What To Wear This Weekend

May 3, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 2 Comments

In April’s Primitive Pleasures, I mentioned Andy Stanley’s Follow series (a phenomenal sermon series that I want to share with everyone). I listened to the fourth installment yesterday. Twice.

His message on Colossians 3:12-13 was so powerful; I won’t think the same about what I wear again. I hope you’ll either watch or listen to the entire Follow series, but here’s just a taste of what made me listen to the fourth sermon twice within the span of three hours…

The following definitions made me pause and think and pray. This is what I want to wear this weekend and every day after.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:12-13

Compassion: You feel. You care what others are going through regardless of what they did or how they got there.

Kindness: When you loan your strength to someone else.

Humility: Seeing yourself as you really are in relationship to other people and to God. There’s an equality among human beings. Humility gives us the ability to approach one another as peers because we are all loved by God.

Gentleness: The decision to respond to people in light of their strengths and weaknesses instead of responding to them out of your own strength. To communicate, “my relationship with you is more important that you being impressed by me. I will adjust for your benefit.”

Patience: The decision to go the speed of another person.

Forgiveness: To pardon unconditionally.

Love: The umbrella under which all of these reside.

photo credit: the cherry blossom girl via photopin cc

Primitive Pleasures {April}

April 30, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 7 Comments

This month certainly blew by! Maybe that’s because I spent a glorious week in Southern California. I should do that more often…

Read

On my flight back to Idaho, I read this lovely article in Spirit Magazine {my absolute favorite in-flight magazine}. It was refreshing to see simplicity so boldly publicized.

Friendship: I loved Relevant Magazine’s 5 Types of Friends Everyone Should Have and this guest post by Lesley Sebek Miller on Modern Mrs. Darcy reads like something Shauna Niequist would have written.

As and INFJ, I have a soft-spot for anything written about introverts. These four lies about introverts are so full of wisdom.

Eat

It’s getting to be quite Springy here in Idaho. The warmer weather makes me want to eat strawberries and angel food cake. Pioneer Woman’s Strawberry Shortcake is… I’m actually coming up short on words to describe this incredible cake.

Listen

Andy Stanley from North Point Ministries in Atlanta did an amazing series called Follow. It’s life changing. Listen or watch the sermons and then grab someone to chat through the discussion questions.

Smile

I borrowed this from Katie of Cardigan Way – it was too good not to share. My cousins and I sang this hymn at my Gramma’s memorial service and I walked down the aisle {almost a year ago} to a rendition by Jami Smith. Needless to say, I was alternately crying and grinning like an idiot while watching…

This touches my inner flower child – whimsical and beautiful.

I created this to express the reality of my Zumba experience. I love it though!

{photo credit: heraldpost and asterix611 via photopin cc}

The Best Way To Preserve and Present Photos

April 29, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 4 Comments

Preserving and Printing Photos The way we preserve and present photos has changed significantly in this digital age. I remember spending dollars upon dollars on scrapbook material and then spending even more hours snipping photos, creating embellishments, and gluing like there was no tomorrow. I love all the pretty papers and the creative process of scrapbooking, but I don’t like the price tag or the time it takes.

In order to simplify while still preserving and presenting those photos in a pretty way, I turned to Blurb, a company that specializes in helping you create beautiful photo books.

I’ve been using Blurb since 2007 when I made a photo book {Cheers} of my semester in Oxford. My book had thousands of photos and infinitely more memories splashed across 200+ pages. It would have cost me more to print each of those photos out at Walmart than purchase my $60, hardcover book. I have since created Full Bloom, a coffee table book of my flower photography, Eight Twenty Seven, a memory book of my Gramma’s house, and several photo books from different vacations. I’ve also made wedding and vacation photo books for a couple friends.

I recently rediscovered Blurb after a year hiatus. Now, in addition to Booksmart {their stellar – and FREE – bookmaking software}, Blurb has rolled out with Bookify, an online book-making tool that streamlines the process even more. Both Booksmart and Bookify are drag and drop interfaces with wonderful pre-made layouts. They are also totally customizable if you want to invest more time into the design of your book.

