NYC through my sunglasses

{Wall St}

                  Back in February, I promised my friend Erika I will gather some pictures from all of my trips to NYC and write some impressions. I kept postponing, until recently when I read my first impression about NYC. So, here I am. Whenever I go to NYC, I have the same feelings as when I was the first time. So, today enjoy NYC through my sunglasses.

{random building}

{panoramic - right; Statue of Liberty - left}

{Ground Zero (this cute couple is my hubby and I - we were amazed) }

{view from Empire State Building}

{view from Empire State Building}

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Rear view mirror

I was speeding way too fast on the highway of life, looking only 2 feet in front of me, and more often looking in my rear view mirror to see if my past is still chasing me. It was a cold, foggy morning... when suddenly, a river of rays of sun shone right in front of me. Suddenly, it’s warm and fuzzy, and cozy and I can't stop a smile. That was the moment I realized the rear view mirror is stopping me from seeing the great things that are ahead of me.

This happened to me way too many mornings while driving to work. I get so caught up to look in the rear view mirror, that sometimes I don't even realize what gorgeous views I miss.

You know what? We do that in our everyday lives, too. We don't see the happiness of our kids because we're too worried about job related issues. We can’t see the happiness of a great relationship because we keep looking back scared of our past. We can't reach for hope when looking in rear view mirror.

God had taught me this year through my morning drives more than I could've imagined.


I linked up here:

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Decorations on a budget

Not all the time you have the time, the money, the energy to do things as you imagined. This is my story, how I made everything work out with what I had in hand at the moment. Note: this article is pretty long, so grab a coffee and make yourself comfortable.

When our friend Cosmin came back from Romania with his brand new wife, Dana, our church wanted to throw a warm party to celebrate their new life together and introduce Dana in our community. We rented a ballroom at one of the local restaurants, and I volunteered to decorate it. Everything happened on such a short notice, I didn’t even have time to go see the place. So, with that in mind, I decided to go simple, warm and use as many things I had around the house. It was the beginning of October, so I went to dollar store and bought 20 scented candles (the ones that come in a jar). That was all the money I spent!!! (I was so proud of me!!!) 

I gathered everything else that I had around the house and could’ve been used for fall theme décor: brown packaging paper for candles (you’ll see in the pictures below how they looked after the makeover), olive satin ribbon, brown basket, a white luminary, tea battery candles, brown jute and a piece of ivory card stock (leftovers from Cosmin & Dana’s wedding invitations), leaf stamps, chocolate brown ink, two old vases turned into candles supports, and another vase with some cones and white Christmas lights in it.

So we (my hubby and I) get to the restaurant 30 minutes before everybody arrives. Eddie starts working on the sound system, I start decorating. There were 2 very long tables, one round table for Cosmin and Dana and another table right at the entrance. I placed the scented candles along those two long tables. (Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to take a picture before everyone arrived).

On the round table, I placed the white luminary with a tea battery candle in it, the old vases turned into candles supports, and some candles. It looked kind of empty, but I was lucky someone brought some flowers and they fit perfectly! 

I used the table at the entrance as “welcome table” and the “cards & gifts table”. I knew before there will be people who will give cards, so I used the ivory card stock to make a CARDS sign. I hanged it on the brown basket with the brown jute. Also, I scattered the left battery candles and one of the scented candle.

Then, I took a deep breath!!.. Phew!!! I was done! It was cute! (even though the lighting was terrible). We made new friends, had fun and most important thing, we celebrated them. their love. and new beginning.

What do you do to stay on the budget when decorating?

