One

Happy Shrove Tuesday, everyone! The only thing I really know about Shrove Tuesday—besides the whole Mardi Gras thing, obvs—is that you are supposed to eat pancakes. So guess what I’m having for dinner?

(Source)

Two

The big news for this week is that The Cloven Heart has launched! Tami’s blog and Etsy store is a compendium of wonderful things. The styling and design are to die for and there are lots of wonderful treasures in the shop worth buying.

I credit Tami for any tiny hint of stylishness I may have. This is the woman who found me a bad-ass leather jacket and then convinced me I could pull it off. Any time I have had a fancy event to go to I stop by to shop her closet and she has had a hand in making me feel beautiful on many occasions. She’s one of my bestest friends so I’m a tiny bit biased, but she is honestly one of the most stylish and creative ladies I know. I am so proud and so excited to see all her hard work come to fruition.

Three

I don’t usually observe Lent. I think once in high school or the year after I tried to give up television. It lasted until the first hockey game. If I wasn’t already doing the year-long bible reading plan I’d be very tempted to try this ambitious New Testament in 40 Days one. Do it. You will be so ready for Easter!

Four

Check it out! Marc Ross on Television!

Five

On Saturday, we did a ½ the Bridesmaids trip down to the USA for dress shopping. We left at 8am and did not return home until after 10 pm, so it was a looooong day. But it was totally worth it in the end because not only did I find a beautiful dress but I found new shoes (not for the wedding, but still) and an awesome purse and we had hours and hours of gabbing in the car. I hadn’t bought new clothes since November (this is probably a record for me). I missed shopping. First world problems, I know. Let’s just assume that since I’m not living in Africa all my problems are first world problems, shall we?

Ok kids, that’s all I’ve got for today. This past week has been really hard, and I’m sick, sick, sick. How about I leave you with the past few pictures from February Photo a Day?

February 15th- Phone

February 16th- Something New

A new song. There’s a bit of a story behind this one. I have been having a really hard time sleeping the last few weeks. Bad dreams, not being able to shut my mind off, you name it. On this particular night I woke up at around 2:30am and could not fall back asleep. I was nearly crying in frustration because I knew I was exhausted and still I could not.stop.thinking.worrying. And I very clearly heard the voice of God tell me to “sing about it”. So I did, and I wrote a chorus that is probably my most favorite thing I’ve ever written. Pretty much immediately after I fell back asleep.

February 17th- Time

Time…for Josh to start acting like a grownup? Sorry. That was half-assed, I know.

February 18th – Drink

Remember when you used to be able to get this in Canada? Am I the only one who likes it?

February 19th – Something You Hate to Do

I hate sore throats. And I also hate this tea. It tastes super gross. But it is also the only thing that I’ve found that seems to work when you have to lead worship for a bunch of ladies and your throat feels like you accidentally swallowed razor blades.

February 20th – Handwriting

My handwriting. Romans 8.

February 21st – A Favorite Photo of You

Me and Dad, circa 1986. I wish I still had those red pants.

One

Happy Valentimes everybody! Now, I know this is one of those polarizing holidays that people either love or hate. But I really don’t think it has be to a feel-sorry-for-your-single-self-and-eat-a-tub-of-ice-cream kind of day. If you don’t have a sweetie, I’m sure you have friends who you love! If you don’t have friends…call your mom! I’m just saying, love comes in all shapes and sizes and it’s a blessing to be grateful for. So don’t be like this guy, ok?

Two

That being said, I think we can all relate to Charlie Brown on this one:

I do believe I am the reigning queen of friend-girl unrequited love. Don’t you just want to give him a hug?

Three

You know, girls. If you are really looking for love and you are maybe a tiny bit crazy/you’d would like to be on television(same thing)… The Bachelor Canada auditions are going to be in Vancouver on Sunday!

Four

For all you instagrammers, you can send someone a Valentine using your instagram photos with Lovestagram. Ok this is pretty cute—it was built by the girlfriend of one of the founders of Instagram as a thanks-for-always-making-me-feel-special gift. Awwwww! Nerd love!

