When Strangers Become Friends

I'm sitting here in the Fresno State library (yes, I'm a poser...I don't actually go to Fresno State. No one knows that though.) and my favorite part of the library is being able to just sit here and watch people. People fascinate me. Here there are people from literally every walk of life and it's intriguing to me how unique everyone really is. People from different cities, states and countries all in one building.

Not only do I love watching the individuals, but I love watching how they interact with each other in groups. People are brought together through classes, group projects, sports, sororities and fraternities, dorms, church, you name it. To me, that's the beauty of college: being able to witness and be a part of when strangers become friends. You can learn so much about God's creation when you interact with people outside of your typical social norm. I think that's a great thing - and you don't have to agree with the differences or change your beliefs, but I think that there's a lot of good that can come out of being exposed to the differences among people. Not conformity, but when strangers become friends it opens the door for love.

For Christians especially, I think we should take hold of all of these open doors and use these opportunities to show Christ's love. Those differences shouldn't cause us to become lukewarm Christians, but instead to live openly for Christ and let our light shine in hopes that they will know we are Christians by our love.

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." -Matthew 5:16

First Inspiration Board!

Ok, so I definitely need to keep working on my inspiration board skills, but here's my first one. :) It would be used for a fall wedding - the deep eggplant purple makes for a good fall color, but the lime gives it a vibrant feel. And you can't go wrong with caramel apples as favors!

I had a blast making it, but truth be told, this little bad boy took me a while to make. Trying to find complementary shades of color to go with the color that I originally had in mind, etc, etc. I shall keep practicing!

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." -1 John 5:14-15

The Definition of Classy.

"Why change? Everyone has his own style. When you have found it, you should stick to it."-Audrey Hepburn

One night I was playing "Apples-to-Apples" with my family and it was my turn to judge. The card that I pulled was "classy." I said out loud, "Hmmmm....my definition of classy...if there was such a thing as an Audrey Hepburn card, that one would win hands down!" As I grabbed each of the five cards that were waiting to be judged, I realized that there was an Audrey Hepburn card laying in the pile. Apparently, my 14-year-old brother, Rob, just happened to have an Audrey Hepburn card. He won, obviously. He said, "I don't even know who that is...but you said Audrey Hepburn."

I could make an entire blog post of Audrey Hepburn quotes. She is the epitome of classiness and she's the star of some of my favorite movies (Sabrina, The Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's). All that bumbling to say, stay classy.

Pre-Monday-Pick-Me-Up

Mondays always just seem to be...bleh. Mondays mean that there's 5 work days left before the weekend. I came across this picture on the internet and it just made me feel happy, so I figured that I would share it with you all in case you're feeling the pre-Monday blues, too!

Oh Baby!

One of my co-workers and best friends (she was formerly my admissions advisor) at Fresno Pacific is having a baby! So we had ourselves a grand old time and threw a ladybug-themed baby shower for Mary-Anne and growing Miss Malia. I wasn't sold on the ladybug theme when Mary-Anne told me about it, but it all came together and I LOVED the final product.

If you don't know this about me, then you should...I love parties and I love crafts. I love these two items so much that I'm trying to figure out a way to make a living off of event planning...but that's a work in progress. :) Anyway, I started making crafts for the party and once Mary-Anne saw my crafts, she asked if I would mind making more. Of course I didn't mind! So, I'm finally providing you with a blog filled with pictures. Below are pictures from the baby shower. Enjoy!

Chasing Passion

Let's face it...sometimes we all need something to take our mind off of other things. Whether it be boys, girls, school, stressful home life, etc. - we all need something to distract us from emptiness, brokenness, stressfulness, you name it. Lately, for me, I have needed something to take up my time. I am the type of person who always needs to be doing something and if I am not constantly busy then I tend to get lost in my thoughts (always a bad thing) and I become very anxious.

I don't have homework this semester to occupy myself so I have been trying to make a point to work out enough to exhaust myself so that I am able to fall asleep at night. On top of that, I have been doing craft projects to keep myself busy. The craft projects are fun. They're fun because art is something that I am passionate about. As long as I am always involved in something that I love, I don't feel anxious. However, if I ever stop for just a brief moment I find myself worrying about petty things, which is no good. I do not want to be that person. I'm glad that I have found my passion in planning parties, baby showers, crafts and all of that good stuff, but if I stop...I feel empty. Why? Because it will all soon fade away. I want a passion that is eternal.

Obviously, I want to be in love with my Saviour. There's a song called "One Pure and Holy Passion" and I think that it sums up what I'm trying to say. Be sure to listen to it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la9UkseBxwU

And I know that my blogs are wordy, I'm sorry. I don't call this blog "Bri's Bumblings" for nothing. :) I'll try to put less words and more pictures in the upcoming blogs though, for those of you who aren't huge readers! Night all.

A Sense of Belonging

I'm back! I'll admit that the main reason why I've been away from Blogger for so long is two-fold. The first reason is that for the past 18 months of my life, I've been pretty much swamped with school work. However, I'm a graduated woman now! Yes, I do still have more schooling left yet, but I'm taking a semester off for right now. The second reason is that I was having the most terrible time trying to change my background on this thing. Today was a new day though, and I was determined to get it to work! And voila! I got it. :) So I'm back. That's not what I want to talk about though...

Today I had an epiphany. I mean, there's things that I've always known, but it just takes certain moments to get me to really understand them. I went to Starbucks this morning before I headed off to work and as I walked through the doors, the usual friendly face of the Barista who usually helps me when I come in, greeted me with, "Hey there, Bri!...a Cinnamon Dolce Latte for you this morning?" I responded with a smile and a "Yes please!"

Up until this moment, I wasn't sure why it always made me so happy to have the baristas at Starbucks know me by name, but this morning was different. This morning I realized that the reason why it makes me so happy is because it makes me feel important. It makes me feel like I belong. There's just something special about having someone know you by name (and an added bonus when they know your drink order!) I was able to be comforted in knowing that the sweet Barista isn't the only one who knows me by name.

That seemingly simple moment at Starbucks this morning reminded me that I have an awesome God who not only knows me by name, who not only knows my drink order at Starbucks, who not only knows that it's extremely difficult for me to get out of bed at 6:00 am in the morning, but He knows how many hairs I have on my head and He knows that more than anything in the world, I want to feel special. And thankfully, I'm loved and cherished more than I can even fathom by Him. So even though it is easy for me to forget that, it was a great reminder this morning. All thanks to a delicious cup of coffee and a sweet barista.

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!”

- Psalm 139:13-17