i am coming to you this morning with another stuff + things i love post. please bear with the randomness — and perhaps, embrace it.

1. misikko hair straightener. this is not a fashion/beauty blog by any means [last week my mother told me i needed to buy a new jacket because she was sick of seeing the same one every time i left the house!] — BUT i have to tell you about the best flat iron i’ve ever tried. last month, misikko offered me a free hair straightener for a blog review. made me slightly nervous; what if i hated it?! nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news. thankful i don’t have to bear it. this tool is amazing. i plan to sell my previous straightener [that i paid $200 for a few years ago!] and only use this straightener from now on. it’s wider than my previous flat iron at 1.5″ & the titanium finish leaves my hair a lot shinier and smoother than my other straightener ever has. it heats up crazy fast, as well. i love free stuff.

 2. chimp fund matching dollar-for-dollar. one of my friends recently introduced me to an organization this week that can help manage your charitable giving. you can research organizations & keep track of all your giving in one place — one complete tax receipt at the end of the year. i love to give and i love youth ministry sooo when i found out that chimp is matching donations up to $50 for canadian youth workers, i had to get on board. it would be such a blessing if you could get involved! i chose to support my friend jason ballard with campusfire ministry. if you feel called to give to campusfire, please donate to “City in Focus” and in the notes section, designate “for campusfire.” – cool. thanks!

3. five rules i follow when meeting with a mentor. really great article by leader and pastor of newspring church, perry noble. although he is talking about mentorship within a church/faith context, this completely applies to mentorship in all areas of life or career. these suggestions can be applied to reaching out to another photographer for advice or a wedding vendor for networking purposes. super cool.

4. super-talented-creative-fun bride of mine, alison page, recently opened up an etsy shop! she’s selling tons of amazing boutonnieres, as well as some other items like the incredible floral crown she made for her & ryan’s one year anniversary photoshoot. make sure to check out her shop!

5. my friend leah… and apparently the seven kids i am going to have.

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1. the revolution movement volunteers. these people are incredible. we have 40+ interns working madly all week long on final conference prep, not to mention all the pastors and youth staff plus all the other volunteers. i was helping out at the church a little bit yesterday afternoon. to give you an idea of the kind of commitment these folks have, one of our art projects is individually gluing pictures of coloured cellophane wrap onto 7000+ communion cups. yeah. 7000. i am excited to see everything come together this weekend for UNVEILED: Revolution Conference 2012. it’s going to be incredible.

2. the loft sessions from bethel music: i bought this CD the first day it was released on iTunes. haven’t regretted the purchase for a second. it’s been my new driving music, my new working music, my new running music, my new quiet time music, we even glued cellophane to these tunes. [see paragraph above] i love this video.

3. let’s get real, i am loving anything caffeinated. always. but particularly today, because yesterday i went 24 hours without coffee. not even tea. nothing. literally no caffeine. it was alright, but i was flat out asleep by 9:15pm — i’ll stick to my one americano a day. it’s a beautiful thing… especially when it’s from the woods coffee.

4. large bobby pins. leanne, i am making a list of favourite things this week on my blog… and i need to think of one more superficial stupid item to go on my list. why? well, because i have all these awesome resources and heartfelt choices and… then, jumbo bobby pins. don’t laugh! it feels out of place but i am serious. they are revolutionizing my hair life. she tried to help me think of another superficial item but we came up short… but then i added in “caffeine” so i feel like this now fits more. i have to thank leanne for the introduction to these babies. you can pick them up at any pharmacy and it makes messy buns for super long hair like mine a breeze!

5. the circle maker by mark batterson. i had to read this book after seeing the flurry of tweets from rich wilkerson about it. there have been a few books that stand out in my faith journey and this has become one of them. [i hope to do a blog post on all of 'em someday soon] — i was encouraged and challenged by pastor mark and am excited to continuing to dream and pray, with greater intensity. mark also has some sweet podcasts from national community church in DC that i’ve been enjoying. all around phenomenal read.

6. she’s kristen! and one of my closest friends who launched a new blog this week: i’m kristen’s photo blog, full of cute videos like this one and amazing photography like this. it’s a must-read.

ps. i was interviewed by “psychology for photographers” this week.
pps. i have two new blogs sponsors for february, amanda driver and vibella jewellery. i encourage you to check out vibella’s website, especially their “about us” section.

At the heart of our mission, Vi Bella impacts the lives of at-risk women within Haiti, Mexico and the United States. These women serve as our artists and inspiration. Utilizing plastic and glass bottles collected by local boys, women in Haiti and Mexico upcycle the material and transform a littered landscape into something beautiful. Back home, women in Sioux Center, IA prepare the jewelry as you see it. We then invest all of our profit back into the artists’ communities, which brings the transformation full-circle. Vi Bella jewelry spreads love and fellowship across culture by providing a sense of purpose that rejuvenates once-tattered lives. You’re not just collecting a piece of Vi Bella, you’re helping create a beautiful life.

browse other stuff & things i love posts.

one. a few weeks ago, i got an email from an awesome girl named elaini who has started a fashion project called 1 dress. 100 days. for oprhans. here’s the gist of her project and an excerpt from her email: i’m going to be wearing the same dress for one hundred days in order to raise $50,000 for orphans in India.  all the money goes directly to Warm Blankets Orphan Care who seeks to save children from hunger, homelessness, and sex trafficking by providing them with a family and an education.  the challenge will be to style the dress completely different each day from May 1st to August 8th & blog the picture every day.  It’s a dress marathon! — i love dresses, i love blogging, i love partnering with people who are passionate about a cause & i love that warm blankets orphan care is a christian organization, too.  please visit elaini’s blog and as i have donated, please consider donating as well.

two. i can’t get enough of hummus. as soon as i typed that sentence i got up from the kitchen table and went to the fridge to get some. no kidding. my favourite brand is from trader joe’s. smooth and creamy, spicy hummus. i have to be careful how much i eat though, for four reasons. because a) overeating anything is bad, b) when i run out, i’ll have to drive back to bellingham [to the nearest trader joe's] for more, c) my favourite food to eat with hummus are baby carrots and when i eat too many baby carrots my feet and hands turn orange. this is not a joke. i actually have a deficiency in my body that causes me to incorrectly process vitamin A/carotene. bahah. in high school, my feet were so so yellow. and the palms of my hands. it eventually faded after avoiding anything yellow/orange [peppers, carrots, etc] for two years. i still notice a bit of increased yellowing if i have a few carrots too many the week before. apparently this can be a problem in teenagers and you eventually grow out of it. and finally, d) the garlic in hummus makes me wake up with death-breath. but i love it regardless. i’m not married, nobody is waking up beside me. i’m gonna live it up while i’m young! i’m so gross. ;)

three. i know tumblr’s been around for a while, and i follow a few but i’ve never actually posted anything. i changed that a few weeks ago. i post a few times a day sometimes, just little God thoughts i’m thinking about or verses i’m reading. i used to keep a hard copy bible journal like this, jotting down my favourite scriptures, now i use tumblr. and you can read it if you’d like to: HERE. :) — and that’s all the stuff & things i’m loving this week.