To market to market to buy some fresh produce

So today my friend Daphne and I decided to hit up a farmer's market in Mesa. It was awesome! So many good deals and fresh produce. And yes, I am at a stage in my life where produce deals excite me.

I got all this for $10. Yeah. Crazy. In case you are wondering, shortly after this picture was taken I stacked all those apples minute to win it style in like 3 seconds. Try it. It's fun.

So it's a ton of fruit...but I think we will use it all.

Even if I only got the limes for decorative purposes...can't you just see them sitting so lovely in a mason jar or a clear vase?

Oh I can.

SIDENOTE: Ever since my dad gave me a box of old mason jars from their attic last week - I've been putting every thing I can into them and calling it a decoration. Stack of rubberbands? Put it in a mason Jar. Handful of dirt? Mason jar it. That's right - it's at the point where mason jar has turned into a verb around here.

Basically pile of anything + mason jar = decoration.

I must be stopped.

All right - this blog post has quickly changed from my day at the farmer's market to why I love mason jars.

Are you tired of reading the word mason jar? I feel like I've typed it about a million times.

On that note, I am off to attempt some salsa...which I really struggle with. Anyone have any good salsa recipes? I feel like an Arizona native should be able to make her own salsa, but so not the case here.

New Look

Ok - so sometime yesterday (while josh was at the gym) I got really, really obsessed with trying to get the damask background off my page. And then I thought maybe I could make a cool picture to go up in the header which made me obsess further.

And then I discovered bloggers new template designer and holy cow, that just about made me forego sleep all together.

Anyways, still trying to figure a few things out, I am so far from a web designer it's not even funny - but wanted my blog to look a little better and I needed a better name than "josh and lindsey!"

Trendy? Oh well!

Ok. So, I kinda like this poster.



Its so trendy in the blogging world. But I think it's kind of urban and hip. And I like urban and hip looking things. Even though, I think saying the word hip automatically might make you the opposite.

I am learning it's ok to like things even if you weren't the first to like it. Or the 1001st to like it:) It's also ok to like something even if very few like it.

I am learning you have to surround yourself with things you love regardless of who else may like it or who else may not like it.

Ok - and there's my vent on being trendy and why it's ok.

The end.

Happy birthday! ( a day late)

My sweet nephew is now 6. Not that he even knows how to read - but happy birthday Clay Daniel!

Hope you have a blast at your birthday party today:)

Flower thieves

So...these flowers are stolen. From my neighbor - who's backyard looks like the Garden of Eden. No joke. Sometimes I even see a man wandering around back there wearing a fig leaf.

Ok, no I don't. And if I did that would be scary and I would lock my doors.

But her bougainvilla plant is so awesome that it grows up her wall and down mine and provides my backyard with a tiny bit of life. I can not even get my own bougainvilla to stay alive. So I have to live vicariously through her green thumb.

Free flowers and a jar from the goodwill...further proof that some of the best things in life are free - or at least come significantly discounted.

Happy fourth:)

Howdy folks. This last weekend Josh and I got to spend the weekend up north at a lovely little place called CHristopher Creek. We used to go here when I was little and we would hop rocks on the creek and be enamored by the green-ness. I am pretty sure this kind of looks like the place Josh grew up in a way - all that green - but I still think he was impressed:)

We had a great time playing spades, catch and uno and eating. Oh the eating. I tried to be good. But my goodness, I had some southwestern tortilla soup that just about changed my life and made me want to quit working and become a professional soup taster.

We did not have a good time sleeping. I called the beds taco beds because as soon as you got into them..the sides would pop up and you and your hub would roll to the middle for some forced cuddling. It was bad. And I like cuddling.

We went to a lookout near woods canyon and it was bea.u.tiful. I dont think some people know that Arizona has all this awesomeness but it does.

We also saw a bald eagle. Yep. On the fourth of July. How all american is that?

We then went to see the firworks in payson. I tried to take pictures of fireworks, but then realized I am a really bad photopgrapher when it comes to taking pictures of fireworks. Maybe next year:)

So that was our weekend. Super fun, but we are glad to be back home...and back to the gym:)

Rescuing Ambition

So...my blogging life has been struggling. It's lame I know, but I have been wrestling with a few things with regards to blogging and life in general.

I know, I know - who wrestles with the philosophical meaning of blogs?

Well, I do. A little bit.

Let me just say - I love blogs! They are so inspriring and fun to see people's creativity played out in pictures, words, ideas, stories, recipes, etc. They can challenge you to be creative or crafty or eat better or do a variety of things in a different way:) They are just cool.

But as I read - I realized something about myself.

I started to compare myself to the people in the blogs.

"Wow her house is so much prettier than mine" or "Does this lady have the perfect marriage? or "Gosh, they have a lot more money than we do" or "She is so much more talented and gifted that I will ever be."

Ok - so there is a little peek into the ugliness of my soul. It's bad, I know.

Basically as I considered these things, I got scared to update my blog because just as I became wary of reading blogs that would cause me to feel envious of people's lives I began to think that I shouldn't write because, gosh, maybe a blog is just another way to focus on myself and brag about my new house or marriage or whatever.

I knew this couldn't be true for everyone - because clearly, some pretty Godly people have blogs. And update them. And people read them and are encouraged by them. And I knew I have been encouraged by people's writings and talents.

So in my confusion about why I blogged (and why others blogged) I just stopped. And to be honest - this goes waaaay beyond updating a blog. I've done this in many areas in my life. Just stopped because I wans't sure my motives were 100% pure.

In talking with my (super insightful) husband about these ideas and struggles he helped me see some things.

He has been reading a book called "Rescuing Ambition." It talks about how we as Christians have the tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater in a sense when it comes to our gifts and talents and ambitions.

I am starting to see that when I overthink my motivations and how I appear to others - sometimes I don't pursue the very thing God might be calling me to.

What if someone had an amazing gift of photography, decorating or writing but in fear that they were "bragging" about this gift, they don't use it? Is that really so humble? Is ambition always a wordly pursuit? I don't think it is. And in fact, denying your giftedness is probably just as bad as being prideful about your gifts.

Some people are more gifted that others. But we are all given something to use for the body of Christ. God gives us gifts in different portions. And I am beginning to see this and appreciate it in myself and others.

I guess I am seeing that we don't necessarily have to "tone down" our giftedness so that we don't appear prideful. True humilty will cause us to see that all gifts are given to us from God to be USED by God.

Hopefully we will not be seeking the worlds approval of our passions or talents - but pursuing our passions and hoping the world sees our God thru them.

Here is a quote Josh sent me to encourage me from the book he was reading.

"You see, I believe that ambition-godly ambition, that is-is a noble force for the glory of God...But the prevailing worldview in the West involves a distrust in big ideas and man's ability to achieve them and the firm belief that objective truth doesn't exist. But when we deny truth, we suffocate ambition. Without truth as a foundation and ideas worth exploring, meandering replaces meaning, confusion trumps conviction, ambivalence swallows aspiration-nothing really matters all that much."

Alright - so here's the start to my small attempt at rescuing ambition. It's not like I have some super secret gift I have been hiding - these are just some things I have been thinking about.

Hopefully I'll be a little more consistent on the development of gifts and talents without constantly looking to the left and right of me to see how much better other people are. I also hope to be encouraged by the gifts God has given other people - they just point to a God who is super creative. And who would have one very cool blog.