Things I Learned in July

Before I enlighten you on all the things I learned in July, I have a super-sized episode of Spill the Beans for you! It's full of the short version of our road trip, including our near disaster. (It wouldn't be a Shaffer road trip without a little drama, now would it?)

Listen here!

SOMEHOW it has come to be the last day of July. I honestly have no idea how that happened. I may have taken a vacation, but it wasn't from learning! Some little tidbits I picked up in July include...

1. Now I know about Copic Markers.

I'd never heard of them before. Have you? Apparently they're the grown up of all grown up markers and you can do all sorts of fancy things with them. While it definitely sounds like something I need, I notice they also come with a hefty price tag, so maybe I'll just be an admirer from afar? (Here's the beginner's guide to knowing all about them if you're in the dark like I was.)



2. Blue jay feathers are not actually blue.

I met this really super talented artist back in my IWU days. She was a student when I worked there and she and her apartment-mates frequently sat out on their porch in the evenings, which put them right along my walking path. I often stopped to talk to them and struck up a friendship that continues now through Facebook. Heidi is a watercolor artist, and I enjoy following her career. This month she was working on a blue jay painting and said this:

The blue color in blue jay feathers is an illusion. If you were to crush up a feather, the blue would disappear and you would be left with a brownish-grey dust. This is caused by the (differential) scattering of light through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs. I could go into further detail, but I really just wanted to say how funny I find the irony of trying to recreate the specific blue of these birds in watercolor when it does not necessarily exist. 

Who knew?



3. I should not get weighed every day.

You may or may not remember (and it's okay if you don't) that the day after my 40th birthday, I set out on a mission to re-lose the weight I had re-gained after losing weight two years ago. I hadn't gained it all back, but enough that I wanted to get a grip on it. The plan I decided to use called for a daily weigh-in, mostly with the intent of learning the body's patterns of gain and loss. Well, as I reported last month, one thing I learned is that I have no patterns. I just have a weird, weird body that doesn't always do what it "should."

Early in July, Ryan (ever so kindly) asked if I would consider breaking the program rules to get weighed weekly instead because the daily madness of finding out I hadn't budged (or worse...gained) didn't always bring out the prettiest side of me. Since a daily weigh in wasn't accomplishing what it was supposed to anyway, I agreed, and moved to weekly. THAT is much better for me. I don't stress nearly as much now. I'm still careful. I'm still losing. I'm just not as crazy obsessed.

* To be fair, I did know this before July. I know I shouldn't weigh often because I get 100% numbers obsessed. But July confirmed it.



4. There are slow cookers that can plug into your car.

Did you know this? When we stayed at our first Airbnb home, the host told us about these little slow cookers that plug right into your car! (12 volt power source.) You can cook on the road! Think of how much sooner we can eat Sunday lunch now!! (I'm kidding.) (Kind of.)



5. Twelve volt power source is what you now call the cigarette lighter in your car.

I've known for a while now that you weren't supposed to call it the cigarette lighter, but now I know what you actually SHOULD call it.



6. We love Airbnb.

You caught the bigger version of this story in yesterday's post, but I'll still state it as something learned this month! We had three wonderful (and distinctly unique) experiences, but we're sold. I think this may be our new form of lodging in the future. (Until we get our RV, of course. HA!) I will do a post soon to tell you all about it. The Airbnb experience. Not an RV.


How about you? Learn anything fun in July?

Airbnb: It Worked for Us!

A few weeks ago I asked your opinions on Airbnb. I was in the middle of planning our vacation, and since we were going to be gone so many days, I wanted to see if I could maximize our budget with affordable lodging. We ended up using Airbnb three times, and we had a really positive experience in all three. (Three very different experiences, but three good ones!)

In case you are also new to Airbnb, I thought I'd tell you what we loved and what we learned from our time!

First Experience: Near Springfield, Illinois

Our first night out on our trip, we stayed just outside Springfield, Illinois, in an Airbnb that was relatively new. It was kind of a gamble for us, because it was so new, there weren't even any reviews to read yet. Gulp! I chose it because the hosts looked nice and I thought their profile info looked friendly. Thankfully this was one time the internet didn't lie and turn me into a Dateline special. They really were as wonderful as they promised to be.

