While I’m hanging out with my peeps at home, I wanted to let you know about a couple of things.

• I have a new article up at (in)courage. It’s all about the song “There’s A Hole In My Bucket.” Obviously.

• I wrote a new post on the ole Annie Gets Fit blog.

• There is a new video on the Get Fit page- my friend Annie and I are making a bean salsa medley thingy. Very healthy and very tasty. Watch the video HERE and then the recipe is RIGHT HERE. And though there is no cheese in the recipe, there is much talk of cheese. Per usual.

[The other option is to watch the video right here. It's larger and easier to see and I really do want you to try this recipe.]

• Thanks thanks THANKS for your prayers about my foot. It has healed well and I am back to exercising on it. [Not that I HATED having a day off or anything, but I am glad to be back to my workout regime.]

[Things I never planned to say: "glad to be back to my workout regime."]

See y’all tomorrow.

First of all, you people love you some instructional videos. I feel like linen closets near and far are being transformed. Brings a tear to my organizational eye to hear so many of you making strides in folding areas of your life. I salute you, new members of the fold. [Literally.]

I’m so stinkin’ glad y’all liked the video. Cause you have NO.IDEA. how fun I think it is to make those. So. I have some ideas cooking…. I’ll be in touch. We can’t let that flipcam go to waste, now can we?

Now cam we?

[I have a pun guru named Dave. I hope this post, twice punny so far, is making him proud.]

This is my favorite day of the month. The day that I get to post over at (in)courage! This month is about grace and in order to complete the writing assignment, I had to use google. I know. I’m an idiot. CLICK here to read the post. [It's short. Cause I value your time.] And I discuss milkshakes. Seriously. Need I say more?

And just while I’ve been writing this post, I got a comment over at (in)courage from a sweet bloggy friend in Australia. AUSTRALIA, y’all. This world gets tinier every.internet.day. Me likey.

Hope y’all have a great weekend.

[I'd like to make one more play on words, but I don't want it to get overly pun-gent in here.]

ZING!

[My work here is done.]

Confession: I love having my picture taken.

As ridiculous as this statistic is, I’m going to give it to you anyways: I am currently tagged in 512 pictures on facebook. FIVE HUNDRED AND TWELVE. That’s a lot of “say cheese.”

Including this picture- I’m the second from the left in the blue dress. With eight of my beautiful friends.

Seriously. How cute are these girls?

There’s a lot more to this story, over at my bloggy vacation home….. check it out!

(in)courage.me

When my grandmother passed away about a month ago, we were kindly flooded with emails, phone calls, plants, and sweet cards, and food.

Lots and lots of food.

That I am still paying for, in the fatty kind of currency.

And Mama sent tons of thank you notes. I sent a few. A paltry few compared to the piles she had to mail.

But there was this group of women from our church, my mom’s best friends for years and years, who really went above and beyond in their preparation of food for our family.

I know. It’s just food.

But it tasted like love. Like friendship.

So though Mama mailed one to each of them [be ye not concerned, southern women, they did get a proper thank you note as well], this is my thank you note.

Click on over to my bloggy vacation home to read the article dedicated to the wonderful women who loved our family so well that day.

(in)courage.me

A few years ago, my sister Tatum lived in Ghana as a missionary. So in what is considered the most surprising decision my father has ever made, we went to visit her for two weeks.

My only request was that I wanted a souvenir that spoke to me about Ghana and about God. And though it was my first choice, Ghana doesn’t do airbrushed t-shirts or license plates. [I know, I was disappointed too.]

So I bought a ring in Ghana. Adinrka symbols are found throughout the Ghanaian culture, so I researched the symbols and found the exact one. The one that would always point me to God and remind me of Ghana. In a small jewelry store that looked and smelled of 1945, I found that symbol on a silver ring.

To read the rest… head over to my bloggy-vacation home- (in)courage.me.

I am not typically a brave person. I’m just not. You are not going to catch me swimming with sharks or jumping out of planes. I grew up in Georgia, went to college in Georgia, and moved back to my hometown after college. I mean, I didn’t move back in with my parents, so I guess you can give me some courage points for that, right? There are a lot of words people use to describe me, but “brave” and “courageous” are not often used. At least, they didn’t used to be.

