sing a long song!

i'm just going to ignore the fact that it's been almost a month since i have chatted with you mkay?

let's focus on the future not the past. haha.

i do have lots and lots and lots to share with you so watch out!

so, it's tuesday and that means it's time to chat about some MUSIC!

whoot whoot.

it is no secret that i love all things hillsong.

i have declared my love for them numerous times here.

well they have a new branch of music called Hillsong Young & Free.

not to be confused with hillsong live or hillsong united or hillsong chapel.

got it?

and this new album hit itunes last week.....and of course it's been on repeat cause that's how i roll.

unfortunately, some of my faves from the album don't have any videos yet, well because it's only a week old!

my absolute favorite song on the album is called gracious tempest. 

this is the chorus: 

Your love is crashing over me

 It's surging like a raging sea

Immerse me in the wonder of Your love
A downpour of unending graceConsuming all my reckless ways 
My sins emergedYour love have saved my soul

Your love is like a storm

goodness right there.

my other favorite is called lifeline.

everything about that song is perfect.

here's one of the verses that i just love.

Runaway heart in the distant land
I wandered so far still to find You there
There's no escaping Your embrace

With my hope locked in and my future sure
My life has a cause worth fighting for
My soul exists to know Your Name

you know the drill. link up and tell us what's making your ears happy this week!

i lost my cape.

*source*

*****news flash*****

apparently, i am not super woman.

i know, i can't believe it either. i've had her as part of my identity for so long, but last night....well last night she left the building. and she took my cape.

i finally crumbled under pressure.

obviously i can not indeed do it all, try as i may.

so i had to drop a class in order to regain some sort of sanity, which means that i'm pushing graduation out to the summer instead of may. and although it completely saddens me, my well being is slightly more important than a set graduation date.

last night was one of my more impressive meltdowns.

i'm on a new medication and it makes me feel like poop...and well it makes me poop too.

double whammy.

tmi? so sorry.

nevertheless, yesterday was the mother of all breaking points.

so, like in all rough ones, mandisa is my tunage go-to.
she has so many good ones, but for today, i think we're going with STRONGER.

Link up with us! What songs are you loving today?

music is my life source.

I wish there could be a theme song that plays like the price is right or family feud to open up our tuesday tunes each week. that would be so fun!

y'all...let me tell you...my life is about entering a ridiculously busy and overwhelming season.

this should last until approximately may 10th, 2014. 

around 9 months.

if only it were for a baby lol! 

on may 10th i will be in my cap and gown graduating college!!! 

but these next two semesters are going to be redonk. that's the only way to put it. straight up pure redonk.

because there are other exciting adventures thrown into the mix too....like my cousin's wedding that i'm photographing and my trip to paris.

oh and let's not forget thanksgiving, christmas and easter.

so sunday was my last free night for a long time. and i spent it relaxing as much as i could while still being ridiculously anxious about this week. 

it's inevitable that i'm going to need extreme doses of jesus to get me through.

so i pretty much blew up the itunes store and loaded up on some new tunes to help me stay encouraged.

i'm in a season of life where i need some hard core worship times. 

that tends to get me through anything.

oh, what's that? you want to know what i bought?

well i'm glad you asked!

Bethel Music - "For the Sake of the World"

i just went ahead and bought the whole darn album. but a couple of my favorite songs from the album are:

Our Father and Closer.

mmmm. mmmm. mmmm. all i can say.

another album i bought "Revival" by Soulfire Revolution.

it's like hipster worship. but oh so good.

and yes i bought some individual songs to.

"Our Great God" by Casey Darnell.

Funny story - Casey and I actually worked together on staff at a church about 10-11 years ago. His now wife and I were very close and they are people that hold a super special place in my heart. Casey's music career has really taken off and i loved that we sang his song in church yesterday! 

"In Your Presence" by Elevation Worship. 

my gracious it's good. 

well i think that's enough for one day. i've got save something for future tuesday tunes ;)

hope some of these touch your heart and you buy them too!

Tunes? On Tuesday?

once upon a time i participated in a series called tuesday tunes!

and let's face it....it's been a while.

for some reason my tuesdays have been ridiculous lately.

you know i love me some tunes.

today i'm giving you some music love from both ends of the spectrum.
like for real.

let's start with the most overplayed song of the summer, yet you can't help but dance every time it comes on.

enter....."blurred lines" by robin thicke.
i like to wake up chris on saturday mornings by playing this and dancing ridiculously.
oh so fun.



now let's take a different turn in tunes.

i'm loving "hello my name is" by matthew west.
i heard this song for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it's just so so good.
sometimes we lose our identity in our struggles and let our struggles become our identity.
this song is a wonderful reminder that defeat or fear or reject or whatever you may be struggling with is not your identity. when a follower of christ, our name is changed to "child of the one true king".
ugh! so good!