Five

As far as I’m concerned, this is the most romantic song ever written.

Six

My friend Juli has just launched her own baking business, Just Taste! Last weekend she had an open house where I sampled all the products and can tell you first hand that they are 100% delicious. Especially the Linzetorte and the Cardamom Drops.

(photos by the illustrious Ryan Schroeder)
(ps I helped her with the website)

Seven

Tami Knepper—whom I love and adore, who has the best taste of anyone I know, who keeps beating me at words with friends—is launching her very own blog and online store, The Cloven Heart! Soon. For now, you should check out her Facebook page. And like it! There are some behind the scenes photos up right now. And spoiler alert (!), I may have seen a sneak peak of her first post and it might be amazing. Stay tuned.

(ps logo designed by yours truly!)

Eight

Westside is launching a new campus on the North Shore in April. I’ll let Norman D. Funk explain the vision—

In the months leading up to launch time, there is a pre-launch campaign happening, Sent and Sending that aims to cover the cost of the launch budget and start the mission off strong. I really encourage you check it out. Give if you feel led and pray, pray, pray! God is doing good things in this City.

Nine

A Valentine to Vancouver…from de Islands?

Ten

Love is mentioned about 700 times in the Bible. Ok, I didn’t count or anything but I googled it and that was the first number that came up. It’s a lot, anyway. There are so many scriptures that talk about God’s, steadfast and faithful love, and how we can never be separated from it. But I thought this one, from one of my most favourite books in the Bible, was appropriate to meditate on this Love Day.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.

One

Hope y’all are enjoying Love Month so far! It’s ok to still like Valentine’s Day and Love Month in general even if you’re single right? I feel like you can choose to be sad about it or you can choose to be happy you have so many awesome friends and family who you loooove. Right? Right. Check out this cute Love Month desktop wallpaper! There’s hearts. ps if you’re going to get me a Valentines Day card, I really like this one:

(via Our Paper Shop)

Two

On Friday night my friend hosted a clothing swap and I think this might have been the best one yet. Personally, I feel that the best thing about going to a clothing swap is that it forces me to get rid of all the clothes in my closet I don’t wear anymore. I’m not much of a pack rat except when it comes to clothes. But…but what if this horrible t-shirt that never fit me right in the first place suddenly comes back into style? I came away with a sweet jean jacket and purse that used to belong to Jenn and a Tami Knepper sweater. They are pretty much the most stylish people I know so I feel pretty good about wearing their old clothes.

Three

A friend sent me this helpful chart explaining social media using donuts. I guess he has come to think of me as some kind of social media guru. The Google Plus one is my favorite.

Four

Speaking of social media, at least three people last week told me that they “always read my tweets” or that my twitter feed is their favourite. Two of those people were pastors. I am not telling you this to congratulate myself, I promise. It’s just…think of the pressure! I have to be funny and holy now? Great.

Five

This is maybe kind of lame because it’s already February but I broke down and ordered an actual old school paper day planner this week. I’m still using Teux Deux in the actual day to day to make sure I get everything done, but I need help scheduling myself and seeing all my commitments actually written out for the month and iCal was just not cutting it. Last week I had a near breakdown because I said yes to more things than I have actual hours in the day for. And I hate disappointing people by having to cancel on them. I’m learning, you guys. Balancing freelance work and an office job is hard. I would like to have some kind of a social life in there too. And maybe time to read, also.

Six

Speaking of reading, Douze got me this book for Christmas and it has been a total game changer for me. Between the Bible reading plan I’m doing and this I feel like my prayer life has grown so much over the past month and a bit.

“In praying scripture, I not only find myself in intimate communication with God, but my mind is being retrained or renewed to think Christ’s thoughts about my situation rather than mine.”

