Time to turn a new leaf ~

It's finally here. The last day of 2015. I honestly thought that this year would never end haha. 

This is a day full of reflection and resolution making. A day full of celebrating what has come to an end and that which has yet to begin. Some people will go to parties with friends and others will stay in and spend time with family. 

Since I already did my "reflection of the year" post, I want this post to be all about my favorite things from 2015, and things that I am going to leave behind going into 2016.

:: Having a picnic with my sweet friends before they graduated ::

:: Going to bridal expos with my friends ::

:: Ice skating downtown with my very best friend ::

:: And going to the zoo with her ::

:: Lots and lots of grocery runs and coffee dates ::

Of course, there were many other memories, I just can't find pictures that document them all haha.

I'm not a big fan of resolutions because I'm really bad at following through with them. But there are a few things that I am going to choose to leave in 2015. Things that I feel need to be left behind so that I can better myself in this new year.

1.) Letting my emotions get the better of me :: I tend to do this all the time. No matter the situation or the feeling. Be it good or bad. My emotions almost always take control. This often times leaves me making half minded decisions on a wim just because it "feels right".

2.) Not celebrating tiny victories :: Tiny victories need to be celebrated. Because even the little things are important.

3.) Not telling people how important they are to me :: Something I learned in 2015 is that it is so important to express your love and thankfulness to those around you. To those who take time to be your friend and to be there for you.

4.) Being afraid :: In 2016 I want to be more adventurous without being so afraid of doing so. I want God to lead where my feet have never gone before.

5.) Not encouraging myself :: One of my God given gifts, I believe, is encouraging others. But unfortunately  a lot of the time I forget to encourage myself. In 2016 I want to always be reminded that is okay to cheer yourself on, and it does not make you conceited. 

There are a few more personal things that I am planning on leaving behind in 2015 as well. But all 5 of these are important. Maybe in reflection of your own year you have found a few things that you wish to leave behind as the year changed. I want to encourage you to not be afraid to do so! Change is good. Sometimes scary, yes. But good. 

So here's to a New Year. A fresh start. 365 new chances.

Have fun, and be safe.

Reflection on reflecting -

First thing's first, MERRY CHRISTMAS. 

I hope that everyone had such an amazing holiday and sweet time spent with family and friends.

I took a little Holiday break from my blog to focus on family and just to soak up this season. But as I was anticipating and planning this post, I went back to my posts from this time last year. Specifically my "new year" post. As I was reading I realized that I hadn't accomplished barely anything I had hoped to accomplish. Not just the petty little things either... but the big and important things as well.
2015 was not at all the year that I thought it was going to be. It brought so many challenges and hardships, and if i can be honest, I let it stomp all over me.
I know the new year is a few days away, but as I sit and reflect on this year and even reflect on the way I approached this year last year, I don't want to look back on 2015 as being a year of regret. Or a year of hurt. Of hardship. Of change that I didn't always like. Rather, I want to look at it as the year that woke me up.
You know how sometimes in life you lose sight of where you're going? That's what happened to me this year. And I think part of me was in denial about that, because I didn't want to believe it myself. The truth is that we are human. Sometimes we lose our footing. Sometimes we stumble.
That was me. Stumbling around, desperately trying to grab hold of what I thought I needed. When in reality, all I really needed was to be still, stop trying to do my own thing, and listen to God.
Have you ever had a realization like that? It's kind of like a slap in the face. But a very necessary, done-in-love, kind of slap in the face.

As the new year quickly approaches, I am going to choose to not look back negatively on this year.

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43:18-19

Maybe you find yourself feeling like me, and looking back negatively on your year. I want to encourage you that there are better things ahead. As it says in Isaiah, God is doing a new thing. In you, and in your life. That alone is something to be so grateful and so happy for.

Give Thanks ::

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I am spending today thinking about all that I truly am thankful for. When you take the time to reflect on things, you realize just how much there really is to the be thankful for.

- My Family. The Holidays are always so much fun and I can't imagine spending this time of year surrounded by anybody else but my family.

- My Friends. They say you find your life long friends in college and I think that is absolutely true. I am so glad to have found such amazing friends who care for me and love me just as much as I do them. 

