahkeela’s year end dance show…yay!

happy weekend! got any fun plans?

xoxo,

s.s.♥.

FIVE YEARS LATER

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i was running the other night and experienced some serious déjà vu.

déjà vu, from french, literally “already seen”, is the phenomenon of having the strong sensation that an event or experience currently being experienced has been experienced in the past, whether it has actually happened or not. -wiki

don’t worry, i’m not going to get all freaky deaky on you all. i was on my run and all of a sudden i felt the urge to stop. i was actually pretty thankful for this little break as it was about halfway through my run and i was tired and more importantly, it was stunning out and i was very excited to capture a pretty pic for instagram. but after i captured the photo i found myself just thinking i had been in this exact situation before. and then i remembered, i had…almost five years ago i had stopped mid-run in this spot. ok, that’s a bit freaky deaky… 

looking back on that day five years ago, i was a broken girl. a broken girl who was stupidly looking for affirmation in guys. i was eager to be in a relationship so i found myself going after guy after guy (even though they were clearly not the right moG for me..)


in this particular memory of five years ago, i found myself stopped mid-run on the breakwater trying to catch my breath. in the mini crisis i was having i found myself crying out to God. and you know what? He met me. that night after i ran back home, i crashed onto my bed, turned on worship music and just cried for God to fill me. and you know what? He did. He reminded me that He was closer than breathing, that He was there for me, that He was my God and it was going to be ok. He was good, He was faithful and He was true.

 

five years later I am reminded of God’s faithfulness. i’d love to say that i never had a mini crisis again but i had many, many more and much larger. though as i have aged, i have found that God has grown. His presence has become larger. His faithfulness has become clearer. He’s closer than He was before. five years later, i have found Him bigger.

 

“Aslan” said Lucy “you’re bigger”.
“That is because you are older, little one” answered he.
“Not because you are?”
“I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger”.” 
― C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia


i’ve often looked at aging in a negative way. wrinkles, fatigue, less strength. but now i’m starting to look at it more clearly. aging now equals knowing Jesus more. and really, is there anything better than that?

 

"I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” -philippians 3:7-8 nlt

my prayer is that as you grow you will find God bigger in your life than ever before. that you will find His faithfulness larger. that you will find Him closer to you than ever before.

love you to the moon & back,

s.s.♥.

OFFICE SPACE DREAMS

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james & i found ourselves dreaming a bit on saturday evening. we enjoyed a great dinner at pizza prima strada for my dad’s birthday (followed by dq ice cream cake of course!) 

it was such a beautiful evening that we decided to take a drive. we found ourselves driving through the streets of fairfield dreaming of our future home. the one we will eventually buy and raise our children in. we talked about many things and prayed that one day, when the time is right God would find us our home (who knows where that may be! fingers crossed for southern california..jk)


in our future home james dreams of having a studio/jam space and i dream of an office. a cute office with light pink or white walls filled with inspiration.

here is what my “office space” currently looks like…

currently the office is in the corner of our dining room. i wanted the desk to be by the window so i could glance out at our gorgeous street…although, i kid you not, i just looked outside to a creepy neighbour on his deck waving at me from the apartments across the street…needless to say, i just closed the blinds… uhhh moving on…

take a peek at some offices that get my heart sparkling…

image

i absolutely love emily schuman’s office, although i wouldn’t be able to keep mine as minimalistic as this..

i love the white + black palette of this one and the simple motivating art.

in love with the peach chair + bronze frames of this one.

how cute is the inspiration board in this one!!!


one day i’ll have an office space i love but until then i’ll happily type away at my desk by the window (blinds down when creepy neighbour is out on his deck…)


stay gold,

s.s.♥.

DIARY // REAL TALK

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first off, how beautiful was the sunset a few nights ago? cotton candy coloured skies always make this heart sparkle.

ok real talk time, i left my house in a hurry this morning. i was running late for coffee with my lovely friend courtney (!) and the reason why i was running late was because our weather kept changing. this morning it was cold and rainy, so i was dressed for cold and rainy but upon glancing out my bedroom blinds, i noticed the sun had come out a blazing. in a mad rush i changed into shorts and ran out the door. half way on my drive to starbucks i looked down at my knees and realized my legs were disgustingly hairy not shaved. i was tempted to turn around and run straight to the shower but instead i kept going. meh. i’d rather spend quality time with courtney than protect the world from seeing my not so smooth legs. real talk. (fyi don’t worry, i will still shave my legs and not embarrass you if we hang out this summer…)


anyways….while we’re on the subject of real talk. let me tell you something: real talk is important. i do not know how people go through life without talking about the trials & annoyances & crazy stuff & scary stuff (etc, etc) that happens to them. 

i do believe you have to be discerning. i’m not going to go all real talk and ask someone for advice, or tell them about an issue if i barely know them. be discerning in who you open up to! i know i’m rambling here but the point is…get some people in your life that you can go all real talk on. 

james & i are so blessed to have amazing pastors/mentors/friends/role models (aka andy & lisa) in our life. they had us over the other night and we told them honestly where we were at and they listened and loved and offered wisdom. we drove away refreshed and blessed. 

let’s face it…life can be cray. life can be a little cray. life can be very cray. get someone in your life who you can be real talk with.

newly engaged/newly weds…married life is hard (at times!), get a couple that you look up to that you can be real talk with. young girl, young man (do any guys even read this blog?) get someone in your life, a youth leader, an older person you respect, someone that you can be honest with,someone who will offer Godly wisdom, someone who will pray for you, someone who will keep you accountable, someone who will love you!

don’t hold everything in (that will make everything even more cray!), find an awesome mentor/friend/role model, be real with them & leave refreshed and blessed.

 

happy friday friends.

 

xoxo,

s.s.♥.