Simply Bliss {ooh! and a giveaway!!}

It's been a little over a year since I started my capsule wardrobe life, and in that time, I've learned quite a lot about what works and what doesn't. I'm still building it, piece by piece, and I just got something new!

So because I like to think we're the kind of friends who go shopping together and give opinions after trips to the fitting room, check this out!

As you know, I have {for many years now} shopped at Cato nearly exclusively, but in an odd twist of fate, Kokomo does not actually have Cato. {What!?!?} My backup store was Old Navy and Kokomo's store closed right around the time we moved.

Sigh.

So I've started shopping online a little more, even though this makes me nervous, because I'm a girl who kind of needs to try on clothes to make sure they fit my oddly proportioned self.

Here's a shop I just learned about: Simply Bliss Boutique. It was started by two friends {who are, by the way, adorable} who met in a class at church and ended up going into business together! Their desire is to provide clothing options to women and girls who want to be cute and trendy without losing all modesty in the process.

And it just so happened that one of the pieces in their boutique is the exact thing I was looking for to add to my capsule. Happy coincidence!!!

Here's the thing.

It's no secret that my thermostat is broken. Like my personal thermostat. It's hard to layer up when doing so produces an overheating of gargantuan proportions. So "throwing on a sweater" just doesn't work for me. I had two vests in my capsule that were sleeveless and lightweight, and I liked them, but I needed one more: a neutral one that could go with anything.

AND THEY HAD ONE!!

I was so excited.

One thing I've learned in this capsule building process is that when you're not buying clothes all the time, it's important to go with quality when you do buy something. And this thing is quality. It's heavy duty {in a quality sort of way} without being heavy {in a temperature sort of way}.

Besides the heat factor, I struggle with vests and sweaters because they tend to just hang, and I need a little definition in my clothes. I don't need the extra invisible pounds of hanging clothing. So guess what? This vest has a drawstring! I love it! I can pull it in and give a little bit of shape, which makes me feel so much better about myself. 

Wanna know my favorite part?

UNENDING POCKETS.

Oh my word, people. I cannot tell you how happy I am when I have pockets. Seriously. Why were clothes even designed without them? This vest has multiple pockets - six, to be exact -  so my phone will be safe and at the ready for my endless picture taking. {Because that's really what it's all about.}

It also has a hood, which is just cute, and even though I probably won't use it unless I get caught in a rainstorm, I like the extra little bit of personality it provides to the vest. But if you hate hoods, it zips right off completely, and you don't have to wear it at all.

It has a lining that gives it durability without making it too heavy. It both zips and snaps, or you can just wear it open. Works with dressing up or dressing down, which is a requirement of anything I put in the capsule. And because it's neutral {stone, if you want to be specific}, it can go with anything.

I am thrilled. It's perfect for me and feels so comfy. You're going to see a lot of this on the old blog in forthcoming pictures!!

The nice ladies at Simply Bliss sent this vest my way in exchange for an honest review, and I'm excited that I honestly LOVE IT!!

So here are some things you might need to know.

* Go check out Simply Bliss Boutique. You can subscribe to their emails and get 20% off your first order. {SWEET!}

* Free shipping on orders over $50. {DOUBLE SWEET!}

* If you like the vest I got, it's called the utility vest in stone, but they have other vests too, if you prefer a different style.

* They told me {and were right} that if you're unsure of which way to go between two sizes, to go with the bigger one. Since I lost weight, I wear mostly medium, but I tend to be bigger through my back and shoulders, so I went with a large on this, and it fits perfectly. A medium definitely would have been too small.

* They do have a return policy, outlined here, in case you want to know the particulars before shopping for clothes online.

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNND Simply Bliss is providing a $25.00 gift card to one of you so YOU can shop, too!

So if you want to win, leave a comment and tell me your favorite thing you're looking forward to wearing this fall. {I love the return of fall clothes.} I'll put your names in a hat and Ryan {aka my photographer extraordinaire} will draw on Saturday night and I'll announce it before the Shuffle on Sunday! {You can comment anonymously, but type in your name in the comment!}

Thanks for shopping with me. Hope you had fun...and if you win the gift card, hope you have some fun of your own!

Thanks, Simply Bliss, for all this fun. I'm looking forward to shopping again soon!

