ears getting a makeover

look at my 2 new pretty earings!!

These beauties from Urban: turquoise + sparkles= always good

 

and these made by the wonderful Meg!! She rocks.

thirsty?

All who are thirsty

All who are weak

Come to the fountain

Dip your heart in the stream of life

Let the pain and the sorrow

Be washed away

In the waves of his mercy

As deep cries out to deep -we sing

Come Lord Jesus come

craving this

How good does this look!? Thanks to Rachel over at Heart of Light

Pretty sure this just inspired me to have a little mini party this weekend! Maybe set up our fire pit that has just been sitting there for the last year...

Summer sangria (makes about 8 drinks)


1 cup loosely packed basil and mint leaves
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cups good quality peach juice (TJs has a nice one)
1 (750 ml) bottle dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
1 liter of sparkling water, if desired

:: Place herbs in a small saucepan and add the sugar and lemon juice. Smash the leaves with the back of a spoon, until they're a bit bruised.
:: Add about half of the peach juice and heat the mixture over medium heat. Bring just to a simmer and then turn off the heat. Allow the mixture to stand for five minutes or so.
:: Pour the mixture through a mesh sieve and into a heatproof pitcher. Add the remaining peach juice and the wine.
:: Chill at least one hour or overnight. Serve with sparkling water to taste (we filled each glass 1/4 full with sparkling water and then added sangria) and garnish with herb sprigs or peach slices, as desired.

wish I was here wednesday

{via}

i bless the rains down in Africa

My sister is officially off to Zimbabwe this morning! After months of planning and raising money, her heart is SO ready to be there. She is heading over with 12 peers and 2 leaders. They are going to be there for 3 weeks doing a multitude of things. Mainly, they are there to help train new Young Life leaders how to run a Club and put on a camp- then they get to do that for the kids in the different villages!

Would you join me in prayer for her? That she would feel comforted and filled with peace and joy always by the Lord while she is there, that the Lord would touch every person they encounter and that His Love would SHINE through them! Thank you all so much!!

Head to her blog & become a follower- there will be a few guest posts while she is gone, and hopefully I'll be able to post an email or 2 from her if she gets internet, and there will for sure be posts about her trip when she returns!!

i loooove bend

Brian and I just got back from a wonderful 4 day trip to Bend, one of the most beautiful places in Oregon!

We did a lot of biking

we laid in the grass

with our TOMS- which we found out are great for biking!!

{this is for Alfie and her TOMS in motion photo project :) }

we were in awe of the Lord's beautiful creation

and found lots of houses that we want to own

we also biked to the hot spot in Bend- Cuppa Yo (NOT AS GOOD AS PEACHWAVE!!) and they did have Cake Batter flavor.. and I'm not gonna lie- I wasn't impressed...

It was so great to get to feel like we had nothing to do, we could go to Starbucks and read our bibles for a few hours, we could get lost on bike rides and lay in the first grass area that we found, we could read, we could watch tv, we could eat every meal out side and wake up at whatever time we wanted. It was fab.

what did you all do this weekend!?

my sister is en route to Africa right now!! will post about it tomorrow!!

KOBELINS

I love these two so so much. They are 2 of my very best friends, I think there is something so special about having that friendship with them both.

here are some pictures from their wedding as promised-- we had a great time!!

The Lord is SO good.

me and the hubs

besties

more besties- hubs and sister

{OR} love

I love this and want it, if it wasn't so much money...

and this

craftin'

When we own a big home, I am for sure going to have a craft room. This will give me a reason to buy lots and lots of craft supplies, and have my own room for inspiration!!!

{via the little things we do, the decorista}

wish I was here wednesday

{via punch of color}

down the hall

I love these great old tables & benches that have been crafted into some fab decor!!

bachelorette!!

We had a super great weekend celebrating jill + kyle's wedding. From the Bachelorette party, to the rehearsal & dinner, to getting ready, standing up there witnessing a great love and dancing the night away-- it was incredible! Jill is one of my very best friends and I love her so much. It's such a nice bonus that my husband and her husband (NOW!! yay) are also great friends with each other so the 4 of us get along SO great, it is a blessing to have friends like them.

I shared with you all how excited I was for our Bachelorette weekend in Sunriver 2 weekends ago-- here a few pictures:

Fun Hike!!

me and Jilly

Headed out into Bend for dinner!!

Beautiful Bride-to-be!!

all the ladies!!

wedding pictures to come...

come to the water
you who thirst
and you'll thirst no more

world map

I really want one to put up in our house

... look how big Russia is!!

treasures in heaven

I am the world's most frugal person. My friends have made fun of my since I was in middle school, I just can't justify spending over $20 on anything. In theory this has been a great thing for my life, I've saved so much money and had the chance to get married young and buy a house  and feel okay about it. My husband is very different than me in how we spend/think about money. I'd like to say in the last 3 years we've been together we've both rubbed off on each other.

I am trying a new thing. I don't want money to hold me captive. I don't want it to feel like this thing that is always hanging over my head and holding me back from everything. The truth this, we don't need things to make us happy, I know that and am so grateful to have that foundation in me.
BUT sometimes, it's okay to buy!! Especially if there are good deals involved... 

so proud of my finds:

1. $20       2. $28 (originally 98!!!)        3. $15         4. $10         5. $7           6. $10

organized: de-cluttering

I had a reader request to talk about a few organizational tricks, as it is one of my passions :)

To me, a big part of getting organized is to first de-clutter a space. This takes away the overwhelming process, breaks it up and you may end up doing what you needed done!

De-Cluttering:
Pick one area of your space

Step One: take everything off your shelf/drawer, whatever space you are trying to organize.
Take your items and separate them into bins labeled the following: (putting them into bins gives you the freedom to leave a project half way through and not feel like you have a mess, just tuck the bins away or stack them on themselves)

put back here  |  put somewhere else  | give away

*and a garbage for trash

Step 2: deal with these piles - take them to where they need to go, find homes for the items that are going somewhere else and keep the give away bin near by to continue to add to it -- this is a way to stay organized while you are organizing and not get out of control.

TIP:  only keep what you need-- If you're like me or my husband, you like to keep things for a long time for no reason.. This hurts the problem, ask yourself if you're REALLY going to need this item here. If you REALLY feel like you can't part with it but you don't need it up in your space, try this:  start a bin for keepsakes that you have and store in a garage or other storage area. We've been super successful with this.

Step 3: go through the pile of stuff you wanted to keep and put them up, decorate, organize it, however you would like. Chances are as you are putting and placing things back in your space, you'll realize that there are more items you can purge. Don't hold back and go with your instincts.

TIP: utilize labels, baskets, drawer dividers, cute bowls, anything that can help you organize any type of space. They don't all have to be actual organizing tools, you can find lots of great stuff in your own home!

{via}

motto: Everything has a Home.
 
If it doesn't have a home, you don't actually need it.
 
Using this motto can help to keep this space organized, don't just plop things back down in the space, ask yourself if it belongs there, continue to keep things in their places/homes.

motto: Less is totally more

{via}