{diy} Chai Tea

 Things feel far from fall on this hot, last of summer day.  But, a week or so ago we had "cooler" temps (like 70's maybe?) and with my toes snuggled under a blanket I anticipated the nights spent curled up with a book, next to the wood-burning fire.  I love a warm drink on a cold night as much as anybody.  Sometimes I opt for a plain cup of tea, warmth coming as easily as dipping a tea bag in some hot water. Yet other nights I crave something a bit more special, a bit more of a treat.  

 Enter this wonderful-smelling and tasting chai tea. 

I first read a similar recipe here and decided to make the recipe my own by simplifying the ingredients and process.  Although if you are in a creative food rut or looking to eat clean, delicious food, definitely give this original recipe a look as well as the rest of the Minimalist Baker blog!  It's highly inspiring. 

(here)

To make this super easy, super comforting and tasty chai tea you only need three things: 

Cashew or Almond milk (plain, unsweetened)

Tazo Chai Natural Spiced Black Tea bags

and Honey! 

To make simply brew the tea by dropping one tea bag in a small pot of water on the stovetop.  Once the tea is nice and dark, lift the tea bag out and add some cashew or almond milk.  Sweeten with a bit of honey and you're done!  Pour into your favorite mug and let the warmth go all the way to your toes. 

At the end of photographing this decadent treat I had a little helper. :) 

She's as sweet as honey! 

Raise a glass of chai tea and let's make a toast to cozy nights that are sure to come. 

If you make this, let me know! 

What 32 feels like.

It's no surprise I turned 32 on Saturday since I declared my love of birthdays all last week on social media.  What can I say? I'm a twin, a lover of all things silly and fun, and only getting more sure of myself as time goes on. So really, there is much to celebrate.  

I love being in my 30's. 

Some moments of the week I feel like my tiny Betsy Grace, carefree, my hands and fingers creating in such an easy way, like that of a child.

"It's just like riding a bike".

I've learned during my 30's to not discount the right now, for always looking ahead with glitzy eyes to the sparkling future.  For really, there is no shining city in the sky, waiting like the land of Oz to make all my dreams come true.  Instead, there is God and He is good and gracious and perfect to love us every single second of every single day.  There is beauty in most moments of this precious and wild thing called life, but not all.  There are warm quilts, cups of hot tea, sparkly stars, and comfort on the nights the beauty has disappeared. 

32 feels like both a child and adult.  It feels like embracing time as a child, enjoying and discovering the right now and living like my girls, incapable of worrying or wondering months down the road.  Yet at the same time my thoughts flood with the consistent mercies of God, reminders and flashing signs on the highways of the past. Moments that tug at my heart in the dark, whispering that God has been faithful, God has never forgotten my name, God has left a path in my life thus far that can be traced to birth. 

32 feels like learning to embody the web, 

both fragile and strong. 

It's learning to embrace community, help, friendship, and vulnerability instead of cowering in safety.  The purest joy has never been found in safety for me anyway. 

32 is looking at these beautiful, smart, talented girls and wanting with every fiber in my being, to love them well and teach them the wonder and freedom-filled love of Christ.  

32 is visits with my Grandma and Papaw, worth more than gold,

laughing at my daughters' jokes,

learning more and more to love Brett well,

being silly,

a confidence in my curvy, artsy self,

and what else….

I just don't know. 

It's a big fill-in-the-blank

____________________________________

and I can't wait to see what it's store. 

pretty packaging (and happy birthday to me)

No, no, no, I didn't wrap myself a present.  Although as soon as I typed those words I immediately thought "Wouldn't that be a fabulous idea?!"  Lol, only me would think that.  But it actually IS my birthday today so yippee!!! We are celebrating with a date night, some camping, and as much silliness as I can cram into three days.  Something about these birthdays…gets me silly and wanting to throw caution to the wind.  And you know the best part? I'm a twin! So I get to celebrate double. 

I actually wanted to pop in today and share this packaging I did on a present for a best neighbor friend of mine.  I used vintage sewing patterns for the wrapping paper, a handmade paper flower, and a happy message on a scrapbook card.  This was quick and easy to wrap and so fun to secretly deliver on my friend's porch! :) 

Well, I'm off to boot, scoot, and boogie my way into year 32. 

Part 2: Summertime dinner party reveal!

Did you catch yesterday's post, where I left you hanging with this?

