Working Woman

Since I haven't quite had the time to document the new place yet, today I'm giving you a little sneak-peak into my office. In case you're unaware, this summer I transitioned from a very non-traditional, make-your-own-hours, work=coffee dates kinda job with college students to a 9-5 office job as a graphic designer for a church in Minneapolis. It's definitely been a change, but one that I've loved. Although it was nice to be able to more or less decided my schedule for the last two years, something is nice about the predictability of office hours.

I've been slowly adding bits and pieces of "home" to my little corner. I started with the beautifully designed "Kona" and "Zambia" cards that I picked up at a Starbucks a couple months ago. Bri asked "why?" and I said "because they're pretty!" Better get used to that, bud. The adorable chameleon tape dispenser was part of my fun one-year surprise, along with the cactus in the background that has made an appearance on the blog once before.

I got the bag at Target, after a long search for the perfect big-girl work bag. The two musts were that it would easily fit my mac and that it had a cross-body strap. Bonuses were the color, "leather" material, snap closure with interior zippered pouches, and short handles to boot. My lunch box, wallet, and charger also fit inside so it's been the perfect bag! And I got it on a BOGO sale. Yesss.

My little corner of the working world really is beginning to feel homey... hope you've enjoyed the tour!

Interior Inspiration: Basket Frenzy

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I've really been diggin' baskets lately. There's just something about the textures that they bring into a room that I love. Whether they be wire or woven, big or small, rectangular or circular, I'm drawn to them all. [I could write a Dr. Seuss book about baskets!]

Plus, I really enjoy the versatility and utilitarian nature of baskets. From baking supplies to magazines, blankets to toilet paper, these babies will do just about anything for ya! I scored some sweet finds at Goodwill in Milwaukee last weekend that I'm pretty excited about. Best part? They were all new with original tags! I'm especially excited about the light tan one that was $1.99 originally made in the Philippines. Score!

And NEWS FLASH! We moved all our furniture and all of Loverboy's belongings into the apartment! I am jealous that he gets to enjoy the place for the next month and a half (44 days til wedding bells, guys!) but if the last couple days have been the judge of anything, I'll probably be over there a lot anyway. :) I'll be posting soon about the new place... I have some sweet $10 photo projects for ya, as well as some furniture revamps and thrift store finds!

Make Them Feel

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. 
// Maya Angelou

Let's stop focusing so much on what we are saying and doing and start focusing more on how we are making others feel. I find it doesn't matter if I'm eloquent or extravagant—more often than not it's in the small, simple things that connections are made and feelings are created.

//via pinterest

Stylin'

Happy Thursday! I'm headed to Wisconsin tomorrow for the weekend for a friend's bachelorette party and wedding... so much excitement! And if everything goes as planned Loverboy will be moving into the apartment on Sunday and I'll be back Monday with a van-full of my stuff from EC.

So needless to say it's feeling pretty weekend-y around here, which I thought called for a little bit of fun- if someone handed me a couple of Benjamin Franklins and said I had to spend it on clothes and accessories, here are a few of the things I'd pick up (a girl can dream, can't she??).

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I know that's it's the middle of summer so the socks and scarf don't really make a whole lot of sense, but we live in Minnesota, so you never know! Gotta keep those winter clothes handy! Plus, who can resist that much lovely pattern and texture? 

I'm especially diggin' the bracelets [// 3] that are from The Shine Project, a blog I've been enjoying lately. Purchases of their jewelry and apparel employ first generation college students, which I think is pretty neat. 

So what about you? If you were unexpectedly gifted with some cold hard cash that had to be spent on pretty things, what would you choose?

Springs of Life

I want springs, rivers, oceans of life to flow from my heart. But to be honest, I haven't been real vigilant with my heart lately. I haven't been filling it with what it needs for life to be flowing out of it. I haven't been guarding it against apathy, busyness, and distractions. 