This Airbnb space was in the basement of their country home. It was a walkout basement, so we had our own entrance, and they had a darling little living room set up in the main area. There was also a workout space, had we wanted to use an elliptical or treadmill. They had a pool table and a bunch of toys for guests with kids. It had a super comfortable bedroom, a nice bathroom, and even though they didn't have a built-in kitchen area, they had set up a little area to make a kitchen! Fridge, microwave, coffee pot, snacks, and even a little skillet!

The hosts were so, so nice. They met us when we arrived, invited us to make ourselves at home, wander through the garden, see the chickens, and they even brought us homemade blackberry pie that evening. We invited them to sit with us for a while, so we all ate pie together, and then the husband stayed to shoot pool with Ryan. (I don't know how, so he needed a buddy.) Before we left the next morning, the wife offered us some goods from their garden.

We loved feeling like we made new actual friends, hearing their story, and interacting with them. We absolutely felt like it was home and we belonged there. The little extra touches of a white noise machine in the bedroom, a handwritten note welcoming us, and the homemade pie offering set the Airbnb bar really high! And after a long day of travel and sightseeing, the quiet of the country was such a lovely way to end the day. Here are a few pictures from our time at the first stop:

Second Experience: Kansas City, Missouri

The second night of our vacation, we stayed in Kansas City, Missouri. This stop on our trip was something we wanted to do just to try to break up the long drive from home to Kansas. We've been through Kansas City before, but we had never stopped to explore it. Our time was spent in the middle of the city, in the Plaza area. Since we're not from there or remotely familiar with the area, we weren't sure what parts of Kansas City were safe to stay in. We also learned that hotel lodging in that part of the city is pretty pricey, and it just wasn't in our budget. So....Airbnb to the rescue!

This time we stayed in a guest room in a man's house, so we were right in the thick of his actual living quarters. There's a whole funny story with this one (too long for this post) but it ended up that he was out of town for the weekend, so the night we stayed, it was just us and a college intern who happened to be living there for the summer. (His room was on the first floor of the house, and ours was on the second. We did see him briefly, but we didn't have a ton of interaction with him.) We had a bedroom and bathroom for our use, and we happened to be there on a night when no one stayed in the room on the other side of the Jack-and-Jill bathroom, so we had complete privacy.

The house was in a very nice neighborhood and we felt safe there. He was within walking distance of the Plaza and canal, so we were able to just leave our car there and walk to everything we wanted to do that evening.

I felt a bit like an intruder, just roaming around this guy's house when he wasn't even home, storing my food in his fridge, and running in and out through his garage, but I'm sure if I did this more, I'd feel used to it. The winning moment of this experience? He had a rooftop deck that overlooked the city. Now that was a cool way to enjoy the sunset. And we know without a doubt we never would have been able to afford to stay in this part of the city aside from a place like this. Here are some photos from that experience!

Our Third Experience: Columbia, Missouri

After spending a few nights with family and friends, we returned to Airbnb life on our way home. We had spent a day at a water park in Kansas City (Kansas) and our next destination was in Monticello, Illinois. They're about six hours apart, so we decided to take a couple of evening hours after the water park to just drive, so we would be closer the next morning and not have to spend so many hours in the car. Columbia landed close to the two hour mark, so we found a place there!

Much like our first experience, this one was the basement of a home, and we did get to meet the host this time. (We arrived late, after dark, and the house number wasn't well marked, so we were struggling to know if we had the right place. She saw us outside and came to greet us. Her little space was very homey and cute. We had a bedroom, bathroom, living area, and kitchen (with full refrigerator, sink, and stove) at our disposal, and a private entrance out the back of her house.

This host was an artist, so the whole space was filled with art, and much of it was hers. (I know the paintings were hers because of her signature. I'm not sure if the photography was hers or not.) She had also left food for us in the fridge, so Ryan made us eggs for breakfast the next morning before we left. We were super tired and a bit burned from our day at the water park, so it was nice to have a little spot just to rest and recuperate! Other than seeing her when we arrived, we didn't have a chance to interact with this host much, but we were thankful for her home!

