Natalie - Natalie Wise Blog

Except for Brokenness

Hello lovelies! Just had to pop in this morning because I’m sitting here, listening to this song on repeat, nearly in tears, getting ready for the day. These lyrics are so my heart right now.

“When I have nothing to offer You except for brokenness, You lift me up.”

So I guess that means we have to offer Him our brokenness, much as I want to keep schlepping it around, heavy on my back, head down, steam-rolling my way through the woods to the nearest hermit cabin I can find.

“My God, I’ll trust You. I’ll find you on my knees.”

Weeknight Project: Sugar Scrub

I have been the happy recipient of two jars of this lovely body scrub, this most recent batch from my friend, and last Christmas, a similar jar from my sister-in-law, so I never had to make myself a jar. Happily, my friend included the recipe so I could make some more when I ran out.

And lucky for you, she’s letting me share.

Thanks, dear!

I love Weeknight Projects: the kind you can whip up after dinner, while watching a movie, or after the kids have gone to sleep and you sneak a cup of tea and a few moments to yourself. They usually involve products around the house or inexpensive items. This sugar scrub is no exception! With a few basic pantry ingredients, you can create an indulgent, pretty, and useful sugar scrub. Unlike other exfoliating sugar scrubs I’ve tried, this one isn’t too oily, so you don’t need to worry about it making your shower slippery. It is especially indulgent to use before shaving. I recommend following up with a lovely body oil right out of the shower to seal in that soft skin! My friend sent along the Refresh scent (Green Tea & Grapefruit) from this line.

Vanilla-Orange Sugar Scrub

borrowed from Whole Living, with a minor modification

1 tsp. honey

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup sugar

zest of 1 orange

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix thoroughly and keep in a jar in your shower. Rub all over body to exfoliate. Rinse well.

I picked this Philosophy body wash/shampoo up on clearance after the holidays. It smells truly fantastic (as all of their products do), and it coordinates so nicely with the scrub! I can’t be the only one who gets a kick out of having color-coordinated shower products, right? Right?

Ahhh, don’t you feel refreshed now?

Kiss Slavery Goodbye: Shades of Pink

Wearing my Radiant Cosmetics Daphne lipstick all this month to support #KissSlaveryGoodbye. You can read more about this awesome company, awesome mission, and awesome lipsticks here and here.

My heart has been so encouraged this week with help from a coffee date with my sister-in-law, the women in The Influence Network, and so many kind words from friends & others. Thank you, lovelies, for lifting my heart!

This awesome nail polish from my December Birchbox is my new favorite! It’s a silver/purple/pink depending on the light. Don’t you think it’s fun?

Have a great week!

(in)RL Conference Sign-Up

Girls, get your calenders out 🙂

Because I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to be part of Dayspring’s Incourage In-Real-Life ((in)RL) meet-ups! I co-lead one of inCourage’s groups for single ladies (we are starting up again in February, be on the lookout for more information), and I just love what they do to encourage community among women. This is one of their initiatives…they like to think of it as a “free girls’ weekend that doesn’t require a plane ticket.”

Registration is FREE, and the weekend starts with a webcast on Friday, April 22nd, and moves on to small community-hosted groups all over the country on Saturday, April 23rd. This year’s theme is “Staying Rooted In Community Through Tough Times.” Doesn’t that sound like a fantastic time?

You can check it out and register HERE (and if you register today, you get a few extra perks!).

Hope you can find a community and join!

Purse & Travel Essentials

Kleenex~Sephora Mini Brush/Mirror~Burts Bees Gloss, Tinted Lip Balm, and Pomegranate Lip Balm

~Victoria’s Secret Little Darling lotion~Hand Sanitizer~Moleskine Notebook~Business Card Case~Altoids~Tums Freshers~Card Case for Membership/Punch/Gift Cards~Pen~LaraBar~Kate Spade Wallet

Since it is winter now, these two babies are my absolute essentials: Lotion and hand sanitizer in the cutest, most useful little tube from HumanGear. When they shared a leash for Lottie, they also sent me two of their GoToobs, the civilized travel tube. So I just have to tell you about them for a minute here because they are awesome!

{Medium and Small GoToobs}

These beautiful, silicone tubes are so intuitively designed, they are sure to make travelling a much smoother experience. When I saw they were recommended by my favorite travel expert (the adorably pregnant-with-twins Samantha Brown), I knew I had to try them out.

