...and we're off...

for the next week, i will take up residence here.
i've never been more excited. more pictures of costa rica to come.

song o' the day: THIS SCENE IS DEAD...we are scientists

...second time around...

last week, drew and i were able to sport the wedding attire again.
we were asked [rather randomly i thought] to participate in a photo shoot for an area coffeehouse.
it was almost completely natural to slip back into my wedding dress. after all, the first time i wore it, i didn't want to take it off. i never thought i'd get back into it. and while i wouldn't change my wedding, or the man i married for that matter, it was fun to have a second go at the whole "bride" feeling. thank you susie linquist for a fun shoot. [www.susielinquist.com]

song o' the day: LOVE TO LOVE...lady danville

...new life...

happy baby day.

two little babes came into the world today!

augustella ryan anderson :: proud parents jenna and bobby.

rocco street :: proud parents eric and kristin.

who is next?

song o' the day: THE WORLD YOU LOVE...jimmy eat world

...the green house...

on hgtv.com you can register to win a "dream home" every year. this year, i thought i was for sure going to be the winner of a $2.2 million home down in the florida keys.
alas, the winner was announced last week...and it wasn't me.



but i think there's a reason.
the reason is that i am destined to win their latest offering...a "green" house in hilton head, SC. you can view all the pics on hgtv.com.
just don't register to win.
you'll mess up my chances.


song o' the day: MARCHING BANDS OF MANHATTAN...death cab for cutie

...men vs women...

so at work we're putting together a movie montage highlighting the differences between men and women. you know, like the couples on the couch scene in When Harry Met Sally. like that. fairly standard. but i'd like to get away from some of the standard movies [Sleepless in Seattle, Pretty Woman] and i need some ideas. if you think of some great movie moments send them my way.


and while i was doing some "differences between men and women" googling i came across some CLASSIC comedies. anyone remember the movie Splash? Mannequin? The Money Pit?

man, i loved the 80s.

song o' the day: TWO OF HEARTS...stacy q

...flying upside down...

thanks to seth williams for the new music today.
after a great creative meeting of the minds with seth, jung and myself, i walked out two cds richer.
love that.
if you haven't, check out griffin house [i don't know how to put the link here, sorry erik].

kel, i think this guy is for you especially.

song o' the day: you tell me.

...streams...

"forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. see, i am doing a new thing! now it springs up; do you not perceive it? i am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."

isaiah 43:18&19

...karma police...

i have a pastor who uses radiohead songs as the basis of his sermon. his sermon started after he had the founder of "to write love on her arms" speak for a few minutes. anyways, he's been taking us through the book of galatians...a book of grace and freedom in christ...tonight's message out of galatians 4:21-31 was focused on legalism.

and to begin he quoted this song:

Karma police, arrest this man, he talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radio
Karma police, arrest this girl, her hitler hairdo, is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party
This is what you get, this is what you get
This is what you get, when you mess with us

pastor mark foreman encouraged us to not be members of the karma police...do not shake fingers at those whose ministry is NOT done by checking off some to-do list of religion. do not be those who live by the old law trying to earn their approval in god's eyes, but those who live by the new covenant...free in christ. to paraphrase st. augustine: love god, then do what you want. when you are loving him, you will want to do what he wants you to do...and the old covenant is no more.

song o' the day: FROM THE INSIDE OUT...hillsong

...this is what it means to be a human...

we had a great night at hotel cafe...from alice texting tiff that she was "at a show with white people standing still" [unknowingly in the same place as Tiff and me] to some young love arm wrestling to the discovery of our new favorite "it band"

check them out - www.myspace.com/ladydanville

song o' the day: DAVID...lady danville

...happy birthday...

today my dad turns the big 5-0.

where do you see yourself when you are 50?

song o' the day: forever young...ROD STEWART

...life in progress...

tiff challenged us to create our life mix.
this is what i call my "life in progress" mix.


01. manic monday...THE BANGLES
02. omaha...COUNTING CROWS
03. closer...BETTER THAN EZRA
04. ten minutes...THE GET UP KIDS
05. hurricane...SOMETHING CORPORATE
06. this years love...DAVID GRAY
07. human behaviour...BJORK
08. penelope...PINBACK
09. polaris...JIMMY EAT WORLD
10. candy...LOVEDRUG
11. soul meets body...DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
12. lady day...RICHARD SWIFT
13. astral weeks...VAN MORRISON
14. divine romance...PHIL WICKHAM
15. innocence...THIS HOLIDAY LIFE

...i haven't been a very good friend lately...

