Inspiration Board: Italian Influences

My trip is slowly approaching so I have been looking for some inspiration for things to pack / get along the way. I felt like this was the perfect blend of a relaxing, cool, two weeks of being immersed into the Italian culture. Arrivederci!! 

1. Didi // Rose Quartz Majestic Pendant Necklace 

2. Michael Kors // Bedford Ostrich Tote

3. Damask Designs // Vintage Italy Map

4. Faliero Sarti // Tobia Savanna Modal silk blend scarf

5.  Humanoid // Leather Jacket

6. Gucci // Aviator Frame Sunglasses

7. Zorki // Vintage Camera

8. TKC // Leather Passport Wallet

9. Papillionaire // Red Bicycle with basket

10. Finn // Rose Gold Arrow Ring

11. Brixton Slip // Brown Stripe Hat

My Taste Is Getting WEIRD.

So, recently I have stumbled across a few things that I really LOVE that I would have never in a million years liked 5 or 6 years ago. Isn't it strange how our tastes can change so suddenly?

[I thought that this bed was just so artistic. I love trees, I'd love to sleep here.]

[These are purses. Not sure that I'd carry one, but intriguing nonetheless.]

[These plates just scream elegance.]

[Stationary Sets]

[Abstract art is a favorite of mine. Plus, it would go perfect with my new "tree bed".] :)

[This is the kind of jewelry I would find when I went rummaging through my grandmothers closet. Hated it then. Love it now. So timeless, so classy.]



[Couldn't have caught me dead in a pair of pointy toed shoes when I was 20 years old.]




[Remember the days when we used to NOT want to look like we bought our clothes at the resale store?]

[The jewelry tree]

So what about you?
Have your tastes changed in the last 5 years or so, or stayed the same?

Does Girly Girl = Worldly Girl?

O.k. Ladies. Here is my dilemma. It is something that I have been struggling with on and off for some time now. I am hoping that some of you can share your opinion with me on this so that I can see how others view our lives as Christian women.

You see, I LOVE being a woman. I mean, besides the obvious burdens we have been blessed with, like child birth (not complaining though, really I'm not) and some of the others... I really do love being a woman. I love the things that we "own", just us, you know... like bubble baths, love stories, cupcakes, and high heels. And even though I used to play G.I. Joe's with my brother growing up, played in the dirt, and STILL love to ride four wheelers in the mud, the older I get, the more I become a "girly girl." You know what I mean? I like to go get a massage. Treat myself to a pedicure. Go shopping with friends and find matching accessories. I love all of it. But there is still something inside of me that pulls at my heart every time I have a woman's day out.

I'm wondering if Girly Girl = Worldly girl.

I mean, look at some of the other cultures. In some countries, women don't even shave their legs. [NO ADAM, I'm not thinking what you're thinking... don't worry.] :)
But really, they aren't worried about putting on makeup, finding the perfect jewelry to match an outfit and what color nail polish they are going to put on. But our culture, our society, lives off of this stuff. So as much as I love to do it, I wonder if something about it doesn't take our minds off of God and place them on the material things of the world without us even realizing it. It is such a tough call for me sometimes.

I'm not so much talking about doing things to take care of yourself and to be attractive to your husband, I'm talking about all of the social standards of fashion that we fall victim to. The gimmicks they use to continue to sell us this stuff. And our undeniable attraction to things that are shiny, sparkly, or in my case, jangly. I often buy jewelry or purses based on the sounds they make. The more jangly, the more I like it.
[I'm weird. I know.]

And I know that the Bible says - "Do not let your beauty be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels, or putting on of fine clothing, but in the hidden person of the heart..." - 1 Peter 3:3-4
And believe me, if anybody believes this, it's me. I know that the inside without a doubt is where all beauty comes from. And that God has a different definition for beauty, I think, than we do. But it doesn't change the fact that I embrace being a woman sometimes with the very things that make us different from men. Our hair, our smells, etc. The girly stuff.

So when the girly side of me starts to mean that I play into all of the social standards, spend more and more money, and finally resort to sunglasses that cover my entire face, where do I draw the line?? Ladies, help me out, how do you feel about being a girly girl?

A Riddle of A Day

What do Cupcakes, New Haircuts, and Old Friends all have in common??

Absolutely Nothing.

Except the fact that I am crazy about all of them, of course.

