Madeline Osigian

     It's the month of love and romance, with Valentine's Day around the corner. Personally, I find Galentine's Day (February 13th) more fun. Depending on the year, we may not have a significant other, but there is always an excuse to get a few girl friends together.      Last year, my roommate and I hosted a small Galentine's brunch and enjoyed the party planning, cooking, and dressing up aspects of it. But there is nothing quite like having someone else make plans for you.      Without further adieu, here are six perfectly bookish date ideas for the loved one (romantic or not) in your life. 1. Go on a picnic with books.      If the weather is nice, this is an any-time-of-year date. If the weather is looking like 25* plus wind chill where you are this February 14th, maybe opt for a living room floor picnic with the curtains open to give you a view of the snow and whatever wildlife may be outside.      For your meal, anything that travels easily is best: fruit, lunch me

       Sporadically in 2022, I joined a few friends at a dance hall to try something new: two-stepping, Texas's favorite country dance. I got outside of my comfort zone and grew in confidence and experiences.      But recently, this new hobby has become the most fun I've ever had dancing (and I've danced at my fair share of cousins' weddings and summer camp days). Not only has it been amazing fun, but also I've noticed some subtle shifts within myself. And the Lord has been using this place and these people to teach me so much.      This month, I've finally gotten over the learning curve where I can say I'm no longer awful. I'm a beginner, but I'm picking up the dance moves and the life lessons very quickly.      Here are three things I've learned through my dozen or so nights dancing with my friends. 1. Relax.      I had no idea how stiff and scared I was last May when I started dancing until someone pointed it out to me. Other girls have confir

       The end of the year is here, and with it, I have completed my Goodreads reading challenge with flying colors. More important than the number of books one reads is the quality of those books. And while this year I did read my fair share of fluffy chick lit and some comedic nonfiction, a few books stood out from the rest.      Below are the 5-star books I read in 2022. The only way I give a book a perfect set of stars is if I find it life-changing. The following fiction and nonfiction lists merited that rating. Often, this means that I can't stop talking about the ideas from the nonfiction and that I had my mind blown by the fiction. NONFICTION      This was a fantastic year for nonfiction for me, and I found all seventeen of these radically impacted me in one way or another. The Comfort Book by Matt Haig Contentment: Seeing God's Goodness by Megan Hill Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend Poison for Break

In Memoriam Wheelice "Pete" Wilson, Jr. My first & favorite director ~      Sometimes courage begins before you even need it.      My brother and I began participating in our local community theater at ages 6 and 8, respectively. We played the roles of chicks/goslings, which required one costume change of a yellow pillowcase (chick) to a purple pillowcase (gosling). From opening night, we were hooked . . .      We went on to do a combined twelve shows at the same theater, seven of which we were both in.      Our longtime theater director, who we first met in 2007, passed away last month, and today we honored him with a celebration of life at the new black box theater that was his long-held dream.      I wrote the following post the week he passed away as I reflected on all he had taught me. 6 Ways Acting Taught Me Courage 1. No stage fright. This is the one you were most expecting to see on this list. So I've put it first for your convenience. Working on stage for so

       It's time to set the record straight—what is Madeline's favorite book? Who is her favorite author? The questions you've been dying to know are answered right here in this very post. Strap in, folks!      It's time for a breakdown of my favorite books and authors. B O O K S       What is your favorite fiction book?      My favorite fiction book has got to be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Every other book must capitulate to this one in my mind. It's 5/5 stars and makes me cry every time. I cannot wait to sob onto its pages for the fifth time in January 2022. While 500+ pages sounds overwhelming, the short chapters of this easy-to-read, beautiful young adult book make it fly by. Every word on every page is perfect, and it's narrated by Death, for lines like: "She was saying goodbye and she didn't even know it."      It's fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine.       What is your favorite nonfiction book?      My favorite nonfiction bo

