Own Your Life

"stewarding your life wisely can bring great confidence, excellence of character, and peace of mind-and lead you to create a legacy, a story worth telling. But it begins with a determination on your part to make a wise plan, to forge reasonable goals, to listen to the prompting of the holy spirit, and to trust God to lead you on a path of spiritual renewal and strength" - Sally Clarkson 

"in the end, remember this…nothing in this world will fill the deep crevices of your life with peace, contentment, love and joy except God" -Sally Clarkson 

I'm reading the book "Own your Life" by Sally Clarkson and it is fast becoming one of my favorite reads. I'll admit, recently, i've started feeling a little out of control with my life. Busyness is a thief that grabs a hold, and slowly strangles us. And when we are busy, we are are more lax on what we allow into our brain and into our life. And by "we" I mean "I"!

I find that i've been inconsistent with spending time with the Lord because i've had to wake up early and I don't get home till late. I find that if I have a spare minute, i'm scrolling through my phone. These are not choices that I want to define my life.

So…this book has been a HUGE encouragement to my soul. Every morning (or evening) i've looked forward to reading a new chapter, and have curled up in my chair with a cup of tea. I've taken loads of notes already, and underline almost every other paragraph (a tell-tale sign of a GREAT book!). The bottom line is, I want to own my life….I don't want aspects of life to own me. I want to make a wise plan for how I spend my days, and I want to be open to where the Lord may lead me. {and no, I was not asked to write a review. I bought this book on my own, and have been so encouraged and inspired I wanted to pass it along to you!}

All these things are on my mind, but it's sparking a bit of a self revolution, so for that i'm grateful. Enjoy your weekend dear friend, any fun plans? I'm headed up to the mountains with two of my best friends to celebrate in a cabin in the woods. So so excited!! Happy Weekend lovely!  

Yard Sale Style: a run through the flowers

 I haven't been hitting the yard sales as hard these last few months because we've been gone so much! But a few weeks ago my mother-in-law and I snuck away for about an hour on the hunt to find a few treasures! And we did…we found this gorgeous flowy Free People dress! I was smitten the minute I picked it up. The problem with buying these dresses full price is that you kind of know you'll only wear them once or twice, so it's hard to justify the $200+ price tag (but I mean really, there are VERY few things that I would ever spend $200 on and clothes is NOT one of them!). But that's the beauty of a yard sale…even if you only wear it once, it's worth the few bucks!! 

On my birthday, Kevin and I went on a hike as the sun was setting. I happened to throw this dress in our backpack, just in case we found a secluded spot. And we did! I'm sure the few people who walked by me as I pranced around in this fabric thought I was crazy, but it felt so fun to be free. When I was a little girl I would look at magazines and dream of being a princess running through a field of flowers in a gorgeous dress (those dang perfume ads always had the BEST photography and scenery!). I felt like my inner child was coming out! I also found these unique teal earrings at a yard sale too… 50 cents!! Doesn't get much better than that!!

I love how expressing beauty doesn't have to cost us anything. God made us radiant daughters who were created to run free, be kind, spread grace, and enjoy HIM. Beauty comes from a place deep down. A place that God created to fill and overflow with His goodness. The most beautiful people I know are those that invite you into their hearts, give you the freedom to be YOU, heaps loads of grace on your faults, laugh a lot, and radiate God's love.

Let's pour the grace on thick and heavy, so that we're all swimming in the love of the Father. Shall we? Happy Wednesday friends!

St Patrick's Day Fun // The Tradition Series

So St. Patrick's day is Tuesday (tomorrow). It brings me back to the days of making leprechaun traps and eating green cupcakes! Good times! Today my sister-in-law Jenna is sharing her family's traditions on St. Patty's! Enjoy!!

Hi pretty people : ) My name is Jenna. I’m 25 years old, and living life as a photographer in Southern California with my husband, Nate. I have a deep love for Verve coffee, gluten free doughnuts, the outdoors, and all things Anthropologie.

I was raised in Ohio, by a very passionate family of 7 loud and hilarious people whom I love dearly. We’ve always taken advantage of every excuse to celebrate, and why wouldn’t we? Lost your 20th baby tooth? Got mediocre grades? It’s national “Polar Bear Day”? Let’s all go get ice cream! My parents taught me that life is too short not to make a big deal out of things that aren’t…a big deal. Plus, celebrating the important things that actually are. Life is worth celebrating!

Which brings me to our favorite day in the middle of March: St. Patricks Day! It wasn’t until college that I realized this was also considered “Green Beer Day”. Poor ol’ Pat, I don’t think he thought his conversion of Ireland would spur on such an obsession with green hops. BUT, luckily this was not the tradition my parents decided to partake in with us. And on a serious note, St. Patrick was actually a really rad guy whose story is fascinating (it involves being kidnapped by pirates) and definitely worth starting some fun traditions around!

My parents have had St. Patty’s day traditions for as long as I can remember. We began each March 17th by heading to school in our previously laid-out green outfits, and when we got home my mom would set up a scavenger hunt for all of us. We would find 5-10 riddles such as, “What has a ring, but no finger?” (telephone), that would lead us to the next riddle, and so on. At the end we would all find a little bag of gifts made for each kid. I remember being ecstatic finding the new NSYNC album in our dryer one year. What better way to celebrate Jesus saving the souls of many than with Justin Timberlake - AMIRIGHT!? As we got older, my mom even stepped up the gifts, giving us green-themed presents, such as a new shirt or necklace. (It is in all of our favors that J.Crew really fancies a nice jade color in a lot of their accessories!)

After opening our little bags, we would head in for our green St. Patrick’s Day dinner. The table was decorated in green and shamrock everything- from plates and cups, to streamers and balloons. There was always decorative attire involved as well…green top hats, glittery glasses, shamrock headbands, bow ties, and green boas. As for the food, it was something different every year! I remember one of my favorite dishes ever was pesto pasta filled with asparagus, spinach, and broccoli. We would dye our drinks green, and of course, have a green dessert like shamrock sugar cookies or mint chip ice cream! {3 fun recipes include:  Thin Mint Truffles, GF mint chocolate chip brownies, Healthy Shamrock Shake (easily made vegan with dairy free milk) }

I’ve loved having these silly traditions with my family and have had a blast continuing them in my marriage. It brought meaning to one of the “little” holidays, that might otherwise go ignored and it gave us another reason to have fun together as a family. All this to say, life is tough sometimes, couldn’t we all use a reason to throw a party and dye our champagne green once in a while?!

Website: ACupOfTeaPhotography.com // Photography Blog: Blog.ACupOfTeaPhotography.com
Personal Blog: JennaJuby.com // Instagram: JennaJuby
Email: Jenna@ACupOfTeaPhotography.comJenna was kind enough to leave a few riddles idea in case you are wanting to throw a little St. Patty's day party with your kiddos, husband, friends, etc.:

-Add some color to your days! Pick these up; you’re on your way. (crayons)

-Keep it clean and keep it dry. Can you guess? Come on, just try! (dryer)

-What is white when it's dirty and black when it's clean? (Chalkboard)

-Stiff is my spine and my body is pale, but I'm always ready to tell a tale. (Book)

-Dark and rich or light and sweet. Fill your senses with this delicious treat. (chocolate)

-A berry so sweet, juicy and ripe. They taste even better with chocolate stripes. (strawberry)

 Hope whatever you do it's a memorable day wearing green and remembering the real St. Patrick! To read more of his story, click here! Happy Week friends!