I met my friend Keely when I went to Uganda and she was the trip photographer. From the get-go it was crystal clear that Keely is one of those people who comes equipped with an extra measure of awesome. She is a blast and a half – wise beyond her years and hysterically funny. She can have a super-deep conversation or she can quote “30 Rock.” She has style for days. And I love her to pieces.

So when Keely emailed me last week to tell me that she was going to be in Birmingham for Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God concert (her hubby is a musician on the tour), I was tickled to death. And I would say I cleared the calendar so that I could go to the concert, but the thing of it is that there was nothing on my calendar. Just a big ole bunch of white space. And maybe a short grocery list. But even still, I wouldn’t have missed Keely + concert time for the world, EVEN IF I THAT MEANT I HAD TO CANCEL MY NON-EXISTENT PLANS.

That’s what you call a commitment to friendship, people.

The concert was last night at a local church, so late yesterday afternoon I picked up Keely, and we hopped down the road (NOT LITERALLY, SILLY) to a little Mexican place so that we could eat chips and salsa and drink tea and visit. We blazed through about 75 topics over the course of an hour, and then we headed back to the church so that we’d be there in time for all the purty singing. We hung out for a little bit with a couple of Compassion buddies before the show, and while we were talking I snapped a few pictures of Keely’s accessories because 1) I am just that annoying and 2) I wanted to document her sassy style.

Oh, if I could count the number of times I’d pinned a large flower to my purse – well, I’d have to count all the way up to zero.

And I don’t know if y’all can see the cute necklace or not, but it’s a vintage-looking pendant with a “K” on it.

SASSY.

The boots, quite frankly, were a revelation.

And then – AND THEN – right before we walked to our seats, Keely took the big flower off of her purse and put it on our sweater.

You know, I don’t know that I’ve ever had the fashion wherewithal to MOVE AN ACCESSORY AROUND. The only thing that comes to mind is when I’m getting ready to grocery shop and I take a clippy off of my purse strap so that I can put it ON MY HEAD and get my bangs out of my face.

Or maybe when I was in the 10th grade and used a ponytail holder to tie the bottom of my t-shirt over on the side JUST LIKE I LIKED IT.

Not really the same thing as a kicky flower, is it?

The concert was absolutely wonderful – sort of heartbreakingly worshipful, really – and if the tour is going to be anywhere near you, you should totally go. If you’re not familiar with the Behold the Lamb of God CD, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you can’t make it to a show this year, it’s worth the $10 (or whatever) to share this music with your family. It tells the story of Jesus throughout the whole Bible – Old and New Testaments – and it’s just an incredible way to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to find a sassy scarf so that I can feel all jaunty and breezy as I plow through some work stuff today. I would attach a snazzy flower to my sweater, but unfortunately I’m fresh out of snazzy flowers. Maybe I should just walk outside and find a sprig of holly. But that might be a little weird. And also prickly.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!

p.s. Several of y’all commented or emailed me to ask if I could share my notes from Beth Moore’s session on discernment at Deeper Still in OKC last weekend, so I wanted to let you know that I posted them over at AllAccess. Hope they’re helpful to you!

So for the last several years I’ve have had more fun! just more fun! so much fun! hosting a bloggy Christmas Tour of Homes. Honestly, the Tour feels like a holiday tradition to me; I love getting my house ready for Christmas, posting pictures on my blawg and then gathering ’round the warm glow of my computer monitor so that I can look at everybody else’s decorations. AND I DON’T EVEN HAVE TO DRIVE ANYWHERE.

Earlier this summer I started thinking about the whys and wherefores of this year’s tour, and the more I thought about it, the more I kept coming to the same conclusion: it’s time to pass ye olde bloggy torch. It’s not that I don’t love decorating my house, because I do. It’s not that I don’t love hosting the tour, because I do. I love the whole kit and kaboodle. But the problem is that I’m not very, um, creative. My house looks exactly the same every single year, and I just felt like the whole decorate-your-house-for-Christmas thing might be more fun if it was in the hands of a super-creative, gifted-at-decorating person.

Well.

