Audible

This morning I'm feeling especially grateful for Audible.com. The ability to listen to books while multitasking (driving, running, doing laundry, etc.) has increased the amount of books I'm able to read exponentially. There's also something so special when the author is reading their book - to hear the words exactly as they intended to you to hear it is an incredible thing. Alright, back to reading listening. :)

Humble and Kind

Spending the past few days in Dallas visiting some of my favorites, I was reminded of the joy that is country radio. Scanning through the stations and hearing multiple country songs - familiar and new-sounding brought me warmth and comfort. There's something about a familiar lyric or just the way country music in general can pull you back - in time, into a specific memory, or at times articulate deeply held values and where they come from. I was almost brought to tears listening to "Humble and Kind" on repeat as I journeyed back home.

"Don't hold a grudge or a chip and here's why: bitterness keeps you from flying. Always stay humble and kind."

The beauty I see in this simple yet profound lyric reminds me of who I - and we all - are and can be at our best.

Institute Season

Walking into the office I immediately felt giddy. As faces, some new some old, entered the room, I began to imagine it was already summer. I saw new relationships form, old relationships reunite, no one sitting alone, and hugs. So many hugs.

Yesterday was our first institute staff conference, officially kicking off "institute season." Given that this is now my 6th dose of institute, it won't surprise anyone to know this time of year fills me with a type of joy that is unparalleled. Here are a few reasons why:

• Feeling "All In". Maybe it's because we're all together for such a short time at conferences, or that way know we only have a set amount of weeks, but you can just sense the feeling that everyone present is "all in" which then allows for some of the deepest friendships that I have to this day - oftentimes I feel that institute friends know me at a deeper level than many folks in "real life." 
• The people. Institute staff are just the best. They are teachers, coaches, grad school students, college interns, and full time TFA staff that can't get enough of our incredible corps members. They are fierce, passionate, kind, humble, and as I mentioned earlier: some of the best friends you'll ever have. Also, you get to live with them in a college dorm/suite. #sweetestlife.
• Growth City. I can attribute so much of my professional and personal growth to my summers working at Institute. I've always felt the leadership team's belief in me and the courage to push myself beyond what I thought I was capable of. Institute is where I learned to coach for the first time, where I learned to lead a team for the first time, and I think where I gained about 83% of the confidence I have today. 

Cheers to the start of a beautiful institute season! #grateful. 

Pope Francis

Yesterday I was moved by Pope Francis leveraging his influence and positional power to stand up for what Jesus stands for. In this article he writes,

"The sickness or, you can say the sin, that Jesus condemns most is hypocrisy, which is precisely what is happening when someone claims to be a Christian but does not live according to the teaching of Christ. You cannot be a Christian without living like a Christian," he said. "You cannot be a Christian without doing what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25, 'For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, A stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' "

I feel so grateful for his heart and pray that it may soften many other hearts and pull them closer to love. #nobannowall. I pray that we refuse to let fear of any kind rule our hearts, and instead ask the question we should base our lives around as Christians: WWJD?

Monday Inspiration: Jeremy Beard

On this Monday morning I felt drawn to look at my "memories on this day" from Facebook. In addition to a couple of silly teaching posts and pics from high school, I saw a video of Jeremy Beard's inspirational speech (above) at the TFA 20th Anniversary Summit. Feel so proud to be an alum of the same organization as him.

"When you choose to be great you think less about the reasons why not and you think more about the plan for how...Choose to be great so our children can truly be free. This is our legacy."
-Jeremy Beard

Fight Song

Rachel Platten's, "Fight Song"

"I might only have one match

but I can make an explosion.

And all of those things I didn't say,

Wrecking balls inside my brain.

I will scream 'em loud tonight.

Can you hear my voice this time?

....

And I don't really care if nobody else believes

'Cuz I still got a lotta fight left in me."

As we approach Inauguration day, I continue to feel grateful for this song and for the repeat feature on my iPhone. It gets even better the 12th time you listen. Trust me. Or don't. 

Obama's Farewell

I remember freshman year of college, seeing what we joked was a "shrine" for Obama in my best friend Stuart's dorm room. Stuart told us Obama would be president one day. As in most things in life, Stuart was right.

When I think about the children who have only had a black president in their lifetime, I think of how different the world must feel to them. I think about being in 2nd grade declaring I wanted to be president, only to be shot down by the boy next to me saying, "Girls can't be president - look - they're all boys," pointing to a sheet of paper with small head shots of each president. I am grateful to Hillary for trying once again, to prove him wrong.

I am grateful to Obama for his 8 years (and really so many more) of service to our country. I'll leave us with some of his words from his farewell address:

"laws alone won’t be enough. Hearts must change. It won’t change overnight. Social attitudes oftentimes take generations to change. But if our democracy is to work the way it should in this increasingly diverse nation, then each one of us need to try to heed the advice of a great character in American fiction, Atticus Finch, who said “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it ... For white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ’60s; that when minority groups voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or practicing political correctness; when they wage peaceful protest, they’re not demanding special treatment, but the equal treatment that our founders promised."

How are you?

Quote I saw on pinterest

What a question. I find myself sometimes paralyzed by the amount of things I could say. The truth is, I'm always a lot of things. I'm feeling a bunch of different feelings at any given point. I'm feeling grateful for the rain since our state is in a drought. I'm also, if I'm being honest, feeling borderline depressed at times when I look outside to the gray, dreary, wet world, thinking about how quite soon, I'll need to exit my big comfy couch with warm coffee to join it. I'm also feeling anxious about driving in it, and all the possible dangers that entails. How do I answer that question? Do I quickly calculate a "net feeling" in my brain? Do I create a pie chart of percentages for how much I'm feeling which emotion?

I saw the quote above (finally jumped on the pinterest train rabbit hole) and noticed myself getting defensive - "shouldn't you be honest and answer truthfully when someone asks how you are?" Then the more I thought, the more I recognized that there is never a time I'm feeling absolutely 100% down in the dumps. Of course, I have moments where that can be up to 99% of how I'm feeling, in which case I may still choose to answer "I'm feeling awful," but what I realized is that I always have a choice because I always have a feeling - no matter how small - of gratitude inside me. As long as I am alive, I have waking up to be grateful for each day, and the ability to focus on and express that truth.

Thanks to God and the gift of waking up each morning, I can always choose to answer that question in a way that talks about my joys. What a joy it is to be alive.

New Year, FRESH Start #vegetablegoals

check out pinterest for more re: bullet journals

Happy New Year! Great News: as you may notice (on my fancy-new-bullet-journal on the left) I set a goal this year of 100 blog posts (roughly 2/week) as a way to ensure that no matter the circumstance, I am taking time to express gratitude in my life. I got a little off the gratitude train there after November 8... grateful to be back on the train! Praying that this year is one filled with peace, love, hope, and joy for everyone in our world. I am grateful for each of those things that I've personally felt already in 2017 - for sweet quality time with close friends, exceeding my 7 hugs goal at my amazing church during our aggressive passing of the peace :), and a phone call from an inspiring teacher that brings me boundless hope for the future of the Richmond community.

Am also grateful for setting VEGETABLE goals again this year, and more specifically, to eat 1,800 servings of vegetables over the course of 2017. As you can see below, I'm off to a great start. Now, fixin' to go stick some of that green stuff in my smoothie. KALE YEAH. #missedme? #backinaction #watchout2017

Tilapia finely seasoned with random cajun stuff in my pantry. Side salad with get this: no cheese! #allfresh