AND We're Back...

Back from what, you ask?

Life.

I wish I could say we have been so busy exploring the world that we haven't had much time to write, but it's certainly not the case. On the contrary, we spent an amazing few weeks visiting with family scattered throughout the South. The roadtrips were awesome - filled with deep theological conversations and always ending with the sweet sound of laughter. The time we spent with family was precious and will forever be engrained in our hearts.

We then returned home mid-January with a heap of things to catch up on. This, of course, includes redecorating and repurposing some really cool antiques we were given and some other ones we stumbled upon during our family vacations. I'll be blogging about those special things in the very near future.

My mind has been RACING with an overflow of ideas for Jitney's Journeys - both our blog and our Etsy shop. Do you ever feel like your mind is pouring out ideas so rapidly that you can't get it down on paper fast enough?? That's been me for about five weeks now. It's a pretty bittersweet feeling. While I'm super excited about all of the ideas, I realize that I just don't have enough hands to produce them all in the quick timely manner I'd like - and even less resources to hire people to help. Fortunately, I'll have some wonderful creative hands-on-deck for about a month soon so that will be a HUGE help! In the meantime, we're in the midst of creating a solid business plan (thanks to JD's business classes and my public relations training in college) that will hopefully carry us through in the long haul. It's tough to have a long-term mindset when you have so much excitement stirring to get things done in the moment, but that's how the tortoise won. And we must have the mindset of the tortoise if we want to be successful.

Starting February 11, we will have all of our burlap products up and ready for production in the Etsy shop. Until then, we have these super cute pillows up for sale...

This one was created specifically with Valentine's Day in mind but you can set this lovely thing out any day of the year!!

Oh yeah... And I turn 25 tomorrow.

Thus, the biggest reason for me to start back in a steady routine of blogging, but more on that later. 

Have a happy Monday!! 

DIY : Exhilarating Bath Salt Soak

Need a quick last-minute gift idea? 

This bath salt recipe is easier than spreading peanut butter on crackers. 

Grab a carton of Epsom Salt, some food coloring and your favorite essential oils (use the ones from your sugar scrub or try a new scent).

I'll be using my go-to essential oils: Lavender and Eucalyptus.

These gel food colors from Wilton have lovely colors. I used the green (left box), and teal and purple (right box). You can use whichever colors you'd like though! Get creative. :)

Step 1: Measure out how much Epsom salt you will need in correlation to the jar you will be putting the bath salts into. I used these half pint jelly jars, so I filled one up to the lid and poured it into a big bowl. (I used three jars for the green food coloring, so I did this three times.)

Step 2: Add the food coloring. I started out with a few drops but thought it was too light green.... so then I added a few many more drops.

Step 3: Add a few drops of the essential oil...

Step 4: Mix the salts, food coloring and essential oil together.

Step 5: I decided the eucalyptus smelled too "VapoRubbish" for my liking, so I added some lavender to even out the aroma. 

Step 6: Smellin' awesome and lookin' good... but still too light green. So then I added some teal food coloring to the lime green salts to add depth. 

Step 7: Wipe out your bowl and repeat the steps with the lavender and purple food coloring. 

Step 8: Perfection. :) Put a lid on it and tie a pretty bow around the lid. 

Sprinkle a tablespoon of bath salts in a warm bath. Inhale. Exhale. Soak. :)

Turquoise and Bison Hide : Moleskine Leather Journal Cover

Over the last few years, I have wanted so badly to make my own leather journal.

Fortunately, my brother's brother-in-law taught him how to make one. Ergo, for our Christmas present, Chase (my brother) helped us make my first leather journal.

We're all spending Christmas at my parents' this year. Chase and Jackie flew in from Las Vegas Wednesday and we drove in from Huntsville that night.

Mom, Jackie and I had glitter and cardstock scattered everywhere with our projects while Chase and JD took up the other side of the basement with bison hide and leather-working tools.

Very few moments are as special as seeing family gathered together, especially when it's your husband and brother (dad joined in later after he came home early from work to be with us).

In all fairness to JD, he made 98% of my journal while I was working on other Christmas presents and drinking coffee. 

Have I mentioned that my husband is rockin'??