So here's what we loved:

* Affordability. Because we were just passing through and in most cases just needed a bed and shower, this was way more affordable for us than paying for a hotel room. In fact, for these three nights combined, we paid $188. I'm pretty sure we would have paid that (or more) for the night in downtown Kansas City alone!

* The experience. We loved meeting our hosts in Springfield. We loved the chance to be in the heart of downtown in Kansas City. We loved the unique space in Columbia. Hotels (though wonderful!!!) are awfully predictable. These three nights gave us the chance to experience something unique and new, and that was fun for us.

* Bang for our Buck. More than just being affordable, it was great to have (in two of the three places) basically entire homes at our disposal. We enjoyed all the comforts of home in each space.


And here's what we learned:

* We are whole space kind of people. This is probably more true of me than of Ryan. Though I wasn't scared or uncomfortable in the second home, it sure was nice to have the whole area to ourselves. Staying in a guest room probably won't be our first choice in the future, just because it wasn't as freeing to us.

* We really like it! While we probably won't abandon hotels entirely, I foresee this being a new way of travel for us. We liked it enough to go back over and over!


So there you go! The Shaffer Airbnb experience!

The Shafferland Shuffle

Home again, home again, jiggety jig! As always, after traveling, it's so good to be home, but MAN! What a wonderful vacation we just had. It wasn't perfect, but it was a blessing, it was fun, and it was full of memory-making and adventure!

* Last Sunday we were out in Greensburg, Kansas, where my sister lives! We went to church with them and Ryan sang a solo in their morning service. (He did an amazing job, too, by the way.) We enjoyed lunch with my sister and brother-in-law, my niece and her husband, and the baby, who tried her hand at sweet potatoes for the first time. (This experience provided mixed reviews and lots of pictures.)

* Monday was our last day in Greensburg and the first day little Miss Caroline was interested in letting Ryan and me hold her. So we had to make up for lost time! And in a moment that I felt was very appropriate, we got to be with her when she entered her first coffee shop. (Sigh of joy.) I got to rock her to sleep at her nap time, and we got to enjoy one more dinner with the fam before packing up our many suitcases!

* Tuesday morning we headed out toward Joplin, Missouri. In a random twist that no one saw coming, both couples from our wedding party moved to Joplin several months ago! (The moves were totally unrelated to each other.) Sara, one of our bridesmaids, was out of town for work, but the rest of us met up for dinner and coffee. It was so fun! Ryan and I also got to see the spot where Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri intersect. (Boy there's a whole story with that!)

* We spent Wednesday in Kansas City at Schlitterbahn Water Park. Ryan LOVES a water park, and since he had been so incredibly gracious to make this whole trip ultimately about meeting a baby, he definitely needed a day that was all about him! It was hot and sunny, and I wore my big floppy hat all over that park. Fun day! At the end of that day, we began making our way east again and landed in Columbia, Missouri, at our final Airbnb for the trip.

* Thursday afternoon we arrived in the little burg of Monticello, Illinois, where we stayed at a conference center with the hopes of some hiking and rest. Well, guess who had no intentions of resting? THE MOSQUITOES!!! I am always a mosquito buffet, but it was even worse this time. The bits moved past itching and actually hurt! We still had a good time, even if we had to cut our hiking short.

* Friday morning we left Illinois to head home...to Indiana, anyway. What should have been an easy day of driving turned into a true Shaffer debacle, but at long last we arrived at the lake to spend a little time with Ryan's family. We enjoyed a boat ride, a long walk, dinner with the family, long conversations, and a proper late night.

* We spent the night at the lake Friday night and woke up there yesterday in time to enjoy the sunrise! (My annual sunrise viewing.) We took another boat ride, walked through the Dixie Days festival, had a coffee shop date, cooked dinner for the family...and at the end of the day, we came home. So good to be home!

The Saturday Six

One.

I know we don't live in Ohio, but I kind of want to drive over and find this tunnel of trees in Sugarcreek Metro Park. It looks so pretty! (And you know how we are: we're suckers for hiking trails!) Any of you Ohio friends ever go here?

Two.

If you're a perfectionist...well...first of all, me too!! Secondly, you might need to take a peek at this post by Holley Gerth. If you're hitting that mid-year slump, when you find your eager resolutions from January looking a bit messy, perhaps her words will calm and comfort you!

Three.