So I have been watching Food Network's ACE OF CAKES lately, and TLC's CAKE BOSS and it just looks like so much fun to be able to come up with an artistic design and turn it into something so sweet and so scrumptious to eat. So I tried it. Definitely not the most beautiful designs in the world, but hey, not bad for an amateur. They taste good too!

So what is my next challenge you might ask?

Patriotic Cupcakes, for our 4th of July Party!

Speaking of July, it is THAT time again, my friends. SUMMER. You know how I know? Because I have 50 million inches of hair growing out of my head and hanging out on the back of my shirt causing 100 degree weather to feel like 140 degree weather instantly. Or I did. It was all I could take. So I went in this week and got it chopped. (Not really chopped, more like, ... liberated!) I really love the new do and I am seriously glad that my head no longer weighs a ton.

PS. DO NOT LAUGH AT THIS PICTURE. I hate taking pictures of myself because I go through that "teeny bopper on Myspace trying to get the perfect angle to send to the creepy 60 year old sex offender posing as a 17 year old boy" feeling. But, sometimes... you've just got to prove your point.

Scissors: 1 , Split Ends: 0

This past weekend, our Old, Great, Friends, Crystal & Dalton came to spend the weekend with us. We had such a great time! They are those kind of friends that you can just sit around and talk about everything under the sun with for hours. On Friday night, we had dinner at our house, played games, (watched Crystal almost stop breathing because she was laughing so hard), and stayed up talking for hours about spiritual things, old memories, what's new, and so much more.

On Saturday we all got up and headed out to eat lunch at Jalapeno Tree, WHICH BY THE WAY, is one of our Favorite places, and they had never even heard of it.

The Famous ICE CREAM OUTSIDE picture. Gotta love it.
We make it a habit to take this one with all of our favorite couples.

Then we took them to see UP, because Ad liked it a lot, and I'm not going to deny it. I'm in love with the movie. In Love. It is definitely one of the sweetest, most insightful movies I have ever seen.

Plus, it is fun in 3-D.

Isn't she adorable, ladies and gentlemen??

Crys thought that Adam looked like DREW CAREY.

Negative.

Dalton laughed so hard during the short before the film, I thought we were going to have to carry him out of there.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend with them and I was SO SAD to see them go. Hurry up and move to TYLER already!!! :)

What a GREAT summer so far, and we have a lot more to look forward to ... like...CHICAGO!

Stay Tuned. :)

Unravel Me

It is really hard being a woman sometimes. But more than that, it is really hard to be a Christian woman. Especially in this world. With all of the constant fashion, makeup ads, and cute accessories flashed in front of our faces from day to day, we tend to want to go with the flow and shop, shop, shop to keep up.

I have a confession. I love TLC's What Not to Wear. I have learned so much from that show, from the straight legged paints to the pointy toe shoes. And there is something about watching that person's reaction when they have seen the final transformation that is super entertaining to me. But you know, I've been thinking. There is something kind of sad about every end of each episode of that show. When all is said and done, and the ladies have a new look, with a new wardrobe complete with new hair and makeup, they all say the same thing. "I have so much more confidence now. I feel like a new person with a new life and things are going to be so much better." It is kind of disheartening to know that these people did not have a "complete life" until they had a makeover. Do we really hold so much value in our style and look? I'm totally guilty. I love getting new purses and pretty jewelery. And if my feet weren't shaped weird, I'm sure I'd be a shoe girl too!

But 1 Peter 3:3 says - "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, you should be known of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." I love that ... "you should be known". So it got me to thinking... what am I known for? Am I known by my friends as the girl who is always wanting the latest fashions to wear and who wants to go shopping for the most hip shoes? Or am I known for my gentle and quiet spirit? Umm... quiet spirit?? I'm pretty sure I'm not known by that yet. :)

But here is the thing. I want to be.

The psalmist says in Psalm 119:37 "Turn my eyes away from worthless things. Give me a new life in your ways." What could be more worthless than what we decorate ourselves with? It will be extremely hard for me to completely turn away from the desires of this world. And I'm pretty sure that I will still occasionally "fall in love" with a pretty purse or earrings. But the important thing is to be sure and not find my value in these things. To not let it take me over so much that because I get a new look I feel like life will be so much better. And to definitely not be KNOWN for obsessing over these things. I want for people to be able to look at me and see the inside.

So that is my prayer today. That I may live in such a way that people see the real me. The one that does not claim this world as her home. I have more beautiful things than clothes and shoes to set my eyes upon, like my eternity in Heaven.

Dear God, Unravel Me.....