Tag Archives: favorite things

Grace for the Good Girl :: intro to Part 2

Welcome back, lovely ladies! It’s the second day of spring, if you didn’t know ;) We are starting a new season in this book, too. We’re entering into the second half, the Part 2, the so-now-I-know-my-masks-and-how-they-stink-now-what phase. It’s gonna be good, y’all.

{Remember, you can click on the “Grace for the Good Girl book study” category under the “Categories” tab on the right and it will show you all the posts/discussions if you need to review or re-read.}

This introduction to Part 2 is called “The Finding”. We will cover chapter 11 {the first chapter in Part 2} next week. But be forewarned – it is so good but pretty hefty. So put the kids to bed early one night {you can claim any number of made-up charges} and read a bit extra! Not that I ever put my kids to bed early so I can do other things. Nope. Not me.

And if you’re gonna read a bit extra, you might as well read this little intro a couple of times, too. I just love how Emily writes and the Truth she speaks of.

“You have caught a glimpse of the God Who Sees. You know there is more to him than you once thought. And you know there is more to you. You want to come out, to let yourself be found by Love, to release your tight hold on familiar.” {p. 123}

She speaks of good girls who have to experience two rescues – the first at salvation when we were hidden with Christ in God, and the second one from ourselves and our own self-effort. Because “the good girl doesn’t know about this hiding with Christ. She does not understand the depth and breadth and height and width of this Lover who came for her, and so this rescue seems inadequate. She lives on the forgiveness side of the cross and then begins to work to earn the life.” {p. 124}

Umm, sound familiar? How many, many times do I work to earn the Life I already have!?

Oh, and then some of my favorite words. My sweet, wise friend, Chris, says this all the time…”You’re not this way. This may be how you cope, but this is not who you are.” {p. 125}

Get excited to discover who you really are as we move into Part 2 and Chapter 11 next week!

Downton and other earth-shattering news

It’s Monday. It’s a great day to ramble on and on about random things, don’t you think?

  • Like Downton Abbey. Oh. my. stars. I’m not going to give anything away, but let’s just say that after watching episode 5 last week, it took me a full 48 hours to recover. No lie. I had to keep reminding myself these are only fictional characters in a made-up story. It’s that good. Or I’m that far from reality. Not sure. ;) Is anyone else in love with this show? I mean, what’s not to love?? It is addicting to the extreme and is a time-sucker for sure. And yet it has to be better than being addicted to Desperate Housewives or something like that, right? Maybe I just feel more intellectual because of the accent. Does anyone else think in a British accent after watching this?

On to other earth-shattering news. And by that, I mean the complete opposite of earth-shattering.

  • I made a scrap fabric garland a la Ashley Ann and hung it on our mantel. I really will try to snap some photos of it and share because this kind of copycat-crafting certainly needs to be documented somewhere. However, the only people who have said they like it are two people under the age of 3. I also haphazardly hung some ribbon from my sticks on the mantel. I think I was going for the “crafting materials threw up all over the fireplace” look. Maybe I needed a release from the emotional trauma of Downton. Who can know these things for sure?
  • I finally got a new wallet. About 6 months ago, the snap on my old one broke and I constantly lived in fear of receipts and coins flying out. I’m not really sure why it took me six months to get a new one. But I found a mustard yellow one on clearance for $12. Totally made my morning.
  • I have recently discovered getting prints made at Costco. They can even do the white border around your photos which I just happen to love. Cheap and better quality than Wallyworld where I was having prints made.
  • I just read this great series by Kat at Inspired to Action and you should, too. :) She speaks of lists and routines vs tasks and all manner of helpful tips in this short little series. Because of that, I just downloaded two apps on my iPhone – Things and HomeRoutines. Things is $9.99 {gasp!} and HomeRoutines is $4.99 but I bought both of them. Sidenote: Apparently I am super cheap when it comes to buying apps because anything over 99 cents makes me all hot and sweaty and indecisive as I pluck the daisy petals of should I or shouldn’t I. Until I realize that it is the same price as 2 coffees from Starbucks. Or a package of 7th Generation diapers which I don’t ever buy anymore since switching to cloth diapers. And then I feel much better about how I really have saved a lot of money over the past few months and therefore my apps purchases are justified. Does anyone else play head games with themselves like this?

And now I’ve about used up all my random ramblings. For the moment, anyway. Now I’m off to do more laundry, make some kale chips, and take off in our newly fixed double jogger when the girls wake up from their nap!

favorite things {holly jolly Christmas edition}

I think it’s time again to share some of my favorite things this Christmas season. Being that it is the season for sharing, giving, gifting. This is random but short, so get ready.