- How God shows up in every season. Sometimes things are hard, and I think 2015 has been the most challenging year I have faced yet. But God is still God. And he shows me each and everyday how His love for me never changes despite how things around me change.

What are you thankful for this year?

Life lately -

Life lately has been a little on the crazy side. I am finding that as I get older there are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do, let alone need to do.. sigh.

As a result of feeling stressed and busy, I found myself procrastinating all my time away on social media. As much as I enjoy social media, there are some times when it just brings me down. There's always something negative or mean that I see that will just put me into a bad/sad mood. I can also honestly say.. that I am totally one of those people who will creep on celebrities or people who I think "have it all together", and I will start to regret every item of clothing I ever bought or never bought, and suddenly have this desire to explore the whole world. All this really does is leave me bitter and grumpy that I don't have a certain cool shirt or a bunch of random money lying around to fly myself to Paris. 

Lately, I have been trying to detach myself a bit from social media. As I get older I find myself envying those girls who are out of loop when it comes to the latest meme, or the "funny thing" that's going around on Twitter, or that one couple that just got engaged. Lately I'm finding myself craving authenticity, and I don't mean the hashtag. I am finding that I am admiring pictures I take even when I don't post them on instagram. I'm finding that I can say funny things without having to post them on Twitter.

I found something on Pinterest the other day while pondering these thoughts of ditching social media.  It's called the 7 day smartphone detox. I don't really like what some of the days say on this particular list, but I did like the idea as a whole. 

So this is my challenge to you today. Will you join me? Will you turn off push notifications? Will you delete the Facebook and Twitter app from your smart phone entirely? Will you resist the urge to look at your phone first thing in the morning? Now, I understand that you need your phone for work purposes and to contact people throughout the day.... but remember when that's all you could really use your phone for? Will you treat your phone like a non-smart phone this week? 

Have you been trying to detach from social media too? What are some things that you have tried that you really like, or that have been really beneficial to you? 

Also........

You may have noticed we changed our name! I'll touch more on this in an upcoming post ;)

Coffee + Friends

Holy moly, it has been way too long since I have posted! Wow.

Well Good Morning! It is Saturday, and I hope you are all having a lovely slow morning, drinking coffee and eating your favorite breakfast :)

I feel like I have so much to share with you since I have not posted in a long time. I've been pretty busy and have been really taking the time to soak up this beautiful fall season! I do have a lot to share with you, so keep your eyes out for a lot of new posts this coming week :)

For this mornings musings, since it's Saturday.. I just wanted to keep this post short and tell you all about my lovely friend Natalie over at A Tiny Traveler. I met Natalie at school my very first semester there. It didn't take us long to realize that we would be great friends. Natalie got married to the man of her dreams 2 weeks ago (yay!) and I am so blessed and thankful that she let me be a part of the day! 

Natalie was able to take a little trip to Pittsburgh this weekend and I was SO excited that we got to spend some time together. She is my absolute favorite person to have coffee and talk with. She has such a creative mind and I love hearing her heart for new projects and her love for collaborating with people. She really is great. So naturally, we got coffee first :) I took her to one of my favorite places here in the Burgh', Tazza D'Oro. After spending time there catching up and waiting for the rain to stop.. we went to a little nature reserve to appreciate this lovely season and all it has to offer. Today was one of my most favorite days spent with one of my most favorite friends. I appreciate Natalie so so much and am entirely too blessed to have her in my life. 

(Sorry if these pictures are poor quality, they are from my phone.)

I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday. Make time to spend time with the people in your life who make you happy. The people who encourage you, and are there for you when you're in down in the dumps. Let those people know just how important they are to you :)

Happy Saturday! 

Monday Coffee::..

Good morning to you! Long time no musings! These past two weeks have been full of road trips, friends, surprises, and french fries. I will post about my adventures sometime soon, but for now I want to share something else.

I want to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart and yours, I assume.

Think you know what I'm about to talk about?

If you guessed coffee..... you're right!

Never have I ever drank more coffee than I have these past two weeks. But I am not complaining one bit! I don't think I ever really liked coffee until I went to college, and depended on it to get me through those long days and even longer nights. The group of friends I stumbled upon are all coffee crazy, which fed my new found love for it as well. That being said, I've never been very cultured when it comes to coffee. I didn't know the difference between good coffee, O-K coffee, and bad coffee. To me, coffee was coffee. But let me tell you, that has changed quite a bit. I find myself being more picky about what kind of coffee I buy when I am out, and being more judgmental about kinds that I try and do not like. 

