The Mixtape // 03.24.17

Life is full of contrast. This week brought tears, and it also brought laughter to the point of my face hurting. And I’m grateful for it all.

I’m capping off the week with a little round up of things that made the last seven days memorable. Kind of like that classic mixtape you’d make in middle school for a friend, I’m putting my favorites together and passing them on.

We spent Saturday night hanging out with old friends, Mike and Ashley, who were in town so that Mike could preach at our church. We went to town on some good food at The Grange (that dry-aged burger, y’all!) and caught up on the good and the challenging of life, family, and ministry. Mike’s sermon on Sunday was ridiculously good — so good that people from our church cannot stop talking about it.

On Wednesday night, our Community Group went to the Johnny Swim concert in Fairfield, CT. As if I didn’t already love them enough, seeing them live has pushed my love over the edge. Listening to them perform with a group of some of my favorite people was only made better when at the end of the show, Abner and Amanda (husband and wife due who make up the group), made their way into the crowd, stood right in front of our group and sang their last song in perfect pitch a cappella. Abner gave his guitar pick to one of our group members, Natalie, and high-fived our friend Samantha for her birthday. If you haven’t heard their latest album, seriously, you should get into it.A quick mid-week meal came together thanks to this thai baked salmon recipe I made with things I had in the pantry. Jameson demolished this dish like a grown man. (Cut the maple syrup a bit if you’re not a fan of super sweet, and up the chili flakes if you like a kick like we do.)

This week I finished reading All the Light We Cannot See, a novel set during WWII, and man oh man, that book is insanely well-written! I feel a little behind on this one, because the book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction back in 2014, but the years pre- and post-Jameson’s birth left little room for reading, so I’m slowly catching up. This is the kind of book that has you eager to see what happens to the characters and simultaneously not wanting the book to end. And I was reminded of how such a crazy, life-altering time period existed in a not so distant past (the war ended three years before my dad was born). If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend.

Speaking of reading, a few people put me on to Goodreads this week, and it’s great for keeping track of what you want to read and what you’ve already read. It provides suggestions for what to read next based on what you like, and it’s a social thing too, where you can keep track of your friends’ reading lists and ratings.

And finally, can someone please tell me why the kids’ clothes at H&M are so cute? I had to exercise some major restraint in there yesterday — seriously, how am I supposed to handle toddler bomber jackets, henley shirts, and joggers?!

Have a great weekend, friends!