Uncategorized - Natalie Wise Blog

Weekend Baking: Pop Tart Cookies

So. You’re gonna wanna make these cookies.

Like, soon.

ASAP.

Eat them for breakfast, snack, dessert.

Eat four of them at once if you’re feeling self-indulgent.

Consequently, you’ll feel particularly motivated to exercise.

If you, like me, had a cinnamon pop tart, toasted, every day of your elementary and middle-school life, and you had to go gluten-free, those deliciously sugary treats are one of the biggest things you miss.

But they’re back!

Just make these cookies.

Eat them.

And then, for pete’s sake, go exercise.

{that’s a note to self}

Thank you for the recipe, Dana!

Dreams & News

You know how sometimes God softly beckons your heart, and whispers to you a dream? God has given me a whisper-dream from the time I was a little tiny girl. A whisper-dream that I hope, with His grace, I can nurture into a reality that is bigger than anything I could imagine on my own, for His glory. I’m moving back “home” to Minnesota to be with family, where I will be working towards my lifelong dream of starting a bakery.

I know it won’t be easy. To be honest, God usually calls us to difficult things, don’t you think? But the best part is, He gives us the grace to get where He wants us going. I sit here humbly, honestly, anticipating many nights of tears and frustration. Nights where my dream takes a totally different direction and I have to struggle with my vision versus God’s. Days of schlepping back and forth, days of burnout, days of aching wrists and back, sweat from painting, hammering, and creating.

We pay a price to follow our dreams. But what if we look at it as payment in kind, perhaps, for an opportunity to be all-out for our dreams, to be stretching ourselves into fully blossoming…putting our pennies in the piggy bank so that, down the road, we can crack it open and find that we’ve invested in something much bigger than ourselves, and much more beautiful. I know this won’t come easily. I know that we’re talking years of sacrifice. I’m signing up for something that I’m sure I’ll question time and time again. But my heart and spirit tell me: now is the time. God has ordained me to spread my wings and fly, to His glory. The past few years have been a wonderful training ground of sorts. I feel incredibly blessed to have developed a strong support system, to have gained maturity and experience, and to have sat at the feet of people so well-versed in following their dreams. It will be difficult to leave this life I have here of people, places, and memories that I dearly love. I do not let go of these things lightly; no, indeed, I will always carry them with me. But there are so many people saying, “Go, Nats! Now is the time!” with affection and tears in their eyes. That makes me feel so utterly loved and empowered.

So now, I will pack my Subaru with baking pans, vintage clothes, and so much love, and head back to my Swedish roots.

“Sometimes right back where you started from is right where you belong.” ~Leigh Standley

Indeed, and I cannot wait to begin “belonging” again in Minnesota.

I am so excited to set down roots and wait for them to “flour”–oh I couldn’t help but throw in one baking pun, you know me.

🙂

And so it begins…

Wearing Hats: A Series {Part 1}

I’m very excited to share a series with you this week about wearing hats, vintage & new. Before I begin sharing my own outfits incorporating vintage hats, I thought, we need to see some inspiration. Don’t you think?

Jackie Kennedy’s iconic look included many hats. She was especially well-known for the pillbox style {center}

Any hat that Audrey Hepburn put on instantly became sculpture. WOW!

There have been a handful of vintage hats on Mad Men. I adore Rachel’s simple brown hat she wears on the train {top left}. Rachel Menken’s purple feathery creation is one of a kind! Christina Hendricks wore several very stunning hats in the photoshoot for LA {bottom right}.

But really, who does hats better than the British royals? No one.

Queen Elizabeth II is so beautiful. I just love her cheerful spirit and colors. Always wearing a hat, and always smiling.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex…love her hat & capelet

This is such an incredible photo of Princess Diana. That hat, the colors! Everything about it is stunning.

And, of course, the world’s newest darling, Princess Kate. I’ll forever call her that because it’s so endearing and I feel it suits her. She’s the Jackie Kennedy of our generation, I do think. Goodness she looks amazing in anything, and always happy and carefree {albeit skinny}.

I love rocking hats. I dearly love collecting them AND wearing them, and can hardly wait to start showing you a few from my own collection. Aren’t you pining for gorgeous hats now?

Little Links

And does someone want to tell me exactly how and when it got to be noon on Friday? ‘Cause I can’t wrap my brain around that one this week.

Here are some little things!

A little inspiration!

I’ve been really into carrying my collection of tote bags as purses lately. Here’s a “Kate Spade Hearts Japan” one from after the tsunami.

Ok, I will! I may not live in a dorm room anymore, but I love my IU sweatshirt on the back of my home desk chair.

This is the vintage glass whose mate I broke :-/ Inside is actually a delicious ginger drink made from homemade ginger syrup. So refreshing on a hot summer night!

A shoe shot from an outfit I never got around to sharing.

Flowers for the week plus an almost-too-ripe local tomato.

I just LOVE the light in my kitchen in the late afternoon and how it illuminates the magnetic poetry.

And I made good use of that tomato, along with organic greens, the most perfectly-ripe avocado, milti-grain bread, salt, pepper, and uncured bacon. And organic Washington state sweet cherries for dessert. Mmm!

Have a great weekend, dears!!

Thursday Brights

Good Morning!

I hope you have a beautiful, bright Thursday, friends.

One that refreshes you with detailed love from God’s heart, shown to you through friends, family, and even strangers. I just love when God uses strangers in my life for a very specific purpose. Do you know what I mean? When you’re feeling sorry for yourself and you go to get a coffee on your lunch break, and you have the best conversation with the barista, who gives you your coffee for free? Or you can’t think of ANYONE to take over your nursery shift on Friday, but then a friend calls and asks if she can take your shift that day if you’ll cover hers on Sunday morning? Or your boss happened to stay late last night and leave a nice note on your desk? I think all of those details are love that God brings into our lives, to show us how much he cares. To lift our hearts and spirits. Oh, how much he loves us, through and through.

