#ClubSexy

Last month, I had the great pleasure of participating in a Cara Box exchange for the first time ever!  I am so glad that I did.  The theme for February was #ClubSexy, appropriate for the “red” month, don’t you think??   I was blessed to be matched up with Gayle from Grace for Gayle.  Not only am I thankful that I found her blog, it’s super awesome, but I’m thankful that I actually had the chance to meet Gayle for gelato last week! I will call her my first official blogger friend since she is the first lady I’ve met in blog world and in person.   I really had a great time chatting with her and getting to know about the woman behind the blog.

So, on to the juicy details about my Cara Box, Gayle’s #ClubSexy challenge was to create the perfect date night for me and she did a great job!! The “box of relaxation” included:

Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate

(delicious, one of my new favorite snacks)

Glade Candle and Candle Lighter

 (I LOVE all things smelly and this candle smells so yummy)

Aloe Infused Socks

(like walking on clouds)

Note Cards

Red Velvet Cake Body Wash

(certified #clubsexy win)

Massager

Vanilla Lotion

The items were beautifully packaged!

 

 

Super big smile, I was excited.

Thank you so much for the wonderful Carabox, the sweet note, and the fun girl time!

I prepared a special box for Jessica at Wonder What's Next. You can visit her blog for details on what I included in her #clubsexy package, here!

Unexpected Collision with Character

I love mid-week dinner dates!  Josh and I are pretty busy and rarely have a night at home together in which neither of us has a meeting or conference call or rehearsal (etc etc) to attend.  Last night, was one of those rare occasions when we had the evening "off" so we headed to Spoons, one of our favorite restaurants.  We enjoyed a nice conversation over breakfast (at dinner time, love that).  After a leisurely dinner, we briskly walked back to my car (it was chilly out last night).  As we approached the car, we both thought the glare from the street lights was playing tricks on our eyes.  My car seemed to have a big dent in the side of it.  Hmmm, must be the light.  We stopped talking and approached the car (walking even more quickly than before).  No tricky lighting, there was a LARGE dent in the side of my car.  My heart sank but before I would allow the self pity to set in I began to convince myself that whoever hit my car left a note.  I was desperately hoping they had but only scarcely believing they did.   I peaked around the windshield and was flooded with relief... a note fluttering in the breeze.

Praise God for integrity.  The parking lot was moderately well lit and fairly secluded.  I'm confident when he backed into my car "no one was looking," but he chose to do the right thing in spite of the consequences. Titus 2:7a instructs believers to, "Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works."  This stranger's actions are a perfect example of modeling good works and integrity.  I am thankful not only for his insurance company covering the cost of the damages but also, for a reminder of what integrity looks likes.  So a great big Thank You to the nice man that backed into my car last night for the reminder. For the record, I'm not being sarcastic, when we spoke with him, he was a very nice guy!

So, how will you model good works and integrity today for those around you?

Burning Passion

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you!  I absolutely LOVE Valentine's day.  OK, confession... I pretty much love every Holiday but Valentine's is special.  Love is supreme and often difficult to define, describe, or explain.  Nevertheless, love is certainly worthy of celebration.  So, today, celebrate!  What better way to celebrate Love than with the most beautiful love poem I could find straight from the greatest book ever written.   Before you read this, think of the person that ignites a burning passion within you.

"Hang my locket around your neck,

wear my ring on your finger.

Love is invicible facing danger and death.

Passion laughs at the terros of hell.

The fire of love stops at nothing---

it sweeps everything before it.

Flood waters can't drown love,

torrents of rain can't put it out.

Love can't be bought, love can't be sold---

it's not to be found in the marketplace."

Song of Solomn 8:6-8

The Message Translation

 

The man that ignites a burning passion within me is this guy! I love you Joshua Currie.

Photography By: Team Howard Photography

 

 

I Heart Weekends!

Here's a recap of my oh-so-fun weekend!

(1) Friday, I arrived home to my first ever Graze box delivery.  I LOVE getting packages in the mail so that was way exciting! Graze is a subscription snack delivery service.  For $5 per week, they package and send 4 healthy snacks right to your door.  So far I have only tried one of the snacks and it was really yummy!

(2) I started off my Saturday at the hair salon, as usual with Tangie B.  Just curious, does your hair stylist get you surprise gifts just because??? Mine does! She gave me the cutest blinged out coffee cup and starbucks coffee!  She’s trying to encourage me to be a good financial steward and not stop at starbucks every day.  Yea, love her.  If you need a great hair stylist in the Dallas Metroplex definitely give Tangie a call. 

