What Faith Can Do

Its very easy to just blog about fun stuff. But the reality of life is that its not always just pretty things. So, its my goal to insert a post like this one every now and then just to snap back into reality.

The past 4 months have been a challenge for me, for lack of a better word. I've been taking life one day at a time trying to re-aquaint myself with ME. I've had to slowly pick up the pieces and make a new life for myself. I don't want to re-live the story, but for you newbies, I'm referring to my past relationship. Now I live in a town that I know VERY few people and I've found myself working WAY too much. For a while there, I forgot how to even have fun. Its almost as though I would punish myself if I did.

Thankfully, I'm moving on and figuring out things. A lot of this is thanks to the radio. Yeh, I said it. Hold tight because I can explain.

There is an INCREDIBLE contemporary christian station here in Tallahassee. Its actually broadcast nationwide from somewhere else. Every morning I listen to this station as I get ready, and I must admit, it is the PERFECT start to any day. K-Love 's motto is Positive & Encouraging...and they stick to that playing the most incredible music ever.

The other day as I was getting ready, I heard this song. I've heard it several times before, but for some reason, this time it just really hit me. I've always listened to music for the lyrics and this song just got me.

Kutless - What Faith Can Do

"Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise."

Life's not always perfect. We live in a terrible world where children go missing, people are killed, people are selfish and so many more horrible things happen every second. Its so very easy to think that you're the only one facing a hard time. I know I've been guilty of this. I follow all these blogs with picture perfect families, picture perfect relationships, picture perfect homes, picture perfect EVERYTHING. And then I look at my relationships and my life and think, "what am I doing wrong??" The truth is, we're all doing something wrong...because we all make mistakes daily. But my circumstances aren't a punishment. They are simply circumstances. And this goes for everyone.

You can't grow without having growing pains and you can't grow as a person without life's ups and downs. We all have ups and downs. It may seem like some are usually in the ups, but the truth is, they are just better at disguising their heartaches.

I know this to be true because if this song is in the top 10, theres a reason for it. The reason is because it applies to EACH of us.

I just happen to be at the down point moving towards the up.

Today, my mom and I were on the way to visit a Church and she said to me, "Rachel, you never know what's waiting around the corner." This was in her usual random style, but it is completely true. If you had told me this time last year that I would have followed a boy and moved to a place where I know barely anyone and would no longer be with him and starting over...I would have laughed and said, "you're crazy."

But isn't this true for all of us. I told my mom, "I know, its like that every year." Think about it, this time last year, did you anticipate your life to be the way it is now? Probably not. The reason for this is that we have plans for ourselves that are always flawed. Fortunately for us, we are made by the most incredible Creator who knows the best for us. He plans out the perfect plan for us and eventually we realize that His way is far better than our own.

This is where faith comes in. Pure, raw, non-logical, blind faith. When you have to say, I don't understand why things are like this, but I trust they are for a perfect reason.

So that's what I'm doing...walking blindly. Not questioning. Going along for the ride. Continuing the journey, knowing that something IS around the corner waiting on me.

Real Life Monday...

There's a hurricane a brewing a few miles down the coast and it looks like its already hit 2305 Killearn Center Blvd.

No, its not Ida...

Its the post Gramamma visit storm that has hit full force. Its going to take a disaster relief team to clean up the aftermath.

I've been playing cleanup for 24 hours now and just can't seem to find a way to get it all done. I continue to find little surprises hiding everwhere. Toys stashed in my shoes in the closet (thank you little man), LOADS of linens still in the wash, trash that needs to be taken out (but will continue to sit outside the front door due to the monsoon outside), dishes that have yet to be put up and SOOO much more that needs to be done.

But these can all wait, because its Monday night, which means one thing to me...GOSSIP GIRL!!

Yeh, go ahead, judge me. I couldn't care less because I love that show. LOVE IT!

HAPPY MONDAY!!

********

on a sidenote...for all your blogging experts out there:
Does anyone know how to change the fonts on this thing. Blogger doesn't give too many options and I'm becoming quite tired of the simple arial. I'm always looking for change, so if you have any suggestions, throw them my way!

Meet Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere. No, I don't know her. Its just thanks to the beauty of the blog world that I've fallen in love with her INCREDIBLE style. I've mentioned her before and if she were to come across this, she'ld probably be really freaked out, but I don't care. BECAUSE she is just the cutest thing ever.

