Weekend Wrap-Up (& a blog update!)

Another week, another weekend wrap-up! :) This week has been a pretty exciting one for me, as I launched a small home styling business, Mysa Home Styling. You might notice that there's a blog over there, and that might make you wonder if The Things That Make Us Tick is gonna stick around. Well, I can tell you that right now my plan is to keep this baby around for as long as I like writing about life and marriage and faith and food and music and travel and all the other non-home related things that I blog about. So YES! You will still find content here, it just might be slightly less frequent (especially at first here while I'm getting Mysa up and running), and there will probably be less home-related posts here since that will be happening over on the Mysa blog. So if you love home stuff as much as I do, make sure and follow the Mysa Blog!

So without further ado, some sweet stuff I found on the internet this week...
  This Brie and Grape Crostini from A Cup of Jo looks heavenly!

This post on how to style overhead still life photos from the Nesting Place is helpful... especially if you're into Instagram!

And lastly, just try and tell me that this doesn't look adorable. It comes out in a week! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Friday, friends! There was a lot of good stuff happening around Blog-land this week... here's a peek into a couple of my favorites! Hope you have a wonderful weekend, in spite of the crummy May weather. We have a chill night-in planned with our new friend, Blue Apron (check out Instagram later tonight for final results!), and then some time with family, and Sunday I have work (wahh-wahhh). BUT, I'm excited for the next 36 hours, so bring it on!

It was fun to see A Cup of Jo feature Minneapolis for a city guide.

This beautiful guest room makeover by Emily Henderson is swoon-worthy.

These Sweet Potato Curly Fries by My Name is Yeh look divine!

This fake-out wallpaper DIY by A Beautiful Mess is ingenious and I could see it having a lot of possible applications in a home.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It's the weekend! It's looking like it's going to be in the SEVENTIES all weekend up here in the north, so I am kind of freaking out. Tonight the hubs and I are laying low due to a busy Saturday and Sunday filled with conferences, coffees, desserts, football games, thrifting, and a double date. So lots of good things, but all in all, a lot of things. What are ya'll up to this weekend? Please just make sure and get outside, whatever you do!

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I've been obsessed with cheese boards lately, and this one looks divine. They just seem so fancy, but still relaxed and chill and not uppity, ya know? Definitely on my list to try my hand at making one in the coming weeks!

I love this post on how to be a better friend, even when you're busy. (Seems like it could apply to us, especially this weekend!) Who doesn't need a little bit of help being a better friend?

This article on your passion not being your full-time thing is probably right up every millennial's alley. ;) But actually, I found it really encouraging for this season of life.

Last week I attended a training on empathy and boundaries put on by an anti-trafficking ministry in Minneapolis and they showed this short 3 minute video on empathy by Brene Brown. It does a good job of showing what exactly empathy is and how it differs from sympathy.

As you know from my post on hospitality & dining tables, I've really been digging the idea of a supper club lately. This post on how to start a weekly supper club has some great tips and ideas!

Weekend Wrap-Up

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Happy Friday, you guys! This week went by so quickly (which is a really good thing since Loverboy was out of town on business), and it really doesn't seem like the weekend is here. But alas, the calendar doesn't lie, and praise Jesus we've made it! We have a fun and relaxing weekend ahead of us, which is so needed. I'm excited to spend some time with friends, but also just to have some downtime around the house with each other. Here are this week's finds!

1. This Bathroom 5 Ways by Coco & Kelley makes me yearn for the day when we have a normal bathroom and I can actually decorate/accessorize! (Our house is a little quirky and neither of our bathrooms have sinks in them!)

2. This is a great article about 10 Things Men & Boys Can do to Stop Human Trafficking. Please read this if you are a male, are married to a male, have a male friend, or know a male.

3. I have been kind of obsessed with Lauren Daigle for the last few months. I got her CD for Christmas and haven't gotten sick of it yet, despite listening to it almost every day since then on the way to and from work! Take a listen!

4. I've seen this before and when I stumbled across it again I was like "yes!" How not to say the wrong thing to someone who's in crisis. Comfort in and dump out, people.

5. Last, but not least, this is a PSA that Fixer Upper Season 2 is coming to Netflix today!!! YOU'RE WELCOME. Now go get your stretchy pants on and binge away!

Weekend Wrap-Up

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Happy Friday, folks! This graphic pretty much sums up how I'm feeling right now. Sun is shining, gourmet pizza for lunch, and just a few hours out from the weekend.

