A Pinteresting April

I'm excited about some of the Pinterest inspired projects I get to share with you this month!! Hope you like them too!

Kitchen Aid Attachment Storage
 

Source: homeimprovementpin.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Ryan and I got a Kitchen Aid mixer for our wedding {yay!!!} and it came with two attachments. We keep the big wire bulb looking attachment {middle above} on the mixer when she's not in use, but the other two were taking up a lot of drawer space. So we bought Command hooks and attached them to a cabinet door that we don't open too often. A quick and efficient fix to storing the not-currently-in-use attachments! Here is our version:

Carrot Cheeseball
 

Source: kailochic.blogspot.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Ryan and I were invited to his family's get-together for Easter, and I really wanted to take something so we could feel we'd contributed to the meal. We weren't assigned anything, and I had this fear I'd make something and "take" someone else's signature dish, so I was excited to find this on Pinterest! The original pin has a recipe for a ranch/sour cream/bacon cheeseball, but I made the one I usually make - with cream cheese/green onion/dried beef. Then I shaped it into a carrot and covered it with shredded cheddar and used one remaining green onion for the green part at the top. We served ours with regular Ritz crackers and the whole thing was a huge hit with his family! WHEW!

Great Quote
 

Source: Uploaded by user via Rebekah on Pinterest

Every now and then I fall in love with a Pinterest quote, and this was just such a quote! I loved this one so much I used it to write an article for the Mid-Morning MMe-Note {or monthly e-newsletter} to encourage our listeners to let God write their life stories without letting lies hold them back!

Organization Basket
 

Source: chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Every family has to find the organizing system that works best for them. Ryan and I have a tall, square {not huge} dining room table that became a daily graveyard of receipts, mail, bills, coupons, other random mail and who knows what else. I got so sick of cleaning it off and vowing to "never let it get like that again" - only to be the worst offender of the mess the next day! So we took a basket we'd purchased for use at our wedding and I bought a set of cute file folders and stuck them inside. I labeled one for bills, receipts, coupons, junk mail, shred, etc....and we even have a few more to add categories as needed. The nice thing about this is we can carry it into other rooms as we need to, for sorting or trashing, but in the meantime, it's all there on the table where we can find what we need in a hurry - without all the ugly! And here is ours:

You and Me Wall Art
 

Source: twogirlzstuff.blogspot.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

We purchased the "and" sign for our engagement/wedding/reception pictures and then tried to figure out what to do with it after the fact. When I saw this, I filed it away as a possible "above the bed" future idea. But we decided to go ahead and use it now {minus the frame} in our dining room, surrounded by other wall art we received for our wedding. We used a gift card to buy the smaller letters and I adore the way it looks in our house!

Easter Sunday Printable
 

Source: incourage.me via Rebekah on Pinterest

Loved the clean lines on this printable and ended up using it in our living room frame on Easter Sunday. Will use it again next year!

April Printable
 

Source: createcraftlove.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Since April has no holidays, I found this cute printable to use for the month in my living room frame. Love the fresh colors and fonts. Come on, spring!

More Printables!
 

Source: diyhshp.blogspot.ca via Rebekah on Pinterest

I found these as I was making my way through Pinterest one day and liked some of the additional options I didn't already have in mine! I actually swapped out the "daily planner" page I was using for this one - and I LOVE some of her other versions too. I haven't decided yet which ones I'll use exclusively but there are some great ideas in here!

Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves
 

Source: laceandlacquers.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I was very excited to find this idea on Pinterest, because my hair is SO attitudinal, and I wanted something that would help it curl better. We searched over the greater part of the state of Indiana to find these - and finally found some at Ulta. I LOVE the way it smells - wowsa it's good! And I love the way my hair looks when I first do it. What I do NOT love is that after the full day, my hair feels weighted down and not curly so much as just in need of a brush. And I feel like my hair has a continual coat of grime on it. No good. Because I'm a Cheapy McCheaperson, I'll probably use the rest of the tube but I don't know that I'll buy it again. :(

Daddy Daughter Date Nite

This past Saturday night was WBCL's annual Daddy Daughter Date Night. I actually hadn't worked this event before, but I was looking forward to it so much because it sounded like a magical evening - and I was excited to see it in action!

