Simple Thanksgiving Tablescape {Home Decor}

I know that most of us don't have unlimited budgets when it comes to decor, so here is a look on a budget because who isn't trying to save a couple bucks. 

Every time I go on Pinterest to find holiday table inspiration, I love the pretty silverware and the gold accents. But, I cannot spend hundreds of dollars on just table decor, how about food? How about storing all that junk once the holiday is over? I don't have a basement and my garage is stuffed with junk already so really, it's not an option. 

This year, I wanted to create something pretty, simple and affordable, so I dug through my decor and bought some pumpkins at the farmers market. I wanted to create a Thanksgiving table look with everything that I already have. I mean, the pumpkins and gourds were 2/$1 and that's a great deal considering they are almost $5 each at the store. 

I totally forgot about these napkin rings that I scored on clearance at Bed, Bath and Beyond for dirt cheap, so they came in handy. Flowers I had from my birthday and napkins were laying around for few years unused. The vases I bought at the local Salvation army, filled them with red and white beans, and green and yellow peas (I think you can do red lentils for a pop of color, only I was all out at the time) then placed a candle on top.

And ta-da!!! 

Similar Items:

Napkins 

Plate Server

Napkin Rings 

Must Have Bags

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6

Girls like their bags! I'm not sure which comes first - shoes or bags. Ideas? If I had my way, I would have one in each color, texture and size. I'm feeling under he weather these days so the only thing I'm capable of doing (besides still cooking dinner, laundry and million other chores) is online shopping. The BEST thing about these bags is that they are all under $100 and that's a score in my book! 

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by! 

Alone Is a Good Thing

sweater // scarf // boots // leggings // crossbody

For some reason, I don't hate Mondays. I mean, sure the weekend is over and chores begins but I love the quietness of the house when Jonathan is down for his nap. I love doing my own things without people around and although I love spending time with hubby, I crave my own time. For me, being alone is a good thing because I get to think, relax and just be. So this post is brought to you by the quiet time on the couch and third cup of tea. 

P.S. Thank you to all my readers who faithfully stuck by me and continue reading my blog! Also, to all my friends who support me in this venture. I appreciate each and every one of you. 

Fall Colors

<blouse>    <skirt>   <similar pumps>     <similar tote>   <necklace>

To me mustard, orange and black always mean fall. The warmth of is gone and we are in freezing temperatures now. You see, the blood in body doesn't think it's necessary to reach my feet, let alone toes. My feet are rarely warm and always have to have socks on. It's ridiculous because from the month of October to about May I can't feel my feet and after a while I got used to the feeling. 

I hope you are staying warm and enjoying sunshine! 

Have a great day and thank you for stopping by.

School of Life {God Thoughts}

image source

A lot of times, we forget how much time and work it takes to get anything good come out of us. No, seriously! The bad habits, awful language and nasty attitude are easy to come by but the good habits, edifying words and sweet attitude are something we have to work on. Work very hard and very long - a life time.

Whenever I make a mistake, say the wrong thing or simply disobey God, I feel like a failure. I feel like there is nothing to be done and I'm a lost cause. I strive for perfection and can't reach it. I look to achieve fault-free character but fail every time.

Perfection is an unattainable illusion because I'm a (forgiven by Jesus Christ) sinner.

I do (and will always) make mistakes but it's how I deal with them that God really looks at. God knows that we are still sinful as His children. He (almost) expects us to fail and that is why He says that we CANNOT do it alone.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me (Phillipians 4:13)

Every mistake, every wrong deed and thought is a learning process that the Lord wants us to participate in. God gives us hard times and puts
 us in difficult circumstances because He wants us to learn something and move on.

As forgiven children of God, we should never stop learning.

God is always willing to take us to new heights in wisdom and understanding of Him if we would only chose to open up our hearts to Him. Most of the time, if we don't, He has to give us those lessons over and over again because, as stubborn children, we refuse to obey.

It may hurt and be difficult but because He LOVES His children, He wants the best for us.

God does everything out of love, never out of anger or impatience. He doesn't punish us because He's tired of our disobedience - He chastises those who he loves the most.

Life is a series of lessons.

Those of us who chose to learn and participate in God's school of life, will be rich in wisdom and understanding, which definitely makes life a lot more joyous. It may hurt sometimes, it may seem difficult or even unfair but God knows the future. Trust Him to take you through those lessons safely and learn from every mistake. 