Not too long after I’d decided that some torch passing was in order, I found myself sitting in a hotel room in Charlotte with bunch of bloggy friends. One of those friends was The Nester. And I love The Nester. She inspired me to paint my kitchen cabinets AND to make no-sew drapes for my kitchen windows. She is laid-back and approachable and real and wonderful. Anyway, while we were sitting in that hotel room, the subject of the Christmas Tour came up. I mentioned that I had been thinking about changing the format or handing it off to someone else. And then I looked over at Nester and thought Well clearly she should be the person hosting it, MY WORD.

Long story a little bit longer: Nester has oh-so-graciously agreed to take over the hosting duties. I AM THRILLED TO PIECES. Oh, I’ll still participate in the tour and then sit around the warm glow of my monitor and look at all of your houses, but Nester is going to run the show. And it’ll be fabulous.

I mean, even her blog button is a delight.

So mark your calendars, girls. December 14th. A new and improved Christmas Tour-o-Homes. I can’t wait.

And I hope I’ll see you there.

I knew deep down in my butter-clogged heart of hearts that we would have some mighty fine food while we were at the ranch. So when Ree arrived at The Lodge on Tuesday night with this tray – and about five others – I knew we were in for a treat.

Oh my mercy. Were we ever. Because that’s a big bag of avocados, my friends.

Avocados are one of my love languages. Along with tomatoes and black beans and sweet potatoes and steak and do you really want me to finish this list? Because it could take awhile.

So. Here’s the skinny about the food (OH, I am loaded with punny lameness today).

Monday night we ate a bunch of appetizers because we had a LOT of TV to watch and a big meal would have taken away from our TV time. And let me just tell you: we did some TALKIN’ BACK to the TV. I was especially vocal, mainly because I can’t seem to shake the feeling that if I just talk loudly enough, I can convince the people on the screen to listen to me. Please remember that I have never claimed to be rational and/or even remotely normal.

Ree brought us some cream cheese-stuffed jalapeños that were wrapped in bacon, and we WIPED THEM OUT. I think there were two left the next morning. And I think there were zero left after we’d been awake about four minutes. So we had the jalapeños and some really great salsa and tortilla chips and mashed avocado with chopped tomatoes on top and a whole bunch of cheese. It was perfect.

Tuesday at lunch we warmed up a pasta dish that Ree brought us Monday. I don’t know if the recipe is on her blog or not, but it was pasta shells, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini and yellow squash COVERED UP with the most delicious white sauce I have ever eaten. Somehow it managed to be hearty and light all at the same time. Shannon and I talked about it the whole time we were eating. And I know that it was totally healthy because hello? Did you see all those vegetables I just mentioned?

Since Melanie and Shannon have already written about Tuesday night’s supper, I’ll just add this: it was one of the most fun meals of my life – one of those times when the people and the conversation and the food were a happy, happy blend. The only thing that would have made it better is if all of our husbands could have been there. However, Marlboro Man was a mighty good sport to hang in there with us – even though he was outnumbered four to one – and he didn’t seem the least bit fazed by the way Mel and I TALK VERY LOUDLY AT THE SAME TIME when we’re together.

(By the way, Mel and I met Shannon’s hubby for the first time Sunday night, and we were crazy about him, too. The three of us talked about SEC and Big 12 football for about two hours, and I just think that’s the most fun – when you meet a friend’s husband and think oh, y’all TOTALLY belong together. Makes me love my friends even more when I get to know their sweet husbands.)

(Anyway. Where was I? Something about supper?)

Okay. Pictures. I only have a few because I was very busy with all the eating and all the talking.

This is officially the first time I’ve posted a picture of a raw slab of beef on my blog, but I just think that when you see butter slathered on top of meat, you need to document it. Treasure the moment. Preserve it forever and always so that future generations can testify to the goodness of butter and beef together. Amen.

Bready bread bread. Filled with all manner of buttery breadish deliciousness.

And here is The Best Corn I Have Ever Eaten In My Whole Life, And That Is Saying Something Because I Have Put Away Some Corn In My Time. I know the picture is blurry. I think it’s because my hands were a little shaky in the midst of so much corn-related excitement.

The whole meal was so stinkin’ good. And the company was even better. We all had some OPINIONS. OH-PIN-YUNS. So much fun.

And do you know what I really, really miss about The Lodge today now that I’m safe and sound and sitting in my pajamas back home in Alabama? Besides all the fun, funny friends, of course?