Seriously, is he not the cutest little warmer you’ve ever seen? He is not nearly this orange in real life. Mine looks less like a spray on tan gone bad and much more appropriately brown and woodsy.

And the best scent?

I’m not exactly sure how something can smell “warm” or “rustic”, but whatever. It smells really, really good. Both of these things came from Walmart and I’m not normally a big advocate of theirs, but my little owl and his scent have become some of my favorite wintery season things. Every morning, I come downstairs, plug in the Christmas tree lights, and click on the warmer.

Since it is also flu season, I’ve been loving this Clean Well all natural hand sanitizer {it’s thyme oil!}. I’ve been using it a lot. I think Little Bit thinks this is a standard hand-washing procedure. It smells yummy, too.

I love minty lip gloss in the winter. Yes To Carrots has this “C Me Shine” lip gloss; I like the Carrot Kiss color. A light color and a minty scent.

While out thrifting the other day, I found these vintage hand painted Santa mugs. Perfect for little hands. I now have three of them and they are all slightly different.

I was trying to keep our Christmas decor simple but festive, so instead of buying something else or crafting an ornate something-or-other, I pulled all our Christmas picture books and stuck them in a chicken wire basket. Boom. Christmas decor.

Christmas {my favorite season} + picture books {I love, love books} = Christmas happiness. And then throw in chicken wire and I about pass out with joy. ;)

And that’s about it. Merry week-before-Christmas!

baby shower!

Two weekends ago, a sweet old friend, a sweet newer friend, and my sister all joined efforts to throw me a baby shower. It.was.amazing. Beautiful. I am so thankful for all their hard work and planning. They know how to love, and they love me well.

The whole shower was this creative combo of bright colors, happy flowers, amazing food, and sweet memories.

See what I’m talking about…

How happy is that cake?? And who doesn’t love a handmade paper bunting on their cake? So stinkin’ cute. And, at the time, we hadn’t decided on a name for Baby Sister {procrastinate much?} so it says, “Welcome Baby Girl”. She does have a name now, so don’t worry. {Look for that bunting again in the nursery pics coming soon!}

A lot of the flowers they used on the table were cut straight from my mom’s garden. I loved that.

Handmade tissue paper flowers by my amazing sister. {Look for these in the nursery pics too!}

The food was fabulous. Jen {who is secretly a gourmet chef} made the above delish chicken salad with pita bread, these amazing tomato/mozzarella/basil bites, ham & cream cheese appetizers, and fruit kebobs. Seriously, it was SO good. I might have had thirds. And by that I mean the baby was clearly still hungry after my first two helpings. Gotta feed the babe.

They had this great idea to make a “Baby’s First ABC Book” by having all the guests illustrate each letter of the alphabet. This was one of the best baby shower ideas I’ve seen. It was really fun and now Baby Sister has this sweet book of hand drawn alphabet illustrations by all the people I love. High five on that one, girls!

My precious Bible study ladies brought a money tree, complete with origami money onesies!

Sweet, sweet friends. Thank you girls so much.

favorite finds & random thoughts

 

Well, we were stuck in the house all last week. Little Bit had a fever and didn’t feel so hot, so house-bound it was. During the week of laying on the couch and snuggling with my sweet girl, I’ve come across some fab websites/blogs/cool places. And I’ve had ample time to think about important, life-changing random things.

So read this/check these out when you’ve got time. Or want to procrastinate. Like when you have to unload the dishwasher.

{} The Handmade Home put together another great list of free, awesome fonts to download. I love new, creative fonts. As in, not Comic Sans or Arial. Just sayin’.

{} I discovered this great blog called Beautifully Rooted. It’s made up of all kinds of fantastic contributors who write beautiful words on subjects like “nourish”, “nurture”, and “sanctuary”. And the tagline is “grounded in who He created you to be”. How can you not love that?

{} I am so doing this. Hopefully this week. Giant outdoor chalkboard, anyone?? I have the perfect spot in mind. It’ll make our quirky house even quirkier. Quirky is fun and creative, right??

{} Little Bit had school pictures done yesterday with a real, live bunny. I’ve been thinking about that bunny today. I’m pretty sure he’ll have some lasting effects from being man-handled by 50 toddlers yesterday. Poor guy.

