Thoughts and Ramblings

This is one organization/cause I hope all you guys get a chance to check out! Movement121 (FB and website) is co-founded by a good friend of ours, and we love what they’re all about as a company!

Movement121 is a social innovation company whose vision is to transform the lives of 1,000,000 people trapped in unfathomable poverty to become self-sustaining. The company mission is to activate a movement to grow legacy-changing businesses in the poorest regions of the world through the purchase of CAUSEGEAR® and CAUSEWEAR®. Powered by fair trade, micro-investment and one to one® relationships, consumers become world-changers, and the poorest of the poor become self-sustaining.

They just got their first shipment of products in from India, and they’re currently for sale on their website! Each product has a tag that shows the individual that made this bag, who is also the individual that you will be supporting by purchasing that bag. They’re on sale here if you’re interested in picking one up!

Even if these bags aren’t for you, please “like” them on Facebook or reblog this post to get the word out about these guys, we really believe that that they’re making a difference for those in need!

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Psalm 31

God, what do you want from me? I’m praying that I’m doing this right. Everything in front of me is so unclear.

In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
   let me never be put to shame;
   deliver me in your righteousness.
Turn your ear to me,
   come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress to save me.
Since you are my rock and my fortress,
   for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

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Spring is here!

On the sidewalk outside of Tim’s place in Jersey. Flickr.

I haven’t posted here in forever! But since we’ve been using the ramonontour.tumblr.com blog as more of a band update blog (it’s been listed as our band blog in Caleb’s interview with Urbana and such), I wanted to keep that one more “official” and keep my more personal/random/embarrassing posts here :)

I’m officially homesick! I love the band and being on the road…but I miss the comforts of home and the people (Texas&Cali). After hanging with Caleb and Val in NYC this weekend and the last, I realized how much I miss joking around about the past, reliving embarrassing moments, and talking about people we used to know and where they are now.

At the suggestion of the bandmates, I’ve started picking up some reading in my free time (which is almost all my time). I’ve been REALLY enjoying Tim Keller’s “The Meaning of Marriage”. Obviously, I’m single and marriage isn’t going to happen any time soon, but it’s still been a really encouraging read and I’ve found myself really challenged in my views of dating/marriage. I think it’d be a good read for anyone who’s interested to see what the bible says about all of that!

Finally had a chance to update my playlist lately too; GOTYE, Lights, Fun., The Script. I love good music.

In Tim’s backyard…as you can tell I don’t go very far from the house these days…Flickr

Things I’ve been craving/missing lately:
- SoCal weather
- Hitting the beach
- Texas comfort food (spring creek bbq, pluckers, rudys bbq)
- Playing basketball! or football…or biking…ugh i just miss being relatively healthy
- Good, hole-in-the-wall mexican food (tapatia ta%!&#($*#)ia anyone?)

Just bought my ticket back to SoCal :) May 12th can’t come fast enough!

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sushigirl:

embers-and-arias:

Cover of Safe and Sound (orig. Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars)

we’ve been wanting to cover this one for the past few weeks and finally got a free afternoon/evening yesterday to make some recording magic happen! this is definitely our most complex video so far since we wanted to layer on harmonies and add percussion (epic guitar drum haha). funnn :)

also got to play around more with final cut pro with the multiple screens and text at the bottom. let us know what you think!

anyways, if you haven’t heard this song before, definitely check out the original, it’s on the upcoming hunger games movie soundtrack. <1 month until hunger games comes out wooo!

our latest cover — it’s the song i posted the MV for a few posts ago, we clearly needed to make our own cover of it..

My friend Joanne doing a beautiful cover of the new Taylor Swift song being featured in the Hunger Games movie! Follow their tumblr embers-and-arias, they have some great stuff!

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awesomepeoplehangingouttogether:

Donald Glover and Aubrey Plaza

Two of the reasons why NBC is comedy king.

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Maps and Raps: Which Bike is Best? Yellow Bike.

mapsandraps:

(Source: http://flickr.com/photos/gandalfcunningham)

Back in elementary when all the girls gushed about how dreamy Hanson was (is that still happening?), I loved spending afternoons on my bike, gliding down the block and perfecting the graceful loop up a driveway and back down. My…

(Source: mapsandraps)

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ramonontour.tumblr.com <- my blog of everything going with me on the road!

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Ah geez, just when things start to feel a bit hopeless, does God come through in a big way.

It’s no secret that post-college life has been a struggle, especially in finding a comfort level with where you are, what you’re doing, and who you’re spending time with (or usually, NOT with).

I’ve started to realize that the key is that we’re not supposed to find that level of comfort, but that we should be expecting a certain level of discomfort that comes with the journey we’re on.

Jesus promised us hope and salvation. He also said that we’d face various trials of many kinds. It’s a given in our walks with God that we will suffer and we’ll have to endure many pains.

I was floored when I realized that truth in my life. I’d been wondering, “what the heck is going on, why is this or that happening, or when am I going to have order again in my life”, when really I should have been reminding myself “hey, God told us to expect this, but He’s got it under control, trust”.

Then when you get there, you start to expect the suffering, the pain, and the hardships. Your mind starts cataloguing these events, and you start mentally check-listing them. Loneliness, check. Jealousy, check. Frustration, check.

You could drown in those kind of thoughts, sucked under by all the negativity that your mind collects.

But God doesn’t just say, “hey, its going to be bad, good luck, see you in heaven”. He loves, provides, and gives us strength when we need it, even though we don’t deserve it.

Which brings me to Monday, 1/16/12. This post is really a long, round-about way to say thank you God for all the people in my life. Thank you that you’ve surrounded me with caring brothers and sisters that, though we don’t get to see each other much anymore, are still truly with me in spirit and in prayer. Thank you for showing me that even when I’m being dumb and feeling like I’m pretty alone out here, that there are brothers and sisters that are continually there to support me.

God is good, He is SO good. To summarize it for myself; expect trials, don’t dwell on the bad, and focus on the good that God so plentifully provides.

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