Snail Mail. My favorite.

via

Let's write some letters:

Dear crappy-no-touch-screen phone, I dislike you. I miss my iPhone (4S) so very much. :( I might cry. Seriously.

Dear baby sister, please don't rush into another relationship. The last one was awful to you and I hate seeing anyone break your heart. You are beautiful, kind, and gracious. Be patient for one who is worthy of your heart!

Dear Hunger Games, I wish desperately that I could get you out of my head. So. leave. me. alone. I still love you, though. 

Dear boyfriend, thank you for being kind and patient with me. It means more than you know. Also, thank you for the new bed frame. Just remember that next time I will NOT be putting ANYTHING together. The photos on the instruction manuel makes it look easy. It lied.

Dear body image, please stop making me feel bad about myself. It isn't nice. This post helped, though.

Dear Michelle Williams, I watched 'My Week with Marilyn' yesterday afternoon. You are absolutely gorgeous and shine like the stars! PS. I found out that you are now dating Jason Segel. I wanted you to know that I am okay with that. I hope it works out for you! ;)

Dear coffee shops, I wish that you weren't so expensive. It breaks my heart that I can only go once or twice a week now. :/

Dear patients, please don't come into the pharmacy today and cause me problems. I know you want your drugs, but please realize it isn't my fault if you don't receive them. There is a good reason why.

Dear chapstick, I beg of you not to disappear on me again! I always seem to lose you & my lips just can't take that. 

Dear blogger friends, I am so glad I have you. There may not be many of you, but I'm more grateful than you could possibly know!

Until next time...
much love.

You matter.

Lately, I have been struggling with inadequacy.
Ha. Well, really most of my life.
'Lately' just sounds better. ;)
For such a happy person, I tend to beat myself up more than anyone I know.
I'm not sure why I do that.
We all have our flaws and this is one of mine. :/

I started re-reading 'The five people you meet in Heaven'.
It is such a great novel.
I think many times, our role or purpose seems so small and insignificant.
That is how I feel sometimes.
I want to be doing all these great things to make the world a better place, but I feel like I am just struggling to stay above water with day to day responsibilities.

Life is a beautiful, messy, crazy, lovely thing.
I pray that I can get past the idea of what I feel I "should" be or what I "should" be doing.
God has me exactly where He wants me.
He wants to use me exactly where I am, no matter how small that may seem in my eyes.
The willingness to listen and be obedient is the key!

Allow yourself to be used by God.
Be grateful for where He has you.
Find joy in the things you do have, and not worry about the things you lack.
I wish everyone a wonderful day!
much love.

PS. Please pick up a copy of this novel. It is a wonderful read.
If you ever feel 'unworthy' or 'inadequate' then it is a wonderful story to show just how much your life is in HIS hands. You are important. You are making a difference.

Oh, happy day!

Today was filled with:

-Sleeping in (9am was pushing it for me!)

-cleaning

-beautiful weather

-much needed hair trim

-driving with the windows down & jamming to 80's rock music

-friend from HS had a 5lb 2oz baby girl!!

-coffee

-went with baby sister for her first set of contacts. woop, woop!

-ate some yummy pizza

-surprise visit from a good friend

-caught up on episodes of New Girl (I adore Zooey Deschanel)

-got to see my precious two year old nephew **see photo above

-laughing, talking, and being reminded how grateful I am for Nathan in my life

-and last, but certainly NOT least:

My new blog design!! :)

I am over the moon with how it turned out!

Don did an amazing job. 

He was very professional & always willing to answer any questions I had about the design.

I would recommend him to anyone looking for something new or fresh for their blog. 

If you have not had a chance, please check out his amazing designs and sweet family at www.adelinesdaddy.com!!

**photos above were done in the Picture Show app from iPhone.**

-

Tuesdays with Colie Week 2

taken from page 55 of 'tuesdays with morrie'

Unlike week one, this week's lesson hit me like a ton of bricks.

The other day I spoke about how I tend to worry far too much. : /

I believe that in that worry, I start feeling sorry for myself at times.

Do you have those moments?

I'm sure they happen far more often than we would like to admit.

Every time I read about Morrie in the last stages of his life, it always seems to tug at some emotion in my heart.

It makes me stop and remember that life truly is a beautiful thing.

Mitch says that even for Morrie, a dying man, who could no longer stand, barely wash/feed himself, or pull up his pants thought that he was lucky.

