Guest Post-- {unspeakable joy}

Hi y'all! I'm ryann from {unspeakable joy}! Many thanks to Sasha for letting me watch over her blog while she is away!

I've always admired Sasha for her awesome taste in music. In fact, we have gone to a few concerts together, and of course, had a wonderful time! Here are a few pictures of us from our adventures... talk about blast from the past!

So pumped for Coldplay- Summer 2009

just viva-ing la vida, y'all

summer 2010- John Mayer and Train

nothing like a little mayer acoustic to get your heart beating fast!

As you can see, Sasha and I have had some great concert experiences the past few summers. There's nothing like making a playlist and rocking out as you run errands, sit out on the back porch, or hit the gym in the summer, agree? That being said, here is my rockin' summer playlist of a few of my favorite tracks!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for having me, Sasha! Don't forget to come pay me a visit on my little blog!

xoxo ryann

Toes in the water, Toes in the sand

Leave it to the Zac Brown Band to adequately accompany this post.  I certainly plan on having my toes in both the water and the sand this weekend while I'm away at the beach.  I probably won't be holding a cold beer in my hand but that's certainly alright because I will be holding a wonderful book instead.  Whether it's laying out in the sun, wading around in the waves, or sitting on a rocking chair listening to a thunder storm, the beach is always a place I can relax and recollect. Although I'll be out of town, you should make your way back to see some awesome ladies and the things that they'll have to share with you.

Motivation

As I sit here and enjoy my morning coffee, I can't help but think this summer has completely flown by. And my oh my so much has happened.  This summer I've done so much-- I've explored my faith, I've helped others explore theirs, I've met life long friends and rekindled old friendships, I've shared hilarious and precious memories that I will never forget, and I've also grown up.  It's so odd to think that in less than a month now I will be starting my senior year of college. Seriously, where did the time go?  Instead of stressing this morning about all that there is to come, I figured I'd leave you with a little motivation, all found in my pinterest board {words to LIVE by}, feel free to check it out.  But for now, just enjoy --

Hope all is well, and remember the Lord makes all things work together for our good.

Psst! Also, go check out the wonderful Jacks giveaway over at Coffee at Nordstrom!

e.l.f.

When it comes to make-up, I pretty much shoot for the natural look. Even though I don't wear that much I still found myself spending a lot of money on make-up like every three months, and it just wasn't fitting in my budget anymore.  Luckily for me I was recommended e.l.f, eyes lips face, by my mom.  She swore by it, and said it wasn't that expensive.  She got me a few things to try out, and I loved it. 

Some of my favorites: {1. Tinted Moisturizer} { 2. Under eye concealer and highlighter} {3. Mineral Foundation set} { 4. Pink lemonade all over color stick} { 5. Cream eyeliner} {6. Volume plumping mascara}

Tinted moisturizer, what a wonderful idea. Get to hide those blemishes, and protect my skin from the sun, perfect for trips to the pool/beach.  I love the under eye concealer because it doesn't just hide dark under-eye circles, it also highlights your eyes giving you a refreshed look.  The mineral foundation is awesome because it's very lightweight and easy to apply, and then there is my favorite piece of all time, the all over color stick. I have pink lemonade which is a very pinky pink. It's great as a highlight on my cheek bones and a little splash of color on the lips.  Perfect to throw in your clutch for a night out on the town or a day out with the girls.  The cream eyeliner is super easy to apply and I wear the brown because it's not quite so in-your-face.  And the absolute necessity (for me especially because my eyelashes are blonde) is the mascara.  Love the volume it gives my lashes!

I used to think e.l.f was only online, which wasn't too big of a deal because they have awesome sales and promotions going on-- all the time. However, I was visiting Alex in Atlanta and noticed they had a super target, which is already pretty awesome.  But it got even better, they had an entire e.l.f. section! It was so amazing, and not to mention everything featured above was $3 dollars or less. Yeah, it was that good.

Wanna look good on a budget? Check out e.l.f.

Gracious words

This post isn't only about gracious words, although it is always nice to hear them.  I was looking at my pinboard and I noticed i've pinned so many wonderful quotes, sayings, and pieces of scripture that I wanted to share.  It just so happens it goes along well with whats been on my mind lately.

We are called to be fishers of men, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, and to love the Lord with all of our heart.  At times it seems so difficult to fathom what it means to love.  I feel like no matter how many times i'm told, and no matter how many books I read, I will never truly understand what it means to be created in the image of the Lord, by the Lord, a father who loves us so much so that he will forgive everything that we've done only to be accepted and loved by him.  

