AN ANNOUNCEMENT + A FEW PHOTOS

just got back from an incredible night at our church. we made the jump from 1 sunday night service to 2!!!! it’s all about making MORE room for MORE people to enter into God’s house. as pastor andy was making the announcement, my heart was racing, not knowing how the congregation would react but as soon as he said it, people clapped and cheered. it made my heart swell. i really love my church and it was great to know that other people really love it too. can’t wait to see what this next season unfolds…i am SO expectant that God is going to do GREAT things!!

here are a few photos from our weekend…lots of my girl, coco…. :)

how cute is she!!!???

james got this gem of a shot!

my baby

i told you i was a crazy cat lady…

hot hubby

in his element

shake it out

stay gold,

s.s.♥.

THAT CAKE SAYING

you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

i have always hated that saying because firstly, i love cake. secondly, of course i can own a cake and then eat it, it’s my freaking cake. but then i wikipedia-ed the saying and read this "it can be used to say that one cannot or should not have or want more than one deserves or can handle, or that one cannot or should not try to have two incompatible things.”

i learned that this was a little bit true last night. i like to have a lot on my plate. i’m obsessed with multitasking. the only time i can just sit and watch a movie is when i’m in a theatre and they force me to put away my glowing phone (sorry!). if i’m at home, you can make sure i’ll be painting my nails, texting, pinning, etc…all while watching a movie. i also like to do everything with excellence…aka i’m kind of a perfectionist…

so last night, i started the re-haul of my blog. i’m planning on doing a MAJOR reno. i signed up for the hosting site & downloaded their templates and started playing around. my goodness, it was so stressful. sooo stressful. i practically bit all my nails off (my coping mechanism) and was a total wreck when james got home. i realized that in this circumstance, i couldn’t have my cake and eat it too.

i realized last night that i had a bit too much on my plate. there was no way i could enter the busiest season of my church (work + volunteering) life, finish my distance ed class, AND reno my blog. oh and don’t forget about Jesus time, marriage, family, coco + fitness.

so i’m putting the blog reno on hold for now. sorry about the plain look of everything, but it’s going to be that way till i finish the summit course and until conference is done. i will continue blogging as much as i can though!

thanks for reading!!

s.s.♥.

FALLING IN

i have a confession…i had two pumpkin spice lattes before september even started. the starbucks near my house launched their psl one week early, so how could i not?

i’m a complete sucker for all things fall. i really like summer. loooong days in the sun. tanned skin. picnics. sitting on our deck eating dinner. but when the weather starts turning, i get really, really, really, excited for fall. we’re not really having the indian summer as we usually always have here in victoria and i’m not too sad about it. (yet our weather has been out of whack, yesterday started all rainy & cold then got super hot then when i went for my run was all foggy & sunny…)

fall inspires me more than any other season. church life, fashion (hello sweaters & boots), writing, home decor, photography (our first dslr will arrive this week..yaaaay!!!), baking (all pumpkin everything), cooking, getting fit (seriously!)…the list goes on. 

what about you? what season inspires you the most?

stay gold my lovelies,

s.s.♥.

ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND

what

a

weekend!

as you know, james & i celebrated our one year anniversary on saturday. (still can’t believe it’s been a year!!!)

we had a pretty low key weekend planned but james (the romantic) had some surprises up his sleeves.

(from left to right)

1. saturday afternoon cuddles under our hbc towel at amy’s lakeside home.

2. saturday night dinner at zambris.

3. ok so funny story about our wedding cake. we had this incredible cake made by our good friend rachel (rachel~cakes). i have an insanely sweet sweet tooth. so my requests were cream cheese icing & chocolate. james requests were chocolate & peanut butter. so rachel went above and beyond and made the most moist delicious cake EVER. well the wedding comes and the day goes by in an absolute blur. it’s like 10pm and we’re dancing up a storm when all of a sudden i remember the cake! james scrambles to get some sort of eating utensils but the caterers have packed them away. he does manage to find a knife and some napkins, so we slice a few pieces and eat it with our hands and it was soooo good. like soooo good. so good that we can’t stop talking about it for months and months. so james secretly hired rachel again to remake the cake and with a little help from his friend (thanks lukas!), he managed to surprise me at zambris with it. it tasted even better than i remembered. (pretty sure i’ve gained five pounds from eating the cake too..ha)

4. on sunday we headed to the oak bay beach hotel. they let us lounge poolside before our room was even ready. seriously love this place. it felt for a few minutes that we were back in mexico. i highly recommend this hotel. they upgraded us to an ocean view room and our room was flipping huge with the most comfortable bed and incredible bathroom. five stars indeed.

5. james surprised me with the bottom ring!! i am absolutely in love with it.he had a little J ♥ L inscribed on it. i love dainty jewelry and dream of over the years stacking up teensy rings on my ring finger. 

6. the gorgeous view at the hotel!

7. he makes my heart beat real fast.

8. i think we’re going to make real good looking babies. ;) (not pregnant, just saying.)

we got home monday and james jumped straight into music (ahhh so pumped for his set during the you&her launch!) and i am slowly getting back into my hermeneutics course (oh dear Jesus, help me!).

& the celebration won’t stop because tomorrow it’s my BIRTHDAY! i seem to always be out of town for my birthday, so it’s kinda insane that i’ll wake up and go to work!

stay gold,

s.s.♥.

ONE YEAR

the best day of my life happened three hundred & sixty-five days ago. that was the day i married james peter liira. in front of God & 200 of our friends & family we read our vows, exchanged rings & kissed made out as man & wife!

every single part of that day makes my heart sparkle but my absolute favourite moment was when james completely surprised me on stage at the reception. he called me to the front and sang a song he wrote for me. 

our first year has had its ups and its downs but God has remained faithful to us and i am surer than ever that marriage is God’s gift to us humans. i am soooooo beyond thankful that God gave me james.

james peter liira. i love you more now than ever before. so looking forward to what God has before us. every day is an adventure with you.

grow old along with me, the best is yet to be :)

xo,

s.s.♥.

see more photos here.

all photos by ameris check out their website to see more.