Well this morning I'm delighted to take you on a little journey of how the final dinner party look came to be! This dresser is in our art room, which also serves as the occasional rosy retreat meeting place/dining room.  When I first had my idea to decorate for an extra-special dinner, the dresser looked like this.  I knew to make it look fabulous I would need to be quick.  My time is limited, as I'm sure yours is.  But with a few easy "rules" to decorating you can go from sloppy to special in just a matter of minutes.  

Although arranging displays and styling props may come quite easy to me, it might not to you so let's take this step by step, shall we? To begin, I cleared everything off the dresser, but left the tall shutters.  As a general rule, I like to add my tallest props first, which I did here by setting the red pitcher to the left. 

Next, I wanted to continue playing up the height/background interest so I hung the white paper banner I showed you how to make yesterday. 

After that came a medium height set of props, tomatoes stacked on top of this rusty, metal box I bought at a local store (Cellar Door Antiques in downtown Springdale for the local folks).  

*A note about boxes, toolboxes, etc.-they work great for a multitude of things!  You can use them to bring height to a short item like these bowl of tomatoes, or simply open the lid and style something inside.  If the price is right, I almost always pick items like these up because they come in so handy!*

Now, let's be real honest for a second.  I could have stopped with the photo before this one….with the bowl of tomatoes and simple metal box.  That, to me, was quite beautiful. If your style leans more towards the simple and minimal, that is your look.  If you think "more is more" then THIS is your look! 

I added in the vintage books, candles, painted branches my girls helped me with, interesting cans from the grocery store, hot peppers, and tiny plates from Italy.  

All of these items together-different heights, colors, sizes, and textures, created an interesting, eye-catching dinner party display!

To style the table, I kept it much more simple since the dresser was rather done up.  I first laid this "runner", which is actually a rug from Wal-Mart.  The brand is Better Homes and Gardens and it is a very good sized rug, priced at $9.97.  I have thrifted enough rugs to know that is a deal!  It usually lays in my craft room, but after a good shake off, turned into the most perfect table runner. The "fuzzies" in the jar came straight from the pasture on the farm.  

As my girls, Brett, and I gathered around the table together there was a special quality to the dinner.  More than anything this was a hands-on way I could love on my family.  

Maybe for you it's baking, or organizing, or planning fun outings.  Whatever it is, go for it.  Tell your limitations, doubts, fears, to hit the road Jack (and don't come back). 

You and I, our families, we're worth celebrating right this very moment. 

Part 1: Summer-Inspired Dinner Party

What is it you really love?  That gets your heart pounding, for simply no reason at all?  For me, it's decorating and rearranging and styling things.  I could do this until the minutes turned to hours and the hours, days upon days.  I suppose I've gone through a lot of my life thinking this was quite normal and practically everyone did this in their own homes/lives.  Imagine my shock during a recent conversation with girlfriends when I learned that in fact, not all people love doing such a thing!  To this I simply say, "to each their own."  But perhaps today after taking a peek around the blog you'll be inspired to pull a few pieces from here and there, break your everyday mold, and add a bit of surprise to your life.  It'll be fun, I promise!

Long ago I read an article or quote or something about not always saving your best ideas/dishes/parties for when company came.  To go ahead and indulge the people closest to you on a regular 'ol day.  I'm a believer.  About once a month or so (sometimes less) I like to style things up extra special, adding a dollop of style to our already full dinner plates.  This particular day I started with the flowers.  The teeny, beautiful, yellow flowers found by the mailbox, a surprising burst of color in the middle of an otherwise brown and green August.  Once I plopped them in the bright red pitcher, an idea was born.  I gathered a few more props from around the house (I'm a prop collector/hoarder, remember?) and let the pile sit and stare at me for a while. 

Later that day I snagged a huge bag of these peppers to incorporate as well.  My mama gifted me some of these earlier this summer so I'll be back in the upcoming months to share a few more ideas because these peppers really pack a punch in more ways than one! 

For this particular dinner party I wanted to string the peppers myself, to either hang as a garland or simply drape around the table decor.  I used a simple needle and thread and sewed them together, careful not to rub my eyes during the process.

The end result was simple and lovely and vibrant.  

Among the rest of the props in my stash were a few colorful plates from Italy, tiny succulents, tomatoes from the garden, colorful votives, vintage books with the spine torn off, an old metal box, and some colorful canned goods from my local grocery store.  