Making a book is as simple as uploading your photos, dragging them into a layout, naming your book, and hitting the checkout button.

I have three Blurb projects going right now:

Another study abroad photo book of my semester in Italy {half done and long overdue}
Wedding book {I guess our first anniversary is as good a time as any to get this started}
A collection of my favorite Instagram photos {getting printed as we speak – more on this project later…}

Blurb books are one of those Emily creative obsessive things, but I truly see so much value in preserving photos in a simple, yet fun to make, fashion.

Mother’s Day is a perfect opportunity to try Blurb out. Make a special commemorative book of your mom or present your momma with a compilation of your favorite photos of her with your kids. Plus, you get 20% off until May 10th!

This post contains my affiliate links. Thanks for supporting my blog!

photo credit: martinak15 via photopin cc

Friend {Five Minute Friday}

April 26, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 6 Comments

I’m just beginning to understand the multifaceted concept of seasons.

After 26 years, I can see the mini-seasons that have already come and gone in my life. I entered into a new season – marriage – almost a year ago and know there are plenty more ahead. Though I don’t adapt as well as I’d like to the transition between seasons, I am starting to see the beauty and nuances of each one as it molds and shapes my life for a time.

I’d like to say I’ve totally embraced all of the seasons in Idaho, but Winter still challenges me a bit. Fall brings riotous color and crisp air. Winter has freshly fallen snow and Christmas. Spring is glorious with its new growth and blooming trees. Summer is full of sun!

Transitioning from high school to college, back home to on my own, single to married has taught me that friendship is also seasonal. Forever friends do exist. I’m fortunate enough to still be good friends with my grade-school best friend, but that’s not the case for all of my friendships.

I look back over the past 10 years and marvel at the amazing people God has placed in my path. Friendships were formed over coffee, in foreign countries, at the cafeteria table, in Bible studies. Some lasted for years, others only months.

It took me a while to realize that was okay. Each of those people held a ray of hope, love, and joy for me when I needed it most.

Instead of mourning the reasons those friendships have gone dormant, I see the beauty of each season, the special purpose of each relationship. Friends should be cherished with open hands and a heart willing to see them change with the seasons.

~~~

Linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five Minute Friday

Transforming Dollar Store Earrings

April 24, 2013 ~ Emily ~ Leave a comment

After writing about the 5 essential earrings every gal should own, I realized my {somewhat massive} earring collection was lacking in the neutrals category. Mind you, I have plenty of browns and blacks, silver and gold, but I have a major gap when it comes to white/cream.

Since I already have such an abundance of earrings, I try not to add to my collection unless I’m traveling {earrings are some of my favorite souvenirs}. I wanted to re-imagine a pair I already had to fill in this hole in my neutral repertoire.

As I scanned my earrings I kept coming back to a pair that I bought at a dollar store and hadn’t worn in a while. I’ve noticed that as my personal style has gotten more casual {jeans and a t-shirt with accessories}, I wear more understated earrings. I still love dangly, chandelier earrings but I wear them far less frequently than simple hoops or shorter drop earrings. So, I thought this inexpensive, longer pair of earrings would be a good candidate for transformation. They were neutral enough but I wasn’t a huge fan of the cool silver paired with the warmer toned brown beads.

My first task was removing the beads. Luckily, I didn’t have to whip out wire cutters. The wire was flimsy enough for me to bend and stretch the loop holding the beads enough to slip right off. Just detaching the beads was a big improvement!

I really liked the design of the silver piece, but, as I said, I was missing white in my earring wardrobe. Spray paint seemed like an easy fix. It was! I happened to have some glossy white Krylon spray paint already. After taping over the part that would be in my ear, I gave the earrings two coats of paint. You could absolutely do this with acrylic paint and a brush, I just liked the convenience of spray paint. Less clean up…

The spray paint doesn’t give perfect coverage, which I happen to love. A few more coats and I could have gotten an opaque look, but I like the patina that my transformed earrings now have.

Since it’s so easy to transform earrings with spray paint, I may start hunting dollar stores and thrift stores for earrings that just need a little color change.

Have you transformed a pair of earrings? I’d love to hear what you did!