What makes their tubes so fantastic? To begin with, they are squeezable. If you’ve ever had cheap “travel section at big box store” plastic containers for travel, you know that they are rigid and prone to leaking. And forget about ever cleaning all of your lotion outta there! Let’s be honest, you usually end up throwing them away after a trip because they are so inconvenient, right? No longer! These GoToobs make a great gift for yourself or any intrepid traveler. They’ll love you forever, I’m pretty sure. And I do mean forever, since GoToob offers a lifetime warranty on their products.

Look how pretty they are! Love the pink, orange and clear. They also come in blue/green/clear, all in 3 sizes (Small – 1.25 fl. oz., Medium – 2.0 fl. oz., and Large – 3.0 fl. oz.). They have a no-drip valve, a wide opening so you can get in there to really clean it out and reuse it, a special built-in labeling system so you’ll never put body wash in your hair again, the medium size has a suction cup to stick to the shower (!), and they are all BPA- and PC-free and FOOD GRADE. So you could put your special barbeque sauce in one to bring it camping. You could use it for toothpaste, then conditioner, and then you could use it for spicy mustard! I mean, it’s just so cool.

The medium, filled with shampoo, easily attaches to the shower wall via the built-in suction cup.

Ready & waiting for my next trip!

What are your purse or travel must-haves?

*Thanks to Katrin at HumanGear for her awesome customer service and for providing me with these products for review. This post is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Casual Sequins: Oxymoron?

My friend told me I don’t wear jeans very often.

Regular old blue jeans, as opposed to colored denim, because we all know I love my hot pink jeans! I guess it’s true…I’m a skirt and dress sorta girl. That, or yoga pants and one of my many sweatshirts. But you don’t need to see that.

My mom gave me this top for Christmas. My brother (again with my brother nick-naming my outfits/clothing, right? This was my lot in life growing up) calls this the “mermaid top.” I think I rather agree this time! The paillettes are a beautiful matte blue-green, but when the light hits them, they shine and come alive.

I wanted to try wearing this top in a wearable way. A “Hey, this Mermaid top isn’t so scary!” way. So I pulled out the old blue jeans. For some texture contrast, I added my velvet riding jacket and my gray suede pumps. Since the top is rather statement-y, I kept my makeup and jewelry very simple. Just a few coats of mascara and this wonderful Pomegranate-Fig Lip Butter I received in a gifted Birchbox, and it was a particularly good hair day thanks to another goodie from my Birchbox. Have you joined Birchbox? It’s totally fun…they send you designer beauty samples every month. You can join here! For jewelry, just some simple studs and my favorite rings. If your office lets you wear jeans on Casual Friday, I think this would be the perfect outfit. Take off the jacket, change the heels, add a bit more makeup, and you could head out for a party afterwards!

This Missoni bag is my absolute favorite winter purse. It’s a consignment store steal, considering it was under $20 and it retails for nearly $500. Tomorrow I’ll show you my purse & travel essentials featuring the uber-awesome GoToobs from HumanGear.

Also, I’ve been reading these amazing blog posts about picking the perfect jeans for your figure. Considering they don’t make my favorite brand of jeans (what I’m wearing above, Blue Cult) anymore (I don’t think…if you know otherwise, please let me know!), I’ll need these tips soon enough. Thanks, Rachel!

Birthday {Part II}

So you’ve seen the outfit. This one:

{threw in a vintage edit ’cause I’m happy}

Buuuuuuuuuut you haven’t seen the cake yet 🙂

Now you have! Light pink frosting with rose petals all around. Tall candles. Beautiful platter.

But, actually, you still haven’t really seen the cake.

Because, I mean, look:

Ombre green mint-flavored layers inside 🙂

THE BEST BIRTHDAY CAKE!

My favorite colors! My favorite flavors! Gluten free!

A lot of people say I shouldn’t make my own cake, but most of the time I really don’t mind. It’s just so FUN and I really get to go all out.

I was laughing so hard because when I tried to blow out the candles, the rose petals flew everywhere! Note to self: remove any small, loose, light objects from cake platter before blowing out candles 😉

{Birthday banner from grandma above & DIY garland below}

Thanks, everyone, for making my birthday so special.