Cities are the best places to find new coffee shops. Over the last two weeks two of my best friends came and visited Pittsburgh and I showed them all the best places and tried some I never have before. My go-to drink is always a latte. Whether it's just a plain latte or maybe a hazelnut, caramel, or vanilla one. I love latte's. I always get coffee with soy milk(because of allergies) in it if it is offered at that shop. I made the mistake a few weeks ago of getting a hazelnut latte with almond milk..... sounds pretty good, right? Wrong. So wrong. I felt like I had put a handful of unsalted nuts in my mouth and I just couldn't get that taste away. It was icky. But it helped me realize that almond milk and hazelnut flavoring do not pair well together! I'm a firm believer in trying new things, always. So whenever I go out I like to at least try and branch out and try new drinks or new flavors that I never have tried before.

Do you like to try new things? Or do you have a favorite, staple coffee in your life from a specific place that you love? I would love to hear your coffee stories and check out your favorite shops, so please... share with me! :)

If you're ever in Pittsburgh, definitely check out these shops. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Espresso a Mano

Allegheny Coffee and Tea Exchange

21st Street Coffee and Tea

Constellation Coffee

Big Dog Coffee

Tazza D'Oro

Happy Monday, everyone! 

~ May your coffee be strong, and your Monday short ~

Smile, it's Monday!

Good morning! Happy Monday :) I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

This morning I wanted to share with you a devotional. Just a little something to brighten up your Monday :)

Whether it’s coming through our window on a Saturday morning. Or shining through the curtains, displaying the day’s shadows all over the room. Or if it’s illuminating the sky on your late evening commute home from work. Wherever we see it, light always catches our attention. It draws our eyes towards it. It makes it’s presence known.  There is something else, though, that makes us very aware it is there. And that is darkness.

Darkness is deep. Like the deep depths of the ocean.

And it can often make us feel as though we are under the waves, with no scuba gear, no snorkel, no rope to pull us back up. Rather we are just floating there.. surrounded by nothing but darkness and eerie silence.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever found yourself drifting off to sea, going deeper and deeper as your breath got heavier and heavier. Life can take us there, and sometimes more than once. 

I have a fear of bodies of water (I’m sure there is a real name for it out there somewhere). I don’t like not knowing or being able to see what is underneath me or in front/behind me when in water. I’m sure someone out there can relate when I say that I feel the same way in life sometimes. The fear paralyzes you and makes you feel as if something bad could happen in seconds. Do I move forward? Do I move backward? What is going on under me? Where will the current lead me? What am I leaving behind me? These questions often go unanswered in those moments of panic. When darkness is thick and silence is all around you. 

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

The light talked about in this verse in John may not be the same light shining through our windows in the morning. This light is better. Too beautiful and pure for our eyes to see, and for our minds to grasp. How can there be light in such deep darkness? In such heavy silence? Those moments can feel like despair. But you are not drifting alone.

I have had my fair of share of suffocating in darkness. I’ve felt that despair. Those lonely feelings that come like crashing waves. But I’ve come to learn something.

Just because the waves are crashing down, doesn’t mean God isn’t there.

Just because darkness is thick and you cannot see ahead of you doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a plan and a path for you.

Just because silence is so heavy, doesn’t mean God isn’t listening.

It’s hard to be alone, but it’s always in those moments when God reveals himself. 

When we quit trying to fill voids in our lives and fill empty holes in our hearts left there from broken friendships, lost loves, skewed opportunities.. it is amazing what God can and will do within you.

When we’re lost in the darkness, exhausted from the thick heavy air, and we surrender to Him.. saying “God I don’t know where I am headed, I don’t know what is going to happen next, but what I do know is that I am lost, I am hurting, and I am needing you. Come and save me from my own darkness.” When we surrender and seek with all that we have left, he will carry us through the fog. As life keeps throwing it’s lemons I am learning more and more that sometimes you just need to do things alone. With God, of course. But alone. On your own. Just you, your heart, your darkness, and God.

