Happy BE THANKFUL Day!

Tonight: Put up the Christmas Tree while we watch Christmas movies!!!

Tomorrow: Breakfast with the family... the Macy's T-day Parade... Cooking and Baking... Giant feast... Football... Leftovers... A movie... Finish up Christmas decor...

I am SO ready!

I am so thankful for...

My Savior. Without him my life would hold no meaning, no joy, no hope and no peace.
My husband.
My Malakai Austin.
My family.
My in-laws.
My friends. New and old.
My job... and my church. One in the same.
Me and my family's health.
My wedding ring.
My house.
My car.
My bed.
My clothes.
Food to eat tomorrow, and the next day and the next day and the next.... which MOST of the world will not have tomorrow... or any day after that.
Clean water... which MOST of the world does not have.
Access to medical help... which MOST of the world does not have.
Shoes... which MOST of the world do not own.

Yes, MOST.

Be Thankful for the small things... and thankfulness for the big things will fall right into place.

If you feel like you have nothing or very little to be thankful for, here's some help....

If you own a computer or even simply have access to one (which reading this blog means that you do) you are in the richest 10% of the world.

How can I even begin to express my thankfulness for my life? All I can hope is that my life somehow brings glory to the one who brings me such a fulfilled life and such incredible blessings day after day...

Happy Thanksgiving you guys!

...or Y'ALL!
(in honor of my Texas roots)

Desktop Background Worthy

Jamie, posted this picture in one of her recent blogs and I L-O-V-E it!

In my opinion it's like desktop background material! =)

Of course another moment of beauty documented on weheartit.

I think an official "I'm addicted to weheartit" statement can now be made.

Apples of my Eyes!

After traveling this past weekend to a big city, I was reminded once again just how much I adore life in the city. I'm perfectly OK with the fact that I don't live right in the heart of a big city anymore, but a part of my heart will always jump with excitement anytime I see a sky line plastered across the sky.

Some of my favorite things about the city are as follows...

Sky lines and scenery...

staying in fancy hotels

Unique Beauty

Obscure Boutiques


Culture


Good food and good atmospheres... and a lot more healthy options!


and the list could go on for hours...

These are just a few of my favorite things.

Malakai Austin: 7 months

My cousin does these for her little boy every few months so I am stealing the idea from her...

Malakai Austin...

1.) You are starting to reach for people you know and who are familiar to you

2.) You sit up very well now and can hold your own balance.

3.) Your precious red hair is starting to curl

4.) You LOVE eating your fruits… you kinda like your veggies… and are not a fan of any type of meat.

5.) Your favorite toy is a “Little People” horse from the classic Fisher Price Red Barn toy. The horse doesn’t make any noise, he is very little, brown and very plain, but you love him for some reason.

.

6.) You LOVE jumping up and down in “jumpers” and you could do it for an hour straight if I let you…you have one at home, one at Grandma’s and one at the church. Basically the three places we spend our time. =)

7.) You have started to smile and laugh at your cousin Silas whenever you see him. However, when he gets excited and yells really loud it makes you swell up with tears and cry the most pathetic little cry I’ve ever heard. You are like your mom in the fact that you do not like to be startled whatsoever.

8.) You are just a very good and well behaved baby. People who go out to eat with us are not only amazed at how happy and friendly you are, but how good you are when in public. I realize this will probably change, but for now we are soaking it in.

9.) You are a great traveler. Although you don’t like the initial process of getting strapped into your car seat, once you are in it and in the car, we rarely hear a peep from you.

10.) You know how to “give kisses” now and it’s the cutest… and most slobbery thing ever!

11.) You kick your feet really fast when you get excited, and you also are always slamming your hand down on surfaces over and over and over and over again. You definitely got your dad’s gift of drumming and your Poppa’s gift of preaching.

12.) You are very vocal. You talk all the time. I have no clue what you are saying, but whatever it is, you are very passionate about it.

13.) You REALLY want to be mobile. You are trying so hard to crawl. You know you want to get from point A to point B but you just haven’t figured out the technicalities of the process yet! You do have an old walker at your grandma’s house that you LOVE and use to walk all over the place. A lot of people think you will just skip crawling and go to walking… we will see! You are so strong it wouldn’t surprise us!