Look at this beautiful bison hide journal they put together for me:

front on the right, back on the left

It took us a while to figure out what kind of clasp we wanted to do in the front. My only non-negotiable was the turquoise closure. Brown and turquoise are the Jitney signature colors.

Instead of making an actual journal with the super rugged and gorgeous paper, we ended up making a leather journal cover so that I can interchange all of my Moleskine journals. 

I stitched the flap for decorative purposes and styled the closure. Besides that, my sweet husband worked for several hours on making it perfect. 

There was so much selflessness poured into this creation (JD was pages-deep into a new zombie novel when I asked him to help me).

I am deeply thankful for priceless moments spent with my amazingly creative family. I could not ask for more this Christmas. 

What do you think of the journal cover?

Ornamental Favorites...

Prepare yourself for an ornamental overload, as we are about to reveal to you our first Todd Nest Christmas Tree. Last year, we had a one-foot live Christmas tree set up in our Germany hotel. Our first year looked a little something like this. Now that we've settled into our Alabama home, we decided it was time to buy our first large Christmas tree and decorate our home in true Christmas fashion.

Friends always ask us what we bring home as souvenirs from our travelling: (1) we send a postcard home from each location and (2) buy a Christmas ornament.

Our favorite is this handpainted globe from Rothenburg, Germany.

And, yes, the town looks 

just

like

 this ornament! It's lovely.

JD's sister, Theresa, and her husband brought us this stunning ornament from their honeymoon in Gatlinburg.

(1) Paris, France: Christmas 2011
(2) Tel Aviv, Israel: 2011
(3) Oahu, Hawaii: 2012
(4) Oahu, Hawaii: 2011
(5) Milan, Italy: 2012
(6) Chattanooga, Tennessee: 2-year anniversary 2012
(7) Bahamas: 2011

My mom made the amazing ornaments and sent us one. It fits perfectly with our tree!

And the NOEL banner? Her creation too. I told JD earlier that morning that our tree was missing that special something, but I had no idea what it was. I put this banner up and the tree felt so much more complete.

How precious is this sign!? Better than mistletoe.

Do you like our tree skirt? Look for it in our 2013 Jitney's Journeys Christmas collection!! 

Those are a few of our favorite Christmas ornaments...

What is yours?

Do you have a themed tree, one tree or many, large or small?

Newlywed & Business Printables

Have you seen our Etsy shop yet?

 

Normally we have lots of super cute home decor items like this:

...but we're getting ready for an event called Shop with a Purpose supporting For Life Ministries and we're trying to stock up inventory until then.

In the meantime, we still have these lovely printables in our shop for purchase!

We have hourly, daily, weekly and monthly printables like these:

Home and business printables like this:

And our favorite: Newlywed Printables. 

All of our newlywed printables include Mr. & Mrs. as well as "bride" and "groom" highlights.

JD and I found that we have more wants than we have money, so we decided to create a form that prioritizes our wants and needs in long-term and short-term time spans. It really helps to put a lot into perspective. We've bought a lot less too. :)

Print those babies off and place in a family or business binder. 

You can also go by Staples or Office Depot and ask them to bind your printables.

They make awesome wedding gifts! 

Hope you stop by and grab a few here!! 

Germany : Heidelberg Christmas Markets

It's cold in Germany.

Many of you may not think it's cold, but for a couple of newlywed kiddos from the Deep South like us... it was cold. 

But Germany has Christmas Markets.

So the cold was easy to overlook.

Each town hosts at least one Christmas Market in Germany. "Amazing" cannot even describe it. Most people are cheerful, friendly and inviting. "Merry Christmas" banners hang on sides of the buildings, and guess what? People don't protest them or rip them down. In America, people try to protest nativity scenes and anything that says the word Christmas; but not in Germany. They believe in Christmas and they celebrate it like no country we've ever seen.

This particular Christmas Market was in Heidelberg, Germany. Five different markets lined the main street of the town: Kornmarkt, Markplatz, Universitatplatz, Anatomiegarten, and the Bismarckplatz. 

See the line of lights in the photo below? Those are the walkways between the Christmas markets....

Before we shopped, we had to make one crucial stop. 

Food.

Check out the Fuerwurst that I grabbed at the Christmas Market booth above.

Delish.

JD got the steak with onions.

Are you a Nutella fan?