Seven

On Sunday night I got to catch up with an old friend from junior high school who was in town checking out a very fancy and impressive clinical psychiatry program. Honestly, everyone I went to junior high with grew up to be super brainiac doctors or engineers except me. It was nice to catch up and fill each other in on everything that has happened in the past 10 years or so since we’ve seen each other. She asked me a lot of questions about what it’s like living in Vancouver and at the end of the night she said it seems like I’m really in love with this City. And you know, what? I really am!

Eight

The preliminary census data is going to be released this week! I know approximately four people who will be excited about this. All my hard work from last year is finally paying off for statisticians and city planners everywhere!

Nine

Ok. Have you all seen the new Hunger Games trailer? Egads, I cannot wait to see this movie. Me and Ariana have even been talking about lining up with all the crazy people and going at midnight. It changes every few days between “yay! Let’s do it!” and “we’re way too old, midnight is past bedtime.” Might be a game time decision.

Ten

K. So…remember all that freelancing I’ve been doing? Well one of the projects is finished. This past week we launched the new and improved Marc Ross Music site! Drumroll…tada, all that:

I’m super proud of it, you guys! Marc wanted something really simple and clean and I think we managed to pull it off. You can listen to all the songs from his EP (they’re good, so you should go do that) He’s out on a Canada wide tour right now and we’ve set up a Tour Photoblog. Everyone always talks about how it’s hard to do business with friends but this has honestly been the best experience. Marc is going to be playing at the Railway club next week for those of you in the Vancouver area. You should come! Make sure you tell him how much you love his new website.

One

February stars. Do you guys ever look back on a month and wonder how exactly you made it through? That’s how I feel about January. I blinked and it was over. This week’s Top Ten seems to have a theme of self discipline running through it.

Two

This past month has been super busy with freelance projects. It’s wonderful to have the work but it’s starting to wear on me a little. I’ve tried to make a conscious effort to schedule in down time for myself to just be next month. On the plus side, it’s teaching me to be disciplined about scheduling myself and managing my time. On the downside, who wants to have to schedule in down time?

Three

This is cute. New perspectives on company logos from a five year old. My favorite is “Panda’s live in the woods! I think…” Branding starts early, folks. Hide yo kids (hide yo wife).

Four

After whining about how none of my clothes fit anymore for the past few weeks, I have finally decided it’s time to actually do something about it. A few friends (including Norman D. Funk) have told me about this awesome calorie counting app, Lose It and I’m trying it out. It is really easy to use and the design is super pretty. Plus I find just the act of entering in what I’m eating makes me think twice about what I’m putting in my body. Thus far it hasn’t been that hard to stick to but I’m only about three days in so I’ll keep you posted. I’m hoping that writing about it on the internet will be extra accountability/a kick in the skinny jeans.

Five

There is a move on the horizon for me, May 1. It seems like a long ways off now but I’ve already started decorating the new space in my head. If I had a million dollars, infinite crafty-time and free reign on the space I would probably have one or all of the following—

A headboard made out of recycled wood

A pink bathroom with a CHANDELIER

These pillows. Except I would probably want them to say “Bonne Nuit” instead of “Bonsoir”. These ones are from Urban, but you could probably make your own pretty easily, no?

Six

I finally started reading Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) this week. It is everything I hoped for and more. I’m trying not to read through it too fast because I don’t want it to be over right away. Word on the street is that M. Kaling might be starring in her own show. Yes please!

Seven

Good news. Remember all those songwriting tips I posted last week? One of them was to be disciplined and set aside time for writing. Well I did. 25 minutes last Tuesday. Don’t laugh, 25 minutes is better than no minutes! I came up with a melody I kind of liked and it felt good to just sit down at the piano and not think about anything else except music for awhile. I don’t do that nearly often enough. This week I’m aiming for at least an hour.

Eight

This video has been bouncing around the internet today like a beachball at a Nickleback concert. The whole thing is hilarious but I love how she says if she’s not between a 4 and a 7 on the emotional scale she’s crying. ME TOO KRISTEN.

