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Happy Monday, lovelies! Today I want to introduce you to my new friend Jen from Boone + Owl. She’s a kindred spirit for sure and you should go check out her fun blog! She loves Anthropologie, Chipotle, and Jesus, too, so if those are your jams you’re gonna love her! You can find my post featuring my favorites sunglasses & lipstick pairings for the summer, over on her blog today! 

In the meantime, here’s Jen with one of my favorite series’ she does, her Pinterest Favorites: 

Happiest of Mondays! I’m Jen and I blog over at Boone + Owl where I share fashion, beauty tips, recipes, a DIY or two, and a dash of all the other happy things in life! Every weekend I share nine of my favorite pins from my countless hours on Pinterest. Do you ever sit down to pin just a few things and then find yourself still pinning three hours later? Story of my life. Sigh. Anywho, I thought I would share a few of my recent Pinterest Favorites with all of you! I noticed something. There are always at least two favorites that are recipes in every Pinterest Favorites post. Look, I like to eat. Food is delicious! My favorite quote this week also has to do with food. I should really balance this out with a workout pin. Hey, there’s always next time. 

All right, moving on to this week’s favorites..

Ham Lentil and Kale Soup. I love food. I particularly love food that is yummy and fresh! I’ve made kale soups in the past, but none quite like this one. The flavor paring sounds way too delectable!

“You Only Live Once, Lick The Bowl”. Yes. This is my quote for the week, and just YES. Food is delicious. Cake batter is even better. Lick the bowl. This is my ode to yolo. Don’t ever tell anyone I said yolo.

Lash Curling Extreme. I’m sure you’ve heard of heating your eyelash curler with a blow dryer to get a better curl. Well, I found this and gave it a try. I’m just going to be honest and tell you that I 100% burnt myself the first time. I was really gung-ho about it and didn’t check the curler to see how hot it was. The heated curler actually works very well and it is absolutely worth trying. Just make sure you check how hot it is first like the tutorial suggests!

How To Top Knot. Do you still struggle with the top knot? I do. At least when it comes to doing a top knot with straight hair. I can do it with curly hair no problem. If you have any issue with a straight hair top knot, this tutorial is nice and helpful!

Simple Breakfast Smoothie. I don’t know about the breakfast part. I’m more of an afternoon smoothie kind of person. There’s healthy + yumminess in this smoothie so it doesn’t count against your calories.. right? I mean it’s spinach. And bananas. And an orange. Blueberries.. Raspberries. Yeah, that does’t count!

9 Fashion Blog Photography Tips. This is such a helpful post! Yara shares some great tips. If you want to improve your photography skills this post is worth a read!

Career 101: Interviewing. This post was put together by Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere. She shares 8 tips and I thought they were quite helpful.

Stripes + Elbow Patch. I really really love elbow patches. I still don’t have a single top with elbow patches. It’s not okay. Do you know any shops that have some cute options to choose from? Let me know in the comments if you do! This pin is here because it’s so cute. That’s really it!

DIY Sequin Blazer. Blazers are fantastic. Sequin is sparkly and that’s a very good thing. This combination is so fun! It’s pretty easy to do and would add a spectacular pop to an old blazer that needs revamping.

All right, that’s all she wrote! I hope this brought you some pinspiration! What’s your yolo stance on cake batter bowl licking?

B L O G L O V I N  |  F A C E B O O K  |  T W I T T E R  |  P I N T E R E S T   |  I N S T A G R A M

Go give Jen some love ya’ll, and don’t forget I’ve got my favorite pairings of sunglasses & lipsticks on her blog today! 

xo

Natalie
(and Jen!)

I just want to tell you:

You are beautiful. 

And loved. 

And worthy. 

And I’d totally give you a hug if I could, because I think you’re awesome.

And I just wanted you to know that.

I mean, all this outfit stuff? 

It’s fun. It’s an expression. It starts a conversation. 

I know the whole schpiel (spelling?) of why I do what I do.

But does it really matter when it comes to the nitty-gritty? 

Nope. 

It’s the heart that matters. 

I’ve said it before and I will say it again:
I AM NOT PERFECT. 

I am so, so, so far from perfect. 

Just ask my friends. Just ask my family. Just ask anyone who has spent five minutes with me ever. If you’ve ever watched one of my vlogs, I’m sure you figured it out 😉

I am flawed and sometimes I find myself frustrated that I have to be stuck with this whole humanity-thing so often when I’d like to just GET the being-like-Jesus-thing. 

But I am daily, minute-ly (totally not a word) being perfected by Jesus. 

He is working on me, and it’s a beautiful thing.

You see I just can’t get the words out, friends!
I can’t tell you how much you are loved by God. 

I’m a writer. Words? My thing. But I can’t re-write your story. But God can. He wants to step in to your story and change the ending. I can’t tell you how much He desires to walk with you. 

Not only does He want you, He is JEALOUS for you. 

He doesn’t want the world to have you! 

The world with its ugly, mean, and dirty. With its hateful and hurtful and guilt and shame.

God says no. 

God says love and beauty and trust and freedom and openness and joy.

