Bullets - Part 1

Well friends, it's been a little while or a long while. While I'm discovering that marriage + a full-time job + doing ministry = awesome, it also equals not much free time (you know, with someone living in your ish constantly - in your bed, in your used to be but not anymore clean house, your time - you know). Because of these things and other things you'll read in the bullets, you're getting just that for a little while - bullets. They're effective for a busy life, right? Maybe I'll elaborate on them when I have a moment to myself, speaking of, there are days when I'd like to be a stay at home wife. Key word, wife - not mom. When I have kids, I'll need the heck out for a minute, you know what I mean? But as a wife - plenty to do around here, quiet house, I think I could dig on that for little bit. Maybe if we lived in Delaware or Oklahoma or something... I digress.

Bullets of things I dig right now:

- my husband's 30th birthday weekend, promise to give you a full post on this, but man - it was delightful - friends, wine, country music, surprises, the whole bit





- hikes in this stupidly gorgeous place








- this girl, enough said








- this crazy thing called Young Life and the 80 college leaders that come with it - the love I have for these people is so deep and so fantastic and the way they love high school, junior high and special needs kids is phenomenal




- a weekend in Napa with my dearest friend and her husband - soul food, I tell ya




- this guy... still totally into him, I got a good one - also loving our weekend getaways while we have them - sonoma for a work conference? i kinda love that.




- friend visits - totally into friend visits (shameless plug)


- cuisine-themed girls night once a month - this is the only picture I have from it - sorry I'm not sorry


- this house we bought, no big - i dig that and the droves of paperwork we're drowning in


in other news... still working on our wedding photo album, and a post about our wedding. just feeling guilty so I thought I'd say it outloud.

.happy birthday to my best.

i am so grateful to have gotten to be with one of my best friends in peru on her birthday :) we celebrated well.

friday night was a "chicken & wine" dinner and birthday cake at the house with all the kiddos. turns out thyme doesn't quite translate literally & it was a little spicy for the birthday girl, but we loved the night anyhow.



someone was a little bit sad when her birthday cake was gone & the party was over :)

saturday night was girls night out - stephanie (a friend sarah met here in peru), sarah & i went out to an AMAZING restaurant that is set in these old ruins. we. loved. it. everything about it. the food, the lava cake, the sangria, the ambiance, the asking for ice 12 times, every bit of it :)

.#30 - epic birthday bash!!!!!

i turned 30. about two months ago was the big day. for years i’ve been dreading it - not wanting it to be here, pushing it out of my mind and out of my conversations, as far away as possible. and then about a year ago i read a book that changed me. probably forever. i read donald miller’s “a million miles in a thousand years.” life changing? really bree? yes, and here’s why.

before reading this book i would say things like, “i LOVE going horseback riding” or “i really want to give away 10% more of my income” or “ya, i’d totally do the 10k mudrun with you.” i said all of those things but wasn’t living them. this book pushed me out from the saying and reading and dreaming into the living. out of this birthed the “30 before 30 list.” this book and this way of living for a year also made me view my 30th birthday differently. i started thinking that maybe it’s not so bad. maybe all my friends in their early to mid 30’s aren’t crazy after all and it really is better than your 20’s in some ways. and maybe, just maybe life itself was worth celebrating in an epic way instead of feeling sorry for myself.

and epic it was. 30 people plus myself boarded a boat in long beach on the 30th of october to celebrate my 30th birthday. ridiculous. we had a theme for each night, i had t-shirts printed up and it was an a-list cast. some best friends from all the way back in junior high, my entire immediate family, my college roommate, my orange county roommates, my current roommate, my boyfriend and all of his roommates, friends i worked at church with, a friend who somehow always ends up on epic adventures with me, the santa barbara crew and some orange county hooligans. honestly, i can’t tell you how blessed i am by the people who were willing to take off work and pay to come play for my birthday. my heart overflows with thankfulness.



from waterslides to sushi bars, from champion hairy-chest contest winners to the champion of the blackjack tournament, from friends that snuck tequila on from mexico to friends that wore red lipstick just for me, from a blowhole in mexico to hole in the wall cantinas, we lived it up. we danced late into the night, ate multiple meals per day, laughed harder than i had in a long time and just loved being together. it was the perfect way to depart my 20’s. literally perfect. what i am learning from donald miller and his life and writings is this: life is meant to be lived - at any age, at every moment. we honor God with the way we choose to live our lives in each given season and dang it, i have the freedom and flexibility to do so much right now, so i’m committed to it.


i did the mud run, i went horseback riding, i gave 10% more, i spent 3 days in solitude with Jesus, i booked my next epic international adventure. and i did almost all 30 things. i did things that scare me and things that make me tick. i did things that weren’t possible and things i’ve always said i wanted to do. and i “cruised” into this next decade in the best way i could think of - spending 3 days with some of the people i love the most, celebrating, laughing, remembering and creating new memories. and i loved every stinkin’ minute of it. moving forward is no longer scary, it’s just the next adventure in this crazy thing called life. i believe that God’s got me in the palm of his hand and that he directs my every step - my job is to be obedient and to live by faith, so let’s do this thing. next up? 40 before 40 (with 10 years to accomplish it this time)!

