Open Heaven / River Wild + My Christmas Gift to You

Taken when I went to Jervis Bay, NSW

I have always loved any kind of music that has come out from Hillsong Church. The times that the songs came out or the times that I first heard the songs all represent a different time in my walk with God, and as I've gotten older I have learned more and more what it truly means to worship God. 
With Hillsong Worship specifically, those songs have been best for me to listen to when I am worshipping with other people in church because the meaning of those songs I think are a reflection and prayer that we all have. Hillsong Worship's newest album, Open Heaven / River Wild has emphasized that more than ever for me. 
This current album is my prayer & desire for my life at the moment. Every song on this album touches my heart in a different way. I heard some of the songs live in Sydney when I visited but once I got my hands on the whole album, I was hooked! 
In the last few weeks that I've been playing the album on my phone, I have been cycling through the songs over and over again and still have not gotten tired of them. Of course, the top tracks & the singles off the album are "O Praise the Name," "Open Heaven (River Wild)," "Transfiguration," "Love on the Line," and "One Thing." However, I also recommend listening to all of the songs if you get the chance. 
There are certain songs that I like more than others of course, but for whatever reason I love the bridge of pretty much every song on the album. There are 12 songs on the album. Some of my favorites: 
"Remember love,  Remember mercy,  Christ before me,  Christ behind me
Your love & kindness Has never failed me Christ before me,  Christ behind me"  - Jesus I Need You
"There'll be a season For joy & weeping In everything our God is faithful
His arms are open I will come running Now & always our God is faithful" - Faithfulness
"I'm covered by your love, In searching in my heart Forever I am found in You, my God
My feet have wandered far, But now I'm where you are Forever I am found in You, my God" - Never Forsaken
I could honestly go into detail about each song and talk specifically about why I love it so much. Musically, the songs are not very complicated, but they are also not stripped down by any means. Lyrically, they are beautiful. If they're not a prayer, they are a really great reminder of God's power and place in our lives. I have gone through a couple times where I was driving and sobbing to these songs as I cried out to God in desperation for some peace and praying what these songs are praying for myself. 
And now, I want to share the blessing of these songs of worship with you this Christmas!  I have partnered with Hillsong Worship and Capitol Christian Music Group to give away a copy of this album to share with you in the hopes & prayers that you would be just as blessed by this music as I have been. 
Just enter the giveaway using the Gleam platform below and/or go to my Instagram @krisellerhiax and go to the photo just like this one to enter! Depending on when you see this post the photo may or may not already be posted so just keep an eye out for it! The giveaway will end on Christmas eve right before it hits midnight on Christmas, and I will choose a winner either right on Christmas day or the day after, depending on how busy I get with my family. 
This will most likely be my only post this week because I will be preparing for Christmas & prepping the blog for a renewal in 2016, so Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you enjoy your time with your loved ones and if you decide to enter my giveaway with Hillsong, good luck! I pray that you are as blessed as I have been by this album. 
"Open Heaven / River Wild" Christmas Giveaway

New Music with Nichole Nordeman + a Giveaway!

Something that I've been doing lately is trying to listen to more Christian artists. Now before you assume that I'm one of those Christians who think that secular music is of the devil, I don't think that. In fact, I enjoy secular music. I don't enjoy all of it, especially a lot of what is mainstream today, but I do like listening to it. 
The point is, I've been trying to be more intentional with the music I'm listening to and trying to limit listening to secular music mostly for the messages that a lot of them have. I do still listen to it, just not as much as I usually do. 

