Tieks, are they worth it?
So many friends have asked if Tieks are really worth the price, and so I thought I'd share a real, honest blogpost with you on what my thoughts are! This is not paid, or sponsored, and there's no affiliate links - just sharing my real thoughts friend to friend. :)
I had first "pinned" Tieks on Pinterest almost five years ago. I loved how versatile they were and was super curious to see if they were as comfy as everyone said. But...the price tag of $175+ was not in the budget as a college student. ;)
Fast forward 4 years later, and I'm in my second year of teaching. I'm on my feet all day everyday trying to keep up with 20 four year olds all day long. :) I really wanted to invest in a pair, as I wore my brown flats from target almost daily. The rubber bottoms were peeling off my Target pair and they were leaving blisters on my heels. I still couldn't justify the price tag though for a pair of shoes I couldn't try on!
My sweet momma asked for my Christmas list and I had put on there giftcards/money to put towards a pair of Tieks. She spoiled me and between Christmas and my birthday I had enough gift cards to purchase a pair. :)
I decided to go with the cognac brown pair, since that's what I usually end up wearing with anything. I wanted a neutral pair so they would be versatile! I hopped on and ordered them and anxiously waited for them to come! Y'all the packaging was THE CUTEST! You can tell that Tieks truly puts thought and effort into every part of these shoes!
I usually get blisters with flats the first few times I wear them as I break them in, that was not the case with these! I slipped them on as soon as they arrived and the felt like a CLOUD on my feet. Like so super soft and stretchy and perfectly fit to my foot! I was obsessed instantly. I love that they have the extra cushion on the bottom, because as a teacher on my feet for 8-10 hours a day, sometimes more, this was HUGE for me.
My birthday is in May, so I didn't have a chance to wear them much this school year, but I'm SO excited to have them for next year and have already been wearing them this summer. :)
Since I promised this was a totally honest post, there's one thing that bummed me with these shoes! They already have one little scuff in the back. :( It's super tiny, & I know that's to be expected when wearing them often, but I was still bummed that they already got a little scuff! Other than that, I am absolutely in love with them! They are definately an investment, but for teachers on their feet all day, or busy mommas or boss babe business owners or any women looking for a quality pair of adorable flats, they are totally worth it.
Kitchen Reno Update
Hi sweet friends! I thought I'd share a little peek at what we've been up to in our home lately. God has been teaching me so much about contentment and celebrating the small victories along the way. So while our little farmhouse kitchen is not totally finished, I thought it'd be fun to share the progress so far. :)
When we first looked at this home, we LOVED the space and the layout, and although some rooms weren't our dream style, we knew that over time we could make each space our own. I love dreaming up ideas for spaces and seeing them come to life. This part of owning a home is so fun!
Our kitchen when we first moved in:
My sweet momma and best friend from high school came to visit for a few days and we tackled a big chunk of this project! Home projects are so much more fun with the people you love and some good worship music playing. :)
We've been working on this project little by little. When we moved in we took down the stickers on the wall shortly after. This spring we replaced our stove after almost a year without a working oven...more on that soon. :) This weekend we tackled painting the cabinets & hardware and it made SUCH a difference! I'll link the paint that we used at the end of this post.
We are still debating on what to do with our countertops. I love the look of butcher block, but for the meantime these homemade countertops sort of give us that look. ;)
We added a little coffee bar area last year to our kitchen. It's one of my favorite little areas. :) The cabinet/cart is from Target & the clock is Hobby Lobby!
As hubs & I were putting the hinges & doors back on the cabinets this weekend, we sat on the floor laughing and reminiscing about the humble beginnings in this kitchen. He offered to host family thanksgiving when we first moved in...without a working oven. & we somehow made it work. :) We went without an oven for almost a year. I mean...we were making chocolate chip cookies on a pizazz pizza maker & cutting big Aldi's pizza's into separate slices to bake them and make it fit when friends came over. :) We just had to get creative and now we look back and laugh on the memories made in that time!
WHAT'S NEXT?
We are planning to add floating shelves between the two windows and a white subway tile backsplash all the way around. I'm envisioning a metal "gather" sign above the oven too and my sweet momma picked out some fun kitchen curtains that go PERECT with this space! Eventually we'd like to have all of the appliances match and be stainless steel, but for now, we're just thankful we have working appliances! I can't wait to share with you all when it's finished, but we are loving how far it has come. :)
PAINT DETAILS
For some reason the links aren't working tonight, but I'll update this post soon with all the details on what brand/colors we used for paint!
