What I'm into, November 2013 edition

November, what a month! My baby girl is ONE. One, people. She has brought our family so much joy. What a treasure.

Here's what I'm into this month, all categorised for those of you who are even remotely interested in how I spend my time:

Books

• The Harry Potter Series, again. I am such a Potter nut. I love it. Whenever I just want to enjoy reading for the sake of reading, I end up back here. This latest bought started when I picked up the Chamber Of Secrets at a secondhand shop. Then I got Order of the Phoenix at the library book sale. And on it goes.  Don't knock it till you've tried it.
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I got this one out of the library upon the recommendation of Jen Hatmaker in Seven, and Shauna Niequist in Bread and Wine. It is great, but I was overly optimistic that I could get through a book like this. I will be getting it out to finish when on summer holiday next month.
• Interupted by Jen Hatmaker. Enjoying, not yet finished. 
• Reading Bread and Wine again on Kindle (By Shauna Niequist). I read this one in the flesh (Paper?!) when I bought it for a friend in April, so I am reading it now in a weird order, finding the bits I liked and the recipes I wanted to try. Roasted broccolli OH MY how you have changed my life. 
• I started and finished Nice girls don't change the world by Lynne Hybels in the space of about a half hour. It's a small book, it's a life-changing book. I was leant it years ago by people who said "This reminds me of you". I felt exhausted at the thought of it. I thought the book would be telling me to stop being nice and start being domineering and bossy and forthright and to go out there and do Important Things. Turns out, most of the book is spent talking about being less busy doing all the things you think a "Nice" christian woman should do. I should have read this years ago. (There's that should word). If I had taken the messages to heart I could have saved myself a lot of stress. Anyway. I'm glad I read it and I will read it again and copy out passages. 
• I started, optimisticly, A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. I'm reading this one as it's one Sarah Bessey recommends. Sounds good so far and I'm hoping I can stick with it.

Movies & TV

Images via Caitlyn Murphy on Pinterest

• Doctor Who - finally got my next disc - we are at the start of season 3. Poor Doctor, without Rose. *Sob* And can we STOP for a moment and talk about the 50th anniversary special?!?!? Seriously, on a superficial level - I want Rose's hair. On a non-superficial level, how dare my children all decide to cry and not sleep on this most auspicious night. I watched this in spurts - missed the start, watched the bits with the machine that goes DING, missed some more, caught Rose in the shed, missed the stuff with the bomb, saw the end. Then watched it through from the beginning recorded. There just aren't any words for how much I loved it. LOVED it.

• New Girl on DVD, sometimes I love it and feel so happy when I watch it, sometimes I just feel like I want it to end. At the moment I'm in the just-want-it-to-end state. In fact, I returned my last DVD without finishing it because I was so Meh. Some other time I'll be in the right space for it. 
• Les Miserables. Another finally moment, I missed this at the movies because of a new baby. I just adored it. I listened to the cassette tape as a child and teenager over and over religiously. I had never see the stage show. So it was amazing to see the songs and the storyline come to life in such a beautiful and heart-wrenching fashion. 
• I would also like to make an unashamed kids+TV plug for Tiki Tour, on every morning at 6.30am. They are currently touring our country, which is so cool, as I am learning all sorts of fascinating things about small towns in the south island! I'm very keen on visiting Oamuru now. Steampunk capital of New Zealand. 

Magazines and publications

• If you have someone in your family or a friend who is into IT or web design, apps and suchlike - I highly recommend Offfscreen magazine. They ship around the world and it is a beautiful publication. Incredibly inspiring and interesting for those who are all technical-like. (Not me, clearly, but my husband).
• Sweet Paul magazine. I adore this magazine. Cooking and crafting and beautiful things. It is really easy to read online and even prints out beautifully. The best thing is the current Christmas Kids issue, available as an iPad version or as a PDF. So many amazing things. SO MANY. Get it! Print it out! You'll treasure it forever. (And for anyone obsessed with miniature things, like myself, check out the adorable feature below). 
  
• Flow magazine and 101 Woonideeen from the Netherlands. My lucky lucky in-laws have been overseas trotting around Europe. They are forgiven for having such a good time because they send me magazines I ask them to find. Flow magazine has an International version too, in English, but they sent me the Dutch version, which I love. (I already have the international versions). And 101 Woonideeen is the most brilliant interiors magazine. I just love the Dutch and Scandinavian style. So many cool ideas. Again, not in English, but google translate to the rescue if you ever want to know what the words say. The pictures more than make up for it. 
  
  
  

Crafting & Making

• New category to share the creative things I've been into each month. Excited much! I've been making ornaments from Mollie Makes magazine - the year before last's Christmas edition! They're cute. I want to design and make my own one year so thought trying out other peoples patterns would be a good way to learn.
• I made these car seat pillows for my kids when we went on a road trip recently. They were good but Mister 3 was grumpy, pillow or no pillow. They took a lot of time and the pattern, which I was a good honest person and paid for from etsy, just wasn't as easy to find as I'd hope for $8 US. It needed photos and clearer steps. But I'm glad I tried it.
• I've started the Modern Patchwork Ecourse from Rachel at Smile and Wave. I made the Stars in your Eyes pillow. I mucked up piecing it together which is annoying - got one bit upside down. But it still looks ok and as it's just for my home I'm living with it. I figure that the first time I do something, I'm learning, so mistakes are okay. 
• Trying to finish off a cross stitch from Wee Little Stitches on Etsy. They are great, easy to follow, simple - but it just all takes time. I've been working on this one since March. I've just not sat down and put serious hours into it like it needs. Aiming to get it done by Christmas but would like it done before so I can choose some more for gifts. 

