WIWW: What I Wore Wednesday

WIWW: What I Wore Wednesday

I have to say this may be the most mindless and surface-y series I am embarking on, but I think at this stage in my life, it is a fun and necessary one. I found this blog a few months ago and love it! WIWW is simply a way for stay at home moms to be motivated to wear "real" clothes vs. (as my sis puts it) "stay-at-home-mom clothes" everyday. I have found that I feel much better when I wear real clothes around the house, even if I'm not planning to go anywhere. I feel more motivated and productive. There are days where I don't get into those real clothes until 3 pm, but that just comes with the territory. At least I'm not in my pjs all day! :) So here it goes...

 Sunday: Obviously, there is not temptation to wear sweat pants to church. :) This happens to be Annie's dress that I was trying out for a banquet that's next Friday. I love it! I need to find something similar. It was pretty comfy!

Monday: sportin' my new-ish TOMS my mom got me for Christmas. They are multi-colored and don't match much, so I wear them with everything! They are so comfortable! I am addicted. I aspire to get some TOMS wedges. Do you have any? I wonder if they are comfy too.

Tuesday: I got these flats (my first ever pair of true flats! GASP! I know!) I'm a short girl. I'm used to wearing heels. I decided to try a pair. I got these babies at DSW for (drum roll) $13.11 on Monday! With a gift card! Woot! I really like them. Can you tell that I'm a shoe girl?

Wednesday: I love this shirt! I got it on sale last month at Francescas. It's a bright piece for me, but I needed some more color in my wardrobe. I was actually home all day today, but (excited) I'm going out for sushi with some girls!

So, a. what do you think of this seemingly mindless post? Can you relate to the need for
motivation? b. want to join me? I'm linking up to The Pleated Poppy each week!

P.S. I have a lot on my heart at the moment, so a more thought provoking, deeper post will be coming your way very soon! :)

Thanks for reading!

Because Buddy Wants Me to Write Something about Me

 Buddy wanted me to write a post about what's going on with me, so I thought I would. It's hard to keep up with friends that are on the far side of the sea, so here's what's been going on with us!

~I had an interesting/terrifying week last week. I am recovering and playing catch up this week. I got an infection in one of my fingers (gross, I know!) and wound up in the ER late Tuesday night. I was so nervous and scared. If you know me well, you know that I have "white coat" syndrome and  nervous about all things medical. Before it was over, I was incredible impressed with the nurses and  doctor at Methodist Germantown. I think I might write them a letter! They were very professional and didn't make fun of me once. Even as I screamed to the top of my lungs at one point. (so embarrassing!) I had lots of new experiences last week. From taking toddlers to the doctor's office with me to the ER, but through it all, the Lord was right there and saw me through it all. I am so thankful for loving, sweet friends who text me through the week to let me know they were praying for me. Also, I'm so thankful for a godly husband that was there for me. I feel stupid that I got so worked up over such a small thing, but I haven't had one thing that caused me such physical pain in my life. I'm used to purposely inflicting pain on myself for things like marathons. :) 

~We have been on the potty training journey with Amelia for about a month now. It has been a messy, fun and rewarding time! I am so proud of our big girl! She is making great strides! I do think this may be one of the hardest things to accomplish as a parent. I'm sure everything else will be a "walk in the park", right? :)

~My sweet mentor and friend, Jan, and I are memorizing the book of James. It has already proven to be challenging, but rewarding at the same time. It is awesome how the Lord uses those verses in our daily lives to encourage us and others. It is giving me the confidence that if we can memorize this, we can go on to memorize other books. It may take us all year, but we are determined to do it! 

~I want to expound on this further in another post, but I follow Holley Gerth and she began a series this year on God-sized dreams. As I read it one day, I began to think and pray about my God-sized dream. I am confident that the Lord will show himself faithful and accomplish His work in our hearts through my pursuit of my dream. I am comforted by this verse:

"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it."

I Thessalonians 5:24

~I am looking forward to the Life Choices Banquet that is coming up. We are hosting a table this year and were able to invite friends to attend. I know the Lord will bless that night and I'm sure we will all learn a lot. Eric Mataxas will be the speaker. He wrote a biography on Bonhoeffer. I can't wait to read that!

~I am also looking forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary in March! I am so thankful for Bear and these years the Lord has blessed us with! Some may think 10 isn't that big of a deal, but I cherish each year and think it should be celebrated! We will get to go on a little weekend getaway in April!

~I have continued my homemade streak in the kitchen. Recently, I made almond milk. I still lack some needed supplies that I need to order, but I think it has turned out pretty good from using what I have. It is fun to me to make things from scratch. I feel so industrious and frugal! 