Nine

Speaking of crying, I was feeling super proud of myself because I had been on at least a two week streak of no tears. Those that know me well can attest that this is a rare occurrence. And then on Sunday I started crying in worship and I could not stop all day. And…I’ve cried every day since. But you know what? Whatever. It’s who I am. And it makes me feel better. Seriously sometimes you just need to cry about a bad day to get over it, right? Feelings are ok!

Ten

It’s the end of January and that means I’m 31 days into my Read the Bible in a Year plan. It’s become a habit now and I truly look forward to my Jesus time before bed every night. Up until this year I was a pretty solid three times a week bible reader, but I’ve found that being in the Word every day has done amazing things for my prayer life and walk with God. I feel like I have learned so much in just one month. And more than that, I think I’m learning just how much I don’t know.

These two verses are stuck to the wall above my bed and my bathroom mirror respectively. They’ve become daily prayers. Jesus let the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be acceptable in your sight. And let me hear in the morning of your stead fast love, show me the way I should go.

This weekend I got to attend a song writing workshop taught by Mia Fieldes, one of the writers from Hillsong. She was very funny and brutally honest and had a lot of good wisdom about writing songs. It was my first time in a songwriting workshop that specifically addressed writing for the church and she really stressed the responsibility worship leaders have for putting truth into their songs. I took about six pages of notes because I’m nerdy like that. It was a super inspiring day and frankly a good kick in the pants.

Truthfully I was going to write about this yesterday for Music Monday, but I ran out of time. Rather than shelve it and wait for next week, I thought I would turn it into a thematic top ten post! Since quite a few of you are songwriters as well I didn’t think you’d mind. Here are the Top Ten Things I learned at the Songwriter’s Workshop.

One

Songwriting is sort of like going to the gym (great.). It requires consistency, discipline and putting in a little effort every day to see results. God gives us gifts of creativity, music and songwriting but he expects us to be good stewards of them. He expects us to invest them and work on them.

Two

Like most creative types, songwriters often struggle with lack of structure. Schedule time for yourself to write, block it off as “working”. If you value it, you will make it a priority. Whatever you put your time and money into is where your heart is.

Three

Make goals that are measurable, meaningful and attainable. A measurable goal could be: I am going to finish six songs this year and record really good demos of three of them. A meaningful goal could be, I’m going to write a song for my friend who is going through a really hard season or I’m going to be the pied piper who writes songs calling my friends back to Jesus.

Four

If you don’t love church music, then why are you trying to write church music?

Five

Songwriters and worship leaders in the church have a responsibility to put truth into their songs. People will walk in the door of a church and listen to three minutes of music, but they may not sit and pay attention for a forty five minute sermon. Make sure your songs are true but don’t get too bogged down in theology and heavy words. If the songs are not generating a response from the congregation, work on them harder. Our highest goal in worship should always be leading people to Christ.

Six

A good song introduced badly is a bad song.

Seven

A good song with a bad title is a bad song.

Eight

Good songs always start with a theme and then find a new angle on that theme. Widely used themes (love, heartache, longing) are common because people can relate to them. Write songs about what you’re going through, write out of your own passion, write out of your own emotions but stick to your theme (no tangents!). Make sure the language you use matches your theme.

Nine

Good melodies feel good to sing. Make sure you write melodies that are familiar, with easy intervals that stay within the octave. The stressed syllables of your melody should match the stressed syllable of your words. Don’t break up your words! Don’t have big notes fall on words that don’t matter.

Ten

God is a giver of talents and an annointer of hearts. He doesn’t ask us to succeed in writing the next great worship song on our first try. But he does ask us to practice, work and to step out in faith.

This is my favorite Mia Fieldes song. If anyone knows where you can buy this album let me know, I can’t find it on iTunes.

One

Greetings friends. Today I am broadcasting live from my couch where I sit sipping on Echinecea Complete Care tea (it’s gross). I got up this morning with a sore throat and thought, “Sore throat! No big deal. I can still go to work, I’m tougher than that.” I made it until about 11:30 and then developed a fever and started seeing black spots around the corner of my vision so I decided I should probably head back to bed. So here I am. First sick day of 2012.

