::over coffee::

Good morning!  I've been up since 'o dark thirty.  First things first, I brewed a pot of Community Coffee and added a touch [well, really a gulp] of Peppermint Mocha creamer to my cup.  Christmas in a cup.  Seriously.

Since we're chatting over coffee, the very first thing I would show you is THIS Christmas card.  Hilarious.  I was/am considering buying it and sending to friends.  We.  Will.  See.

[check it out here]

I get a big chuckle every time I read it!!

We might get snow tonight.  If we do and if it sticks and if my brother actually get to plow, I will consider it the first "big" snow.  :)

I am in the most tremendous Christmas mood.  And I must wonder why the Christmas season is so short.  Today, invitations to a cookie exchange are going in the mail.  I am super ----> duper -----> pumped to have a small get together.  Besides all the fun Christmas activities at church and the decorations at home, one of the best things about the season in general is the excitement of the kids that I babysit/nanny.  Seriously, their joy + excitement is contagious.  Thursday is a big day.  It's the day they get to open their Advent calendars and Jingle comes to visit.  Plus, there's the Christmas party at the country club + St. Nick's day + birthday parties + so much more sprinkled over the next few weeks....I got the low-down on the way home from school yesterday.  Their excitement is catching and very, very darling.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Linking up with Amy over here....

::Christmas lovely::

 

This Christmas, I was so determined to get a mini [real] Christmas tree for my bedroom.  It sounded completely plausible to me.  However, when the Christmas-tree-getting day finally rolled around, I wimped out.  I didn't want to deal with the mess and the extra expense and I really don't want an artificial tree.

So this is the next best thing!  My Mom gathered up the extra boughs from the Christmas tree when my parents cut it down last Friday.  Today, I found some cute berry stems at Michael's for 50% off!!  

As I travel, I've been collecting ornaments from different places.  I only have three here as the others are packed away in storage.  

This little arrangement is my festive, lovely Christmas decoration for my bedroom.  Something lovely becomes ugly when we spend money we don't have to impress others. Someday, I will have my own place and my own Christmas tree.  Until then, I will wait and rejoice in simplicity.  :)

::the week::

My Thanksgiving was ridiculously delicious.  

I saw blue skies and puffy clouds............

 ..........flowering trees

 ...........and Christmas decorations mixed with palm trees.

I took walks............

..............and rubbed my feet in Southern grass.  [I know it's not called that but that's what I call it.  It reminds me of summers spent in the South with my other set of grandparents.]

Do you know the best way to do Thanksgiving dinner?

Eat at a buffet.  There is ZERO pressure to eat all the food.  There is ZERO clean-up and ZERO left-overs.

Bliss.  Pure, sweet bliss.

How was yours?  Did you get snow?  I'm waiting for snow here in the Midwest. 

::Happy Thanksgiving::

::thankful list -- Kim::

There are several bloggers + shop owners that have been a blessing to me.

Kim is one of those special persons. I asked her to give me a list of 3-5 things she is thankful for. Here is her list!

1. grace - opportunities to give grace & undeserved grace received.

2. mountains - there is something special about feeling "small" on my way to work when I look at the mountains every morning. Our God is so big and sovereign, I can't fathom it most of the time (or ever!)

3. creativity - I'm so thankful I can give glory to my Jesus by using the gifts He's blessed me with.

4. my amazing husband - I'm such a lucky girl. He's patient, full of love and grace, and points me to the cross daily.

5. coffee - wouldn't get through most days without it! pass the peppermint mocha creamer, please.

**all pictures taken from Kim's blog.

Her shop is filled with adorable things.

Check out these functional + fun coffee cuffs!

Sometimes, Kim finds the time to put adorable boutique-style, one-of-a-kind headbands in her shop.  I wish this one wasn't sold out!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

::endless gifts 586-600::

586. the Thanksgiving holiday -- time to sit back and take time just to thank.
587. wonderful grandparents and the blessing of their health
588. the holiday season [in general] and a perfect opportunity to give to others
589. my Mom's health -- in just a few weeks, it will be 13 years since she was originally diagnosed.  God is so good!
590. opportunities to serve the Lord through my local church
591. the Bible -- my guide book
592. the Holy Spirit -- my Comforter and Strength
593.  Jesus -- my Saviour
594. God -- my Heavenly Father
595. the blessing and opportunity to be a Christian
596. wonderful [very funny] friends
597. faithfulness of fellow Christians in my church
598. provision for my needs every week
599. my jobs -- all of them.  :)
600. God's promise to me for the future -- For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end, Jeremiah 29:11

::inspiration::soldiers::

The Christmas season is coming. The Christmas season is coming!

I am uber-excited for the holiday season [in general] this year.

Looking through magazines, reading crafting blogs, and participating in a Handmade Holidays Gift Guide has done a lot to get me excited for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and every day in between.

I haven't sent a package to a soldier through Any Soldier .com in a while and it got me thinking....

I'd love to send a few Christmas cards full of Christmas cheer to some soldiers.

How about you?  

