Purple: The Color of JOY

Thanks to a friend's recent post I found a new blog: Lil Blue Boo. Along with having a very inspirational story and great blog, she also sells extremely cute children's clothing and patterns to make your own. 

With many struggles in her life, including cancer and chemo, this individual has made a decision to "Choose Joy" in her daily life rather than dwell on the negatives. It seems like such a simple and logical decision but one so many of us pass up from one day to the next if that particular day isn't spectacular, let alone if something unfortunate happens.

She's selling "Choose Joy" bracelets in her store in packs of 20 at a non-profit cost. Not only do I love the message and do I feel that it fits the example I try to set out of my life, but they are purple.... Enough said? 

Photo from Lil Blue Boo

Please be in touch if you'd like one of my 20. As much as I love purple, I only intend to wear one, meaning I'll have some extras. Comment or hit me up by other means and I'll share the wealth!

Rite of Passage - Shaving my Head from Ashley Hackshaw on Vimeo.

My Wedding on a Budget: 33 Days to Go!

Readings...Check!
What a lazy, rainy day! I guess it was quite all right considering it was Labor Day and technically you are supposed to celebrate by doing little to no labor...so that's what we did! We slept in some, but not too late and it was still raining. It was cold, cold, cold outside which is just crazy because it was just Saturday that it reached over 100 degrees! Now it's in the 50s! Unbelievable! Between the cold, the rain, and two very busy days, Jon and I laid low. We cleaned up the kitchen from our gather last night. (Friends and family cooked out and had a little shindig.) We did make a trip down to Greystone because Pa was extracting what little honey we got from the bees this year and I definitely wanted Jon to see how that went. I would have made more salsa today but didn't want to take on the cold rain to pick tomatoes.

Instead I took advantage of having Jon inside with me for the day and we decided on our readings. We'd sort of already narrowed down our favorites over the other times we'd looked through the book in the past. The book I have, by the way, is one I found and took from Grandma Rousculp's house at the time of her funeral. Of course, Jon and I were not even close to being a couple at that point and I was dating no one so I'm not sure why I took it but I guess I knew (hoped) one day I'd have a reason for it. It's kind of an extra role Grandma can play in my wedding planning. None of the readings we chose are too standard. I really like the message of God being love and that having love in your life is having God in your life and you cannot have one without the other. If everyone could simply see God as love, it would be that much easier for everyone to realize there is something at work in this world outside of themselves and something powerful beyond belief. I think most people believe in love. If they believe in the power of love, they believe in God; perhaps all people just done like to put that label on it, but God's power and presence is nothing more than something so simple as love. And that is why Jon in my life brings me closer to God, because the love I can experience with him brings me so close to the love of God.