A couple of years ago, Ryan and I invested in some home gym pieces so we could have the option of working out at home in the event that we couldn't make it TO a gym. I ran across this post this week that shows an affordable way to set up a similar gym for yourself. We built ours over time, so I don't know exactly how much we spent, but I do know it's been a great way to invest our money, and we have pretty much all the things this guy recommends! (Never too late to get started!)

Four.

The PVC pipe Christmas tree!! I love it! (I'm in a Christmas-in-July sort of mood, mostly thanks to the Hallmark Channel, so just please forgive me!)

Five.

Have any of you tried making your own eyeliner before? I haven't. I actually haven't tried using any kind of eyeliner that doesn't come in pencil form. But I won't lie: this intrigues me.

Six.

Because we were on vacation, I didn't have time to read a book this week, so here's a bonus find for you! If I had any skills AT ALL, I'd make this myself. But since I don't...Ryan??? Isn't this cute????

Top Ten Throwbacks #10

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for spending the last ten days reminiscing with me! I hope you've had fun!

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite this-would-only-happen-to-Bekah tales. :)

This is from almost six years ago. Ryan and I had started seeing each other, but we hadn't really told anyone yet. (Our families did know.) Ryan's mom invited me to join her, Aunt Ruthie Woo Hoo (her sister) and Bre (Ryan's sister) at the Women of Faith conference in Indianapolis. It meant spending the night down there in a very fancy hotel that ordinarily I couldn't have afforded.

Fun fact: Ryan and I went on our very first date near this hotel and had our picture taken with it. When we decided we knew we wanted to get married, we planned to stay here on our wedding night. It turns out getting married in Florida makes staying in THIS hotel a bit of a commute. We've still never stayed there.

But I digress.

Anyway, here were the four of us six years ago:

Hey, I still have that shirt! See?

So we had a fun weekend at the event, but oh my goodness. You have to go read the story. Scared me to DEATH!

And now I'm an official part of the family and Bre's married and a mama...all in six years!!!

Top Ten Throwbacks #9

I feel like the first half of my throwbacks were fun, silly things, and suddenly I've gotten all serious on myself! But I want to share some of these posts from yore with you because everybody needs a faith boost now and then. In fact, I've been enjoying one of my own while sharing them with you!

This one I want to share with you today because maybe you're in the middle of praying for something big. Maybe it feels impossible. Maybe it is impossible. But as you pray, maybe you just need to know that God still works actively in our day and time.

(Ryan and I have been reading in the Old Testament about some of Elisha's big miracles, and it's been another kind of boost to see God at work in big ways. I think it's good to remember He didn't stop doing that in the Old - or even New! - Testament.)

The posts I want to share with you today take me back to 2011 when I made the first career change of my adult life.

I had worked in the IWU Financial Aid Office since I'd graduated from college. I actually just recounted that story for a friend the other day and was overwhelmed with how God had worked and woven the details of my life to even provide that job in the first place. There were so many things about that job that were amazing. One of the biggest was the way it gave me a secure job in that season of economic upheaval. I worked there straight through the 2008 economic crisis, and as a single girl with no other income to fall back on, it was such a relief to know my income and benefits were as secure as anything could be in such an uncertain time.

But the job itself wasn't a good fit for me. My co-workers were amazing and did everything they could to make it work for me. They allowed me to do the parts of the job that fit my personality the best. But there were still parts I had to do even though they stretched me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond my limits.

I often prayed for a new job. Not like casual asking. I prayed desperately, sometimes on my knees, begging God for something new.

Did I lose hope that it would ever happen? Oh my goodness yes. SO many times.

But eventually, God opened a door. And when He did...ohhhhh how much flair He used to prove it was all of Him. I wrote it all out here:

* The day I introduced the big change to the blog.

* The day God laid the groundwork to this change...and I didn't even know He was at work!

* Prayers from my journal that show my heart stirrings.

* More prayers - and confirmation for my heart.

* A timeline of stepping out in faith.

What a sweet time that was for me. And what a great reminder it is for me now that God hasn't stopped working. He is still working in the background, and He's still working right in front of my eyes.

(Photo from the day I accepted my new job.)

Top Ten Throwbacks #8

Ohhhh how I love sharing this post with you today. It's one of my favorite parts of my story.