teenage dream

y'all...i have been an emotional wreck this week.
to keep the tmi to a minimum, let's just say i'm in a perpetual state of pms with no end in sight.
yesterday was one of those days where i just wanted to cry...but i never fully had the ugly cry.
it's bound to happen soon.

at one point i sent chris a text message telling him that i wanted to eat a whole papa johns pizza, buffalo chicken fingers from zaxby's and a triple chocolate hot fudge sundae.

see.
all. kind. of. problems.

so last night there was nothing on tv so we watched the katy perry "part of me" movie on netflix.
ummm....SO good!
i loved katy perry before, but now i really love her.

and tears came when the little children's choir sang firework.
that's my jam.

in honor of my distressed frame of mind this week, i give you...
katy perry.

Let's Play Catch Up

Everything you need to know on this Tuesday....

• FRIENDS! Are you following Outside the Frame on Bloglovin? Why not? Go ahead, join the fun! And bloglovin has a SUPER easy way to transfer all of your google reader subscriptions to bloglovin. What are you waiting for?
• Last Thursday night I had the honor of speaking at our citywide women's gathering to talk about my struggle with infertility and offer a message of hope. My prayer that night was not to glorify me, but to glorify God. I prayed that the women who were there were ones that God had put there because they needed to hear about hope. And I think in those terms, it was a success. ;) 
• So I'm joining up with Dreaming of Dimples for the TTCPhotoaday for July on Instagram. Shameless plug: if you're not following me on instagram, join the fun! You can use the button on the sidebar or on my "contact me" page.
• In other news, I am super excited because we're having our first visitors since we moved away from Georgia last year! Yay for friends and slumber parties!
• Since hubby has started working at Earthfare, we've been buying all of our groceries there. I have to say, our dinner time meals are a bit more tasty that usual. It's amazing how different food tastes when it's real. Last night I made the most delicious guilt free dinner ever. I bought fresh spinach fettuccine and cooked it. Then in another pan I took a little olive oil and sauteed some garlic, sweet mini peppers, and cherry tomatoes. Once that was done, I threw it over the pasta with 2 Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb cheese wedges (35 calories people). Voila! It was scrumptious! You have to try it!
• This guilt free recipe is especially great news since the doc told me last week that i'm absolutely not allowed to eat out for a while. Poo.
• And today, I leave you with some tunes. These are just a couple fun tunes I've added to my playlist lately. Enjoy!

"Dance With Me" by Clarensau

"Distant Song" by Esther Little - this one's new so there's no video yet, but you can check her out on itunes

Got any fun new tunes we need to know about? Link up!

my happy place.

if i had to pick one store that was my absolute happy place, it would be anthropologie.

i love absolutely everything in that store...well except the prices. some things are a bit difficult on the wallet, which is part of the reason it's my favorite place to window shop.

i love to just go in and look around, smell things, try different lotions, and play in the sale room!

i NEED all of these cups. like fo realz, i need them to survive my life!

and these oven mitts could also aid in my survival ;)

but equally as much as i love the products, i love the music.

so since i'm in an anthro mood today, i thought i'd share some of my favorite tunes from the anthropologie stores play list! and of course, because i'm so in "tune" with anthro, these songs were already in my regular listening rotation! see, i'm meant to love this place!

A Fine Frenzy - Almost Lover

Adele - Chasing Pavements (seriously, what's not to love about her?)

Amy Whinehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own

Lily Allen - Smile

Link up and share some of your favorite tunes!

Tuesday Tunes!

happy tuesday y'all! i love music tuesdays!

and i hope you do to, so link up with me, holli & leslyn and share some tunes!

this week, there's really no rhyme or reason to my choices. i just like them, so there!

first up....haley reinhart "undone"

apparently she was on american idol. i don't really watch that show, and i definitely didn't watch her season.

i randomly found this song and absolutely loved it. so i share it here with you!

next on the list, we have india arie "i choose".

this was a bit of an anthem for me and my bestie about a year ago.

and it's totes appropriate since i am looking at 30 and she says that in the song. ;)

"i choose, to be the best that i can be, to be authentic in everything i do, my past don't dictate who i am, i choose"

Tunes Time!!!

It's Tuesday Tunes and I'm back to join the fun!

The last few weeks I have definitely been listening to a lot of "trust" music because this whole journey to north carolina definitely requires A LOT of trust. But most of those songs I've posted here at one time or another. 

since the big move, life is making a lot more sense. so my music choices haven't been so heavy.

and now it's time to share with you!

yay!

ok, so what's been making me have happy ears?

well y'all, i love miranda lambert. i do. and i love her new song, "mama's brokenheart".

it's just fun and i love it for no other reason than that! so there!

next on the list is a song called "made alive" by citizens. it's fun, upbeat, and a reminder of the new life i have in jesus. 