"true friendship is a sacred important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves. We have to give something up in order to get friendship like that. We have to give up our need to be perceived as perfect. We have to give up our ability to control what people think of us. We have to overcome the fear that when they see the depths of who we are, they'll leave. But what we give up is nothing in comparison to what this kind of friendship gives to us. Friendship is about risk. Love is about risk. If we can control it and manage it and manufacture it, then it's something else, but if it's really love, really friendship, it's a little scary around the edges"
-shauna niequist, COLD TANGERINES

song o' the day: SKIPPING STONE...amos lee

...where the deer and the antelope roam...

i've been feeling pretty tired lately. it seems i can only muster up THOUGHTS of productivity...not actual PRODUCTIVITY in itself.

we had dinner with new friends tonight. they live in an eensy little studio-1 bedroom-274 sq foot place that was "handcrafted" by the owner of the main house. words don't do it justice, but it has open cupboards and a dutch door and a multi-colored ladder leading to the "bedroom" and a garden out back. abby and i talked about our love of "little house on the prairie" books and being born in the wrong era. when i was in fourth grade i wrote essays about living in the 1800s and what a joy it would be to churn my own butter. in her spare time, abby sews and makes jam...it's not just a passing "that would be hip" thought for her, it's her reality. she even has her own sewing shack out back. and i'm jealous...she seems to be VERY productive in her hobbies.

i often go to these places in my mind - daydreams of not having to have a job at all. i think of all the random projects and journals and picture essays i would create in all my spare time. but will i every really get around to them? would not having a job and having all the disposable income i wanted be the things that would make it all happen? would living the simple life on the prairie be the key to my contentment? probably not. i would have to milk cows and sew my own dresses and pickle my own pigs feet - and that would go from being my glorious dream to the mundane work of my everyday life. boooooor-ring.

and geez, i get tired just thinking about having to take the dog out at 7 AM. imagine how tired i would be if i had to think about milking the cow at 5 AM.

song o' the day: STRANGE MAGIC...elo

...heroes in a halfshell...

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is on abcFamily right now. Oh, Master Splinter the talking rat.

One of my favorite memories of my little brother is watching him sit in his high chair watching donatello, leonardo, raphael, and michaelangelo on TV. He was obsessed with anything turtles until I was at least in eighth grade...he had every action figure, video, comic book....he even used his nunchucks on our yellow lab Maggie [he denies it to this day].

The best memory of all though is when he was just a little tyke of about 4. My mom brought him chicken noodle soup and set it down on his ninja turtle tv tray. He looked up at her with big, wide eyes and innocently asked "What the HELL is this?"

song o' the day: ICE, ICE BABY...vanilla ice

...youth ministry...

for anyone who has ever been a small group leader, you absolutely must read the chapter entitled "puppies" in cold tangerines.

...with the sun sinking low...

drew and i decided that we love going down to Mexico for one simple reason.
there is absolutley nothing to do.

the beach is pretty, but not incredibly pristine.
the house is nice, but not especially luxurious.
the ride down is quick, but the ride back across the border is a nightmare.

still, we LOVE going to mex.
there are no cell phones. no internet. nowhere to go but down to the beach.
we do nothing strenuous or stressful all day.
we play uno, read PEOPLE, walk on the sand, make dinner and simply hang out with family and friends.
[well, except this trip, we did spend half our time chasing Penny. and i spent another quarter of my time violently vomiting.]

add it to your list of things to do.
take a trip, practice the art of doing nothing.
i'm getting quite good at it.

song o' the day: MEXICO...james taylor

...tangerine colored glasses...

i just ordered cold tangerines on amazon.
rickelle has been telling me about this book for months.
tonight a girl read the last chapter from the book.
i can't wait to taste the rest.

song o' the day: NEEDLE & THREAD...sleeping at last

...there beneath the blue suburban skies...

Penny Lane Davis
We gave into the puppy fever.


4 months
14 lbs.
Sweet little thing.

song o' the day: PENNY LANE...the beatles

...the puppy ads...

i feel like i should be sharing so much more than just the things i'm into right now.
but i have to tell you, in the midst of all my intensely tumultuous emotions and feelings and thoughts, there are the simple emotions and feelings and thoughts.

perfect example: i want a puppy.
i want a puppy. and i want one now.
i'm thinking a jack russell terrier. or maybe a doxie. perhaps a boston terrier. heck, even the rat terriers are looking cute.
i have names and walking routes and doggie beds all picked out.

my mom begs me not to do it. drew begs me to consider a lab. and my brother is all for a "little davis dog"

first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a puppy in the...uh...puppy carriage?

song o' the day: SOMEBODY TO LOVE...queen

...walking on water...

if you come across it, see it.
this film was shot by a guy in our small group, and we went to see a showing of it at church last night.

this is a great illustration of "child-like faith"
and it definitely makes you want to get out and see more of the world.

song o' the day: AWAKENING...switchfoot

...costa rica...

I AM GOING!!!

may 31-june 7,
tickets booked.
a celebration trip for the davis family.
thanks to my new sister-in-law whit for finishing college!


song o'the day: LEAVING ON A JET PLANE...janis joplin

...rustic rooster...

our loaned-to-us kitchen table was repoed. so we went in search of a new one.
on our quest, i stumbled upon something i've been looking for...

new inspiration.
a little store on PCH in encinitas.
the rustic rooster.


drew and i just bought a new table...well really an old table. all of rustic rooster's furniture is old [real!] wood, repainted, and distressed to look old again. i fell in love with an aqua picnic table but it was really, really old and i decided that it just wouldn't fit in our kitchen. so we went with a little black number [surprise, surprise] that will work wonderfully.

heaven, i'm in heaven.

song o' the day: MOTIVATION...this holiday life

...flashback...

