mama-daughter visit.

earlier this week my mom came to visit along with our family friends. it was such a wonderful, relaxing visit full of yummy food, catching up, and encouragement. 

eating a scrumptious italian lunch. 

later in the evening after italian, coffee, and chocolate treats, we settled in for a movie with caprese bites, tea, and a movie. i am just now realizing just how much we ate! 

my friend annie and i sported the cardigans our mama's gave us for christmas... they had sewn cat elbow patches on and we're kind of obsessed. 

we made breakfast the next morning and i realized that that was the first time our table had been used in our new apartment. 

i feel so spoiled... the day before these lovely ladies came my daddy surprised me with a visit and dinner because he was passing through on a trip. ive loved getting to see my family so much lately... but oh how i miss everyone now that they have left! 

now it's saturday and boo and i are going to hang some shelves, picture frames, and etc. on the walls. happy weekend!

happy new year!

a little recap of how brian and i celebrated out first FREE new years eve! 

got a little snazzy for a dinner out

set my mouth on fire with jalapenos topped with spicy tuna and cream cheese

reminisced 

baked snickerdoodles

read our "2012" jar... over the course of the year we filled it with good, sweet, and funny things that happened and didn't read them until the last night of 2012. it was so fun remembering these together.

my hopes/excitement for 2013:

1. i am so EXCITED for my two best friends' weddings/celebrations

2. i HOPE to find a full time JOB, preferably in teaching 

3. i HOPE to adopt myself a baby orange kitten

4. i HOPE that by the end of the year our student ministry has GROWN

5. i am EXCITED for what the Lord is going to do this year

here's to 2013!

christmas highlights.

1. driving back to cinci late christmas eve night and starting off our celebration with a gingerbread house

2. staying up late catching up with my brother and sister long after my parents and boo have gone to bed

3. being sneaky with my sister and shaking our presents under the tree

4. christmas morning breakfast and coffee with whipped cream & sprinkles

5. all of us gunn kiddos getting a framed picture of our beloved baxter

6. the crazy cat lady sweaters i received from my mama... pictures to come! 

7. baking nutcracker cupcakes with my mama

8. seeing les mis as a family

9. snow & walking our pups through it as a family

10. meeting our nephew for the first time

11. watching our niece experience ice skating for the first time

12. warm drinks after ice skating

13. a snowy run and post run breakfast with my college roomie

14. brown paper packages with sparkly ribbon

15. receiving a SWEET scrapbook from my friend "D." it is full of fun things to do around the toledo area and a bucketlist of things to do together in 2013 (she says she is not creative or crafty... uh, whatever!) i just love it!!

i hope everyone had a wonderful christmas season! here's to the new year! 

happy 2013! starting the year off with a guest post.

happy 2013 sweet friends! today i am blogging over at my friend allie's blog, Allie in Oz. when i first "met" her in the blogging world and saw that she adored glitter as much as i do, as well as had a passion for ministering to younger girls, i felt like we were kindred spirits. she asked me to blog about my experience moving for her [Away from Home] series and it couldn't have been more timely for me. so go check it out and read through her other many adventures! 

gift guide: your adorkable and quirky bff.

your best friend loves sporting polka dots and critters. she's classic with a spin of peculiar. think jess day. even as her bff, you can't pinpoint her exactly, but these christmas gifts definitely won't miss the mark. 

1. "what happened" bandages

2. rating royalty iPhone case in sprinkles

3. measuring hedgies

4. paper straw mustaches and lips

5. dorthy perkins polka dot clutch

thoughts on sandy hook elementary.

it seems that all we ever hear about anymore are senseless tragedies. they seem to happen all the time now. every time i hear about one, i get sad and sick to my stomach... but when i heard about sandy hook elementary school on friday, i felt a different kind of grief. 

even though i'm not a teacher yet with my own classroom, as i am currently looking for jobs, i feel as if i am already a teacher. i went to school for it, have several practicum and student teaching experiences, and just love the students i had. the tragedy at sandy hook just hit home for me. 

and i cried for all those babies who were taken way too soon and for their parents who should never have to worry about whether a school is a safe place to send their children. i cried for the students who graciously lived, but who will have to live with this trauma for the rest of their lives. i cried for the teachers and principal who fought to protect their students and sacrificed their lives. i cried for everyone whose lives are forever changed. 

and today i am thinking and praying for all my friends who have classrooms of their own. i am thinking of them as they try to work through what happened and answer questions and offer counsel to their students. i am praying that school will not be a place of fear for any students, teachers, or parents, but that the perfect love of Christ will cast out all fear. i've always had an admiration and respect for teachers and educators, but now i do more than ever. 

via

quotable.

i am obsessed with quotes. i have a word document of 50+ pages of just quotes. i also used to keep a scrapbook of quotes. i have this tenacious need to share whatever i'm inspired by. here is like .005% of what i've saved. so if you love beautiful words & phrases like me, please be my guest and enjoy. maybe even grab a cup of coffee :)

It is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do.

— Jhumpa Lahiri

There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.

— Jane Austen

There are moments in our lives when we are crying out for grace, not recognizing that we are getting it. We are not getting the grace of relief or the grace of release, because that is not the grace that we really need. No, what we are getting is something we desperately need, the uncomfortable grace of personal growth and change. With the love of a Father, your Lord is prying open your hands so that you will let go of things that have come to rule your heart but will never satisfy you.

— Paul David Tripp

Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.

— Francis Chan, Crazy Love (pg. 114)

Oh, me? I’m not 80% water. I’m 80% coffee, and a little bit of sass.

— Zooey Deschanel