He is the ultimate light. The most beautiful light. The sun that shines in your window can’t save you from the way you’re feeling inside. But God can. That light can. And will.

Remember, no darkness has overcome Gods light. And as we grow in him and spend time building our relationship with him.. that light continues to grow in us. And no darkness can overcome it.

Remind yourselves of these truths, today. 

I hope and pray that this helps you through your Monday, and that you take some time this morning to rejuvenate and prepare to dive in to another week :)

Oh, Paris.

The Little Paris Bookshop was by far one of the best books I have ever picked up. I have never been a big reader, but I could not put this book down! I wanted to read it every second of everyday, and that's what I did.
I think I picked this book to read at a good time in my life. A time where I've learned love and loss and experienced it first hand. Every page and every chapter of this book just took you deeper and deeper into the feelings and emotions that the main character, Jean Perdu, was feeling. Being a person who is an intense "feeler", this book had me feeling like I was Perdu. 

When I finished The Little Paris Bookshop, I was wishing there was more. I definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It is not your normal love story, but I personally think that this one is better.

Good morning ::

Good morning! Happy Monday! 

This is the first post for my new weekly posts called Morning Musings. I am excited :)

So today is Monday. I don't know how the weather is where you are, but for me it is dreary. As it has been pretty much this entire summer (bummer). It's a typical Monday, and these types of days are always a little intimidating. They're the.. spilled my coffee on my skirt, woke up late, have a headache.. type days. Almost always. Darn Mondays.

But today, I wanted to kick this dreary Monday in the behind and just take some time to share with you some things I am most thankful for this morning. Maybe you want to join me, by writing down some things you are thankful for and hanging it somewhere you will see it often today. Just as a little reminder that Monday isn't as terrible as we make it out to be :)

I'm thankful for....

1.) Sunshine: As I mentioned this summer has been pretty rainy and cloudy, but Saturday was the most beautiful sunny day. Not too hot, with a nice steady breeze. I think I sat on my porch the entire day, and didn't regret it at all.

2.) New things/opportunities: For a while now I have been looking for a new church to call my home and get involved in. I love the church I grew up in here at home, but I felt God was calling me further. To stretch me and grow me. Last Sunday and yesterday I went to my friends church with her and her family and I loved it! And their youth director actually reached out to me and asked if I wanted to start coming to their youth group and checking it out and getting involved. I am so excited and so thankful that God is opening doors!

3.) Peace: Life's been a little crazy lately. But God has been filling me with such tremendous peace.

4.) Friends: This season of life I am in has seemed to be all about figuring out who my "real" friends are. Everyone says that happens in high school but I think it got to me a few years too late, haha. But I am so thankful for the friends who have stuck by me in the happy times and in the sad times. 

5.) Guidance: Along with peace, God has been guiding me through this season in such interesting ways. I think he knows I like to keep things interesting and different ;)

What are you thankful for this morning?

Thank you for letting me share your morning with you! May your coffee be strong and your Monday happy :)

New Things -

I am embarking on a new journey! Hooray! I love new things. If you read up on my personality type (which is ISTP) you will learn that I am the type of person who needs new things on a pretty regular basis. I hate being tied down in one place, with the same stuff for what seems like forever. Sometimes this can be a curse, and sometimes it's a blessing (or always, I suppose it is always a blessing.). 

So! That being said........

INTRODUCING....

da da da daaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I have officially launched my photography blog. And I am so excited! For quite some time I have been wanting a place where I can share my photos with people other than my Facebook friends ;) I want to make it very clear that this is not at all a place for me to brag or say "look at what I can do!" I simply have a passion inside to share what I love with the world. I am a firm believer in the saying, "it's okay to feel." Photography is my emotional outlet. I know some people don't have that eye for photographs that some do, but whenever I look at a picture, take a picture, or stare into a lens, some sort of emotion is being felt. And I want people to be able to freely feel through my photographs. 

So follow my new blog! Check back every now again. I am hoping on starting a series, or a challenge. Something fun to kick off this fun new journey. 

So, won't you join me? :) 

.:Mm:.

