Oh my goodness – this is like picking your favorite book – I have no clue how to narrow down the best day.
Ok – ready – here you go…
It was 10.9.11. Yup – that’s right, the day after our wedding.
Of course I loved the day we got married…being surrounded by our friends and family, the engaging, expressive, full on worship we had during our ceremony, being prayed over by sweet friends and mentors, eating yummy cake, staying at the amazing Washington Duke Inn.
But the day after…you aren’t really concerned about anything. You are just living life – with no one contacting you, or concerned with wedding details, or guests questions, or how your hair looks. I was no longer concerned with what is my husband going to think when he wakes up to me and my hair isn’t perfect and my breath stinks. I was no longer worried about the first night of sex (we had waited until our wedding night to have sex, and it was worth the wait).
We sat there changing our facebook statuses, looking at pictures, reading the paper, getting delicious amazing food delivered by room service, I remember the grilled salmon salad. We watched movies. We just relaxed. It was wonderful. We didn’t have to hurry off to our honeymoon destination (we ended up leaving the next day to start our 2 week road trip up the East Coast and into Canada).
I loved just being with my mister. And he was then MY Mister. So, if any of you are getting married – just wait until the day after – when all the stress is gone. Wedding weekends are stressful, emotional, full of tears and joy, and amazing – but the day after—there you got it!
This picture was taken by our friend Erica Cooper – and no, we were not kissing in this photo – you’ll just have to trust me on that one!
Almost every night I have the privilege of putting my boys to bed. My favorite time with them is right before bed time when I take the time to read stories with each one of them in their rooms. I start with my younger and we read three books. Then I move on to my older son and we read two books. I love holding them, reading with them, laughing with them, and praying over them. Such a sweet bonding time.
So, what a great thing to combine both my love of books and love of Fall with a new book by Tommy Nelson that I was sent to read with my children and to pass on to you. This great board book continues a series of season books that show furry “lions” (my sons overall word for most animals) having fun as families doing Fall activities.
You will love it.
How do you win this book – you ask? Tell me your favorite fall activity to do with your children? Ours: going to a pumpkin patch!
But, there will be no Blogtember challenge today from me because I don’t like to Vlog. I like to watch Periscope but I don’t like to be on it. I do not like myself on video – and since this is my blog…there you go.
I love being up in front of people – just don’t make me watch or listen to it.
If you wanna talk with me – let’s sit down and chat – or cook together, or, well, anything.
I mean, there you are, sitting cozily by a roaring fire (or a gas one, or just some pretty candles in your fire place), and you need something to munch on.
Or, you have a bunch of friends over in your backyard for a fire and smores – but you need something to munch on while the smores get perfectly roasted with the charred edges of sticky ooey gooey marshmallow.
Or you have some sports fans over to watch the game and there is an empty coffee table just needing a big bowl of healthy snacks to get every body through the game (or at least until halftime.
Snacks do not have to be bad for you. I think we often feel that snacks have to be unhealthy to be fun or to taste good – but that is so not the case. Nuts is on a mission to share recipes that are healthy, fun, and delicious, and will be good for tailgating, watching the games, or just to snack on at night while watching your favorite movie. And you can get your pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin and do a lot of work, or you can get them delivered to your door.
One of the things my mister always does for me, including this batch, is make the popcorn. We got some spices for a wedding gift, and have been making a special spicy blend of popcorn a few times a month since we got married almost four years ago. We took this special Campbell tradition and made it a little sweet too.
Fall Sweet and Spicy Party Mix
Recipe Type: Snack Mix
Cuisine: Snack
Author: kcreatives
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 7 cups
Sweet and Spicy and packed with everything you love about Fall.
Ingredients
For the popcorn
5 cups of popped popcorn
1/2 tsp Penzeys Jerk Seasoning (I’ve learned that all jerk seasoning is not created equal)
fresh cracked pepper and popcorn salt to taste
For the candied pumpkin seeds:
3/4 cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 T vodka
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 ground cloves
1/4 nutmeg
1/3 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp sea salt
pinch of cayenne
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup craisins
Instructions
Season the popcorn and let it get cool, but not stale.