Two

The good thing about having an epic three hour nap in the middle of the afternoon? Totally crazy dreams. For example in a two hour period this afternoon I dreamed the following:

• That I was on a tropical vacation with some friends and we thought it would be a great idea to go snorkeling and try to find some sea turtles, fish and polar bears (?). Our captain took us out to the a great snorkeling spot where we did indeed spot a polar bear (hooray). A British family who bore a striking resemblance to the Dursleys was also on a snorkeling trip in the same spot. Unfortunately their captain brought them out in one of those inflatable boats with a motor. A great white shark came and ate Mrs. Dursley.
• On my way home from the snorkeling expedition, I wanted to stop off at Safeway and get some ginger ale for my upset stomach. Just then a flash mob of about 50 women dressed in bridal gowns converged on Safeway, doing a full fledged song and dance number to A Whole New World. I tried to get a good video of it on my phone to send to my friend, because we had had to sing A Whole New World together at a wedding a few months ago (that part is actually real, believe it or not). But I couldn’t get a great shot and walked away all sad and “What’s the point, anyway?” I left without any ginger ale.

Three

In an effort to be more organized and better at scheduling myself, I have started religiously using this new app, teux deux to keep track of my to do lists. It is very simple and oh so pretty and design-y. You can also access it via the web if you don’t have an iPhone. This is a huge improvement from my previous system of scribbling lists on whatever piece of paper I had readily available. One of the things I like most about it is that if you don’t cross something off the list it pushes it to the next day. That way I never forget anything. This post also has some pretty helpful tips on how to make effective to-do lists if you’re a freelancer.

Four

The home button on my iPhone had been sticking pretty badly so I took it in to the Apple store on Saturday and they gave me a new phone. I’m super glad I bought Apple care because my warranty had actually expired two days before my appointment so if I didn’t have it I would have been out of luck. Overall I’ve been really, really happy with the customer care I’ve gotten on all my Apple products. It does make you wonder though, if it’s that easy for them to just give you a new phone…why do they cost so much?

Five

So it’s January and it’s cold and snowy. Pretty good time to daydream about summer, right? If you’re missing: camping, roadtrips, cliff jumping, going on major hikes with your friends (ew, why?), wearing shorts. Take a look at this tribute to summer.

Six

On Thursday night last week, Michelle tricked Tami and I into coming over to do a workout video with her. She even had sweat pants ready for Tami to change into. It was torture, and it’s a really good thing that I like Michelle so much because I would have walked out on most other people. When we were protesting too much(during the more challenging parts of the video), Michelle kept telling us, “Just keep in mind Ben does this with me!” As soon as it was over me and Tami wanted brownies.

Seven

Also on Thursday, Tami was thrifting and found this awesome leather biker jacket for me at the Salvation Army. I have wanted a leather jacket for awhile but have never been able to afford a nice one. I feel way more bad ass than I actually am when I wear it. Looking at this picture though, I don’t know if bad ass is something that I can really convincingly pull off, is it? Hm.

Eight

Dustin Penner took a lot of flack from a lot of people when he played in Edmonton, but he was always one of my favorite Oilers. I still have a huge picture of him on my fridge even though he’s moved on to greener pastures (debatable). Anyway, last week he missed a couple of games due to back spasms. He explained to the media that they overtook him when he was sitting down to a pancake breakfast made by his wife. Pennercakes became a big thing on twitter and he was the laughing stock of the hockey world for about 10 minutes. He wrote a response to one of the LA Kings hockey blogs and it really made me laugh (also…who knew there were LA Kings hockey blogs?). Goodness knows Oilers fans need to laugh these days so they don’t cry. Anyway, he should start a hockey blog when he retires. I’d totally read it. It should probably be called Pennercakes.

ps— this is the water bottle incident he references

Nine

I’ve had a lot of freelance work the past few weeks. Which is really, really, great. The more I do it, the more I love it. Unfortunately though it did mean being holed up in my house all by myself all weekend. Things to add to the future dreams and goals list: my own cute office space. Separate from my house if possible.

