Proverbs 31: Verse 30

January 27th, 2012 Megan

Wow. We only have one verse left of Proverbs 31. Well, one verse after this week. Do you remember what we learned in the beginning? It was awhile ago! Well, let’s just focus on today’s verse…

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Matt used to have this verse written down on a notecard in his Bible. I found it when we were dating and got a little miffed. What? You don’t care that I’m charming? I demanded. You don’t want me to be pretty? Ugh. He then explained to me that it is so much more than that. He said that he loved how beautiful and charming I was, but that would only get me so far. Eventually I would get old and wrinkly, and though still beautiful, I would no longer be 21. And charm, well that is awesome, but I definitely had my not-so-charming moments. What he wanted most in a wife was a woman who feared the Lord, who put the Lord first. Then those ugly moments would not matter so much, because the eternal perspective would be intact. I hope I am getting this story correct (one of my charming qualities is telling stories just a touch different than they actually were… whoops) because it is important. Our marriage is centered on the Lord, so the fact that we both fear Him (sidenote fear is awe or reverence, not necessarily dread) is important. Does this make sense? Do you think you fear / stand in awe of the Lord? Do you see how that can help your marriage make it in the long haul?

Lastly, if you like that scripture print above, feel free to buy it at AmyJ’s shop, it is her design / photo after all.


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Favorite Nailpolish Giveaway

January 26th, 2012 Emily

I’m not one to be brand loyal or go on about how much I love a certain product. Yet, I have found my favorite nailpolish: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure. I had always considered painting my nails to be more painful than fun because the colors were lackluster, the formula was wonky and it would never turn out as nicely as going to the salon.

Then my friend Christine gave me one of the Sally Hansen colors for Christmas last year (Kook-A-Mango, which is the pinky orange above). I had previously bought OPI when I found it on sale. OPI’s formula was good, but the colors were mostly bland and it was more than I wanted to spend. The thing that most impressed me about the Sally Hansen polish was that it was less than $7, had great colors and its brush was slightly rounded. I’m surprised that it took so long for someone to figure out that a rounded brush meant salon-quality results at home.

I should note that I wasn’t comped or anything to be doing this review and giveaway. I just really love the product and wanted to share the love. So I’m giving away my favorite color: Commander in Chic, which is gray with the slightest touch of purple.

Here’s how to enter:

  • Comment on this post and tell me about your favorite beauty product.
  • Share a link to this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook for an extra entry. Then leave an additional comment on this post to have it count as a second entry.

Please only one entry per person/IP address. Entries will be accepted until 11:59 p.m., Feb. 3. U.S. residents only, please. Good luck!


Posted in Fun Stuff, The NewlyWives Tags: , , , 9 Comments

Chocolate Brownie Larabar Recipe

January 25th, 2012 Megan

Matthew has started his Fire Academy and that means I am in full on support mode. He needs meals and snacks, and I want to make them! I like to send him to school with healthy food, you know, the kind where you can pronounce each ingredient in the snacks. Larabars definitely fit that bill — dates, cashews, sea salt. Well, for the ”Cashew Cookie” bar at least.  I wanted to make a homemade version, though, so I found these Chocolate Brownie Larabars. Matt took some to school and I kept a few for myself. I got the recipe from my friend Shari, who has a great blog where she documents all of the cooking and meal planning that she does for her fam… I’m in awe!

Chocolate Brownie Larabars
slightly adapted from Running Upward

  • 2 cups chopped pitted Dates
  • 1 cup raw Cashews
  • 1 1/2 cups raw Almonds
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened Cocoa Powder
  • pinch of Sea Salt
  • 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened Coconut
  • 3 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
  • 2 or 3 tablespoons Water

If you have a food processor, you want to use it. I don’t so I had to adapt the recipe accordingly. Pulverize your dates in a magic bullet (or mini-prep food chopper) and then toss into stand mixer bowl. Do the same for the cashews and almonds. You want everything finely blended / almost turned into a paste. Mix together on medium for thirty seconds or so. Add cocoa powder and sea salt, blend. It should now look like crumbs. Add coconut and vanilla extract. Add water until it is a moist dough. Press into a glass dish. I think I used a 3 quart oblong pyrex dish. It was about 6 inches wide and 10 inches long (or so). Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so and then cut into squares. My recipe made 24 squares.

Wrap in saran wrap or parchment paper, either one works, but plastic wrap is probably easier. I just have a ton of wax paper, so I use that. Next time, I will tape the wax paper on the back, so it looks nicer!

Cutting and wrapping the bars makes it much more likely that you will grab them and go. If I leave them in the dish, they stay in the dish. These bars are getting gobbled up rather quickly, and I feel pretty good about feeding them to my man! Thanks for the recipe, Shari!


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NewlyWife Likes #31

January 24th, 2012 Emily

This week we run the gamut of topics: weird marriages, old photos, breakfast bars, T-shirt refashions… Just another fun Tuesday afternoon with the Internet.

  • Odd Marriages: Women’s Day did another one of their marriage posts on MSNBC about weird ways that couples “make it work.” I put that in quotes because in my opinion, these don’t really seem like marriages. One has a second husband that she virtually married in a Second Life type game. Another couple has his and hers houses four blocks away from each other. What do you think about these interesting arrangements?
  • Hiding Moms Under a Bushel? In the old days, apparently they didn’t let moms shine in photos. Instead, when children had their portraits taken, the moms were often hidden. (Side note: I’m not a mom, but I just love Cup of Jo‘s Motherhood Mondays series.)
  • Chocoholic: I must make these. You know how I love a breakfast to go.
  • Out of House, Out of Mind: Around this time of year stuff multiplies like the valuables in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault at Gringott’s. (Yes, I had to get an HP reference in there…) Karen at The Art of Doing Stuff recently took on the challenge of throwing away 50 things. Sounds great to me! Although, if it’s of value, it will be going into the garage sale pile. We’re hoping to have one in a couple weeks!
  • T-Shirt Redo: And if you find some colored T-shirts when you’re cleaning, consider making them into some fun bracelets or headbands!


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Little Kitchen Upgrades

January 24th, 2012 Megan

Matthew made me a couple of items for our kitchen this Christmas and I really wanted to share them with you. I was all ready to post about the pots last week (remember when I said I had a project for later), but then he got the cabinet mounted to the wall, so I wanted to wait! Without further ado, my Christmas presents / kitchen upgrades:

The pots on the left are for spices. I have started growing chives, parsley, and basil in them. I was not sure if they would actually grow, since they do not get direct sunlight, but I hoped for the best. As you can see below, they totally started growing! There are tiny sprouts in each of them. Success! Matthew used leftover fence wood for the material and waterproofed them with red guard (usually used behind tile in showers). Total cost of this project – free (because all materials / screws / seeds / dirt was leftover from other projects). Yay! I am going to paint the names of the plants on soon, but I wanted to wait until they actually grew and we knew they were sustainable there. [The seed packets will then disappear.]

The spice cabinet is custom built for these awesome little spice jars (which we got for $1 at World Market). We are slowly buying more of them and transferring spices into them. I keep waiting for another $10 off $30 coupon, and a $10 reward for buying food there. Oh how I love rewards programs!

These little improvements have made all of the difference in our kitchen. I love the way that it is becoming our own home. Sure, we have had it for three years now, but each little improvement makes it feel so much more like home. I cannot wait until our spice cabinet is filled (which means we can get rid of the basket of spices to the right of the cabinet)! Yay! Do you store your spices in fancy jars, or just use what they came in?

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