2010 year in pictures.

a brief pictorial recap of a lovely 2010. what a great year!

for my final shoe box distribution trip with operation christmas child, I got to go to ecuador (the most beautiful place on earth) with some sweet friends. 

this is me standing outside the voto nacional catedral in downtown quito.

me and a little one at a school in quito. 

she is part of the compassion international sponsorship program there too!

cotopaxi volcano.

I moved from boone to nashville, tn. there were some sad goodbyes and exciting new beginnings.

my community relations team at crestwood.

great friends at bistro roca.

beautiful boone mountains.

oops. and then I hit a boone cop on the way out of town. poor little jeep.

this is my pretty new town - downtown franklin, tn.

new job and old job collide :)

new town and old town collide. samaritan's purse responds to the nashville floods.

my lovely new house. (more recent pic, obviously, from christmas.)

a few summer happenings... road trip to ohio, coming back home to nashville town.

loved every second of watching the world cup in south africa! 

praise the lord for live streaming online...

visiting elizabethtown kentucky.

the wilson country fair with the curets! demolition derby, funnel cakes, chocolate covered bacon, and ferris wheel. fun times were had... while wearing cowgirl boots.

bluegrass at the station inn. this is just one small thing I love about my new town.

in september I traveled to spain, southern france, monaco, and italy with some friends from college. 

it was a trip of a lifetime. amazingly beautiful.

my toes staring at the sea in cagnes-sur-mer, french riviera.

the magical little town of bidania, spain where some friends got married.

annie and jessup got married in october! 

it was an awesome visit back to boone, in the fall, to see my great friends.

the wedding party.

I traveled to seattle with work friend jaime to visit world vision. 

this was my second trip to seattle but first time on the space needle.

I spent a lot of time working with world vision this year. 

I was inspired to sponsor luis orozco from colombia. he's 2. isn't he cute?!

world vision on tour with veggietales this past fall.

I won a cruise to the bahamas through work. we set sail in november on the majesty of the seas. 

this photo was taken from the coast on coco cay island.

my uncle andy kozee passed away in early november. 

rest in peace.

my beautiful grandmother jacqueline holt zehner passed away at the end of november. 

finally free!

saw a once-in-a-lifetime concert - garth brooks at bridgestone arena in nashville!

second favorite concert of the year, the ever-amazing brooke fraser at the belcourt theatre.

finally, thankful for my nashville family (minus greg) who have taken me in and shown me so much love since I moved there! here we are going to see ICE at opryland pre-christmas.

harmony & resolution(s)

the excitement of christmas is over and cold winter winds are blowing through the end of 2010. 

I'm anxiously awaiting the coming warmth and the fresh new year that 2011 will bring.

my forever cold toes, especially, are ready for some sunshine...

I don't know why, but I think 2011 is going to be magical.

there are a lot of definitions for the word "resolution". this is the most practical as it relates to a fresh new year, the new year's resolution: the act of resolving or determining upon a course of action, method or procedure.

but I like the musical definition: the progression of a harmony as a whole, from dissonance to consonance.

dissonance is "a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of unrest and needing completion".

consonance means accord or agreement. a harmony of sounds.

so, I would like to resolve to make my life more harmonious in 2011. to move from a state of dissonance to consonance. all the while becoming stronger and more agreeable.

resolution.

moving from discord to balance. 

moving from disarray to organized.

moving from inefficient to helpful.

taking the moving pieces, the various scattered chords of my life, and making them sing in harmony together.

here are my 2011 resolutions:

1. manage my finances better so that I can prioritize the two most important financial goals I want to accomplish in the next few years: traveling the world and adoption
2. engage in giving and volunteering more in my local community
3. meet more people in franklin/nashville and foster my home life there
4. recapture my love of adventure and exploration in the outdoors that I was more passionate about in my college days
5. prioritize taking care of my body at least at the same level as I currently take care of my home and created environment, i.e. through time and spending choices

praying and hoping I can make a more beautiful harmony of my life in 2011.

she's gone country.