Enter: Nichole Nordeman. 
Capitol Christian Music Group, the same record label that manages artists such as Kari Jobe, Hillsong, and Jeremy Camp, reached out to me and introduced me to Nichole Nordeman.  She's a Christian artist who has been in the industry for a while and she released her first album in 10 years just recently, entitled The Unmaking. It's a relatively short album with only 6 songs so they're nice to listen to in the car for short trips. I play her songs on the way to school in the morning. 
I will say first that I'm pretty picky with Christian music that I listen to. When I listen to Christian music or partake in any kind of Christian media, it is very easy for the content to be very cheesy and stereotypical in its message. With Christian music specifically, while I love the message of pretty much all Christian songs, it is the actual melody and arrangement that makes it or breaks it for me. 
With Nichole Nordeman's songs, there were definitely a few of her songs that stood out to me. Something Out of Me, Name, & Unmaking were my two favorite songs on the whole album. 
Something Out of Me & Name both talk about our value in God's eyes and talk about different aspects of that. Unmaking is about being broken down spiritually and finding God through that. These songs were the most catchy and upbeat to me which is why I liked them so much, and Something Out of Me is the most reminiscent of some early 2000's pop songs as well, which is something I also enjoyed, haha. 
So if you want to take a listen for yourself, I'm giving away a copy of the "Unmaking" CD to one lucky winner! Nichole's album is also available for purchase if you can't wait to listen have it for yourself: http://smarturl.it/TheUnmaking?IQid=blog
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Posted Inspiration with Heart & Lips + A GIVEAWAY!

Words of Affirmation is my love language. I love when people say nice things to me, but I love even more having visual reminders up where I can see them. 
I was sent two beautiful prints from Heart & Lips, a cute little shop that specializes in inspirational prints based on Bible verses. The owner, Taneka, personally prayed over the different prints she has and felt that the two she sent me were best for me to have. 

The first print says "I found the one my heart loves" and the verse it comes from is Song of Songs 3:4. If you aren't familiar with the print, Song of Songs, or Songs of Solomon as it's also called, is the book in the Bible that talks all about the love between a man and a woman as they prepare to be married. 
Although I am not yet married or even engaged, I like this print because I will be bluntly honest & say that I like to think that yes, I have found the one that my heart loves. I feel like people even in the most committed relationships don't proudly say this enough until they're engaged, which I do understand--I mean that person can still walk out on you at any point especially if you don't have a ring on your finger. But then again I feel like that can happen at any point in a relationship, even at the marriage level unfortunately, so if you feel like you have the guts to do so, then don't be afraid to say it--"I found the one my heart loves." 

This second print I was gifted says "You are altogether beautiful," and the print is inspired by Song of Solomon 4:9. I like this reminder because the way I look and how I feel about myself is something that I have been struggling with for as long as I can remember. I don't struggle with it as much anymore but there are days when I feel horrible at myself and a print like this is just what I need to encourage and remind me of my worth. 
Now if you're wondering why these aren't on my walls, it's because I'm moving out of my dorm in a month so I would rather just wait to put these on my new apartment's walls rather than put them up only to take them down one month later :] 
So onto the good stuff: 
I've partnered with Heart & Lips to giveaway not just one, not just two, but FOUR PRINTS for FOUR LUCKY WINNERS!
That's right, 4 people will each get to win one of these sweet and lovely prints to display in their homes. These make great gifts as well, which is why I also have a discount code for 15% off your purchase with the code GIVEHOPE if you can't wait to get your hands on these. 
So the prints we are giving away are one of each of the prints that I have plus two more. One of them says "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" and the other starts off with the phrase "I am like an olive tree." 
The giveaway will run until midnight on April 17th, so next Friday right at midnight PST! This giveaway is open internationally so everyone has a chance to win! 
Check out Heart & Lips on all social media: Facebook || Twitter || Instagram || Pinterest
God bless & good luck ♥

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Celebrate Valentine's Day for FREE with a Giveaway!

