Alabama Autumn.

Fall foliage is one of God's most beautiful masterpieces.

I drove down Alabama Highway 13 four times in the past two weeks, and each time the leaves had turned more and more. I couldn't let these photo ops pass me by!

Speaking of photo ops, I completely forgot to take pictures of the yellow roses Mark gave me for our two year anniversary. And being as excessively sentimental as I am, I couldn't throw them away until I figured out some way to make them pretty again once they died. So I made a centerpiece of dried flowers for my family's Thanksgiving dinner! One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone!

Praise God for all of life's blessings...health, family, friends, food, education, home, freedom, love and salvation!

And then the beat comes...

MUSIC

is what feelings sound like.

{Author Unknown}

What are you listening to?

Photo courtesy of _dai_ on flickr.

If you know me at all, you know my unbridled love for a good beat.

I live and breathe music. I like to think that my life has its very own soundtrack.

So here's what my past few weeks have sounded like...

1. The Beat - Ben Rector {This one takes the cake this month. If this song were on a record, it would definitely be scratched by now.}

2. Liv Tonight - Nelly feat. Keri Hilson {Because everyone needs a little dance beat in the mix.}

3. Forget You - Cee Lo Green {Sorry Gwyneth, I like the original better. Gwyneth was impressive, but then again even Double Rainbow guy sounds good auto-tuned.}

4. Mean - Taylor Swift {I totally had a Mean Girls experience in middle school. If only I had Taylor 10 years ago...}

5. Little Lies - Dave Barnes {He could be singing about grilled cheese, and it wouldn't matter. This song is so happy-go-lucky.}

6. Firework - Katy Perry {Ok, I'll admit that I'd already written off Katy Perry as another Ke$ha. But Firework won me over. And props for being married to Russell Brand because he's a hilarious LOON!}

7. Best of Me - Michael Buble {Cue: heart melting.}

8. Oh Tonight - Josh Abbott Band {Harmony. Fiddle. Done and done.}

9. The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas {No playlist is complete without a Black Eyed Peas track. Just sayin.}

10. Industry - Jon McLaughlin {A jammin' piano intro is the way to my heart. Just bought the sheet music! Cover soon?}

11. Put You In A Song - Keith Urban {Once I get past his Billy Ray Cyrus hair, I swoon.}

12. Teenage Dream - Glee Cast {GOOSEBUMPS.}

13. Your Love - Nicki Minaj {Honestly, I like Check It Out feat. will.i.am more than this Nicki song, but I couldn't find a clean version! Beware: she's weird y'all.}

14. Marry Me - Train {Since Drops of Jupiter, I've been a Train fan through and through. This is an old one that you probably haven't heard. It's purdy saweet.}

15. Strip Me - Natasha Bedingfield {"At the end of the day, it's what you do and say that makes you who you are." Amen sista.}

16. The Guy Who Says Goodbye to You Is Out of His Mind - Griffin House {Don't change. You are one of a kind. Don't forget that.}

17. Sweet Serendipity - Lee DeWyze {Winner of the ninth season of American Idol has got it goin' on. Perfect song for the I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing-with-my-life crisis.}

18. In You - Shane & Shane {This is TRUTH. God makes the most perfect songs pop up on shuffle when I need them most.}

19. Greyson Chance - Waiting Outside the Lines {He's 13? Got famous on YouTube? And he writes his own songs? Love. Love. Love.}

20. The Outsiders - Needtobreathe {Like Mumford & Sons or Kings of Leon? Listen to this. And if you haven't heard Washed by the Water, you are missing out on the best song known to man.}

21. Use Somebody - Margaret Durante {Speaking of Kings of Leon... I love how this girl puts a country twist on this old favorite.}

22. Knee Deep - Zac Brown Band feat. Jimmy Buffet {A semester of group projects = dreaming of being knee deep in the water somewhere on the reg.}

23. Need You - Travie McCoy {Turns out he's not just a one hit wonder. If you liked Billionaire, check this out.}

24. Grey Sunrise - Kyle Bennett Band {And this is why I love Texas country. Acoustic raw talent. I've probably listened to this song close to 100 times. It never fails to make me smile.}

