Sister Shopping Trip & J. Crew Regional Warehouse Sale

When I delivered our farm's orders to the Charlottesville delivery site this past weekend, I saw a banner for the J. Crew Regional Warehouse Sale in a nearby shopping center. After finishing the delivery, I entered the extremely crowded, hot, chaotic, vacant shopping center store temporarily housing the sale and joined many other girls rummaging through hundreds of disorganized boxes of incredibly inexpensive J. Crew clothing, shoes, and accessories. The Lord blessed my efforts and I found some great deals!

The J. Crew Regional Warehouse Sale is being held in Charlottesville, Virginia through September 6.

Classy tall leather flat boots to go with fall and winter skirts:

Retail price at jcrew.com = $198

Paid at warehouse sale = $50

Assortment of cute swimwear for beach honeymoon:

Combined retail price at jcrew.com = $200

Total cost at warehouse sale = $20

Little girl flip-flops (this was Sheridan's original request for our shopping trip... then she sweetly requested a hat... then lunch... then ice cream!):

Retail price for similar pair at jcrew.com = $19.50

Paid at warehouse sale = $2

Panama hat:

Retail price at jcrew.com = $58
Paid at warehouse sale = $0 ! (I noticed on my receipt that, in the chaos, they forgot to charge me for the hat. When I returned the following morning because, also in the chaos, I somehow ended up with two left boots (!), I mentioned the mistake to two workers and both said it was not worth ringing up and let me keep it for free!)

Sheridan's hat to match mine (pictured below):

Retail price for similar hat at jcrew.com = $26.50

Paid at warehouse sale = $5

Combined jcrew.com retail value: $502

Total cost at warehouse sale: $77

Sisters donning their brand new hats and enjoying a treasured girls' lunch date at "Chipilay" (Sheridan's name for Chick-Fil-A):

10 Week New Meal Challenge

In less than fifteen weeks I will become Stephen's bride! As I consider my future as a brand new wife, one area in which I need to improve is in my meal planning efforts.

Before the beginning of our farm, my mom and I would make a shopping list for the meals I planned to cook and buy groceries accordingly. However, when we began farming three years ago, we started only using products we had an abundance of on the farm - especially chicken, eggs, sausage, and a whole lot of milk. While I believe this has been helpful in forcing resourcefulness, I have gotten stuck in a rut of only making a handful of meals instead of expanding my cooking repertoire.

I absolutely want to cook good meals for my hard-working man, so I am working on compiling main dish and side dish lists and am endeavoring to make one new meal each week for the next ten weeks, so I will be well prepared to creatively and frugally prepare meals in my new home.

I would really, really love it if a few others joined me in this pursuit, and together, we will provide accountability and encouragement for each other as we gain many new meal ideas for our families!

I will be posting my new meal's picture and recipe each Friday, beginning this upcoming Friday, September 3. I am mostly concerned about new main dishes each week, and may use old family favorites for side dishes. Should anyone choose to join me, please leave a comment on any of my blog entries with a link to your new meal's blog post sometime by Friday each week. I look forward to including any additional blog links on my weekly new meal entry.

I have purchased this week's groceries and am excited about getting started!

Weekend of Canning

As we finalized our wedding guest list it became apparent that I would likely need more wedding favors than I had originally assumed, so I spent this past weekend preserving figs and canning peaches, blackberries, and strawberries. I found peaches on sale and purchased about 9 lbs. I canned 7 half pints and 13 quarter pints of peach jam.During a recent tractor service cutting, Elliott picked the figs from a plentiful fig tree on a piece of land we maintain and we brought home an abundance of figs for the freezer. I thawed the figs and, with a lot of help from my grandmother who was spending the weekend at our house, as well as assistance via the telephone from my great-grandmother, we were able to can 21 half pints of fig preserves.
Oliver diligently picked our blackberry bushes earlier this summer and I froze those berries, so I thawed them and was able to make 18 half pints and 2 quarter pints of blackberry jam.I still had a couple bags of leftover frozen strawberries from my spring canning blitz, so I was able to make an additional 12 half pints and 24 quarter pints of strawberry jam.My grandmother and I worked hard and accomplished so much. I love knowing how to can and preserve foods, especially because it is increasingly becoming a lost art with each new generation. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to learn from my grandmother's and great-grandmother's many years of canning and cooking knowledge. Altogether this year I canned 205 half pints and 38 quarter pints!

Inspiration

As I have been thinking about my three years in the blogosphere, I wanted to share some of the websites I have found to be the very most inspiring for me. My favorites change from time to time, but these are the sites that I have found to be consistently full of inspiration!

My favorite inspiration in rural cottage living, old-fashioned simplicity, amazing photography, and emulating the woman of Proverbs 31:

Aspiring Homemaker


My favorite inspiration in beautiful wedding details, classy do-it-yourself projects, photography ideas, and reception creativity:

Elizabeth Anne Designs


My favorite inspiration in interior design, simplicity, decorating with white, cozy family life, making a house into a home, and an entrepreneurial cottage business:

Home & Harmony


My favorite inspiration in family photography, creativity, good quotes, scriptures, and spiritual application:

Resolved 2 Worship


My favorite inspiration in extremely frugal living, being a wise steward of family finances, finding tons of coupons and deals:

Money Saving Mom


My favorite inspiration in baking yummy treats and incredible food and nature photography:

Honey & Jam


What are your most inspiring sites to visit?

