faith coffee & tweed

I daresay this sums me up quite nicely.

Wednesday adventures!

So one fine Wednesday, Matt & Christina went to San Diego! First stop? The ZOO. :)

M: "I can't believe it.. we're going to San Diego!"

C: "Yeah, and last Wednesday we made an impromptu Santa Monica trip."

M: "For real."

C: "One day, we'll just do coffee or lunch like normal people."

This is Matt. :)

 Oh look, a capybara!

 I want one. :) We tried to snatch it and put it in my purse but its neck wouldn't fit. Shame.

 Llamas remind us of Emperor's New Groove :)

 He hated me for this. So worth it.

 So pretty much you can FLY over the entire park. Schveet.

"When I was a young warthog..."

 

Matthew tried REAL Japanese food for the first time. Brave soul!

Then we went to La Jolla Cove and bothered some sleepy seals.

I love Wednesdays. Hope you all had a lovely day as well! :)

Check check

The dreaded application process for grad school has finally come. Oh joy.

Moving on...

I'm sitting here writing an essay for my application to SDSU. Oh boy, venti Pike Place Roast and Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix album. NOW you know I mean business. I've been sitting here reflecting on my experiences at UCSD and CSUF... and I realized how awesome my college experience was even though I graduated a year early. So, naturally, instead of pouring my soul into an essay, I thought I'd pour it out on a blog. Bear with me.

Things to do before graduating from college:

 Pull an all nighter (or two...or three...or ten...)

Gain fifteen pounds

 Live off of mac'n'cheese, ramen, pizza and microwave dinners for too long

Have a major crush on a TA

Fantasize over cute boys in discussion

Ride a bike around campus

Run into something/someone while bike riding

Go jogging by the beach

Have a college boyfriend

Continue fueling caffeine addiction (Note: If you entered college without one, it's time to start!)

Have your own apartment

Drive around with a car full of friends with no destination in mind

Run on the beach at night

Talk to random strangers 

Go out dancing

Go gay clubbing

Go bar hopping

Fall hopelessly in love with a friend

Laugh at yourself for falling in love with the friend

Stay up all night chatting with a roommate

Have pillow chats

Yell at your drunk neighbors for being drunk

Rent out a study room and make a party out of it

Roll down a grassy hill. A big one.

Go out for breakfast completely hung over and marvel at how much you can eat

Suck up to a professor

Argue with a TA

Ace an exam that you never studied for

Bomb an exam that you studied your butt off for

Leave knowing that you paid all that money for more than a sheet of paper

Success!

"Freely you have received, freely give."

Matthew 10:8b

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you! 

I hope that His love, joy and peace overwhelm you this holiday season. 

Card by Shanna Murray

Spiced Tea Adventures

Just four more days until Christmas!! And the weather keeps reminding us. I love the rain as long as I don't have to leave the house. :) Thank you God for winter chillies and warm fuzzies.

A few days ago, I was at Steph's house and her mom made spiced tea! Deelish. So on this cold, rainy December day, I thought I'd take a stab at it. Mind you, I'm a wildfire in the kitchen. And I mean that in the worst way possible... there's a reason why my family doesn't ask me to cook. So even something as simple as tea was a leap of faith!

 But hey, it came out just dandy! I was happy because a) hot and yummy drinks are a must this time of year and b) I got to use my adorable new mug that Rachel gave me. :) Minor detail, but worth mentioning.

So I thought I would share the recipe on here. There are about a million different recipes online if you Google "spiced tea mix", but since the recipe I used took a bit of tweaking I thought I'd spare you the trouble. :)

Happy December 21st, friends! Hope you are all in good spirits and cozied up!

Click on image to enlarge.

Lovely Pretty Things

I like to fawn over pretty things at anthropologie.com. Not having a job is a major bust, but hey! A girl can dream all she wants. :)

Christmastime is here!

It feels so good to be on vacation. Not an actual far-from-home, pack-your-suitcases kind of vacation... but just a break from school and work. I feel that sometimes I can be so hard to please. "God, I want a break." "Wait, God, I want to be busy!" Sounds funny, but I know I do it all the time.

I've spent the past few days with friends that I love and adore. That's what matters most to me this Christmas season.

Another thing is family -- I take them for granted sometimes but I know I am so blessed to have them! We are going to serve at our friend's rehabilitation center today! We're hosting a Christmas party and it is going to be so much fun! I can't wait to serve food, meet new people, play with the kidlets, and most of all bless others in the name of Jesus <3 My faith has been tested in so many ways. Emotional, physical and spiritual health. Satan can slip right past our guard and fill our heads with lies. But when I am serving others, it is then that I feel closest to Him. When I stop thinking about me me me and start seeing His children as beautiful and worthy to be served. I have been humbled in so many ways... which is painful... but oh so necessary.

"Putting your joy in material things means that anyone, anything can take that away. Put your joy into pursuing eternal life which we have all been given!"
Our pastor told us this at church last night. I know I have put my "joy" in material things... money... school...grades (bleh, grades!). And he was right -- it all slipped away. But putting your joy in Him means never being let down. Which, I've learned, is different from falling. He lets us do that all the time! But as surely as the coming of the dawn, He will respond.

God you are good! May you be blessed through this Christmas season!