But if we want to do it, we'd better get hoppin' because it takes time for those cards to travel through the mail.

Soooooooooooo, I thought I'd start my first ever linky party.  First of all, you have to get a soldier's address.  Check out Any Soldier .com.  There, you can pick a soldier numerous different ways.  I always send cards to Marines.  :)  It's important to note that you can only receive two addresses per day and a limit of 10 per month.  I've already gotten two addresses and will send my cards by Friday.

If you'd like to join, get [at least] two addresses for two different soldiers, make a card, buy a card, seal it up, send it, write a little blog post to encourage others to spread Christmas cheer to soldiers, then join in the fun here!

The linky party will be open until Saturday, November 19th.

Also, if you don't have a blog but would like to participate, leave a comment in the comment section that you joined in on the fun.  :)

::just a few new things::

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you all know about a few small changes I had Heather do for me.

First of all.  Over there >>>>  my media icon bar has been switched a bit to show a link to my Facebook page rather than my LinkedIn account.  The media icon bar has also been updated in my shop, as well.

Secondly.  On my home page, I have that nifty little "newsletter" button.  Click that and subscribe!  I have a new email subscription service.  If you'd like to sign up for the newsletter, that would be great.  I plan to offer a newsletter only special during the Christmas season, one you will not find on the blog, Twitter, or my Facebook page.

Third.  I have a Custom Order listing in the shop.  'Nough said. 

Fourth.  Over to the right, there's a nifty little button and you can have posts delivered to your inbox.  Swell news if you don't dig the reader route.

And that's about it....have a...

::inspiration::work hard::

I get to spend Thanksgiving with these lovelies in Florida.  Hel-lo, sunshine.

The five people in this picture inspire me to work hard.  Three successful businessmen.  Two successful Moms + cancer survivors [with the Lord's help + mercy].

I love 'em.

I've been thinking a lot this weekend about my shop.  Where I want to go + how much I want to invest + and the ever-loving branding question.  I think I may be the slowest blogger out there with branding.  It's debatable.

I am super excited to be included in Kim's Handmade Holidays Gift Guide.  Details forth-coming.

Remember I said I in this post that I planned to make a new wristlet design.  Riii-ight.  Well.  I forgot to order zippers.  And when I finally got around to it, the supplier I typically buy from was out.  So, the new wristlet is coming.  I'm sure you've been waiting with bated breath for it to come out [choke, cough, haha].

This week promises to be super-da-duper busy.  It's gonna be great.

Happy Monday.
REBECCA.

ps...this picture was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia.

::we have a winner::

::magazine pretties::

I absolutely love receiving Country Living in the mail!

One thing I do not like is stacks of magazines sitting in my bedroom.  So, I tear out the articles or pictures that I like for future reference.  For several years, I have been putting them in a ginormous notebook.  Truthfully, it's easy for ideas to get lost in the shuffle.

However, I got an idea that it would be fun to share them here on the blog.

That way, I can discard those bits of paper as well.

So, without further ado, my pretties from the month of November's magazine.

::I'd really like to do a frame with chalkboard paint sometime.  This is a class act that would look great in a main living area.::

::What a great bold, unusual color for a wall next to stark white trim.  Love the chair and the dog, too.::

::Hello, adorable chair.::

::A fantastic idea for a kid's room.::

::This would be fun to do to send left-overs home with guests.  First, measure the top of the plastic container that you'll send food home in, the cut out circles of cloth a big wider than you measured with pinking shears.  Stamp fun messages on the tops of the cloth.  Secure with rubber bands.::

::One thing I've always loved about Country Living is how they promote small biz owners, particularly those on Etsy.  Here's an Etsy shop they featured.  Go visit her here.::

::And last but not least, they featured this old-fashioned barber shop in Birmingham, AL.  It reminds me of the barber shop my brothers and Dad used to get their hair cut at.  The barber always gave us [I thing]a stick of Wrigley's gum.  Gotta love old-fashioned in this ever-changing world.::

ps...I plan to renew my subscription and get one free gift subscription.  Who would like it?  Leave me a comment [without your address, I'll contact the winner later] and I'll choose a winner on Friday.

HAPPY HUMP DAY.
REBECCA.

::31 days::the end::

It's over!  And I forgot to post yesterday [naturally].

Yesterday, I was busy making a huge handful of verse cards for my Etsy shop.  This was my first venture into the online shop world.

The bookstore at my church has started carrying my verse cards [which is a huge blessing] and we have a youth conference here next week.  Therefore, I needed to make more to stock up the supply.

The verse cards are pretty much one-of-a-kind as far as paper selection goes.  But whatever does not get put into the bookstore will get put into my Etsy shop.

They're great stocking stuffers.

My overall conclusion for the 31 Days of Challenge.

It was very, very good.  I feel a little lame-o for not finishing all 31 days.

However, I got several new products in the shop.  I did a few items off the ever living to-do list and conquered a few fears.

There are still a few things I'd like to finish up like reading a Jane Austen book [boring, sorry] and make a photo book.



Happy Tuesday.
REBECCA.