[faith] He Is Risen, Indeed

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter yesterday! We enjoyed the weekend with my parents and friends in town visiting. We worshiped together at church yesterday, rejoicing in our Risen Savior! We sang the song "Forever" by Kari Jobe/Brian Johnson: if you haven't heard it before, take a listen! "Now death, where is your sting? Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated! Forever, He is glorified! Forever, He is risen high!" 

Just gives me chills. We serve a Risen Savior who is living in the hearts of His church, the body of believers! We shouldn't recognize this truth just on Easter Sunday, but every single day.

Like I said, we celebrated the weekend with friends. They had never visited our area of TX before, so we showed them around (Warrenton and a couple of wineries, shopping, and eating too)! We had such a blast: here are snippets of the weekend we had together!

The most delicious creamed corn/Frito combination.

Washers at our local winery

Our communion table this Easter Sunday at church

Easter lunch selfie!

Such a fun weekend celebrating together and spending time with our favorite people on the planet. How did you celebrate this weekend? Have a great week!

[life] Junk-O-Rama

Every fall and spring in TX, the tiny towns of Warrenton and Round Top turn into antique central. Sellers from all over the world bring their goods, set up tents and shops for 4 weeks and sell to the thousands of people who come visit. There isn't only shopping, but there's food and live music. The best that Texas has to offer!

One event that I attended for the first time this year is the Junk-O-Rama PROM! My girlfriends and I decided this year was the time to go. You can wear regular clothes... but loads of people dress up in tacky prom gear: think glitter, feathers, top hats, bling, lace, POOF, anything goes! Some people are a bit more... festive, than others. We chose to do poofy/glitter/jewelry/headbands! We had a blast and enjoyed the sights and sounds. See below!

The location of the prom in Warrenton: Zapp Hall

A few items I thought would be so cute to purchase!

It is such a blessing to have amazing and beautiful friends to do life with. So blessed! What are your plans for the weekend? Have a good one!

[love] Junk Finds

One of my favorite pastimes is "junkin'", or the act of going through antique stores and garage/yard sales for new-to-me, prized possessions. And I LOVE the hunt of finding an amazing deal! Over the past three weeks, I've had a couple of opportunities to go junkin': one in Fredericksburg with Sam, and the other in my current town and the surrounding areas with my BFF gals Jen, Sam (different Sam), and Kelli. Here are my finds!

[Fredericksburg]

This is an old, ballot box! How neat is that?! $13. Still has the original markings, warning labels, and is in pretty good condition. I'm just using it as a chotch-kie (is that how you spell it? ha!) for decoration.

Scrabble tiles: who doesn't love scrabble tiles?! I found the letters to spell our last name, along with a stand to hold the letters. .25 for each letter, $1.50 for the stand. It's currently sitting on our piano.

Sheet music: I am a sucker for old sheet music! Since Nate is a music genius, I try to pick up old sheets of music whenever I can so he can analyze it :) Hopefully, I will get enough sheets to frame in matching frames and make a grid gallery wall above our piano. These sheets were around $4 each. One isn't marked and I don't remember the price.

 [Garage/Consignment Stores]

This ottoman was $12: a little pricey for a consignment store, but I've got big plans for it! I'm going to spray paint the wicker white and recover the seat. Plus, the seat opens up for more storage! Win.

I love me a good, ol' hymnal project! These babies were $1 and .50. I have found some CUTE projects that incorporate hymnal pages, so stay tuned for that. We were both raised Southern Baptist, and although we are now at a non-denominational church, we love us a classic hymn. Worship songs today are still well-written, but the text and lyrics in hymns are beautiful.

I've been recently on the hunt for old clipboards. I've seen some quirky projects completed with these, so I hope to re-create something of my own. I'm thinking of spray-painting the middle with chalkboard spray paint, leaving some brown around the edge as a border. I want to hang it on the wall in our guest bedroom as a welcome sign (or something: we will see)!

Isn't this dish adorable? $1. I'm going to put it on my nightstand or by our sink to hold my jewelry. Love the gold and white together!

These jars. Wow oh wow. Bargain of the day! They are HUGE, probably at least a foot tall. I paid .50 FOR ALL THREE OF THEM. What?! People have been raising the prices of glass jars since Mason jars are "all the rage" now. I was pumped to find these large jars at such a cheap price! I'm planning on using them as centerpieces for our farmhouse table. Stay tuned for that as well!

Mirrors. Another thing I'm on the hunt for. I don't think I've shown you all, but I am creating a mirror gallery wall in our front entry. So far, I have 5 mirrors of varying sizes. This $2 beauty is the newest addition, making it mirror #6. When I hang it, I'll post about my mirror gallery wall :) An idea I found on Pinterest, of course!

These embroidery hoops were .25 each, making my total $1.25. Again, on Pinterest, I have seen some cute ideas incorporating embroidery hoops into home decor. I saw one wall that had varying styles of lace inside each hoop: it was beautiful! Not sure how I will incorporate them yet, but I'm sure I will think of something (or borrow an idea on Pinterest).

The last find: a $3 vintage Scrabble board game! WHAT! I just spent $$$ on spelling out "Johnson" with scrabble tiles, but HELLOOOO, this game comes with all sorts of tiles plus their little stands! I haven't checked how many of each letter came with the game, but the pieces are in great condition. Pumped!

Okay, okay. Surely I am not the only one who loves a good deal, one-of-a-kind pieces, and digging through some questionable items in order to find the treasures. Do you? Share with me! I love hearing these kinds of stories!


Happy Wednesday! On Wednesdays, I teach a K-5th grade bible study at our church: tonight's story is on Job. Even after everything he loved and depended on was taken away, Job was still praising God's name. Read the verse below and know that even in the midst of suffering and trials, God is still sovereign, powerful, and good:

"And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'" Job 1:21