Winter Miscellany

Friends!!

I'm writing to you from...are you ready?? Our brand new home!!!

And of course, by "our brand new home," I mean the new office I share with the lovely Miss Lynne.

I hope to {once we have ALL the boxes cleared out and the wall hangings in place} offer you a virtual tour of our new home, but for now, I offer you the above photo...a celebration of writing interview questions at a FULL, CLEAN desk. You have no idea how much I treasured that this week after months of packing, unpacking, temporary homes, transitions, and messes.

So has this month been...a month...or what? I've been getting up at 4:30 in the morning to check the weather to find out how many hours I need to allow for the commute, Ryan's been shoveling sidewalks and chipping ice off windshields, and we've collectively been working to remember to let the faucets drip...and still have to sometimes coerce liquid through pipes after a particularly cold night.

And not all the snow has been a bad thing. I mean...Ryan and I did get to build a snowman, which we promptly named Jeffrey.

And the cold nights have made for good excuses to curl up in the living room and just relax...

So it's not all bad.

Kind of made me want to recount my favorite things from January...a counting of gifts, if you will. {Count away with Ann Voskamp! One Thousand Gifts...give thanks for blessings!!}

* Starbucks...and the warmth of the tall nonfat white chocolate mocha with two shots of raspberry and a little bit of whip

* The discovery of a darling hole-in-the-wall coffee shop in all its uniqueness

* Blankets piled high on a bed, pushing away even the cold that wants to creep in

* Completed scrapbooks...and the hope of a sale!

* A few hours in the salon chair...

* Soup. Much soup

* Celebrations of life with family

* Safety on snow and ice packed roads

* The dream of spring arriving. Sooner rather than later.


Hang in there, my friends! Winter won't last forever!

What I Learned Over Christmas Vacation

Was Christmas really only three weeks and one day ago? It seems like months have passed since we celebrated the holiday with our families. And while I spent most of Christmas vacation fighting a vindictive cold which is refusing to vacate my sinuses, I did have a tiny window of health during which I learned a couple of things.

ORIGAMI MONEY


Did you know that you can fold paper money into just about any shape? A shirt and tie? Check. A giraffe? Check. Numerous flowers including a rose and a lotus? Oh, yeah. I wasn't quite that ambitious, but I was rather pleased with the money "ring" we gave to our niblings Dalton and Natalie. (I recently learned that nibling is a word meaning nieces and nephews. I'll be using it from now on.) The YouTube tutorial was everything an effective tutorial should be: precise, detailed, and easy to follow.



 Here's Dalton modeling his "bling."

MANICURE TIP

I came across this tip for creating getting rid of unwanted polish and creating a clean edge around your nails. Just dip an angled eye liner brush in polish remover and run it along the rim where the nail meets the skin. Be sure to wipe off the excess remover before doing this. You want the brush wet but not dripping. This really works!

CHALKBOARD GIFT WRAP

Beks and I talked about this on BLT, but in case you missed it, here are the details for creating packages that mimic chalkboards. Purchase matte black paper. You can use paper with a glossy finish but it doesn't have quite the impact. I purchased black matte paper at Michael's. You'll also need white markers. I followed the directions on the "Coming Home to Roost" Pinterest Board, and copied some of Bonnie's artwork. I also drew bells, stars, and snowmen because they are really simple shapes to make. As my great-nibling Beckett says, "A snowman is a circle and a circle and circle."

I tied all of the packages with wide red ribbon. They were absolutely stunning. What I especially like is the three-in-one this wrap job provides:

• A card -- because you can write a message or sentiment directly on the package
• A gift tag -- because you write the giftee's name on the package
• A one-of-a-kind wrapping paper -- because YOU create the design

I'm planning on creating chalkboard wrapping paper for all of the gifts I give this year, or at least until the paper I currently have runs out. By changing out the color of the markers and ribbon, you can make your "wrap job" fit any gift-giving occasion.

More ideas to come throughout 2014!

What If We Were Content, Confident and Grace-Filled?

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed this week and one of my friends posted a link to an article that talked about the controversy of breastfeeding in church. Of course the article shared views from women vehemently advocating it and others just as vehemently opposing it, and the list of comments that followed resembled an all-out war with the slinging of words back and forth across the line.

Also this week {and ironically also induced by Facebook...hmmm...seems to be a common denominator here, doesn't there?} I had a conversation with a friend about taking pictures vs. not taking pictures on New Year's Eve. I captured many moments of the New Year's Eve party we attended - but my friend didn't do the same at her party - stating she wanted to just be in the moment.

And I panicked when I read that.

I panicked because I suddenly felt I must somehow have missed the mark because I did take pictures. That maybe I wasn't a good enough date.

God and I had a long talk about that one, and in the talk, He impressed on my heart that it's okay to want {perhaps even need} to take pictures, because it's who I am. I'm a memory-capturer. Some people are, and some people aren't. Neither is right or wrong - as long as we are being the people God made us to be and not trying to be something else.

So here's my question to you in this fresh new year...

What if you were content? What if you were content to be the person God made you to be, quirks and all? What if you were okay being a picture-taker even when other people said that makes you miss the moment? What if you were content to be right where God placed you even if you have these secret {or not-so-secret} dreams of being somewhere else? What if it could be okay that you don't like running races {even though it's oh-so chic}, eating a whole-foods diet {which is also rising in popularity} or upcycling pallets to furnish your entire home just because Pinterest said you should? What if it could be perfectly fine to not have the most Facebook friends, the most popular Instagram account, and the most clever Tweets?

What if you were confident? Once you learn to be content with those things, what if you were confident {not obnoxious...confident} about them? What if you could stand in a room full of moms who live to nurse their kids in {or out of} church and you chose not to nurse your kids...and you also chose to be confident in your decision, knowing it was the best thing for you and your baby? What if you could hold your head high as a working mom and know that you are where God has you in this season even though all your friends look slightly down at you for not staying home? What if you could relax in an imperfect {dare we say messy} home and know that despite its lack of magazine cover appeal, you had filled your day with what you're called to do?

What if you were grace-filled? What if you could sit in the room with women who are wildly passionate about their opinions, as women tend to be, and you could not only be okay with who you are and be strong in who you are...but you could also offer grace to what feels like your opponent? The one staring you down? The one judging you in silence - or worse, in words.

What if you took your "races are a waste of time and money" mentality and set it aside to stand at the finish line and cheer for a dear friend who has worked so hard for months to train for this moment? What if you talked toy our shutter-happy friend and relished in her joy instead of shaking your head? What if you didn't go online to any forum and share your better-kept-to-yourself thoughts  even though you can?

What if?