Spring shopping provides a new opportunity to reinvent your style. This month, I decided to put together some of my latest finds in one location for you to find just what your spring wardrobe needs. Like many of you, I decided to “kondo” my closet and get rid of a lot of the unnecessary and older items that were taking up space in my closet. As I’ve gotten older, my style of shopping has change and rather than filling my closet with lots of inexpensive clothes that last for only a season, I now shop with more intention. I buy clothing that last and focus on a more curated adult style. out.
Thursday Thoughts: Being Yourself and How to Get Inspired without the Internet
Thursday Thoughts about Creativity and Inspiration
After returning home from the gym, I found out our wifi wasn’t working (which is a pretty common occurrence). I had some work to do for a client and was hoping to find some much needed inspiration for it by scouring the internet for ideas. Not having internet definitely threw a wrench in my finely tuned plan. Sure I could go to a coffee shop or the library, but I think best at home…preferably in shea butter socks and a candle near by.
Taking a shower followed by sulking and snacking for about 30 minutes I decided that no internet might be just what I need-A break, time to think, to ACTUALLY create and write without being distracted by an anthropologie sale or a show on Netflix. It’s true a lot of blogging is the research. Its finding good sales, getting the perfect instagram shot, and promoting your blog but its also about creating good content and sharing ideas I am really excited about.
While the internet is a great tool, sometimes it can really curb our ability to be authentic. We can get so caught up in comparison and perfection that we forget ourselves. Too much internet can stifle creativity either by discouraging me because everyone else has already done something or by flooding my brain with so many ideas that I never move forward. By stepping away from what everyone else is doing and really focusing on what I want my life to be and what deserves my attention helps recenter my mind.
It’s so important that we develop our own sense of style, likes and dislikes, and passions because thats what makes us unique and our uniqueness is what we have to offer the world.
How I’m getting the creative juices flowing this year without the internet:
- Cooking: One of my favorite things to do is cook. Not just following a recipe or throwing something into the crockpot, but actually learning why things taste good together and how to properly cook things is so much fun! Cooking is a great way to exercise your mind and getting comfortable in the kitchen can make life so much more extraordinary. Also, it makes great date night.
- Hiking: Getting outside can help clear and recharge your mind. I love to get outside and connecting with nature really helps me get inspired.
- Flipping through old photos: Sounds strange, I know, but connecting with your past can really help inspire your future. I love to go through old photos because it helps me remember who I’ve been and how I’ve changed over the years.
- Connecting with friends: Catching up with old friends or the same people you talk to all the time is a great way to get inspired. Focusing less on yourself and engaging with the people you love is the best way to get inspired. Shut the computer, turn off the phone and spend time with the people you love.
Gift Guide 2017: Gift Ideas for Him
25 days of Christmas Baking: Orange Peel
One of our family baking tradition is making candied orange peel for the holidays. This sparkly, festive dessert is much easier than you think and very pretty to spice up a holiday cookie plate. Dip them in chocolate for some extra goodness or set it in a pretty dish for a bar snack at your Christmas parties.
Here’s how you make it:
4-6 navel or cara cara oranges
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
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Cut the orange peel into 1/4 inch slices
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Place into sauce pan in cold water and bring to boil for 20-30 minutes
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In a sauce pan combine 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and heat until it reaches a temperature of 230 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
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Drain orange peel, reduce heat, and stir into sugar mixture and let simmer for 5 minutes
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Drain orange peel and roll in granulate white sugar. Place on a drying rack and let dry out for several hours.
Gift Guide 2017: Ideas for the Homebody
Here are my picks for relaxing, cozy items to give to that person on your list who needs pampering this Christmas. Perfect ideas for every price range!
Saving on beauty: 11 products every girl needs
I love reading magazines but one thing I frequently find is products that are like a bajillion dollars more than I want to spend. Its not that I don’t care about my skin! but I would rather spend 50 dollars on a new shirt than on a beauty cream that does basically nothing more than make me greasy. SO… is it true that you have to break the bank to have quality? No…I’ve found that price doesn’t always equal quality. Don’t let price fool you, there are great beauty products at every price level and you don’t have to spend tons of money to get good skin and hair.
So here are a few of my favorites ALL under 50 dollar:
- BCBGMAXAZRIA perfume- $25- Every woman needs a good perfume. One of my favorites scents… flowery, sweet, yet subtle this perfume is perfect and gets better as the day goes on. Thats all I have to say about this… get it…
- Crabtree and Evelyn lavender hand cream- $9- This is a great lotion for anyone who doesn’t like super heavy hand cream. Just a little bit goes a long way and its perfect to carry in a handbag or for a travel kit. With light lavender scent it isn’t overpowering like some lotions… and the packaging is pretty.
- Smith’s Rose Lip Balm- $8- I. LOVE. THIS. It is my absolute favorite chapstick. Its light, not sticky, and is long lasting. They come in several different flavors and are available at anthropologie and urban outfitters. Despite what you think you don’t need Taylor Swift red colors or Kylie Jenner’s fake lips to make you look beautiful… classic lip-balm is sexier and keeps better.