Is God teaching you a valuable lesson? Have you gone through difficulties without an understanding of why? Now that you've gone through trials, can you see why God put you through them?

Join the conversation on my FACEBOOK page!

Dressy Jeans

Blouse (similar)
Sweatshirt 
Pumps (similar)
Similar Tote

Life is too short - wear heels! No, seriously, ladies enjoy the season while you can still walk barefoot. The time of the year when we sit at home and look out of the window in hopes of seeing a ray of sunshine is almost here. I'm dreading the next six months I'm going to have to spend in fleece pajamas and triple tights. 

But on a happy note, Christmas time is coming and it's the most fun when you have kids. Can't wait for Jonathan actually get to open presents this year. Yay for white Christmas but then I wish we could just skip straight to May and have beautiful spring all over. Alas, it's not going to happen. 

So head on over to your closest TJMaxx and grab some fleece lined leggings, put them on and marvel at the fact that you haven't been living them before. You are welcome! 

Fall Plaid

sweater: Banana Republic, skirt: Gap (real, steal), scarf: Joe Fresh (real, steal), bag: (real, steal),   flats: Marc Fisher (real, steal)

I know that a lot of my readers range in income and buying potential. A lot of times, I only include only ONE option for the clothes I have one, but from now on I will try to include a REAL($$$) price and STEAL($) price. So whatever it is you're looking for, you can find it on here.

Hope you are enjoying your week because mine is going extremely well! Hubby and I got to spend a day together without baby at home and I tell you people, it's such a blessing to have family close by. We weren't planning on anything but it just turned so that Jonathan spent the night at my mom's house and my sister babysit him entire day. 

We were able to get some quality time together (ya know;-), lounge in bed, sleep in and have coffee together in the morning - all without being interrupted for one minute. Then we spent the rest of the day furniture shopping and possibly getting me a birthday present. It was glorious! I cannot imagine my life without my family and so grateful that we live close to both parents. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Mix It Up

dress: Target (similar, similar)
shirt: Target (similar)
boots: Nine West
bag: similar
necklace: J.Crew

Welcome to Monday! Hope everyone is getting used to the plunging temperatures and slowly taking those sweaters out. My favorite thing about the fall is riding boots and the many (many) ways I can wear them. I love pairing them with dresses, skirts, jeans and even shorts. You can't go wrong with a nice pair of cognac riding boots. Also mixing prints is always fun, but I like to stay within the same color scheme. Thank you for stopping by gals! 

Have a great day! 

Unrushed Yes {God Thoughts}

source

In the middle of my usual everyday chores, I had a thought. 'God, I'm so busy all the time; unrush me'.

Most of the time, I'm doing something. I'm not an idle person, as taught by my mother, always completing chores and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. (side note: will the dust under my bed ever stop accumulating?)

I come from a family of hard workers - there was no time to waste, and something always had to be done. Even now, when I sit down to relax or simply have a day off, I feel guilty unless I accomplish even the smallest of assignments.

A lot of times, I think that what I'm doing in the here and now, isn't as important as the big things I could be doing. But that's simply not true.

So after praying that simple prayer to God, I got my answer almost immediately and I didn't like it. (I burned my hand  taking a pan out of the oven. Ouch.)

There I was standing over my kitchen sink with my hand under running cold water, mad. I was steaming and yelling at myself for not being more careful and just hating the fact that I will have to take a break and sit down for a few minutes, because I had 'stuff to do'. 

Shortly after, I sprained my wrist and really had to stop doing certain things. Being that it was my right hand, I had to ask my husband to chop the onions for soup (and I'm an independent girl). It was annoying and painful but I wasn't rushing through anything for sure.

God answered my prayer and I didn't like it because it hurt me.

A lot of times, we have these grand aspirations, and superb ideas of serving God. Weather it is on the mission field or as a church leader, yet we forget the simple, every day tasks God called us to do. We rush through the everyday stuff, we pass by the little things in hopes to achieve that grandiose mission. That's no what God asks of us.

Before we become the church leader and go to the missions, we must learn to embrace the everyday, to slow down and notice God's hand in the small things.

