A Beautiful Mess Happy Handmade Home

I could not wait to get my hands on this book. I'd seen it circulating in the blogworld, and though I'd never heard of A Beautiful Mess's blog (I know, where have I been? Still mourning the loss of Young House Love, I suppose), I was curious to see what it was all about. Upon delivery, this book did not disappoint!! The second I received the package in the mail, I ripped open the envelope and counted down the minutes until naptime so I could begin to devour it.

We headed out to our favorite orchard, where we've gone every year since we've lived here. Its such a tradition we couldn't pass it up this year. Plus, Anderson's Orchard has the best prices around. Seriously, 1/2 a peck costs $6-- regardless of the type of apple. At Beasley's Orchard (the other popular one in the area), prices go up to $12!!  Craziness. Plus, Anderson's has You-Pick orchards-- we love it! The day was beautiful, much warmer than last year! And we found a beautiful new spot by a small lake to take some family photos. I'm on a mission to get a good family photo to enlarge, since we don't have one of the four of us yet. I'm not sure if any of these made the cut, but they might!

I tend to be a documenter. I was the girl in high school who was taking pictures at the football games on Friday night- and not just because I was the yearbook editor. I genuinely love to take pictures of life. College was another great time for taking pictures, what with new friendships forming and an endless supply of time on our hands. Then, there were the early years of marriage. Photos from this time consists mainly of pictures of our cats and newlywed couple selfies. Whatever, they were cute (and so were we). And now, I have a family and two little girls. I have to restrain myself not to document their every breath. I know each moment is precious and fleeting, and I want to capture it to the best of my abilities. Enter my amazing husband at Christmas 3 years ago. He bought me my first DSLR camera and I've been in love ever since. Originally, he bought it for me so that I could hone my craft on our oldest daughter who was just about 7 months old at the time.  What a great age for practicing camera settings and lighting balance!

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, can I be honest with you for a few minutes? Ebola freaks me out. Even when the disease was seemingly eradicated, it would cross my mind from time to time. Maybe its because I was too young when I saw "Outbreak" and the images of those bright yellow biohazard suits burned an image into my mind, or it could be that I'm a pessimistic hypochondriac (but still a really fun person-ha!). But whatever the reason, it scares me. And I almost feel silly typing that because I know the statistics. Believe me. I know them. I've read and re-read every article that comes across my home page or Zite list having to deal with the subject. Despite this knowledge, the fear remains.

Gia is doing so great with her hearing aid. The only problem is that when she really gets jumping around (like every other 3 year old on the planet often does) the aid comes off from behind her ear. We're trying to teach her to put it back over her ear, but she doesn't quite have the hang of it yet. Other than that, she's doing great.

Its been a busy summer. Lots of trips out of town for Sean, fun & free summer activites for the kids, our 10th wedding anniversary, a wonderful impromptu visit from my mom, and moving across town. All of that was a wonderful way to pass the summer months, but along the way it led to a lot of poor eating habits. Mainly, fast food & unbalanced meals-on-the-go. For months, Sean has wanted to do a challenge called "The Whole 30." Its a big deal and takes a lot of commitment, so all summer our mantra has been, "After such and such trip, we'll start..." Well folks, the trips are over. Sean's birthday has been celebrated & caupcakes have been eaten. I'm finishing off my Almond Ice Cream Dibs tonight. I had two Diet Cokes today in anticiaption of my month-long abstinence (I'll miss you, DC). We also went grocery shopping. I know there are a lot of wonderful, creative recipes for the Whole30, and we will definitely get to them, but for our first time, we kept it simple. As it really should be. All that's allowed on Whole30 is organic produce and non-hormone/GMO/etc meat along with healthy fats like coconut oil. No sugar, no sugar subs, no bread, no soda, no dairy, no soy, no legumes (peanuts, too)... the list goes on and on. When I say it really is just meat, veggies and fruit, it really is. It was actually nice to not have to go up and down every aisle! But learning to read labels will take some time. We'll make our own mayo & ranch dressing for salads (which I'm excited about!). So, I will hopefully be posting a little bit througout our journey as a means of keeping ourselves accountable.