Pinterest Fail

You guys know about the Pinterest Fail site? If you haven't visited it and need a good laugh for your day, check it out. {Disclaimer: not responsible for the content of all the pins, but there are plenty of good decent laughs!!}

I have to say that overall, Pinterest has been pretty good to me. I've found a bunch of great recipes there, quite a few fun decorating ideas, and even a hairstyle or two.

And then there was this week.

We planned to have company last night, so I was carefully plodding my way through a food prep schedule to make sure everything was ready on time! The day before the dinner, I made cookies, and I planned to frost them yesterday morning before I left for an appointment.

I got up early, opened the cabinet for the powdered sugar, and...we had about a cup.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?? I have a firm rule about not running out of baking staples, because you just never know when you  might, in the last moment, need to bake for something. I was just certain we'd purchased powdered sugar recently, but it was absolutely nowhere to be found.

But then I remembered!!! I had seen something on Pinterest, once upon a time, about making powdered sugar at home. I fired up the computer, looked up the directions, and felt certain that this happy little Pinterest DIY save would indeed save me a trip to the grocery store in a morning when I didn't have much time to spare.

The directions said to measure out granulated sugar and cornstarch and pulse in the blender until it became powdered. The directions noted that if you have a powerful blender, this can be accomplished in as little as 30 seconds. Well. My blender may have been a prototype of blenders, so I dumped everything in and set that thing in motion for the long haul.

I cautiously lifted the lid and dumped the sugar into a bowl. It felt powdery to me, and I thought, well whaddya know! Pinterest for the win!

I combined the frosting ingredients in the mixer and watched them blend together so beautifully. I could already taste the goodness.

Except when I did taste the goodness, it gritted between my teeth in 100% granulated sugar fashion.

WHAT?!?!?!!??!?!!?

I stared at the lump of frosting in the bowl and thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad when actually applied to the cookie. So I grabbed the smallest cookie and frosted it. Took one hesitant bite and just knew.

My Pinterest fail moment had arrived.

It was a flashback to my first ever solo cooking memory. I was in upper elementary school and my parents had gone to some dinner at the school where they both worked, leaving me in the care of my grandmother for the evening.

First, you should know that my parents hardly ever left me. I literally remember one hired babysitter coming on one night - ever - in my entire life. So it was something of an adventure to get to be under Grandma's care for the night. 

You should also know that while my one Grandma used to run a bakery, this Grandma didn't really know how to cook anything. At all. And yet somehow, that night, I thought it would be a good idea to surprise Mom and Dad with a treat. So I pulled out the kid-friendly cookbook someone had given me as a gift and found a fudge recipe. It called for confectioners sugar, and I had no idea what that was, so I asked Grandma. She had no idea. {Should have sprung for the long distance phone call to ask the other grandma.}

Using context clues, I determined confectioners sugar must be a brand name of sugar, and I made that whole stinkin' batch of fudge using regular old white sugar.

I proudly presented my gift to Mom and Dad when they came home, and Mom bit into that gritty mess and tried so hard to love it.

That was the moment I relived in full, living color in my kitchen yesterday morning with my DIY powdered sugar.

I glared at the blender and put it out of sight in the dishwasher. I scraped the awful, gritty frosting into the trash and did what I should have done from the start: drove to the grocery store and bought a bag of powdered sugar.

And I must say...the end results were wildly impressive. Proper sugar makes all the difference.

I may DIY a lot of my food, but from now on, powdered sugar won't be on that list.

 

Thoughts from My Heart Today

If you missed yesterday's post, there are a host of pictures to go along with the start of podcast stories today. We toured Tippecanoe county, Ryan got to meet a llama, and we were utterly confused by some hiking trails. Lots of good stuff in this week's Spill the Beans!

Click here to listen.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I went to the eye doctor and found out I have 20/15 vision. I have actually declared myself to have 20/12 vision, which I know is not even a thing, but I could read half the 20/10 line on the chart, so I figured I should get extra points for being better than 20/15 and settled for the happy medium of 20/12.

And this is why I'm not an eye doctor.

Well. Among many other reasons.

Anyway, I've always had great vision, much to the dismay of my sisters, who did not inherit this gene, and until Ryan made me go to the eye doctor last year, I'd never been. I'd had my vision checked in the free checks at school and the BMV, but that was the closest I'd ever gotten to an eye doctor.

Fortunately we're friends with our optometrist, so my ridiculous overkill in giggling to compensate for the nervousness of someone messing with my eyes is not quite as embarrassing. He's used to my quirks.

