My Favorite Things

“Raindrops on Roses

And Whiskers on Kittens

Bright, Copper Kettles

And Warm Woolen Mittens

Brown Paper Packages all tied up with Strings

These are a Few of my Favorite Things”

                                                          

Anyone remember this song from the Sound of Music? This is one of my favorites along with Edelweiss and I Have Confidence. Since my last post was a little depressing (ok it was really depressing), I have declared that there will be no more negativity. No more!! It has been banished from the depths of this blog never to be seen again. It has been spoken (written) by the Great and Powerful Christa and shall be so. I’m done declaring now, sorry.  Moving on, as the title of this blog states, this post is about my favorite things. So when the dog bites, when the bee stings, and when I’m feeling sad…what makes me better? Glad you asked. Without further delay, here is a list of my top five favorite things…
                     

To start it off, I LOVE music. If you have known me for any amount of time, you know that music is what makes my heart beat. Without music in my life, I would not what to do. I honestly would go into a serious state of depression if I couldn’t hear or sign another note of music. My favorite type of music is A Capella. It has always been since I can remember; however, A Capella cannot provide what my first music love, the piano, can. Why? I honestly don’t know but I can surmise. It might be because when I listen to A Capella music I sit back and let the tones flood over me. When I’m stressed, I want to relax but can’t relax enough to let go. Understand? No, well then we will leave at I don’t know. With that being said, one of my favorite things is hearing a simple solo with only a piano background. My favorites are Never Walk Alone by Brian Free, Joseph’s Lullaby by Mercy Me, and God’s Been Good by Legacy Five. There’s just something about it that calms me and forces me to relax and take a big breath. Mmmm….I can just hear it now……

My second favorite thing is Southern Gospel Quartet music. Yes sir or ma’am (I’m not prejudice)! I love the sounds of the four part harmony of a good-old quartet. Tenor, lead, baritone, and bass…must admit my favorite quartet part is tenor. All-time favorite tenor is a tie between Brian Free and David Phelps. Getting off the rabbit trail, quartet music provides me with the seamless division of harmony that I need to survive. Wow!! I just blew my own mind…seamless division. Moving on, quartet music can uplift my soul in many ways and I am always up to listening to it. It’s just one of my favorite things.

My third favorite thing is a child’s hug. I teach 3-5 year olds every Wednesday night at church and have grown to love and know each and every one of them. They are so cute and say the funniest things. When I first started, two years ago, I wanted to become so close to them that they would come up and hug me at church without me asking. It took a little time but it has now become a “regular” treat. They can cheer me up any day and anytime.

My fourth favorite thing is the adrenaline rush you get after you finish reading a thriller. The ones were you have to take more than one deep breath afterwards to calm your heartbeat. Some people ride roller coasters; I read books. My favorite thriller author is Ted Dekker. I became a huge fan of his since I read House. My favorite thriller book is Thr3e by (you guessed it) Ted Dekker. If you have never read it, stop reading this blog and go out and get it now! It’s that awesome. Trust me. Have I ever led you wrong?

*Warning!! Single girl moment up ahead**

My fifth favorite thing is looking at handsome guys pictures. It doesn’t matter if they are a movie star, musician, or athlete. I love looking at them all. Their hair and eyes…..David Beckham. Oh sorry, their hair and eyes and smile and fashion sense………………….David Beckham. Oh, sorry again. Where was I? Oh David Beckham…no, no, no I left off at fashion sense. I just love a well dressed fellow who knows that purple doesn’t go with red or that 90’s sweater went out of style in the 70’s. I especially love a guy that dresses in a suit. Yes ladies, a guy in a suit is just totally awesome…………………David Beckham. Stop it Christa!!! He’s married. Ok………….what about him?

Or him?

Or him?

You can’t bottle up handsome and sell it ladies sorry.

That wraps up my top five favorite things. I hope you enjoyed reading my first “No More Negativity” blog post. In other news, next week’s forecast has a 95% chance of another Perfect Man Builder 2012 blog post, so if you liked that one, click the little follow button in the sidebar and you’ll be the first to know when it’s up. Comment on this post or on my Facebook link and tell me your top 5 favorite things.

The End….for now ;-)

Be Happy Being Single.

Always Remember to Keep Singing in the Rain.

