Spruce Up Your Coffee Table

February 12, 2016 Jacqui

Red bougainvilleas are beautiful off and on the branch. They create more interesting shapes than roses or tulips.

Homemade Ciabatta Bread

February 11, 2016 Jacqui

Nothing beats the slight tang and softness of a ciabatta. Here’s my recipe. Simply dip in some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Three-Color Palette

February 10, 2016 Jacqui

When it comes to choosing decorative pieces, you want to stick to a maximum of three colors. Then it’s all about placement.

Shelves over Cabinets

February 10, 2016 Jacqui

If you have beautiful dishware and cookware, show them off with minimalist shelving. They’ll also be easier to access!

Bisecting Your Loft

February 9, 2016 Jacqui

Discover how to make the most of your loft space by creating a second floor that doesn’t make you feel like a giant.

Midnight & Suflowers

February 8, 2016 Jacqui

Painting a bedroom dark blue is an austere choice, but balancing it with white and gold can give it an unorthodox serenity.

Open Kitchen-Dining Combo

February 7, 2016 Jacqui

The open kitchen can do a lot to make a narrow space feel wider. Here’s some tips and furniture suggestions to make it even more spacious.

Alignment

February 6, 2016 Jacqui

Creating the best layout for your framed artwork can be a challenge. Luckily, these core design tenets can help you get started.

Chairs for the Foyer

February 6, 2016 Jacqui

For the “no shoes” households: give your foyer a lush look with potted trees and antique wooden chairs.

Evolved Daybed

February 5, 2016 Jacqui

Sometimes you want a living room that can double as a guest room. The daybed is a great couch solution that’s easy to convert.

The Absurdist Plays of Hank Monroe

February 4, 2016 Jacqui

Hank Monroe is one of my favorite playwrights. It would certainly be a dream to build a set to his magnum opus, “Fire Lily.”

Utilitarian Centerpieces

February 3, 2016 Jacqui

You don’t need flowers to give nuance to a dining table. Simple objects can be combined to create a centerpiece that’s both beautiful and useful.

Don’t Be Afraid of Painting it Teal

February 2, 2016 Jacqui

Give an accent wall some more personality by painting a thrift store find the same color. Cool jewelry can double as decoration.

Luxury Deck Furniture

February 1, 2016 Jacqui

When it comes to the outdoors, it’s wise to invest in furniture that can stand up to the elements. Here are some recommendations.

The Summer Home of Ada Basque

January 31, 2016 Jacqui

Artist Ada Basque gave us a tour of her beautiful home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she showed us how to use indigo.

Room to Work

January 30, 2016 Jacqui

A lucite desk can illuminate and open up your workspace at a low cost. Balance the look with a more intricate chair.

Modernizing the Tudor Cottage

January 28, 2016 Jacqui

Tudor architecture is known for its exposed ceiling beams. Adding a little plaster and paint is a great way to update and add depth to a room.

Tropics

January 26, 2016 Jacqui

From simple color-blocking to handmade throw pillows, a little DIY can not only brighten a room, it can transport you to a different place entirely.

Blackberry Vanilla Cake

January 23, 2016 Jacqui

Aside from being the only man at my friend’s baby shower, my favorite thing was the heavenly cake she baked.

Coffee with Rebellious Pottery Artist Felicia Burke

January 22, 2016 Jacqui

You might not expect a potter to ride a motorcycle, but that’s just one of the assumptions Felicia Burke defies.

I'm Jacqui, the mom behind the camera. Wife of one + momma to five. Writer + speaker. Unqualified philosopher + theologian. Accidental mentor. Chaos manager. Lover of coffee + wine, perspective, and Jesus. Truth teller. Freedom fighter. Worth affirmer. Wanna-be author + world changer. Laundry piler. Emoji enthusiast. It's nice to meet you!

I hope you'll stay awhile and take a look at life through my lens, as I seek to find joy in the mess and walk with God through the beauty of everyday life.

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That last-week-of-school hustle is reeeeaaal. 😩👊🏻😴

Oh haaay, summer, haaay!! ✨😎 It’s almost 90 degrees with a breeze here in CLE, & we’re not minding one little bit. We just got back from a Target run, as one does on a Saturday. 🎯 I swept yesterday’s chalk dust and all the helicopters off the porch (as far as propagating strategies go, this is a very good one. Those suckers are EVERYWHERE!), and now I’m watching my little corner of the world go by from my second-hand rocking chair on the porch, iced coffee in hand. And it’s so, so good to be right here. In this moment, in this place: the wind tugging at my hair, the kids arguing about something in the backyard, the wind chimes next door, the dogs sunning themselves at my feet. These are the days. This is the abundant life. And I wouldn’t trade it for the whole wide world. My corner is enough.

