Eight Things I'm Loving Right Now

1. <3 My new "niece"  <3 Miss Norah Claire <3 Such a beautiful name <3 My best friend had her baby girl a three weeks ago!!!! I'm in love with her little fingers and toes, face and hair. Both mommy and baby are doing well, and I can't wait to spoil her and cuddle her and give lots and lots of kisses...oh, and Jess, too <3

2. Earlier this month, my church finished a series called "FIT" (having a fit mind, body, and heart). It was brilliant, touching, and perfect for the season I felt God was bringing me through. Now my pastor is in the middle of a "Family Matters" series. It's times like these when I know I am not alone, God listens when I call out to Him. I pray these messages continue touching my heart.

3. Pulling out my spring clothes from storage. I am over with the cold and snow and winter, and I want to see more green, pastels, and less sweaters and mittens. I'm usually a fan of winter, but this season has been very temperamental this year, even for Ohio, and I'm over it. Yesterday was a high of 72 degrees! In March! In northeast Ohio! I'm going straight for my flip-flops.

4. Finding, no making the time for my yoga practice. Every day. Whether it's a full-on 70 minutes of Holy Yoga, a 30-minute leg routine, or a couple of sun salutations. Making time for it daily is one of my top priorities right now. I need to put the books down! <--- I can't believe I just typed that, haha

5. After Mr. B touched up the upstairs hallway with a new coat of white, he painted the doors, their frames, and the built-in cabinet storage all white. We also have cream-colored carpet up there. This winter we decided there was way too much white in that little area. I need color. I love color. I was game for any color. Mr. B chose red. A beautiful red. We painted it a few weekends ago. It's beautiful. It's still white, but not so white.

6. Since Lent, I've been having my "bullet" coffee almost every morning. Just black coffee with a tablespoon of coconut oil. Using my hand mixer, I combine until it's creamy and frothy. It's so deliciously good I should feel guilty. See part of my fasting during this Lenten season, besides fasting one meal a day, I gave up my calorie-laden beverages from Starbucks. (If it's not a black Americano or red eye, or unsweetened tea, it's on hold until after Easter.) Because of the sugar, and lately it's all I've been craving. Caramel macchiatos. Dirty chais. Steamed apple juice with a pump of chai. It's saving me money as well. My bullet coffee easily curbs these sugar cravings.

7. My latest movie love is The Age of Adaline. I don't know why I love this movie so much, but I am in love with this movie. I found it so beautiful. A different kind of love story. I cried. I laughed. I watched it and then watched it again. There was beauty and heartache. And the casting was perfect.

8. All my life I have been a purple girl. I love purple. I want everything purple. Lately, I want pink. All the pink things. I even dug out a pink-patterened VB purse from my closet because I had to have PINK.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Lately

Image found on Pinterest

1. I'm okay.

2. Since I deactivated my Facebook account earlier this week, friends have been coming out of the wood-works with all shades of concern. Thank you for your thoughts, questions, and encouragement. Even though I've never been one to constantly post about my goings-on, I found myself getting too caught up in others. Taking a step back from social media has laid heavy on my heart for the past month or so. I committed myself to giving it up for Lent this year. However, I was at church this past weekend, and Pastor Mike recently started a new series called "FIT." He's talking about being fit in various areas of our lives, and last Saturday's sermon was on making your mind/soul "fit." He discussed things that rob us of a fit mind, like anger, worry/fear, comparison, and not forgiving others. His comparison example was, you guessed it, social media. It's like God *lightly* smacked me on the head. Why wait until Lent? Why not start now? My church is also in the midst of a 21-day fast, so this is perfect. I might even go beyond the 21 days.

3. I'm committed to getting back my joy.

4. Adult coloring is quickly becoming that outlet. I find my mind is completely relaxed. I'm not worrying about the future. I'm not going over and over my to-do list, both at home and at work. I'm not even thinking, which is why this new hobby is more peaceful than reading <--- shut the front door! (as my husband likes to exclaim). Mr. B bought me an electric pencil sharpener to aid me in this endeavor.

5. The snow makes me happy. The cold makes me happy. It means less social commitments. More evenings at home by the fireside. More time spent with my Misters. More time in the kitchen. More getting my thoughts straight. More quiet times with God and His Word.

6.And you might find this hard to believe, but I haven't been on my yoga mat since late October. No wonder I'm out of sorts! This must be remedied.


With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

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Yesterday, Jessica and I went on a teeny, tiny road trip down to my parents house for a jewelry party. Jessica being friend, shotgun-rider, entertainment, and jewelry lady. Actually, party isn't the right word. Chatting with Mama and my grandma while my aunt perused the rings, and Daddy, grandpa and I hoarded the caprese salad is more fitting. It was a fantastic day-trip. And now it's Monday....

But at least it's National Tell a Story Day.

And I'm a fan of picture stories.


With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Lately

1. The Vera Bradley Outlet Sale 2015 came and went. I was there. I bought all the things. My list for next year has already begun. Y'all, the joy I have for this annual trip with my best girlfriend.... I.CAN'T.EVEN.