He is In the Waiting
We debated on whether to share this piece of our story with the world, but ultimately, we want to glorify God through each season of life, not just in the seasons that seem ideal to us. We pray this that sharing our story encourages anyone reading this in similar seasons. So here we go. I've been blogging for three years, and this is by far the most vulnerable blogpost I've ever written. As I sit here typing this post, I'm still wrapping my mind around it all that this is a piece of our story. We never thought this would be our story. In fact, if I'm being totally honest, I prayed that this wouldn't be our story. I prayed this wouldn't be a battle we had to fight. For as long as I can remember, I've longed to be a momma. Growing up, I was always playing baby dolls, offering to snuggle others babies, and babysitting every chance I could get. Being a momma has been my greatest dream in life.
My husband & I both come from big families, so we never really thought twice about growing our family. It seemed like it would just be second nature. We prayed over God's timing and began our journey to starting a family. We were so excited, dreaming of the possibility of having a little one in our home. We thought it would happen pretty quickly. But then it didn't. I knew in my gut after the first month of trying that something was wrong. I was devastated. My sweet husband offered words of encouragement, and we continued to pray, but I just knew something wasn't quite right. The next five months consisted of negative pregnancy tests, more tears, and many more prayers.
I knew we needed to start getting some answers to move forward, but wasn't sure I was ready to hear what the doctors had to say. I nervously called to make an appointment at new clinic. The first appointment was a whirlwind of answering questions, filling out paperwork, and having blood drawn for various things. If you know me, you know I have the queasiest stomach and get light headed at the thought of even getting my blood drawn...so this was a big deal. ;) God was so gracious to provide strength & make it through all of the tests without passing out. I think there's something about knowing it's all for a cause bigger than yourself that makes it so much easier to do.
The next seven weeks were a whirlwind of scheduling appointments, meeting with doctors, having labs drawn & ultrasounds done, and waiting to finally go over the results. I had been in and out of the clinic every single week for almost two months. In the midst of all of this was a data checkpoint for preschool, celebrating thanksgiving, prepping for the holidays, our preschool Christmas program, and I came down with strept throat twice. PHEW! It was a crazy season. It was just a week before Christmas, when I sat down with my doctor to go over the results.
Pictures by Lauren Graeve Photography || "He's in the Waiting Shirt" from Crazy Cool Threads
I remember her saying "You have PCOS...the number one cause of infertility among women." and the rest was a blur. My head was spinning. Infertility...the word I couldn't bring myself to accept. The road I knew we were walking but didn't want to be a part of our story.
Infertility...the word I couldn't bring myself to accept. The road I knew we were walking but didn't want to be a part of our story.
My eyes burned as tears welled up. So many emotions stirring in my heart. Relieved that we had an answer. Overwhelmed at what this would mean for us moving forward. Sad that our world was turned upside down during the holidays. Confused on why this was part of our story. Frustrated that I didn't know this sooner. Grateful for incredible doctors who held my hand along the way & a husband who has been nothing but supportive and kind and loving through it all.
My sweet doctor just sat there with me. She let me cry. She said "we're going to figure this out". Once I began to wrap my head around it a tiny bit, I asked her a few questions. We talked a little while longer. I walked out of the doctor's office, got into the car, and called my husband at work. Through tears I shared with him that they diagnosed me with PCOS. I shared with him a few of the things we had talked about moving forward. He let me pour my heart out & told me he loved me. I sat in the vehicle and listened to the song "King of My Heart" by Bethel Music and cried some more. These lyrics played through the speakers and were so timely.
"You're never gonna let, never gonna let me down. Oh, cause you are GOOD, good, ohhhh."
Prayer Journal from Val Marie Paper
My doctor's appointment was in the middle of the day. So I pulled myself together and drove slowly back to school in a daze. It was our prep day, so there were no kids there, but my co-workers were in the middle of a meeting. I walked back into the room to join them, putting on a brave face, but inside being crushed as everything began to set in.
We tried really hard to just enjoy the holidays with family & friends over the next few weeks. I started incorporating a few of the suggestions my doctor had shared. Life continued to pass by. We had a crazy winter full of snow storms. We tried to enjoy the little things like fresh snowfalls, being cozied up with books or movies while being snowed in, and just making the most of the season God had us in. Despite all that, some days just felt plain HARD. And to be honest, some days still do.
We're over a year into this journey now & we're still learning to navigate the many emotions of walking through infertility. We know God has us in his hands. He hasn't forgotten us. We know He has a greater plan and purpose for this pain. We are surrendering it all to Him. We are hopeful. We are trusting Him & praying He uses our journey to glorify Him. Right now we're holding it all with open hands. We have no idea what it will look like to welcome a little one into our family, but we do know God is weaving all of this together for our good and we're resting in that truth.