Citizens / Made Alive from John Raines on Vimeo.

Now...your turn! Link up your favorite music posts!

It's All About The Music

i love me a good rap. and i love it even better when the message is good.

and well, i love lecrae which makes both.

so today's song of choice is BOASTING by Lecrae.

Enjoy and link up!

tuney time!

I'm a sucker for a good teeny-bopper movie.

It's a sickness; I'm sure of it.

And as a result, Pitch Perfect ranks with one of my all time favorite movies.

So, I present you with the finale of the movie as my fave song of the week.

Have you every watched a part of a movie that just made your stomach roll with happiness.

Yep, that's the ending of this movie for me.

The part where he does the fist pump..... melts me every. single. time!

What? You wanted some real radio play music?

Well ok, if you insist.

I'm a huge Ingrid Michaelson fan. 

Like fo' real...love her.

She's some of my favorite chill or driving music.

And I also think I have an inner hipster that lives in my soul. 

That's what happens when you lead bible studies for college kids - you become one of them.

So, enjoy Parachute.

the rules: 

1. grab the button and put it in your post or on your blog somewhere

2. please link up only your post about music. non-music posts will be deleted.

that's it. easy peesy.

Tuesday Tunes!

by now you all should know just how much i love and adore music.

i currently have 725 songs on my iphone alone.

and thousands in my itunes library.

the sad part is, i can tell you when one is missing.

i may be on the brink of needing professional help.

so that's why we celebrate music right here every single tuesday!

holla!

and that means that you should totally join us!

be sure to check out the tunes that leslyn and holli are loving too.

this week there's lots of good music i'm loving. 

lots.

but i will try not to bombard you with it and only share a few ;)

first up: "let it be known" by worship central.

random fact - the hubs and i are worship junkies. we can't help it. we are not a normal family by any stretch. for instance, we stayed up late last week watching creative and worship conferences for churches.

one church in particular that we admire and that chris gets a lot of inspiration from is church on the move in tulsa, ok. they lead a creative conference called "seeds" and we were watching the replays of it online and they opened up one of the sessions with this song.

well it's catchy and chris and i had been singing it nonstop. so of course i had to google it and figure out where to buy it. turns out it's from a group in the uk called worship central. they offer all kinds of worship tools for worship leaders. but then they have a cd....and you know this girl here had to buy it.

it's fabulous. you should buy it too. 

but until you buy it, you can jam out to "let it be known" here!

next on my list of happiness, i give you "love and war" by tamar braxton.

ok, if i'm being honest, the song itself isn't my favorite in the world. 

but i have a slight addiction to certain reality tv shows.

i loved "braxton family values" on we. remember toni braxton? omg i loved her. well tamar is her baby sister.

so i got all caught up in the show and the making of tamar's first solo album.

for some reason, i just love her and all her craziness. 

so of course i must share it with you! ;)

and that friends is all i have for you on this fine tuesday.

link up and join the fun!

the rules: 

1. grab the button and put it in your post or on your blog somewhere

2. please link up only your post about music. non-music posts will be deleted.

that's it. easy peesy.

Tuesday Tunes!

hey y'all! it's tuesday tunes time!!!!

we got a new look and a new member.

so link up with me, holli and leslyn for some tunelicious times!

the rules: 

1. grab the button and put it in your post or on your blog somewhere

2. please link up only your post about music. non-music posts will be deleted.

that's it. easy peesy.

ok so my tunes for this week.........

i super love group1crew a whole lot.

and their new song "dangerous" is no different.

yup, i super love it.

so for your viewing/listening pleasure...

i want to live dangerous. risk it all for you, lord. i need you to wake me up from the life i've known before. whatever it takes, i want you to make, make me more like you. i want to live dangerous.

next on the list we have chris tomlin and lecrae with "awake my soul".

it's from tomlin's new album. if i'm being honest, i love some tomlin, but all his stuff kind of sounds the same. however, i do love some lecrae and this song is the best of both worlds. 

please be sure to listen to the end so you can actually hear lecrae's part!

yeah, i'm not alone, i realize i breathe out, i come alive

your word gives life to my dry bones

your breath tells death it can ride on 

awake me, make me a living stone,

a testament to your throne, i

i'm nothing without you, i'm on my own

the only one who satisfies my soul

ok friends, link it up!

Tune Time!

Tuesdays + Music = Happiness.
Well at least in my book!

Tuesdays also = Zumba lunch hour, so in honor of booty shaking, I give you some shakealicious tunes!
Link up and play along!

So I've kind of been loving "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore, but after doing a massive booty shake to it in Zumba last night, I super love it. Holli posted this one a few weeks back, but it deserves another shout out!

