Simple Pleasures of a Summer Day

1. restful night of sleep ((into the midmorning:))

2. lunch with my mommy-moo

3. said lunch taking place at Deli News

(if I could live in a restaurant it would be there...or Mimi's Cafe because it's kinda already a house)

4. puppy kisses

5. fierce ping pong competition

6. packing for Hume this summer

6 1/2. being reminded of how BLESSED 

I am because I have so much stuff!

7. A Fine Frenzy.

 And Adele. 

And The Swell Season. 

And She & Him

8. Q-tips

9. pra(y)sing for people

10. excited to spend the evening celebrating my
amazing wonderful incredible
DAD

11. feeling all around stoked to spend my summer making coffee up at Hume Lake

and being able to encourage and bless people's bodies

 (with my gift of caffeine) 

and hearts 

(with the love that Jesus puts inside of my own)

!!!!

((delightfully content))

Accountabilidice

This upcoming school year I get the joyful privilege of rooming with an amazing young woman.

Her name is Erin Whitlow. 

 I call her Rinny.

She is in my Torrey group at Biola and became one of my first (and dearest) friends this last year. 

I am SO EXCITED to live with her.

I get really slap happy giddy dancey joyful every time I think about it!

I'm stoked to get to know her heart better and learn how to encourage

her and love others better because of our friendship.

A few months ago I was trying to figure out ways for the two of us to stay connected

 in the midst of the craziness of our semesters. 

I was falling asleep one night ((this is the time that I become brilliant))

and I came up with the idea of the accountabilidice. 

Dice are hard to paint!!!!

Basically, you roll the di and the number corresponds to an accountability question.

These questions ask things like, "How did you love someone well today?" or

 "What fruit of the spirit 'themed' your day?" 

There are some lighter questions as well, like "What was the theme song of your day?"

We'll switch out questions when we feel like it to keep it fresh and interesting.

These little dice will sit in a jar/bowl on our coffee table (my trunk) in our room.

They will remind the two of us to challenge and encourage each other daily.

They will cause us to intentionally sit together and examine our hearts, minds, and souls. 

On days when we won't have time to sit and do this, the dice will be

 reminders to us to examine our hearts on our own. 

I'm so thankful that God has placed a friend in my life whom I can be held accountable to...

even with a silly thing like painted blocks. 

((so stoked to grow is this Maddy))

Statue Search (Life Adventurous Through Photos)

I enjoy long drives along the ocean.

((no this is not the start of a personal ad))

The scenery/nature/glory of creation is so lovely...

but I also like exploring such places in creative ways.

So earlier this week, a dear friend

Hilary 

and I went on an adventure up the coast. 

Our goal: take pictures with 10 statues.

The rules changed as the day went on...from having other people take
 our picture to getting creative with the timers on our cameras.

We mostly didn't have any kind of plan...just kinda stopped when we saw cool things.


This is the lone Sailor Memorial down on Ocean in Long Beach.
The little old lady taking our picture thought our pose was cute.
That's all that matters.

The Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro was a jackpot for sure...

 I'm not sure what the story is with these two little guys...
but they were very happy indeed.

We ventured to the lighthouse down the hill from the friendship bell.

WE SAW WHALES!!!!

It was so cool, I've never seen a whale in my life...

so rad!!!

We headed up towards Palos Verdesish (I think...)

and as we were driving up a side street in a direction-less way, 

I spotted something old-looking in the trees.

It turned out to be an old truck/bed. 

Pretty snazzy eh? 

We found some random little statues along the drive...

it was so fun to keep our eyes peeled as we drove

and then veer over to the side of the street the second we spotted one.

We lunched near Malaga cove and it was quite the smorgasbord!
There was a fun little market/deli that had an amazing (GINORMOUS) BLTT
((bacon, lettuce, tomato, and turkey aka the ESSENTIALS))
We ate outside under a gorgeous tree,
sippin on our fabulous lemonade.

Ope can't forget the Seal Beach Seal!!

A classic for sure.

Overall, it was a fun day...
lots of driving and getting lost in conversation
with much laughter in between.

P.S. Sorry for copious amounts of Maddy pictures...my camera actually broke when we saw whales and I got excited and tried to hop a wall...so Hilary took the majority of the pictures

oops.