10 Things I Hate About You

One of the best soundtracks ever.
Reminds me of freshman year of PLNU.
Makes me sad that Heath Ledger died.

best quote of the movie:
Bianca: Can we for two seconds ignore the fact that you're severely unhinged and discuss my need for a night of teenage normalcy?
Walter Stratford: What's normal? Those damn Dawson's River kids, sleeping in each other's beds and whatnot?

song o' the day: YOUR WINTER...sister hazel

..um where do you check "my movie got jacked!"...

the next movie on our netflix que was "bridge to terabithia" and i was looking forward to this being dropped in our mailbox. the story was one of my favorites as a child...i think it was the first book that made me cry. either that or "where the red fern grows"...i can't remember which i read first.

but, we only received the side of the envelope marked OPEN, which means that there was no movie, which means that somebody jacked our movie! either that or the post office ate it and kindly dropped off its remains.

this was the only drama of the day...not bad for a thursday.

song o' the day: GO TELL THE PEOPLE...dr john

...my husband is cooler than i thought...

right now the music of cat power is drifting over from the guest room where drew is superglued to the itunes store. after hearing "sea of love" on the juno soundtrack, he is obsessing over cat power's new "jukebox" album.
it's a sweet victory proving to him that some of today's artists are actually making worthwhile music.
still, the coolest thing about my husband is that he genuinely loves the old stuff...and not to be some hipster either...he loves it just because he loves it. and while every so often it'd be nice to rock out in the living room to a little jimmy eat world or something corporate with drew, i have to appreciate the fact that he is who he is...isn't that what every indie kid this side of kansas city is striving to be?

song o' the night: SEA OF LOVE...cat power

...child-like...

so on my last trip home to colorado my mom made me go through a box of old books. and among a couple of "original" works by yours truly ["goober's bad day" & "all about dogs"], i found an old hardback that took me back to my white iron twin bed where i spent hours poring over the book's contents. i had found my "doubleday illustrated children's bible".

many times over the years when i've struggled to feel the Lord's presence or even just read my bible, i have thought about this book. when i was a child i thought like a child, and yet i'm pretty sure i understood more about my relationship with the Lord as a 6 & 7 year old than i do now. it wasn't clouded by theology, experience, and old age. it was simple. and while simple isn't always better, simple is certainly less risky to wrap your heart around.

for the time being, i've gone back to reading my children's bible. i want to recapture the awe and reverance that i felt as a little jordyn...full of desire to know this God who time and time again has proven his faithfulness to generation after generation...

song o' the day: DEAREST...buddy holly

...simple pleasures...

*bright spots in the day*

...going home for literally ten minutes during my lunch break...just to give drew a kiss...


...getting an email from the girls at my new job...inviting me to a little "girl time" get-together...

...getting out of the shower and not doing my hair...only to be complimented on my "pretty hair" at work...

...banana cream pudding...

song o' the day: AT THE STARS...better than ezra

...a million adventures not yet begun...

It's amazing the effort it takes to begin a blog.

First, I began a search for the perfect picture...one that would encompass all the hopes and dreams, thoughts and emotions of past, present, and future - all the things that make up the "perfect" blog. I mean, if I'm going to put the time into picking out the colors and fonts, the template and the title, I better have a pretty good visual.


But I didn't find the perfect picture. What I did uncover today as I sifted through my iPhoto library was memory upon memory, feeling upon feeling, and insecurity upon insecurity, along with every joyful moment, weird moment, funny moment, and desperate moment that's been captured on film these past few years. The post-college years span single life, engaged life, married life, sad life, and happy life.

Up to this point, "grateful" isn't the first word I would use to describe myself. And yet, I know that in order to truly be content I must truly be grateful for the things that I have. So I look through all my photos...and I am grateful that I have such quality people in my life who have shared their hearts and souls with me. I am grateful that I have parents who have invested years of their lives into my well being. I am grateful to have traveled to Africa and Spain and Jamaica. I am grateful that I got to work at an amazing church with amazing youth and amazing leaders. I am grateful to have a husband who sticks by me through my two year old tantrums and my late night hyperactivity. And I am grateful for the little things, like tealights and cherries juice glasses and my "j" mug from Anthropologie...little things that make a big difference.

I've come to recognize that I'm more comfortable to dwell on the things gone awry and the experiences not actually lived more than I am to reflect on the beauty of my life as I know it - the blessings, the accomplishments and the overall good. I used to think of this as merely "maturity" and "growth" but see it today more for what it is - the fear of living a full life. What would it be like to live a full life? What if I learned to ignore my fears, unmet expectations, and insecurities and instead learned to embrace the good, the unknown, and the relationships that I have? There are a million adventures to be had...

Well, two hours later, I think I'm ready to publish my first post. See? I told you it takes a lot of effort...

song o' the day: GONE AWAY FROM ME...ray lamontagne