ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

I thought I would write out my first impressions of the weekend. Or maybe, more accurately, my  lasting impressions. I met a few friends for the very first time, and a few that I'd met before and communicated with a lot through the past nine months or so. I hope they don't mind that I'm talking about them behind their backs and they don't even know it! Oops! What I learned about: Mindy She came out here, by herself, from Kansas. Are you kidding me? And then took a taxi from her hotel to meet us in Balboa Island for breakfast. You guys, she was so sweet. Like beyond sweet. Totally real, totally charming, totally warm. You felt like her best friend after like 30 minutes. Not afraid to just be herself, she was encouraging and fun. I felt so happy getting to meet her [since I wasn't expecting to]. And her kids have the coolest names: Wilder & Story? Are you kidding me? April She was immediately engaging. She wanted to chat and joke and get to know you. J

i really need to sit down and write about blog sugar but i think i need a few more days to process everything, maybe? surreal, odd, amazing, wonderful... all in 7 short hours. it was all of those and more. but before i give you all the mushy fun stuff, there's something more pressing that i didn't want to wait any longer to tell you about: at one point in the evening,  Danielle shared with us about love146  and it floored me. i guess i have that empathy gene, inherited from my dad, that i instantly put myself in someone's place and feel their pain and fear and everything else. and i also have those overactive tear ducts from my mom. crying is a normal and instant response for anything and everything that moves me. love146 is an organization dedicated to preventing child sex trafficking around the world. they're also passionate about aftercare: after these children have been rescued, restoring them to a normal life and bringing them hope, and reminding the

** don't forget to check out yesterday's post  & then go buy your  tutorials and printables for a great cause ** * and please take a look at this really important organization that you need to know about * after blog sugar, i was reminded of this post i wrote a few months ago. it made me want to post it again and share it with you all in case you missed it back in april. your blog is important. your voice is important. and God wants to use you and your blog [that message was repeated several times at blog sugar, which i loved]. photo credit a little encouragement for my fellow bloggers: 1 Timothy 4: 8-16 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance  (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who beli

i'm so excited to tell you guys about this! a few weeks ago,  Jess  of Allora Handmade , contacted me asking a favor. of course i was excited to participate, and even more honored to have been asked, in donating a tutorial that would be sold to raise money for her best friend Sharlie's medical bills. i think they need to raise $250,000 [but eventually more like $1 million!?] for her double lung AND heart transplant. she has cystic fibrosis and has been living with it for 32 years, but needs this transplant ASAP to survive. [i'm pretty sure most people don't live past 20 or so with cystic fibrosis so this is pretty much a miracle already]. anyway, in pure genius fashion, Jess and her sister Mique [these are the two masterminds behind the Queen Bee Market , btw] set up a shop filled with tutorials, printables, and advertising, and all the money goes straight to Sharlie. they didn't want to do the usual donate-money-and-have-a-chance-to-win-a-giveaway. they

i know, i know. 2 posts in one day?!? i am sooo in the mood to break out the fall decor. i'll probably wait until after i get home from blog sugar, but i'm definitely in the mood to make some wreaths. one for the front door, and one to replace the one i have on the entry wall [here] . i'll be changing out all the aqua for more fall-ish tones. i can't decide if i want to go more natural/neutral, or if i really want to go all the way with the oranges. we'll see what happens. most likely, i'll just use what i have, which is lots of orange. here are some inspiration photos that i've been pinning lately: if i could just transplant this very photo into my house, i would: Source: decorchick.com via Aly on Pinterest i love the white pumpkins and pinecones. so natural looking. Source: shanty-2-chic.com via Aly on Pinterest looooove this huge orange wreath:  Source: marthastewart.com via Aly on Pinterest did you s

i have always loved this verse in Isaiah 66, and just ran across it again the other day: "This is the one I esteem: He who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My Word." i learned [from Beth Moore, obviously] that "esteem" means to "have respect". God has respect for the humble, contrite in spirit, who tremble at His Word. wow. here it is in printable form: as always, go here to buy.

i've always been a good girl. since i can remember, i never really got into trouble, was always compliant, always followed the rules. i was responsible, logical, mature, could be counted on. i think i was naturally this way, but after awhile, and after seeing the negative consequences that could come from doing the opposite, i began to relish the attention i gained from peers and adults. i loved being the good girl. i didn't want to be that naive and silly good girl though. i wanted people to know that i knew about all that bad stuff that was out there , and was choosing to be good because i knew it was more responsible. Source: etsy.com via Aly on Pinterest i began to believe that i could manage people's image of me. i became an "image manager" [not my term, leslie taught me that one]. it was comfortable even though it had me deceived, and i believed it was working. i'm not saying that i wasn't really that responsible person, or that

today i am 19 weeks + 1 day pregnant. we had our official, medical ultrasound [where you usually find out the sex, but we already knew it was a girl]. she confirmed that it was in fact a girl, which was no surprise to me. and it looked like everything else was good too. i never want to take for granted the fact that my babies are healthy and all their parts are working properly. i know it could be very different and i know i certainly don't deserve a healthy baby over anyone else. anyway, it occurred to me that maybe you'd want to see some shots of the growing belly? and it is popping out fast! i promise at the end of these 40 weeks people will be asking if i'm sure i'm not having twins [it happened last time, so i fully expect it again]. i discovered it wasn't all that simple to take photos of myself... find the right lighting, find an object to set the camera on that was high enough, make sure it focussed correctly, and then make sure i didn't look like a

have you guys ever heard of the "dollar mob" ? okay, well it's this new organization that i've seen mentioned a couple times around blogland.  Ashley Ann [you all know who i'm talking about, right? awesome photographer and DIY-er extraordinaire?]  and my friend Kim [both Ashley and Kim are going through the  adoption process right now] have mentioned it. basically, you sign up through paypal to give $1 every week . $4 a month. what you could scrape together in your car and couch cushions, probably right now, and at least once every month. you know what i mean? but the idea is that if enough people are giving the $4 per month, they can fund some really awesome projects. mostly adoptions. each month they'll introduce a new family or project that they're going to fund, and your $4 will go toward that. $4 is basically nothing. if you don't have an etsy shop, which means your paypal account probably always has a at least $4 in it, you could e

okay, i think this is my new favorite. i made it for my daughter's room, since we sing "Jesus Loves Me" every night before bed [at least 3 or 4 times] so naturally, i've added it to the shop too! [find it here]

1 corinthians 13. a classic, right? i think we tend to dismiss it because we hear it so often but its message is really important. here's what i came up with. i love it, and cannot decide which color-way i want to hang in my house: you can buy here , and then i'll email you the high res jpg file.