Jesus is life. Spending intimate time with Him and in His Word is what will cause these springs, rivers, and oceans to flow. It's what will make me a loving friend, roommate, co-worker, fiance, and child of God. It's what will grow in me peace and patience and self-control. It's what will create in me a deeper thirst for more of Him.

It just isn't cutting it to get convicted by a sermon I hear on a Sunday or a cutesy Bible verse I see on Pinterest. I need to have a vital, continuous love relationship with Jesus. I need to be VIGILANT to keep my heart. To guard my heart. The NIV states it this way—

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

Everything I do flows from the state of my heart. So if I'm not filling my heart with beautiful Truth, then what's going to flow out? I don't want to stick around in this non-vigilance to find out, because one thing I know, is that without Jesus, things get down-right ugly. Can I get an 'amen?'

//image via etsy

Kitchen Creativity

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A lot of meals this summer have looked like meat, vegetables, and carb/starch. It's easy, requires few ingredients, and quick. However, I'm getting a little tired of singing this song and need a little more creativity in the kitchen. Plus, this girl isn't the hugest fan of chunks of protein (although Loverboy can't get enough). So I did a little Pinterest round-up of my recipe board and decided that I'd like to try these recipes sometime in the next couple months.

I'm pretty excited about the edamame since it's definitely our vegetable of choice right now and if the pizza rolls turn out we might have a stay-at-home option for the Old Chicago Sicilian Pepperoni Rolls we drool over. If I remember to snap some pics and document the process you might get to see some Pinterest fails (let's be real- stuff never turns out this pretty), and why don't you let me know if you try any of these before I do!

The Painful Best

“We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be” —C.S. Lewis

Control. It's freaking hard. Most of the time I don't even realize when it's rearing it's ugly head. Most of the time I think I'm being a responsible adult and planning ahead and having my ducks in a row. But usually it all boils down to wanting to be in control of "my" life.

And then I get reminded. Reminded that it's not really my life after all. Because when it doesn't work, when there really is no way that I can be in control, I start to leak [check out this sweet post by a lovely lady about when your eyes leak]. I come apart at the seams and start to crumble. Honestly, you might even be able to call it a temper tantrum (I bet my mom would never believe that... ha!). 

Because when I'm reaching for control, I'm really just wanting things to go my way. I'm wanting things to be easy and smooth and not cause a lot of ripples. I want what I want. Mature, I know.

But thankfully I have a God who loves me too much to let me stay where I am, and a man who likes to partner with God in that daunting totally doable task. And honestly, I think God gets a little chuckle out of my tantrums when I can't control things. I think that every once in awhile He chooses to put things in my life that I have absolutely no control over so that I can be [once again] reminded who's really in control of this life I am living. So that I can be reminded to trust Him, the only one who knows what the future holds. 

And yeah, that future might be difficult and ripply, and even painful, but at least it will be for my best.
[Photo via Pinterest, design mine.]

Thrift Store Finds & Pretty Plants to Boot!

I am one happy girl! Today marks one year of choosing to live life and see if we want to do it permanently (btw, we did, on March 29, when he put a ring on it) with Loverboy. So this morning I went out to my car and what do I find? That sweet man snuck a box of plants as well as a cute tape dispenser and photo of us that I could spruce up my office with. I've been thinking about getting some plants or decor of some sort to make my little cubicle more homey and that boy's been listening!

I also went to Savers today and scored this great mid-century side table for $5! So I was feeling pretty inspired by all this new fun-ness and had to do something about it!

The mug that I put the cactus in was $1 from Salvation Army... the handle creates a heart with the etched in design on the mug. Plus who can resist white and mint??

My sweet friend Kate gave me this print, which is really a card, for my bridal shower! I picked up a frame from the dollar store (score!) and threw 'er in!

Both the Pride and Prejudice and Pies and Cakes books were from a 10 books for $2 sale at Goodwill a couple weeks ago. Not only are they pretty, but they are also practical! I got the gold polka-dot journal for a few bucks at TJ Maxx a couple years ago.