It's kind of funny how the day can get away from you. I had intentions of posting this around 10 this morning and it is now almost 1 in the afternoon. This post is a little irrelevant now seeing what time it is.... but I might as well introduce it! I have been in need of things to prompt me to write. I could write posts about my day everyday, but that's pretty boring especially because I don't do many exciting things everyday. So! I wanted to start a new little thing, called Morning Musings.

Maybe that sounds boring to you or you're thinking, "how is she going to blog every single morning?!" Well, I'm not :) This will only be a once-a-week thing. I will try to do these every Monday morning. And if not on a Monday morning, it will be some other morning ;) 

I enjoy sharing my heart with whoever is out there reading my blog. And I want to be able to gab about new things in life, things I am thankful for that day or week, things I am grateful for, and just all the wonderful things that are happening in life... because life is an exciting thing to talk about. I hope you look forward to reading my musings as much as I look forward to writing them.

Here's to new things! 

.plant crazy.

That's right. I've gone plant crazy. More specifically.. succulent crazy. I want to buy every single one that I see and plant them in cute little pots. Anyway.. as I mentioned in a post a while ago, I recently got a book called Rooted in Design. It's all about plants. I blame it for my new found obsession. As I was reading I saw the word propagate a lot and I had no idea what it meant. So naturally, I went on Pinterest. After searching for a while I came to realize that it pretty much means to breed. The next Pinterest post I saw said "How to propagate succulents." I nearly fell out of my chair. I can grow MORE succulents?! Who wouldn't want that? Anyway....

I read the post and it seemed kind of impossible and the women said it takes time, which requires patience. Patience that I do not have when it comes to plants. But I thought, hey why not give it a try. So I took some succulent leaves that had fallen off my precious babes and I did what the article in the post told me to do. To let them sit in a little water for a day, and then let them sit on top of dirt in a shallow dish or plate. Days went by and nothing happened. My mom asked me what it was and I explained it to her only to find out that she had a leaf off another, bigger, succulent that she just left in the bottom of the pot and it was sprouting roots from the broken end! I was so excited and added it in with the others. The bigger one that had already starting sprouting has been doing the best, and I was losing hope for the other little leaves. But today.... I walked out onto the porch.... wait for it.... AND THEY WERE SPROUTING!! I felt the need to tell everyone know. Thus resulting in this post.

I don't have any pictures from the beginning of the process, but here are a few I took today::

If you have ever seen this online and wondered if it worked, it does! And I think everyone should try it. I find such joy in these pretty little plants, and I think others should as well.

Made new::.

Hello there! One of my best friends Natalie wrote a post that was very personal and it inspired me to share my feelings as of lately with you. Now I know some of you may be going to click off my blog right now because it seems I do that a lot, but what can I say? I have a huge heart and a strong desire to share with people. 

Have you ever felt stuck? As if your feet are in cement, and it is drying faster than you ever thought possible? I've been feeling like that lately. Actually, I've been feeling like that for the past few months. I'm sure I am not the only who is or has been/felt this way before. The past few months have definitely been packed full of trials, change, pain and heartache like you wouldn't believe. It all left me very hopeless and sad feeling. 

There comes a point, though, where you need to take some time to evaluate the last few days, or however long you've felt like this, and I mean really reaaallllyyyy evaluate it. When I did this, I realized that I acted like a defeated child through it all. Ya know, the ones who yell and scream over someone taking their lego and then after a few minutes they just quit the game all together. Defeat. I was defeated. But by what? My circumstance? My situation(s)? It was a slap in the face kind of moment and I knew that God was the one doing the slapping (in the most loving way of course..).

The summer is a time of new things. New beginnings. Each day is not only a gift, but it's a chance to start new. Even though you don't feel like it, you are not the same person you were when you fell asleep last night. Your thoughts have changed, your heart has changed, your feelings have changed and your goals have changed. John 1:16 talks about how from the fullness of the Lord we receive grace upon grace. During this time of change and transition in my own life, each morning when I wake up I thank God for another day and repeat to myself those words: grace upon grace. And there is peace in those words. There is comfort in that phrase.

