things i love

so, there has been this '25 random things...' post phenom going on on facebook. i've avoided it, until now...but i thought in light of celebrating all things about love this week, i'd alter the list a bit and have it be 25 things i love. that way, you can still get to know me a bit-but hear about the things i love...in no particular order
1. i love ryan. duh, right? one specific thing i love about him-his words. the lord knew when he gave him to me b/c words of love-affirmation are like water in a parched land to my soul. i love words. his words-via notes, songs, everyday banter...are priceless...
2. i love will and emily-again, duh, right? one specific thing-their laughter. if i could bottle the sound of their laugh coupled with their eyes when they light up while laughing and their cheeks all puffy from laughing-i'd carry it with me everywhere showing everyone how amazing this was!!
3. i love architecture. design. anything that has to do with it-observing students forming their ideas in model form, walking down an old road with craftsman style/bungalow style homes (pasadena makes my head spin-i literal get dizzy). modern, vintage, the process of, interior, colors, metal and wood that make and idea take form-i LOVE design/architecture. i wish i didn't suck at math-i'd seriously go to school for design.
4. i love coffee. in a mug. in the morning-or actually anytime i can have it really. i love coffee with friends, alone curled up in the couch, at alta, from peets, the way my dad makes it..i love it.
5. i love to run. i wish i ran more, but i love it and hope to one day have the time to train for a 1/2 or full marathon.
6. i love hosting. i love having people in my home to cook for, to make coffee for, to have then sit and to care for them. i love to host.
7. i love our home. we live in a dorm with 200+ college students. since 2001. we might be crazy. however, the conversations we get to be apart of, the journey we participate in is heavenly. i love our home. i heart hart!!!
8. i love books. i love bookshelves full of books. i want (and actually need) bookshelves and want to have a room or den in my home that is nothing but books, a rug, endtable, lamp and a chair or two just devoted to reading. (i'm currently reading authentic faith by gary thomas.)
9. i love karaoke. sort of secretly. (i guess not so secret anymore!) i actually have only done it twice and sang the same song both times-a duet with ryan-endless love. i have to say in all sincerity...we rock it!
10. i love recycling. i love looking at something and figuring out another purpose for it, whether it's actually going with the kids and showing them how to recycle, or seeing a gift box or bag and turning it into a card, making a piece of furniture into another piece of furniture entirely different...
11. i love italian food. well...i also love mexican and japanese. but i love italian. creamy lemon shrimp from roman cucina is by far the best italian meal i've ever experienced next to the baked mushroom ravioli appetizer dish at maggianos. oh-maggianos has the best tirimisu around.
12. i love magazines. real simple-US (my guilty pleasure!)-any mag on design or home ideas...
13. i love garage sale-ing. i really only go once a year, but i LOVE it.
14. i love learning. i hope once i am done with grad school to re-read all my books at a MUCH slower pace and re-learn all that i learned.
15. i love photography. i'm figuring out digital. i'm used to SLR. i love developing my own film-oh, i love that process!! i love the dark room. i'd love my own someday...
16. i love spiritual direction. i love being the one with whom someone trusts their story with and that they invite me to pray with them on their sacred journey with Jesus. What an honor. And, I love going to spiritual direction and seeing through their eyes a whole other way to discern the who, what, when, where of God in my life.
17. i love god the father, jesus the son and the holy spirit. i love learning that they each have a specific role, yet are all love. that love (to quote my professor) is the change agent. may that love continue to change me into being their image bearer.
18. i love my friends. i love that they have stuck by me and shown me a safe place to be myself, i love going out with my friends, i love their diversity, i love listening to them, crying with them, celebrating life with them. i love them! (you know who you are!)
19. i love shopping. i wish i had money to shop! if i got a huge gift card to shop, i'd immediately go to j.crew, anthropologie, target, the orange circle, ebay, etsy, ikea, pottery barn, restoration hardware, apple store, kate spade, lisa leonard, buffalo exchange, anywhere they sell shoes (i LOVE shoes) and bags (I LOVE bags!)
20. i love what god is doing in my life right now. he is teaching me so many layers of things, it's pretty astounding. i'm learning that the debt we have (mainly from #19, 11 and 12!) that i wish would just go away is there to teach me so many things. but mainly to open to him-open my heart & my mind to where he is at work in this, how to not fill myself up with things, but to go to him with my heart. i love that. i never thought i'd say i love our debt-but i do. because it is taking my focus, my life and turning it to love and showing me to fill myself with him, not things. again, love is changing me.
21. i love family. i love how huge ryan's family is. i love that they are diverse and teach me so many things (especially how to make wontons!). i love that they are chinese. i love visiting their relatives and hearing their laughter and eating their amazing food. i love my very small family (and i still miss my grandma...everyday...) and hanging out with them, going on walks with my mom, watching my sister knit, watching football with my dad...i love my family.
22. i love to sing. not by myself. i break out in sweat and loose the feeling in my arms down to my hands when i have to sing by myself...i love to sing & harmonize
23. i love my laptop.
24. i love our small little home and can't believe that we might actually move from this home in four months. sigh...
25. what could possibly be the last thing i love? is there is end to love!!?? NO!! so...what could it be...i love...being in nature. listening to birds. laying under a tree and staring up at the leaves. i love the deschutes river in bend and if that was my backyard, it'd be a slice of heaven on earth. i love the ocean, i love the mountains, i love redwood trees, i love the colors of nature...i love nature.

okay...i'm very sure i'm forgetting something i love and when i post this, i'll remember it! but i have my two loves waking up now, so i'll go love them!