Ten

On Saturday I was forced to do another redesign for sarahmiller.ca when wordrpess automatically updated on me and erased a bunch of CSS work that I’d done. It was super annoying but ended up being a blessing in disguise because I’d been meaning to do an update here anyway. You like?

1. Welcome to the first Tuesday post of 2012, kids. It’s a whole new year. Anything could happen!

2. Can I interest you in some high quality free fonts? How about the most popular typefaces of 2011? I think this one is my favorite from the list. but it’s hard to choose.

3. Ten days into January I have managed to stick to my Read the Bible in a Year plan. I have been reading the chapters from 1 Chronicles last just in case I fall asleep. Then at least all I’m missing is genealogies, right? It has been a lot tougher than I thought. I’m learning that when you commit to something like that you will undoubtedly face a whole lot of spiritual opposition. I feel like God has been bringing to the surface a lot of gross, pride filled things in my heart through it. It’s not fun to face the dark parts of yourself, but it does make me love Jesus even more and helps me to understand grace and how desperately I need Him.

4. Holy cats! Have you guys see the Coachella lineup?

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY (yes, all caps), Bon Iver? The Head and the Heart? Florence and the Machine? The Shins? Feist? Tuneyards? Radiohead? The Black Keys? I want to go so bad! It’s a pipe dream, for sure. Maybe they’ll do the live Youtube stream thing like last year and I can crank my space heater and put on some shorts and a hippie headband and pretend I’m there.

5. After my twitter feed exploded on Sunday night with PBS enthusiasts, I was inspired to finally check out Downton Abbey. I’d been hearing so many good things about this show but I was a tad skeptical because most of the rave reviews I heard were about the clothes and sets. Last time I watched a show for the clothes (ahem, Mad Men) I was super disappointed. Good clothes and handsome cast members do not make up for depressing and uninteresting storytelling. Or cheaters.

Thus far I have watched two episodes and am happy to report that it has lived up to the hype. The characters are complex and interesting; it is well acted and subtle in that British way. Maggie Smith is hilarious as always. It’s a lot like Gosford Park except with less murder mystery and more girls trying to find husbands. I’m really excited to get to the second season which takes place during the Great War.

Gosford Park plus tragic WWI romances? Please. I’m all over it.

6. My hockey team is so bad, you guys. They keep losing in spectacular fashion and getting injured. It’s disheartening. When Eberle went down this week I let out an Eeyore style, ”Ohhh-kayyy”. It’s not like I expected them to make the playoffs this year, but I was hoping for maybe 10th place? Not another lottery pick anyway. Not another 2-8-0 stretch in the last 10. Yeesh. I is a sad little Oilers fan.

And don’t even say it. I would cheer for Toronto before I’d jump ship and cheer for the Canucks. So, never in this lifetime basically. Leave me alone Canucks fans. Go complain about Brad Marchand/Boston/officiating some more. Everyone loves hearing about that.

7. While I didn’t exactly make any new years resolutions this year, I did set a few goals for myself. One of them is to learn more about website building, coding and all that other nerdy stuff. There are some really good resources on the internet at Smashing Magazine and Code Year. The trick will be making the time to actual sit down and learn. (Thanks Ryan and Brook for the links).

8. My reading list is getting out of hand. These are the books I have either started or am supposed to read in the near future.

This does not include the long list of books that I would really like to read. Like War & Peace or Anna Karenina. Kidding! Who has the attention span for that? When I finished school I distinctly remember saying, “Fantastic! Now I can read for fun! Now I can read things I want to read!” what I didn’t realize is that this would be an even more daunting task than trying to make it all the way through a course pack before the final exam.

9. Since I came back from Christmas holidays I have been making a concentrated effort to make my lunch every day. This is more for financial reasons than anything else because eating out is expensive. But my pants are starting to fit a little better. Bonus! If you’ve got any recipes that are fairly easy and would feed me for weeks at a time feel free to send them my way.

