Nail Polish Swap Reveal and a little DIY Laundry Detergent

I participated in Jenn and Whitney's Nail Polish Swap, and I must say, I really enjoyed it! I was paired up with Brianna over at Heart of Life, and I immediately went and read her blog like a crazy person the day we were assigned to each other. I quickly realized that Brianna is nail polish obsessed, so I got pretty excited! Anyhow, I got her a Chanel polish, called Holiday (similar to OPI Cajun Shrimp) that I thought would look super pretty on her skin type. Brianna, on the other hand went over and above, crazy generous with me! She got me FOUR polishes and these cute little nail files! I was so touched. After opening my package, I immediately painted my nails with the China Glaze and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Golden-1. I love this combo! A few days later when I got a little bored, I put on the Essie Minimalistic, and this is now probably in my top 3 pale pinks! I can't wait to try the darker Essie, Smokin' Hot! Love, love, love it! Thank you, again Brianna for such sweet goodies. You were so thoughtful with the polish and your cute card! Go check out her blog now if you haven't :)

Brianna at Heart of Life!

Even the stationary was cute!

On another note, completely unrelated, I decided to get a little crazy this afternoon and make my own laundry detergent! I was SO tired of dropping coin so often on detergent, and I saw that a friend of mine followed a recipe she saw on pinterest and bit the bullet and made it. You can click here to see the recipe that I followed. I pretty much followed exactly what it said, except I went a little heavier with the crystals! I have done 3 loads of laundry tonight, and I love love love my new detergent! Our clothes smell great. The first load I washed were towels and I used bleach with that load. The towels all smelled great and didn't have any remnants of the bleach odor after I took them out of the dryer! If I don't go too heavy with my detergent usage, this should last us 1 year! That's pretty incredible if you ask me! The way I see it, even if I do more loads/use more detergent and this batch only lasts me 7-8 months, it's still a great savings and I'm not constantly realizing that I ran out of detergent at 10:00 at night. Maybe this doesn't happen to you, but it happens to me....a lot. I never really know how low I am because the bottle is so heavy that I always think I have enough detergent for a few more loads. Here are some pictures from the dirty deed today!

All of the ingredients

I took Bobbi's advice from the site where I got this recipe and layered each ingredient to make it easier to stir.

I used the Oxi Clean scoop to scoop some detergent back into the empty crystal container. Since the bucket is so heavy, I'm going to use the crystal container next to my washer, and I'll fill up the container as needed.

My mess afterward.

I poured the detergent into the crystal container cap up to the second line for a medium sized load.

Well, there you have it! Feel free to ask me any questions. I had a million questions before doing this. It's a lot easier than it looks. The most time consuming part is grating up the soap bars...other than that, it's super easy, and it's a HUGE SAVINGS! By the way, I have an HE machine, and this recipe claimed that it was HE safe. To be honest, I really think the whole HE detergent thing is a gimic anyway! How's that for a pinterest project? Have a great Wednesday :) Xoxo!

My Thoughts on Pure Barre!

Tuesday afternoon, my sister-in-law and I decided to take the plunge and try out a Pure Barre class. Groupon was running a special for the Pure Barre out at Jacksonville Beach, so we got 6 classes for a steal! Let me clarify what a “steal” is when it comes to Pure Barre. One month of unlimited classes comes to $215.00. For me, this price is absolutely crazy. I already thought paying around $90/month for yoga was high, but Pure Barre brings monthly pricing to a whole ‘nutha level.

Whew! Let me just say Pure Barre is not for the faint of heart! Oh….my….mercy….

Anyhow, as some of you might remember, I joined the 90 DayChallenge on May 1^st, and have been doing my best over the last 3 months to watch what I eat and exercise 5-6 times a week. You can read more about that by clicking here. I started power walking, tried to run at times, did some Power Yoga and thought, what have I got to lose? I am going to try Pure Barre. I scoured the internet for reviews and descriptions of the classes. What I continually found was that people said this workout was worth the money. A few people knocked it, but most of those people either a) never went to an actual class or b) only went to one class and didn’t stick to it long enough to get results.

My experience/thoughts of my first class:

-I really liked the owner. I thought she was super sweet and welcoming when we walked in. Also, she came into the class at the very beginning because there were a lot of us newbies and she explained the fundamentals. I didn’t know what in the world a “tuck” was until she explained!

-I bought the Pure Barre socks and was glad I did. The room is carpeted and their socks have the sticky-type grip at the bottom which definitely helped.

-I was out of breath within the first 3 minutes.

-I was dripping within the first 15 minutes.

-I loved that the class played really good music. Most of the songs were popular that you hear on the radio, but they had some added remix/techno beats which made it really fun.

-The time went by really quick because we were constantly changing it up between using the ballet bar, 2-5 lb. dumbbells, bands, and a mat.

