Grace for the Good Girl

This is the book I'm going to read while I'm on a break from school. In just the little bits I've read from it already, it has spoken to my heart. 

I first found out about it from fellow blogger Paige at Simple Thoughts. Her love and life in Jesus just exudes from the pages of her blog. She inspires me daily. Recently she wrote a post about this book. You can read her thoughts on it here. The snippets of Emily's book that she included were spoken straight to my heart. Here are a few: 

"you are not responsible to have it all together.

you are free to respond to the One who holds all things in His hands".

emily p. freeman

 

 

And:

"I have spent most of my life avoiding weak. 

I don't want to look weak, act weak, or even give the hint that i am capable of weakness.

but if you are feeling weak?  Well, now.

That's a different thing all together. I can tell you how weakness is the door

to strength and how Jesus calls us to a life of weakness so that he can be strong.

and I believe it. 

for you."

Emily P. Freeman

Wow. That last one really punches me in the gut. 

After Isaac passed, I just wanted to forget everything. I was tired of crying. I was tired of being sad, I was tired of missing him. I was tired of people looking at me, feeling sorry for me. 

I wanted to get it all together, so I could get back to being me. I didn't want people to see me cry, so I didn't, I was stronger than that. I could get myself through this. I was a strong Christian, I could dig myself out of this pit. I thought if I just didn't think about it, it would be gone. As you can imagine, that didn't do me much good. I wasn't grieving, so that just made things down the road even worse.  

When I began to struggle, I felt like I had been treading water for months, and my legs could no longer keep me afloat.  

I was sinking. 

I felt so defeated, because I had been trying so hard to get better, to get back to any semblance of normalcy. I was fighting. I felt like I was under such spiritual attack. I would sit and read my Bible for hours on end, why wasn't this working?  

I was doing everything I knew to do. 

But that's the thing. So many of us strive, and try so hard, but sometimes we can barely keep out heads above water. We don't have to try so hard. We need to give ourselves some grace, and put it all in the hands of our creator. It reminds me of my favorite quote from my friend Mike Breen I am always having to remind myself:

I am a human BEING 

not a human DOING.

We need to give ourselves a break & realize we can't do it all, we can't be it all, and sometimes, life just isn't going to go back to "normal". 

I feel like Emily has captured some of the very thoughts, and feelings of my heart that I just couldn't put into words. I'm sure a lot of you might be thinking the same thing. I am so excited to read on & continue to find strength from her words & the talent God has given her. 

Check out Emily's blog "Chatting at the Sky". You can even read a chapter of her book there, and watch a short video of her explaining her heart that is in this book. 

Here's to putting away the "good girl" persona and letting our souls breathe.

Randomo-city

Everybody has weird quirks, but that's what makes them- Them! So, I thought I would share a one of those things about me.

I mentioned here that I have a thing with all the states. I'll lay it out:

I have a slight obsession with traveling to all 50 states. 

I have traveled a bit in my life, and lived across the country, so I have visited quite a few. 31 to be exact. But here are the places on my list I still need to go (that's right, I actually keep a list. Don't judge):

Alaska
Washington
Oregon
California
Arizona
Idaho
North Dakota
Nebraska
Minnesota
Louisiana
Mississippi
Wisconsin
Michigan
Delaware
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Maine

It's quite sad because with everywhere I've lived, many of these states still on the list are SO close, but I just didn't quite make it. And, I even have extended family in some of these states! No excuse!

I'm always looking for a reason to go somewhere new. I even come up with plans to drive a new route when we're taking road trips so I can visit some new places.
I'm ridiculous.
I will even admit that I have gotten mad in the past when my close family & friends have gone to one of these places & they didn't take me along! hahaha

I've never thought about what I'll do when I reach this goal. What will be my new obsession???
Maybe I will start trying to go to as many new places in those states, or perhaps do more traveling in other countries. Other than Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas I haven't really been anywhere out of the country.