God laid it on my heart to share our story with you all in the midst of it. If you're reading this post and you're in a season of waiting too, I pray you feel a little less alone. We are choosing to trust God every step of the way, even when it feels incredibly hard.
We would love your prayers in the meantime sweet friends. Prayers for patience, peace, wisdom, and trust in His timing. We are so thankful for each and every one of you following along this journey with us!
Welcome to Beautiful Season Co.
Photos by Lauren Graeve Photography
I am SO excited this day is finally here friends! This has been a labor of love and I could not be more excited to share it with you all today.
Welcome to Beautiful Season Co.
Why the Rebrand?
This past year, my heart has been wrestling with where to pour my time and energy. I love creating beautiful things with a purpose. I love my husband and living out this married life together. I love connecting with and encouraging others. I love to share stories. I love to teach others what we've learned so far on our wellness journey with using essential oils. I love teaching little learners and creating engaging activities for them. Most of all, I love Jesus more than anything.
For the longest time I felt like I had "too many passions". I wrestled and wrestled with what to fully pursue. I thought for months on what direction to take this space. After many conversations with my sweet husband, family, and friends, and many many prayers, it's time to start fresh.
It's time to start fresh & embrace all of the passions the Lord has laid on my heart.
Welcome to Beautiful Season Co. A collective space to share the stories God is writing in this season & the passions He's given me to pursue. The heart behind Beautiful Season Co. remains the same... "Encouraging women in all walks of life to seek out the beautiful moments in the season God has each of us in and embrace who He's made us to be" but the fire in my heart to live this out has grown immensely.
What will you see more of around here?
Blogposts on...walking with the Lord, marriage, teaching little ones, teacher tips, our wellness journey, essential oil tips & tricks, and so much more.
Sweet friend, thanks so much for following along. I am SO glad you're here on this journey with me. I hope this space gets you fired up to live out the passions the Lord has given you & savor the season of life He has you in.
Five Quick Tips for Making Quiet Time Happen
One of my absolute favorite things is waking up early, pouring a hot cup of coffee, grabbing my bible, and diving into God's word before I start the rest of the day. This rhythm has been so life giving for me the past few years. It began back in college when I was in a season where I had a lot on my plate and I quickly learned I couldn't do it on my own. I needed Jesus every single day. So I began setting my alarm for 30 minutes earlier to get up, read my bible and pray before starting the day. Sitting at that little dorm room desk, I surrendered my life to Jesus, and have been implementing this little routine ever since. Not because I have to, but because I get to! I look forward to this every single morning. It has become such a sweet start to the day & when I fill my cup first, I am able to give my best to everyone around me.
This topic of having a quiet time, is also one of the questions I get asked the most. "How do I start a quiet time?" or "How do you make that happen in the mornings?" are questions I get asked frequently, so I thought I'd do a blogpost sharing a few quick tips for making a quiet time happen.
Before we dive in, I just want you to know that this is meant to be LIFE GIVING, not another added stress to life. Your quiet time doesn't have to look like mine. If you're in a season of raising babies, you're quiet time might look like a few minutes during nap time or while nursing a little one and that is great! So feel free to do whatever works best for you and serves you in your current season of life. :) These are just ideas to get you started!
1. MAKE A PLAN
This can be as simple as choosing a book of the bible to read through and reading a chapter each day or a few verses each morning. This could be choosing a devotional or bible study and following along in that. I find that when I have a plan, it makes it so much easier to dive in each morning without distractions. Otherwise I end up sitting there for 10 minutes wondering, "where should I start?" ;)
Right now I am going through the Colossians bible study by Well Watered Women. I love that their studies break down specific verses to read each day, with questions and prompts to really get the most out of scripture. If you're feeling overwhelmed with where to start, these studies are a great place to start, because it tells you exactly what to read each day, and gives you questions to think through.
2. SET YOUR BIBLE OUT
I try to set my bible, journal, and book out ahead of time, so it's one less thing to think about when I wake up. I go start the coffee maker, grab a cup of coffee, and sit down with my bible and journal ready to go. I still do this to this day, but this was also helpful in the beginning when I was just starting to make this a habit. I also love having my bible out in our home, as a reminder to open up God's word and soak it up!