So he told me this year that my vision was amazing, and he went on to say that whenever my vision did slack off to being the perfect 20/20, I would actually feel like it was terrible and I needed glasses. Isn't that weird? Perfect vision that feels like a blurry mess because I've enjoyed a better-than-perfect state for so long.

I revisited this story with Ryan a few days ago {because he likes to pick on me and call me "Miss 20/12" anytime I see something before he does} and asked him if he thought they made glasses for people with 20/20 vision. After all, if perfection feels imperfect, what's a girl to do when she gets there?

And then of course, it had to translate into a spiritual application in my mind, because that's how my brain works.

But seriously!

1 Peter 1:15-16 (NIV) says, "Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"

I remember reading some article years ago that talked about people who were supposed to find counterfeit money didn't actually study counterfeit money to learn what it looked like. They studied real money so that anything that was less than the real deal was obviously counterfeit.

The point of the article was that in order to be more like Christ, you don't focus on what's happening around you in the world and try to figure out how to do better than that. You study Christ and work to become more like Him.

And that's what I thought of with this vision thing. Isn't the goal to keep maturing more and more so that what may have once looked like the height of holy to me might actually be just the start? And not just for me, but for all of us? That we can continue to become more and more like Christ?

There's always learning and growing to do. There are always improvements to make. And I hope to keep pushing to be better than my best - which I know can only ever be done through Him.

This is what I'm learning. Well. This and I shouldn't pursue a degree in optometry.

Press on, my friends!!!

92 County Tour: Tippecanoe

For several weeks now, we've been excited to visit the Indiana Dunes, which are up by Lake Michigan. We thought about going earlier in the summer, but it was so hot, we were afraid it wouldn't be fun. So we decided to save it for cooler weather, and we intended to do it this weekend. And then: rain. Boo. We hated to drive so many hours just to get waterlogged or rained out entirely.

So at the very last minute {aka Friday night when we succumbed to the weather forecast} we decided to do a county tour instead. Not-so-fun fact: we had not been on a county tour in NINE MONTHS. Last one we did was last December when we did Allen County while staying in Fort Wayne for our anniversary. New rule: no more waiting nine months for counties. If you have to do that, you are too busy.

So we made plans to tour Tippecanoe County, which is about an hour's drive for us. The county was formed back in the 1800's and named the for Miami people, a Native American group. If you're not from Indiana and think you know nothing about this county...you actually do! Purdue University is located here!

The day did start out rainy and yucky, but it got much better as it went along. Unfortunately between the mist and the humidity, my hair began growing immediately, so I'm just sorry in advance. LOL!

Our first stop was at the Columbian Park Zoo, which is this most darling little zoo right there in the middle of Lafayette. The zoo is FREE, which is really great, and very much in our budget. It's not huge {just in full disclosure} but we had a great time walking around and seeing the animals up close!

These other things were not open when we were there, but I did see on the website where they have kiddie rides, a little train, and a water park {I believe you do have to pay for those things} that are open during the summer.

We had a blast and even though it's not a huge, all-day-event zoo, we would recommend visiting!

We decided to go to lunch next. Many months ago, a friend of mine had suggested going to the Sacred Grounds coffee shop, but their site said they're closed on Saturdays, so I kept hunting for a coffee shop. {Fortunately in a college town, there are options!} We picked the Literato Cafe and my goodness - am I ever glad we went there!

 This is both a restaurant and cafe, so we ate lunch there first. We each got a sandwich instead of pizza, but it was delicious. 

We also had a special treat for lunch: company! The same friend who recommended the other coffee shop had told me to let her know whenever we came to do this county. So last minute, on Saturday, I asked if they were around, and they were able to come meet us for lunch! They are actually very good friends of my parents and they all went to church together before I was born - and when I was little. We determined we hadn't seen each other in THIRTY YEARS! But we had a great time together!

They told us {and then I read more about it later} that this coffee shop is part of the ministry vision of Faith Ministries, a HUGE church on the edge of Lafayette. And the building that houses the coffee shop also has a fitness center, a preschool, and apartments for college students. They also have church services right there. A whole ministry center in one building. I LOVED IT!!!!!

Oh! And the coffee was superb. Ryan had fresh brew and a blueberry bread, and I had the three kings latte {hazelnut, caramel and vanilla}.