Not only does she have the freshest take on style, she has a knack for mixing the really expensive with the really cheap. Its not uncommon for her to pair designer with Forever 21. Just goes to show you that it isn't always about the labels. I'm not going to continue talking about my girl crush (seriously, don't interpret that any other way besides the fact that I wish I were her at times), but I am going to tell you how she "inspired" me.

Forewarning you, I'm a single (sometimes bored/lonely) girl, so the little things can excite me at times.

I've been growing out my hair for a while now and its reached the point where I can FINALLY do the beach waves look. Naturally, my hair is curly/wavy and I rely on that fabulous Frederick Fekkai Beach Hair spray to tame it if I just don't have enough time to battle with it in the morning. I went through a 3 month phase that I didn't battle with it at all and I literally came to work with wet hair every day. (**Sidenote: For Christmas, my office is putting a little spin on Secret Santa this year. We're drawing names and not only do we bring a gift for that person, we also will come to work dressed up like her. You guys think this is lame, but I'm actually quite excited about it. Anyway, when we decided to do this, my coworker said, "well if I draw Rachel, I'm gonna have to figure out a way to keep my hair wet all day. I guess I can keep a mister bottle with me all day. It was at this point that I realized that 3 month phase is OVER).

So, I hopped over to Sally Beauty Supply (we've all been there, don't be afraid to admit it.) and took the plunge and bought a curling iron. I know I know...curling iron...isn't that like a 7th grade mishap?? For me, I will forever think of curling irons as my first flatiron (yes I used that before college to straighten my hair).

I've been jealous of the celebs who sport the wavy look, but haven't ever been able to pull it off. Partly because I've had the short do and partly because I'm just a moron and never could figure out HOW to do this.

**This lame story is ending soon I promise!!

And thanks to Emily's HOW TO , I finally got it. Several burnt fingertips later, I've figured out how to make my wavy hair look perfectly wavy without the frizz.

MOVING ON...

I was in Target the other day and found a headband similar to Emily's here...

What are your thoughts on these? Am I too old for this? Am I not stylish enough to even try it? Be brutally honest...I can take it.

I can't remember which blog I found this on, but I'm really salivating over the YSL bag. Yeh, salivating I will continue...YSL and MDA aren't a fabulous economic match.

And then I thought that I would just throw this wild card in here for fun measure.

One more pretty little thing to share...

These guys are so simple yet so perfect. They remind me of my Behind the Glass days in college. I wore jewelry like this back then and thankfully held on to ALL of my fabulous purchases. I racked up working in that boutique for 3.5 years and have the closet/jewelry collection to remember those fun years.

Santa came to Tallahassee a little early...

We've had houseguests this weekend, but they're gone now. We're still washing linens and some of us are enjoying them before they're put away until next time...

There's just something about a warm pile of blankets that this little man can't resist :)

My mom and sister came to visit this weekend and brought this with them...

Sorry that its crooked, but this picture will have to do. Years ago, my mom and I were in an art gallery and I fell in love with this painting. She later went back and bought it. And one day, I came home from college and saw it hanging in their bedroom. I was excited at first, and then I got jealous. I then found out that they bought it to eventually give to me. It was never determined when, but I was always told I had to wait until I was responsible enough and had a place for it.

Apparantly I'm responsible enough because it is now hanging on the huge wall behind the TV. It is a good thing that I have a HUGE wall because this painting is HUGE. I had no idea...

So last night, after a yummy Macaroni Grille dinner, my mom and I hung the beast. I HATE doing things like that. I've always relied on a man to do this kind of thing. But, in pure Carol style, she insisted that I don't need a man to do something easy like this. And she was right, because now I get to admire it every time I watch tv...which is a lot these days!!

Thank you Mom and Dad for trusting me to be responsible now. I guess I really am an adult now huh??

I promised I wouldn't be one of the crazies who fills her blog with pictures of her dogs, but its been quite a while and I think these pictures just merit a short post.

These poor puppies have been put through the ringer. Every week in October, I had to travel with work, so they had to be kids and stay home alone. Of course I had a co-worker let them out periodically during the day. Needless to say, its time to call the steam cleaners again.