Christa

My Wedding

Over the past month or so, I have had quite a few dreams about weddings, mine or someone else’s. It might be because my little brother Joel got engaged to a wonderful girl last week. I’ve known about this forever. They are the perfect match for each other and I am really excited to gain a new sister (in-law). I’ve always prayed for a sister but my parents were not inclined to have another child so I had to wait many years. I know the wait will be worth it J Now that the time has come for them to plan their wedding, it will be my first time as a bridesmaid. I have been involved in many weddings as the Guest Book Attendant and Backstage Helper (for lack of a better term) but never in the semi-forefront. It will be interesting this time and exciting. I am so glad for the opportunity and I can’t to find out what my dress will look like. The thing I most hate about weddings is the critiques of the color choices and the dresses. Granted some brides don’t have the best taste but it’s their wedding and whatever they want to do they can do. This is the one and only time that I will give my opinion only when asked because that’s the way I would want to be treated. When you are a bride, the last thing you want is unsolicited advice. I will try my best to not be a bridezilla but it’s almost impossible to please everybody. Let me take you on a journey down Future Boulevard past Engagement Circle. Take a right at Wedding Avenue and you’ll see a church where a glorious wedding is taking place. Open the doors and let’s begin…

The Dress:

Number one: I do not want a traditional dress. Number two: I do not want to be forced to buy a dress that is ugly because of my full(er) figure. I am a plus size so I do realize that my choices could be limited but I am hoping to cut down a lot before the wedding. I joined a gym last week. I want to look good at my wedding and do not want to regret that I could have lost more weight. I want to be happy with myself. I have always wanted a ball gown but since ball gowns can make bigger people look bigger I have changed my opinion and would love an A-line gown. A-line gowns are the best at fitting just about any size of girl. I would really love a Southern-ball style dress with ruffles and bows. I would love something that Scarlett O’Hara would wear but just a bit more modest. Here’s a picture of what I would like for a dress and veil….

As I said, it’s not going to be your typical wedding dress as I hate traditional wedding dresses. Almost every wedding I’ve went to the bride has the standard silk skirt and bodice with beading and the lace “jacket” with some beading. To me that is boring. A unique dress might cost more but to me it’s worth it. Oh, yes I am wearing a hat.

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen:

I would love a Christmas wedding and have two ideas for colors: red, black, and silver or blue, silver, and white. I have yet to decide on one idea because (news flash) I’m not even engaged yet. However, I do know a rough idea of what I would like the bridesmaids to wear. Here’s a snapshot…

Do you like? I would also love for the bridesmaids to wear hats. If you know me at all, you know I love hats!! I am going to have a special request in my invitation that all the women wear hats. I think it will turn out great and it will put a unique spin on the wedding. I would also love my groomsmen and groom to wear top hats but that might be another story. I would love for my groom to surprise me with his outfit as I am going to surprise him with mine. So that would mean he would have to choose the groomsmen attire as well. Now this does depend if he has a sense of style or not but we’ll get to that later.

Music:

Yes I have most of music planned out. I would love to open with God’s Been Good by Legacy Five. Why? Because I think that it typifies my story and I know that’s what I will feel like on that day. Listen to it. It’s very good…

The bridesmaids would then walk down to an arrangement of A Dream is A Wish Your Heart Makes. Why? It’s my favorite Disney song and I absolutely love the story of Cinderella. I would love to have a classical guitarist play it but we will have to see…

I would walk down to Long Ago and Far Away. If you’ve never heard it before here it is…

Lovely isn’t it?? Then during the lighting of the unity candle or pouring of the sand or whatever we choose I would love to have So This is Love from Disney’s Cinderella played (not so sure about this song but let’s just go with it). Again, if you never heard it….

Then we would walk back to There’s A Place Called Home. This is from Christmas Carol the Musical and I melted the first time I heard it. Never heard of it before? Here you go….

Did you see why I melted now? I know I’m a hopeless romantic.

Odds and Ends:

For my bouquet I would love to have red roses and white lilies or white roses and blue lilies. They look so beautiful together and it would go well with both of my color choices. At the reception, I would love to have a CD or two or three of old love songs (carefully chosen by me and my groom) playing. They would be songs that mean something to us both. I would also love to have a magician at the reception. Can you imagine the entrance he could work out for us?! That would be pure awesomeness. The cake would be spectacular and I feel in love with this cake when I first saw it. It’s so beautiful.

Well, thanks for going on a trip with me down Future Boulevard. I hope someday that all my “dreams” will come true and I know that God, my family, and my friends will be there with me throughout the whole thing. 

Until then,

Be happy being single

Always remember to keep singing in the rain

Christa