Happy New Year + reading through the bible

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As this new year begins, the word resounding in my head and heart is HABIT. 

I feel like my reading, thinking, & social habits -or non-habits- are what colored last year most. The past several years I've seen my husband develop the habit of reading through the bible in a year. And I've never had the guts to join in - until now.

This year I hope to develop important habits for important reasons - 

READ to sharpen & renew.

RUN to gain strength & endurance.

EAT to nourish.

WORSHIP to connect.

LOVE to connect & restore.

REST to refuel.

TAKE PHOTOS to celebrate & remember.

celebrate, remember, nourish, refuel, connect, restore, sharpen & renew
yes, those are the things I wish to characterize my years.

Soul Detox

This YouVersion devotional 
{Soul Detox}
is happening now.

And personally,
it's refining me.

It is bringing up lies
and reminding me of the truth
in ways I constantly need.

Sure I could have started and worked through this plan on my own, but that's not the story here. It wasn't until I saw it splashing across instagram & twitter that I took notice.

I'm thankful for these sweet ladies
and how they've teamed up
to bring us a community of accountability,
inspiration, & grace...
and a hashtag to keep up with it all! :)

{#shereadstruth on twitter}

Full story over here.
♥

life lately...

Thoroughly enjoying the new job... This week was full of car-rider & lunch duties, tutoring, and even subbing kindergarten for an afternoon!

Every day I have come home smiling and telling stories from the day.

And everyday J has looked at me and said, "It's so nice to see you doing work you enjoy and energized after working all day."

Thankful for the truth of these sentiments and for the chance to be back to kid-centered work! ♥

This was a big week for my love too.
He had several design models due by Wednesday and being quite the perfectionist, his work did not disappoint.

My favorite part of these crazy busy studio days is taking pictures, bringing a meal or snacks, and keeping a little company when the work nights are particularly long. ♥

Wednesday we joined Fischer & his fun parents at Waffle House for some celebrating another review down and a few days off for break/catching up...

While we were there, he taught a new friend how to thumb-wrestle. :)

This week I've also been continuing my creative obsession habit on instagram (& flickr) with the photoadays... Here's a sample from April so far. :)

RaleighEaster.com

Looking forward to the weekend ahead. 
My heart is anticipating tonight's service, tomorrow's egg hunt serving thousands of Raleighians, and Sunday's celebration service at Memorial auditorium.
Happy Celebrating to you!
♥

InstaFriday (pics of the week)...

Some favorite camera-phone-moments from this week...
{{InstaFriday style}}

Sweet friends from home... they were passing through from a conference in Greensboro and made a point to join us for coffee, a tour of the studio, and a quick supper stop at the Flying Biscuit Cafe'! YUM! :)

I know we look like ourselves,
but this is us dressed up for Halloween.

I was "a student,"
and J said he was "a Duke fan dressed up like an NC State fan." :)

Even more festive: my co-workers(& the cutest customer!)

Sometimes when I don't have to work in the evening, I like to join J at the studio.

This week I got to 'help' cut chip board in the materials lab. :)

And today... after the work day, I'm off to see these guys with my dear friend Claire.
Can Not Wait!!!! 

Happy Friday, Friends!
♥

....linking up....

InstaFriday

Last weekend we were finishing out fall break at home...

Birthday presents for Sister!!

The pouch is just duct tape and velcro. And a few insta-pictures of the fam. ♥

Her birthday party at MedievalTimes... too. much. fun.
(Seeing my dad boogie with the 8&9 year olds had to be the best part!!!)

Sunday lunch with our brother&sister-in-law.
Cade rested up while we ate so we could take 100 more pictures of him before we parted ways! (here's the album link in case you want to see a few from the real-camera:)

Sister and me- celebrating our 5-day-apart birthdays together at Miyabi. All she wanted to do was the birthday chicken dance. It was awesome.

These two. Being silly. ♥

Monday we came back to Raleigh for school & work...

Our chair-friend greeted us. No more morning coffee dates with this guy I guess... 

Almost finished the book I'm reading. It's been good for the soul.

My actual birthday was Tuesday, but lunch didn't work out that day, so my coworkers at the studio spoiled me Thursday with a birthday lunch and ice cream cake... what!?? It was super sweet! ♥

We haven't had very many datenights since we moved to Raleigh. In fact, we've only had one so far. So, I decided to remedy this by asking for Friday nights off. The weeks are busy enough. We gotta have soooome JK time. :)

So tonight consisted of black bean burgers and a walk through the museum...  and blogging while he read for his Arch-history test this week. :)

It was lovely! ♥

one of my favorites :)

Guess what else...?

On this weekend last year we first visited Raleigh to look at NCSU as an option. Wow. Just one year later and my love is in the thick of architecture grad school. Couldn't be more thankful!

(I have a picture very similar to this one that J took of me during that visit. Now we live here. Crazy!)

....linking up....

Fall Break Week (InstaFriday style)....

It's Fall Break for my husband

(from NCSU Architecture grad school). 

Thank goodness for a break to catch our breath!

It's nice to be home in Myrtle for a few days 

-resting and recouping and collecting hugs!!

We found this greenway this week
-a block from our place in Raleigh-
so beautiful.



This pretty piece lives on the curb next door.
Haha. She's a beauty, huh!?
I couldn't resist posing for this pic!!!



Grad school is no joke.
I knew we'd be busy, but I really had no idea just how busy!

'savoring moments' is our motto for survival thriving and staying close in the midst of our crazy-crowded schedules!

this was our burrito-supper-break-outside-the-Arch-studio moment ♥



Jeremy's Architecture projects from the past few weeks.

Needless to say,
he impresses me big time!



I am enjoying framing at the studio.
Got to frame a set for twins this week.
So cool.


A little diptic of our visit home so far...
top: former [favorite] co-workers
bottom-left: Sister (birthday lunch at school)
bottom-right: Myranda hug!

Collecting hugs is my favorite part of being home.
...and being totally spoiled by family...


we're spending the first two days with Jeremy's parents...
(man, they're the best spoilers ever!!)
and garden peas just happen to be my favorite!! :)

we'll spend the next two days with my mom, dad, and sister...

Love it.  Love it.

....linkup play....

Jeannett {@ Life.rearranged} says:

Share your silly, sweet, and quirky moments of the week using nothing but cell phone pictures! A DSLR is great, but sometimes the sweetest and most telling moments need nothing more than the low resolution cammy on your phone! I have an iPhone and use the Instagram app, but any grainy cell phone pics are welcome!