This weekend is looking like it will be the perfect mix of social, relaxing, and productive. We'll be visiting some art studios, having coffee with new friends, and going to an old friend's housewarming party. We will also be picking up our new (to us) car at the dealership tomorrow (cuz, that one time), working on a mailing that we'll be sending out soon (keep your eyes on your mailboxes!), and meeting with BASE to plan a purity conference. Good stuff.

This past week I found a few things on the internet to be extra helpful... drumroll, please...

This blogpost on adopting first has really impacted me this week and reiterates a lot of the thoughts that Loverboy and I have had on this topic.

Although not super pretty, this graphic from the UN is super helpful in understanding what makes up trafficking:

And last but not least, this recipe for Sausage & Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash not only looks amazing, but I have had it recommended to me by two ladies that I work with. Needless to say, I may have a couple acorn squash sitting on my kitchen counter ready and waiting!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Friday, folks! Stopping by to say hello and give you some fun things to look at/read/think about/try. You know the drill.

FIRSTLY,
One of my favorite-ist blogs, A Beautiful Mess, bought, flipped (like hardcore), and donated a house to Habitat for Humanity. And let me tell you, it is a thing of beauty. They're sharing all their stunning before and afters, room-by-room, on their blog. Here's where you can find all of them. (Just to give you an idea of how much I love this blog, last night I had a dream about meeting Elsie (one of the sister bloggers) and I was super nervous and awkward. You guys, I am strange. Dreaming about meeting bloggers?! Seriously. I need to get out more.)

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SECONDLY,

This book, Girls Like Us, is super duper good. Like doubly super duper. If you are interested at all in learning about human trafficking and sexual exploitation, start here! I will probably write more about it later, but just know this... you will not want to put this book down, as you read of true stories of girls and get a major education along the way. Get it here, or borrow it from your library, like I did (however, I will be purchasing it to reference, highlight, and share. It was just that good.) Also, check out my church's new anti-trafficking ministry, BASE.

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THIRDLY,
This. Stuff. Yes, it looks like digested grass, but holy smokes is it delicious! You can get it at Trader Joe's for something like a couple bucks and it is like Indian heaven. Put it with some rice (or even pasta! I like Orzo) and some fish or chicken, and add spice as necessary. Easiest tastiest meal ever.

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Welp, that's all I've got for you today. Go out there and enjoy the sunshine this weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up // Food & Decor

Happy Friday! It's a beautiful day and the weekend is almost here, so why not be happy? Today I wanted to share a couple recipes (mmmmm) as well as some updates we've made to the apt and a helpful post about cleaning out your possessions. Read on!

I posted this on the Insta when we had it, but I just have to share it here too. Holy smokes, guys! This is like our new favorite thing! It makes an amazing meal, or you could make little mini ones for hors d'oeuvres.

✔️french bread 

✔️garlic butter (I just melt some butter and stir in fresh garlic)

✔️pesto 

✔️fresh mozzarella 

✔️basil or Italian seasoning 

✔️salt 

✔️tomatoes

Spread the garlic butter and pesto on the sliced bread. Top with slices of fresh mozz, sprinkle with basil or Italian seasoning and salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 min then top with tomatoes. Wallah!

Also, for your tastebud's pleasure, these Baked Asparagus Fries looks SUPER yummy and easy. Win-win. Will def be trying them out soon.

And this recipe for Mexican Street Corn Salad is actually to die for! My sis introduced me to is a couple weeks ago and we made a batch yesterday and ended up eating the whole thing! So yumm. But instead of putting the onions, peppers, and garlic in raw, we char it with the corn. So much better, I would guess. :)

This last week saw our bedroom getting some updated decorating! I was going for more simple and neutral. I think it worked! We moved our ribbon garland to the sun room, where we put it over the windows behind the keyboard, and it is soooo pretty there! It will be perfect for summer when we spend more time in there with the windows open and breeze flowing through. I think it adds a little bo-ho touch. :)

This post about how a couple got rid of half their stuff is super inspiring and will definitely be coming out again later this spring/summer when I'm hoping to do some major purging. There's some really practical tips and questions to ask yourself when going through things.

So that's about it! Some new recipes for your to try, as well as some new decor that's been happening around here. We're headed to Nebraska in a couple hours to spend the weekend with my bro and his wife who just moved there, as well as my grandparents and aunt and uncle. It should be an awesome weekend with the fam! Hope you have a good weekend too!