14.) You are allowed to lay in bed with us as long as it’s after 6AM. Since you’ve known how to smile, your entire face lights up with a smile the nano second you wake up. Now, if you are laying in bed with us in the mornings, in addition to smiling, you play with our faces until we wake up. It’s the sweetest thing to wake up with you laughing while your chubby little hand grabs my nose. It’s like you KNOW you’re waking mommy up.

15.) I am not exaggerating when I say that you laugh or smile most of the day. Which in return makes us laugh and smile most of the day.

Here's a video of you laughing at your grandma Darlene....

A get-a-way of sorts....

Me and my precious husband leave tomorrow for a 4 day trip to Atlanta.

We will be attending a conference by Youth Specialties. Our church leadership allows us to be gone, as well as pays for us to attend a youth ministry conference once a year. They have put me and Seth up in a very nice hotel, paid for our meals, travel expenses, and any resources we feel would benefit our ministry that we find there. It's such a blessing to get to do what we do, and where we do it. They take such good care of us. We are blessed to be a part of something so incredible. Back to the conference... It's so nice to be able to go and be ministered to people who understand the things that you deal with and the amount of energy that is required of you all day everyday to minister to students. Especially when you have over 100 students. Don't get me wrong, we LOVE our students, but it can just be very exhausting at times. A large portion of this generation of students are motherless and fatherless. On any given day we feel any emotion from heart break to overwhelming joy and pride... just like if they were our own. We love each and every one of them and they all have such a special place in our hearts. They don't have parents that are involved, and if they are it's hard to find parents who really encourage them to make the right choices in life. As a result, there are entirely too many teenagers walking around this world who are dealing with hurts and heartaches that are outside of their ability to cope with. We have several counseling sessions a week with students and It absolutely blows my mind what these kids have to deal with on a weekly basis. And it's not the kids you would generally suspect... it's the popular kids: The varsity ball players, cheerleaders, homecoming and prom kings and queens. We know that God has placed us in their lives for such a time as this. We wouldn't trade what we do for a million dollars. These kids are a part of our family. It's an absolutely INSANE lifestyle that I don't think everyone is cut out for, but this is what we love to do. If you want to make a difference and be a part of something bigger than yourself, go find a hurting teenager to mentor and just be there for. It will change your life, but more importantly it will change theirs. So anyways, it's obviously something I'm passionate about. I could write for days about the passion it stirs up in me. Me and Seth definitely plan to write a book one day about our experiences in this season of our life. And really, I hope it's not a season, I hope it's a constant throughout the years.

So I look to be refreshed and inspired this weekend. I'm sure just getting full nights of sleep while our little one is away from us will help. (He's staying here with grandma.) Also, you know every chance we get we will squeeze in some good meals and definitely a little shopping. I really hope we can make it to the coke factory too.

How in the WORLD am I going to make it without this face for 4 days??!!??





When we get back it's time to throw myself into Christmas prep mode! I still need to decorate my house, shop, learn music, design, make Christmas gifts for my family, bake, make travel plans to Texas! Oh, and then there's Thanksgiving in there too!

So I hope everyone's remainder of the week is inspiring and that the weekend is refreshing.

I'm sure I'll be updating my twitter often while we are in Atl, so if you aren't following me yet, my twitter id is KarisRochelle.

'Tis the season....

Me, I want a huuuula hoooooop:

I want a skirt like this. Please.

Apples of my Eye!

Something that always catches my eye in etsy is fake food. Or should I say felt food???

For Christmas, I really want to get Kai some little sets to play with, but at this point everything goes straight to his mouth and that might result in some tragic fuzz in the mouth incidents, and I would hate that. Maybe next year?

It's easier to find patterns for the little foods than it is to actually find the little foods, so read carefully before you buy!

Coffee? Hot cocoa? Latte?

Delicious goldfish!

A sandwich! I prefer wheat bread though...

Marshmallows! Who doesn't love marshmallows?!

This is the cutest cotton candy I've ever seen!

(and trust me I've seen A LOT of cotton candy in my life!)

And last but never-ever least. Christmas cookies! I wonder how Santa would feel if these were left on Christmas Eve instead of real cookies? They are so precious, I don't think he would mind one bit. As a matter of fact, he should just get his elves to take some pointers from etsy.

I'm back!

I'm back!

This flu just about kicked my butt.

I'm back in the swing of things and am ready to bring on the holidays.

We had a fall party this past weekend and it was fabulous! Other than that, I've been resting a lot and catching up at work... as well as getting my health and strength back.