For the pumpkin seeds: put everything in a saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly for about 5 minutes, until the liquid is dissolved and the sugar starts to caramelize and the pumpkin seeds pop.
Dump out on to parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
Spread out.
Let cool.
Break into pieces
Combine popcorn, pumpkin seeds, white chocolate, and craisins all together.
Obsession is a strong word. Hmmmm…I’ve got one main one. Its been my latest obsession for the past 4.5 years now.
My mister. As we come up on our 4 year wedding anniversary, I’d have to say he gets better with age. I can say he’s in his 40s because he is and I’m not…I’m such a baby compared to him (ha!)
He is definitely my better half. He is the caring, shepherding person who makes any and every church that he is a part of more wonderful. He listens to people. He cares about them. He takes what they say to heart.
He is an amazing musician. Its like he doesn’t have to work at it. It just flows from him – like worship. Though I know he does work at it – it is more a part of him. He loves playing with his favorite musicians: Erica, Nathan, Tim…and some penny whistle action by Phil.
He is a humble man of God who seeks to lead me gently and lead our children well. They will know patience by knowing their daddy.
I do not get enough time with this man. But, tonight, after he got back from a concert…he tasted the food I cooked, helped with cleanup, fixed my knife block, and now we are sitting on the couch both working on our computers.
He is amazing. I’m obsessed with him. And will be for the next 60 years so Lord willing.
Social media often times get a bad rap. Most say that who you see on the computer screen isn’t really the real person who is doing the typing. So…today’s question: is the real you and the online you the same?
Yes and no. Only sometimes do I post pictures of me when I’m not wearing makeup and my hair is in a ponytail with my glasses on. Truth be told – that is how I normally am. However, I have gotten better and don’t wear yoga pants every day – that is more for my mister.
I usually don’t post ALL of my parenting failures – but I do post some.
I am sarcastic online – and I’m sarcastic in real life. But, I’ve gotten less with both. Because often times, sarcasm doesn’t give grace to the receiver.
Yes, that I do share what God is teaching me. But, no that I don’t share everything. I’ve gotten in trouble in the past for sharing too much on my blog – so I’ve definitely toned that down some. So, if you really wanna know what is going on in my heart: then you have to be in a tight group of people, and we have to be talking in a non-public context (like face to face, phone text, email, private msg, etc.
I am more extroverted online – I’m definitely more of an introvert in person.
All in all – I really do think my online self and real life self (to my close community) is the same.
Hi friends. Welcome back for another edition of Transformation Tuesday, where I talk about all things in this healthy living lifestyle. I’ve hit a plateau in weight loss which I knew would be coming since I’m getting down to a healthy weight anyway. But, I’ve still got about 7 lbs to go and I’m not giving up!
This is a tough topic because we all have food loves and food issues. But, what I want to talk about today is the importance that community plays in your weight loss journey. I’ve been involved in weight watchers several times, and that has shown me how helpful it is to have people around you that have the same goals. This applies in many different avenues in life: parenting, job related skills, creative outlets, runners groups, etc.
Why is this the case?
Motivation. I have found when I have people around me who have similar lifestyle and health goals it is easier to pursue my goals. I think that is one reason I knew that my mister was on the one for me. Now my mister does not have trouble with weight and can eat anything. But, he likes healthy foods (and still eats what I bake) and he always wants to be active. We love to hike together, even now with our boys, and he could eat grilled salmon and other whole foods ALL THE TIME. For me, I knew I didn’t want to marry someone who really struggled with their weight. I needed someone who could spiritual and actively lead me in this area because I knew it was a stronghold in my life. Just like if you have money spending issues, you don’t want to marry someone who also has a heavy hand when it comes to credit cards. I love that we pursue an active and healthy life together – and still enjoy some summer ice cream cones and celebratory food days too. So, when it comes to friends, it is easier for me to surround myself with people with similar interests and goals: active lifestyle people, healthy cooking, knowledge of their bodies and why we should take care of them. Not that you can’t go out and have a cookie together – but not letting one cookie lead to indulging every day in baked sweets. Another example: if you are an alcoholic, if you are trying to break the addiction, you don’t want to hang out with other people who drink too much.