- Jergens BB Body Lotion- $3-5- When it comes to drug store brand lotions Jergens bb cream is my favorite and helps even and brighten skin tone. Its perfect to start using before vacations on the beach or events that call for glowing skin.
- MaryKay translucent powder- $16- A good translucent powder is something I always have in the arsenal. They are perfect for making the skin glow after applying makeup. Bare minerals illuminating veil is also a great powder too, if you like there products better. I have both.
- Supergoop sunscreen- $19- Everyday sunscreen is something I never save on… you only get one chance with the skin you have so don’t play around. Supergoop is my go-to sunscreen choice. I got this sunscreen in a sample kit a year ago and ever since then, I’ve been hooked. Only a little dab goes a long way and protects your skin all day and it isn’t greasy. Science and beauty meet in this antioxidant rich, cellular response technology cream to help keep your skin bright and healthy longer. My advice… don’t skimp on sunscreen! It does more for your long-term outer beauty than any blush or lipstick ever will.
- Maybelline Define-a-lash mascara- $6- Mascara is my beauty product. There is nothing a good mascara can’t fix. Don’t believe me? Go a day without your mascara and people will ask you if you got enough sleep. Mascara helps wake up those tired eyes and make you look ready to face the day even if you’re exhausted on the inside. My go-to is Maybelline Define-a-lash. Not clumpy or thick, it gets the job done. I get waterproof because I am always rubbing my eyes… (which, FYI, you shouldn’t do).
- Pond’s Cold Cream Cleanser- $5- I have sensitive, dry skin and so I’m always on the lookout for a good cleanser that is light and easy on the skin. Pond’s is the best I’ve found. With no exfoliant, it keeps me from drying out but still gets off the days worth of dirt and makeup residue. It also feels soothing especially after a long day.
- Aveda Volumizing Tonic- $20- SO… for hair products… I try to stay as clean as possible. Using too much heat and pumping with hair spray is so bad for your hair, but One thing I DO love, is Aveda’s volumizing tonic. Light, non-sticky, and of course their signature aveda scent, this product is great for going all natural. It helps lift the hair and make it light without being puffy or stiff.
- OGX Moroccan Argan Oil- $6- This is the second hair product I can’t live without. Apply once to everyday of the week after a shower and you will see results! I promise. Keeping my hair silky smooth, this product helps me protect my hair from damage and drying out. I love it.
- Contigo waterbottle- $12- LASTLY… and I know you’ve heard it before… drink water… you need it! But instead of buying plastic water bottle do a favor for the beauty of the earth and get a glass or reusable plastic one! Set a goal and try to drink at least 64 ounces a day! Water is the first step to healthy skin and serves your body in many different forms… to name some… it can help lubricate joints, protect your spine, improve your mood, help you lose weight faster, and help relieve your body of toxins (cough, cough… better skin, nails, and hair…). Our bodies are 60% water! so you need water! If you hate water… (which is weird to say)… try adding some lemons, cucumbers or fruit and pretend your at a spa. Cut out caffeine and alcohol those are no good for you and can effect getting sleep which is also bad for beauty. Making health changes is the cheapest way to save on beauty… so start with water, then diet and exercise. You won’t need those expensive acne products or night creams with simple changes in habit and diet.
Ultimately, you need to find the products that work for your skin type. After trying loads of different products, I have found that taking good care of your skin isn’t out of reach… Great beauty products are out there for any price and the myth that you need to spend tons of money just isn’t true. My final thoughts, its about taking care of your skin… not changing what you have… there is no product that can do that. Being comfortable in your skin is whats important and how we do that is simple… focus on whats inside. Cliché, I know, but it’s true… the most beautiful people are the ones who see outward beauty as secondary to being a loving and kind person. Generosity and goodness are more attractive to others than having perfect skin… so before you stress about being the best looking one at the party, take a look on the inside and think of ways to be helpful to the host, generous with the spot-light and, finally, smile because the world doesn’t revolve around you and your looks.
What I’m Wearing this Spring
This spring, incorporate some fun into your style with bright colors, pastel blushes, and luscious textures. I’m obsessed with stripes, laced flats, and grapefruit pink this spring!
Here are some of my favorite looks incorporating these perfect styles.
1.Perfect for a casual day time event or hanging around the house. Find a loose, comfy t’shirt and pair it with your old jeans for the perfect relaxed afternoon look.
3. I love pastel pink! This spring is the spring of pink, so this spring enjoy this lovely wrap tank with jeans or dress it up with heels or trade out the jeans for dress pants.