I’m just so grateful we get to do life together…good and bad, near and far. Thanks for being in my life and for sharing life with me here on my blog. Here’s to another year!

Birthday {Part I}

Hi 🙂

It was my birthday 🙂

I received the most luscious bouquet of hot pink and light pink roses 🙂

My family and friends really went all out to make sure it was a special day…sending flowers, gifts from afar, cards, and bringing pink champagne and presents. They really indulged me, and are ever-so-good to me. Thank you, dears, for making my day so special 🙂

My brother calls this my Neopolitan Ice Cream skirt. I call it my Birthday Tutu! I’ve worn it for my birthday before (see this old-as-the-hills post). It’s just so perfectly pinkly party-y! I wore it with my grandmother’s crinoline underneath. Can you believe she used to wear it under her poodle skirts in the 50s?! I love it so much it’s not even funny.

The feather headpiece was a birthday gift a few years ago from one of my very best friends. I love it so much and have worn it on many birthdays because it is just so birthday-y! I wore some vintage costume jewelry earrings, and my polka-dot tights too.

A birthday only comes once a year, so it definitely requires some party clothes! Don’t you agree?

Check out PART TWO here, including my green-ombre cake with pink frosting!

Weekend-ing

Casual weekend duds.

Neutrals with a pop of color in the form of hot pink jeans and hot pink earrings.

I’m in love with these stretchy, no-snag hairbands that also look great on your wrist when not in use. I am always getting comments because I wear an ugly hair band around my wrist at all times. Funny story: In my brother’s wedding, I had one on my wrist in ALL of the bridesmaid pictures, and into the wedding. When I looked down during the prayer and noticed it was there, I took it off and threw it into the grass while everyone had their heads bowed.

If only I’d had a cute one!!

Here’s my pink and gold sparkly one (I made them):

Have a great week!

Cocoa Chat

Let’s share a cup of hot cocoa tonight, yeah? See, I made you a special one with homemade whipped cream, peppermint bits, and a cherry Andes mint. It’s rather delicious, if I do say so myself.

But it’s definitely for you.

Ahem.

My writings here always come from a really authentic place, and I hope you can see that, whether they are silly or deeper-hearted. I’ve been doing a lot of soul-searching lately, and I am so excited about the plans I have for this little blog-space of mine. Thank you so much for sharing life with me here.

It is my pleasure to hostess you all here for a moment out of your day.

Today is a time for words instead of pictures.

Except, one more picture:

For me, this photo embodies my word of the year for 2012: Change.

Every year I choose a Word of the Year that I feel God has laid on my heart as the banner word over my year. I pray about it and often wrestle with the word choice, unsure of what it means or how exactly He seeks to accomplish the meaning of that word in my life. You see, often the words are not pleasant things. They are usually words like 2011’s Discipline or 2012’s word: Change.

On the heels of a rough ending to the otherwise blissfully wonderful 2011, it seemed that there was nothing BUT change left for me. God was preparing my heart. Come mid-year, I was at the end of my rope physically, spiritually, and mentally. I took six flights to visit family in two different states, fighting anxiety attacks the whole way, bursting into tears at random times and in front of strangers, feeling unequivocally beaten down. I made the tough decision to move closer to my family and start chasing some dreams.

I wish this post were about the healing I’ve experienced, the turning point for wholeness I embraced this year. But as I’ve often said, a testimony is no good without honesty and authenticity. My heart isn’t healed, much as I hate to admit that, because it’s been a year.
A tough one.

I know we serve a God whose provisions are complete. He is utterly dependable and overwhelmingly in love with us.
And no matter how much love we may lose on this here broken ground, our God in the Heavens never fails.

That photo above? That’s me, standing in front of Niagara Falls, during my move. I used to think it was strange that I decided to turn my back on the falls and look out the other way. Why didn’t I face the falls? Now, I think it’s mighty symbolic. My back is to the falls. My back is to the difficulty, to the mighty rushing river cliff of heartbreak.
A year into it.

***

I’ll see you next January to check in on my word for 2013 and how God used it in my life.

Oh, and one of my blog-friends asked me about my goals for the upcoming year. I have a list, but I’ll share my big one:
Get my poetry published!

I wish you all a marvelous year.