Challenge. I am a competitive person, we’ve talked about that before. Right now, I have a “bet” going on with a friend in another state. She asked me to help her with accountability so that’s what we are going to do. But, we have the same goal weight number in mind for a short term goal and we weigh the exact same thing. So, I asked her if we could put a wager on it: whoever gets their first gets a 10$ gift card from other to Target. Perfect! Game on! I love people who push me in running. When I started running, I had three friends who were so pivotal in that: Sarah, Sloan, and Sarah (another one). I was single and could run anytime I wanted, but it was good to have running buddies and people to do races with. I don’t have that here. I miss that. I do love running by myself, but I don’t have anyone locally to challenge me in that area. In every area I’ve lived since I’ve had athletic people around me to challenge me and help me succeed – that is something I desire here as well. Its important.
Encouragement. One of the nicest things a family member said to me when I first lost a TON of weight back in college was absolutely transformational for me. But the comment that got me to a point in life that I knew I needed to lose the weight was awful and I remember it to this day. I want to encourage others, not make people feel bad about themselves. I want to push people to meet their goals in weight loss. I want to keep them on the right track. I want to help them see the spiritual side of the struggle of weight loss and taking care of our bodies in a God-glorifying manner (I’ve got a book in the works if anyone wants to publish it.) I find even a simple text or a note to accomplish this. A friend and I text almost every day to see how we are doing eating and exercising. It is good accountability. And if we have had a bad day – we don’t yell at each other in all caps: we tell ourselves that the next meal is a new chance to be healthy – and get to that gym – even for 15 minutes. I can not tell you enough how much positive reinforcement helps in this area. My mister has learned this. I often am a comfort food eater. He has learned not to criticize me in that moment, but talk to me gently and help me to see other ways of coping with whatever is going on – and if I do still mess up, he forgives me quickly and champions me in ways I’m being healthy and meeting my goals.
I’m not really one of those girls that has tons of purses and always has it with her. I usually have one that I pick up on clearance or at Goodwill just to get me usually to church. I have a bag that goes with me every morning to where I do my quiet times: books, sketch pad, Bible, psalter, notebooks, and plenty of pens and pencils.
I do carry my wallet: receipts, the normal stuff in your wallet, and a pen, and a small pack of notecards just in case I need one in a jiffy. You never know when a note of encouragement might brighten someone’s day. My wallet is a made just for me handheld by my sweet friend Leah. I love it – gray and yellow!
Now, my current purse is one made by my cousin in Alabama. Its cream and gorgeous. It stands up on the bottom on its own. I love the buttons. I use it primarily when I’m going to church or another church function.
It holds my aforementioned wallet, tons of writing instruments (notice a theme), phone (even though its usually in my hand or pocket), keys (though they are usually attached to a belt loop), my journaling Bible, notebooks for sermon notes (I have one for each book of the Bible I’m currently studying), some receipts, change, and maybe a tube of lipstick. I really don’t know why I have lipstick, because I almost never reapply it when I’m out somewhere.
Anyway, what’s in your purse – or do you think there is some great bag out there that I just have to have?
I don’t even know why I’m bothering to write this post, because there is no way that I can pinpoint 5 books – really?
The Bible. That’s a given. But, I need it daily for truth and encouragement in the Gospel. Especially in this line of work called motherhood and marriage (and so much in the creative world), condemnation and competition can beat you down. That’s why I need to read the Word every day. This is the one place where I find total truth – with no question of doubting.
The Fosters Market Cookbook. This would probably be my favorite cookbook. I got to meet its author when I was working in Durham at Williams-Sonoma, but also her market in Durham and Chapel Hill was my favorite cafe in the area. She writes in such a warm style and uses local, fresh ingredients, and speaks of everything southern in my book.
The Jesus Storybook Bible. Hands down has taught me the most about how to read the entire Bible in light of Jesus. I got this book from a sweet friend when we were doing a progressive dinner back when I was single and living in Louisville.
The Shadow of the Almighty. This storytelling of Jim Elliot’s life and mission and death by his now late wife, Elisabeth Elliot is one of the most gripping stories you will ever read.
Found in Him by Elyse Fitzpatrick (really anything she writes). Total transformation of how Christ is for you in light of the Gospel.