All these plants go so well together... and I'm super excited to finally own my first succulent! Now hopefully I don't kill it. :)

I hope you're inspired to make some space in your home beautiful. Maybe you even need a little more green in your life!

Very First Apartment!

YOU GUYS. Loverboy and I just signed for our very first apartment last night!!! And it was super scary. Not gonna lie- I may have had a slight melt-down at Applebees afterward. (Not that that's anything unusual... I wrote a blogpost yesterday about these leaky moments when I don't feel in control... keep an eye out for it).

The whole process was super-duper quick (like less than 24 hours quick) and the timeline of all our apartment hunting was just a little crazy-feeling. We missed out on two apartments we loved by that much and then got notified about 30 minutes after we signed for this one that we were accepted for another one we had applied to. Huh. Funny timing. These kind of things wreak havoc on a girl who is prone to second-guessing and regret. Yikes. [Insert lesson about learning to trust God here]

So a couple words on our new place. Sun room. Hardwood floors. Claw-foot tub. Extra bedroom. Built-in buffet. Living space that seems to go on for miles. Adorable neighborhood. These are the things that sold us on the place. I won't list for you the things we were not-so-sold-on, because I'm practicing dwelling on the positive and we are going to totally rock those things anyways.

Here are a couple sneak peaks from the Craigslist ad. Don't worry, there will be lots of future blog posts with pictures as Bri moves in in like 10 days and you know that even though I'm not moving in for another two months I'll totally have my hands all over this place!

We are super excited that the sunroom will make a beautiful office and that leaves us with the extra bedroom (that we would have used for an office in any other place) to play around with. First thoughts are a project and DIY room... we have lots of fun ideas that we can't wait to get working on and this extra little room could be the perfect place.

Also on our big-fat-excited list is the amount of space we'll have to work with! This place is a great blank canvas and with the wood floors and beautiful dark original woodwork there's lots of potential here. Let the furniture-hunting, decorating, and DIY-ing commence! 

Phone Dump [AKA thank yous galore]

1// Invites! It's been a long process... and the saga is still continuing... but we're getting there! (Thanks mom!)

2// My seriously adorable niece. HOW has she not shown up on the blog before?? I think I had a 6-month-long lapse of judgment or something. We got to hang out with her for awhile on Saturday afternoon after the shower (thanks Danielle and bridesmaids and everyone!) and got to witness her first crawl... watch out world. Not only is this baby the most adorable one you've ever seen, she also happens to be a genius and leaps and bounds ahead of any other baby in every category possible. Biased? Me?? Noooo.

3// Ohhhh man. He had to know this would show up somewhere on the internet. Loverboy decided he wasn't quite hipster enough for The Oh Hellos concert we attended on Friday night so he decided to add a lil somethin'-somethin' to his outfit. [Actually it was a dare that he valiantly saw through and got us free drinks! Horrah! (Thanks Kate!)]

4// We attended an Imagine Dragons concert on Saturday night (that was about 100% less hipster than afore-mentioned Friday night concert). I had never been at the TCF Bank Stadium before so it was a pretty sweet experience. However, we were so high up that it kind of just felt like we were listening to really loud radio in a really big crowd. Nonetheless, Imagine Dragons. For free. (Thanks Hedbergs!)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Friday! The work-week is over, so let the weekend fun begin! This week I think that these things are...

PRETTY. That couch. (Well, really that whole room). I've been a bit of a craigslist-crazy lately looking for couches. I love the look of these lower, mid-century couches. And the fabric on this one is to die for.

CLEVER. Not only is this display of test tube flower holders clever, it's also oh-so-cute. And as a bonus I think that Loverboy would probably be swooning over this scientific decor as much as I am. (However, I don't think he would call it swooning. Geeking out? Yeah, let's go with that.)

THOUGHT-PROVOKING. The church we've been going to here in the Cities never fails to serve up some hard-hitting truth.