And to think if we lived our lives like that, loving unconditionally, how fulfilling and pure our lives and our love would be.  The relationships we could create could withstand anything, and the bonds would be unbreakable, real, deep and meaningful.  As if forgiveness of our sins wasn't enough, this is yet another gift we've been given, the ability and the command to love, and love to the fullest.  

It's hit me more recently the importance of what we're called to do, and I hope that it to encourages you.  Sometimes it's so hard to love everyone-- but we're called to.  So I want to give you a little push, not to change over night, but just to try and love those close to you a little more deeply.  Friends and family, and then to try to extend that love to those surrounding you, coworkers, classmates, and see if the light of the Lord can indeed shine through you.  It's a take off of passing-it-forward if you will, and I think we can really change the way that not only we think, but also those surrounding us.

Lovely Lace

As always, I've taken a dive into obsessing over certain fashion trends.  I'm thinking, however, I fell a little late into this one. But hey, better late than never right?

I recently went into Marshalls (bad idea for my wallet, great idea for my appearance) and I found an adorable pair of lace shorts, and an equally adorable grey and orange striped dress with a lace back.  As always I'm jumping on the bandwagon, the lace bandwagon that is, and I'm a big fan.

What fashion trends are you liking lately?

Cooking, group effort

If you know me well at all, then you already know I'm not the best cook there is.  Actually, I very rarely cook anything that doesn't involve boiling noodles and adding sauce.  However, Thursday night I had the night off from work and was feeling a little adventurous, so I invited two of my friends over and we decided to take on cooking as a group effort.

That night we made Parmesan crusted chicken, with a side salad of spinach, Roma tomatoes, mozzarella and a balsamic vinaigrette. 

Hunter took over cutting the chicken, he handled the dangerous stuff, with the help of Brooke.

He also loved wearing our adorable cheetah print oven-mitt, it fit him so well.

I took over the salad part, which only required cutting, adding dressing, and tossing-- 

needless to say I was a pro.

We also paired this lovely meal with the "Pick six" at Ingles, where you select your own beers and put them in a six pack.  It was pretty convenient because we all had very eclectic tastes.

We finished the night off with cookies for dessert.

Any good recipes you'd like to share with me?

Instagram

Started reading "Love Does", i'm too excited

Thanks to cloudy weather, we enjoyed a cool run

When visiting ATL, we hung out with friends

Where I wish I could spend every day, at the pool  

I met my best friends puppy, Millie

Went to watch Karaoke downtown, hilarious

I never will get enough of that handsome, lovely face

Chevron

{via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}

As always, pinterest has given me false hope in the sense of fashion trends.  It seems there always changing, however, this is one I'm loving.  The thing I like most about chevron is it seems to fit in everywhere: clothes, decorations, bedding, beauty, invitations, backgrounds, and easy do-it-yourself projects. I haven't gathered any items of this adorable trend in my closet-- yet.  But I fully intend too, and until then a girl can dream, right?Keeping up with fashion, or at least trying too, what about you?

Inspiration

{via}

Lately I've noticed I'm in need of a little inspiration.  

I love blogging, but eventually I run out of ideas to blog about.  So I figured I'd enlist your help.  

What would you guys want to hear about?  Life, food, fitness, faith, any other ideas?

Also, Linking up... what is this all about? I've seen some like: Tuesday Tunesday, What I'm loving Wednesday, etc.  Someone explain this to me, how it works? How you get involved?

Until my next pointless but hopefully entertaining (even in the slightest) post, see ya!

Where I've been lately

So I apologize for my absence this past week/weekend, it's been a crazy one at that!  On Saturday and Sunday Alex and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Charleston for a friends wedding, it was beautiful!  It's safe to say that we absolutely fell in love with Charleston and we've agreed to retire there, no big deal.

The wedding via instagram,

Isn't her dress absolutely stunning? I also stole a few from Emily's camera via facebook,

All of the old small group girls back together in one place! It was so nice to see everyone dancing, chatting, and just enjoying the awesome evening.

I'm also stoked to say I FINALLY got to register for The Color Run! My friend Abbie and I will be running the happiest 5k in Charlotte and I'm so excited!

On a not-so-happy note, at the end of this month I'll be taking the PLT as part of the Praxis II and I'm not too excited about that... at all. So, keep me in your prayers!

Hope all is well and that everyone is having a great summer!