They asked my mother-in-law, Nita, and me to be photographers for the evening, and we said yes! So here we were going out for our big night on the town. {I had the worst hair crisis I'd had in a while, so I had to ponytail it. Good night, Irene.}

The event was held at the Landmark in Fort Wayne, and the girls at the station had worked so hard to make it a fun atmosphere. Lots of flowers and candy and color!!

 I think we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 dads/daughters there...this is just half the room set up!

Cute stage decorations!

I didn't get a chance to take too many pictures throughout the night, because my job was to take posed pictures of dads and their girls, so I spent most of the evening doing that! We had two lines going - Nita ran one line and I did the other, and all the dads and daughters could come get pictures taken together as a free gift for the evening.

Some girls were so young - with little tiaras in their curled up hair and big twirly dresses and their nails all polished with glitter...and some were grown up girls - still all dressed up and out to spend a special evening with their dads. It was such fun to take their pictures. Much glowing and much love passed through that line. I felt a bit like I was on the set of some movie, taking all these pictures and declaring them perfect.

They served dinner and yogurt to all the guests...

...and then Jenny Simmons gave a concert. Jenny used to be the lead singer for Addison Road, and now she's out on her own. Lynne interviewed her on Mid-Morning a while ago and we learned via Twitter, after the interview, that her four year old daughter woke up during the interview, and proceeded to throw up, and we had no idea. Jenny never missed a beat! So Lynne and I gave her the "mother of the year" award before she got up to sing...and she did a great job.

It was so sweet to see dads and daughters up dancing during some of the songs...they were so precious!!

My favorite part was at the very end, when Jenny invited all the girls to go up to the front and they made a huge choir singing This Little Light of Mine to their dads.

The room was full of dads with cell phones and tablets up over their heads, capturing their girls singing. SWEET.

SUCH a great evening. So so glad to be part of it.

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was a great day spent together...we went to church and then enjoyed a very long nap - so heavenly. Then I had a chance to sit down with our new label maker and organize the "pantry" cabinet in our kitchen. Slowly but surely we getting everything organized!! And another highlight of the day - Ryan hooked up an old VCR and we took turns showing each other embarrassing high school video footage. This was one I showed him - circa 1991 - me in the church choir. Wowsa.

* Monday night was a gloriously PERFECT spring night. Not too hot, not too cold...sunny...not a lot of wind...perfect. Ryan and I went for a run {which went much better for him than it did for me} and then we grilled out and ate dinner outside for the first time this spring. It was so lovely. I am excited for many more meals outside!!

* Tuesday, Ryan didn't get home until very late in the evening, so I took advantage of the evening alone to work hard on his birthday party plans! I went to the store for the last of the stuff...and then made candy shop pizza and got everything all arranged for the big day on Wednesday! I was thankful for the extra time to get all that done - but man, did I ever miss having him at home!

* Wednesday, as you read, was Ryan's birthday, and though it was a normal day in going to work and such, we managed to squeeze in some fun celebration, kicking off three weeks of being the same age. {You know, before I get old again.}

* Ryan does a lot of things that make me feel loved, but this one is pretty high on the list. When I emerged from the assembly chamber Thursday morning, he told me I looked beautiful and asked if he could take a picture of me. I loved that so much!! I tried a new Dashing Dish recipe on Thursday too - very yummy!!

* Ryan knew I'd been dying to eat Chipotle for the last month or so, and every time I tried to go, my plans were thwarted. So he brought home Chipotle for dinner and then we took advantage of another lovely evening and went for a walk. SO PRETTY. Then we embarked on the we're-old-before-our-time portion of the evening: trying out all the swings at Big R and grocery shopping! HA!!!

* Yesterday was a very special day at work...it was the 3rd annual Daddy Daughter Date Nite - and it was my first chance to work it. It was a completely magical evening and I can't wait to tell you more about it. So much fun to see all the dads and daughters dressed up and out together for a special night - girls twirling and dads all proud. Loved it. I got to be a photographer and that, as you might imagine, made my heart most joyful. AND - I got to share the duty with my mother-in-law, so that was a special treat! Love her! Here's a sneak peek of the evening:

The Saturday Six

One.