Can one have an “altar call” on a blog? A “come to Jesus” post? I don’t know. 

I just know that He loves you, He desperately wants you. 

And if you want to accept that into your life, here’s what you can say:

Those words? Sometimes we need to say them daily. And that’s OK. He’s just wants us on our knees, coming to Him, even if it is with offerings of humility in our frail humanity. 

xo

Natalie

Enjoying the sunshine, bright lips, and big sunglasses! 

Slowly working on my office and pulling a few pretty things together here 🙂 

Over the weekend I made some strawberry sauce and lemon curd. YUM!

Then I baked some blueberry muffins to enfold all of that delicious lemony-goodness. It was also delish on shortbread cookies, obviously. 

Then of course I had a LOT of dishes to do.

Good thing I have these pretty sink things to make it happy! Pretty colors & aromatherapy soap for the win! 

I’m obsessed with Mrs. Meyer’s products. And that tiny bottle? Target $1 section (with attached coupon for $1 off a big bottle, so it’s win-win). That’s also where I found this little crate that is going to be perfect to use as part of my Easter table centerpiece! (it’s hanging out on my office shelf above right now!) 

And the bunny towel? Smitten. My grandma lovingly embroidered that. I adore it (and her!).

Show me your happy little Spring things on Twitter? Hashtag it #allthehappythings!

xo

Natalie

I know this doesn’t look like anything special. But the flavor, oh-my-goodness the FLAVOR! 

I got the idea from Chocolate Covered Katie (love her site) but fiddled with the recipe a bit.

I also had a Chocolate Chai Latte at Starbucks not too long ago so you can bet I’ll be making a version of that for ya’ll soon!

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup milk

3/4-1 cup boiling water (depending on how you like your oatmeal)

1 1/2 tsp. loose chai mix or 1 chai teabag

Pinch salt

2 tsp. sugar (adjust to your liking/needs…obviously I wouldn’t recommend this EVERY day…but you might want to lower the cocoa powder amount if you do this because the cocoa can be bitter)

2 tsps. cocoa powder

Steep the chai in the boiling water for 10-15 minutes to get some good flavor in there. Remove the tea mix or bag and add the brewed chai to the rolled oats and milk in a large bowl. Add the pinch of salt and the sugar. Microwave for approximately 3 1/2 minutes. Let stand in microwave for 2 minutes. Stir in the cocoa powder and top with a few chocolate chips if you have them handy. Enjoy! 

xo

Natalie

Tuesday Check-In from Natalie of Good Girl Style on Vimeo.

Woah hey there I vlogged! How’s life? Let’s chat! 

xo

Natalie

Welcoming the New Year with an open heart and an expectant spirit. I will wait for you and incline my ear, O, Lord. 

Hi friends! I’ve been missing you all something fierce lately. Let’s have coffee and chat for a bit, yeah?

God has completely stolen my heart, in the best way possible, lately. He has brought me into such a spacious, beautiful place with Him. He has been giving me the desires of my heart and making my heart desire more and more of Him, every day. #blessingsbacktopraise

There are so many little happy blessings, too, like: 

My advent wreath for 2013 with beautiful beeswax candles in a Swedish wooden heart-and-greens candle holder I dressed up a bit. 

Living in a snowglobe lately!

Beautiful special gifts to brighten my heart from someone I really-really-really-really like 😉 

Blessed to be able to share gluten-free desserts over on the lovely Big Girl Small Kitchen site, such as this Frozen Hot Chocolate and something even fancier coming soon 🙂 

Sharing poetry on my heart over at Darling Magazine…where they take such good care of my words. 

These are just a FEW of the many, many wonderful things in my life right now. I can’t wait to keep sharing with you as we prepare for the coming year. 2014 is going to be the BEST YEAR EVER, I’m pretty convinced 😉 

xoxo

Natalie

It’s NOVEMBER, you guys!

There is no end to the excitement over here! 

I’m just so excited for the holiday season and all of the warmth and good cheer that go along with it.

{strand mug from Kate Spade x Strand & beautiful jar of pumpkin spice syrup in background. also, I prefer to use organic pumpkin for the taste and a bpa-free can}

And the food. Specifically, the desserts. And the beverages. Give me some eggnog with my figgy pudding. 

Actually, I’ll just take the eggnog, but I won’t leave until I get some. 

Anyway, it’s been raining for ages today, not that dainty rain, I’m talking downpour-can’t-see-through-it-build-an-Ark-quick-please kinda rain. Which requires a special beverage. Sadly, this particular one does not involve eggnog. But it involves pumpkin and cloves and caffeine and all sorts of goodness so it gets a free pass.

In a mug mix: 

2-3 Tablespoons syrup (The recipe for the spiced syrup is from A Beautiful Mess.)

1/3 cup milk, heated and foamed with a wisk or an Aerolatte

2/3 cup STRONG brewed coffee  (or up the milk and use a shot of espresso if you have an espresso machine)

Cinnamon to top

Drink, then repeat. And in two hours, repeat again 😉

xo

Natalie

#happyFriday

xo

Natalie