10. Last night, Jimmy Fallon and Napoleon Dynamite went hunting for Mammoths.

Merry Christmas everybody! This is going to be my last Top Ten of 2011 as next Tuesday I will be in Etown either reading a book or beating my brothers at Dutch Blitz. I started doing these top ten posts way back in June and I must confess I’m astonished that I have been able to keep up with them faithfully every week. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing.

Can I be honest with you for a second? I’m having a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Maybe it’s because I’ve been so busy. Or maybe it’s because there’s no snow in Vancouver. Whatever the reason, Christmas this year has felt slightly less holly and jolly. And I don’t think I’m alone in this. I’ve had more than one conversation over the past few weeks with friends who are feeling up and down. Kind of looking forward to a break and time with family but not over the moon excited about Christmas. And so…

I thought I’d dedicate the last Top Ten of 2011 to Joy. Joyful things. Tidings of Comfort and Joy. To Him who is our Joy. Joy to the World, the Lord has come!

1.

2. Joyful, joyful

ps I picked this particular version for the enthusiastic Spanish introduction and Whoopi’s dubbed voice. Amaze.

3.

4. Joy Williams! It’s embarrassing how much I like the Civil Wars. Heroes.

5.

6. Ode to Joy

Timpani Beeker brings me the most joy. Also this is how I feel most Sundays trying to play with a click track.

7.

8. Anyone remember Bradley Hathaway? Whatever happened to that guy? Here he is On Being Joyful and Content:

Sorry about the shaky camera and popping p sounds. this was the best video I could find.

9. Oh da Joy!

10. “For behold I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord.”

Also these dance moves bring me great joy:

Making a smartly styled holiday gift guide seems to be the thing to do if you have a blog. And I love finding pretty things on the internet as much as the next girl, but I feel like if you really want to know my taste or get an idea of what to get me for Christmas, you could just check out Pinterest.

Here’s the thing: I don’t really need anything. I have lots of clothes, even more shoes. My kitchen is all set up. I’m running out of space in my bookshelf. My life is good, I’m blessed. So I thought it’d be way more fun to do up the Top Ten gifts I’d want to receive if money, time and reality were not a factor. Also this was a great excuse to photoshop pictures of myself doing ridiculous things. I hereby present you with Sarah Miller’s Totally Unrealistic Top Ten Holiday Dream Gifts In No Particular Order.

1. All expenses paid trip to New York at Christmas. Skating at Rockefeller Centre, a trip to the top of the Empire State Building, a taping of Jimmy Fallon and SNL, a major shopping spree, tickets to a Broadway show maybe. Also if I could do a time travel excursion while I’m there to 1961 to see Bill Evans play at the Village Vanguard that would be perfection.

2. Tickets to the Stanley Cup Final Game May 19th, 1984. See the Oilers win the cup for the first time.

3. Record a song with Jon Foreman. I would sing background vocals, play the shaker egg, I don’t even care. It would be amazing.

4. Travel back in time, spend a few weeks following Peter in his ministry. Peter is one of my most favourite people in the Bible. I know everybody loves Paul because he did all these crazy things and wrote so many amazing letters. But there is something about Peter’s redemption story that just resonates with me. To know how big his heart was for Jesus and how many times he messed up badly and yet still Jesus loved him, forgave him and used him to build his church. I’d want to ask him what it was like to climb out of the boat and walk towards Jesus on the water.

5. One month paid vacation to Hawaii. Sit on the beach and read a million books. Learn how to surf, get really good at it. Eat lots of pineapple and coconut flavoured things.

6. Ticket to see the Beatles at the Cavern Club, June 1962

7. Hangout/songwriting/jam session with Brooke Fraser. Because she’s the coolest and I want to know how her songwriting brain works.