Before we moved on to our next activity, we also stopped to see our friend Shawn, who helped us move earlier this year. He just happened to be home, so we stopped by to say hi. That resulted in an impromptu ping pong tournament for the guys and Shawn's son. I just took pictures.

 Because I lost my friend Craig on a motorcycle, I cannot bring myself {or Ryan} to have anything to do with them, but he did enjoy a photo opp on Shawn's bike.

 These two. Good friends and probably a whole lotta trouble.

We ended the day at Prophetstown State Park, which is the newest state park in Indiana. It's very different from any other state park we've visited so far, because the bulk of it is not centered around lakes or woods. Many of the trails are right out in the open, though some do run through woods.

We started out on a trail and commented on how it was the EASIEST trail we had ever hiked...

Then some bikes passed us, and we realized: we were on the bike trail! WHOOPSIE!!! So we turned around and went in search of the hiking trails. Because the place is still newish, there is much construction happening, and not all trails are well marked.

We finally found walking trails and hopped on. It was HOT and SUNNY, and because we'd only been expecting rain, we had not brought sunscreen. Of course we also forgot the bug spray. Not our finest hiking moment.

But we had a blast, and the scenery was beautiful. At a fork in the road, we took the path into the woods to get some relief from the sun.  Definitely the NARROWEST trail I've ever hiked, but it was still much fun!

Despite the trails not being well-marked {which I presume will come with time as they work on the park}, it was a really nice park to visit. Their camping lot was full, the trails were wide and many were paved, and it looked like a good, safe place to visit and camp!!

We ended the day with dinner at Chick-fil-A {We don't have one here} and grocery shopping before we headed home. It was a superb day, and Tippecanoe County had much to enjoy!

Before I leave you...a little collage of the counties we've seen so far!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Pausing at the start of the Shuffle today to remember my nephew, Kirk, who was born 28 years ago today. IMPOSSIBLE for 28 years to have gone by, but somehow they have. Here's a post I wrote on his 20th birthday, and I will share it today in his memory. *

* Last Sunday was a beautiful day! I got to spend the morning with the women from the retreat where I spoke, and after the last session ended, I packed up and headed home!  Ryan spent the day with my parents, so I stopped there for our big reunion and then we headed home. Sunday began Ryan's football season, aka, dinner from the football platter. LOL!!!

* Monday was my first day back in the routine at home. Of course there was much laundry to do and other chores {though Ryan kept everything up beautifully while I was gone}, but I did have enough time to make my own pumpkin spice creamer. I felt very fancy!! And I guess Braeya was unimpressed that I was back. This was my view most of the day. {Eyeroll.}

* Tuesday, Ryan brought me some watermelon!! {He hates watermelon and it's just about my favorite fruit, so it was not lost on me that he would hunt some down and bring it to me out of love!!} That night we started co-leading a Bible study group on Erica Wiggenhorn's book An Unexplainable Life. I am really looking forward to it! And also - chances to see Phoebe!!!

* Wednesday I went on a book delivering spree! I had a list of people who had asked for copies, so I just drove all over, delivering them. It was fun until, on the way home, I got stuck in a traffic jam. That part wasn't as fun. That night...we watched the AGT finale. Anyone else watch? Happy with the results?

* Thursday I welcomed fall to Shafferland...decorated the whole house, and I love the way it turned out! It was a blank canvas for me, since I'd never decorated this house before. Loved finding homes for everything! And in the spirit of fall, I made an apple pie-like dessert for Ryan. It looked awful, but it tasted good!

* Friday was a good day! Got new clothes in the mail, had an at-home pizza night date with Ryan, and even had surprise visitors before the evening was over! My friend Sandee was in town shopping with one of her friends, and they came over to see us. I love surprise visitors! {Well. Most of the time.}

* Yesterday we did a county tour. Remember those? Haven't been on one in NINE WHOLE MONTHS...thank you, moving and such. We decided to visit Tippecanoe County, which is the home of Lafayette {Purdue University, if you're not from around here}, although we didn't go there. We had a blast...can't wait to tell you all about it!

The Saturday Six

One.

Source

Ryan and I are always dreaming about business stuff {which is HILARIOUS to me, because I've never considered myself to be the entrepreneurial type}. We take note of buildings in town that happen to be for sale and dream up what kind of business we could put in said building. While this one is not even close to "in town," it is for sale and apparently it's not selling quickly. Hmmmm. Wonder why? Even so...can you just IMAGINE the possibilities for a building like this? My dreamer's heart dreams on...