{} Yesterday I bought succulents on sale at Lowe’s for $3.98 a piece, some small galvanized metal buckets, and some rope for a project I’m working on for spiffy-ing up one of our {many} quirky outside spaces. Stay tuned for more details. This pic is the one that inspired me…

{} I read The No-Brainer Wardrobe e-book by Haley Morgan at The Tiny Twig. So good. Among lots of other great tips and tricks, she talks about going through and purging your closet based on lots of different criteria. I realize at 34 weeks pregnant that now IS NOT the time to go through my closet based on what fits, what I like, what makes me look fat, etc. Must remember this. DO NOT do this right now, DO NOT do this right now…

{} I finished the crib bumper AND recovered the nursery glider cushions. All by my big self. As opposed to calling my mom every 5 minutes asking how to do the next step. I’m sure she appreciates my steps toward big-girl independence. I’ll post pics soon…I have a few more projects to finish up in there. But I may get impatient and go ahead and post pictures anyway in it’s undone state. Gotta keep it real, right?

{} One of my good friends {and our doula!} is having a garage sale in April and said we could toss in whatever we wanted to get rid of. This has fed my already insane nesting spree to the point where our house might actually start to look empty. I might need an intervention.

{} I’m working on making a master meal idea list so I have all my options to choose from in one place when it’s time to menu plan. Anyone have any ideas on the best way to do this? I was thinking Excel. But then I remembered that I stink at using Excel and I feel like an accountant when I use it. Not that there’s anything wrong with accountants. I just don’t want to be one. Or feel like one.

{} Hubby introduced me to The Fray’s new album. Love, love, love. One of the songs is “Be Still”. Ah, the truth in that song.

{} I hear Little Bit talking to herself in her room this morning. This means she is awake. But ever since we moved her to a big girl bed, she continues to think someone has to come get her out of bed in the mornings. She has yet to come out of her room on her own. I don’t know what to make of this. But I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

my favorite things these days

 

I was thinking about all the things these days that make my life more enjoyable, easier, more organized or just plain more fun. So here’s a list of some day to day items I couldn’t live without…get ready for some randomness.

 

1. Printables from Jones Design Company. I subscribe for $7.99 a month and it is worth every penny. Every month, you get super cute stuff: a monthly calendar, a weekly calendar, chore charts, dinnertime chart, note cards, mailing labels, an original art print and a video tutorial with templates for the project shown. Call me appearance-driven, but I’m pretty sure this is the reason I now meal plan and send more “just because” notes. Who doesn’t like cute paper products?

{shopping lists}

{cutest notecards ever}

{mailing labels}

2. Ekobrew pod for our Keurig coffee maker. This little gem means we can easily use whatever ground coffee we want without paying for the plastic individual pods. And it just takes the place of a pod, so you don’t have to completely dismantle your Keurig to put it in. Always a plus, as I am not in critical thinking mode at 6:45 am. We pay literally HALF what we used to in coffee using the Keurig this way.

 

3. Daily planner from Ann Voskamp – FREE! I love these sheets. It is like a to-do list/daily planner on steroids but in a cute, easy to read way. Go here to download. I take one out the night before and fill in whatever I need to, then the next day I can add as needed.

 

4. Fresh flowers. Every time I grocery shop, I always glance through the floral department and about 1 out of 3 times, fresh flowers are on major sale! HEB had Valentine’s Day roses for $5 a dozen {down from $15} and I wish I had bought another bunch. $5 for beautiful, fresh, sweet-smelling, make-me-smile flowers is a steal in my book. Plus, they last for a good two weeks. Or I just pretend that they still look good after 2 weeks.

 

 

5. Earth Mama Body Butter. Rich, creamy, doesn’t take a whole lot each time to smear your belly. What more could you want? I like to chant to myself as I put it on, “No-oo stretch marks, no-oo stretch marks”. Just kidding. Kind of.

6. Doll umbrella stroller from Wal-Mart. This was part of Little Bit’s Christmas present and I almost didn’t get it. I am SO glad I did. She plays with this thing at least 6 times a day. She takes her juice for rides, her doll, her blankie, and spices from the kitchen spice drawer. For a mere $10, this thing can take a beating, too. She literally runs around the house pushing it every single day since Christmas and it looks good as new. Yesterday, her new favorite thing to do with it was to push it as hard as she could into the wall WITH HER DOLL IN IT, just to see everything crash and dolly go flying out. Entertaining, yes. Will she baby-sit anytime soon, no.

 

7. Gap Maternity jeans. I splurged on these at the beginning of this pregnancy and it was totally worth it. I live in them every.single.day. And of course I look exactly like this in them. {Would not attempt these shoes while pregnant, though. Just sayin’.}

 

So how’s that for my favorite {totally random} things these days? How about y’all? Any good recommendations?

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