Have any of you lived in or done any traveling in any of these states? What are the best cities/places to go? Maybe I can talk the hubs into hitting one of them before the year is over! (fingers crossed!)


I want to thank the following blogs who were my top referring sites this past month, give them a visit, they are some really great blogs!
 

The Shabby Creek Cottage

Tea Rose Home

The Shabby Nest

Tatertots and Jello

Finding Fabulous

Thrifty Decor Chick

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Tip-er-iffic!

Sorry I disappeared the last couple weeks. To say I've been busy is a huge understatement. But after this week, I have a 7 week break from school. I cannot tell you how excited I am!
As much as I would like to totally decompress by doing nothing, I have a huge list of all the crafting and projects I want to do. So get ready, you'll get to follow along on all the excitement!

Today, I want to bring you a tip that has helped me immensely!!
In the last couple weeks I've had some tutu orders to fill. This requires strips and strips...and strips of tulle. I used to sit and stretch the roll of tulle out along a yard stick over and over and cut for (what seemed like) hours on end.

This trick saves me all those hours of cutting tulle. And really, it would work for any fabric that you need lots of strips of.

Step One: cut a piece of cardboard the same length you need your strips to be.  It could be any size big or small for whatever project you are doing. I made my board wide so that I could wrap 2-3 different colors of tulle on the same board.

Step Two: Adhere your fabric to the board, lining it up with the edge of the board. Here, I used a straight pin. You could use almost anything, I'm sure.

Step Three: Wrap your fabric around your board a million bunch of times. Remember when you cut, you will end up with pieces from the front and the back. (If you need 64 pieces of fabric, you need to wrap your fabric 32 times around the board.)

 Step Four: Once you're finished wrapping, adhere the fabric to your board again (so when you cut, it will stay in place.) I used a straight pin again.

Step Five: Cut! Cut at both the top and the bottom of the board. I simply slip my scissors between the board and the fabric, then slide the scissors to the edge of the board to cut.

Take out your straight pins (or whatever you used to keep your fabric on the board) and you are ready to go!

Isn't that easy?! After I started cutting fabric strips this way, I can't believe I used to waste my time doing it any other way!

Since I make tutus often, and in different lengths, I just label my boards so I'm ready to go next time.

I hope this helps you during your next project when you need a lot of fabric strips. It will save your life! ...No really...it will give you hours of your life you might other-wise waste!

I'll be sharing this tip here and at these parties this week. Check them out for thousands of other craft ideas!

Hope you're having a great week!

Scentsy Love

Let me just tell you how I am thrilled by the simplest of things. I recently made my first Scentsy purchase from my wonderful sponsor, Cristin, at a party she hosted & I am LOVING it! I got this warmer to use in my hall bathroom. It's called Taro

It is prettier than I expected and is a pretty shade of dark gray. I limited myself to only two scents of the thousands (or so it seems) available. The one I have burning now is Honey Pear Cider.

It is heavenly! 

I am always leery of spicy, fall time scents because sometimes they can be over bearing. This one is perfect. I seriously can't tell you how much I love it. I keep moving it from room to room so I can enjoy it everywhere & I find myself walking by just to sniff the room! hahaha- I'm such a dork.

I've got my eye on a bunch of other things I want to order. But I will probably host a party in the next few months so I can get a bunch of it free. Can't wait!

Don't forget to check it out yourself, this stuff is awesome! Click HERE to check out the catalog or click on the ad on my right sidebar anytime!
You can order online through her website, or you can contact her about hosting your own party. Happy sniffing!

40% off sale!

 I'm moving stuff out to make room for more...40% off in my shoppe through the end of the month!!! (not including custom orders) So get out there & snatch this stuff up before it's gone!

Stop back by The Red Tulip Shoppe in October for brand new handmade crafts for fall and winter!

Click here to start shopping...it's not too early to think about Christmas gifts! :)

** Enter coupon code:   TRTS40   when you check out to receive this discount! **