25. All These Things - Stephen Speaks {I've been on a Stephen Speaks kick lately. The lead singer TJ McCloud went off to do his own thing, and his stuff is way too catchy for your own good.}

26. Hey Baby - Pitbull feat. T-Pain {Wanna dance shamelessly alone in your room? Turn this on. You won't be able to help yourself. Not that I would know.}

27. Georgia Clay - Josh Kelley {Katherine Heigl's hubby is taking the country scene by storm! I'd still take Josh Duhamel over Josh Kelley any day.}

28. King of Anything - Sara Bareilles {How have I not included this yet? One of my Top 5 favorites recently.}

29. I'm Yours - Ron Pope {It's like Jason Mraz meets John Mayer. How could you go wrong with that combination?}

30. Come Back Song - Darius Rucker {If I could listen to one person's voice for the rest of my life, Darius Rucker would have my pick. Not Jason Mraz or Colbie Caillat or Gavin DeGraw or Michael Buble (gasp). It would be Darius Rucker's rich heartfelt voice gracing my ears forever. I'd venture to say that he's pretty much my favorite.}

I know I caught you at that awkward time in your music listening habits where you aren't sure whether or not to switch over to full-fledged Christmas yet. I'm not one to hold back on my Christmas cheer, so I'll be changing my radio presets and my iPod playlist to Holiday all the way. However, there are always those days leading up to my favorite holiday that I get a tad burned out on all the sleigh bells ringing and Christmas singing. So when you can't take Celine Dion and Charlie Brown Christmas anymore, download one of these puppies to mix it up a little. {For those of you that can't wait to get into the holiday spirit, I've got a refreshing Christmas mix headed your way next week.}

The first sentence of this post was taken from Miss Magnolia. I read it a while ago and realized that I literally couldn't have said it better myself. You took the words right out of my mouth, Ashlyn. And by golly, it sure wasn't the first time.

Sap-tastic.

{Warning: THIS IS SAPPY TO THE MAX!}

I know this about myself...that at times my cheesiness is a bit overwhelming. I believe when God was considering all of the infinite ways that he could knit me to make me his unique and extraordinary child, he chose to make me SAPPY. Artsy fartsy and SAPPY. So if cornball stories aren't your cup of tea, I suggest you skip this one!

I wish I remember when Mark and I met. But I don't. It was probably one of those awkward freshman year introductions where you don't know if you are supposed to shake hands or not, so you just stand there and wave. Or was that just me? We met through our mutual friend Tyler, my sorority sister and Mark's dorm neighbor. {The boys thought she was cute, so they put a hot pocket on a plate, knocked on her door, and asked if they could use her microwave. Daring, huh?} Tyler and I would stop by the boys' dorm before swaps...We mostly just watched them play video games and tried our luck at their hook and ring game. Does this sound like a fairy tale yet? I didn't think so.

In fact, it was so far from love at first sight, that I forgot his name. Did you catch that? FORGOT. HIS. NAME. Meeting him was so insignificant at the time, but I had no idea the love story that God had already written and couldn't wait to unfold. Sophomore year, I decided to move in with Tyler and four of our sorority sisters into a house that the boys dubbed 705. The boys would come over to do homework, and Mark's laughter would fill our house. For those of you who don't know Mark, his laugh defines him. His laugh is a loud belly laugh straight from the heart, full of joy.

I'd say our friendship really began in late August in Atlanta. My roommates and his roommates roadtripped {separately} to the Alabama vs. Clemson game at the Georgia Dome. We all met up the night after the game and stayed up 'til the sun rose - dancing, playing basketball, water fighting, singing, and talking about life. I'll never forget that night Mark called me a perfect All-American girl. To this day, that night was the TIME OF MY LIFE.

At that point, I realized that I needed to get out of a toxic relationship. I broke it off the day I left Atlanta, and made sure that Mark knew I was available. We spent the following weeks cultivating an exciting and radiant friendship, getting to know one another fully and completely. This friendship helped us both to heal from damaging relationships and to figure out who we wanted to be. God, the compassionate orchestrator of all things, blessed us with each other at the perfect time.