I know personally, that I have a tendency to rush. I rush through things in hopes of completing the task AND THAN enjoying myself. But maybe we should enjoy the moment we are in. We need to see what God is teaching us through it, learn to unpack even the tiniest responsibility.

His lord said unto him, Well done, you good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter into the joy of your lord. (Matthew 25:21) KJV

I want to give God my life of service to others, but most of the time I complain about the enormous piles of laundry I have to finish. Or when I don't want to get up early to get my child because he won't sleep in on Saturday morning.

I'm learning to slow down. To enjoy the moment, to learn what God's teaching me right now but it's a conscious decision that I have to make every day. Instead of planning and scheming for the next project, Simply take your time in the present and ask the Lord to give you gentle reminders to slow down.

God bless and thank you for stopping by! 

Asos Sale

 black dress / Jasmine bodycon dress, / green dress /  bodycon dress / navy blue dress / floral dress /  Maternity Midi Dress In Stripe / nude wide shoes /  leopard shoes / top handle bag / crossbody handbag

Check out the ASOS sale that's going on right now! I know, I know, I'm an enabler but seriously there are so many great finds. I love the stripe dresses and the florals, as well as the navy blue pencil dress.

And can I have all the shoes? Please and thank you.

Have a great day! 

Yesterday

shirt: J.Crew
skirt: J.Crew
necklace: similar
bag: similar
shoes: Aldo (similar)

Hello lovelies! I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and did something fun. We had a family-filled days and girl-talk evenings.

I was afraid I was going to look too much like Christmas with this outfit, but the pink/purple skirt helped. Also, I love plaid. You will be seeing a lot more of the print because I literally have gazillion (well, maybe just 7) plaid shirts. I have to go help hubby wash the windows but here I am blogging away. Ooooops. :-)

Thank you for stopping by! 

Fall Uniform

top: TJMaxx (similar)
blazer: H&M (splurge, save )
cords: LOFT similar
flats: Ellen Tracy (similar, similar)

My fall uniform consists of these cords. I mean, I wear them every day, except when I'm on my knees scrubbing the floor after breakfast (read: smashed scrambled eggs. yuck!) I love corduroy pants because they are the most comfortable pants in the history of the world. They make you look put together without compromising style and you can dress them up or down. This is my version of dressed down, because you know, flats. Hope you are having a great and thank you so much for reading! 

5 Things That Make Our Marriage Great

Sometimes life over takes us. We get so busy with everyday things and responsibilities that we forget to take the time to look at our lives and just be thankful. My husband and I are far from perfect and we have our share of problems but I need to remind myself once in a while why I chose this man. Here are a few of the many things that make us so perfect for each other.

1. We put God first. In our lives, in our ministry, in our parenting, in our relationship with each other. I know that my husband can never make me happy 100% of the time. He is a human being and as such he will make mistakes. No matter how much I try, my marriage will never satisfy me spiritually so making Lord God my priority and source of joy, makes things a lot more stable.

2. We are committed. In our 6+ years of marriage, we have experienced some very high peeks of happiness and low points of disappointments, but we've gone through it all together. Knowing that no matter what happens, we are together definitely brings peace into my heart. It's one thing knowing it in my head, and totally another, going through it. Sharing life's greatest and worst moments together brings us closer to each other every day.

3.  We are best friends. If there is one thing that I love about us, is that we've always been best friends. I know that I can talk to my husband about anything, get honest advice and encouragement. We don't have secrets and we share our lives with each other. There isn't an area in our lives that we haven't covered at one point and if something is on my heart, I know that I can go talk to him. It's the best part of our relationship and I wouldn't have it any other way.

4. We have the same views on life. We share the same views on a lot of things in life - from parenting to taste in food, some of that comes from cultural similarities. Other parts are from living together and rubbing off on each other. In the end we really do understand each other very well and don't have to argue about religion or politics, or even which restaurant to go to because we agree on the same things. It makes life a lot easier knowing your partner understands you completely and although we do have disagreements, major things are covered.

5. We aim to please each other. *Cough* As a married couple we enjoy each other very much. The intimacy and closeness is important to both of us and we are certainly on the same page. I know a few couples who have very different views on intimacy and it definitely brings conflicts into the marriage. We strive for mutual satisfaction, in all areas of our lives but having a partner who 'gets you' makes intimacy that much more special.

Thank you so much for stopping by!