Valentine's Day is coming up! And yes, I will admit that it is a consumeristic holiday designed to have both sappy and desperate people spend their money on things that may or may not make their special person (or potential special person) happy. I mean, even Darell for a long time wasn't too big of a fan and as a result we've had quite a few bad Valentine's Days over the years. 
SO, I would like to change that experience for you and make your Valentine's Day a fun one, whether you're celebrating with a significant other or a friend. 
I've teamed up with a few other bloggers to host this wonderful giveaway for you! The prizes are two $50 gift cards to Chili's for dinner and either AMC Theaters or Regal Cinemas for a movie and dinner type of date night. And if you already follow me on social media, then you are already guaranteed a few entries!
The ladies below are my co-hosts who helped make this giveaway possible, so please show them some love:

College is Love // Livin' and Lovin' (me, hehe) // Live to Be Inspired Hurray I'm a Mommy // Caravan Sonnet // Heavens to Betsy
And some other lovely ladies who helped make this giveaway possible:  Bee Splendid Twe1ve2 She Be Knowin Pen Paper Pad Wetherills Say I Do
The giveaway ends at midnight on February 7th, so make sure to get your entries in before then! & don't forget to use the hashtag #LNLVDayGiveaway when you post on social media. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Don't Know About You, But I'm Feelin' Twenty, Too!

I AM OFFICIALLY IN MY TWENTIES! Haha. So yes, today is my birthday. And honestly, I wanted to celebrate with you guys with two giveaways! 
BUT FIRST--some fun facts about me so you can get to know me a little bit better. Because why would you celebrate someone's birthday if you don't know them, right? 

Balloons provided by The Flair Exchange

1. I was born at 5:00am PST. So as of right now as I'm writing this post, I am already officially 20 years old!
2. Orange is my favorite color EVER, and part of the reason I love October so much (other than my birthday) is because the dominance of the color orange. I actually just mentioned this in my last post :]

Confetti and Balloons provided by The Flair Exchange

3. Around this time last year, my roommate threw me a makeshift debut, a Filipino coming-of-age party meant for 18 year olds, because I couldn't have one when I actually turned 18. It was something I'd wanted since I was a little girl, but couldn't because of money. My roommate, however, was awesome and made it happen!
4. I just recently started working at Express! 

Confetti provided by The Flair Exchange

5. Other than Express and technically even this blog as far as jobs go, I work for my school's newspaper as an editor, and I am a student blogger for the admissions department. 

Temporary Tatts with Armed With Truth + a Giveaway!

Because everything 90's is coming back in, that means temporary tattoos are included. Lately there have been tons of companies popping up with flash tattoos or temporary tattoos that look super cool and pretty realistic for some, if you ask me. 

"Bind my wandering heart to thee" is what it says. I love it.

A couple months ago I stumbled upon Armed With Truth, a Christian temporary tattoo company that specializes in printing bible verses that you can put on your arms to memorize, although they have special designer tattoos as well, like what what I have on my arm above. 
When I was looking through the Armed With Truth website for a tattoo to buy, I stumbled across this one. The quote says "Bind my wandering heart to thee." 
I've heard the phrase before mostly at my school, and at the time I wasn't too sure what to think of it. In fact, I think I thought the quote was a little too cliché and Christianese. However, out of all of the tattoos, I thought this one was the most beautiful and as I started to think more about the meaning, the more it started to resonate with me. Another plus was that there were two of this tattoo so I was excited to match with the boyfriend! (Even ANOTHER plus: it was only $5!)

When I finally received the tattoos in the mail, I started to think about what this phrase means to me, and I thought it was very fitting that I was matching with Darell. It has two meanings for me: Staying close to Jesus and staying close to Darell, because in both instances it can be so easy to fall away and distance yourself from Jesus and even your significant other if you have one. It was a nice little reminder to have, and I never seriously even considered getting a tattoo until I got this on my arm. 
And because I love Armed With Truth so much and what they're doing, I really wanted to partner with them to host a giveaway for you guys! 
The prize is a $10 credit to use on the site, and NOTHING is over $10, so your options are open to whatever you want to get; whatever they have, you have the opportunity of getting it [: And most if not all of the tattoo packs come with multiple tattoos, so it is definitely worth your money even if you're buying them on your own! 
The giveaway is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada unfortunately. The giveaway will go on from today until next Friday, September 26th, at midnight! So enter for your chance to win!
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Disclosure: This giveaway is hosted by me on behalf of Armed With Truth. I purchased the product mentioned on my own, and all opinions are my own. 

