Turquoise Booties and Good Tunes

I've been wanting sparkly or leopard shoes for quite some time. Hence, the above picture. Since my move from Denver to LA, I have not spent much on clothes. I found some treats last week at the thrift store, but have not let myself buy something nice for the sake of being good with my money and regaining my footing after the move. Im getting there. Slowly. Any who, I decided yesterday was the day to bite the bullet.  I went to TJ Maxx and searched high and low for booties. Nothing. Then, next door to Ross. Walked in with my eyes peeled back, and found these. They are kinda crazy, but I think they are fun.

I decided to do it. The price was too good to pass up. So now I have turquoise booties. I hope I get to wear them often.


It is funny how things we like can make us feel comforted. Since my move back to LA I have felt the opposite of comfort. Things like restlessness and anxiousness were becoming all too familiar. Last week, while I was in Boston with my church for a prayer tour, my apathy was broken. Moving back to LA has been one of the most refining endeavors of my life. I have learned that following the lord and my desire to do so is not just a feeling. It extends far into the depths of my soul that are broken and are in desperate need of change. That change though is so difficult. Character refining things hurt but are so good. I could equate it with exercising daily: It hurts and sucks when you start, but a few weeks into it, you are accustomed to it and you like the change you have seen or feel. Although I do not think the change happening inside of me will be as easy as starting a workout regimen, I know it is making me better. I know it is making me more missional in my pursuit of others and teaching me to put all trust in Christ.

I am learning. I clearly am still a work in progress.

After my turquoise shoe escapade, I drove home to meet my roommate for dinner. I put on my pandora to mat kearney radio and there was a song streak. I personally love when that happens. It was four of my favorite songs back, to back, to back, to back.

Starting with this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzmOtWGS0Ro
Then this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3x4em1cAfk

As if those weren't enough to make me feel grateful for this place and what its doing to me, I heard these two.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0idI4WiGSg
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoRkntoHkIE

The last song. The second I heard it begin, my heart raced a little bit. This song was my Colorado song. I blogged about it a few months back. It sums up what Colorado did inside of my while I was there. It was my home and I missed it dearly. Last night, however, it began and I was waiting for the sadness of what I had in CO to sink it. And it didn't. My heart was filled with sweet and hopeful nostalgia. I did not feel confusion or sadness. I was happy. It was the neatest feeling to have a song evoke such strong emotions one way, and a few months later, hear it and feel gratitude for what used to be.

I did not think I would say that so soon. Enjoy the songs. They are some really good ones :)

Passionate

I have a few things I love to do these days. It seems with starting a full-time job and relishing my weeknights and weekends, I have to be even more intentional with my time than ever before. I am still working on it-perfecting it, if you will-but I have found a few things that make me full. They make me happy. These things make my soul well-cared for. 

Cooking. Baking. Eating. New Restaurants. I am a total foodie. In my "foodie-ness", I have always been rather the snob for my cravings. I am a foodie in the sense that I love real, local and fresh food. Food with little to no preservatives, sugars or fillers. I think food, real food, is absolutely beautiful. Sometimes I go into Whole Foods JUST to look at the heirloom tomatoes and smell the herbs. I think food for some reason, makes a connection in my head to the vibrancy of life. It is real and beautiful and alive, I love the metaphor of it. 

I also love what it does to me. When I cook, no matter how jittery and anxious I have been all day, I slow down to enjoy the process. I am working on not rushing when I finally get to eat the meal, I just get so excited, but I love looking at all the things I can incorporate together in order to make something bigger. I am a true believer that authentic conversation and limpid- heartfelt talks happen around food. I love creating it. I love eating it. I love what happens around it. And I love the realness of it. 


Today, I made Strawberry Basil Scones. Adapted from here. I resonate with her post alongside the recipe because it so reminds me of my move to Colorado, where she now lives too. Today, I am practicing the art of loving this city, this place and this breakfast meal, not knowing the change of seasons and change inside myself that will happen here in LA. 

Enjoy. They are mighty good. I used almond milk instead of coconut. I would use coconut, as mine were a smidge dry.