General Life Loveliness

 We have had some lovely times this spring, holidays with friends, a walk around the lake in baby season, and unexpected trips back up to our hometown. Meet Lola the lamb. I know. So precious.
My wee vegetable garden is thriving due to the act of planting Borage in it. Word to the wise - this plant grows, man. It's more than a metre tall and wide. But it's done great things for the rest of the plot. Does anyone need any silverbeet, by the way?

So enough from me, what are you into this month? I'm linking up with Leigh and the lovely people who know her. Check out everyone elses posts by clicking the button - you're sure to find some Christmas gift ideas!

xx Sarah

(I can't get the button to work, but link up with Leigh here)

What I'm Into Link Up Guidelines: - See more at: http://www.leighkramer.com/#sthash.4jIie8L2.dpuf

Stuff that is inspiring me at the moment

I am feeling happy tonight, so I am going to share the things that are making me feel happy. Because, shucks, let's make the most of it aye?
Firstly some lovely magazines. Arriving in the mail today was my issue of Mollie Makes and it was as good as I'd hoped! It's nice when high expectations are deserved.

There are so many pages of inspiring crafty yumminess, that I can't believe they manage to do this every month.

And I am so making my own grassy green lawn for my desk:

And I bought Jamie magazine at the supermarket yesterday too. The frozen yoghurt layer cake on the front looks amazing and I am definitely going to try it for summer barbeques with friends.

There is a fun article on picnic food with some very cool kids costumes made from cardboard:

I'm still totally obsessed and addicted to PInterest too. For anyone who hasn't discovered its joy yet, it is an online pinboard or scrapbook of sorts. You create categories, and organise all the inspiring images you find in life and on the net. You can take pictures from the app on your phone while you're out and about, you can use it's "pin" tool when you're surfing the net, and you can just look at everyone elses boards and repin their pins too. Here are some of my favourites from my boards:

Plus some beautiful garden ideas and interior design inspiration:

And cute stuff for the kids!

I've been following Elizabeth Esther on twitter, but only just finally got around to reading her blog and have had such a good giggle this afternoon. She kept mentioning her personality type (ENFP) and I got extremely curious, so took an online test. Surprise, surprise, I am an ENFP too. No wonder I identified so much with her posts, in particular "How an ENFP cleans house" and "I'm a slacker for Jesus".
And I'm loving watching Nigella Bites on TV on tuesday nights. I love her style. And I'm loving how young she is! Which isn't some kind of ageist comment, I love her most recent stuff too, but still - it's entertaining.

And to end on a more serious note, in the weekend I went to a seminar here in Wanganui with guest speaker Letitia Shelton. Letitia is the CEO of City Women in Toowoomba, Australia, an organisation that is having an incredible impact on their city. She describes part of her job as "lighting fires underneath Christians" and that is what she did. For those of us who attended it was a radical wake-up call. She was blunt yet hilarious, depressing yet incredibly uplifting at the same time. Some of the points that have hit home for me the most are:

• The girls in your city are your daughters, and you need to think of them as such - fight for them, believe in them, love them, risk everything for them.
• The sex slave trade doesn't just exist overseas in countries like Cambodia and Africa, it exists here in our countries with magazines like Cosmopolitan that are ensuring our girls grow up believing they are only valuable for what they can do for men, what they look like, how sexy they are, and how thin they are. People of faith need to stand up and fight this rubbish.
• We need to stop trying to get people into our churches and instead we need to take church out to the people.
• You can be a pastor of your city not just a pastor of a church.
• We need each other. Different denominations must come together, different ages must work together. A city in trouble needs a city wide ministry, one church cannot do it alone. We have so much to offer each other. 
• Courage. Do it afraid. The church has been breeding nice women - we've become like robots, like the Stepford wives! There needs to be more dangerous women in the church - women like Rahab, Esther, Deborah. Take risks, speak up, FIGHT. And hooray, she found the quote I mentioned in my post about sisterhood, which is from Matthew Arnold:

"If ever there comes a time when the women of the world come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a force such as the world has never known."

Don't I believe it. I feel overwhelmed and burdened by what I've heard this weekend. There is so much need. I have so many ideas, and I have no idea where to start. I feel in my heart encouraged and strengthened by the group of women that were there. I know that they feel exactly as I do, and in that knowledge I will sleep soundly (well, as soundly as it is as possible to sleep when there's a wriggly 1 year old next to you).

xx Sarah

The end of a sewing frenzy

My epic week of sewing is over. I think it's going to take me a while to want to sit down at the sewing machine again!
My final count was 26 bibs and 37 taggy blankets. I had a few more cut out and ready to get started but needed to just stop. And it was probably a good idea, because Shirley made a joke (I hope) about having to take out her underwear to fit them in her luggage!
Some final photos of my bits and pieces:

It's been tiring and my house is an absolute bomb site. But for the first time in I think, ever, I've actually achieved a goal I set for myself at the start of the year. Maybe I'm finally getting over my rebellion against discipline... No, it's too soon to make that claim.
Shirley thinks there will be enough for every baby in the orphanage to have/use one! It's been really special to be able to send a part of myself over to those children. The team leave about now and I know they would appreciate your prayers. 
So this weekend I need to get my house back in some sort of order, plant a mandarin tree plus some shrubs and strawberry plants I bought at the garden centre this week, and try to make sure my hard working husband has a Fathers day. (This sunday, don't forget! As if TV and mass advertising would ever let you)
And I also need to finish my read for the book club I'm involved in. "Blue like Jazz" by Donald Miller. It was my choice this time and very different from the novels we've usually read, so I'm hoping the others don't hate it. Either way, I do love the book - just need to sit in one place and finish it.
xx Sarah