Three Years of Blogging

Today marks the third anniversary of my blogging venture! On August 23, 2007, I began this blog with three purposes in mind. I embarked on this journey in an extremely intentional and focused manner - even including a "blogging notebook" for entry ideas!

When I began, I had no idea how God would use my little blog in providing the unexpected blessing of dear friendships. Living in a small farming town with very few friends nearby, and now preparing to move far away as I begin my marriage, I would be lonely for the fellowship and encouragement of other young women if it were not for my sweet "blogging friends" from all over the world. Following are a few of the friends I have been able to meet:

Annabeth and I first met through blogging and later attended the same church for over a year. Leigha and I met for lunch when she and her husband were traveling through Virginia last summer. Emily and Katie were among the very first people to comment on my blog nearly three years ago and visited our farm this past spring.
Marie, her husband, Jon, and precious baby, Zane, stopped by for an afternoon visit last summer.
Although I have not yet met Elizabeth (Marie's twin sister) in person, she is too sweet of a friend to not be included here! Elizabeth and Marie were the greatest encouragements through the season of waiting prior to my courtship and continue to be such inspiring examples of godly young wives and mothers. I greatly enjoy our occasional afternoon teas over Skype.

Of course, the greatest unexpected blessing of the blog is my wonderful fiancé! Who would have ever thought that I would meet my future husband through my blog?!

Thank you, friends, for making blogging so much fun and worthwhile! The inspiration and encouragement I gain from your comments is priceless.

Favorite Pictures from the Past Couple Months

Washington D.C.

The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas

I want to share some of the pictures from the past couple months, primarily for the purpose of documenting family events in a scrapbook style (my scrapbooking ended when my blogging began), so I hope you enjoy seeing some of my favorite scenes of our summer!

While Stephen visited, we took Sullivan and Harrison to Washington D.C. for a field trip. It was a packed day and, due to traffic in the middle of the night, we didn't get home until 3:30 am! It was Sullivan and Harrison's first trip to D.C. and only my second visit, so it was very educational. We could not have possibly had a better tour guide.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery

The Lincoln Memorial

This picture was not planned (obviously!), but I really like the setting.

We went to two Independence Day parties - one at my grandparents' home in North Carolina and one at a friend's house nearby.

Stephen spent a lot of time trying to teach Sullivan and Harrison how to correctly play baseball and football. It brings me so much joy when Stephen kindly takes the time to teach my little brothers!Sheridan thinks the world of Stephen. In this picture, she is wearing his sunglasses and holding a football he just bought for Sullivan and Harrison.

Later during Stephen's visit, we went on a road trip to Texas! Our summer intern and several willing neighbors took great care of the farm while we were away for a week. We loaded up and left Virginia early one morning and arrived the following morning/early afternoon in San Antonio, TX, stopping only for dinner at our aunt's (Mama's sister's) house in Pensacola, FL.

We slept in the van as Daddy drove through the night. We arrived at our destination in San Antonio around noon the following day and stayed in a hotel on the River Walk.
It was so wonderful to spend so much time with Stephen!
We went to a conference about promoting life and families. It gave Stephen and me many opportunities to discuss our opinions about the subjects expounded upon in the different sessions.Sullivan, Harrison, and Sheridan did a great job sitting quietly during the many sessions throughout the weekend. Sheridan and her baby, Josie, in their matching dresses...
The highlight for most of our family was getting to hear Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar (parents of nineteen children with the TV show, "19 Kids and Counting") speak in a few of the sessions.Mama is a really big Duggar fan and rarely misses an episode of their show, so she was thrilled to actually meet them! Walking back to the hotel one evening...
Stephen and me leaving the Alamo...

On Sunday morning we began the long drive home and stopped for dinner at Stephen's parents' home. Stephen's mother prepared a wonderful meal and Stephen showed us pictures, awards, and school projects from his childhood and played his saxophone for us. It was a very nice visit, but it was also sad because it marked the end of Stephen's nearly two week stay!We drove through the night and all of the following day and arrived back at the farm that night. It was such a delightful trip and we are so thankful for the hard work of our intern and neighbors while we were away.

Since then, I have made much progress with wedding plans and I look forward to sharing some of those details soon!

Resuming Blogging

Over the past two months I have been able to accomplish so much and am now ready to resume blogging! Since last writing, I spent two blissful weeks with my incredible fiancé, enjoyed a road-trip nearly half way across the country (see family blog entry here), made it well over the half-way mark of this year's tractor service season, began the new school year with Sullivan and Harrison, and accomplished a huge amount of progress in regard to the wedding plans.

Since I love the summer, I usually dread the onset of cooler mornings, the harvesting of the corn, and the other indications that fall is on its way, but this year I'm so excited. Every day that passes brings me one day closer to becoming Stephen's wife!

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" Isaiah 30:18