Fall.

The calendar says it is officially fall and the windows open in the house these last 2 or 3 weeks agree. Some days it has been a little warm for comfort but the nights cool off to lovely perfection and an extra blanket on the bed. The electricity bill for the last month came and it is happily lower than usual and I am thinking sweaters and warm drinks. Ah. Fall. You finally came and brought with you - happy.

This season at work is busy. I think I say that every season but fall is really the busiest. Recruitment season is in full swing and even though that isn't my department anymore, it is all hands on deck. So, I get to do my work and then help a little a few days a week with other teams. It all feels good to know I'm helping but I'm a busy bee with my own goodies. I've been writing trainings, organizing some future events, learning how to supervise and be a better leader...all in all a wonderful and challenging time.

A big event at camp next weekend brings families together for a little fall crafty get together and I am excited. I hope the weather holds or maybe just puts itself on repeat because this coming weekend is supposed to be fall perfection. My guy is off work and we have a lot of nothing planned. Maybe we'll get in a little hike and  maybe we'll finally purchase the tile for the bathroom and consider starting on that project. Or maybe we'll just sit around the fire pit and drink adult beverages. Either way, I'm breathing this weekend in deep. The next 2 weeks are jam packed and I want to savor every minute of my favorite season.

September Birchbox!

It's September Birchbox time!

As always, it is so exciting to see this pink surprise in my mailbox.

 

This month's theme was heritage...

Upon first opening, this is what I saw. I have heard other things about this "Yes to..." brand...

This is a pack of 8 travel towelettes which I am really excited about trying. It is their "Yes to Blueberries" and they smell lovely. It'll be something nice to toss in the gym bag for the post workout face wipe down!

This is a pack of 8 but the full size is a pack of 30 and only costs $7.99. I was excited to see something that was much more reasonably priced in my box this month...lots of things that I receive samples for are more high end.

I've never heard of this manicure hand mask but I am really excited about it. They are basically gloves that you put on during a manicure to moisturize then you can tear the fingertips off to paint your nails and leave the glove on to continue moisturizing.

The most interesting part is that they are UV blocking so if you decided to go get one of the gel/shellac manicures, you could wear these and protect your skin from the UV rays that the lamps put off! Cool!

This is another sample from the "Yes to..." company...their grapefruit CC cream. I am excited that it came in two different shades so I could get a little closer to an accurate sample. Sometimes with the makeup samples it is hard to tell if I will love it because it isn't the right color...can't wait to try this stuff!

And finally, these two goodies were in my little blue box.

A nail polish sample from the Ruffian brand - in Birchbox exclusive color of "hedge fund" - a green-ish fall color with a little bit of reflectiveness in it. I think I will bravely try it on the fingers soon!

The eyeshadows are in the Moroccan Sunset shades and are from the Coastal Scents brand. I haven't ever heard of them so it'll be interesting to try it!

 

Oh Birchbox, you pick up my week!



Grace.

Here is your cryptic blog of the week (month? year? You can pick.)

I've never really been good at compromise. Call it what you will but I tend towards stubborn and an affinity towards getting my way (we all do, right?). There are a lot of things in my life right now that are stretching me, growing me, challenging me. A lot of places where I could think harder, work harder, focus more, be more present...and even more places where I could learn from other people who are doing better at getting it "right", learn to compromise - not giving up or giving in but meeting in the middle, not having my way but seeing it from someone else's shoes. And I think that middle place is called Grace.

It's a funny thing that Grace. Grace. It asks us to forgive others. It asks us to not judge. It asks us to just love and learn and be there and be fully present and just be. Grace.

"There's only grace,
There's only love,
There's only mercy and believe me, its enough" - Matthew West

Another semi-productive weekend.

Another long weekend presented itself and I enjoyed every moment of it. First, my momma made her visit for the month this weekend so I got to enjoy her company to its fullest. We didn't do much - ran a few little errands and just generally hung out around the house. Honestly, while it doesn't sound all that exciting, I can't really think of anything I would rather do on a weekend off than just hang out around the house with the people I love the most. To top it off, Chad had the weekend off to so we just got to be HOME for a couple of days together. Lovely weekend it was.

Today was LABOR day and I sure did labor - but I saved it for the second half of the day - as to not get too carried away. Chad and I are catching up on old TV shows (specifically Alias - Jennifer Garner's finest work in my opinion...I love that show!) and just jumping into season 3. We caught up on a couple episodes before Chad had to go to work and I got cracking on my to do list from my last long weekend. I went to Lowe's and bought the wall paint for the bathroom since it was on sale this weekend and then came home and painted! I got the ceiling painted with two coats of white and the walls painted with one coat. I bought grey for the walls and I am pretty excited about getting it all on there in the next couple of days. I did more laundry (how does it never end??), cleaned dishes, vacuumed floors, and changed sheets. All in all, a pretty darn productive day. Long week of work ahead but thankfully, it is only 4 days long. New staff member starting tomorrow that I am very excited about - super positive, upbeat, and coming from another Girl Scout council so we don't have to train her as much. It's gonna be a good week!