Natalie Wise Blog - Happiness is here.

What to Wear for a Cold-Weather Mud Run

I spent an entire week fretting over what to wear to this mud run I was attending. When I found out it was going to be 30 or 40 degrees, I researched, and researched, and had a hard time coming up with any information on what to wear. I went to the thrift store on Friday afternoon, when the mud run was on Saturday. In my head, I envisioned a long sleeve pink shirt, but knowing how thrifting goes, I was ready to settle for a pilled, losing-stretch-everywhere, loose-around-the-neck castoff. But! Lo and behold I happened to find this beautiful, brand-new-looking Reebok mock-turtleneck in my preferred shade of hot pink. Score! I also purchased some trashed tennis shoes, intending to wear those. The morning of the race I put them on and realized they had absolutely no traction and they had a plastic piece from the heel coming through that would have given me intense blisters.

So I ditched those in favor of my Merrell Trail Runners (which often get muddy anyway) and the rest I had already.

Here’s the breakdown:

Spandex sports bra: American Eagle

Underwear: Spandex sports underwear from Patagonia

Long-Sleeve Turtleneck sports top (stretchy and easy to clean): Reebok/thrifted

Shorts: Adidas/thrifted (if you feel comfortable in just running tights, rock it, but I wanted another layer!)

Running Tights: Nike/tag sale

Socks: Dollar store (these will get kind of trashed unless you have synthetic socks, but those make it easier to slip out of your shoe)

Shoes: Merrell trail runners/gift (make sure they’re washable and tie them really tightly!)

Spandex or another sporty material is best because the mud will slide off and won’t cake in the fibers to stain. You’ll want to bring a towel and dry clothes (including underthings), as well as a trash bag or two to put the dirty things into after you change.

I did not wear my vest, gloves or sunglasses for the race. The key is to keep moving! If you stand still too long you’ll get cold no matter what you’re wearing. I think there was less mud though, since the ground was very cold.

At the end of the run, I took the whole lot home and threw it in the washing machine immediately. It all came out just fine!

Have fun, be safe, and enjoy!
xo

Natalie

Warby Does it Again

Warby Parker has this mysterious way of combining a lifestyle I aspire to into an eyeglass frame. Their frames speak of adventures and books and stories. They speak of things that have already happened and things that you hope will happen while you wear the glasses. Their Winter Collection just launched today and I had to show you my favorites, in case you’re looking to wear some adventure on your face. I’m pretty sure they need to pay me for that “Wear adventure on yo’ face, yo!” has cache, don’t you think?

Here are some of my favorites:

Langhorne in Whisky Striped Evergreen: looks great on brunettes.

Seymour in Tennessee Whiskey: classic and sophisticated.

and my very favorite, the Webb in Saddle Russet: the perfect mix of quirky and classic.

In Warby Parker Winter Collection frames, I could make my Christmas list and check it twice. But I probably wouldn’t need to, since I’d see it so clearly the first time.

Natalie

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

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.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

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 😉

Natalie

Five Minute Friday “Together”

The word for today is “Together”. Set the timer for 5 minutes!

Go:

Together is a tough word for me right now. I feel the opposite of it in so many ways. I feel left behind, left out, lonely. I am so tempted to think that God doesn’t have a plan for me, and that somehow I have been forgotten altogether.
Together implies two.
And I am only one.
Only one in the morning when I make coffee. Only one at lunch time when I check my phone and see no new messages. I am only one at night when I crawl under my fuzzy hot pink blanket for the evening. And sometimes only one hurts. Because we always say “only” one. How many? “Only one.”
The lonely one.
But in the morning, I like to sing to the radio at the top of my lungs and dance around and at lunch time I go shopping at at bedtime, I snuggle that hot pink blanket and I enjoy eating chips in bed and watching Netflix like its my job. Maybe I can enjoy being, “one,” without the only. Nothing is missing when Jesus is involved. The fullness of time brings the blessings it is meant to, and in the meantime, this season? It’s pretty darn blessed, too.

STOP

Words were harder this week. So it goes.

xo
Natalie

Zipper Edge Hat

Some days coffee and sunshine is all you need to put an extra spring in your step.

A fabulous hat? Icing on the cake.

Hope you have a sunshine-y day!

Hat: local store//Sunnies: Local boutique//Necklace: Vintage//Lace/Chiffon Sweater: local boutique//Dress: LC by Lauren Conrad//Tights: local boutique// Steve Madden

Natalie

A Walk Through the Dark by Eva Piper with Cecil Murphey

Have you ever read 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper? It’s a touching, incredible story of a Baptist preacher pronounced dead at the scene of a collision with a tractor trailer, while he was returning from a ministry conference. He describes his near-death experience of meeting spiritual influencers in his life in heaven, and coming back to earth to face a terrifying and difficult recovery.

And this is the other side of the story.

A Walk Through the Dark is the fascinating tale of Don Piper’s WIFE, who was by his side from the moment he arrived at the hospital through the darkest stages of recovery. The subtitle is, “How My Husband’s 90 Minutes in Heaven Deepened My Faith for a Lifetime.” Wow.