There was an insane amount of awesome goodies at our fall party, but because of how sick I had been I still didn't have my full appetite back. Oh well, it's probably for the best! I made ranch pretzels, fiesta pin wheels, a fall salad, meatballs and of course pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Because I was so out of it, I didn't remember to take any pictures while I was cooking and baking up a storm. I'm sure I'll make up for it in the upcoming holiday months.

I hope everyone had a good week.

I can't say these are my ALL TIME top 5 favorite things about Christmas because I have way too many favorites to list, but these are definitely at least SOME of my tops!

1.) Celebrating the birth of my Savior.

2.) Christmas romance.

It's just almost magical...

3.) Shopping!

I am well aware that this is NOT what "Christmas is all about " but it is a tradition that even those who harp the loudest about "materialism" take part in. I will possibly write a blog and hop on that soap box later, but for now, I will just say that making and buying gifts that bring the slightest amount of joy to those who I love most, makes me happy.

People like to preach loudly about materialism during the holidays. Don't judge me. I'm not a materialist just because I like to shop. I love to give...and give...and give... and give... and a little get every now and then isn't all that bad either.

4.) Cold nights. Warm drinks. 'Nuff said.

5.) The excuse to use bright colors and lots of sparkles to decorate anything and everything!

There's a First Time for Everything...

I have the flu.

It's the first time in my life I've ever tested "positive" for the official flu. Just getting that nose swab thingy to get tested for the flu is awful enough. That was miserable.

Do yourself a favor and go get a flu shot!

Today is the first day in 3 days I can pick my head up off of the pillow, so I tried to get a load of laundry done and almost passed out, so it might be a good idea to go lay my little head right back on that darn pillow.

PAPER ROUTE

If you are a music lover, listen up...

If you are a lover of good quality music, that has the ability to captivate your spirit, and really move your heart, then you need to check out the band Paper Route.

I have been to more shows and concerts than I can even count, and I think after last night I finally decided that they are now at the top of my favorite "live" show list.

Go check out their tour dates on facebook or myspace... or their website and DO WHAT YOU CAN to get there!

I PROMISE you their music is just as amazing... if not better live than it is on their albums. (In my opinion, not many bands can say that.)

I have had the chance to meet and hang out with the band and on top of incredible talent, these guys all have amazing hearts and pursue all the right things in life. Their inspiration carries well beyond their music.

Before I ever moved to Illinois and before me and Seth were ever an "item" I met his best friend Josh when he came to visit Seth in Austin. Josh came with Seth to pick me up from the airport when I moved up here and now has grown to be one of my closest friends. Him and my husband together can make me laugh for days. He is a touring member of the band and plays the guitar, drums, accordion and some other lovely things. We got to spend some much needed time with him last night... so anyways. You've heard enough details, GO CHECK THEM OUT!

(sorry that most of the pictures are of Josh, I took them for his mama!)

Of course me and my love...


Me and my brother-in-law... who just happens to be a world class tattoo artist in St. Louis at Iron Age Studios. Go look him up too!

The three amigos.

Me and Sean, representing.

I LOOOOOOVE the city!!! Love, love, love it.

Apples of my Eye

Having time to enjoy a nice breakfast.

...especially if toast and coffee is involved

Fancy-Schmancy Coffee

One might call me a "coffee snob" but I'm really not. McCafe works fine for me, but when the opportunity for good... and I mean gooooood coffee presents itself. I can not resist. A good cup of coffee can just do wonders.

Gray and Black winter wardrobes.

It might seem a little boring to some people, but I love how it just fits in with the whole look and feel of cold snowy days... and is always the perfect canvas to add your own pops of color here and there.

...these are just a few of my favorite things.

Stop in the name of PUMPKINS!

Don't go throwing away your pumkins just yet! We still have some fall to celebrate!

After Halloween, fall usually gets lost with the Christmas sun peaking over the horizon!

What about the pilgrims?

What about the Indians?

What about being thankful?!?!?!

Don't get me wrong, my Christmas decorations are coming out for their yearly debut VERY soon, but don't forget to give thinks this November for all of our many, many, MANY blessings.

We all need a little fall in our lives... what an awesome time of refreshing these pretty days, gorgeous trees and festive treats have provided.

Here's some post-Halloween ideas for your Thanksgiving Pumpkins.

Um... pumpkin treats should be a given!