Creative Challenge Almost Completed!

So, I realized that I miscounted my creative challenges. I thought I was on number 24, but I actually labeled one of them incorrectly on a blog. Lucky for me, that means I've done one more challenge than I thought! Here is my update (which seems pretty pathetic to call it that, since it's only 3 items) for this last week! Enjoy <3

Day 23 

My good friend, Sean, and I made Thai Yellow Curry Chicken.

I have this odd fear of cooking chicken. 

I am convinced that I will be so absent minded when cooking it, 

and get salmonella. 

Anyone else share this fear?

Day 24

You've seen this guy before, his name is Chris. 

I tend to do a lot of my random art projects with him. 

We spent all Friday afternoon gluing square pieces of paper onto a thick poster board. 

500 pieces to be exact. 

This was a mosaic art display for a show we had at our church.

                                   

Day 25

I've always been fascinated by those neat melted art canvas pieces, 

so I decided to do one for my creative challenge, but add my own personal touch to it. 

*I created a stencil that said the words "give grace"

*I glued the words onto the canvas

*I organized and glued the crayons by certain colors to the top of the canvas (I didn't have any hot glue sticks, so I used a glue stick)

*I blow dried the crayons on high heat (warning: this WILL get messy, be careful!)

This is a super fun and relatively easy art project to do. 

The best part is that the wax from the crayons melt quickly, and also dry just as quick. 

After I was done, I peeled off the glued on letters so that the white from the canvas could pop.

My inspiration for the words "give grace" come from a book in the Bible called Ephesians. Lately, Ephesians chapters 4 & 5 have been coming up in my life, 

so I wanted to do an art piece to reflect the season I am in as well as these chapters. 

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, 

but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, 

that it may give grace to those who hear." 

Ephesians 4:29

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One of the highlights of my week was spending quality time with my best friend, Becky. We hung out Saturday night and went to dinner with some friends, Karoke (yes!), sleepover, morning breakfast, lunch in Orange and drove around town. I really love my best friend. She's definitely my better half. Some people don't get it, and lots of people don't get us, but that's okay. 

Love you, Best.

Sunday afternoon lunch at The Filling Station in Orange, CA

(Becky: left, Me: right)

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I hope you're having a great start to your week! There's still time for you to submit to me your ideas for my creative challenge (I have 5 more to do!)

XO

Brenda

Updates! (Ft. New Song & Creative Challenge Update)

Happy Tuesday, everyone! The sun is out and it's 5:45, how can I complain?

I wanted to post just a general update on this last week, which includes two creative challenge updates! My goodness, I am so slow at this challenge, but I am committed! I will get to 30, even if it takes me a decade.

This was technically from the previous week, 
but my friend Nicole had a Mustache Party, 
so we got ourselves some adhesive mustaches 
and of course had a blast with the photobooth.

These are some of my favorites from LiNK (the organization I worked for). 
I went to visit them at the office and we all went out to lunch. 
They are the best :)
*not pictured: Sean Hines



My church, Rock Harbor Fullerton, just celebrated our 2nd Birthday! 
We all gathered at CSUF at the Titan Student Union, 
where we had free bowling, music, Chick-Fil-A and even a photobooth. 
It was such a great time to celebrate all that God has been doing within our church 
and also to just have a good time with community.
This is my good friend, Chris holding 40 balloons.
We had to fit these in my car. 
Let's just say it was a challenge, but we only popped one!

On Sunday, I spent the day in LA with some of my lovely girlfriends: Becky, Alex, Denise & Christie. We went to Intellegentsia Coffee Shop (I got the Herbal Tea 333 - I highly recommend it!). 

The lovely Christie & I

...& now on to the creative challenge updates!

Day 20

I was feeling inspired to sew (and if you know me, I am sure you're laughing right now), 

and I've started to fall in love with the look of big bows on shirts. 

So, I thought instead of buying one, why don't I make my own and just pin it on a shirt? 

Here is the final product of my first attempt at making my own big, beautiful bow. 

(She is definitely in need of some extra work, haha)

Day 21

I've mentioned in previous posts that I have been working on writing a new song. 

Well, it's all finished (kind of). 

I still plan on making it sound more full and better, 

but I recorded and uploaded a rough version. 

Here is the YouTube video for it! The lyrics are posted in the info section.

Let me know your thoughts!

[It's called "Ninety Days"]

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Well friends, that is all for now! I hope you all have an amazing evening & rest of your week!

XO

Brenda

She & Him Christmas Album Review

*This is only my second CD review that I've done, but I really enjoy doing them. I did a review of A Very She & Him Christmas for my church's blog. Enjoy! 

Every year during the Christmas season I am always curious to see what holiday albums will come about. Some artists will just regurgitate what has already been done, while some artists take a what was once a holiday classic and offer their own spin to it. That is exactly what She & Him did with their A Very She & Him Christmas album. From beginning to end, this album offers a consistent, tranquil and classic sound that will please both their indie and jazz fans out there.

When this album came out, I knew I needed to hear it. Being a huge fan of Zooey’s endearing vocals, I expected nothing less with this album. I am glad to say that Zooey and M. Ward met my expectations with this album. They took 12 holiday classics and offered a refreshing and refined tune to the holiday songs we grew up listening to. With classics such as “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, you will find yourself humming along with Zooey and M. Ward.

Zooey’s vocals accompanied by M. Ward’s simple yet sweet strums make for a wonderful melodious Christmas album. Overall, if you are looking for a fresh Christmas album to wrap your presents to or enjoy a cup of coffee and a good read with background music to create the right mood, A Very She & Him Christmas is the perfect album for you. Choosing to end their album with the classic, “The Christmas Song” was, in my opinion, their best decision. I think most people will find their rendition of this song to be a new favorite.

And, what is better than a great Christmas album? A great Christmas album that supports a great cause! A portion of profits from every album sold is being donated to 826 National, which is a non-profit organization that provides resources for eight writing and tutoring centers in the US.

May your ears be enlightened and your heart soothed by the beautiful sounds and harmonies of She & Him this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas!