color love // olive

cowl // pillow

stormy palette // journal // tie

necklace // leaf pallet

be inspired today, friends!

autumn inspired

these lovelies + more are now available at Petunia Blooms!

& because I love the Fall season so much, you can use the code

AUTUMNLOVE

for 15% off any purchase from the autumn inspired collection.

(code expires Wednesday night)

what is your favorite thing about Fall?

I love the cooler temperatures, seasonal drinks,

scarves + sweaters, and the pretty colors!

color love // tangerine

yes, {color love} is back!

I chose tangerine for this edition;

partly because it's a shade of orange I actually like,

and also because it's on the Pantone

list of hot colors for Fall.

enjoy!

chiffon + chain bracelet // happy birthday card

elephant // mosaic earrings // aqua + tangerine earrings

tangerine poppy seed soap // crocheted necklace

for more tangerine finds,

check out this {color love} board.

happy friday!

SheReadsTruth: Galations

The SheReadsTruth community starts a new study today; Galations! 

I'm excited about this one. I've been (very, very slowly) reading through the Bible chronologically over the past year or so, so I've been reading in the Old Testament pretty exclusively. I just started going to a new Bible study where we're working through Genesis, so still Old Testament. Don't get me wrong, I love the Old Testament, but I'm excited to start reading somewhere else as well.

More fun news? This plan is actually available from SheReadsTruth through YouVersion, so you don't have to jump back & forth between the app & the site like I did before. Pretty exciting!

So, will you join us? This group of ladies has definitely been a blessing & an encouragement for me to dig into the Word every single day. The more the merrier! ;)

{color love} returns!

don't you just love color? I know I do!

I've had a few requests for the return of {color love},

so I'm going to give it another go.

{found via design seeds, pinned here}

here's the thing; I need some ideas!

what colors would you like to see featured?

do you have any colorful photos pinned for inspiration?

would you like to do a guest post?

leave a comment or send me an email!

I'd love to hear from you. :)

thankful.

>> for His grace, and His mercies being new every morning.

>> for a husband who brings me flowers, totally spoils me, and puts up with my crummy attitudes.

>> for a new Trader Joe's opening in our city, and yummy organic produce!

>> for a new bible study I attended last night. I was pretty terrified to go by myself, but I ended up enjoying it. Excited to see what this year will bring, studying Genesis.

>> for nail polish being on sale last week (I know it's silly, but I was excited about it).

>> for pretty Fall-inspired fabrics (new blooms coming to the shop soon!).

>> for anniversary trip planning!

what are you thankful for today?

mug swapping!

I have a definite thing for coffee mugs. I have too many already, but when I saw the sign up for CuppaKim's 2nd Annual Mug Swap, I knew I had to join in!

My package from Jaime came in the mail a couple weeks ago, and I was so excited to open it up. I got a great chalkboard mug (I've been wanting one for a while, but haven't had the time to make one!), VIA packets, a Starbucks gift card and the sweetest note ever. Thank you so much, Jaime!

I also ended up doing a 2nd swap with Christa; she missed the sign up, so we just swapped with each other. :) I got her package today, and she spoiled me with goodies. A sweet mug + cozy, earrings and bracelets (find similar ones in her shop!), mini cards, a notebook, even some yummy lip balm. So fun! I feel so blessed!

Thank so much to Kim for hosting, and looking forward to the next time!

skate

I love ice skating. Spending a couple of hours on a Wednesday morning on the ice with my sister was quite wonderful, even though I'm not the best at it. It's more of a winter activity, I suppose, but it was fun to be bundled up despite the hot temperatures outside. Now I just have to convince the Mister to take me later this year for my birthday!

#42milesinaugust

I saw the #42milesinaugust challenge on Instagram

(organized by Marta) & was drawn to the simple premise;

run or walk 42 miles during the month of August. 

I haven't been running because of the heat,

but I enjoy walking, so I decided to go for it.

...and I did it!

(I forgot to add one of my walks to my log,

so I actually walked farther; the math is messed up in the pictures)

Next? 44 miles in September.

Anyone else up for the challenge?

fresh start

Well, hello there!

When I announced my blog break, I was thinking a week. It's been almost a full month! But, you know what? Taking a break is not a bad thing. I missed blogging, I missed the community, but it was also nice to not have the pressure of putting a post together every day (I am terrible at scheduling posts in advance!).

Taking that time off also gave me time to really think about my blog/content/purpose/etc. I had kind of started to feel like I was posting purely to have something new on the blog, and I don't like that feeling. If you take a look at my header up there (and the new blog design! thank you to Five Sixteenths!), you might notice that I changed my tag line. It now reads "just this girl's story" instead of "capturing joy in ordinary life". Because really, that's what this blog is. It's just my story, no matter what it is.

This paragraph from Danielle's great post really says it all:

>> "being true to yourself. sharing your heart, your happenings, the things you desire to share, not what      anyone else is telling you to share. the things you never want to forget. the lessons you have learned, that thing your kid said that made you pee your pants. the picture you took that took your breath away. that time you felt the Lord teaching you something that you just had to share, in hopes that it blesses others as well."

So thank you for sticking with me, and hopefully you'll continue to share my story; I so appreciate everyone who reads my little blog!