sew

Today I spent the day sewing. I'm trying to make up for lost time. I just got back my machine which broke a couple weeks after I arrived home from the UK. So between September and now I have sewn very, very little. I was absolutely thrilled when I picked up my machine on Friday. I was going through serious creativity withdrawals. I must post pictures of all the fun things I am working on. Oh and I still need to upload and post pictures of my sweet girls.





As for now I'm off to bed.
Night.
xoxo
-es

everything

Tonight Gaby and I went to a London reunion party at the home of one of the professors. We all just chatted and reminisced about England.

Oh it was so nice to live there. We had our church our dear friends and our sweet home. Gosh it was so different from my everyday life here in the US. I loved all the different things that England had to offer.

I'm just dying to get out of the US again. I have the traveling bug. Gosh I have it bad. I somehow caught it when I was young. I traveled to Mexico when I was seven and from that moment I knew I developed a fascination of cultures. I just love learning about traditions. Different foods, style of dress, and language seem to have always interested me. My trip to Samoa only fanned the traveling flame. I'm so glad I got to experience that when I was fifteen. I learned so much and I thank God for sending me there.

Not only do I enjoy traveling outside of the country but in the US too. I love that our country is so big and offers so much for us to see. From the great lakes to the grand canyon.

I have lived such a blessed life. Between the ages of 10 and 14 I went to the east coast 4 times. Twice to New York and twice to Florida. Three of those times I went without my parents. They are so selfless. My dad has not yet made his way out to the East coast but he sent me on every trip. I know he would love to go but he has always put me and my siblings first and that feels my heart with joy. Thank you Lord for blessing me with giving parents.

So I have been wanting to go on a mission trip for a few of years now. Right when I got back from Samoa I wanted to go serve somewhere else and that was nearly five years ago. I'm praying that I will get to go on one soon.I would love to do a summer mission trip. I think I could be a lot more effective in someones life if I was in that place for around three months opposed to two weeks although the Lord can do great things in just days. Time is nothing to the creator of the universe.

I still struggle with knowing what the Lord wants for me. I dream of being a stay at home wife/mama to lots of kids or an out of the country missionary. I could of course be both but this all depends on who I marry. Lord willing I do marry. Oh I pray I do everyday. I just know that If I were not to marry I don't want to end up being a single pastry chef even if I was working at someplace extraordinary like the Ritz. I would prefer to cook good healthy meals for children in an orphanage. I think that would be wonderful. Gah I'm going off on a tangent. This matter can be written about at another time.

Anyways, I heard that our church might be going to Spain which is extremely exciting. I'm already infatuated with Europe and think it would be amazing to serve there. I would absolutely love to go but I am asking the Lord if it is in his will for me to. Gosh, I sure hope it is. But I really need to talk to God about it before I get my hopes up for going. I think the most important thing about going on a mission trip is making sure that you have been chosen by God to go there. So I will continue to pray and see if the Lord wants to send me.

As for now I get my fix of mission work at the dream center. I don't know what I would do without that place. I love that I get to serve every Saturday with the most amazing people. I have met people from all over the world. People from New Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia, England, Canada, Germany and so many other places.

P.S. I finally found my Jordan Downs girls. I was so Happy I was near tears. Further explanation and photos tomorrow.

Goodness this post was all over the place. I just needed to get some of that stuff out of my head.

Night
xo
-esther

hello childhood.

how nice to see you again. Oh how I miss you...

The days I played with ferrets, squirrels, and rainbow snails. Yes... I was a strange kid. These were some of the odd things I found while reorganizing my mess of a room.

So as I hinted at earlier the past few weeks I spent much of my time doing some serious deep cleaning and reorganizing. It was semi difficult for me, a girl, who is extremely sentimental and isn't the biggest fan of change. I honestly think this whole thing really influenced me to do the whole bangs thing. I thought "heck, why not? your getting rid of so much of the stuff that you couldn't bare to part with years ago why not change your hair style?" I don't know if that makes sense but I guess what I am really trying to say is that I was on this "high" of change and out with old in with the new. I mean I really really struggle with not wanting to get rid of things. Im just trying to take care of my little issue now before I end up on that show Hoarders. haha

So below is a picture of my "childhood" Okay, not really but it is in the sense that these objects played key rolls in the memories of my youth. Especially that cradle. It was a gift for my second birthday I loved playing with all my baby dolls and pretending to feed them and rock them to sleep. I guess my love for babies started real young.

(you can click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read the little captions)
By the way the photo above isn't even a tenth of the stuff I had to sort through. It was craziness. But it is so nice to have a room that has a place for everything. I still need to post some pictures of my new clean room. Maybe I should do it after I do a bit of redecorating.

Well I leave you now.
Night
xo
-esther

quilt weekend

I am currently having the most lovely time sewing in the desert with a bunch of wonderful ladies. I have already accomplished a great deal. Hopefully I can show what I worked on when I get home and upload pictures.


Anyways because I'm away this weekend I wasn't able to spend time with my south central kiddos. I'm just praying that all is well with them.

xo
-esther

trim

Today I cut Jackie's bangs. I hadn't cut them since I took the picture below of her which was over a year ago.

This time we did side bangs. I guess she is over wearing them straight forward which I thought looked great on her.

But after I cut them I realized that I think they look equally as cute to the side. Good call Jack!


Anyways doesn't she look great!
Well I better get going I need to start packing for a fun weekend of quilting in the desert. I'm so excited.

xo
-es

Jess and Jack

Today I picked up the girls from school and took them to a nice little Vietnamese restaurant.

The food was delicious.