But I can't be too upset, because all he has to do is throw this face at me and I'm just smitten. And YES, his tag says "Babe Magnet." Back in September when I went to Birmingham for the day, I visited my friend Abby's store and found this. I normally don't get into the cheesy dog items like that, but it suits Hudson's personality perfectly. At the dog park, he is quite the ladies man. Its very entertaining to watch. He seems to find every girl dog there and try to "romance" her. I'll stop this story now. You're welcome.

And here they are...the famous duo. Madison playing guard dog as always and Hudson just wanting to have a good time. I've always thought of him to be JUST like Ryan just in a dog's body. All the little guy wants to do is have fun. He has no worries in life...just like his old dad :)

Ok, so that's gonna have to do for a while. I've got a LIST planned of lots of things to blog about. So stay tuned!

Since they canceled what was probably the BEST magazine for decorating (Cottage Living, only coming ahead of Dominoe by just a smidge), I've found myself searching for a substitue. Of course, this is really hard to find. There's the online magazine Lonny that definitely does NOT disappoint. And since I now have the internet back, I do suspect that I will be a frequent stalker.

What I'm getting to is that Southern Living has revamped itself, in response to this major void that MANY MANY people are outspoken about. It still has the same sections (food, travel, gardening, decorating, etc.), but it seems to be moving its focus to the crowd that was once loyal to Cottage Living, Dominoe, etc. That crowd is younger and ready to try new things. They still want the southern touch of comfort and sentimental value, but they're up for some modern twists.

That's probably how I would classify my decorating style. I like a mix of tradition and modern. I like furniture with clean lines, but it has to be lounge-worthy. I like keeping most of my big pieces neutral colors and adding in a punch of color with accessories. I like abstract art as well as the traditional framed oil paintings. Basically, when you come to my house you do NOT feel like you've walked into my parents' home. I love their home, but they are probably the most traditional people you will find. Everything is either French of colonial in there. Hey, to each his own. But like I said, you will find several surprises when you walk into my home.

SOOOOOOO....

when I saw this...

I just about jumped out of my chair with excitement. FINALLY, a picture that just really sums up my ideal bedroom. She mixes a traditional four poster bed with a modern geometrical fabric for her accent pictures. On a vintage desk, she has a modern lamp next to some old framed sketches as well as an incredible piece of art.

Thank you Southern Living for restoring my hope to find a magazine to fill my void. You're on the right track!!

OK I have officially been sans-internet for FOREVER. AND for the past few weeks I've had to travel a lot with work. Those two combined translate into NO time for catch up time on here.So, I'll keep things brief because I have SEVERAL posts planned to come. Comcast finally came out here and installed internet so I promise to be more faithful to you guys.Two weeks ago, we had our annual Harvey's Golf Classic. I must admit, it wasn't too terrible to ride in the golf cart all day and say hey to all of the participants. AND I got a pretty sweet watch tan...be jealous.

A few pictures of the day are on the way. Just go ahead and prepare to laugh at me... A LOT!

If only the zoom would go in more and you could see my face. Apparantly biting your lip really helps your form, at least that was my natural reaction.

NO RACHEL....this is NOT baseball... I mean seriosuly, WHAT is this???

All those years dating a golfer, you'ld think that I would have learned how to drive a golf ball. Negative ghostwriter. I was forced to by the CEO of the company, and here I am looking like a complete tool.

Moving on to the actual reason why we had the tournament. Every year we partner up with Harvey's Supermarkets and this year was our greatest yet...$140,000+ raised!!! All that money to help provide our services to our members. Unfortunately, this is only one of MANY events we have because my office alone is responsible for raising $920,000 this year. And yes, I'm extremely aware that the ecomony is TERRIBLE...believe me, if any industry is feeling it, its non-profits!! I tend to forget why I work as hard as I do. And then, I spend time with the families affected by these terrible neuromuscular diseases and immediately remember.

Here are some pictures of these sweet little pumpkins I work 24/7 for!!

Here is sweet little Lilly Grace. Her brother, Lottyn, is one of our members and he is my absolute favorite. He melts my heart. Lilly Grace clung to me all day long. At one point she said, "Did you brush your teeth today? Because your teeth are really shiny." Im telling you, find yourself a sweet little 7 year old and your self esteem should sky rocket.

And here we are with little Lottyn (in the wheelchair) and Ian. Any of you out there who remember my highschool/college boyfriend Blake, is he not a mini version of him????