-This class focuses on small movements. The goal isn’t to have a huge range of motion. Literally, all we would do at times were move our legs or arms about an inch to an inch and a half, and let me tell you, this way of moving and working had my muscles shaking around and flopping like jelly!

I have 5 classes left, and I plan on going two times a week for the next 3 weeks. I can tell you this…I know for a FACT that if you stick with this type of workout, your muscles will tighten up pretty quickly. I have been doing power yoga off and on for a few years, and I still felt that this worked different muscles than most of the poses we do in yoga. It’s just a completely different experience. I wouldn’t say that Pure Barre classes should take place of cardio. Although I was winded, I think a workout like this 3-4 times a week + walking/running would make your body extremely lean and toned! My booty and thigh muscles were pretty sore that night and well into about 11-12 am the next day! And who doesn’t want a better looking lower region? All in all, I give it a double thumbs up! If you are looking for something fun, challenging, unique, fast-paced, and cheery, give it a go! I would encourage you to either buy the Groupon or take advantage of the New Client Special at $99.00 for 1 month of unlimited classes. Basically, it all comes down to budget for me. Not only is this an expensive exercise class, but it’s also about 25 miles away from my house. It’s just not realistic for me at this time…but if you have some spare change, take the plunge! Let me know what you think!

Hope in the midst of horrifying events

I think it is safe to say that many peoples’ lives were drastically turned upside down very early Friday morning. I could go on and on about the horrific shooting in Colorado, but I will pass. My heart really hurts thinking about it, and I have been praying continually for the people who lost sisters, cousins, daughters, wives, mothers, children, or friends. I can honestly say that losing my uncle in such a sudden, horrifying manner has really put a soft spot in my heart for people who are dealing with grief. With that said, I am going to just post a few links below to incredible blog posts that I have read since the shooting. Each one of these blog posts is worth your time, and I hope that you will take the time to read these without interruption. Allow them to be an encouragement to you, and please feel free to share them. God is up to something...it is evident that His ways are way higher than our ways.

http://aminiatureclaypot.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/so-you-still-think-god-is-a-merciful-god/

http://www.myshineproject.com/2012/07/colorado-shooting-hero-in-midst-of.html

http://bstrait.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/a-miracle-inside-the-the-aurora-shooting-one-victims-story/

Mon-Days of Grace Link Up!

 

Happy Monday to you! Today is my 7th favorite day of the week :) I’m trying to focus on the POSITIVE instead of saying that it’s my LEAST favorite day of the week! Ha!

Today, I’m participating with my friend Jenna with a link-up for Mon-Days of Grace! You can read her blog by clicking here. Jenna is one of my sweet friends who just makes me smile and laugh whenever I am around her...despite how my day has been :) Her link-up challenge is for you to spend 10 minutes a day writing down 5 things that you are thankful for. Also, I started reading a book called One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. This book has been incredible for me. The basis of the book is focusing on thankfulness. God’s word commands it from us. Sometimes we don’t realize how often His word tells us to be thankful. Lately, I have REALLY felt like this is something God is trying to show me. God has pretty much been flashing a neon sign right in front of my face where thankfulness seems to continuously come up. As I said in my last post, I am learning to thank Him even in circumstances that I despise...during weak moments of depression...during moments of anger...and of course, during moments of harvest.

On another note, my dear friend Ashley bought me a really cute journal for my birthday. During most of my life I have kept a journal of some sort. I haven’t always been faithful in writing daily or even weekly, but I have looked back at some of my journals and they’re downright embarrassing! Mostly crushes on guys when I was younger, or in the last few years me praying about finding my husband, or even now me praying for HELP since I fail miserably as a wife all the time!!! Anyhow, I decided that this new journal would be a new leaf for me. I am not going to write down a bunch of bull. I’m not going to write down a bunch of fairy tale nonsense about how my life is so incredibly awesome and fun all the time, but I’m NOT going to focus on the negative in my life and write down pages and pages of complaints and things that I struggle with. I am going to focus on the positive...I am going to focus on the good that God is doing. I am going to focus on all that I have to be thankful for, and how much my God has richly blessed me with!

