by Kimberly | Oct 4, 2018 | Uncategorized
Some times it is really easy to build community over food and pretty things.
Some times you need a project. My friends over at A Hosting Home built a barn door for our Master bedroom and I will be doing another post on that soon to show it off – in love is a short statement!
But, my mister may be talented in many things, but when it comes to an “expert” home project, he’d rather bring some one in.
So I mentioned it to my friend Ivey yesterday and her and her expert husband in the home projects department – came over today. How fast! And we had fun, they worked, and had another mini food styling shoot with the new Best of Augusta magazine. I saw my first photo in an ad in the magazine – here’s to more, right?
And we had pumpkin muffins. And I painted. Always paint, right? And that is a great way to build community: projects, food, coffee, and pretty things. All while wearing yoga pants and I hadn’t even showered after exercising. It was ok.
And I’m ready to giveaway this Bible – perfect for the girl in grade school in your life. Ok, I say girl because it is yellow and sparkly on the cover. But, I mean, whatever.
Tommy Nelson sends some great things my way. This is the International Children’s Bible edition. Topics that kids may want to know more about are bolded within the text. Beautiful full color illustrations portray different Bible stories. It would be a great hardcover, durable Bible for your little girl.
How to win: just leave a DIY project you are working on – or would be a dream to work on.
And if you are curious, my mister loves the pumpkin muffins at Panera. These muffins are a copycat recipe.
This post was sponsored by Tommy Nelson. All opinions are my own.
by Kimberly | Aug 29, 2018 | Books, Uncategorized
Partnering with Audra Jennings to bring you a review of Homespun.
I’ve really liked some Amish fiction over the years, probably ever since college when I toured the Indiana Amish country during a friend’s wedding. Simplicity and faith and order and quiet. Those were pretty intriguing to a 20 year old.
Homespun is a book filled with hospitality, family, friendship, community, faith, and a host of other topics. All written by women who are in the Amish or Mennonite communities. These are not fiction, which I love.
I really felt like I was sitting down with many of these authors and having coffee or swinging on a porch swing in the Autumn air. Just chatting, hearing their hearts – and much of their heart is the same things that find their root in my heart.
If you love memoir type books or biographical essays – I think you’ll really enjoy this book.
by Kimberly | Mar 21, 2018 | Books, lavish hospitality
We have a picnic table. When we moved into our home here in East Georgia, my in-laws purchased it for us, my husband stained it while our boys were running around him. Its not painted turquoise. And its in the backyard.
Now, before you hate, hear me out.
Hospitality is part of my heart. Not just having people over to eat good food, but more to get to know their hearts, shower them with grace, and help them to feel welcome and loved.
I’ve always had a heart for hospitality because that is what I was shown from others while growing up and in college. Whether we had a feast or just nuts and water sitting on a barstool in the kitchen…hospitality was a sense of belonging.
So, when I went through a period of my adult life when I felt like I didn’t belong at all, I craved to be able to show hospitality to others, to give to others what I was missing. And it has stuck with. And I’m glad.
Kristin Schell, who wrote the Turquoise Table, is a blogger and a cook, and a wife and a mom, and a Texan. This book reads like her blog posts, with cute pictures, good recipes, and winsome conversation style writing. She tells the story of how the Turquoise Table phenomenon came to be and the relationships that have been formed over the table in her own yard.
If you are looking for a pretty book with a good message, and an easy read, then pick this up. The hospitality conversation has so many facets to it. This is just one. And don’t feel bad if you don’t have a Turquoise Table. Don’t feel bad if you don’t have a front yard (she tells of some stories in the book of how people have taken the idea and made it to fit their lifestyle). Don’t feel bad if you never sit out in your front yard.
One of my greatest desires is to sit down to meaningful conversation with good food. And I can do this on our back deck, at a coffee shop, or at our newly chalk-painted table.
Kristin’s heart is hospitality. Show welcomeness to everyone – no matter where you do it. And if you need a cute Turquoise Table, go get one!
by Kimberly | Mar 11, 2018 | Uncategorized
Its a rainy Sunday afternoon here in East Georgia. Perfect for laying in bed while the boys nap. Reading. Preparing to teach a Bible study on Tuesday. Thinking about a charcuterie board and writing session my mister and I will have tonight.
Here are some things that I’m loving right now:
Trader Joes Dark Chocolate Mint Creams (I finished the contained before starting keto this weekend)
This coffee table (I’m saving up) And stay tuned for some more from Cathy and Rob.
Classes at my gym (specifically body pump and spin)
IG videos on how to watercolor – cheaper than any class I could take
My local library: I can pick out a ton of books then bring them home to see if I want to read them. Much cheaper that way.
White Collar. I’m starting my third round of the series. Love it.
Broadchurch. We are on season 3.
Bull. If you think Michael Weatherly is fabulous in NCIS, he is even better (and the writing is amazing) in this show on CBS.
by Kimberly | Mar 1, 2018 | Books
Food. Books. Two of my loves of my life. And this book is a great combination of both worlds.
Tyndale House sent me this book as part of their blog review program. And the book by Carla Laureano is one of my favorite reads this year!
It is a fictional story of a chef, an essayist, and dinner parties. Food and time together is a perfect setting for love to blossom. I mean, my own relationship with my husband started over a 4 hour dinner.
I loved Carla’s characters, dialogue, setting in Colorado. I had just read a book with a similar story line, but the romance without the sex in this Christian fiction was much better.
If you like food, dinner parties, and romance fiction, this is definitely the book for you.
This would be a perfect book to read with a book club. Have dinner. Drink some wine or just coffee…and talk about the book. There are even discussion questions in the back of the book. And her next one is due our next spring! Can’t wait!