He must crucify our pride so that we will humbly praise the crucified One alone.

—Pastor Jason Meyer, Bethlehem Baptist Church

THRIFTY. Turning an old dresser into a spruced up bookshelf? Yes please!

INSPIRATIONAL. So good, so true. It can be easy to trust God when things are going our way, but what about when they're not? Don't give in to the temptation to doubt when you believed it when things seemed better. (Amen, sister! Preaching to the choir right here.)

This weekend holds quite a bit of excitement for me as I look forward to not one, but TWO concerts, my first bridal shower, the possibility of apartment hunting and some DIY projects, and a fancy date to celebrate my awesome hubby-to-be who just scored an engineering job!! Go him! (But mostly go God!) Have any fun plans for your weekend?

[1. via flickr, 2. via sunset.com, 3. via Etsy, 4. via Kristen Delap]

Freedom Friday: Round-Up

It's been awhile since there's been a Freedom Friday around here, but I found it only fitting [and just a teensy bit cliche- but who can't resist that??] to do one today, on the day that we celebrate freedom as a country.

I thought I would do a round-up of all previous Freedom Fridays here at The Things That Make Us Tick. Check them out, get educated, and take action! And remember, action can be as simple and powerful as prayer.

Stop the Candy Shop
An initiative by Street Grace Ministries, an organization out of Atlanta, GA (the 3rd top trafficking city in the WORLD, by the way) that fights against the exploitation of children in the sex trade.

Sold
A novel by Patricia McCormick- a quick and life-changing read.

Krochet Kids Intl.

A company that empowers people to rise above poverty by creating sustainable economic development programs that support holistic growth of individuals and communities within developing nations and inspiring the knowledge of a generation about their ability to bring change to a world that is in need.

IJM Eau Claire Just Us Run
A run in Eau Claire, WI sponsored by the International Justice Mission. All proceeds go to IJM. This year it's on July 9th... so coming up quickly! Register here if you like!

Love 146
An organization fighting to end child sex slavery and exploitation.

Reject Apathy Magazine
A magazine [both online and in print] shoot-off of Relevant Magazine focused on social injustice, poverty, violence, the environment, etc.

Human Trafficking Stats
Stats and images on human trafficking from the CNN Freedom Project.

Nefarious
A hard-hitting documentary that exposes the disturbing trends in modern sex slavery. 

Freedom Friday Intro
The vision and hope behind Freedom Friday.

Happy Fourth everyone! How will you be enjoying your freedom today?

P.S. Did you see you can get The Things That Make Us Tick straight to your inbox now? Just put your email in the form on the right of the page under 'subscribe' and you'll be all signed up!

[image via Pinterest, typography mine]

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Coffee Date (Round II)

If we were having coffee, I would totally get an iced chai, duh.

If we were having coffee, I would let you know that life feels like one never-ending adventure right now with all the newness that's going on, but that's ok because I really like it and I have lots of familiar people to travel through these not-so familiar seas with.

If we were having coffee, I'd want to know what fun things you like to do in Minneapolis. I'd ask you your favorite places to eat and shop and walk.

If we were having coffee, I would share about how I've been dreaming a lot about the future lately. The design nerd in me has just been having too much fun dreaming about having our very own apartment. And being that there's a wedding drawing ever closer, I'd say the future has been a pretty wonderful place to have my head.

If we were having coffee, I'd let you know that even though I've been future-dreaming I've also been soaking up every minute of the present. With roomie nights, travel, family, and time with my man I have been savoring the season of life God has placed me in.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that trusting God with an unknown future is hard. But I would also tell you that God is more-than-faithful in the ways and timing that He reveals things. To say that my future is much less unknown now than it was a few months ago is a huge understatement.

If we were having coffee, I would ask you about your pyramid that you want to build. I would listen as you shared your passions and then maybe I could share some of mine.

[image via big girls small kitchen]