Hard times don't need to be seen as the "end of the world". But rather they need to be looked at as blessings. For I know that through every hardship God is growing me and teaching me something through it all. I know that He makes me new each and everyday. Along with knowing that truth, I also know and have come to realize that there are a lot of things in my life that I need to change and even some things that need to be removed. And that sort of stuff can be hard. We're only human.. change is always hard and uncomfortable. But I know that God has something far greater planned for me than the pain and hopelessness I have been feeling. I am alive in him.

I know there is a reason for my feeling prompted to write this post. So I hope that whoever you are out there reading this that may be feeling down in the dumps, that you find hope in my words. But more importantly that you find hope in Gods word. Be made new in Christ today.

Welcome, June.

Summer is finally here and I could not be happier!

That being said, summer is in full swing. My sisters wedding was this past weekend and it was THE most beautiful, loved filled day I have ever lived. Now that the wedding is over, I am finding I have a lot of extra time on my hands! So, I decided to set some goals for myself for this summer.

1.) Exercise! So cliche, and if you know me I'm sure you're laughing at this one.. but really! I am determined to get into a routine of exercising more and being healthy and fit!

2.) Bake/cook more. I absolutely love finding new recipes for gluten free/dairy free things, but rarely do I ever go through with trying them out.

3.) Try new things. Whether it be restaurants or hobbies, I want to explore new and exciting things that I never have before. (First on my list is yoga!)

4.) Get into a devotion routine. Right now I am just starting the She Reads Truth Women in the Word and I am loving it! I would like to get into more of a daily routine of bible studying/reading and prayer :)

5.) Plant. I have taken a new liking to plants and gardening and would love to do it more this summer.

6.) Blog more! I want more of a routine for my blogging, instead of just doing it whenever something cool happens in my life, haha. If any of you have any good prompts or blogging challenges please feel free to share! I am always looking for new things to do :)

7.) Encourage. God has definitely given me a gift of encouragement, and I love it! I have some new things up my sleeve that will be revealed at a later time ;) Stay tuned!!

8.) Spend more time outside. The weather hasn't been the greatest lately and I am starting to feel like a sack of potatoes! I am realizing more and more that being outside, whether it is sunny or not, is still so refreshing and lovely.

9.) Put the phone down. This one is pretty self explanatory.. I don't want to miss the summer because I was caught up in everyone else's.

10.) Grow in my confidence. This seems pretty personal and deep, haha. But I have been learning lately that I shouldn't be trying to change who I am just because of the latest trends and such. It's okay to go to the mall without make up on :)

I am so excited for this summer and all that it has to offer! What are some of your summer goals?!

Rooted in Design :: the love of plants

Through Blogging for Books I received this wonderful work of art. As of recently I have taken a new liking to plants. Indoor plants, outdoor plants, big plants, small plants, I just love them all. 

When I discovered this book, Rooted in Design by Tara Heibel and Tassy De Give I loved plants even more. While this book is focused on indoor planting, the techniques and tips they give can easily be used when working with outdoor plants as well. 
That is probably my favorite thing about this book, that it is chalked full of tips followed by beautiful pictures displaying the plant projects. Another aspect of this book that I really liked was that at the end of each chapter they give a little tutorial of how you can make one of the unique plant designs.

This book will not be one that just collects dust on your bookshelf, but will be one that you go back to time and time again.

Summer Eats -

If I haven't mentioned before... I adore food. I could spend all day eating, (and I usually do...)
But, I have a few food allergies, so eating everything I want isn't always an option. I know I have mentioned it several times before, but I stay away from dairy and gluten. I know, it's a tough mix! But it forces me to eat more fruits and veggies and yummy meat. I am always always looking for new recipes of things to try, and new and different ways to cook things.  Here are a few pictures of some yummies I've had/made over the past few weeks. (Yes, I am one of those people that takes pictures of their food. And proud of it!!)

.:Grilled bacon wrapped mini steaks with green peppers and onions:.

.:Blueberry GF pancakes with brown sugar and cinnamon:.

.:top-sauteed broccoli seasoned with salt and pepper.

bottom-strawberries and blueberries with brown sugar:.

.:Cucumber, cherry tomato, onion, black bean, and corn salad with red wine vinegar:.

(Recipe here)

The summer is a great time to experiment with new recipes because so many fruits and veggies are in season. What are some of your favorite summer meals or snacks? I am always open to trying new things! :)

- Be blessed