I'm planning an entire post on this, but this year's haul has been my favorite yet. I am obsessed with ADORE my new purses and bags! I was so happy to see many patterns were still available during the weekend sessions. And since we went back on Sunday, it was exciting to discover different patterns had been brought out that weren't available on Saturday. ANNNNDDD, VB finally makes phone cases for Samsung! And the heavens opened. The angels sang. If you love Vera and have never been, I promise you, this is something you should not miss. Mark your calendars.

Next year it's April 6th-10th, 2016

You know, just so you know.

2. Five years ago tomorrow,  Mr. B and I signed some pretty serious paperwork.

FIVE YEARS!!! Oh my stars, where did the years go??! This is a big one. We might have to do something special. Although, we booked a mini vacation to Hocking Hills for next month as a sort of belated anniversary celebration....and if you refer back to the above, I spent a tiny bit of money this weekend...but, it's FIVE YEARS, right? We must celebrate. We must go crazy.

3. And speaking of cabins in the woods, vacations, and summer, I should probably start my Yogalosophy program again. Dig deeper into clean eating. It's boat and bikini season again. Yikes. Wasn't I just devouring cookie platters??!

4. It's National Library Week!!!! Woot. Woot. To celebrate, enjoy these.

5. I'm a mess. I have all of these plans to organize, organize, ORGANIZE! But instead I find myself on the couch watching Netflix. Me <--- in desperate need of motivation.

6. And one more. Because I can.

Happy FIVE years, Mr. B, you stud.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

Lately

1. It's National Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day. Three cheers for that, I say! It's always fun at my job, and today my kiddos are making bunny masks for preschool story time. We're reading books, playing with puppets, practicing rabbit yoga poses, shaking eggs, and jumping and counting. All before noon, I might add. It's FUN. Yes, the library is a RIOT.

2. These past few days my afternoon treat has been a mason jar of iced coffee instead of an iced La Croix. Not sure why the switch; I guess my morning coffee isn't enough. I suspect it may have to do with my busy afternoons and coffee seems more filling than water when I can't grab a snack.

3. Who is ready for Spring Break? Hands waving over here!! I have dreams of sipping an iced beverage on my deck. Maybe weeding the garden. Praying for sunshine. Starting some spring cleaning. Possibly a day trip to who knows where. Ahhh, Spring Break. We get one of those in the adult world, right?

Wait. What?

4. Keith Urban and Eric Church. Love 'em. I'm hoping they perform their new song on the 19th at the ACM Awards. "Raise 'Em Up" is just perfectly wonderful. A beautiful song. The radio needs to play the heck out of this. ASAP.

5. I was super excited to see Brooke Boon featured in May's Yoga Journal. Actually, I squealed. Finally! I was so happy to see YJ highlighting various yoga practices that are available to yogis, like Holy Yoga. This practice is a combination of yoga and scripture, meditating on God's Word. And it's the way I've always practiced even before I was introduced to Holy Yoga last year. I get on my mat to relieve stress, to stay fit, to stretch my body, but mainly it's where I seek my Father. It's where I listen for that still, small voice. It's where I find peace and comfort. It's where I converse, relating my gratitude and fears.

"We practice with our minds set on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Phil 4:8), not with our minds emptied. We meditate on the wisdom of God's Word (Psalm 119:9-16, 26-27), not on man's wisdom. We seek the transcendence and glory of God, not our own." (holyyoga.net)

6. Mr. B and I are in desperate need of a date night. And by date night I mean dinner and a movie. By movie I mean an actual theater and not Netflix. I need this because there are so many movies I want to see right now and I don't want to wait. Like Do You Believe? and Insurgent and Furious 7 and Cinderella and do I need to remind you it's almost AVENGERS time?!?!

Has anyone seen any of these?

7. And BASEBALL. Mr. B's Sports Illustrated arrived in the mail predicting the Cleveland Indians will win the World Series this year. Am I dreaming?! You better not have just jinxed our season, SI!

I will hunt you down.

I know people.


With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

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Family dinner night turned into Happy 60th Birthday (!) to my step father-in-law. It  was also a hunker-down-inside-because-it's-only-a-high-of-5-degrees kind of Sunday. Church was cancelled, but thankfully our pastor made an online version available (oh, the joys of technology), Mr. Darcy acted like the big freeze was no big deal, and at least the sunshine was out. Chilly days like these mean catching up on household chores with a high dose of relaxation. I pray your Sunday was just as blessed.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi

My Beautiful Month

In case you aren't on Instagram, or don't follow me, here's a peek at my Insta-Life lately.
[*All photos are taken from my Instagram account.]

 Sunday morning indulging: homemade sausage gravy and biscuits

The weather was bad so church had us all stay home and did a live Wednesday night broadcast.

THE OHIO STATE BUCKEYES. THE CHAMPS!

Making our own hand soap with Doterra oils.

We stocked up for the huge snowstorm that was SUPPOSED to hit.

This is as close as they get. The fire brings them together.

With Love and God Bless,
Brindi