After a brief 2 month-long hiatus (whoops), I’m back to my weekly catch-all that is all the things. I’ve missed sharing my favorite articles, what I’m reading, and other various things. December and January were both brutal in the physical and mental health departments, so here’s to hoping writing here will help me find my writing mojo again.
In My Own Words:
Stalled (the art of busy): Insights on where I’ve been lately, and some revelations about being busy to avoid hard stuff.
Be My Understanding: A few words on my mental state in December (read: depression sucks!) and trying to lean on the understanding of Jesus to carry me through.
FMF Posts: here, here, here, here, and here!
Recent Review: CSB Notetaking Bible, ThredUP (with a coupon code!)
To Read On the interwebs:
So God Hasn’t Given You the Desires of Your Heart: An excerpt from my friend Joy Beth’s book, Party of One. It’s available now, and I highly recommend it.
Congratulations! You Intimidate Men: Another word about singleness and faith from JB.
A Letter to the Girl Who Feels Forgotten: A good word from my friend Kaitlyn. It was much-needed this week.
Fuller House coming back for Season 4: YES YES OMG YES. I was an obsessive Full House fan as a kid, and am equally obsessed with Fuller House in all its cheesy, clichéd glory. I am so excited for another season!
SRT Exodus: SO Lent just started this week (holla!). It’s my favorite liturgical season. I shared on my facebook page a question about what others are doing for Lent. I’m reading through Exodus with She Reads Truth, and so far I’ve learned so much. I’ve never read the Exodus story all the way through, to be honest… so reading well-known verses and stories in their context is really eye-opening. Also, Moses and I could very well be the same person. Just sayin’. It’s not too late to join in the study– I use the app, but the devos are posted daily on their website for free!!
EnneaThought: Everyday I get The Enneagram Institute’s EnneaThought sent to my email for my enneagram numbers (2w1!) I get asked about these almost DAILY on instagram when I share them (they really hit the nail on the head for my personality). Go HERE to subscribe. You’ll have the option to put in 2 numbers to receive in your inbox every day. They’re really insightful and help guide my thoughts/actions throughout my day through the lens of my personality. The Enneagram Institute also has a lot of awesome resources to help you figure out your number, if you haven’t already!
Cool things to buy:
I have a $10 off $50 purchase from TOMS I need to use soon. I think these will be the next purchase, they are adorable.
I have a small collection of Funko Pop! Dolls. This week I added Tommy and Chuckie from Rugrats (favorite childhood show of all-time) and am trying to decide who to add next. So far my collection is based on favorite shows, movies, and books: I have a Harry Potter and mini Hermione, a mini Belle, and a Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I’ve preordered my Princess Diana doll because I’ve been obsessed with her loveliness since childhood. I’d love to add Carl from Up to the collection sometime, or an Inside Out character, this Hipster Belle (the glasses kill me) and of course the Friends dolls… but they’re a tad out of my price range. (Sheesh!) Who else do I need? And don’t say a character from Full House or Lizzie McGuire, because these pops do not exist yet. Sad trombone.
Sandra McCracken just released Songs from the Valley, and lordy it has been on repeat since Wednesday. Her voice and her words are some of my favorites, and these words full of lament and mourning just get me right where it hurts. She’s also releasing a weekly writing based on the songs– the first one was on Ash Wednesday and it was so lovely.
Illustrated Faith is hosting a different sale every day for the next few days in their Print and Pray shop— I love the items here, and love that you can print them from home so you can customize them to your own size. If only my printer worked correctly (sigh).
Books Books Books:
I haven’t done a Book Blog since September? October? Apparently, when I’m depressed I don’t read a lot. My goal is next week to do a “what I read this winter” post, instead of doing a monthly post– because honestly, most of the time it takes me longer than a month to read things!
Lately, I’ve read for at least a half hour before bed each night. It’s one of the small changes I’ve made in my routines lately, and it’s made a huge difference in how I sleep/how much I’m reading. Currently, my night-time read is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and it is fantastic. I’ve only read one of Rainbow’s other books (Eleanor & Park), but I really enjoy her writing style. It’s not too dramatic, but full of wit and intriguing themes and subjects.
After I finish Fangirl, I picked out Alex and Eliza by Melissa de la Cruz (thanks for the BAM Christmas gift card, Aunt Pam!). I’ve never read anything by de la Cruz, but any novel about Alexander Hamilton sounds pretty dang amazing.
There’s a new movie coming out called Love, Simon, based on the book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. The movie looks awesome, and from reading about the book, I think I’d enjoy it. She has another book, The Upside of Unrequited, that sounds right up my alley. Looking forward to reading both!
This week, Angie Thomas released the cover for her new book On the Come Up, which releases in June (I’ve already preordered it!). I devoured The Hate U Give over a weekend dogsitting (one of the few books I did read in December!), and recommend it to everyone– it is SO GOOD.
Matthew Paul Turner re-released his first children’s book, When God Made Light, this week! I’ve bought his previous children’s book When God Made You and his earlier self-published version of When God Made Light for friends expecting babies– they’re beautiful heartfelt stories perfect for any baby or child’s bookshelf. I preordered this one for a friend expecting her first baby, and can’t wait to share it with her.
I received a copy of the devotional 100 Days with Jesus as apart of the BH Bloggers program to review. I’ve talked about my love of devotionals before– I love short, sweet, thought-provoking words that spark thoughts and conversation in my life with God. And I was… underwhelmed with this one. It was less of a devotional and more of a prayer book– with a word that described God, a scripture to fit the word, and a prayer/question at the end. That’s it. It was very repetitive and was the same format/thought process every day. I used it for a few days but then put it down– it wasn’t doing anything for my faith.
It was a little too simple for my tastes– I don’ think I learned anything new or gained much insight about Jesus from it. The cover is beautifully designed, but the inside was overwhelming (lots of ALL CAPS and exclamation points!!) which just made it all the more blah to me. It was poorly designed/edited on the inside– you don’t need all caps, italicized font, or exclamation points to sell Jesus, y’all.
Speaking of devotionals, I’m a week away from finishing Annie Downs’ 100 Days to Brave. I’ve really liked it overall!
That’s all for this week, folks.
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