Portraits

        

Adventures in Fashion 3: DIY Headband

For months I've been wanting to take on a DIY (Do It Yourself) project but couldn't think of one that didn't require awesome sewing skills or much time because I don't have either. I stumbled upon a Ruffly Headband How-To and decided to go for it. Here's my result:

 

I realized I skipped the step in which you're supposed to cut off the edges... that would explain the messier look I got. I like it this way, but since I also got a bit of red fabric, it won't hurt to try it the right way too. Also think it might look better if I put my hair up, since the natural craziness of my hair only made the headband look even messier than it is.

Book List

Books to add to my reading list:

• Just do Something by DeYoung
• You Are the Treasure that I Seek by Dutcher
• The God I Don't Understand by Wright
• Killing Hitler by Moorehouse
• Dirt edited by Mindy Lewis
• Atheism Remix by Mohler
• Ruth Harriet Louise and Hollywood Photography
• Signature in the Cell by Meyer
• 50 People Every Christian Should Know by Weisbe
• Why We're Not Emergent  and Why We Love the Church by DeYoung and Kluck

I have a lot of reading to do...

Adventures in Fashion 2: Thrifting

After an hour of patiently looking through every item on almost every rack at a nearby Goodwill, and after hogging the dressing room for about 20 minutes trying on about 40 different items, I settled on these.

White T-shirt:                $4.99

Orange vintage blouse:    $ .99

3" pendant and necklace: $1.99

Brown belt:                     $ .99

Brand-new teal shorts:    $2.99

3/4 sleeve navy cardi:    $2.99

star-and-rainbow clutch: $ .99

Rounded-up grand total: $16

Everything except the white T-shirt and necklace come from last night's Goodwill adventure (T-shirt is from a small shopping center store that carries every trend of the moment plus cheap T-shirts, necklace is from Salvation Army visited last week). In my first Adventure in Fashion entry I wrote about two shirts I found at consignment shop Buffalo Exchange (one of which I'm still in love with). Shopping there seemed very adventurous at the time, since I'd never even though about buying second-hand clothing. I like to see I've come a long way, thanks in part to the lovely Jessica Schroeder of What I Wore who can incorporate thrifted pieces into any outfit flawlessly. I'd been wanting to make a bigger, more significant purchase (not in price, necessarily, but quantity) but just hadn't had the time. 

Having been in a rut for months, repeating the same outfits endlessly, and being free of my second-half for a few hours, I headed straight over to the thrift shop and am glad to have come out with these pieces. I'm excited to mix and match them with things already in my wardrobe and have tons of outfit ideas already. I still can't believe I added seven new pieces to my closet with just $16!

Memories of my Father

For years, Father's Day was a depressing event. I never looked forward to it like I looked forward to Mother's Day. Not only did I have the universal problem of not being able to think of a gift for my dad, but I was flooded with deeper issues of anger, resentment, and depression. This year, I'm thankful to God because instead of focusing on bad memories and trying to convince myself that there had never been good times with my dad, I'm able to appreciate the great things my dad has done for me.

My mom recently shared with me a series of stories of their days as a young couple. I found out that when I was only a baby and they had no money for food and diapers, my dad courageously took on odd jobs wherever he could find work. One such job included cleaning up a crime scene. He endured the horrifying experience in order to feed me.

Later, when they bought their first house, he took on a 3am newspaper delivery job in addition to the grueling work he did all day as a pool plasterer. I never understood why he woke so long before the sun came up and fell asleep before it went back down, but now I know he was doing all he could to give me a nice place to live.

My dad taught me to ride a bike probably as soon as I learned to walk. I remember his training me, pushing me to the next step even when I thought I would never be able to achieve balance with just one training wheel. When I began to show off what I considered amazing bike tricks, we started taking trips to beach side and mountain bike trails.

Even though he tended to be a bit too protective of the money he earned, surprise trips to theme parks were not out of the question. He'd wake my sister and me up on a random Saturday morning at 5, urge us to get ready as quickly as we could, pack a lunch, and drive us off to Six Flags.

He took the whole family on frequent weekend trips just past the Mexican border just to have an inexpensive lobster dinner, or road side stand tacos, or to buy the clay sun decorations he loved. We listened to disco music mixes all the way and stop at whatever little shops called our attention.

I still wonder what happened, what went wrong, sometimes. Even though I'll either never find out or never understand, I'm glad that my dad gave me memories I can tell stories of with a smile. More than that, I'm thankful that I can appreciate them now and see in my dad at least a bit of the image of God. It gives me hope that one day the image of the One who made him will shine through strongly and brightly as a testimony of my dad's salvation.

P.S. Doesn't my dad look like a complete stud in this photo? 

Fears

Electrical towers. Space. The ocean. Whales. Tractor tires. These are my unreasonable fears. When I drive by electrical towers on the road to California, I'd rather endanger myself and my car by looking down than lock eyes with the angry giants. I get scared looking straight up at night for reasons I don't even understand. I can't look towards the ocean at night and I don't find the sight of never-ending water at all peaceful. I think I would die of a heart attack if I ever swam anywhere close to a whale. I hate driving past trailers towing tractors on the freeway and tend to move as many lanes away as I can from them.

Although I may sound like a pathetic scary-cat by now, these are by no means fears that dominate my life or that I even think of often. When they sneak up on me and make my skin curl up, the feeling generally fades in a few moments and I continue my day.

What I do mind, though, are the limitations some of these fears bring. I know, for example, I'll never be able to scuba dive for fear of both ocean's vastness and running into an animal much bigger than myself. When I recently discovered cluster ballooning, I knew I would never dare tie a hundred 6-foot-wide balloons to myself and let them carry me off. The mere thought of it gives me goose bumps. Seeing photos makes it worse. I don't understand these fears and nothing can talk me out of them; not even the possibility of an amazing adventure two miles high.

What I hope is that I don't hold any fears like these toward God. I don't want even my worst fears to limit me from attaining the closest possible relationship with Him. I don't want to hold on to fears impossible to understand rather than dive into the adventure of following Christ and seeking Him. If there is anything, my prayer is that He'll reveal it and help me conquer it. If I never go cluster ballooning, it won't be a big deal. If I never conquer the fears that come between God and me, it'll mean I did not make the most I could of this life.

Ideal Patio

Now that we're only hours (about 24) away from having our house, now that our interior design ideas are solidifying, now that paint colors and room set-ups are determined, my mind is moving to outdoor ideas. I can't help but look at my future house and see perfect spots for a reading bench, a good place for an herb garden, and imagine what trees will give shade during the already-here summer months.

Although I don't have the porch I always wanted, I do have a patio and that's almost just as great. The photo here kind of shows what my ideal porch would be and I hope to transfer the ideal into my patio. Of course, it'll probably take a couple of years to get it there since couches and refrigerators are probably more important than an amazing porch. Someday, though, my patio will be the go-to place for afternoon get-togethers, cook-outs, and fresh lemonade.