       It’s the end of the year, my favorite time for reflecting on all that has passed and looking forward to a fresh year with new goals and rhythms.      In 2021, my word of the year was “abundance” (as opposed to scarcity), and I had to remind myself of that more days than not. I know that our God gives good gifts—lavish gifts, even—and He doesn’t hold back or worry if there will be enough. This is because He Himself is enough .      This affected nearly everything I did from how I spent my money to how I spent my time to how I treated my friends.      Abundance says, “He is enough, and He will provide enough.”      Scarcity says, “There’s never enough, so you should be afraid and hold on to what you still have.”      I made several goals for the year, one in each of the seven categories of life in which Dave Ramsey recommends goal-setting: career, educational, family, financial, health, social, and spiritual. For each one, I kept my word of the year in mind and set goa

       Over the course of my year as a twenty-one-year-old young adult, I have taken many risks.     I dressed up as my CEO on Halloween. I placed a live crab on top of a cake for a white elephant gift. I baked cookies for a guy and gave absolutely no reason at all.      These small but significant actions were some of the most creative risks I took.      All of them caused me a bit of nerves the night before and a bit of nausea the day of, but I made it through them and lived to tell the tale. These were not foolhardy risks like jumping off bridges or setting things on fire or any of that textbook dangerous type of risk.      Instead, with each risk, I set out to be fully myself and not hold back.      In doing that (and surviving), I freed my mind to be comfortable with a wider range of situations. (I kept my position as an intern and got hired full-time afterward because of that Halloween stunt.) I'm bolder in the way I do little things because those things no longer cause me to

      Although I am relatively new to this whole adult life, I am learning things every day—both practically and conceptually—that shatter some of my preconceived childhood expectations for adulthood. I was, to put it bluntly, very wrong. Did I think that adults had it all figured out and never felt guilt or frustration or confusion? Maybe subconsciously, I did . . . As a child, I thought that an adult blowing their life savings on any purchase was incredibly irresponsible. As an adult, I see how easy it would be to spend one’s entire life savings on a car, a house, a wedding or honeymoon, etc. Adult things are expensive!   As a child, I believed adults had no free time but was told to “enjoy my freedom while it lasted.” As an adult, I understand that a full-time job doesn’t mean a lack of freedom but a need to reprioritize and find a balance in each season of life.   As a child, I was excited for each new school year and its changes. In college, too, I delighted in the freshness of a

    It's April, and I say it's about time for another book list. There are so many books in the universe to read. (I've only in the past few days at the ripe old age of twenty-one decided I won't read every book published.)      But there are four authors that I recommend without fail any time I am asked what classics are worth reading. Below I highlight the best works (that I have read so far) from these authors, so you can easily start by picking up the best of the bunch.      So quit your Internet browsing and pick up these classics that are a dime a dozen (in cost, not value) at your local bookstore... 1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (follow with A Tale of Two Cities or A Christmas Carol ) Some quick facts: 1800s Victorian-era writer and social critic Favorite theme: The poor and orphaned Where readers get hung up: Dickens was paid by the word, so he uses *all the words,* which can slow down the pace of the book. Where readers fall in love: His beautiful,

      Good day, readers! Last week I didn't post *gasp* because sometimes less is more . And I needed a little more in other areas of my life.      This post only has one image. Because less is more .      I'm skipping two social commitments tonight. Because less is more .      "Just put the tiniest bit of lotion on. Less is more," I was told this weekend. Yes, I nodded, less is more. But why?      Less chaos, less clutter can lead to more peace of mind and more focus on the truly important things.      At least, that would be my minimalist mantra if I was inclined to have one.      I'm thinking about minimalism today because a year ago I made this video and somehow got college credit for it after posting it for fun.      I've created an updated capsule wardrobe video , this time featuring the newest stage of life I've entered: the professional world. You can watch it here :       Have a lovely, less-is-more Tuesday! ~Madeline

       As writers, so much of our work goes unseen.      And I'm not just talking about the strenuous behind-the-screen writing process "work" that readers can only imagine. I'm also talking about the works themselves: rough drafts stuffed in tattered notebooks, the drafted texts in the Notes section of our phones, the journal entries, the sad poetry, and the happy love songs that we scribble with a pen or thumb onto a screen.      So much goes unpublished, unseen, unrecognized. But we write it from the depths of our souls anyway.      The polished compositions—the pristine manuscripts, the well-edited personal statements, and cried-over twenty-page academic essays—are the ones that we send out into the world.      The public sees these labors as valuable, but they are not always labors of love as much as they are labors of completion to display our competence. It's as if we have to prove our writing's worth to the world to feel safe continuing to write in pri

