Natalie - Natalie Wise Blog

Ahhhh, GOOD Morning!

I FINALLY slept throught the night! It’s been way too hot to sleep well. I am up and at ’em, even had time to do makeup and am grabbing coffee before work. Look out world!

Monday Mid Day

Time for a pick-me-up or two!

A Sweet Treat:

Take lunch on the porch with a novel, some iced chai, and some Cool-Whip (guilty pleasure of mine), fresh raspberries, and a crumbled Nana’s gluten-free ginger cookie. YUM!!! The spice of the chai and cookie go so well with the bright pops of raspberry and the cooling Cool-Whip.

A song I’ve been listening to today:

{never mind the video, it’s just the best version I could find on youtube}

On my List:

You guys, these look totally awesome! Want! Click here for link!

Sweet Pea Saturday

I just looooooove sweet peas. Love ’em. They are like little fairies!!! We all know I like pretty little pink things, so when it comes to flowers—peonies, sweet peas, and fuschias are my faves. Though last year I killed my fuschia plant. Very sad, very sad indeed. Also, sweet peas were my grandma’s wedding flowers. Awww. The sweetest. I’m such a romantic fluff-ball. There, I admitted it.

But no matter—sweet peas smell like heaven (especially if you get the more-heavily-scented heirloom varieties) and when I saw these little fairy wings at the farm stand this weekend, I couldn’t resist.

Smiles and Stripes

I’m just all smiles again today. I love that feeling!! Remember how I was talking about Colbie’s new CD? You can stream the entire thing for a limited time here on her MySpace. I am LOVING it so far! Particularly “Dream Life, Life.”

I wore this outfit to the drive-in with the boy. Complete with glow-in-the-dark rainbow necklace. That’s right.

Style Secrets

Sunnies: Local store

Earrings: Boutique while travelling

Tank: Local store

Skirt: American Eagle

Bracelet: Gift! (from Honduras)

Sandals: F21

Wednesday Mid Day

‘Cause I felt like sharing extra this week.

FINALLY: A tested list of the best antiperspirants and deodorants, including some awesome-sounding natural ones. I’ve tried lots of natural ones (some working better than others) but always keep a Dove handy, too. Can’t wait to try some of these 🙂

COOL NEW RESOURCE: The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood fills a critical need in our society. They started in an effort to combat feminism in our society, and have many good things to say on gender roles and marriage. My fave two articles so far as food for thought: Loving Your Husband Before You Get Married (a great point about loving your husband all the days of your life–before and after marriage), and Female Beauty Matters (which I will be deconstructing in a later post that I’ve been chewing over for awhile…dissecting WHY I chose fashion blogging…) {Please note that I do my best to discern the Biblical strength of resources I post, but I’m not perfect and I don’t know the ins & outs of every organization/denomination/etc. I do the best I can, but please let me know if you think a resource does not stand up to Biblical truths.}

A GREAT DEBATE: Facebook “PDA”? Love it/hate it? The boyfriend and I were discussing this a few weeks ago, actually. Seems like a pretty personal decision–but where do you fall on the issue? Share with everyone you know {potentially including single friends, bosses, ex-boy/girlfriends, etc}? Or do you feel, as the article says, “some things are meant to be shared behind walls, not on them.”?

THE MOST UNIQUE THING I’VE SEEN ON THE INTERNET IN A LONGTIME: This recipe video. So stunning and inspiring:

beet cake from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

That’s all for now. But I am keeping the “for now” vague. Cause I’m in a share-y mood.

Good Morning!

So before I head out into the great big world this morning, I just wanted to say: have a beautiful and lovely day!

This Body Brought to You by Sour Patch Kids

{girls! I finally pulled up the hideous weed in all of my photos! it wasn’t technically mine to pull up, so I had to wait for the exact right timing to obtain permission. permission obtained. weed gone. lightning bolt on picture. yes!}

Sour Patch Kids. Those wonderfully chewy, sour, sweet candies. The boy and I ate FAR too many of them at the drive-in movie this past weekend. And then we both decided we were going to quit eating processed sugar {seriously}. But I snuck (what?! is that not a word?! it’s underlining it! what is the past tense of ‘sneak’? help a sister out!) the rest of the Sour Patch Kids into my purse.

Then yesterday, while editing this photo, I noticed that my thighs are practically STUFFED into these pants. And quite obviously, I needed to start exercising. So I grabbed a handful of Sour Patch Kids for energy, and did 50 jumping jacks in the kitchen. No lie.

Then I went for a loooooooong walk. Uphill. And on my way back I realized I had a dribble of mocha-fudge frozen yogurt dried down my arm.

I think I need a sugar intervention. Like, seriously. I’m not even kidding.

Style Secrets

Hairclip: H&M

Sunnies: Local boutique

Necklace: Gift (my name in Hebrew)

Cami (under tee): Walmart

Tee: Old Navy (thanks, S!)

Cardi: Marc Jacobs

Ring: Local store

Capris: Gap, thrifted

Flips: Havaianas

Monday Mid Day

It’s Monday already? It’s Mid Day on Monday already?! It’s JULY 11th ALREADY?! It’s 7/11/11 folks. That just tickles me.

Time-warp. Twilight zone. Average intelligence. {inside joke from this weekend, that last one. annoying, i know. sorry

Monday’s Song:

Trust me–happy music can be hard to come by. Which is why I’m excited that Colbie Caillait’s new CD comes out tomorrow! She always has happy music, and I think this one will be especially so because she just fell in love, and I’m sure the music will reflect that.

Pretty Little Thing:

Those chocolate-cherry scones I baked up? A few of them were tucked into little natural waxed paper bags, and tied with some cute washi tape (my new obsession!!!!!! the cutest ever! click here for more adorable tape than you could ever imagine. and it’s like masking tape, so it peels off easily and is reusable, and won’t take paint off your walls. the jackpot!! ) for some friends :

The cutest new laundry detergent on the block:

Perfect for hand-washing! This is actually just what I need. I usually grab some body wash or shampoo from the shower to hand-wash my delicates in a little tub in the sink. But last week, I noticed one of my body washes left a stain where it landed in a glob on the garment. Not cool at all!

Have a lovely Monday, my lovelies!

Shop Your Closet

I was cruising around the J. Crew factory store online shop this weekend (they have some steals right now, girls!) and came across this cute little tank, which I loved:

And then I realized that I liked it so much because, in fact, I already owned a nearly identical version:

I wore it in one of my favorite recent outfits (you can see it here):

While the J. Crew version is very cute, and tempting, it rings up at $14.50 on clearance from $26.50. My version? Charlotte Russe clearance, for $2.98. I think today, I’ll shop my closet, and come up with more cute ways to appreciate my years-old J.Crew-look-alike 🙂 And maybe treat myself to a coffee since, obviously, I just saved $11.52 (plus shipping), hehe.

Red, White, and Blue Through and Through

{For a weekend at the lake, that didn’t really end up being one, but it sort of was, still. Haha. I was planning to wear the seersucker capris you see, but it was too hot. Shorts had to do! You guys for the second year in a row I completely forgot to wear the tattoo. sad}

Wow, so this post is incredibly late due to my computer issues.Nonetheless…