LUCKY!

Can you believe it?

That seems like a bit crazy since we tend to fret over even the smallest of things not going our way.

I think Morrie was special, though. 

I hope only to be more like him. :)

Mitch once asked Morrie if he felt sorry for himself.

This was his response:

"Sometimes, in the mornings. Thats when I mourn. I feel around my body, I move my fingers and hands - whatever I can still move - and I mourn what I've lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I'm dying. But then I stop mourning. I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me. On the stories I'm going to hear. On you - if its Tuesday. Because we're Tuesday people."

It is okay to be hurt, to worry, to be sad, to struggle, to feel broken.

Just remember that you are alive and that you have purpose.

In the mist of what we face, I hope we remember that life is short.

(and. so. very. precious.)

Don't feel sorry for yourself.

Be proud. 

Be grateful.

Give thanks.

Smile often.

HAPPY, HAPPY TUESDAY!

much love, friends.

(PS) ---> Mitch said that visiting with his old professor was like 'a cleansing rinse of human kindness'. 

So don't just remember to be kind to others, but remember to be kind to yourself. 

If you have made it this far in your life, then you are doing good. 

Until next week's lesson ...

Out and about on a windy day...

 isn't this the cutest darn bookstore?? :)

brittany & i ... known each other since we were 5! 

This afternoon was pritty great!
An old friend from elementary school asked if I wanted to hang out for a bit and catch up.
It is so strange to have known someone your whole life, but rarely see them.
I mean if I actually sat down to think about it, we have known each other for almost 20 years!
Which is super strange consider we are only in our mid-twenties.
Geez.

Anyhoo, Brittany is such a lovely lady.
She is funny and so easy to be around!
Plus, she has the sweetest little family made up of her, her husband, their son, AND one more on the way!
Yup! She is preggers!
I just found out today & was beyond excited for her!! :)

We got to hang out at a local bookstore in our little downtown area.
It is a cool place to hang out!
Quiet, comfortable, and full of books.
Plus, it has one of those old spiral staircases that you can go up. I always feel like a little kid when I get to climb that thing. ;)

We both bought some books for super cheap! -- Awesome, I know. :)
Then we grabbed some coffee to warm us up for the awfully windy weather today.
Afterwards, we sat down in the back of the bookstore to catch up on the past THREE years!!

It was a blast!
We were laughing so hard. :)
It was nice to have someone to chat with about all of the ups and downs of life.
It was also great hearing how other people from the "good ole days" were doing.

I can't believe how time flies by so fast!
So much happens in so short of time ...
& it reminds me to be grateful for even the small moments I get to share with friends.
:)

I hope you had a wonderful Tuesday!
much love, colie.

my one word.

let's all try to live by this motto. <3

we live a world that wants everything & we want it RIGHT NOW.

for me, it is hard to imagine that anything existed before this way of life.

we are not very patient people. 

our lives have become consumed around how life, in some way, owes us.

we tend to think, sometimes not purposely, that we need to get exactly what we want at the very moment we ask for it.

*i get easily annoyed if my internet connection is slow (or heaven forbid i go a full day without it!)

*if someone isn’t going “fast enough” in traffic

*if i don’t get my food the way i want it (i’m a picky eater)

*if my iphone isn’t doing what i want it to do

*if i don’t receive an immediate answer to something i feel is oh-so-important

*if someone doesn't do what i need them to do for me, especially if i have asked them several times

i tend to get annoyed or complain when things are not going the way i feel they should go.

& sadly, this isn’t just me.  

we live in a world that is focused on “me, me, me”.

then we lose sight of what is really important.

for that reason, i am doing away with my “new years resolution”. 

because if i want to be honest here, i never do any of them. : /

so, instead i am focusing on one word. 

one word to sum up what i want to change about myself and my life for the coming year. 

that word is GRATEFUL.

(**The definition of grateful is warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful; expressing by gratitude; or pleasing to the mind.)

i think it is easy for me to complain about so much that i don’t have and yet 

… what would life be like if i never had any of these things to begin with?

would i still have so much to complain about?

to feel like life just isn’t being fair to me?

i spend so much time rushing through life that i forget to just live.

to take the time:

to breathe.

to love.

to be grateful.

i hope to change that in 2012.

so, now….what is your one word?

oh, and remember to --- >

much love, colie.

(ps. this 'one word' idea came to me by reading this lovely post. enjoy!)