.blessed are the flexible.

“blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken.” this was the mantra of a training i did for a bunch of missionaries last summer. what I’m learning is that it’s a good life rule to live by. you see, i’m not sure if you’ve ever noticed this, but women tend to like to control things. you’ll be shocked to know this is true of me and that I like order. gasp. who knew?

well, the main man in my life turned 29 this week and we had great celebration plans for the day of his birth which began with a weekend in northern california attending a few pro sports games and loving doing life with great friends.
i returned home and went straight to bed - exhausted from the bliss that was our weekend. the next morning i walked into the kitchen only to experience what may have been one of my saddest moments. i had planned ahead and saved some good steaks from my dad and a piece of recently-caught salmon from a friend and was intending on making the “perfect” surf and turf dinner for my guy’s birthday. it was gonna be awesome. i had bought a few things i’d need and was beyond excited to be able to celebrate him with our motley crew of friends on his actual birthday.

i walked into the kitchen and audibly gagged. the smell resembled a meat market in a third world country and the sight was tragic - salmon juice and meat blood on the tile floor. i was close to tears. i opened the freezer and by the pungent smell and the looks of things, the fridge had gone out about friday... it was now monday morning. what’s the first thing you do in the kitchen when you’re uncertain about something? call your mom of course. the worst was confirmed... surf and turf birthday dinner was doomed for the trash can. i plugged my nose and begrudgingly threw away the most beautiful slab of salmon and a few prime steaks. i texted the birthday guy and told him the sad news. It was then that my friend charlie’s mantra began to play in my head... and i remembered to be flexible. i told him that we would certainly celebrate him, even if it meant ordering pizza and it would be a good night.

it’s been almost 2 weeks since the incident and i’m finally not too traumatized to write about it. turns out his roommate came to the rescue and bbqued some ribs and everything else on the menu was do-able, even without a fridge. i was so grateful for lots of helping hands and friends to bail me out. but bigger than that, i think something happened in me. i was given permission to cry and to be sad and to grieve the loss of my “oh-so-perfect-birthday-dinner-for-my-guy.” okay, maybe that's a little dramatic, but... i remembered the mantra and didn’t break down. instead i was flexible and i was not broken. for certain there are times when brokenness is appropriate and healthy, but this was once of those situations where I had a choice. so I chose flexibility over control. and we celebrated and he felt loved and we all went home with full tummies and overflowing hearts.
i’m grateful for charlie and his wisdom. it turns out that when I am flexible and willing to surrender control, i am not broken and i’m way more fun to be around. lesson one of many I’m sure.

.30 before 30.

here you have it team... i am going to do these 30 things before i turn 30. exactly one year from right now. here's how it works:

at Donald Miller's advice, i will: write a good story, take somebody with me and include God in the process :)

- i have 30 things to do
- i have tried to pick things that will challenge my mind, body and faith
- i will blog about them all today and then as i do them, so my hope is that this will keep me accountable to doing all 30 in the next 365 days. stay tuned if you wanna watch these stories unfold!

so here, on my 29th birthday, is my 30 before 30 list!!!!!!

1) Attend a U2 Concert
2) Go to Joshua Tree (mostly for some sweet picture taking)
3) Run a 10k or Half Marathon
4) Get my car detailed
5) Host a really really great dinner party at my house (when I get one)
X6) Go to the Getty Museum
7) Climb Half Dome at Yosemite
8) Visit a friend who lives somewhere I've never been
X9) Buy new cowboy boots
10) Take a photography/photoshop class
11) Go to Monterey/Carmel
X12) Shoot a deer
X13) Sell a piece of my photography
X14) Have a Jesus conversation with a complete stranger
15) Wear red lipstick for 3 days... just because
16) Read one book per month
17) Have a ticket booked for my next international adventure
18) Go on 2 dates
19) Purchase a really great dress
X 20) Go approx. one day a week without wearing makeup to appreciate how Jesus made my face
21) See George Strait in concert
22) Go to Oregon & Idaho
X 23) Start a wine collection and NOT drink it all right away
24) Spend 2 nights and 3 days somewhere in solitude
25) Learn to surf
X26) Go horseback riding
27) Give away 10% more of my income
X28) Start somewhere, flip a coin, if heads - drive to the left 30 miles, if tails - drive to the right 30 miles and see where I end up
29) Ride the bike trail from Angels Stadium to the beach
30) Have a killer 30th birthday celebration :)

now, there's 2 that i'm not sure are possible, but fear not - i have alternates.

so... wish me luck and hit me up if there's an adventure you'd like to join in on!!!