Ask Me Anything + Another GIVEAWAY!

So yesterday was mine and my boyfriend's 4 year anniversary, and to celebrate it here on the blog, I wrote out our love story of how we happened in the form of a short story/novel-type of writing. Although I write blogs and articles and stuff, I have such a love for writing stories and making them up in my head, except this one was real. (I may or may not have had to improvise the dialogue towards the end of the story but oh well.)

Anyway, I love that kind of writing and hope to write a book one day. It could be a memoir about what Darell and I have been through over the years (we went through a lot of rough patches before this blog) or it could be a fiction book. Who knows?

Anyway, so I'd love feedback from you! Did you like the novel-type of writing? Should I share more stories like that? And I have been meaning to do a FAQ-type of video/blog post lately, and I want to make sure I answer any questions anyone may have!

You could seriously ask me a question about myself or anything. You could ask me to do something, like use sign language to communicate, or whatever it is you want to see on this blog or my Youtube channel. I want your feedback and questions! And you can be totally anonymous or leave your Youtube/blog link if you want me to feature your link along with your question. If you're anonymous, as long as it is appropriate, I am an open book! Ask me something like we're on Tumblr, haha.

If you have a question for me, you can ask here.

I'm also currently hosting/co-hosting two giveaways as of right now! One is my blog's first anniversary giveaway, and the other is Alicia of Alicia Tenise's blog rebranding giveaway! The prize for that is a $150 gift card to J. Crew! Preps unite!

Alicia Tenise // The Darling Daily

The Caro Diaries // It's Julien // Style Tab

Livin' and Lovin' Blog // More Awesomer // Rekita Nicole Designs

These ladies and I are helping out Alicia here by co-hosting with her :] Don't forget to enter below! Good luck.

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My Blog's First Anniversary + A GIVEAWAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BLOG! Livin' and Lovin' Blog is finally a year old! I can't believe I've already made it to one year with this baby of mine, and it's amazing. It's been an amazing first year with this blog, and I'm so thankful to every single one of you for supporting me over the course of the past year despite the many changes this blog has seen.

I started getting back into blogging and taking it more seriously a little over a year ago on Tumblr. I quickly moved onto Blogger and recreated my blog as Through the Eyes of a Cali Girl a year ago today. At the end of October I changed my blog's name to Livin' and Lovin' Blog because I felt like it fit me better. Long story short, that's how I got to where I am today.

Livin' and Lovin' Blog banners throughout the past year

Unfortunately, I don't have screen shots of my blog in the past year, but here are the three banners I've had (including my current one) to show how my blog has changed throughout the past year.

It's always pretty awesome to get to a birthday or anniversary and reflect on how far you came in the past year. And with this blog, it's really been a rollercoaster and I've really fallen in love with this blog and all the hard work I've put into it.

But anyway, enough of the sentimental stuff for now. I'll save the rest of it for tomorrow. Now it's time for the reason you are all probably here: A GIVEAWAY!

Blog Anniversary + Giveaway + New Link-Up Announcement!

This is me being excited for you guys.

So I have a few very exciting things to share with you all regarding my blog.

ONE: My blog's anniversary is next week on Thursday, May 29th! In honor of this huge milestone, I'll be having a week of posts about my blog and all that jazz.

TWO: On top of that, I will be hosting a giveaway with tons of other bloggers to give away a total of 5 prizes! Keep an eye out for that because blogger or not, guy or girl, there is a chance for everyone to win!

THREE: I will be hosting my first-ever link-up! This announcement is a huge part of the reason for this post because I will be explaining the gist of it and previewing it here.

Go Free with Gaufree! + GIVEAWAY (CLOSED)

Disclosure: I was provided a meal courtesy of Gaufree for a media tasting event/review. All opinions are my own. 

Hey, everyone! I meant to post yesterday but my school's wifi was down for about twelve hours, so I wasn't able to post! However, I am back today with a restraurant review and exclusive giveaway for Southern California residents (If you're not from Southern California, I apologize)!

