Clouds.... again?!?!

I have to tell you about today. I've had a hard time lately, my arms hurt like crazy and my motivation is almost gone again. So this morning I decided not to go to church because my throat hurt from singing too much and my bowels did bug me. My gospel choir has visitors from Cameroon and we're singing all the time. I was smiling all the time at rehearsals, the choir leader even commented on that. I took a break from choir for half a year and it was great to be back again. I was singing the new songs the whole time at home, on the bike: every day - so now my throat hurts and today I'm only allowed to sing inside...
So back to today, I didn't make it to church, but I deliberately lay this day down before God, because usually I would berate myself for not making it and make myself miserable with my selftalk. I'm quite good at that... So after breakfast with my parents I checked facebook and came to one of these homepages with inspirational videos, the rest is history, as it happens every time. You loose track of time. But behind my laptop is a window:

... and I felt like God put His beauty on display for me to see.

Every time I looked up from the computer there was a new beautiful arrangement of clouds in the sky. And if you've followed my last posts, you'll now that I really LOVE clouds. There were dark rainclouds but the sky cleared up, with different shades of blue, white and grey. I feel so blessed today.
I know this is a cloud overkill, a picture overkill, but I wanted to share the array. This is the progression throughout the day until now 15:35

Have a lovely sunday and count your blessings!

Clouds

Friends,
I've started to go crazy over clouds! I take all of the pictures of them from my room and I'm constantly running to my room saying: "I need to go. Be right back!" In the middle of dinners!
I wanted to share some with you.

 

Have a great week!

One thousand gifts challenge

Last night I started to read this:

I've followed Ann Voskamp on facebook and reading some posts on her blog for what feels a long time. I have her graphics as background on my desktop (this at the moment).
Now a friend of mine and future flatmate in october gave me her book and it had me crying in the beginning. I know this shutting off of the heart, this shutting God out.

I've read three chapters so far and have decided to take the challenge of listing 1000 gifts/blessings, it's about thankfulness. The miracles come after the thankfulness. And because I'm in a rough spot (again), of not wanting to do anything, I thought it would be nice to try something new. Ann says that pictures can hold thankfulness. So after listing some stuff (like 8. a BROWN dove!! or 11. the old babytoys from back then when we were little), I took the camera and took some pictures around the house. I want to share some of them with you!


14. clouds. Man I LOVE to look at clouds. Especially if there's blue sky inbetween ;)

 15. This is a flower I got to pick from a bouquet my father gave my mom.

16. My nightstand at my parents house.

 17. Sun behind a patterned curtain.

18. Gift bags from last christmas. I am the biggest fan of polkadots. Love how the dots in the biggest bag shine through in the light.

 20. One of my favorite flowers: Poppies. They are so fragile and yet so strong.

21. Notes we left in the entrance area
(Saying: A: I am fond of you!
B: I am fond of you, too!
C:I am fond of you (two)!
A: We are fond of you, too!
D:And I am, too (Really hard to translate)!
B: I am fond of you all! )

23. A bouquet from our "garden" in the front. Which isn't supposed to be a garden full of flowers, but i LOVE the wild craziness of that area.

This is actually Nr. 1: Our little fawn in the garden.

Have a great week everyone!

Getting ready to party...

Soo, tonight is kind of the farewell party of my sister, who is leaving to take her masters degree in Sweden (I totally get that choice, scandinavia is simply the best). We're going to a 90ies party, dancing to some great music :)

I was in the mood for a fun outfit and even a little make-up!

 I want to dance, so sneakers are a must. I know the outfit would look a lot cuter with some flats, but dancing away is so much better in sneakers.
These are fun tights which I've only worn once and that needed to get out. I love this dress! I've toyed with putting some different coloured behind the lace....

 I love this picture even though it's blurry!

And me with me make-up has to be shared as well ;)

 Staring you down ;)

And my hair! It's been like this the last couple of days and it's my first attempt at an half-up. It's a little to short to put up entirely, so I had to experiment. This is what's come out of it. Of course my signature twist in it ;)

Have a great weekend!

High five for friday!

 1.  I took this picture with my phone to have a new picture in the background. I really liked how it turned out.

2. Look at this delicious meal my sister made:

3. It really looked like rain on thursday night and I got home dry :) there was some thunder going on overhead!

4. I took a nice walk in the forrest. It felt good until halfway, then I just felt weak. I've had a cold for seven weeks now and my body is working hard on that. But it was definitly good for my mood to get out. thanks Sister for suggesting :)

5. Christian Hiphop: Andy Mineo:
"You're my biggest opponent,
You know me, I know you, we know it,
Whenever I failed, you've always been there,
to simply remind me I've blown it.
You don't see where I'm going,
you don't see when I'm growing,
You only see in the moment,
you know my mistakes you never let go it [...]
Huh, if you know who I'm talking about, then you got me
My biggest enemy is me - and even I can't stop me"

The song "You can't stop me" beginning at 16:48 minutes. I can't help but love it because it's deep and laugh because it's fun. And SOOO up my alley!
Andy Mineo on Youtube


I'm linking up with Lauren:

Mixing patterns

Inspiraton: Lauren

I am not so very pleased with these pictures, because you can't really see the different patterns ;) You can see the stripes, but are you able to see the dots? I will blow up this (blurry) picture, just so you get an idea... It's the same dot as in this one.
I really like the combination of the grey/white/beige with the turquoise coloured necklace, which I got from a friend. The pullover I got from my mom, it's my favorite.

 

Please don't forget to take note of my chaos in the background. ;)

Good night, my friends!
 

Turning from KEEPER to GIVER

Dear friends.

I have always been a "keeper", I have kept stuff. I grow very fast and deeply attached to things. It became very obvious a couple of weeks ago, when my parents wanted us to sort the stuffed animals. My sister and I where doing that together. I had like a zillion animals and a hard time letting go. So in the end I kept about 10 for me and another 10 for giving away to friends who get babies (as if 10 people would get kids soon, but anyways). My sister kept 1! As in: ONE. Well she didn't have a zillion to "choose" from, I don't think it even was ten she had. She almost kept 2, but then she decided to let go of the other bear.
I am proud of you!

Even though I had a hard time letting go of my stuffed animals, I am letting go of my books and DVDs. That's quite phenomenal, because books where my best friends when growing up. But I do not need to keep every book.
I had about 80 DVDs, I kept about 10. The others and some books went to the open bookshelf in the skandinavian department in university (I bought them in Norway, the texts on the back are norwegian, and they are english with subtitles, not very common in germany, and no german subtitles). So here's a little before and after of the open bookshelf. The pictures are crazy blurry, I know!

I am turning from Keeper to Giver. It's a process, it's hard work, but I am getting there!