A day late, but here are some good things from around the interwebs that I found in June!
I have yet to develop a green thumb, so this is only possible in my dreams, but I love Natasha’s guide to growing a backyard herbal tea garden.
Despite my inability to keep my plants alive, I do love flowers! I stumbled on Sarah von Pollaro’s video tutorial on transforming a $10 supermarket bouquet into four beautiful arrangements and then got sucked into the vortex of all her awesome video tutorials. She makes flower arranging seem accessible.
Throwing a dinner party can be stressful, but so also can being a dinner party guest. Shauna Niequist (one of my favorite authors) wrote a superb post about how to be a great dinner guest.
I’ve worked several retail jobs and by far my favorite was my stint at Anthropologie. This is a phenomenal list of DIY Anthropolgie products. However, don’t ever pass up an opportunity to roam an Anthropologie store – they are truly inspirational.
Unfortunately, decisions about motherhood and everything that goes along with it have divisive tendencies in the Christian subculture. Instead of coming alongside women and families, we tend to judge and snub. I deeply appreciate this perspective and call for grace. If you don’t read the whole article, please read the last section!
It’s no secret that I love book lists. The Gospel Coalition has a great column called On My Shelf, “designed to help you get to know various people through providing a behind-the-scences glimpse into their lives as readers.” Kathy Keller, Tim Keller’s wife, had wonderful thoughts on finding Christ in fiction (which is why she’s not likely to have the latests Christian title on her nightstand).
Along the same line, this is a great article on finding God’s truth is literature.
And because this made me smile…
Emily C Gardner 
I could cheer aloud with your references to Kathy Keller and the Joel Miller article. Amen. I began really understanding this better when I read “Looking for God in Harry Potter” and learned about all of the ways the Christian story is weaved into classic literature, so of course, it is all over HP! And that is why I wrote my HP/C.S. Lewis paper for grad school! {I know you asked for it…I keep forgetting!} I feel really, really strongly about this topic, and was so, so glad to see you share these links!
I am taking a break from reading Anna Karenina to reread the HP series. Then I want to read the criticisms you mentioned in a comment on Laura’s blog. Sounded fascinating!
I’ve never been able to keep plants alive either, but I’m loving herbs more and more…I just may have to try making herbal tea. Also really appreciated the article about being a dinner guest (especially the ideas for host gifts). Thanks for those links!
Definitely checking out those Anthropologie hacks. Thanks for sharing!
I loved that post by Shauna Niequist – such great tips. I also read her latest, Bread and Wine, this past month and adored it – of course! :)
I love that backyard herbal tea link! What a wonderful idea. You can’t go wrong with a good Anthro hack.
Thanks for linking up with What I’m Into!