I have to admit something here. Ok here it goes.
Pitbull makes me want to shake my booty.
There, I said it.
It's strange...I love his music and voice. Can't quite look at his face, but as long as I just hear him, I think he's super sexy! Bahahahaa!
That being said, I like to shake it to "Pause" by Pitbull.
Oh yeah!

Tuesday Awesomeness

well hello there tuesday.
i hope you're ready to play nicer than monday.

in true tuesday fashion, i would love to tell you about some amazing tunes.
so last week the new hillsong united album came out - it's called zion.
now hillsong united is probably one of my all time most favorite bands...e.v.e.r.
they have a true true gift of leading people in worship.
every time they release a new album, i'm already anticipating the next one.
i've seen them in concert and it ranks up there with one of my all time greatest life experiences.
so of course i was purchasing the album last week at midnight as soon as it came out.
and of course it's awesome.

i'm kind of in a spot right now where my heart/soul is in need of a restart/refresh/revival and this album is just the start i needed.

my most favorite song on the new album is "oceans" - and it also happens to be almost 9 minutes long! yikes!
but it's fab.
 Oceans:

You call me out upon the waters. The great unknown where feet may fail. And there I find You in the mystery. In oceans deep my faith will stand. I will call upon Your Name. And keep my eyes above the waves. When oceans rise. My soul will rest in Your embrace. For I am Yours and You are mine. Your grace abounds in deepest waters. Your sovereign hand will be my guide. Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me. You’ve never failed and You won’t start now. Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters. Wherever You would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander. And my faith will be made stronger. In the presence of my Saviour. I will call upon Your Name. Keep my eyes above the waves. My soul will rest in Your embrace. I am Yours and You are mine. 

I'm also loving one called Mercy, Mercy:

Mercy mercy bring me to my knees. As the morning calls to light the dark in me. Heaven’s story breathing life into my bones. Spirit lift me from this wasteland. Lead me home . Now I find my life in Yours. My eyes on Your Name. Arrest my heart from its reckless path. Release the chains in me. Awake my soul to the hope You hold. Your grace is all I need. Humble glory chose to carry all my shame. Rendered worthy in the shadow of Your Name. Gracious fury written in my Saviour’s scars. Mercy mercy now engraved upon my heart. Mercy mercy bring me to my knees. As the morning calls to light the dark in me. 

oh who am i kidding? i love every single song on the dang thing. you should definitely do yourself a favor and buy the whole thing. you can listen to previews on itunes, amazon, etc....

my linky tools isn't working right today so there's no link up below...BUT please leave a comment if you are talking about tunes that you're loving this week. or leave a comment just to say hi! ;)

Never Alone - Tuesday Tunes Style

happiest of tuesdays to ya!
and well since it's tuesday, you know what that means!
let's get to some music.

first off i just have to notify you that hillsong united released their new album today. i've been waiting far too long for this, so rest assured that next week's tuesday tunes will be filled with hillsong.
oh you didn't know? they're only my most favorite ever!

but for today, today i want you all to know that we're not alone.
like ever.
sometimes the various trials and struggles we face can seem so lonely, like we're the only one in the world going through it. i feel this way quite often.
so needless to say, i love a song that says otherwise.
my hope today is that you'll end this blog reading a little more encouraged than when you stopped by. ;)


matt redman - never once
"scars and struggles on the way, but with joy our hearts can say,
never once did we ever walk alone
never once did you leave us on our own
you are faithful, god you are faithful"

mmm. that's goodness.

colton dixon - never gone
"i'm still standing here, no i didn't disappear
now the lights are on, see i was never gone.
i let go of your hand, to help you understand
with you all along, oh i was never gone"

Ok, link up with what's making your ears happy this week!

Tuesday Tunes With Lauren & Holli

are you ready for some happiness to your ears?
it's time for Tuesday Tunes with Lauren & Holli.

in honor of my lunchtime walk/run, as well as preparing for my mud run in june, i thought i'd focus on a great workout playlist today.
i love a song with a good beat.
whenever i hear a song with a catchy beat, i immediately think of working out.
i like to step to the beat, whether walking or running.
it's very important. haha.

but seriously, i love a good workout mix. it's very easy for me to get motivated with a good hip hop song. but i like a good mix of things, especially some faith based music. i need that. it helps give me that extra push.

ok first, before i forget, make sure to link up and help us spread the word about Tuesday Tunes!

i love my girl mandisa. you may remember her from american idol. since then she's lost over 100 pounds and she loves some zumba. so she remixed some of her songs for working out (it's called 'get moving'). yes!

shackles by mary mary is one of my all time faves anyway, so make it a remix and i'm all over it!



love me some florence and the machine. they did the theme song for snow white and the huntsmen, called breath of life. luh-luh-love this song!



then there's 'lights' by ellie goulding. perfection.



natalie grant - 'i will not be moved'



steve fee 'we shine'