And if you haven't already, don't forget to check out some of the recent posts:
Discipline or Regret... or Not?
Our #keepthelovealive Retreat and How to Plan Your Own
Start With a Little
Comfort & Security

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Friday friends! I don't know about you, but this week has felt long around here. I'm looking forward to a mentoring coffee tomorrow morning followed by another bachelorette party tomorrow night! Two of my dearest friends are getting married a week apart next month and the celebrations are flowing! I couldn't be happier for them and cannot wait for them to experience married life!

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend? Here are a few things I found on the interwebs this week. Enjoy!

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1// I found this article on 'The 36 Questions That Lead to Love' quite interesting. I'm secretly hoping to talk through a few of them with Loverboy tonight. There's always room to know more about the one that you already love!

2// I can't wait to try these copycat Trader Joe's "Gone Bananas!" I discovered these gems while babysitting and we got a couple boxes last time we were at TJ and they are so delightful! Unfortunately the store was out of the kind of coconut oil I needed yesterday, so it will have to wait until another trip.

3// This post on the 'Top 10 Ways to Make a Marriage Retreat Meaningful' will be very helpful as Loverboy and I look forward to our #keepthelovealive weekends [you can read more about when we went to Stillwater here]. Out first trip wasn't super intentional, but really good to have some time away with just us. But I am looking forward to some more intentional weekends in the future... and we are going to an actual marriage retreat next month in Red Wing that I am super pumped about!

4// One of my lovely friends, Andra is co-owner of With Grace and Gold, a business that "creates purposeful and authentic branding for small businesses." [They are super awesome, so ya'll should go see what they're all about!] Anyway, I love that they recently posted about ways to balance your time online (read: SOCIAL MEDIA!) and gave a couple of suggestions of websites/apps to control and track how much time you are spending on sites. Check it out!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Friday friends! Woof has this week seemed long! I'm looking forward to a packed weekend of a double date, Women's coffee, bachelorette party, and birthday celebrations with family. Then Monday is MLK day so the hubs and I have planned a little date day which looks like it will be relaxing and fun! 

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite things from the web this week... from some of my favorite blogs and sites! Enjoy and have a wonderful, WARM weekend! [3 cheers for above-freezing weather!]

This stir fry spaghetti squash from A Beautiful Mess looks amazing! I have a spaghetti squash just sitting in our kitchen waiting to be used... and a stir fry sounds uniquely delicious!

This article, 8 Questions to Ask Yourself to Help You Declutter by PopSugar, looks super helpful and I will definitely be pulling it back up in the next month or so as I try to attack clutter in our home.

The EveryGirl teaches us 15 Ways to Save on Decor. I already do a lot of these, but it's a good read to be reminded that decor doesn't have to be high-end to be fabulous! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up: Holiday Posts

Hey friends! Just in case you haven't been around for long, or have been busy [what.... this time of year?! Noooo...] and have missed a couple, I wanted to round up in one place for you all my holiday posts. Feel free to browse and get some Christmas inspiration... after all, it is less than a week away!

Holidaze

In my first holiday post, I share some excitement as well as some of my favorite Christmas traditions.

3 Adorable Gift Wrapping Ideas

This post gives you three creative ways to wrap those packages this Christmas season. So get out the twine and washi tape, throw on some tunes, and get wrapping!

Christmas Coffee Date

A traditional coffee date post with a holiday spin. Crab a cup and sit awhile.

DIY Advent Envelopes

In this post I show you how I made my super easy Advent count-down. Sure, it may be nearing the end of Advent, but you could always do the week before Christmas!

Apartment Christmas Decorations

Get a tour of our apartment decked out in Christmas cheer for all to hear!

Christmas Freebies

A collection of some free Christmas downloads that I love from around the web.

O Christmas Tree
Yesterday I shared about our Christmas tree experience—from grade A customer service at Home Depot, to decking out the whole tree for less than $30!

Weekend Wrap-Up: Christmas Freebies

You guys, I know that most of you aren't as obsessed with your calendar as much as I am so I wanted to let you know that it's FRIDAY! Woo! This weekend is packed with lots of goodness... with a double date tonight, Loverboy's Casino work party tomorrow, and visiting family for a birthday party and a small group game night on Sunday. We're hoping to slip in a bit of sleeping in [we've been dragging the last coupla' days], taking a chunk out of our wedding thank yous, and baking some Christmas cookies as well! Bring. It. On.