Yesterday I mentioned living in that terrible season of hard after I lost the man I thought I was going to marry. And for months, I wasn't sure life would ever feel right or good again. I was prepared to always live with a measure of heart-pain, because I thought it might just be my new normal.

In the fall of that year, some dear friends of mine invited me to visit them at their home in Wisconsin, and I took them up on their offer. I begged the Lord to allow that trip to bring the healing my heart needed.

And He did.

Some of you have heard me tell this story before, at retreats and other speaking moments, but for those of you who haven't, this is one of the pivotal moments of my faith story.

You can read the whole post here, and it's one of my favorites, so feel free to check it out.

My friends lived on this beautiful piece of property in the middle of rolling hills and gentle streams. While I stayed with them, I visited a dairy farm and got to feed a calf, I experienced my first authentic cheese tasting, and Allison delivered my morning coffee to me every day (on a tray)! It was a soothing, lovely trip in every way.

And on the last day, just mere hours before I set out to head back home, Allison did a little photo shoot with me there on that property. She told me stories about her family's history right there on that piece of land and explained how God had provided throughout multiple generations.

Then I stood beside this little bubbling spring - so tiny you could have almost missed it - but the reason her ancestors chose that land to be theirs. The sustenance of the land right there in a spring of water.

And in that moment, God impressed on my heart the words from Isaiah - Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up! Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

I drove away later that day, knowing the full healing had begun, and so grateful for it.

I will forever treasure this piece of land and the healing God did in me that week!

Top Ten Throwbacks #7

Podcast Tuesday! We have an extra fun one for you this week (at least I think) - full of trivia and fun facts! Hope you love it!

 Listen here

I hope some of you are still reading after my embarrassing stories from yesterday. Ohhhhh, Bekah.

Perhaps I can redeem myself today.

I was thirty-two years old before I saw the ocean for the first time. (WHAT?! Yes. True.)

Until that time, I considered it a great personal injustice that I was the "only" person that old who had never seen the ocean. (And yes, I know that's an exaggeration.) I'd come close a couple of times, but it never worked out, and I was so sad.

But then my best friend moved to Virginia Beach. And then I went into that season of heart-hurt that you've heard so much about. (Love loss, for those of you who might not know.) And then I had a birthday coming and I didn't even care. So to try to make everything good in the middle of the hard, I bought a plane ticket, flew solo for the first time, landed in Virginia Beach, and on my 32nd birthday, I saw the ocean for the first time in my life.

It may have been a hard season for my soul, but that was one very good day in the middle of it.

Lynnette and I spent the entire day on the beach with a full bottle of expired sunscreen. We still recall those burns in all the living color they provided.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day. We laid in sand, I dipped my toes in the water, we ate ice cream, we walked for probably miles, and it was a piece of beauty in a place of hard.

But what I love the most is this post I wrote upon my return. I think one of the blessings of not seeing the ocean until I was a full-fledged adult was being able to fully appreciate its grandness. I stood at the edge of the water for a long time, taking in everything before me, and thinking of the hymn David Phelps (of course...who else?) sings: The Love of God.

If you haven't stood on the edge of the ocean and hummed that song to yourself, you should do it next time you go. It was magnificent. A moment I'll never forget.

I had no idea on that day that in about two and a half years, my heart would be fully healed from the hurt that burned equal to the sun that day. I had no idea I'd be perched on another beach, looking out over an equally expansive piece of God's creation, sporting a white dress and a veil, about to pledge my life to the man who would choose me.

And while that probably would have helped the heart-hurt that day, it also probably would have marred the beautiful moment of worship God gave me at the ocean's edge the first day I saw it.

Oh love of God...how rich and pure...how measureless and strong. It shall forevermore endure: the saints' and angels' song. 

Top Ten Throwbacks #6

If you've missed a week, let me catch you up! Sometimes I peruse through my really old blog posts, looking for something I need. And upon occasion, I find gems of things that I feel need to be revisited, but I never know quite how to do it. So I decided to pick my top ten favorite things I either wanted to talk about again or I wanted to introduce you to (since some of you might not have been here that many years ago) and I'm featuring them as a fun little summer thing. I did the first five last week, and now I have five more for you!

