What I want to tell you

I'm sitting here in bed at 10:42PM listening to the rain, and trying to figure out how to kick off this blog post. And since I really want to say 'why hello there!' but I've already typed and erased that a few times cause it just doesn't sound right, I figured I may as well get on with it. 

I'm really glad I don't have an English teacher grading these blog posts. Pretty sure she would cringe at that introduction. 

There's just so much that I want to say right now. I want to tell you about the wonderful, fun, relaxing Bachelorette weekend I had in Palm Springs. 

I want to gush about the fact that I've known this girl since second grade, and it's crazy to see how the Lord has worked in each of our lives, and in our friendship. It's equally crazy that in exactly two months from yesterday, I'll be standing beside her as she gets married. Like, woah. 

And just for kicks:

I want to tell you that I'm reading this book: 

I want to tell you how reading Dave Lomas' vulnerable account of his own identity crisis has helped me identify my own. I want to tell you all about my Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis diagnosis, which is basically a super professional way of saying my eyes hate contacts. I would probably make a lot of jokes about it, and say a lot of positive things about how there is so much purpose in this & God is using it for His good and His glory. 

And, to be fair, both of those things are entirely true. God's using my broken eyeballs to do a lot of good in my heart, and it is pretty funny to say that I have broken eyeballs. 

But I also want to tell you that it's hard. I want to be authentic and say that it's shown me how much I was relying on feeling confident in my physical appearance. Sometimes you don't realize you're using something as a crutch until God so graciously takes away the crutch. 

Actually, it's not exactly when He takes it away that you realize it; it's what happens after. It's when you find yourself ugly crying, or grieving like you lost a limb, or feeling the crippling sensation of fear, hoplessness and doubt. All over whatever simple thing was removed in the first place, for me: contacts. 

 I also want to tell you that it's okay to do those things. It's okay to ugly cry; it's okay to grieve when you feel like you don't have a reason to; and it's okay to acknowledge that you feel crippled from fear, hopelessness, or doubt. God doesn't ask us to hide our emotions, and He certainly would never tell us they're invalid. They are valid to Him, because He understands them. He understands them more than we do. 

He doesn't want us to hide from our emotions, He wants us to walk through them with Him. Because guess what: there's a light at the end of the tunnel. A light that we might never have found had we not gone through the crutch-removal surgery in the first place. 

For me, I see that light. I see the fact that my heart and mind and vision are being restored to see beauty the way He sees it. I see that I'm learning to truly find confidence in the Lord above all other things. I see that I'm learning to throw up my hands, and surrender to Him what every part of my flesh wants to control via wikipedia/google/wedMD. I see that I'm learning to trust that He has good plans for me. 

And now that I've turned what I thought would be a tip-of-the-iceberg post into a full blown heres-my-life post, it's your turn. 

What's new with you?

Deal of the Weekend

Two posts in one day? Chyea. It's happening. 

If you follow me on Instagram (@sweethomesb), you know that it's no surprise that I love me some shopping. And because I don't have an endless bank account, I have to steer towards the good deals if I want to be financially responsible. 

I love sharing my heart and my passions on this here blog, and so I'm excited to announce that I'm starting a new weekly series called Deal of the Weekend.

My goal is to give mad props to the places with the right prices, and to devote some more space to my passion for fashion (ya like that rhyming right there?). 

So without further adieu, this week's deal of the weekend:

Lush Couture is a women's clothing store in the heart of downtown Palm Springs. If you find yourself in the desert for a vacation, do yourself a favor and stop by this little piece of clothing heaven! 

Besides shoes and accessories, everything is $16. You read that right, $16 for dresses, tops, pants, everything.  And they have cuuute things! I may have snagged myself a dress to wear to a wedding next week. (And some jewlery, too). 

I'm so excited to launch this new series. And I'd love to hear if you found any good deals this weekend!

Reed Sister Vaycay

I probably should have warned you that I would be blowing up your Insta and Twitter feed this weekend. Some weekends just deserve the obnoxious over-social-media-fying, and the possibility of losing a few followers. 

