Beauty in our home
In light of today's Making Your Home a Haven challenge, I took a little extra time to look for beauty and create beauty in the everyday things. Sometimes it's the little touches that matter the most!
Breakfast: Blueberry biscuits (quite healthy and delicious!) and strawberries--yum!
Fresh veggies (most from our garden!) for morning snacking.
Homemade peach pie for dinner--ready to go into the oven. Just for fun, I added hearts and stars to the top instead the usual top crust.
Freshly-cut flower arrangements from our flower gardens--beautiful, so easy to do, and free (well, unless you count the initial cost of the little flower starters or seeds)!
Instead of the usual flower vase, I like to use my tea pots , tea cups, or cream and sugar servers to hold fresh flowers. It adds a unique and beautiful touch, and eliminates the need for extra vases while allowing my tea collection to serve a dual purpose!
Lunch: Heart cut-out PB&J, carrots and grapes with a pretty napkin and flowers to garnish the table.
As an aside, did you notice that most of the pictures were of food? One of the major changes I've made in the last few months in order to help combat "the worn-out woman syndrome" I had been experiencing is to spend close to an hour exercising (walking, elliptical, weight gym, running) six days per week.
This has made a significant difference in the way I feel and I have so much more energy and stamina throughout the day as a result; however, I am almost always hungry now. So I'm trying to fuel my body with lots of healthful, wholesome foods every few hours throughout the day. I'll be sharing more on this in our upcoming series which starts tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Breakfast: Blueberry biscuits (quite healthy and delicious!) and strawberries--yum!
Fresh veggies (most from our garden!) for morning snacking.
Homemade peach pie for dinner--ready to go into the oven. Just for fun, I added hearts and stars to the top instead the usual top crust.
Freshly-cut flower arrangements from our flower gardens--beautiful, so easy to do, and free (well, unless you count the initial cost of the little flower starters or seeds)!
Instead of the usual flower vase, I like to use my tea pots , tea cups, or cream and sugar servers to hold fresh flowers. It adds a unique and beautiful touch, and eliminates the need for extra vases while allowing my tea collection to serve a dual purpose!
Lunch: Heart cut-out PB&J, carrots and grapes with a pretty napkin and flowers to garnish the table.As an aside, did you notice that most of the pictures were of food? One of the major changes I've made in the last few months in order to help combat "the worn-out woman syndrome" I had been experiencing is to spend close to an hour exercising (walking, elliptical, weight gym, running) six days per week.
This has made a significant difference in the way I feel and I have so much more energy and stamina throughout the day as a result; however, I am almost always hungry now. So I'm trying to fuel my body with lots of healthful, wholesome foods every few hours throughout the day. I'll be sharing more on this in our upcoming series which starts tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Labels: Making Your Home a Haven
posted by Crystal Paine at 1:37 PM
29 Comments:
These pictures are so pretty! I love how God makes food so colorful and enjoyable!
All the pictures look like something from a magazine! Good for you, doing all that exercise. I bought myself a pedometer and I find it really helps me move a little more than I usually do. I'm inclined to take extra steps just to push the number higher.
Speaking of healthy food, I tried taboulleh (not sure how to spell it) for the first time at a friend's house this weekend and it was yummy! I didn't think I'd like it--I don't do 'health food'--but I did. (The food I eat is generally healthy, which means mostly from scratch or Mom Nature instead of a box--but it is NOT health food, LOL!)
Wow! I've just been introduced to your blog, and I am so intrigued by it! It is my goal and my heart to make my home a place that my family feels comfortable and safe in, and your blog just hits the nail on the head! I am tempted to sit and read all day:) I can't do that, though. However, I am interested in the series that you called "Making your home a haven" and was wondering if all of the posts are group together somewhere, or if you could tell me the starting date of this series? Thanks!
Such beauty, Crystal!
Anyhows, we bumped into your moneysavingmom site, got a great deal from the dipes, and my HUSBAND (look, not me!) decided we should get your supermarket savings thingey (he's after all the head of the house and CFO too)! I thought it the coolest. Then I got into your blog and I am REALLY touched. I'm inspired and both of us are so charged up to do something different. Will read on your previous posts and learn more and comment more!!!