The one I shared on Friday was a virtual vacation to Hershey, Pennsylvania (taken nine years ago, before Ryan, and as my first official grown-up vacation). So if you missed that and need some chocolate or road trip fun in your life, take a look-see!

Today's pick came from early 2010, and I'd forgotten all about it until I re-read the post. (You can read the post in its entirety here, and I assure you it's worth the giggle.)

The synopsis of the post was that I had commented on a post Beth Moore (yes, the Beth Moore) had written on her blog, and then I discovered she'd written a follow-up post where she listed the top ten things she'd learned in the comments from the previous post. And she actually quoted me in her top ten list.

It was as though I had just been handed a million dollars. Beth Moore had read my words and put them in her top ten list.

There was no one at home to properly appreciate my flitting and fluttering about the house, squealing in delight, which is really a pity, now that I think about it.

But while that is a great story on its own, I have to say that I'm just really kind of a ridiculous fangirl all the way around. I've been known to be just flat out stupid sometimes when I run into people I adore more than I should.

I've had several moments I should be embarrassed about when meeting and remeeting David Phelps. I've developed stutters, heart palpitations, and all sorts other ailments and conditions in his meet and greet lines. And the time I saw him in concert and came home to make this photo my profile picture, someone actually asked me who the lucky guy was and said I was absolutely glowing. I changed the picture, because I felt kind of bad about that.

There was also a night when I met another of my southern gospel favorites and I was actually rendered speechless in his line. Words came out in short breaths, none of them connected by words that are supposed to connect other words into sentences. So embarrassing. I ran into him out shopping the next day and actually had to sit down because I was so overcome.

Why am I telling you all this? I want you to think I'm normal! :)

So these are some of my best ridiculous fangirl moments. Please tell me you have some of your own. Or that you would have one if you could just meet (fill in the blank).

The Shafferland Shuffle

* It was raining last Sunday when we left for church, and I thought the forecast called for rain all day, so I didn't take my sunglasses with me. Whoopsie. I underestimated the fickle weather conditions of my state! Ryan kindly loaned me his for the ride home. (#husbandoftheyear) Ryan also took this gorgeous photo of a butterfly in our flowers! Nice job! We had to make a quick run to the store that night, and I found these jammies WHICH I NEED!

* I made a new recipe Monday and LOVED IT. It's a clean eating pizza with an almond flour crust. YUM. GET IN MY BELLY! Fickle weather conditions continued with an all-day yo-yo of rain and sun. HARD rain and HOT sun. Shaking head. I also wanted to show you my favorite title from my scrapbooking marathon. (I'm caught up except for my birthday book!!)

* Tuesday was give-yourself-a-sparkly-manicure day. Oh wait. Was that just for me? Well, even so, I loved how it turned out! I also spent part of the afternoon watching YouTube tutorials to learn this KonMari clothes folding system. I am not sure I did it right, but it sure did look pretty! And at the end of the day, I made a great big batch of protein balls. (I tend to make desserts that last so I don't have to make them every day.)

* Wednesday we began a little Shafferland adventure! We traveled over to Springfield, Illinois to check out all it has to offer, including some of the Abraham Lincoln historical sites. Fun fact: I actually visited there in 1987 when I was nine, so I had some picture recreating to do. For the sake of EVERYONE, I didn't recreate the hair or the outfit. :) We were blessed with a beautiful day to spend time together and to see a new-to-us-together place!

* Thursday we did the same thing...but in Kansas City. I've ridden through the city many times, but I've never stopped to explore it. So we did just that. From fantastic BBQ to long walks to the gathering of many stories, we had a wonderful time there! (Bonus: our house sitter sent us pictures of our girl, who carries on as queen of the castle.)

* Friday we reached our destination for our adventure: my sister's house! We traveled to meet our new little great-niece, and she is as adorable in person as she's been in the pictures I've been seeing for four and a half months. She wasn't too sure about us when we arrived, so we didn't get to cuddle for hours on end, but we got to look at her and take pictures! :)

* Yesterday we enjoyed a day with family! Miss Caroline still isn't too sure about us, but she let me hold her long enough to give her most of a bottle, so that was fun! Ryan and I also got to cook lunch and dinner together, which we loved!