Here are some of the things I wrote down this week:

• Salvation: the fact that I am saved, free, redeemed, justified, and loved.
• Emotions: Even when I’m in pain, I’m thankful that I have the ability to feel.
• Josh: I could say so much about my husband, but I will keep it brief. I am thankful for the joy that Josh brings to my life and the friendship and bond that we share. I am thankful for a lighthearted other half when I tend to get bogged down by so many things.
• My job and my boss/dad: his generosity. Having laughs with him each day and understanding each other’s OCD with work related stuff :)
• My mom. I don’t take it lightly that she is present in my life. I have thought about this a lot lately. I am so blessed to have such a close relationship with my mom.
• My brother. His ability to make me laugh on a dime and also to listen to me and have an intense, heartfelt conversation. Also, picture messaging with him. I might enjoy this more than a phone conversation or texting him.
• My grandmother, Maga. I don’t like what we have gone through since June 10th, but I do love spending time with her, bonding with her, and loving her in a way that I never thought I would. Even after living with her for so many years, there is a closeness that comes when you hurt together, and I cherish her SO much. Maga, if you are reading this, I love you so much! More than you will ever know :)
• My home.
• Food. This probably should have been number 2, but these aren’t in order :)
• My bible.
• Blogging. I love blogging and the outlet it provides. Sometimes I feel like going deep and sometimes I feel like talking about beauty products or recipes. I love that I can talk about whatever I want here, even if I’m the only one who reads it!!!
• Nail polish.
• Contact lenses.
• Laughter. LOTS of laughter.
• Vitamins. Catalyn. Trace Minerals. Fish Oil. This goes out to AHF.
• Exercise (sometimes!)
• Sleep/rest.
• Sleeping in.
• Coffee.
• Time spent with Josh and our best friends this weekend. Amazing talks with Ash.
• Time in general...time with loved ones, time to myself, time to serve others, time to work, time to play, etc.

I hope you had a relaxing weekend. I know I did. It was just what I needed, and sometimes I have a hard time allowing myself to relax. I tend to feel guilty if I just chill and don’t do chores or make plans, or even do busy work. God knew just what I needed though, and that was rest, and for that, I am thankful :) Have a great week! I encourage you to keep a list of things that you are thankful for and link up next week with Jenna over at Silly Little Wife :)

Emotions, Mourning, and a little Zappos.com

 Mourning is one of those things that I have a hard time grasping. No one really knows how he or she is going to mourn until he or she has to go through it. I hope and pray that you don't ever have to go through these emotions, but if you love people and have relationships, it's pretty much inevitable at some point in your life. People die. People move. Different seasons in our lives separate us from friends and family sometimes. How are we going to react? Well, we don't really know until we are there.

The one thing I can say is that if you know who you are in Christ and that you belong to Him, this helps tremendously. We are going to go through pain and suffering in life. God's word never tell us that it is going to be easy. The question is, who is your hope in? My hope is in God and I am choosing to stick with Him in all things. I see Him at work. I see Him even in the midst of anger and tears. I see Him even in the midst of MY SIN. Like I said, this doesn't necessarily make emotions or pain go away, but I feel and see my GOD at work, and it's a beautiful thing.

See, the truth is that Uncle Mark is okay now. In fact, he is more than okay. He is rejoicing. He is healthy. He is having a good time. He experiences no pain right now. He is in constant worship of our incredible Savior. He hears. He sings praises to our Father. It's us.....his family.....his friends.....his acquaintances....his classmates.....his co-workers that are left on here on earth who have to deal with his loss. It is us that have to learn how to cope, and let me just say coping without the Lord right now would leave me very depressed. I have had weepy days. I have had difficult moments. But, even at the lowest of lows and the most emotional of emotional moments, I have repeated promises from God to myself. I have thanked Him for being next to me. I have praised Him for the fact that I even have emotions to experience hurt. Imagine that....that's something I haven't thanked God for during my entire existence until just this week. I've been thanking God for the ability to even realize that I am hurt or the ability to have bad emotions. Why? Because this is a reminder that I also have the ability to have good emotions. I can experience joy, peace, love, acceptance, forgiveness, and redemption in my Father. Have you ever experienced such attributes?

I seem to always go back to the same Psalms for comfort. I want to share a few with you that I have repeated this week:

Psalm 62:1-2: 
My soul finds rest in God alone;
    my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. 

Psalm 62:11-12:
One thing God has spoken,
    two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong,
 and that you, O Lord, are loving.
(I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with Jon Foreman's "Your Love is Strong," but this is one of my favorite songs...especially because he incorporated SO much scripture in it--these verses included!)

Psalm 63:1:
O God, you are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
    my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
    where there is no water. 

These verses are like medicine for my soul. I love them. I love resting in the Lord as I sit here and write. He is beyond good. I am jealous of Uncle Mark because He experiences this love and passion face to face!

Lastly, I want to share a sweet story from my Aunt Leslie (Uncle Mark's wife). Uncle Mark ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos.com before he passed away, and to my knowledge the shoes arrived after his passing. Aunt Leslie shipped the shoes back and explained what had happened. This past Tuesday, the one month mark of Uncle Mark's death, Aunt Leslie received a bouquet of flowers.......from Zappos.com. I must say I was absolutely dumbfounded when I heard this. This is not a small mom and pop company who saw Mark every day or even had some deep relationship with him. This is a huge shoe, clothing, and accessories company that took the time to really brighten someones' day, and how tender and kind that they would choose to send flowers on a day that would be so emotionally tough. I was not contacted by Zappos.com to share this story. I was just genuinely touched. I already really liked this company, and so did Uncle Mark :) He was a true shoe guru, people! I just wanted to take the time and say thank you to a company that really went over and beyond!