I am on the fence about this book, to be honest. It was interesting at first, and parts of the tale are dynamic and gripping (such as her difficult choices on her husband’s medical care following the accident) and her story of dealing with a husband who wanted to return to heavenly bliss.

But the actual writing of the book loses me. It reads like a personal outpouring, a tell-all maybe interesting to family members, but that should have been much more tightly edited. And if I’m being perfectly honest, I felt that Eva had not fully healed from all of her sadness, hurt, and despondency since the accident. I got bogged down in the middle and put this book down for a long time before I decided to pick it back up.

It was, however, very interesting to me to hear the often-untold side of the caregiver and how their life is changed just as much as the person injured. I think this book will probably resonate strongly with others who have been in a similar situation.

Happy Reading!
xo
Natalie

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com® book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Sequins, Scallops, and Eyelet

This feels like such a true “Natalie” outfit–pulled together, sophisticated, but still very youthful and playful.

Fun colors, textures switches, and ladylike silhouettes.

Fun sunnies, one of my favorite vintage bags…

Everyone dies over this bag. Some ladies were saying they wanted the pattern as wallpaper. Sign me up, too!

Then of course I picked up this navy hat with a ZIPPER edge (which matches the zippers on the back of my boots) and resistance was futile. Love a good fall hat!

Jacket: Anthropologie// Sequin tank: LOFT// Eyelet Pencil Skirt: J.Crew// Bracelets: J.Crew and TJ Maxx// Earrings: Local boutique// Necklace: LC by Lauren Conrad // Sunnies: Local boutique// Bag: Vintage, thrifted // Boots: Steve Madden

Have a great week!
xo

Natalie

Weekend Adventuring

I ordered a Strand Books x Kate Spade surprise box as part of their 20 Things We Love series of partnering with unsung companies they love. I received a Kate Spade/Strand Books tote bag (love!), a Strand Books cosmetic case, a Strand Books diner mug, and a Kate Spade bookmark, all wrapped in darling hot pink tissue paper. So fun!

Picked up a new hat I’m totally in love with and went antiquing… Also my new contacts finally came in, so I can ditch the glasses for awhile 🙂

Baked gluten-free pumpkin scones for tea (earl-gray lavender) on a gray Saturday.

Went to an Anthropologie for the first time EVER (can you believe it?!) to find the Fall issue of Darling Magazine with my poems in it. Score!! Also, the girls who worked at Antrho and J.Crew liked my outfit, which I take as a high compliment since they are all so stylish! Also had my first-ever Pinkberry (vanilla with Nutella).

Hope you had a great weekend!

Natalie

Five Minute Friday: Laundry

{linking up with Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday…She gives us all a writing prompt and we write, uninterrupted, with very little editing for 5 minutes. Imperfect but real…This is my first post. Here it is. Yikes!}

I fight with the daily-ness of life. I wrestle tubs of laundry to the dirty laundromat where I curse a fallen towel and the fact that a quarter only buys me 5 minutes of dryer time. And I wonder where, amidst this mess, I could find the bravery to say a quivering “yes” to the bigger things of life.

I look across the folding table at the laundromat and I see an abandoned single tiny white baby sock, impossibly small to my eyes unaccustomed to baby things, and I think of the family who left it behind. The story is untold. And the untold story behind someone else’s laundry makes me realize that my own dirty laundry isn’t such an imposition. Maybe it speaks of bigger things.

This blessing of a curse of having to get OUT of my own house and INTO life with other people to do something as simple as wash my laundry sometimes it feels like too much of a metaphor, you know? I like to sit quietly in my quiet house and feel “lonely.” Sometimes being out in a crowd, with a bunch of people screaming and screeching and practically blasting life from a bullhorn makes me feel at once lonelier and startled and scared, like a fawn seeing things out in the world for what they are: that not all humans are friendly, and cars, with their interesting lights and fascinating sounds are actually quite dangerous to a little fawn, and are best avoided.

God calls me to things outside of myself, outside of my home where I find company in haphazard laundry flung over the sofa, because when this place is fully clean it seems sterile and empty and lifeless. Much like how I feel when I’ve reached the edge of being able to decipher the difference in my life between what is clean and what is dirty and what needs to be washed and what just needs to be hung up again and brushed off. It is difficult, this deciphering, sometimes. It makes words difficult. It makes it nearly impossible for me to find a way to utter “yes.”

I have to step outside for a moment, and run off the front porch into the clear, lukewarm October evening and spin around and look at the stars and it takes being reminded by stars and abandoned baby socks in laundromats to make me contemplate that maybe I have no air left in my lungs to say yes too loudly, and certainly not enough to shout it over my life.

Maybe, I think, under the stars, just maybe I have enough to say it with my heart to the God of the heavens who can hear our heart-language, unspoken but felt, as the moon rises early.

Natalie

Autumn

{ballet-like shoes in leaves}

{vintage-y jacket all cozy-like}

{wind in my hairz}

I tried to put together a lot of words tonight, but words aren’t working so well for me. So instead I’ll just tell you that I had a pumpkin latte today and it was delicious, and I love these shoes and crunchy piles of leaves.

Blouse: Ann Taylor (thrifted)//Jacket: Boutique//Jeans: ON//Shoes: Urban Outfitters//Necklaces: super old

Natalie