Growing with My Plants: Inner Strength through Faith
WORDS | IMAGES BY BETHANY STUMPF
This past summer, one of my best friends from high school passed away during the week of my birthday. It was a peculiar moment in my existence…a conglomeration of celebrating life in two very different ways. In one moment I was celebrating the life I still had yet to live and in the next celebrating the life that Ashly had left behind. Until that day, I had never really thought how with each day’s passing so am I passing. Recently, those feelings from the summer came back to me while doing something very different than a birthday or commemorating Ashly. I was gardening. Caring for a living plant made me realize even more that everyday we grow up.
Watching plants “grow up” has helped me mark my own growth over the last couple of months. With each day they grow, I grow with them. Somedays theres little growth, somedays theres lots of growth but overall the challenges they face produce stronger and healthier plants.
Seedlings, before planted outdoors, require hardening which is done by giving them some resistance though wind. This allows the plants cells to grow stronger for the upcoming outside elements. If you put unhardened seedlings outdoors they won’t be able to handle the harsh environment and eventually die. As humans, we also need hardening to handle the winds that come into our own lives. Hardening for us looks different than plants but the idea is the same. Rather than creating a tough exterior like plant cells, for us it is developing inner strength while maintaining a soft exterior to those around us. The winds of life create a test for each of us that both grows us to be stronger towards harsh realities and maintains the soft gentleness needed to feel compassion and love for others. Ashly was great at this. Even in the last months of her life, she never grew hard towards those around her even though the circumstances were making her internally very strong.
While I don’t know if my plants will survive my harsh treatment of them, I do know that they are teaching me so many lessons. I have learned that nothing good is achieved without hard work, everything takes time, and learning is accomplished through using everything around you as a textbook.
Furthermore, plants are also helping me understand the peace often talked about in the Bible. When we are willing to trust the growing process God puts us through we don’t have to be afraid of jumping in and letting some resistance come towards your way- knowing that it will make us stronger in our faith and wiser to the things of the world and of Hid goodness. How do we expect to grow faith if we don’t ever test it through doing something that requires lots of faith! The best thing about plants is they don’t doubt their creator. They grow and produce fruit whether it survives or not and are unafraid of the time and place knowing God will accomplish what He wants through them. The truth is there will never be a time and place perfect for the projects you want to start. The key is to begin and let whatever obstacle that come be teachers to make you smarter, stronger, and better for the next time. I read a really good quote the other day that I found extremely encouraging from the maker of This American Life, Ira Glass– he said
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
This isn’t just a creative thing he is talking about. It’s life. We will never have the “perfect” life and there will always be struggles but by putting in the hard work and striving to do better each day and with the grace of God we will grow through all the difficulties, successes, and fruits that come along the way.
LOVE, Bethany
Bundle Up: Christmas Sweater Style
Sweaters… there is something about them that is both comforting and empowering. A good sweater is unlike any other piece of clothing because it can be worn for any occasion, dressed up, dressed down, even worn around the house reading magazines.
My love of sweaters began with old movies. I always loved when actresses like Vera Ellen and Katherine Hepburn were in slacks and a big sweater because it gave me a different picture of what exactly confidence looked like. In sweaters these actresses gave off a different kind of confidence that wasn’t rooted in their beauty.
It’s true a beautiful dress is guaranteed to take peoples breath away like Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief, but there is an equal (but different) beauty in those actresses when wearing sweaters. Besides just being comfortable, sweaters are not only timeless but can be trendy and cute. A good sweater can make a statement by saying, “I don’t need to be dripping in jewels or wild patterned dresses, I can be simple.”
Nothing can beat the strong confidence of Audrey Hepburn, pig tales and all, in breakfast at tiffany’s in slacks and her sweater. While I love a good dress some days I like to say, “no thanks, I’ll just have a sweater today,” channel my inner Katherine Hepburn and find a comfortable sweater to wear to a party; because, after all, its who is in the clothes that makes wearing them awesome. Whether a casual party with friends or a upscale office party all these sweaters are just what you’ll need to make a statement.
Here are some of my favorites for any occasion. Don’t go this holiday season without adding the perfect sweater for your closet.
DIY: Dried Orange Table Setting
Oranges are commonly associate with Christmas and the New Year and this Christmas I am using dried oranges to spice up my table arrangement this winter. They are the perfect way to add a little color to your table and are easy to incorporate in any season.
If you want to dry your own fruit this season like oranges and apples its simple!
Here is how you do dry them:
- Cut your apples and oranges into 1/8th inch slices (i use my mandoline because it gets it done fast and accurate)
- lay them out onto a cookie sheet lined with tin foil.
- bake for 1 hour at 200 degrees Fahrenheit then flip over and bake for another hour. *it can take more or less time depending on your oranges and oven. so watch them closely.
You can take the oranges and use them as place cards, string them to make garland, or place in a decorative bowl… There are so many different creative ways to use your dried orange slices, it really just depends on the look you want to achieve.
Use the Orange slices as place cards by making a slice and place the card in the slot
Spread the rest of the orange slices around the pine for an extra pop of color
Accompany the orange slices with some fresh pine and mercury glass.
The best part! when your done you can save them for another occasion, just put them in a zip-lock bag!
Love,
Bethany