A Day in the Park

This is backtracking a little, but last week was Mari's last week in town before moving to Virginia. But before she left we did get to hang out in one of my favorite places in the city...Audubon Park. The evidence is below:

Hangin Out and Chasing the Ducks

Then, we finished the day with a little run in the rain (interrupted by a job interview) and then some amazing pizza at Slice. 'Twas a fun day, indeed. If only more Saturdays could be like this. :)

Weekend Craziness

Once again, I said I was going to do better about blogging more often, but I haven't. Instead of catching up all at once, I'm just going to start with this past weekend, and then I'll work backwards-ha.

Last week was definitely busy. I left Wednesday and made the 10-hour drive to Jekyll Island, chilled there Thursday, drove to Atlanta on Friday and back to NOLA on Sunday. Needless to say, after over 30 hours in the car I am pretty much worthless today. To hit the high points, Jekyll was fun, even though it was strange being there without the SuperWow team. But at least since it was stormy, there were major waves, which I have honestly never seen at Jekyll.

And congrats to Lauren and Brian!! The wedding was sooo much fun and absolutely beautiful. Plus, it was great to hang out with some friends I didn't expect to see and those that I did.

The newlyweds

Fun Friends

Fun Surprises

Our Groomsmen Pic - ha

Our Engagement Pics-haha

Then, as if I weren't tired enough, I spent Saturday helping Court & Ike make a patio - literally. Five hours of moving 1700 pounds of rock around to fit like a puzzle and then grouting with mortar sand. Good times :) haha But it was a good workout and turned out surprisingly well. I'm not going to lie, though--I was glad it started raining, because otherwise we also would've installed a pondless waterfall in the side of the mountain. I'm not sure I would've made it.

It was a long weekend, but it was fun. However, I'm not sure if I'm ready to do it again next weekend. But it looks like that's how it's going to go. Maybe I'll try to sleep a lot this week getting ready for it. Now that sounds like fun! haha

Stand By Me

Four years ago while walking down the street in Santa Monica, CA the voice of Roger Ridley singing “Stand By me” was heard from a block away. His voice, soul and passion set a few guys on a course around the world to add other musicians to his performance. This song transformed Playing For Change from a small group of individuals to a global movement for peace and understanding.

This track features over 35 musicians collaborating from all over the world and was recorded over the course of several years before being edited together. The musicians may have never met in person, but they share the common thread of music. We can accomplish a lot more in this world if we work together. Definitely a beautiful picture of the beauty of togetherness as we blend together in deep relationship and "stand by" one another through this life.

Check out the video and website here.

Blogging Rut

It seems I've been in a blogging rut lately, which would seem like I have nothing to blog about. But really, the opposite is true. So much has been going on that I almost don't know where to start. So, I'm planning on getting back to "normal" soon - oh, how I've missed normal. :) But that's ok, because I guess busy is better than boring...well, sometimes. There are times when I would LOVE to be bored! :) Anyway, all of this to say that I'll be updating on life soon--not that your life will change if I don't, but it's definitely good for me to process and remember what's been going on lately...so happy blogging to me! :)


On a totally different subject, our church's book of the month this time is Worldliness, edited by C.J. Mahaney. It's been a really good reminder of how subtle the lure of the world is. We're so often ignorant of the signs and symptoms. We start drifting slowly and suddenly realize one day that we're way off course. It's time to refocus on God and fall out of love with the world.

We're going through the book with our covenant group this month, and so far it's definitely a must-read. So if at all possible, you should read it. Trust me--it's worth it. Plus, it's a small book, so it's very UNintimidating :)