What are your plans for the weekend? Anything spectacular?

Here's some holiday inspiration for your weekend [I promise I won't make every post ever about Christmas during this season... maybe...].



I simply adore these free desktop and phone backgrounds. Perfect for getting some Christmas music stuck in your noggin. :) Speaking of Christmas music...

My love for Pentatonix grows every Christmas. They just keep pumping it out! You can listen to their whole album, That's Christmas to Me, for free on Spotify!

I'm sticking with the Christmas music theme, so here's a free printable that you can frame and put on your mantle. Or just tape to your wall with some pretty washi tape. Your choice. :)

Have a very merry weekend, friends!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Friends! It's Friday! I hope you've all had a rad week. For me, I feel like it was one of those weeks where you have to look at the calendar to remember at all what you did and where Halloween and Daylight Savings feel like they happened a month ago.

Anyway, it seems like a good week to do a personal weekend wrap-up and share a peak into the Douglas life this last week. Begin montage of crappy cell-phone pics.

Halloween night did in fact bring Blanket Fort 2.0. I think this one definitely rivaled our last one in height, but not in broad scope. We watched Stardust in there, which was pretty magical and you should probably watch this movie if you haven't. It's so weird and great and I've probably seen it close to 10 times because of my love for its quirkiness. [P.S. Doesn't he just look proud??!]

On Wednesday I decided to chop off all my hair! [3 cheers for the post-wedding chop!] I got to bring my ponytail home since I'll be donating it and had a lot of fun whipping it around in the car on the way home and grossing out both myself and my mother. Something about a ponytail not attached to your head is just weird. It sat on our dining room table for like half a day until I went and hid it in our guest room because I kept thinking there was a rodent on our table.

And in case you missed it on Facebook, here's me modeling my new hair at Buca di Beppos last night. The hubs and I hit it up for date night [and this girl had a coupon—holla!] and it was fan-freakin-tastic! We ordered this amazing seafood pasta dish that had shrimp, calamari, and oysters and originally had a spicy clam sauce that we swapped out for a garlic cream sauce [my spicy sensor is uber-sensitive]. My oh my it was like seafood heaven in your mouth! And the best part is that we took home enough leftovers for both of us to take a full meal's worth of this delicious feast for lunch today! Helllooooo round two! :)

Other highlights for the week included time with good friends and our awesome small group, meals with family, AND we are officially accepted for membership at our church! Woo!

Tonight we are having our respective girls and guys night—I'll be going to dinner with a friend and then we're headed to a clothing swap with our Sunday School ladies [we all know I like free clothes!] and Loverboy will be broin' it up. We're headed to Eau Claire tomorrow for a sweet friend's bridal shower and get to see some sibs on Sunday. Bring on the weekend!

P.S. How eerily similar are the photos of me holding up my hair and the receipt from my last post??

Weekend Wrap-Up

It's Friday ya'll! Bring on the weekend! Tonight and tomorrow morning we have a membership class for our church [no, it's not a slumber party, but how awesome (and weird) would that be?!]. Then tomorrow afternoon and evening we're hittin' up Nickelodeon Universe at the MOA with a couple friends! I am super psyched since my love for amusement parks is up there on the list with my love for my husband, sleep, and food. [in that order].

Sundays around here are automatically football afternoons during the fall, which means I get a couple hours to spend time with my hubby, nap, and eat [hey! see how that works out with my favorite things?? No rollercoasters though...bummer].

So that's what I've got planned for the weekend... along with a couple things we need to do like set up our new printer and get going on the name change process as well as order thank yous for our wedding. Cheers to the weekend! Here's some inspiration for you!

Truth to Rest In

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Isaiah 46:4 - ” I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Almonds

1 1/2 C. Sugar 

1 1/2 C. Brown Sugar 

3 Tbsp. Cinnamon 

1/8 tsp. Salt 

1 Egg White 

2 tsp. Vanilla 

3 Cups Almonds 

1/4 C. Water

[Here for recipe directions and cook time]

Cute Seasonal DIY

I love these little stumps turned candle holders... especially with the added gold touch. We had similar candle holders at a our wedding... thanks to a wonderful friend! :)

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Hope you all have a wonderful weekend... resting in the truth that God sustains you, and maybe even trying out the recipe or DIY if you're weekend isn't looking quite as busy as mine [but let's be real... life is NEVER too busy for delicious slow clooker recipes!].