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An analogy

          

          I was thinking the other day about my friend who recently came to US. To make story short, she has never wanted to move to US, but her husband has a job here. Whenever she has the chance she says how much she misses Romania and how badly she wants to go back. She always makes sure people around her understand her feelings towards her country. I understand her. I was the same. I didn’t choose to leave Romania because I was living a great life there. Last week, when we left from our vacation, it just clicked in my mind, we are doing exactly the same thing in our spiritual lives. We’ve been in a dreary “land” without God, being weak and feeling unsecured. Fear was our best friend and we were begging for hope. Concepts such as love and acceptance were strange to us. And then, God revealed himself to us. To me, personally. So I began to hope… fear disappeared, and love is the greatest thing known to me. However, so many times, through my words, or my unconscious decisions or gestures, I express my longing to go back to where I was. It’s so easy to forget the desperation that was constantly present.

"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." 

                                                                                                               Proverbs 16:25

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It's never too late to set goals and get organized :)

          

          Nowadays, I struggle a lot. Nobody told me being a wife, having a full time job, trying to open your business, trying get your blog known out there and have healthy relationships can turn yourself into a crazy person so easily!... I realized in order to make things happen, I need to plan. To make a schedule, and tons of lists. I started by setting up goals for this year. And when I saw this cute downloadable (link) made by Agus, I had to have it too… Suddenly, setting goals, making schedules and keeping up with tons of lists, became more interesting for my creative eye. I am so excited of this whole new lifestyle than I’m gonna share my goals for 2013, all neatly organized, and with happy colors. When I look at it, I don’t feel overwhelmed, I feel beautiful, creative, energized and stronger!
        My picture doesn't do justice... I know, I have just a phone camera. There goes one of my goals for this year but I still have time till the end of the year, right? ;)


PS: There is still time for you to enter the giveaway!

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Not All At Once

 For a while now I subscribed to 1 Minute Bible Love Notes email. Every day, Monday through Friday, I receive a Love Note from God (through Gail Purath, the sweet lady behind 1 Minute Bible Love Notes), that I would be able to read it in 1 minute. I am always so bless by those devotionals, and I would love to be able to share all here, but I think it would be easier if you’d just go on her website and subscribe to her emails. Anyway, today I want to share with you one of last week’s notes.

Not All At Once

                  by Gail Purath @ 1-Minute Bible Love Notes

Many people never witness because they think they have to make a forced presentation, sharing the entire Gospel in one conversation.*

But here’s some ways we can share naturally:
1. Incorporate Christ into conversations (Colossians 4:6). For example, when sharing a problem, explain you’re praying about it. Or when a friend or co-worker shares a problem, tell them you’ll pray for them.

2. Smile, be positive, don’t complain (Philippians 2:14-16).

3. Be different:

• The one in the office who doesn’t cuss or talk dirty (Ephesians 5:4).
• The mom who’s genuinely interested in neighbors (Philippians 2:3-4).
• The person who’s always honest (Colossians 3:9-10).
• The courteous customer to waitresses and store clerks (Galatians 5:22-23).

Then when someone notices and comments, explain that your relationship with Christ has helped you develop these character qualities (1 Peter 3:13-16).

Witnessing should naturally flow from who we are in Christ (John 13:34-35).

*There are times we should share it all, and we must let the Holy Spirit guide us. But people play different roles in evangelism, some planting seeds, some watering, some harvesting (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).

copyright 2013, Gail Burton Purath, 1-Minute Bible Love Notes

Small Business Giveaway!!!

      

          Ok, so I usually don’t like to blog on Sundays, but my excitement is so huge, I can’t keep it as a secret anymore! In February, Shelby from Chasing Birdies wrote a blog post, calling all shop owners to help her host a giveaway. Since having a giveaway is one of my goals for this year, you bet I leaped of joy and typed really fast all information needed. The hard part was to choose which one of my items to give away! You know, I have a bunch of them that didn’t even make the listing on my shop, either because I want to perfect them a little bit more, or because my pictures of them suck! But hey, I closed my eyes and picked one out of the pile… I’m sure by now you’re just as excited as I am, so here’s the widget for you to enter the giveaway! It will end up on March 17, so hurry up! You can even share with your friends or whoever you want to!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now go back to Shelby and leave her a cute comment as a thank you for hosting this giveaway!...

Have a wonderful week!!!