This refrigerated drawer.

I really been trying to cut back on my Diet Coke consumption, but every single time we opened this drawer, I could have sworn that I heard angels sing.

Peppy, caffeinated angels.

With cartons of Land O’ Lakes butter in their hands.

Yesterday Melanie, Shannon and I embarked on a little road trip to visit Ree. Even though the four of us have emailed back and forth and forth and back for what seems like forever, we’ve never gotten to sit down and hang out and talk nonstop and eat bacon. So yesterday we hopped in the car, drove out to the middle of nowhere, turned right and left and left and right and then drove a bunch more miles. Then we waited for a horse to cross the road. And then we drove a little farther. And when we finally caught our first glance of this wide expanse of land, we gasped.

Seriously. I still have not found the words to describe how gorgeous it is. But when I find the words, I will share them.

Anyway.

Last night Ree told us that we were going to get up early today, “work cattle” and maybe even ride a horse if we wanted to. Melanie was all about some horseback riding, but since the last time I rode a horse my forehead had an unfortunate mishap with a tree limb, I decided that I’d pass on the horse-related activity. Shannon agreed. So we both woke up this morning after Melanie left to make her acquaintance with Peso The Wonder Horse, and we donned our ranch-y shirts and blue jeans. While we hummed “Oklahoma.”

Because cliches are important to us.

Oh, and I should also tell you that last night, when one of Ree’s daughters told Melanie that she was going to be riding Peso today, I misheard the horse’s name as “Queso” and spent the better part of twelve hours absolutely delighted that Melanie was going to get to ride a horse named Cheese.

If I ever write a book set in the Wild West, I think that will be my title: A Horse Named Cheese.

Anyway, Ree picked up Shannon and me around 6:30 this morning, and we rode out to a pasture where there were a lot of cowboys and lo, even more cows. As soon as I saw Melanie I knew that her horseback riding experience had left an indelible imprint on, well, the top half of her legs, but she perked up when she realized that I had her sunglasses with me (I’d impulsively picked them up on my way out the door because it was so stinkin’ bright outside). Apparently even cowgirls need their tortoiseshell Jackie O shades.

For the next couple of hours we watched the cowboys (and Missy!) brand and vaccinate calves. We tried to stay out of the way and in the blessed shade, but the whole process really was fascinating. Those men work HARD – I mean, they essentially wrestled livestock for the better part of the morning, and it was so evident within the first five minutes that they absolutely love what they do. It was hot and they were covered from head-to-toe in I-don’t-even-want-to-think-about-what, but they were a happy bunch. So were the kids. And everybody was so nice to us, especially considering that my obnoxiously large sunglasses coupled with my Adidas tennis shoes practically screamed, “HELLO! I AM A TOURIST FROM ANOTHER PLANET! I HAVE COME TO WATCH YOU WITH YOUR COWS AND YOUR HORSES IN YOUR PASTURES!”

I tried to take lots of pictures, but let me tell you: it is HARD to take pictures of cows. There’s virtually no shade in the middle of the pasture, so the sun beats down on everything and creates a glare and renders my little point and shoot camera pretty much useless. Plus, cows move. They move a lot. So I have a new level of appreciation for Ree’s photography, because suffice it to say that I didn’t really get the same results that she does.

For example.

Stunning, isn’t it?

Oh, I do have a gift.

There was so much memorable stuff about the morning – the sound of all that cattle, for one thing, because WHO KNEW THAT COWS WERE SO NOISY – but I think what I loved more than anything was just watching how everybody interacted, everybody helped out, and everybody managed to have fun doing some seriously dirty work in the midst of some seriously mind-numbing heat.

And the kids found a baby turtle.

And somebody was maybe a little on the sleepy side when he put on his boots this morning.

And finally: do you think I could fit this little one into my luggage?

Because if so, I’m totally taking him home.

So, internets. Could I interest you in winning one of these?

Because I have a giveaway for the (wireless!) HP Photosmart C6380 All-in-One Printer, Scanner & Copier going on right here.

It just might be your lucky day.

(Edited to add: you have to enter the contest on the giveaway page – so I’m going to close comments to this post. Thanks, y’all!)