Ryan and I used one of our wedding gift cards to purchase a label maker, because we are just OCD that way. It makes us SO happy to have that thing! I spent a good chunk of last Sunday labeling all the Oxo containers we received as wedding gifts - and we have plans to label many more things. I have to say - if you don't have a label maker, and organization makes you happy, you should get one of these. It will make your day. Your week. Possibly your entire year.

Two.

Source

I read this article online this week and found it fascinating. Ryan and I have already started to get queries as to when we will have kids...and how many...and have found reactions as volatile as they were when people found out we were getting married on a beach in Florida! Hard, sometimes to put aside people's opinions and overlook the feelings of judgment and condemnation.

Three.

Received a phone call at work this week asking about a guest Lynne had on the show - well, many, many years ago. She was able to recall the guest and as I researched the website so I could call the listener back, I found his story thoroughly fascinating. The man who had been the guest lost his voice - for years - and one day, as he was trying to give a talk about a Psalm, via a heavy, strained whisper, his voice came back. For good. His speech was being recorded, so you can hear the miracle here. {It's just a brief clip.} Goose bumps.

Four.

Weird confession...I really enjoy cooking with cilantro. It makes me feel like a grown-up. And by this, I mean real, fresh cilantro that you cut or tear...not something out of a jar that you measure with a spoon. I cooked with it this week...and oh yes. I felt like I should be on some Food Network show.

Five.

In the land of recent purchases...I now own a diffuser. {That's for hair, if you didn't know.} Ryan, good husband that he is, took me to Ulta {a first for both of us} and bought me a nice new hairdryer with diffuser. For the last week, I've been experimenting with figuring out the thing. It's an art form. And I'm no artist. But I'm determined to figure out the perfect combination!

Six.

My Facebook status yesterday stated this: The marriage of two happily OCD people includes conversations like this one: "What are you wearing today so I know which coffee cup to pick out for you?" It's true. I like my coffee cup to match my outfit, if possible. Sometimes it's not possible. Judge me if you like, but it's one of those little happy things in my day. And I'm not gonna lie: Ryan asking that question makes me feel even more loved than I did before. And the before was awfully good.  

Birthday Boy!!

As you know, Ryan's birthday was Wednesday...and we had the most lovely day! {Well. Minus my somewhat ugly cry meltdown as we were leaving for work, but THAT'S a long story we won't go into today. Just know that Ryan is a saint for loving me through that mess.}

I am a firm believer that birthdays are personal holidays and should be celebrated to the max. This is new for Ryan, who said the words, "It's just another day," to which I gasped in horror.

I was DETERMINED to make it more than "just another day," so despite my lack of cooking...and lack of a theme...we did have fun!

Ryan loves Rise n Roll donuts, which are made up by Middlebury. I arranged to have Lynne pick up a half dozen at Nolts Marketplace in Fort Wayne, who receives a shipment of them every day. I hid them in the fridge with a note that they were NOT to be snooped in...but it didn't matter. He never opened the fridge the night before! So I got up at 5:00 the morning of his birthday, warmed up the rolls, put candles (3 and 4 for 34...) in the donuts and made coffee! Delivered all that, and gift number one, to him - in bed.

That's a big deal because he's the one who always brings ME breakfast and coffee in bed! {True story! Every day!} I got some fabulous pictures of him blowing out the candles, with Braeya's help, and opening his present but I promised not to post them on the blog, because he still had his sleepy face on. So I'm being a good wife {who has a birthday coming up herself and doesn't want to jeopardize the celebration} and I'm not posting them. :)

His present for the morning was a new bottle of his cologne, which I ADORE.

I tried to make the work day fun by packing a mini-party into his lunch box: a little balloon, a picture, a note, and a clue about the evening celebration!

Here we are ready to go out for the birthday party!

I wore my dancing dress because he loves it so much. Lesson learned: do not pump gas on a freezing cold, windy day, in a dancing dress. Sorry, Fort Wayne.