To read the rest… head over to my bloggy-vacation home- (in)courage.me.

It’s LAUNCH DAY over at (in)courage!

I cannot WAIT for y’all to read the beautiful posts that are already up. Sheesh. I’m running with some writing big dawgs, that is for sure.

So hop on over to http://www.incourage.me/. And what I find particularly helpful is that there is a place to subscribe to their posts, so you don’t forget. [Especially because, oh I don't know, your blogista here might possibly have a post going up tomorrow.]

Today, I personally have to deal with a lot of things that are full. And some that are empty.

My inbox is full. Time to reply to some of the sweetest blog comments ever. And my friends. And the spam [and by "reply", I mean hitting delete with a scowl on my face because spam? It is of the devil].

My YouBlog queue is full. So it’s time for me to do some post writing. Mainly about you. [As always, you can sign up by emailing me. The queue will only be full for about 9 more minutes. Then empty, and ready for your bloggy self to jump in there.]

My purse is full of receipts. My personal method of finance is, “just don’t look and it will take care of itself”, which, you may already know, is a ridiculously stupid plan. So it’s time to balance ye old checkbook.

The word document that should be full of words is, alas, empty. I’m still learning how to do this freelance writer life thingy, and it comes with its fair share of challenges. Like, oh, maybe, no boss to boss me? And my personal lack of discipline in other areas is spilling over into my writing.

[That's a sentence that will make a mama proud.]

But I’m working on it. Seriously. I am.

We aren’t even going to deal with the parts of my heart that feel full and empty. I only let you see my guts once a week or so, and I still haven’t recovered from Friday’s guts post.

Also empty (praise the Lord!): my laundry basket, the dishwasher, the trash cans, and my DVR. It was a productive Sunday.

So today, I’m continuing the Sunday trend and taking the things that are full and emptying them. I’m also taking that which is empty and *hopefully* filling it.

And probably eating a burrito for dinner.

That’s my Monday.

Amen.

I am TERRIBLE at keeping secrets. Especially ones that are highly awesome. So it has about made. me. lose. it. to keep this from you. But no more…. [somewhere, drums are rolling] ……

I’m so excited about being part of new project called (in)courage! You’ll be hearing more about it soon and it officially launches August 10th at www.incourage.me! So though patience isn’t my greatest strength, I’m excited that you only have to wait until next Monday to see the whole thing explode before your eyes. Explode in the party kind of way, not in the bomb kind of way. You know the difference.

Pretty much, here’s what (in)courage is, in a nut shell. (in)courage is part of the DaySpring company (the Christian branch of Hallmark). But it’s WAY more than that. (in)courage is a place for women of all ages to congregate and communicate. You’ll be encouraged [or (in)couraged if you so desire] and inspired; you can be real, you can be funny or sweet or hurt or whatever. It’s a place where you can be you. And I can be… I? Me? Moi? Whatevs.

(in)courage is a vacation home… for your heart.

A bunch of my favorite bloggy-girls are a part of (in)courage as well, either to write (like me!), or to make products that are GORGEOUS and particularly made for you. [In fact, head back here Friday to see how God used a (in)courage product to speak to my heart.] So there are about 20 of us. And that’s part of the reason I LOVED SheSpeaks- about eight of us (in)courage girls got to hang out (including Jen, who probably sent some of you here- welcome!). And it was SO. FUN.

So now I’m equally excited to be a part of this because I get to work with a bunch of my friends. [If you just can't resist knowing who all is involved, I'll give you a sneak peek here- you'll definitely see some familiar faces. Besides mine. Obviously.]

Right now I’d like to introduce you to one of my friends. Jessica blogs at The Mom Creative. I’m excited to send you her way- please pay her a visit so she can tell you a little more about (in)courage and introduce you to another one of the lovely ladies on the team…

And join us next Monday. Trust me, it’s gonna rule.

Are you (in)?