Drink Your Wine & Leave a Wake.

“Drink your wine. Laugh from your gut. Burden your moments with thankfulness. Be as empty as you can be when that clock winds down. Spend your life. And if time is a river, may you leave a wake.” 

So often we're always looking ahead to something, or trying to catch up, or worrying about if what we're doing is worthwhile. We're very rarely just living. 

Amanda had recommended this book, Death by Living, on her blog a little while ago. I feel like this quote sums up everything in my head that I'm always trying to figure out. Because sometimes, in the middle of life, we can get so bogged down with is this it? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing? Should I be feeling more significant? 

And to that I say: Drink your wine and laugh from your gut. Life is meant to be spent, it is meant to be enjoyed. 

I think that we hear the words "don't waste your life" and immediately think it means we should be doing more important, worthwhile things. We should be working harder or finding a better job or making more money or contributing more to society. Not that any of those things are bad things, but I think it's possible to do all of that and still waste your life. 

You waste your life when you choose to not spend it. Time can either be stolen from you or you can spend it. It's going to pass either way. So why not use it up for all it's worth? When you go to bed each night, be completely empty of all the life you had to give that day. Let every breath you take scream thankfulness. 

Spending your life can look big and significant and planned out. Or, it can look like Chick-fil-a runs and pool days and phone dates. The important thing is that you're spending your life. All of it. That you're empty when the clock runs out. 

If time is a river, may you leave a wake. 

Quotes to Motivate You to Just Do it Already.

Sometimes we all need a little motivation. Something that taps us on the shoulder and whispers in our ear to stop being an idiot and to get up and do the things we keep talking about doing. 

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Now, I'm off to make all the things and write all the words. Happy Thursday!

4 Books I Read in February & Whether or Not You Should Read Them.

This month is shaping up to be pretty full of books, so I thought I'd go ahead and write about what I've read so far!

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Plot: Lara Jean copes with breakups (and non-breakups) by writing her heart into a love letter, addressing the envelope, and then hiding it under her bed to never be seen by anyone else. Until one day, all of her letters get mailed. She's left to deal with the fact that all those boys have seen all those letters full of things she never said. (read the full plot here)

Favorite quote: "This is our life; there's no use in asking what if. No one could ever give you the answers. I try, I really do, but it's hard for me to accept this way of thinking. I'm always wondering about the what ifs, about the road not taken."

My thoughts: This one was full of quirky characters, which I loved. I read this book in one afternoon, curled up with a blanket and some tea and getting lost in the world of a seventeen year girl who knows absolutely nothing and absolutely everything about love. It was adorable.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan 

Plot: "Will Grayson meets Will Grayson. One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers are about to cross paths. From that moment on, their world will collide and lives intertwine." (read full plot here)

Favorite quote: “When things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting back together again. It's because a little piece gets lost - the two remaining ends couldn't fit together even if they wanted to. The whole shape has changed.” 

My thoughts: This one is weird because I went into it 1) Not knowing anything at all about the plot, and 2) expecting to love it, because John Green, duh. And while I didn't love it at all, and think I actually kind of disliked it, I've found myself thinking about it and almost missing it since finishing it. But I think that's due to the fact that the characters were so well-created. I just wasn't a huge fan of the storyline.

Should you read it?: Nah, not if there are other books on your list.

The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

Plot: Mia is headed to the Hamptons to spend the summer with her cousins, but she quickly realizes she doesn't fit in with them anymore. She's getting ready to settle into a lonely summer when Simon comes along, who also doesn't fit in anywhere. They join up in their loneliness and help each other experience new things over the course of a memorable summer. (read full plot here)

Favorite quote: “If you stay on the sidelines of the here and now then your future will only ever be a pale version of a dream you never had the courage to experience.” 

My thoughts: I went from pretty disinterested, to vaguely interested, to no just no. Not a fan. It had some good elements; I just wasn't a fan.

Should you read it?: No.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty:

Plot: "Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret." -via Goodreads

Favorite quote: “None of us ever know all the possible courses our lives could have and maybe should have taken. It's probably just as well. Some secrets are meant to stay secret forever. Just ask Pandora.”

My thoughts: Since this book follows three story lines, at first I felt like I was reading three different books. It did take me a couple of chapters to get into it, mostly because it was very different from what I normally read. But then little things started weaving the stories together, and it got so good. It was a love story and a regret story and a mystery and it was fascinating.

Should you read it?: Yes!

What have you been reading?

9 Quotes to Read When You Forget How Amazing You Are.

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As only you can.

I'm over at Milk + Crown today with my shop, and one of the things Kristyn asked me was my favorite quote that I live and work by.  I realized I'd never blogged about my favorite quote, so today seemed like a good time to do so!

I fell in love with Neil Gaiman's writing in college.  

What, you don't fall in love with books? 

This is my favorite thing he's ever said, and this is my favorite part of my favorite thing he's ever said:  

"Don't forget to make some art: write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can."

As only you can. 

You. 

I love that he includes life in his explanation of art.  Because living your life is just as much art as writing or drawing is.  And just like no two people can paint the same, no two people can live the same. 

My life is pretty normal.  There's nothing extraordinarily spectacular about it. 

I'm a wife. 

I like to write. 

I'm an office assistant. 

I have an etsy shop. 

Anyone can be a wife.  Anyone can put words down on a page, can organize receipts, can make paper flowers.  But this is the life that I have, and only I can live it. 

And when I live it, as only I can, it becomes something beautiful.  It becomes extraordinarily spectacular art. 

Whatever life God has given you may not seem like anything exciting to you. 

You may think that everything you do, someone else could do. 

But that's just not true. 

No one can live your life for you.  Only you can live your life the way it was meant to be lived. 

When you view it that way, you can't help but view it as something special.  As a gift.  As something spectacular. 

Going to work or being a friend or cleaning a house or driving a car or answering a phone. All of it.  Spectacular. 

So do it. 

Live as only you can. 

And if you do that, I promise you, you will surprise yourself. 

Check out this month's featured sponsor:

on writing.

Sometimes it's just really refreshing to inspire yourself about your dreams. 

My dream is to be a writer.  I don't know what yours is, but I figure if you like reading blogs, there's probably a little bit of a writer inside of you, and you might like some inspiration of your own. 

 

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happy writing, friends. 

lies.

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. 

The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. 

The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. 

Both are nonsense. 

You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate."

-Rick Warren