"Most" Posts of 2013

Sarah over at Amongst Lovely Things (please go check out her blog she has the darnest kids   (including baby twins) and is a great photographer) is hosting a link up of the "most" posts in 2013.  I personally really enjoy end of the year post that link back to posts throughout the year and we all know I am a sucker for link-ups.  Hope you enjoy looking back with me at the "most" posts of 2013. 

Post with the most clicks

I am not really sure why but my post with the most clicks is my "God in Austria: Introduction" post.  It makes me realize that I want  to write more posts about my trips and life in Austria. 

  
Post with the most comments

Its a tie for most comments.  The Not Alone Series Introduction and the What I Wore Sunday (Vol. 13).  Why that particular WIWS I will never know.  

Post with the best picture

Really you are going to ask me this? This was so hard to pick between and I was able to narrow it down to two.  The first is the picture that I say in the post is my favorite of my roommate in this What I Wore Sunday post.  Isn't she just beautiful?! And then the second one I would have to say is from the post about one of my best friend's wedding which I was a bridesmaid for.  The picture we sent to her now husband before the ceremony has to be a favorite. 

Post that was hardest to write

Ok this one is really hard because if it is hard to write I tend to just not write it.  I am very adamant that this blog is not a journal and thus my heart and intense intimate thoughts aren't smeared all over the blogsphere.  Despite that I would say there are alot of my Not Alone Series posts that were challenging to write so that I didn't smear my heart all over the internet but I still wanted to to encourage woman and let them know they are not alone.  Some posts were easier than others but some of them were darn hard. 

Post that was your personal favorite (not your readers' favorite- your favorite)

Another double.  How can you pick just one.  The first one is less about the post and more about the crazy excitement that I know existed while writing it.  That would be my post right before we left for the airport to travel to Haiti.  Ignore the crappy picture and know that there was so much excitement getting ready to begin another adventure to Haiti.  God is so good to me. 

And the second one is just an honest Not Alone Series Post about settling or the lack there of.  Go over and tell me if you agree that it ranks up in the favorites. 

I hope you enjoyed looking back at 2013 with me.  I will also be doing a little update to my 13 books in 2013 and I look forward to another year of writing and reading here in the blog world.  

Five Favorites

To put a little bit of a theme to Five Favorites this week I decided to do five of my favorites that you might not know.  Things that don't typically come up in bloggy conversation but in fact are some of my most favorite things.

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One.

Gilmore Girls. My all time favorite show.  I own all seven seasons and have watched them all many times.  I feel like the characters are my friend.  There is premarital sex and it drives me nuts because "oh my God" is said often but without trying to be relativistic it isn't bad compared to most junk on TV.  And yes I might have a Gilmore Girls t-shirt and poster and yes I find it ironic that I went to Gilmour Academy for high school so I am a "Gilmour Girl" myself.

Two.

Coffee. Ok maybe you do know about that one but I still really like the nector of gold.

Three.

My pajama pants. I am very particular about the pajamas I like. I don't like flannel or fleece but instead like fabric that can stretch.  I like it big enough that I don't feel like I have rolls over the waist band but not so huge that I am swimming.  I normally wear pants unless I am sleeping in an un-AC-ed house during the summer than shorts are my best friend.   Oh and I don't like to wear yoga pants or other pants deemed sweatpants to bed.  I like to wear sleep pants to sleep.  Ok got it.  Yeah I know, random.  And no I am not showing you a picture of my overstuffed pajama drawer.

Four. 

Red Velvet Cake. Another random.  I don't know why when I think of five favorites that wouldn't typically come up I think of Red Velvet Cake.  I couldn't tell you why I Iike it so much.  Maybe it is the cream cheese frosting normally paired with it.  Either way, Red Velvet Cake is where it is at. (Should Red Velvet Cake be capitalized?  I can't figure out if it is a proper name or not.)

Five. 

Sound of Music.  I find it only fitting that I end a few of my favorite things posts with the movie that started "a few of my favorite things".  This movie is by far one of my favorite movies, it is my moms favorite movie and also my grandmas.  When my Goddaughter was only a few weeks old I sat with her on the couch when it was on abc family in order to ensure that she was introduced to it from a very young age.  The story line is heartwarming, the spiritual truths and insights are profound, the history that sticks with you is irreplaceable, and the singing always brings a smile to your face.  When I lived in Austria for four months as part of a study abroad program of course I had to see some of the sights in Salzburg....twice

The Church where Caption and Maria marry in the movie. 

The gazebo.

The steps on which they hop up and down singing. 

Ahh now I am dreaming of my semester in Europe.  I look forward to reading all of your favorites!

"God in Austria"---Introduction

I am so excited to start a post series about my semester in Austria.  I lived in Austria for four months as a student at Franciscan in Fall of 2010.  The Austria program at Franciscan is excellent   Unlike most other Universities, the study aboard program doesn't just send their students to another university for a semester but has created something more like a satellite campus two hours outside of Vienna with the kind of administration and teachers we are used to at a passionately Catholic university.

The place the students stay is a 14th century Carthusian monastery.   The story of how the program came to be is completely divine.  Fr. Mike Scanlan, the president of the University at the time, was looking for a place to send students to study abroad looking particularly in Assisi or Rome in order to dig deep roots in the Franciscan and Catholic tradition. Everything kept coming up short.  He was at a wedding, talking with someone and the man started talking about a architect he knew who had just finished restoring a 14th century Carthusian monastery.  He had plans for it to be a hotel in the summer but wanted a good Catholic school to use it during the school year.  Fr. Mike flew over and the rest is history.  For over 10 years about 100 students have been crossing the Atlantic ocean each semester to embark on a semester of adventures.

The monastery, affectionately known as the Kartause is gorgeous.

Yeap I lived there, for four months.  I know blessed.

Austria is known around here as such a time of spiritual growth and, well, alot of beer (when in Austria live as the Austrians do).  If you missed the video the first time, this video says so much about the experience for so many students.

Come back for the next part about my week in Ireland.

Live joy.