Clue number one for the birthday evening was that it would be spicy.

And you know why???

He LOVES his B-dubs, so that's where we went for dinner! We were like a couple of old people in there wondering where the breeze was coming from!  LOL!! Here he is with the invisible band I hired to spice up the evening:

{This may be one of my most favorite pictures of him. SO handsome.}

After dinner, we headed out to fulfill clue number two: steamy.

We had each registered one of our Starbucks gift cards so we could get free drinks on our birthday. Our barista was so sweet and wished him a happy birthday - and then...the card did not show as registered. She was as darling as she could be about it but the manager called upon to assist just shrugged us off and said we'd have to call about it. Even after Ryan showed her the email on his phone that proved the card was registered, she was not helpful. So, $5.08 later, we got his "free" drink plus mine {which he had to order because I was so upset about that manager that I couldn't even recall what I drink at Starbucks...and you KNOW that's serious!} and we were on our merry way.

And by merry, I mean he was as you see above and I was on hold with Starbucks.

You can do a lot of things to me and I might not like it, but I'm unlikely to say anything. But by George, if you mess with coffee - mine, my husband's or anyone else's - you've just crossed the line.

We rented the movie Parental Guidance and came home to watch that while we drank the aforementioned non-free coffees and ate the birthday treat I made him. Oh MAN was this good.

The movie was oh so funny - and after it was over, he opened his last gift of the day, which unfortunately he already knew he was receiving:

But he was SO excited about it and I loved watching him rearrange everything to get it all set up the way he wanted it.

He said it was a great birthday, and I know I had a lot of fun celebrating his life. Love you so much, Ryan! Here's to a great three weeks of being the same age!! :)

More Than We Can Ask or Imagine

Today is Thursday. {Perhaps my most lackluster blog intro EVER. But hang with me.} I love Thursdays.

Why?

Not the sandwich.

 BLT as in Bekah/Lynne/Thursday.

It's an idea God gave Lynne last summer. I still remember the day she came in the office and wheeled around in her chair and said, "I have an idea...tell me what you think!" And then she unfolded this idea to have a show every Thursday where the two of us banter...tell stories...share our favorite Pinterest ideas...offer some tweets we've had fun reading...and then chat with our listeners for the rest of the hour.

We started that in September and a few weeks in was the BLT of all BLT's...the one in which Ryan proposed to me!

Here's what I love about BLT...it was just an idea that we were going to try for a while. Just to see. And we've fallen in love with it and so has our listening family. In fact, when I'm out working at station events, I hear more about BLT than anything else we do on Mid-Morning.

We didn't expect that. We just hoped to have some fun on-air. God had bigger dreams for a little show documented photographically with bacon, lettuce, and tomato making an outline of the acronym.

In fact, next week, BLT hits the road with a live version at a banquet in Sturgis, Michigan.

We didn't see that one coming - but we're so excited to share an evening with these ladies!

God's plans are so much bigger than ours. I never thought I'd have a job in radio. I never thought I'd have a husband named Ryan. And I have no idea what else lurks ahead in my life's timeline that I can't fathom right now.

And you know what?  It's not just for me. It's for you too. Far more than you can ask or imagine. He's got crazy amazing plans for YOU!!!!!

Worth it Wednesday #2

I shared this video on my Saturday Six post - and hopefully you've seen it. Very powerful message of how we see ourselves vs. how others see us. I've been thinking about it all week.

Too bad we don't all have a forensic artist friend, huh? In the absence of such a friend in my life, I created a similar activity - which ended up being pretty interesting!

First I asked myself...if I had to describe myself to someone, as the women in the video did, what would I say? Here's my list. On any typical given day, this is how I see myself. These are the things that stick out most to me. The neon signs that say "Here comes Bekah!!"