       Since March 2020, I’d like to say that I’ve become better at asking, “How are you, really?” I’d like to say that I’ve learned so much through my friends and that they’ve learned so much through me. I’d like to say that virtual, long-distance friendship wasn’t too big of a problem. But the truth is that all of these things are still hard.      A year ago, our world turned topsy-turvy. I’m so grateful for the friendships I ended, began, and continued. As I transitioned into a new season of life, this was a natural change. So what have you learned about friendship in the past 365 days since that never-ending spring break?      Here’s what a few of you had to say... “I’ve always heard that relationships of any kind require work...but growing up with siblings and friends down the street made it easy! Now, post-college and married, I see the reality in the original statement. To build true godly community, you have to be intentional, humble, and in tune to the Spirit’s leading.” —Make

       I walked into the shoe store at 6:43, knowing they closed at 7:00 sharp.      "Hey, I know y'all close at 7, and I'm sorry to come so late, but do you have time for a fitting? My friend and I walked here."      "Um, fittings usually take about 30–45 minutes," the hesitant salesman replied.      "Does it help if I'm super decisive?" I asked, eying the three pairs of shoes I already knew I would want to try on if given the chance.      "Yeah, that certainly helps," he said, still doubtful that he'd get to leave work at a decent hour.      Fourteen minutes later, I left the shoe store. On a bench outside, I shoved my old tennis shoes into a box and tied the new ones on my feet.      "Let's try to avoid puddles on the way back," I told my friend, gingerly stepping around the mud in our path. I juggled the box of old tennis shoes with a light heart. I finally had shoes that weren't falling apart and would suppo

     One morning last week, in the midst of the Texas version of a blizzard, the Lord reminded me that He is enough for me and that He has provided everything I could possibly need out of immense love for me!      This love and His faithful provision are true for all of His children. Even if God has not given you something that you desire, He knows what is best for you. In this, He can provide the absence of something—an absence that will draw you closer to Him, and He is all you need.      Ultimately, He has provided eternal life through His son Jesus's life, death, and resurrection, saving us from separation from Him because of our sins .      When I chose the word abundance before the first day of 2021, I knew I wanted to live in spiritual abundance specifically. Claiming abundance as my word of the year would not magically make me richer or my life fuller. Instead, it reminds me that I do not have to live in a scarcity mindset  (which leads to hoarding and fear) with the Lord

     Maybe you don't think you have time to read a book.      Maybe you're trying to write the next great American novel.      Maybe you're tired of returning library books before you've finished reading them.      Maybe you're tired of getting lost on your phone and want to record your favorite moments from this year on paper.      In the past, I've written an entire series on how to get more out of your reading life and have briefly touched on writing . Ultimately, however, your reading life and writing life are up to you—your schedule and your priorities determine how much reading and writing you can squeeze into the average day.      This week, with the power out across the state and many people in search of a hobby to fill their days, it's time to return to the manual hobbies that laymen think of as academic. Reading and writing are not just for the degree-seeking student though; they are for students of life, those who want to never stop growing.    

       With love in the air and a few of my dear friends back on the dating scene, I have decided to write this unconventional (for this blog) post, alternatively titled “How to Be a Strong, Independent Woman on a Date,” “What I Wish I’d Known Before My First Date,” or, even more accurately, “How to Survive a Date (Based on Real-Life Experiences).”      This is for those who have never been on a date, who haven’t been on a date in a while, or who just want to be prepared for whatever their next date brings. Even if you’re married, this one’s for you! ~      This year, one of my goals is to go on one “date” per month with one of my family members. These are casual, delightful, and usually involve everyone’s favorite part of dating: the food!      In January, my dad and I got to go to a local barbecue place for our date night. It reminded me of some of the dating lessons I have learned over the years. Maybe the following will come in handy for you too... Before the Date 1. Less fussy hai