One of the biggest reasons we've decided to do this is because I've recently had a lot of food allergies issues arise. This is similar to a total elimination diet that many doctors put people on for similar reasons. After the 30 days, we will slowly begin reintroducing foods, while paying close attention to any reactions we may have from the new food groups. Hopefully this will help us adapt a healthier lifestyle overall that is tailored to our bodies' specific needs. This is also the best way to start healing our gut from the months (er, years) of poor diet habits and see if that might have an impact on our mental health as well.

For better or worse, here we go!  This is what a week-ish worth of good-for-you food looks like:

I was almost giddy when I opened up my package from Tyndale and found the beautiful book inside, My Princesses Learn To Be Brave. The latest in a new line of stories that combines Biblical stories with applicable truths, this book instantly captured the attention of my princess-loving three year old daughter. In fact, before I even showed her the book, she saw it laying on the counter. She picked it up and asked, "Can we read this??" She could not wait. It has been a regular in our evening book rotation. 

This is my first time reviewing a cookbook, and I am so excited! My husband and I love watching the Food Network show, "Chopped." The basic gist of it is a trio of talented chefs are presented with a "mystery basket" of ingredients. From the onset, they seem like a horrible hodge-podge of clashing flavors and the chefs are tasked with the challenge to make something delicious using all of them. Cotton candy and kale, sausage and strawberries, eggs and carrots. Somehow, by the end of the show, delectable dishes are presented to the judges and a winner is chosen. 

The NIV Essentials Study Bible is a giant conglomeration of some of the best study Bible tools that Zondervan has offered. I'm one who likes to dig deep into individual scriptures, as well as look at the meaning and context of entire books. Reading the historical backgrounds and getting extra tidbits of archaeological information helps bring the inspired Word to life. Though the NIV is no longer my preferred translation of the Bible, it is (in my opinion) the easiest to comprehend. I usually have my Kindle with me when I go to church, and I love having all of the study tools at the tips of my finger when I want to look up something quickly. The NIV Essentials Study Bible combines the best parts of six different Bibles and study materials. They are:

If we know each other in real life, or if you've read my blog for very long, you may know that I'm a little bit obsessed with this whole concept of "home." There is something so spiritual and sacred about creating a place of rest for my loved ones that has whispers of Greater Things to come. The Nesting Place, Written by long-time blogger Myquillyn Smith, this book fleshes out the decorating philosophy that it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Because I'm a busy mom of two little girls, I don't have time for perfection. As much as I wish I did, that is something I've actually worked really hard to let go of. Ain't nobody got time for that right? Myquillyn has a house full of boys and yet the pictures of her home are absolutely stunning. One of the biggest things I loved and appreciated about this book was the idea that you don't have to own your home to make it a refuge for your family. She begins the book with a quick recap of the 13- yes, thirteen!- homes she has lived in. Many of them were rentals and because of that, this book is brimming with fantastic ideas for people who are renting or not able to make major changed to their homes. As a fellow renter, those tips and ideas are worth the read alone! 

We mixed up sidewalk chalk for the kids to paint the drive with. (Water + corn starch + food coloring) They had a great time with that, except, as usual, Gia decided it needed to be all over her. For a while, the kids ran around back and apparently, that lack of adult supervision gave them the perfect window of time to paint each other! I love that we live so close to friends who have kids Gia & Joey's age. I can't wait to watch them grow up together. They're all within just a few years of each other.




I love this picture above... the street lights all down way... love it.


The air was so thick with smoke that you could smell the sulphur from the fireworks. It was pretty overwhelming at first, but you got used to it. Joey loved the fireworks-- the noise didn't even flich her!


This pic looks like Gia was touching the fire but she really wasn't. We put a solo cup over the sparkler handle so the kids could hold onto them without getting burned. It worked pretty well except that we used metal sparklers, and even the handles get hot if they held on too long to them!