I'm geeking out excited about going to the garth brooks concert in nashville tonight!


he hasn't played nashville in many years, but for the past week has been packing out bridgestone arena night after night, doing a series of concerts to benefit those affected by the nashville flood that happened this past may.


I'm not a huge fan of country music, but did get into it a bit in college, hanging out with my girlfriends from good ol' white county, georgia. I have very fond memories of riding in sarah's red jeep cherokee with the windows down blasting dixie chicks "cowboy take me away"!


and then there was the time they drug me to a kenny chesney and leeann womack concert in towns county. I remember kenny riding out on stage on his tractor "she thinks my tractor's sexy"... yeah.


good memories.


but my fondest country music memories are of garth.


I lived in el paso texas for a summer in 2001 when I was interning with a house building ministry called casas por cristo working to build homes across the border in juarez, mexico. I was listening to a lot of country music that summer.


I mean, it was texas. it had to be done. 


it was the closest to cowgirl I would ever be.


so somehow I ended up with garth brooks double live CD. 2 discs of his best songs performed live. I remember laying upstairs in a mexican church, snuggled in my dirty sleeping bag, ear buds in, trying to drown out the sounds of the lively youth group around me (great leader, eh?), listening to great tunes like "the dance", "to make you feel my love", and "some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers".

I don't know why that moment sticks out in my mind so vividly. I'm really into song lyrics, and since all garth's songs were new to me, I think I was struck by his lovely and profound lyrics. a lot about heartache, about which I knew nothing at that time of my life...

I can see myself now, age 20, on the royal blue cot, in my north face bag, loving some garth.

and another sweet garth memory... I remember at a winter formal in college we were all dressed up, looking sparkly, having an amazing night. "standing outside the fire" came on and my group of friends, guys and girls, all huddled together a made a huge circle, arms around one another, singing and laughing and dancing to the song. I remember thinking to myself that this moment is really good, and it will never happen again...

and how lucky I am.

"life is not tried it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire"

love you strongly.

love.
changes everything.
I see my life in daydreams.
little scenes of you and me.

there you are singing to me.
soft little melodies.
on the ukelele.
swinging in the summer breeze.

I could think about it a thousand more times.
I could think about it for the rest of my life.
oooh. I could.
oooh. I could.

I know love has treated you coldly before.
left you lonely.
oh but not anymore.
I was made to love you strongly.

time doesn't exist.
melts away in a mist.
with the touch of your lips.

I could think about it a thousand more times.

I could think about you for the rest of my life.

oooh. I could.

oooh. I could.

{amy stroup}

decorate me.

Hang stars on my heart
And toss tinsel all around
Throw glitter on each part

String the popcorn garland loose
Place the white bird high
Or wherever, you choose

Light it up
Twinkling and sparkling
Overflow my heart, my cup

Place your handmade memories with care
And tell me about each one
How you hurt and how you smiled, please share

Below me place a pretty skirt
Let it be white and soft
To cush the fall of any future hurt

Hang these things on my heart
You seem to know how to decorate me
When the season is right, let's start

style icon.

the last style icon I wrote about was queen rania of jordan. I'm loving the looks of marion cotillard lately. she's so lovely dressed up or down. great style, gal.

wreath.

get ready for another shameless display of decor love from dwell swell. it's christmastime and that means - decorations for the home. one of my new favorite items to covet (and attempt not to purchase) are christmas wreaths. wreaths combine quite a few of my favorite things. 


1. traditional sentimental christmas decor warm fuzzies
2. circles
3. they come in my favorite color: white


a poem by george herbert
a wreath


A wreathed garland of deserved praise,
Of praise deserved, unto thee I give,
I give to thee, who knowest all my wayes,
My crooked winding wayes, wherein I live,
Wherein I die, not live : for life is straight,
Straight as a line, and ever tends to thee,
To thee, who art more farre above deceit,
Then deceit seems above simplicitie.
Give me simplicitie, that I may live,
So live and like, that I may know thy wayes,
Know them and practise them : then shall I give
For this poore wreath, give thee a crown of praise. 



so, here are a few of my favorite things.