3. SET YOUR ALARM
Life is crazy for so many of us, and it's so easy to let the excuses take over and say "I don't have time to read my bible". But really friends, it's about where our priorities are. I challenge you to set your alarm just 15 minutes earlier in the morning and spend that time in His Word and see how He changes you during that time. For me, I found that mornings worked best. I start my day in scripture no matter what, before the craziness of life sets in. I found this also helped me to feel so encouraged starting the day too. Win win! Maybe mornings don't work for you in this season, but I encourage you to set an alarm on your phone for a certain time each day to pause and soak up scripture.
4. MARK IT UP
One of the things that's made the biggest difference for me in studying God's Word, is marking it up. Sometimes this looks like taking notes in the margins of my bible during the message on Sunday mornings, sometimes this looks like jotting down a prayer by a certain bible verse. It's been so neat to flip back through my bible and see how God has answered prayers and taught me so many lessons through His word.
5. POUR INTO YOU
A typical morning in this season looks like waking up around 5:30 and starting the coffee maker. After grabbing a cup of coffee, I'll head to my favorite chair and curl up with my journal. I usually start my quiet time by writing down prayers through journaling. I try to start with three things I'm thankful for and then jot down whatever is on my heart. Then I'll spend some time going through the verses and questions in my Colossians Study. After studying scripture I like to spend a 10 minutes or so reading a personal development book. I love love LOVE to read, and this few minutes of filling my cup goes so far throughout the day! Try to incorporate little life giving rhythms into your morning quiet time - it could be pouring yourself your favorite blend of coffee, or sitting in your favorite spot, or listening to worship music, whatever fills your soul!
I hope that was helpful friends. I'd love to hear if you have a morning quiet time and what that looks like for you. :)
Color Printing on a Budget
*Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I just genuinely love this printing program and it has saved us SO much money, that I can’t help but share it with others! This post does contain affiliate links, which just means if you choose to purchase something through a link in this post, that company will give a small percentage of your purchase to support this little blog, at no extra cost to you! Win Win!*
Happy Tuesday friends!
As I mentioned a few posts back, I really want this blog to reflect my heart and my current season of life. Right now that means teaching preschool is a big part of this season and I LOVE that. So every now and then I’ll be sharing a few “Teacher Tips” on Tuesdays to encourage and share a few fun ideas with any other teacher friends out there!
Whenever I’m chatting with a new teacher friend, I can’t help but share this printing teacher hack with them! SO It’s only appropriate that we start Teacher Tip Tuesday with this. Here’s the deal, it’s no secret that teachers spend a lot of their own money to make things fun for the kiddos! I love to print in color, however at our school, we only have regular access to a black and white printer. I teach preschool, and everything is just so much more fun in color, so I print in color A LOT at home. We use a lot of fun activities from Teachers Pay Teachers and I am usually printing anywhere from 200-300 pages a month. But the good news?! It doesn’t break our bank account. Hallelujah!!
Insert HP Instant Ink. THE BEST investment I’ve made as a teacher!
HP Instant Ink is a printing program that allows you to choose a monthly plan based on how often you think you’ll print. You pay a super affordable flat rate for the month (either $3, $5, or $10 based on your plan) and then you can print away! Once you’ve chosen your monthly plan, you can print that many FULL COLOR PAGES! If you have pages leftover at the end of the month, they roll over to the next month. How cool is that?! If you’ve maxed out on your pages, it’s just a $1 for every 15-25 pages depending on your plan. SO cheap & SO convenient. What else is convenient? The program is set up to automatically send new ink cartridges right to your doorstep before your ink ever runs out! YES! In the midst of the beginning of the school year craziness, I’ll take all the help I can get.
I chose to go with the Frequent Printing Plan, so for $10 a month, I can print 300 full color pages! Insane! Our printer is the HP Envy 4520. We’ve had it for a year now and have had zero issues printing, the color has been great! (Pictured above is a page I printed today – and we are well over halfway through this ink cartridge, and it is STILL printing that great! And I already have our next ink cartridges out and ready to pop in whenever we need them!) It will give me a warning when it’s time to change it BEFORE it ever gets to the point where things get discolored or those little lines show up, which is so nice to never waste any paper anymore! It also scans documents wirelessly, which has come in handy a time or two! If you think you’ll print less than that, HP Instant Ink also offers two other printing plans with fewer pages, for even less.
Our estimated savings using HP Instant Ink versus our previous printer is over $650…crazy! Just one more reason why we love it so much.
AND to make things even sweeter…you can click the link below to get your first month for FREE! Yay! I’ll also link our printer and a few other affordable HP printers on Amazon Prime that work with HP Instant Ink. Free two day shipping, free month of printing…starting off the school year right!
I hope this has been helpful for you friends! I can’t wait to share more teacher tips (and a fun classroom reveal) with you soon! Have a great week!