 

Saturday night, I had the extreme honor of celebrating one of my friends by surprising her in a flash mob! It was so much fun and I got to cross that one off my 30 bucket list!! You can read more details and watch the flashmob video on Team Howard Blog.

 

(3) Sunday morning I broke the Daniel Fast over breakfast with Josh.  It was so delicious!! Boy oh boy am I EXCITED to have coffee back in my life!  Overall, the fast was really great.  I certainly had challenging days but the primary goal for me was to draw closer to the Lord and I feel like that was accomplished.  Let me be completely honest and say that trying to take on OTN90 and the Daniel Devotional simultaneously was a bit of a stretch for me.  I was not able to maintain both reading plans, however, I am still on track with the Old Testament reading.  I will complete the Daniel Devotional when, I reach Daniel in the OTN90 reading plan.  My greatest takeaway from the fast is the importance of prioritizing God in my life.  Denying myself the foods that I love was one small way to consistently choose God throughout my day.  This is something I should be doing each day well beyond the fast.

 

(4) Then, I was blessed to hear Josh share a message with the youth at church about biblical dating.  I LOVE to listen to this man talk about the Lord! 


Last, but not least, we enjoyed the Superbowl/Beyonce Concert with friends to close out the weekend. Josh is a lifelong 49ers fan and was quite disappointed at the final score.   I was fairly disappointed with the quality, or lack thereof, I saw in the superbowl commercials.  However, I really loved the Budweiser Commercial.  It made me smile and say, “Awwwww.” I also really liked the “So God Made a Farmer” Dodge commercial.  It reminded me of my dad.

 

Make it a great week friends!

 

 

 

 

Winner x 2!!

The winner of my Mary Kay Satin Lips Giveaway is *drum roll please* Bernadett Rauski.  Congratulations!! I will put it in the mail asap, I hope you love it!! 

If you can take this much excitement in one post, I have one more winner to announce... ME!!! I won Jan's Giveaway from The Comfort of a Safe Place.  What did I win??? These gorgeous earrings.

 

I absolutely adore accessories and I can not wait to wear these! Thank you Jan, I love winning.

Cry About It or Dance About It

This little guy has gotten a lot of attention in the last few days, so you  may have seen this video.  If not, DON'T miss this opportunity to WATCH the video.  I watched this for the first time yesterday and immediately thought, I must share this with everyone!  He is just as cute as a button and quite hilarious, but once you get past that, the words he speaks are so TRUE!  Take a look and really consider the message.

 

So many great one liners in here it's challenging to pick just one but I love it when he says, "you can cry about it or dance about it."  Ummm, yes! What a great way to look at life. I'm also really considering his question, "What will you create to make the world more awesome?" Today, my goal is to help make the world more awesome in 2 ways: 1) SMILE at every single person I make eye contact with today, 2) Pray for each person my shadow touches today.

 

So, How will you make the world more awesome today??

 

 

 



Update: Daniel Fast + OTN90

Praise the Lord, I’ve made it to day 11 of the Daniel Fast (that’s half way)!!! So far the fast is going very well. It is so perfect that the fast is paired with the OTN90 reading.  This keeps me focused on the word of God and not the food.  

I have completed Genesis, Exodus, and Ruth.  Today, I am wrapping up the book of Ezra. The verse that has stood out to me the most in all of my OTN90 Reading so far is Exodus 34:6-7.

Everytime I reread these verses, they penetrate deep into my heart.   I am delighted to know that God is unchanging and he is filled with unfailing love and faithfullness!  What truth about God’s character do these verses speak to you?

Daniel Fast Lessons:

1.       Temptation is real.  Usually, meetings at work are food-free, with the exception of lunch-and-learns.  Since the fast has started, almost every meeting I have attended has either included cookies or coffee! Ummm, seriously?? Praise God, I’ve declined to partake in each circumstance.

2.       Spirit is stronger than Flesh.  I have a deep deep love for coffee and drink it every morning.  I am so proud to declare, I have not had a drop of coffee since the beginning of the Daniel Fast.  This is truly a work of the Lord.  It has not been easy but one of my favorite parts of fasting is seeing that my flesh is not superior to the Spirit when I am willing to fully submit myself.

Danny Foods I’m Loving, yummo.

That's all for today! Those of you that are fasting and/or reading, I'd love to hear what you're learning and what foods you're loving!

7 Days left to enter my giveaway!!