* Attitudinal hair - sometimes curly-ish, sometimes straight-ish, brown with gray roots too much of the time - a little past my shoulders.
* Big forehead with a widow's peak.
* Hazel eyes.
* Big nose.
* Scar across left cheek.
* Almost straight teeth.
* Tiny fingernails.
* Not flat stomach. {We won't talk about the stomach.} {Except I almost always talk about the stomach.}

Those are the things I see first/most when I look at myself. Now...let me say this. When I blogged last week for Worth it Wednesday, I said this lack of physical self-esteem was something Ryan couldn't fix for me. This is something I have to do for myself. My very wise friend, Kari, said this to me: "You are correct in saying that Ryan can't help you with this but his stability is an awesome resource for you."

SO. TRUE. People can't fix this for us, but people sure can encourage us. People sure can give us perspective. So this week I did a thing that felt silly and kind of embarrassing - but I did it anyway. I emailed 3 people plus Ryan {not that Ryan isn't a people...but he's in a different category because he's my husband} and I asked them how THEY would describe me. Here's some of what they said:

* Her skin is smooth.
* Her cheek bones are well defined.
* Her nose is straight and in good proportion to the size and shape of her face.
* Her eyes are so expressive and she can speak through them.
* Her mouth speaks without saying anything.
* When her hair is curly, she's tired. When it's straight, she's feeling pretty good.
* Her smile and laugh are contagious. The laugh's my favorite.
* She covers her stomach when she gets her pictures taken
* Her eyes are compassionate and tuned in when she looks at others but hurting and insecure when she talks about herself.
* Her nails are always perfectly manicured
* Her hair is always freshly colored
* Her eye makeup is great
* Her clothes are trendy, yet classic
* Her jewelry is always slammin'
* Overall: One beautiful girl!
* Her eyes are bright and expressive
* She has a wide smile
* Real eyebrows {as opposed to the complete lack of them}
* Cute dimples

Those comments were all from the girls. Now, for what my husband said:

When I look at Bekah, one thing that sticks out right away is her huge, beautiful smile. It will light up a room right away and let others know they are welcome....she does her hair in several different styles that always look good and oh-so-cute. No matter the situation, she can make you laugh by her little quirks or wittiness. She always speaks to me with words of encouragement and strength, making sure I know how much I am loved. And I see her do the same with others who share her same struggles. Then there are her eyes: so big, so kind, so loving, so beautiful, never judgmental. She is such an amazing woman whom I love more every day, and who shows me a love without limits. I thank God for her daily, as I can't imagine life without her. I still can't believe this is my life, and my wife is Bekah - complete Awesome Sauce.

{Awesome Sauce is his nickname for me.}

Things I learned from this experiment are as follows:

* While I see my hair as attitudinal, frizzy, temperamental, and going rapidly gray, others see my hair as fun and versatile - and interestingly enough, freshly colored. {Tip: don't try a scented marker in a pinch. It will fail you. Not that I know this.}
* Not one of them, even my husband, who knows me the best and sees me in the closest possible way, mentioned a widow's peak or the scar on my cheek. They don't see that.
* Not only did the big nose go unmentioned...one said my nose is in correct proportion to my face. And I don't think she meant I had a big face. :)
* The only one who mentioned my stomach only did so in the context of saying she noticed I wasn't comfortable with it.

And this was THE most interesting thing of all:

All of them mentioned my eyes/smile/laugh first and foremost. And every one of them mentioned it not just as a physical feature, but as a deeper feature. Not one of them mentioned the color, but all of them mentioned my eyes were expressive...kind....compassionate...something along those lines. And when they see my smile, they don't see "almost straight teeth" - but they see something joyful and expressive.

My mind is tumbling...and I fear if I keep processing out loud to you right now...this post will become book-length. So I think I'm going to continue to ponder for another week and bring some of my conclusions and lessons learned to you next week.

But in the meantime, I encourage you who struggle with your physical image {and let's face it...who out there doesn't struggle with SOMETHING about yourself?} to be brave and ask a handful of friends to be your "forensic artist." It will feel awkward, but seriously - try it. Make a list of how you see yourself and THEN - after you've made the list - ask four friends to describe you. Then put all the lists side by side and see how others see you in comparison to the way you see yourself.

And as you do this, read with an open mind. Ask God to saturate your heart with His truths about the person He knit together in your mother's womb. {Psalm 139:13-16)