I also decided to make a banner from white paper bags to add a bit of dimension to the background of my dinner-party decor, which was done on top of an old dresser.  The supplies needed for this versatile little garland are simple: white paper bags, a pair of good scissors, and a hole punch. 

I started by laying several bags down on top of each other and cutting out this easy, scallop shape.  My favorite shape in the history of ever.  

Next, I used my hole punch to add a bit of interest along the bottom of the banner.  To assemble the banner I laid each paper piece side by side on a piece of string and hot-glued it together.  

Now after all that, aren't you excited to see how all these pieces came together? 

Well, my friend sometimes suspense is a very good thing. 

You'll simply have to come back tomorrow to see the final result! 

In the meantime, I hope you gather your own little stash to sit and stare at for a day or two, banner supplies in hand, and begin to at least entertain the thought of a delightful dinner for the ones dearest to you.  I'll see you tomorrow with the final look! 

Tea anyone?

Sometimes I'm not the best mom. I nag when I should nourish, lecture when I should love, whine when I should whisper sweet secrets in my girls' ears.  But I try to be the best mom possible, I really do.  It's a balancing act of too much and not enough and just right somewhere in the middle.  Some days though…I get it right.  Some days I secretly pull out the teeny tiny Curious George tea set and spread chocolate icing thick on graham crackers, complete with blue sprinkles.  Some days my girls and I pour "tea" as if we were the most royal family around, our love for each other so thick it almost feels like another guest sitting around the yellow suitcase. 

Here's to trying again, loving again, grace for the good moments and the not, and for tea parties around a yellow suitcase. 

Nature Pal Exchange

Happy Tuesday my friends! In the words of Emily P. Freeman, it's "Simply Tuesday."  I am currently reading her book, titled as such.  Her tagline is "Small-moment living in a fast-moving world."  Yes and amen.  How about a few of my favorite passages from the book thus far? Because behind-the-scenes of my real life and real thoughts and what ends up on the blog, is this.  Embracing these seemingly everyday, mundane moments that are really packed with the power and passion of Christ.  

In the words of Emily….

"Tuesday is the week's producer.  What happens here, if done right, if done well, leaves no fingerprints-dinner around the table, laundry folded in baskets, the meeting with the boss over coffee, five hundred more words toward the deadline.  The big stuff of life we save for the weekend. Tuesday holds the ordinary, the everyday, and the small.

"The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground.  The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, a net, yeast.  The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.  Seeds, nets, yeast, a hidden treasure, a farmer, and a child-these are the clues to the kingdom." 

"I have a vision of people who embrace the significance of our small words, knowing that whether they're spoken into microphones or near microwaves, they're all sacred when said in the power of the Spirit.  Let's take back quiet conversations with friends, whispered prayer over sick babies, belly laughter around the dining room table. Let's take back the honor of small donations, small care packages, and small movements toward fellow image-bearers, because love isn't measured in inches, grand gestures, or dollar amounts." 

You may be wondering how these thoughts from Emily's book collide with these photos and the Nature Pal Exchange, but in my mind they go perfectly together.  Long story short (kinda), I stumbled across an Instagram account called Nature Pal Exchange.  The whole point is to connect families so that they can literally exchange interesting finds from nature, from one state to another.  The girls and I signed up, with a $5 donation going towards Sole Hope, which is an organization providing help for foot disease in Uganda.  After signing up, we were given a family's address in Long Beach, California to send our nature box too.  

For days the girls and I combed the yard and farm, having the most Heaven-on-earth conversations as we went.  Talking about how marvelous and wonderful God is to make such neat stuff for us to find!  Our favorite adjective to use for all these treasures? Gorgeous.  We must have uttered dozens of "Isn't that gorgeous?" to each other while we searched.  

We then packed everything up safe and sound and traipsed into the post office.  Egg carton in hand, I at first, felt silly and small for mailing an egg carton full of things from my yard.  But then I remembered the lessons from Simply Tuesday and the even bigger lesson God has been whispering in my ear.  This matters.  This is good, rich, BIG stuff of life right here.  In stopping to gather, notice, talk, and appreciate our heavenly father and nature finds, we worshipped.  

So today I pray you have the guts, bravery, and audacity to let it be "Simply Tuesday." 

To worship and love right where you are.  Give your co-worker a smile, your neighbor a hug, your kids a belly laugh.  

(and while you're at it, there's a fun giveaway on yesterday's post you can enter too!)

You can find more about the Nature Pal Exchange by going  to https://instagram.com/naturepalexchange/