If so, go to Germany. Everything is Nutella there, including the special crepes.

Ok - so we realize that kissing pictures are cheesy and a lot of people don't think they're very cool... but how can you resist when there is a store right in front of you called Coffee & Kiss? 

I mean, you really have no other choice, right?!

Below you will see a gigantic Christmas Pyramid - life size, at that. 

I could've stood and stared at this thing until it got dark. 

And maybe we did...

(Haha - kidding, we walked back to it after we finished touring the markets and it just so happened to be all lit up.)

How beautiful is that!?

When we realized how big of a deal Christmas Pyramids were in Germany, we just had to get one for our own Todd Nest. Each tier displays a piece of the Christmas story - except Baby Jesus isn't on there. We like to think that the candles display who He is - the Light.

Have you ever seen one of these in person? It's super cool. The heat from the candles rise and spin the propellers at the top, which in turn spins each tier. It's one of our favorite Christmas decorations.

What is your favorite Christmas decoration?

DIY : Sugar Suga' Scrub

So you wanna make some sugar scrub? 

Easy breezy, my friends.

This stuff will do wonders for your skin. Better yet, it will make you feel so fresh and so clean.

We made the scrub during the Life Skills class (per recommendation of my assistant for the class, Amy) and the girls LOVED it. In full disclosure, I became a bit obsessed with it. I couldn't stop rubbing my hands together because they felt so soft... And I may have washed my face with it that night. The next morning was the first day I have ever woken up with a glowing complexion. 

Enough enticing already....

Grab a few of your kitchen staples:

*Coconut Oil

*Brown Sugar

*Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

our EVOO is in a Mason Jar because our bottle was leaking all over our cabinet shelves. When all else fails, fill up the Masons...

And your favorite aromatherapy essential oils:

*Lavender (calming) and Eucalyptus (exhilarating) were our choices.

Step 1: Pack 1 cup of brown sugar into a measuring cup and put into a large bowl.

Step 2: Pour in 1/2 cup EVOO.

Step 3: Measure out 3 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil and add to the mixture.

Step 4: Mix the brown sugar, EVOO and coconut oil with your fingers. Add more ingredients as you see fit. I added more brown sugar to make the scrub more coarse rather than oily.

Step 5: Add a few drops of essential oils until it smells pleasantly aromatic. 

I mixed lavender and eucalyptus simply because they smell so good together, but you should definitely try out other ones. Jasmine would be rockin'! In fact, I'm going to get some today to experiment later. :)

Side Note: Keep a bottle of essential oil in your shower and sprinkle a couple of drops at the bottom of a hot shower for a super soothing sauna experience! 

Step 6: Continue grinding up the mixture with your hands until nice and coarse. Grab a few Mason Jars and fill them to the rim. *You may want to whisk the mixture to make it fluffy before putting the mixture into the jars. 

Step 7: Tie a pretty bow around the jar...

Step 8: Exfoliate with a jar for yourself and gift a jar to someone else! 

*These make awesome Mother's Day, birthday, Christmas or hostess gifts!! 

Which essential oil will you experiment with?

Life Skills : The Lovely Ladies Luncheon

Get it?

Like - You can't touch this (oh-oh oh oh oh-oh)

Break it down (more oh's)

STOP - manner time.

Ok. Well, I thought it was witty.

Anyway, most of you know that I taught life skills to a group of twelve amazing young ladies this semester. Since I have been out 7 of the 14 classes because of travel, I wanted to do something super special for them while still teaching them a super crucial life skill. 

So we had a luncheon.

THE Lovely Ladies Luncheon, that is.

This is the formal invite I sent out, with a glimpse of the image on the envelope to the right.

Rhinestones, glitter, textured cardstock - you know, the works. 

The assistant teacher for the class (who is amazingly awesome) hosted the luncheon at her abode.

Each girl brought food (potluck style is probably not the fanciest, but we worked with what we had).

And I pulled out every nice dish JD and I had at our house (not to mention $1 chargers I found at Michael's that morning - oh yeah!!). 

Annnd... I may have pulled most of my Christmas decorations down to create cute centerpieces for each table. 

Did you notice that we put the bread rolls in Santa's sleigh?... That was a collaboration effort between a couple of my students. ;)

The girls learned how to create a centerpiece using vases, old bottles and antiques I've collected over the years for next-to-nothing at antique / thrift stores. 