I used to think the old woman who lived in a shoe was nuts. I mean, why in the world would you choose live in a shoe? With all those kids?? 😱 And withholding the bread? Straight up neglect. Some versions say she kissed them fondly, but we all know that mean broad spanked the daylights out of them before sending them straight to bed. Then I became a parent. Life has a way of waking you up to realities that are literally impossible to understand until you’re completely immersed in the incessant demands of a sacrificial season, or in some cases, a sacrificial existence. And you can fathom now how life can wear a person down to a shell of who they were, how one unfortunate circumstance can tragically alter a trajectory. And you finally realize that no one chooses to live in a shoe. A shoe is where you live when you have no choices, when you’re out of options, when it’s either a shoe or the streets. She had so many children she didn’t know what to do—so many mouths to feed every day. If broth and bread is all she could afford, there might not have been enough to go around. She didn’t ration out of neglect but rather out of necessity. And she whipped them all soundly before she put them to bed because she didn’t have anything left. Because she’s an overwhelmed, exhausted single mom without a shred of a support system. She never gets a break. Carrying the weight of their survival solely on her weary shoulders, she beats them now so the police won’t later. She whoops them because she cares, and that’s the only way she ever learned how to show it. . ...and what you can see now is, she loves them.

Anyone else feel the pull to show up here every so often to say, “Hey! I’m still busy doing things! My life is still interesting! And it matters! And here’s why…” When I feel compelled or obligated to do something, for whatever reason, one of the best things I can do for myself, at least for a little while, is….don’t. Don’t log on. Don’t post for the heck of posting. Don’t force something that doesn’t want to come. And I let the silence begin to speak for itself. God speaks in a whisper, you know, but how often are we quiet enough to hear it? And how exactly did we arrive at the place where our worth was determined by the number of hearts tapped out on 2x2 squares? It sounds quite ridiculous when it’s all spelled out like that, doesn’t it?

This is how we showed up at church tonight—legit looking like maybe we just crawled out of a garbage dump. Or at least a construction zone. 🚧 It’s actually worse than it looks and literally the best I’ve got this week. Bless it. Also, the nursery worker made them wash hands before snack, so we’re good. What matters is that we showed up. On time, in fact, which is no small miracle in and of itself. . ✨All that is required of us is that we arrive as our truest selves. And today? We’re filthy. So, here’s a gentle reminder to you, fellow traveler: come dirty, come late, come ill-prepared or even irate. Come with a smile on your face, or come because you need some grace. Come stressed, come sweaty, come imperfect, even petty. Just come, in spite of your mess, and trust that God will take care of the rest. He always does. See for yourself. ➡️

These jokers are my favorite. 💖 #happymothersday

‘Tis the season. 💜🌸 The only problem is choosing just one! 🤩 So I didn’t. 😬 Did you know that lilacs only bloom for 1-2 weeks a year? Kinda makes you wonder about humanity’s over-emphasis on “blooming”—always producing, striving, hustling, creating output. Even if we’re blooming where we’re planted, as the saying goes, it’s brief. Stunning, yes. Breathtaking, yes. Colorful, vibrant, full of life, yes please. But also short-lived. Temporary. Fleeting. Seasons are not only temporary but necessary. Don’t focus so much on the fruit that you miss the seasons of watching and waiting, of hunkering down when the landscape is barren and learning to weather the storms. These create the fertile soil in which flowers grow. 💜

*new headshot* 😬

Today is Good Friday, and it arrived exactly how I always picture it—the sky weeping, the earth soaked with tears. This is the inevitable darkness that must come before the morning, the necessary death which precedes resurrection. This heartbreaking pattern of life is something my human heart always struggles to embrace as “the way.” Surely, there has to be another (less painful) avenue toward truth and life? . Selfishly, I want what we all think we want at the end of the day: a life of comfort and ease. We quickly realize, however, that comfort is fleeting and ease is overrated. With each excruciating step up the hill of Calvary, Jesus reminds us again: every good and perfect gift arrives on the other side of death. It is finished, forever and ever. Amen.

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. —Rumi

HELLO!

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