You're such a blessing and your journey with God and your girls encouraged me.
-Ann, NY, stay-at-home mother of Ian (2.5years) and Colleen (6 months) and very blessed wife of Tim
Okay...those blueberry biscuits look sooooo good. Please share the recipe!
thank you for all the hard work you put into your blog. i love to visit and roam around it.. and because of this i would like to pass the brillante weblog premio award off to you . please visit my post to get it! http://thewhateverpage.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/blog-awardme-omgosh-grillante-weblog-premio/
Wonderful post. Beautiful food feeds our soul, as well as our bodies. Clarice
Crystal
I am a single woman and find your blog a great encouragement to me. I love your helpful hints on homemaking and tucking them away for when I have my own to take care of. It's great to see women who are going against the culture and raising their families. By the way the girls are adorable.
Karen
The blueberry biscuits look so good! Can you share the recipe?
Lovely, just lovely. You are such an inspiration. Thanks so much! Your life blesses mine!
Wow, looks almost too pretty to eat! :D Thank you so much for sharing! You are such a blessing and encouragement!
I really enjoyed this post Crystal. My mom always set out to do things with an extra flair and I have so many wonderful memories because of it! I purpose to do the same in our home, though I often forget how something small can make a big impact on our family!
Crystal,
I found your blog a short time ago and I love it. I find it so inspiring. You have motivated me to start making my house a home. I was on modified bedrest for four months with my now 7 week old son and I also have a two year old daughter. Combine that with my sidetracked personality and a cluttered house and you have a recipe for disaster.
Since finding your blog, especially the Making Your Home a Haven series, I have slowly started to declutter and to do more to bless my family.
Keep up the good work. You are such a blessing!
-Rebecca
Wife of Dan,
Mother of Abigail and Daniel
Looks great!! :) Thanks for allowing us to take a peek into your day. :)
Exercise can sure make you hungry, sometimes I think you have find a balance and make sure you are more careful when you exercise than not at times. I feel much better if I get a good walk in though and some tea.
Crystal I have nominated you for a blog award. I hope you accept it. I love what you do. You are an encouragement for so many women.
Blessings,
Kim
Hi Crystal,
those are some really impressive photos!! I would also love to find out your recipe for blueberry biscuits. I am always looking for new healthy recipes.
Thanks!
Oh! Crystal! It's all so lovely. I've only been to your blog a few times, but I'm so inspired by it. Finding beauty is simple things is truly a gift. Thank you for encouraging us to look around for it. Blessings to you today!
The pie is adorable! I, too, would love the recipe for blueberry biscuits... we have tons of fresh blueberries here in New Hampshire right now, and I love to use as much local seasonal food as possible.
Love the beautiful peach pie! Such a neat idea with the shapes on top! I love beautifying my home, too.
Your meals look beautiful - what a good thing to focus on - something you do everyday but why not make it just a little more inviting!
One more request for your blueberry biscuit recipe - yum!
Great idea for a holiday pie crust!
Beautiful!
Any chance you'd be willing to share the blueberry biscuit recipe? They look so delicious!
The pie caught my eye!!!(how do you like my little rhyme?) Can't wait to do one now myself...thanks for the inspiration.
I love your simplicity, Crystal! Thanks for sharing! :)
I am so proud of you, Crystal!! I am trying to exercise and we did that series on Why Am I So Busy? (also a Christian publication) and it seems to really resonate with people. I am trying to exercise regularly and it had made a real difference in my day too.
Hugs to you- your food looks amazing!
Crystal, I love your "vase!" I like smaller arrangements, and I think that is perfect.
I've noticed since I've started running that I'm hungry a lot more often too. Sometimes it feels like I plan my whole day around food, but I'm feeling better and taking off weight, so it's worth it!
I liked the shapes on the top of the peach pie. I've never seen anyone do that before. Also, the heart-shaped pb&j sandwiches were neat too. You are quite creative. Thanks for the lovely ideas. Also, I cut and pasted your blueberry biscuit recipie. Sounds very delicious!
Post a Comment
<< Home