Good
morning, friends! Are you settling into this new year? I read a beautiful prayer
from Scotty Smith that said (in part), “Just like ‘this is the day You have
made,’ 2025 is the year You have made. It’s Yours to orchestrate, not ours to
vex about.” Doesn’t that just take some pressure off the start of a new year
that may feel a bit like it’s either unraveling or not living up to your
expectations? Chew on that one for a moment today. And then…take a stroll through
some of these links. Maybe you’ll find something just for you!
As with most people, I suppose, I have moved to
taking the majority of my photos with my phone rather than my “big” camera. The
phone is always on me, easy to use, takes good pictures, and I can quickly
share them with others if I want to. All these make it a great choice, in my
opinion. But did you know all the fun things your iPhone can do in the world of
photos? I saw this article and thought it would be fun to share with you – and then I
learned something in reading it! I did not know I could take a video from photo
mode!! Am I the last person on earth to know this?? (Also…Ryan says he thinks I
used to know this, but I forgot it. Well, it was just as fun to learn this time
around.)
Winter is HERE – for better or worse. (Sometimes
it feels worse, like this week, for example.) Susan from Between Naps on the
Portch shared the first of this two-parter series on some of her favorite things to help her
survive winter. I confess that if I ever got a heated toilet seat, I probably
couldn’t go back. (This is true of heated car seats.) I actually miss having
flannel sheets…we haven’t had them since we switched bed sizes. But she had my
attention with the soup and hoodies. Those are staples of winter around here! (BONUS:
She posted the second part of the series here
– and it had a couple of things on it I’d never seen before!)
Am I about to share a recipe I haven’t
personally tested? Yes I am. But my mouth literally watered when I read through
this creamy tortellini soup with Italian sausage and kale Mary shared on her
blog. It sounds amazing, looks like it comes together quickly, and would be
perfect for our current cold evenings. I would substitute turkey sausage for
regular and almond milk for the heavy cream, but otherwise, I am ready to try
it as-is! Looks SO TASTY! (BONUS: Here’s a whole list of snow day recipes for you. Warm comfort food for meals,
desserts, snacks, drinks, you name it. Maybe you’ll feel inspired on one of
these chilly days! The cheeseburger stuffed pasta shells and frosted brownies
caught my attention…)
It’s no secret that I love a good home tour, and
I love the creative design of tiny homes! Those two loves converge in this 20-minute tiny home tour video. I don’t know that the design of this tiny home is
particularly different from anything I’ve seen before, but I love the
intentionality of the owners to require a dual purpose of each piece of
furniture – and their gorgeous decorating! (The tour was done during the
holidays, so the home is decorated for Christmas.) The loft always feels like
the trickiest part of a tiny home, and I think they utilized theirs well. (And
we have the same bedside lamps they have!) My favorite parts of the home? All
the natural light – and the gorgeous, usable porch space! (BONUS: This
isn’t a whole-house tour, and it’s also not a tiny home, but in the spirit of a
good tour, check out this beautiful laundry room. I think all these elements would fit perfectly in our home,
because there is a lot of blue and white, which is sort of our first love. I
think the wallpaper might be too much for our little house, but I am intrigued
by the rug…)
Ryan and I haven’t been on a cruise in over
five years. Almost six, actually. (His 40th birthday was our last
cruise.) But KariAnne from Thistlewood Farms just went on her 3rd
cruise and wrote this post of things she learned from this latest trip. I learned a few things
from it I didn’t know or hadn’t thought of in a while, anyway, and I snorted
right out loud at her advice about the fan app. Oh how I needed that tidbit on
our first cruise. (BONUS: If you haven’t read about it before, here is my story of the fan debacle from our first cruise…)
I am not sure when I last read a post that I proceeded
to so heavily quote in my journal. If you are struggling to push through the
goals/resolutions you made for this year, or you are just trying to persevere
through the hardest thing you’ve done in a while, read this post from Ann Voskamp’s blog. I’ve never heard the story of this gentleman,
but it was powerful, and there were so many quote-worthy phrases and sentences
peppered throughout. I hope it encourages you like it did me!
·
Lately I’ve been on an unsubscribing kick for
emails. When I wake up, I have dozens of marketing emails filling my inbox, and
many of them come from accounts I signed up for to get a freebie or to register
for a giveaway. The ongoing content doesn’t help make my life easier, so I’ve
been eliminating the daily delete. It might not be a thing I can see when I
glance around the house, but it sure is making life simpler! Don’t be afraid to
unsubscribe! (BONUS: This also makes it easier to read the emails that
ARE helpful, because they aren’t lost in the long lists. I went from about 60 emails per morning to about 10. Ahhhhhhh.)
·
The after-Christmas/start-of-a-new-year season
marks the time I like to scan the photos displayed in our home to see if I
should update them with fresh options. I always replace our framed
fall-photo-shoot pictures with the newest ones, and if we have new family
pictures from any Christmas gathering, I’ll update those as well. I watch for
sales (which are usually plentiful) on printing pictures and find this to be a
cost-effective way to bring some new life to our house.
2 comments:
This week's six favorite share for me was Ann Voskamp. What a story and I, too, wrote heavily in my journal different quotes from her blog.
Thank you!
Gaylene
You are welcome! I'm so glad you enjoyed it too! :)
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