We both knew this was something special, something that was worth waiting for. We didn't want to compromise the beauty of a relationship by jumping in too soon because we still had messes to clean up, messes we didn't want to drag each other into. Mark had asked me out to dinner in September, and I told him I wasn't ready yet. So for two months he waited. He and his roommate would sing "In My Arms Instead" from his PA to my window to make me laugh. He fixed my broken chair. He learned to dance. He stayed up late telling me stories in his parking lot. He opened the door for me. He PURSUED me.

I finally felt that it was time for him to meet my parents. Unfortunately for him, that time happened to be Halloween night when he was dressed up as an Ostrich Rider. My dad was impressed by his firm handshake, and my mom whispered to me, "I'm so glad you found each other." I prayed earnestly about Mark and finally felt that the timing was right. A few days later, I told him that I'd really like to go to dinner with him. So on November 4th, Mark asked me to go on a date to Newk's. We watched a Tri Delta flag football game, played piano at Moody Music Building, and listened to Obama get elected {no comment}. On November 5th, we had a sweet and mutual DTR {Define The Relationship for those of you that missed that one} and decided to start this awe-inspiring journey that we've been on for two years now.

So Friday we celebrated two years of us.

And it went a little something like this...

I left a little note on his doorstep sending him on his merry way.

{This is when I realized that he didn't have a moonroof like I remembered...}

{Our picnic lunch at Northriver. Did I mention SAPPY TO THE MAX? I warned you.}

Mark gave me a letter that brought me to tears {typical}. He gave me flowers and took me to Evangeline's in Northport for dinner....all the while, praising God for this cloud-9, how-did-I-get-this-lucky, humbling, surreal, unconditional, challenging, thrilling, Christ-centered kind of love. This is all to say that God blesses us in ways that we don't expect and we don't deserve. He delights in granting us the deepest desires of our heart.

Despite my best judgement, I'm posting this knowing it's basically like putting a "Kick Me" sign on my back. But I'm risking it in hopes that our story is encouraging and inspiring in some way to people striving to love and be loved.

Tune in...

Friday was a very special day. Although I'm super anxious to share its bliss with you, I do this thing called college from time to time. Sadly, blogging falls further down on the totem pole than getting a quality education and finding a {dare I say the word} job. So I'll leave you with a few clues just to keep you on your toes.

"In My Arms Instead"

{Recorded November 2009}
Click here to listen.

"Blessed Assurance"
{Recorded December 2008}
Click here to listen.

"Feels Like Home"
{Recorded June 2006}
Click here to listen.

Can you guess what made Friday so darn special?

Happy Owl-oween!

Yeah, yeah. I know I'm a few days late. But what's a few more days after a few months, right?

My sweet roomie Laurel and I set out to be a couple of Martha Stewarts for Halloween - baking and carving and being artsy fartsy as Megan likes to call it.

My mouth was probably covered in batter at this point.

I shamelessly call dibs on licking the bowl every time.

We don't wear aprons. We wear Bama jerseys when we bake, thank ya very much.

{See Laurel's crimson sleeve?}

Trying not to make a mess...

Hootie hoo! Aren't they just too cute? Not too cute to devour though!

There was most definitely some squealing involved as we admired our precious treats! We had to stop ourselves once we started talking to our cupcakes like they were little babies.

Laurel made mummies with scary eyes!

Spider webs and candy corn goodies!

We even carved {and etched} pumpkins. Yes, I put those leaves there. People looked at me like I was a loon while I sat in the grass arranging leaves and snapping photos of our pumpkins. I think it was worth it.

We saved the seeds which I toasted for a late night snack! Boil them then toast them on a cookie sheet drizzled with olive oil, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. They are yummy and healthy!

What did you do for Halloween? Are you decorating for Fall?

Back in the saddle.

I've missed this...

I've missed sharing this crazy adventure with you, all of its ups and downs and twists and turns. These past three months have been unpredictable and thrilling, and I wish I could sum it up real quick, tie a pretty little bow around it, and call us even. But I owe you more than a cheap wrap-up, and we all know I'm completely incapable of telling a long story short anyway. So over the next couple of weeks, I'll do my best to get you all caught up on this beautiful ride.

Until then, kick back, crank the volume, and enjoy one of my most favorite songs in the whole wide word. I've been Sweet Pea since before I can remember, and this song always reminds me of home. {Plus, it's one of the only songs that motivates me to make my bed in the morning!}