Mango Street Photography

My church launched a new series yesterday entitled “Kindness Wins” and I couldn’t not share it with you. It turns out that in the days of the early church, the words “Christian” and “kindness” were so close in spelling that they were almost interchangeable. In fact, there was much debate among those who looked at Christians because they couldn’t figure out if Christians were a movement fueled by Jesus or by kindness. The church was marked with kindness in such a way that it had an amazing impact on their community who was going through much unrest. Wow. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if we could return to such a legacy? In a time when our nation is experiencing the ups and downs that it is, if we could take those moments to show someone a glimpse of the Lord’s heart for them I am convinced that change would occur.

So the challenge to us? For the month of November, perform at least 1 random act of kindness a day so that our community becomes literally blanketed by these kind acts. Take a look:

Kindness Wins from Daniel Bashta on Vimeo.

So what about you? I would love to hear from you any ways that you go out of your way to show kindness to others. It’s amazing what a difference a simple act can make!

is it just me or did the arrival of september bring with it the anticipation of cool mornings, leaves changing, and tasty autumn (yes, i prefer autumn over fall) cooking? even though it’s still in the upper 80’s here in atlanta, i couldn’t help layering a cardigan a few times last week and even venturing into the kitchen to make some baked fall goodness. one recipe in particular seemed to be a perfect transition from summer to fall, and we enjoyed it too much not to share.

Country Applesauce Muffins (from Williams-Sonoma “Muffins”)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped, or 1 cup dark or golden raisins *
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup almond oil, walnut oil, or canola oil
1 large egg
1 heaping cup applesauce (use a cup for measuring liquids for this step)

*I used 1/2 cup dark raisins and 1/2 cup golden raisins–a perfect solution if you don’t want the raisins to overpower the muffins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or non-stick cooking spray.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, walnuts or raisins, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.

In another bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, and applesauce until smooth. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the applesauce mixture just until evenly moistened. The batter may seem dry at first, but it will loosen and smooth out as you beat the mixture.

Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim of the cup.

Bake until golden, dry, and springy to the touch, 25-30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve them warm or at room temperature, with butter.

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And voila! Andrew and I both agreed it was the perfect recipe to usher in the season as it has just the right hint of the best fall flavors.

I’d love to hear from you: what are you most looking forward to about the coming season?

friday afternoon is here, and i, like many of you, am busy tying up loose ends before the weekend arrives. just this morning andrew and i were talking about how we want to spend the weekend. what things we want to check off our to-do list. running errands. meeting up with people. maybe squeezing in a date (yes!). it can be so easy for the weekend to turn into another blur of activities and “to-do’s” that when monday rolls around we find ourselves in need of another weekend. this afternoon something caught my eye that i thought would be a good thing to hold onto as we approach this weekend.

a friend of mine posted on her facebook status that she “knows the best things in life are free. let’s name some.” as we are all busy getting the loose ends of our work week tied up, i thought this was a great way to to head into the weekend and to gain a bit of perspective. a reminder to be thankful. while we may still have a busy couple of days ahead, we can still pause to enjoy those moments that cannot be bought.

i’d love to hear from you. let’s name some of those things that you can’t put a price on. i’ll start:

sunsets.

i am looking forward to reading your thoughts! i’ll add more of my own as you comment~

last week i had a great opportunity to travel with andrew on a business trip to california, a destination that rarely makes the list for his trips since his company already has an office out there. we decided to seize the opportunity for me to join him, and i’m so glad we did! we started off in san diego and stayed a night with my aunt and uncle, which was such a treat, and then spent the remainder of our time in the greater l.a. area. on thursday, i had the rental car and half a day to myself, so i did some exploring and documented it to show andrew later. enjoy a glimpse:

i decided to take  a drive down to huntington beach, and because it was such a gorgeous day, i kept driving. i was thrilled when i stumbled across newport beach/balboa island. when i was in middle/high school, i read a series of books that was based there and had always dreamed about going one day. check out the cuteness of balboa island.

as much fun as it was to be exploring by myself, i was itching for some people to photograph. there were literally great spots everywhere you looked!

these trees lined the streets of balboa, and i fell in love with them!

seriously? who has a cute post office??? balboa island does. by the way, golf carts were everywhere–people that live on the island use them as their primary means of transportation.

if people aren’t riding golf carts, they are riding bicycles. this one was tucked in an alley next to a bookstore we had checked out. again, this was photography location heaven!

as i was sitting on this bench to eat my tasty lunch from a local market (insert photo for andrew, of course), i got a phone call from andrew that his last meeting was over. he explained that it would be a while until we met up because he was all the way down in newport beach. back up. “wait, i’m in newport beach!!” turns out we were about 5 minutes from each other and got to spend the rest of the afternoon together in the setting of one of my favorite books growing up!!

while there, we HAD to get the famous balboa bars that i had read about–delicious!

after a bit of exploring, we said our goodbyes to balboa and headed back up to go out on a date night and walk on the beach~

our only photo with palm trees.

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under the pier~

sunset is my favorite way to end a day together~

and in-n-out burger is my favorite way to end a trip to california.

now that we are home and settled, i’ll be back next week with new sessions to post. until then~

so today is one of my favorite days of the year because i get to spend the day celebrating the amazing man that my husband is. sorry for the cheese, but it’s true. i really wake up every morning so thankful that i get to be married to such an incredible man.

andrew, thanks for being such a great leader in our marriage and someone who i can truly look up to in so many ways. your love and care for me is something i cherish, and you already know this, but you have made me the happiest girl in the world. i love you forever.

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