And in light of that, I just have to throw my hands with hot pink and silver fingernails in the air.

Blessings back to praise,

ALWAYS.

{Linen Pants: waaaaay old Libertine for Target, Sequin Tank: Talbots, Ikat Cardi: Target, Bangles: J.Crew, Sunnies: Local Store, Earrings: F21, Silver Mocs: London Sole, thrifted}

Have a great day!
xo!

Cliche Race-Running Analogies

I get to that point, mid-way through Week 2 of the Olympics where I think, “Is this over yet? ‘Cause I kind of have some other important things to get back to…” Do you? Am I the only one? It feels terrible to admit it. But I couldn’t let the past two weeks go by without thinking about how it related to my relationship with Christ. It seemed almost too much of a metaphor, at times.

And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This, too, is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

~Ecc. 4:4

These Olympic athletes strive for perfection in every area of their performance, going to great lengths chasing after an elusive “edge” over their competitors (Michael Phelps’ hyperbaric chamber, anyone?). I don’t want to downplay their amazing achievements, and even how cool it is to see young athletes like Gabby Douglas using their platform for God’s glory. But I notice a bit of myself in these athletes. I see my own drive and dreams, and how, sometimes, I get caught up in finding my ‘edge’ and chasing after the wind for…well, yeah, I admit it… that “perfection” thing.

Let us throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

~Hebrews 12:1,2

Chasing our OWN perfection is meaningless. We will never achieve it, and it only hinders us from serving God whole-heartedly. When we chase our own perfection, it’s usually because we are unsatisfied with Christ alone. Ouch. It’s so easy to become entangled with sin and selfishness that takes away from the security of who we are in Christ. But when we run our race with Jesus’ perfection in mind, striving to be perfected more and more into His image, we can run with perseverance and hope.

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

~Prov. 14:30

Don’t look over to see how fast or far the person next to you is running because you might trip on something in your own path. There is no life in keeping tabs on the person in the other lane. I don’t know about you, but a “heart at peace” and “life to the body” sound much better than rotted-out bones. Like vinegar poured on a wound is envy to our souls. It eats away and only creates a deeper hole.

For the Lord takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with victory.

~Psalm 149:4

God has His eye on you. He has His hand on you. When you are following His path for you, He will help you every step of the way. I have no doubt you you’ll find innumerable blessings along the way. And when we cross that finish line in Heaven, you can bet we’ll be perfected. Isn’t that exciting?

Instead of getting a gold medal, we’ll get streets of gold {Did I just take the analogy too far?}

Weekend

Weekend Gear: Coffee, sunnies, hat, wrinkly sundress, flip flops!

After Saturday morning tag sales, it rained non-stop.

So instead of outdoor adventuring, I enjoyed a low-key weekend around the house.

Manicure/pedicure essentials…

Pretty pink toesies! (and yellow fingernails)

Hanna Andersson clogs

Supplies for a fun paper project I’m working on.

Baked some ginger-chocolate chunk scones. Mmm! Sent some over to a dear friend packaged like this.

Now, it’s into the week!

Let’s begin it beautifully, yeah?

xo!

Avocado Chicken Salad

This is a super, super easy, and super delicious summer lunch, inspired by one of my favorite restaurant salads.

Simplicity:

1.) Pile beautiful fresh greens on a plate.

2.) Halve an avocado, and put one half on the plate.

3.) Whip up some chicken salad with whatever you have on hand, and scoop it into the avocado half.

4.) Grab some veggies if you have some (carrots, cherry toms, and cucumbers are perfect here), and throw those on (obviously I was low on veggies this time around, oops).

5.) Make or buy a delicious champagne vinaigrette, and serve alongside.

6.) Eat all together–a bit of salad, a bit of chicken salad, and a bit of avocado, all dipped in dressing. Mmmmmmm!!!!

I should have made this again tonight. Instead, I decided in my brilliance to turn on the oven and bake a pizza. And then I burnt my $6 gluten-free pizza to a crisp, all while turning my house into more of a sauna than it is already. So take my advice: on a hot summer evening: make this chicken salad! It’s perfect!

xo!

Weeknight Project: Chevron Weekly Planner

I love that Weeknight Projects are usually super cheap or free. This one? $1 or free if you happen to have a cork board laying around. I grabbed mine at the dollar store.

Use masking tape to tape off some lines for your border. I made my border 1″ all around.

Then, I freehanded my chevrons with a simple white paint pen. It’s a good idea to let this dry outside, as those paint pens aren’t necessarily good for the brain cell count…y’know?

When it’s dry, you can use it to pin up pictures, inspirations, or a calendar page. I love, love, love this perpetual calendar that was gifted to me, and thought it would be a perfect way to organize my week at a glance.

“do something creative every day” ~ Great motto!

Cute flower thumb-tacks, with twine attached to my pink pen so I can keep track of all of my upcoming events!

And “all of my upcoming events” are a LOT, so it’s a good thing I’ll be organized!

Whatever happened to that whole “lazy summer” idea?!

xo!

Little Heart

I felt like blogging a little something extra tonight, my dears. Some might call that procrastination; I prefer to think of it as generosity. #tomatotomahto

I had an empty, sad little spot under my calendar wall that needed a bit of cheer. This cherry-red enamel

heart catch-all for 25 cents at a tag sale is just so spot-on, I couldn’t have found anything better if I had an unlimited budget. It is so Swedish to me, which absolutely warms my little Swedish-heritage heart. Teeny tiny clothespins also warm my heart. I mean, hello? So cute, right?

This song has been in my head!

Alright, alright, back to work now!