8. All expenses paid visit to the UK and France. Go to every single museum and see everything. Possibly visit the Musee d’Orsay twice. Drink lots of tea. Eat lots of baguettes and cheese.

9. Spend a weekend in Los Angeles hanging out with the Fug Girls and watching Lifetime movies. Also go to Disneyland.

10. Round trip to the moon on Apollo 16. Get to drive the moon buggy, obvs.

1. 19 sleeps until Christmas. I do not have an advent calendar going because as if I need an excuse to eat chocolate every day.

2. Last Friday’s Merry Christmas, Baby! was a great success. We raised over $700 for a couple in need and I think musically it was probably the best show we’ve ever done. Every time we play a show it gets a little less scary and a little easier. I only needed three sprays of Rescue Remedy this time.

3. Looking for some new indie pop Christmas music? Is A Very She & Him Christmas just not cutting it for you? Hey, It’s Christmas! Volume Two might be the answer to your hipster heart’s needs. It’s a playlist of Christmas songs by a bunch of relatively unknown artists from across the states. There is even a band called Saskatchewan! Don’t let them fool you though, they are from Florida.

You can stream it or download the whole thing for free here.

4. I went to bed at 9:30pm last night. I don’t think I’ve done that since I was in Grade 7.
It was awesome.

5. I need to do a winter-y redesign for the ol’ bloggy blog but I don’t really have any snowy Christmas pictures to use for the masthead. This is a major problem with living in Vancouver. Rainy winter weather doesn’t exactly make for nice photo opportunities. If you have some snowy Christmas pictures you want to share, send em my way.

6. You guys, this video is HILARIOUS.

There is just so much to talk about. The product placement! Mimi’s totally impractical Sexy Santa’s Helper Outfit (really, who is that keeping warm?)! Justin’s Kanye impersonator dance moves! Her totally inappropriate sparkle eyes at him! Also, I’m pretty sure she has to keep grabbing on to that wall because if she dances for real she will fall over on those crazy boots. Ah, Merry Christmas to us all. Side note: Did you know that Mims named her twins (one boy, one girl) Rock and Roe? I can’t decide if this is amazing or horrifying. Probably both.

7. Need some help understanding the NHL realignment? Fear not, Oilers Nation will explain it to you.

8. On Saturday morning I got up bright and early to help my Community Group wrap Christmas presents for A Loving Spoonful. Confession: I was super grumpy about getting up on my only sleep in day of the week. Everyone at Westside seems to think that just because you love Jesus it automatically makes you a morning person. NOT TRUE. Anyway, I got over it after a few cups of JJ Bean coffee and got to spend my morning wrapping presents and curling ribbon for people who could really use some extra love especially around this time of year. I know there are a lot of different options and worthy causes to give your time and attention to this Christmas, but if you haven’t already decided where you want to give it is a really great organization that is doing good work in our City.

Note: JSM got a new iPad and used it to keep us all organized. Somebody get this guy an Apple sponsorship deal

9. Do you have a Christmas tree? I don’t and for the first time I really want one. I’m not leaving for Edmonton until the 23rd so I’ll be spending most of the pre-Christmas season here and it’d be nice to have my own Christmas decorations. Another problem is that I don’t really have any place to put a tree. Would it be lame to have a tree sitting on my “kitchen” table/home office? I thought about getting one of those little ones but then can you buy short strings of lights for them? Small packages of one a few Christmas ornaments? So many first world problems to solve.

10. A friend posted this on his blog a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to re-share because it’s so beautiful and true. How amazing is it that there is a Saviour King who still wants our broken and bruised hearts, who still loves us no matter what we’ve gone through?

The man gave the rose to the audience of 1,000 or so young adults. He said “touch it, smell it, experience it.” We passed it around as he gave a speech on the destructive power of sex. He said things like “it’s all fun and games until there is herpes on your lip!” His final crescendo was to ask for the rose back from the crowd. He held the broken and abused flower up and said grimly “who would want THIS?”

I wanted to yell out “Jesus! JESUS wants the rose!”
—Matt Chandler