So I recently went to a media tasting event in Irvine, California at a new artisan waffle shop that just opened up--Gaufree: Artisan Waffle Sandwiches.

In French, Dutch, and Hungarian, Gaufre means waffle! The founder of Gaufree, Paul Hortobagyi, decided to play on words and add an extra "e" to play on the words "Go Free." The name and pronunciation of Gaufree also has to do with Hortobagyi's desire to "Go Free" from corporate America and to be an independent entrepreneur.

So, when you walk into the restaurant, it has a very cool vibe with its main colors being red, yellow, and gray. I really like the squares on the wall and how the layout of the restaurant is, mixed with benches, booths, and normal tables. On the tables they have cards to break the ice with people sitting at the table, entitled, "Do You Know Me?" Which I thought was a fun and simple way to get conversations started and to get to know someone!

We were given a sample menu to choose items from, and since I had my boyfriend, Darell, with me, we both decided to get different entrees. I decided to get an Organic Eggs & Applewood Bacon waffle sandwich while Darell got the Philly Cheese Steak. The Organic Eggs & Applewood Bacon sandwich also came with garden herb pesto sauce. The Philly Cheese Steak also comes with sautéed peppers, sweet onions, and melted Swiss Cheese. We also got a side of their Belgian Street Corner Fries and Gaufree's Homemade Pure Cane Sugar Natural Lemonade. The food came with two dipping sauces: homemade ketchup and garlic aoli sauce--the last container in the picture below is a side of peppers.

Nailed Kit Nailed It + Giveaway! (CLOSED)

I love doing my nails and making them look nice when I have the time. I recently discovered Nailed Kit, a brand that makes adding designs on your nails easier!

You can buy kits individually or subscribe to their monthly subscription boxes for only $14 a month! You get a kit with a few different decal designs and a special item as well, that NailedKit adds on just for you.

The set I was sent was meant to be for winter/New Years, but due to my being home during winter break, I wasn't able to get ahold of my package sooner! Nonetheless, the designs were still really cute and so I still tried them out. Better late than never, right? I mean, it is still winter, even if it is almost 90 degrees in Southern California.

Anyway, Nailed Kit sent me the basic nail set with the base polish and the winter decals to choose from. On top of that, I received a cute nail file (which I desperately needed) and special New Years' decals!

Fall Giveaway With AR! (CLOSED)

Fall means that it's time to bundle up and be cozy! This post is extra special because I'm doing a giveaway collaboration with my lovely friend Adriana over at With Love, AR which is good news for you guys! Giveaway = FREE STUFF!

Enter to win this scarf and beanie!

SPONSORS:

Kriselle @ Livin' and Lovin' // Adriana @ With Love, AR

We were talking one day and decided that we wanted to do a giveaway together to celebrate the coming of fall. Check us out as we talk about the giveaway on Youtube here. As a result, we're giving away a sea green colored scarf and a golden-studded gray beanie to one lucky winner! We love our readers so much that we bought these with our own money! Just enter through the giveaway below and you'll be entered to win! The giveaway will end on Monday, November 18th at midnight Pacific Standard Time. Unfortunately, this giveaway is only currently available to residents of the US and Canada.

Both the beanie and scarf are from Target, and we both chose items that we would like for ourselves if we weren't doing a giveaway. So we both love the pieces and hope that you do as well! Good luck, and happy entering! [:

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My First Giveaway! (CLOSED)

This month, the seven of us have teamed up to give one of our lovely readers a Kiel James Patrick bracelet (any bracelet of the winner's choice, $40 or under) and $15 store credit to Brenda's Etsy Shop! 

One of my personal favorites by KJP. Buy here.

The Sponsors: 

Rachel at Sunshine & Sinatra // Kriselle at Through the Eyes of a Cali Girl // Hannah at Words as Palindromes // Jacky at Keep Calm & Blog On

Dylan at Sartorial Spice // Brenda at From Me With Love  // Ashliegh at The Darling Prepster

Enter below for your chance to win the bracelet and store credit!

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