Then we came home and went on a little stroll. It was pretty lovely the weather was perfection.

Of course Mimi had to come along.

Walks are her favorite thing. I really should walk her more often. We went on one yesterday as well and she could hardly contain herself. She just gets so excited.

What a wonderful day it was!
xo
-esther

drive

Yesterday Amber and I had the most lovely time going on a long drive through Azusa Canyon. It was the perfect day to be outside so we thought why not go on a long drive. We got some gas and made our way to Azusa. I made her take the Jeeps top down which she was extremely hesitant to do but I think she was glad we did it in the end. It was such a fun drive in her car. Jeeps and convertibles are my favorite. Well I brought my camera and took tons of pictures.

Im still getting use to these things.


We found the perfect spot and immediately got out of the car to enjoy the view.



the Jeep :)



We then basked in the warm sun on the beautiful Winter day. I love California.






Then I Amber took some silly pictures of me.









Ahh it was a swell day. I am so glad I got to catch up with Amber we hadn't hung out since before I left for England. That was just way too long.

On the way home I got to start at this pretty sunset.
be back later with another post.
xo
-esther

haircut

So I finally got a haircut. It had been over a year since my last one. Eeeek...Which is absolutely terrible. My ends were completely dead. I mean really really bad.

I love the look of long hair and have been trying to grow mine out for years. I am always super hesitant to get a hair cut because I always feel like they cut way too much off. Probably because I don't go in enough and they are trying to cut off all the terrible split ends I have. Anyway I went in on Wednesday and the stylist cut off about eight inches. I almost had a heart attack when I saw all my hair falling to the floor. I wish he hadn't cut so much off but I am so glad that my hair is so healthy now. Here are some pictures of the length of my hair before I went in.


and here is an "after" picture. Sorry it's blurry...

Of course the most drastic thing about my new "do" is that I got some bangs. I'm still not quite use to them. I haven't had any bangs since I was in the second grade but I really like how they turned out.
Well that's all I got for today.
Happy MLK day.
xo
-Esther

Daydreaming

Just daydreaming of this pretty place. I miss it, I really do. Now I am off to sleep where I hope to see it again.
xo
-Es

ahh

I feel like I have not blogged in ages. This past week I have spent my days reorganizing my room. This leaves me with really nothing interesting to write about. But when I finish my room I will have to post some pictures. It is taking forever. I have so many papers and other important things to sort. I have already thrown out a giant trash can full of stuff and have 4 trash bags full of stuff to get rid of. Since Im doing all this reorganizing I have the urge to redecorate my room. Well I hear my neighbors are having a yard sale. Im going to head over there and see if I have anything to give them to sell.

be back later with a post of my new haircut!
xo
-esther.

sunset

This past week we have had quite lovely sunsets. Th kind that you can't help but photograph. I just love when all the pretty pinks, purples, and oranges that light up the sky.
Below are a few pictures of the pretty sky from a couple of different sunsets.



I hope you found them as pretty as I did.
Happy Monday.
xo
-emc

today I

continued reorganizing my room
went grocery shopping
made potato and leek soup
baked rosemary bread
reconnected with a dear friend
and went to church.

what a nice Thursday!

-es

inspiration

It's day two of cleaning and I am already exhausted. I have so much stuff. The good Lord has blessed me with so many belongings it is unbelievable. I sat and looked at my stuff as it was sprawled all over my room. Then I rearranged it deciding what to keep and throw away. I thought to myself.
why me...
I mean really, why me?
why not the poor people in Mexico, Uganda, India, here in the US.
the list goes on and on
I realize I will never understand why I have so much and others have so little.
It pains me to think about all the hungry bellies, sick bodies and hurt hearts as I live in such a wonderful home with the most loving parents.
Sometimes I wake up in the night and think of those hurting and my heart nearly breaks.
All I can do is pray.
there is so much power in it.

whoa, glad I got that out. My mind just keeps going.
Anyways back to cleaning. As I got to reorganizing I thought about how I might want to make some changes to my room. Maybe a little redecorating. I found a little inspiration on weheartit. I know I have posted the picture of the loft before but I just think it is so cute! That would be such an amazing place to live! Oh and the other picture is just as adorable. I love the computer desk and the pretty blue wallpaper and doors.


Well Happy Wednesday,
xo
-es

2011

So it is just now hitting me that it is 2011!
ahhh....
2011!
I must have been in denial these past few days because It just never clicked.

Gosh is 2010 really over.
It is forever gone. At least I have my memories and thousands of pictures.
I learned so much in 2010.
So so much.

I took a salsa class.
I lived somewhere out of California for the first time.
Completed my first year of college.
the list goes on and on.

I pray that the blessings I recieved in 2010 continue into 2011 and that I will get to learn and travel as much as I did last year.

I know I said this a few days ago but once again Happy New Year!

xo
-esther

Cleaning

Today I started some serious deep cleaning in my room. I have far too many clothes that don't get worn that I need to say goodbye to. After I clear out my drawers then I will do my desk and closet. Gosh I have a lot of stuff. I feel like I'm on that show hoarders. Its about time I finally reduce my belongings. I can't wait til I'm all finished. I should take some before and afters of my currently messy room. Well tomorrow I'm waking up early to continue my crazy cleaning.
Night
-emc

raclette

Goodness I still have so many pictures I have yet to share of fun places I visited; delicious foods I have tried and the many things I did in England.

This evening I skimmed through my pictures and reminisced of my months in Europe.

I stumbled upon some photos of the day Gaby and our friends went to Borough Market for lunch. I had Raclette for the first time. It was absolutely delcious.




O how I miss that pretty country...