Side note: One of the girls put up a pic on Instagram the next day of vintage vases they found at an antique store. I was beyond-words proud. :)

We put all of the plates and silverware in the kitchen and left the chargers empty so that the girls could set their own place settings. (Hands-on experience is the best tool, right?)

Each girl set her place place setting:

Dinner plate on bottom, salad plate on top.

Forks on your left.

Remember: F-O-R-K has four letters and L-E-F-T has four letters.

Spoons and knives on your right.

Remember: S-P-O-O-N and K-N-I-F-E have five letters and R-I-G-H-T has five letters.

Size of the silverware goes from smallest on the outside to the largest on the inside. 

Follow the sizes with each course (i.e. furthest fork from you is for your salad, largest fork beside your plate is your dinner fork).

Tea glasses always go to the top right of the plate.

Napkin goes in the lap. 

After we went over a list of table etiquette pointers, we passed a box of cards around the table called Table Topics. My favorite question was, "At what age is someone old and how does a person stay young?"

There were a variety of answers from 17-years-old is "old" to 40-years-old to 80-years-old. My favorite answer is, 

"You're only old when you begin thinking that you're old." 

That's wisdom -- from a teenager. 

I love it.

We finished up the afternoon with a present-wrapping and bow-making lesson where the girls dominated. I'm pretty sure they'll be giving out packages this year with stellar packaging! 

What do you think about being old...

At what age is someone old and how does a person stay young?

**Thanks to Shelby for taking some of these fantastic photos!

Christmas Flash Mob

You may have already seen this video, but we just had to share it. The co-op group watched it yesterday during worship and I admittedly shed a number of tears.

Maybe it was the amazing voices of the carolers...

Maybe it was the onlookers who stopped to take in the essence of the flash mob...

Maybe it was the location of the main carolers - right beside Santa Clause...

Maybe it was because people dressed up as Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus...

Maybe it was the 100 kids sitting in front of me at homeschool co-op closing their eyes and praising Jesus through song...

Maybe it was the ease of spreading the Gospel to hundreds of people just by singing carols only about Christ...

Or maybe it was the visual of onlookers literally falling on their knees during O Holy Night...

Tears were shed and our hearts were rocked. 

Whether one-by-one or in the masses, let's spread the Gospel as we are consistently called to do. Lives will be touched and seeds planted. And may the Lord claim every ounce of glory received by it.

In other news, we're having some issues with blogspot (i.e. we've ran out of storage for our photo sharing via blog). So, we're working on it but it may take a couple of days before we figure out how to get back on track with it all. :) 

Down Syndrome & Long Post Office Lines

This morning I went to the post office bright and early.

Ok - not that early. It was 8:25 a.m. but the post office doesn't open the teller windows until 8:30 on the dot.

So I thought, "I'll be the first in line. No problem."

WRONG.

There were seven people standing in front of me. All of them had been waiting for quite a while. 

You would think everyone would be super perturbed and anxious, but they weren't.

You see, there was a special joy to the room. 

A teenage girl with down syndrome stood in the middle of the line nuzzled up to her mom. 

All of the sudden, she just started giggling. 

Not about anything particular, just giggling.

One of the women in front of her smiled and said, "Looks like somebody has the giggles this morning!"

That girl's laughter caught on like wildfire. 

I can't say that I have ever been in the midst of such a joyful morning surrounded by other people - strangers, at that. All nine of us, standing in line at a dimly-lit post office with Christmas packages in hand, giggling. 

Not about anything particular, just giggling.

And y'all... in that instant, the Lord broke me. It took everything within me to hold in tears. It was the most amazing moment. The Spirit of the Lord reigned in that post office this morning and I was so honored to stand in the presence of an engulfing spirit of joy. 

Strangers. United by laughter at 8:26 in the morning. It's something you see in a movie, but never realize the gravity that is lifted within that moment. 

So my challenge to you on this Friday is to laugh. Allow the Spirit of the Lord to overwhelm your heart to the point of laughter. To the point of sheer joy. To the point where the light of Christ radiates through a dimly-lit room and penetrates those around you. Because God is that good. And because when we know the love of Christ, we can't help but spread the news like wildfire.