Have peace today :) Rest in the Lord. He is GOOD!!!! All the time!!!! Despite our pain! Despite the circumstances. Despite our moods and our melancholy selves!!!! His glory is abundant! His mercy and grace are like no other!

 

All images from pinterest.com

Blog Sale: Purse Edition

I am trying to get rid of a few purses and handbags for my grandma. Each one of these are in MINT condition. The only one that even remotely has an issue on the interior is the metallic Michael Kors. I am just going to post all of the pictures with the links to Craigslist below. If you are interested, I will take it off Craigslist and ship it to you. None of the prices below include shipping, but shipping shouldn't be too much more. I can have these out to you as early as tomorrow!




Michael Kors Metallic Leather Tote-$50.00Update-Reduced to $30.00

http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/clo/3120786400.html

Michael Kors Black Patent Leather Purse-$75.00-No longer for sale. SOLD.

http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/clo/3120803968.html

Tylie Malibu Brown Suede Purse-$100.00 Update-Reduced to $50.00

http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/clo/3120815968.html

JPK Paris 75 Black Nylon Purse-$100.00 Update-Reduced to $50.00

http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/clo/3120827141.html

Coldwater Creek Mustard Purse-$30.00 Update-No longer for sale.

http://jacksonville.craigslist.org/clo/3120865833.html

I am willing to come down on price, so please don't hesitate to text/email/call me if you are interested!!! Thanks! brookedowning@me.com

A little BLOG and HOUSE REVAMP!

Today, I thought I would share with you something that brought me a little bit of joy this past week. It has been sort of hard for me to get back into normal tasks after the passing of my Uncle. There have been good days and bad days...happy moments and really low moments. So, this past week, I had an afternoon to myself and decided I would finish a project that never seemed to get done. Josh and I have been in our house now for 7 months, and there is still a lot to be done! Props to the people that move in and get things done quickly. I, on the other hand, am a turtle. I tackle one thing at a time, and sometimes it takes me a verrrrry lonnnnnnnng time! In our den/living room, there is a very large wall by the front door that was pretty bare. For a long time, I had one lone round mirror hung that I never really liked because the wall needed more. Over the last few months, I have been getting frames and pictures together to hang, but it finally got done this week!

Here is the wall :) I think it is super cute now, and in time, I will probably tweak it a little and add a few more gizmos and gadgets. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! I want to add a pop of color in there. I am thinking coral, since that's the accent color in this room which you can see below.

I didn't plan to have the very left frame to be blank with no glass. It just kind of happened since I got that frame for a steal at an antique mall this weekend with my friend Jenna! After hanging everything, I kind of liked it.

As you can see, the accent color is coral. So, I'm thinking a pop of coral somewhere in there...perhaps? Please excuse the door which needs a second coat of paint!

The round sailor looking mirror is what I originally had on the wall where all of the frames are. I am going to hang that where it's sitting now a few feet up between the window and the door. It still fits in with the look I have going.

As always, after a humble brag, I feel it absolutely necessary to share the real me with you. The non-together, non-decorator, mess of a girl that I am at heart. This is the "guest room" or future baby's room if we ever have one. Yep, that's an ironing board with little weights that have never been used, all my scarves scattered on my old bed, miscellaneous clothes and CRAP. Never know what you can find in here, that's for sure :)

Just another picture of my so called messy life in all of its fine glory :)

This, my friends would be the office that we still haven't finished. Priorities, priorities :)

Lastly, what do you think of my new blog design?! My brother did it for me! He is incredibly talented! Seriously, let me take a moment to tell you a thing or two about him. Trey has always been good with computers and design....everything I'm not good at. Anyhow, he is in an advertising class right now and sometimes they design ads for school. I asked him yesterday to design something for my blog if he needed something to do for school never dreaming this would actually go down!!! Anyhow, after suggesting this yesterday afternoon, here I am with a whole new blog revamp....and from my brother! How special! He knows my love for gray, hydrangeas, and burlap! I couldn't be happier. Thank you, T. I love you so much :) Might even have to get you a little treat for giving me the hook up. With that said, ladies if you are looking for anyone to give your blog a new look, hit me up, and I will get you into contact with Trey, or you can go to his website here. He is super affordable and has a really good eye! Oh, and he helped install the design on my blog, so if you need help with installation as well as design, he's your guy.


Linking up with Delightful Order for Delightfully Inspiring Thursday Party!

Hope you had a great 4th!