#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!

taking a break...

It's time for me to say goodbye to the blog for a little while.

I will be back, but I think a break is needed.

I hope to come back inspired & ready to share!

new pretties in the shop!

I've been making earrings for a few months; it started because I needed a gift

(my mom/sisters-in-law & I are trying to do all handmade gifts),

and I had so much fun with it, I just kept making them!

Now, I don't need so many pairs of earrings for myself,

and there are only so many birthdays in the year,

so I finally decided to sell the extra pairs I have around.

They're just $5 a pair, so you can afford a little treat for yourself. :)

They would also make a perfect little gift!

shop here!

print + inspire.

I just love free printables,

so I'm sharing a few of them today.

save, print, let them inspire you!

butterfly to do list

psalm 118:24

draw near

philippians 4:8

cookies recipe card

cheer my soul