~We have started eating the Paleo way. This website explains it well. It's really not a huge shift from eating "clean", like we have been doing, but it cuts out grains, processed dairy and refined sugar. That last one is the catcher for me. :/ I have had a really hard time with it! Last week was so hard for me. I learned that I am an emotional chocolate eater! Ha! It is really sad though! It has been neat to find out the reason behind cravings.

~I've been back at SkiMo's for a few weeks now. I really enjoy it! It's weird how you can dislike something, take a break and go back and love it! I really feel like the Lord has me there for more than making money this time. That's a great thing! I have met some really sweet "kids". The Lord is really stirring in the lives of some of them and I think He will make an impact on others through them! It's awesome to see all that working out! Last Sunday through the message, I was struck by this verse:

"Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature." I Corinthians 14:20

I thought about some conversations I had with coworkers over that weekend. It is sad that some of them are dealing with things that I have little knowledge. I don't feel ashamed that I am "innocent" of them. I pray Jesus comes through in my words and actions while I am there. 

As I looked up that verse today, I came across...

"For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." Romans 16:19-20

I take this both as a command and a promise. It's so comforting to know that He is right here with us and has a plan in place! 

~I am taking a break from Facebook. I really don't miss it much! I am surprised. My world seems smaller and I am not sure what all is going on with everyone, but I decided that my friends that I talk to on a regular basis have my info, so we won't lose contact. :) I may or may not get back on it. It is a distraction to me a lot of the time. I also get overwhelmed with what's going on with others and feel like I can't help everyone. I think, in making my world smaller, I can focus on who the Lord has placed in my life personally. I hope that makes sense. :)

So what's going on with you? What has the Lord been teaching you? What are you reading these days? I think it would be a lot more fun to communicate through our blogs vs Facebook where everyone one can see. I guess everyone could see what we talk about on here, but last time I checked, I'm not at the top of the Google search when you type Sundrop & Chocolate. Ha! Maybe one day, huh?! :)

Homemade Almond Milk

So as you have probably read, milk has been all the craze around our house for the past few months. As I've continued on my "making things from scratch" journey, I've made yogurt, strained the yogurt to make Greek yogurt and made butter from our raw milk. 

Our little friend that comes over during the week, Cannon, has to drink almond milk. I've been buying it for him and we like it too. I saw a pin on Pinterest a few weeks back about making it. You know I HAD to try it! 

These are the ingredients. Pretty simple, huh?

No pick for this (not too exciting)...I soaked the almonds in an airtight container for 12 hours. 

Here the almonds are in the blender in the water.

The blender is doing it's magic. :) Crazy how just some water, almonds and spices make the milk!

This was my contraption to strain the milk. I used a stainless steel bowl, a cheese cloth (very cheap at Kroger) and a rubber band. (I'll get that famous nut bag for my next batch:)

Here's the leftovers. After the milk drains through the cheese cloth, this is what's left over. I would call it the almond pulp. It's still a bit moist. I have it in the fridge right now. I've read that it can be added to smoothies, oatmeal and muffins! I'll definitely be using it! 

The finished product! Ain't it a beauty? I have it chilling in the fridge and can't wait to taste it!

Let me know if you make some for yourself!

Ingredients:

** I doubled everything to get this jar full. In my opinion, for all the work/time involved, it was worth it to double it!

• 1 cup raw almonds, soaked in water
• 3.5 cups filtered water
• 2-4 pitted Medjool dates, to taste (I omitted this because I didn't have any)
• 1 whole vanilla bean, choppped (or 1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract--this is what I used because it's what I had on hand. I'll try using the vanilla bean next time!)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• small pinch of fine grain sea salt, to enhance the flavor

1. Place almonds in a bowl and cover with water. It’s preferred to soak them overnight (for 8-12 hours) in the water, but you can get away with soaking for 1-2 hours in a pinch.

2. Rinse and drain the almonds and place into a blender along with filtered water, pitted dates, and chopped vanilla bean.

3. Blend on highest speed for 1 minute or so.

4. Place a nut milk bag over a large bowl and slowly pour the almond milk mixture into the bag. Gently squeeze the bottom of the bag to release the milk. This took me about 3-5 minutes to get all the milk out.

5. Rinse out blender and pour the milk back in. Add the cinnamon and pinch of sea salt and blend on low to combine.

6. Pour into a glass jar to store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. Shake jar very well before using as the mixture separates when sitting.  This milk is also lovely with cereal.

Notes: If your dates or vanilla bean are dry/stiff, soak in water to soften before use. You can also use another sweetener of your choice like maple syrup. Same goes for vanilla – feel free to use vanilla extract for a more subtle vanilla flavour.

These instructions are from: Oh She Glows