Two.

Source

This is not my official "review" for this week, but I learned about this new Reflections Bible from Tyndale, and it is 100% on my wish list now. Journaling Bibles are all the rage, largely because it's the new thing to draw pretty pictures in the margins. My chances of drawing anything remotely recognizable, let alone pretty, are pretty much nonexistent, but when I think of the notes I could take in these margins...oh be still, my beating heart. I am studying from the NLT right now, so this is the perfect fit! In case the idea of this makes your heart skip a beat too, I thought I'd tell you about it! 

Three.

Source

I feel safe in listing this ONLY because our car is not on this list and therefore Ryan cannot get any wild ideas. Still. Interesting!!! {Also...if this doesn't end up being true for your car, please note that I did not do the research. Don't shoot the messenger!} 


Four.

 Source

Going back to the aforementioned business mindset, I have to say that I've noticed a giant rise in the number of my friends who have some sort of home business. Whether it's their own creation of a full time job, a side-hobby turned job, or a job through a company that sells through home parties, it seems like most of my friends do SOMETHING from home. Therefore, this article by Kathi Lipp intrigued me. I have to say that for us, having me work from home has made a huge difference in our life. {And I mean that in the best possible way.

Five.

Source

Just added a piece to my capsule wardrobe. It's a utility vest from Simply Bliss {more on this next week!!} and it's my first ever piece like this. Since I wanted to make sure I had a variety of options on how to wear it, I found this article. Looks like, bottom line, I cannot go wrong with this one!

Six.

Source

A few weeks ago, I told you I read Scotty Smith's new book called Every Season Prayers. I told you I loved it so much that I was going to go back through it, much more slowly, and read it again. {And I have been.} But this focus on prayer sort of whet my appetite to study it even more, and that's why I asked to read a book called Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets.

Truth? The book looked incredibly intimidating to me. BUT...it said on the cover that over 600,000 copies of this book have been sold, so I figured if that many people have read it, there must be something of value inside, and I asked to read it.

Truth? It's not a book for the faint of heart. It's not a hard read in terms of being terribly academic. In fact, Dutch is just straight up HILARIOUS sometimes. I love his sense of humor that sneaks in throughout the book and when reading a hard topic, I think you need humor breaks. Reminders that the author is human just like you and has a personality just like you. Having said that, the meat of this book is deep and intense. When the subtitle is "How God can use your prayers to move Heaven and Earth," you probably should expect no less than deep and intense.

Dutch has studied prayer for most of his life and I appreciated the blend of Scripture application and his own personal experiences that he wove throughout the book. I learned so much in these pages. Ryan said he was surprised that I was drinking it in like I was, because he knows I love to pray and do it often. I told him that's true, but I think prayer, like anything else you do regularly, runs the risk of becoming something you just plod through, and now and then you need some life breathed back into it.

That's how prayer had become for me. He explained Scripturally-based reasons for things I'd always wondered about prayer - like for my whole life. And in other areas, he was quick to say his explanation might not be the ONLY one, but it was one.

Another thing I really appreciated about this book was his up-front honesty that he comes from a very Pentecostal point of view, but he did not want his beliefs and practices in prayer from that perspective to offend or turn away anyone who doesn't practice prayer in similar methods. {That would be me.} I appreciated both his honesty and his careful attention to the heart of prayer, which goes far deeper than the methods of prayer.

I came away challenged to pray more intentionally and aware that there are multiple ways to pray and what might work in one instance might not in another.

I want to interrupt myself here to say that I am NOT a theologian. I read some reviews {after I had secured my own opinion on this book} from readers who felt like in some areas, the theology of this book was skewed. On my initial read-through, I did not find what I personally would classify as bad theology as much as I would describe it as difference of opinion. Perhaps if I delved further into some parts and really examined closely, I might change my mind. But I wanted to throw that out there to you because if you ARE a theologian, I want you to know those concerns exist. I am simply not theologically intelligent enough to debate them.

I'm thankful I read this book at this point in my journey, because I know God is calling me to be more mindful of prayer, and this was a good reference guide to keep as I make these changes! And as with anything, I will always choose to uphold the Word of God above a book by a man, and if I do feel that something is off as I re-examine it, I will follow what I feel the Lord urging me to practice.

*Thanks, Bethany House, for sending a copy of this book my way in exchange for an honest review!*