This was one of them. 

It was also a weekend that doesn't require much words, because the pictures do the talking.

What the pictures don't show is how much I learn from this little 8 year old. 

I am fairly certain that God gave me Milissa to give me a glimpse into the wonderful, challenging world of parenting. And while I know I am soooo far from understanding it all, I also know that I'm thankful for what I've learned through my sister. 

I've learned that you need grace. The moments where you get frustrated, where you say the wrong thing, and what grips the heart the most: when you walk away feeling like you didn't love the way that they deserve to be loved, there is grace. 

I've learned that most of what you teach, you still need work on too. I preach the importance of patience, and before I know it, I'm losing mine. I emphasize that your worth and value come from who God made you to be, and not what you look like. And two seconds later, that self consciousness is creeping up on me because I ate too much and feel gross. The learning never stops. 

I've learned that the most important thing, more important than teaching or having fun or providing, is to love. And love well. The fact of the matter is, we'll never get this loving thing down pat. We're human, we mess up all the time. But that doesn't mean you stop trying. You keep trying, because the love will shine through the mess ups. 

And I hope this does not sound like parenting advice, because I fully understand that having an 8 year old sister does not make me a parent. 

But I also understand the importance of documenting what you learn, and this is what I've learnt from my relationship with my beautiful baby sister, Milissa. 

This was so much more than a Bucket List item checked off. 

Stagecoach Photo Explosion

What do you get when you combine 3 days of desert heat, amazing country artists, and a reunion with incredible friends?

Paradise, my friends. 

And a whooole lot of pictures. 

The music? Amazing! 

I posted the entire line up back when it came out in October. This is something we've been looking forward to for a looong time. Basically since the end of last year's Stagecoach. 

Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker & Zac Brown Band were by far my favorite acts. They were all sooo good, and I would see them again in a heart beat. 

Florida Georgia Line was definitely up there too. Mainly because they were the only artists to come all the way back to where we were in general admission. 

In case you thought I was exaggerating when I tweeted:

I give you:

Amazing, right??

See that arm in the far right with the purple bracelet? Totally mine. 

I'll say it one more time: life = made. 

And what would a country concert be without some line dancing?

This weekend was absolutely amazing. But even more so than the incredible artists, it was these people who made it that way:

It was so great having two of my closest friends finally meet. 

Do you have any friends where you know without a doubt that you wouldn't be the same without them? I do. And she's it:

So thankful for this friendship, and the incredible impact it's had on my life. 

Thanks for being the wonderful best friend that I love soooo much, Kace! I can't wait until our next epic reunion :)

Oh My Word

Pretty sure I said this phrase like 239854 times this weekend. 

Mainly because of the 106 degree weather. But also because of the freaking phenomenal music from so many of my favorite country artists. 

And oh my word were a lot of pictures taken this weekend. 

So here's a teaser:

3 days. 3 nights. 

And still managed to make it to work at 7AM Monday morning. Bam. 

STAGECOACH

Without further adieu, I give you the best weekend ever. 

Side note: I just got Photoshop, and really wanted to get these photos all jazzed up as practice for using it. Buttt I'm a procrastinator. And it's almost 11PM, and I'm still going off of a few hours of sleep. So I give you edit-less pictures. 

Enjoy!

Day 1:

Loved this girl's hat:

Hard cider is officially my new drink of choice.

What turned into the pose of the weekend:

Made a lot of new friends tailgating (aka trying to finish the beverages we thought we could bring in, but sadly were mistaken).

Day 2:

Twins!

Day 3:

Beer pong champs:

Can you tell that my camera died half way through day 2? Yeah, I came real prepared with my battery charger. 

Not. 

Oh well, my favorite outfit was Day 1 anyway. 

Besides the amazing music (Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Band Perry, Sheryl Crow, just to name a few), the highlight of the trip was probably when I was asked if I was Asian. Can't say that's happened to me before. 

Actually, there were others. But you know what they say. 

What happens at Stagecoach, stays at Stagecoach. ;)