Backwards N High Heels

Balancing work and play while wearing many hats (I mean heels).

We Are All in Good Hands

We-Are-All-In-Good-Hands_Faith-BlogAs I sit here sipping my coffee, enjoying the last few days of winter sunshine that beams through the double glass doors and across my dining room table, I can’t help but hum a little tune and summon visions from decades ago from the depths of my memory. Flashbacks of Karen leading the Sunday school class in song, her wide-brimmed glasses raising every so slightly as they ride with her big smile against the top of her rosy cheeks.

“He’s got the whole world in His hands. He’s got the whole world in His hands. He’s got the whole world in His hands. He’s got the whole world in His hands.”

The tune like an earworm on my mind.

Do you watch ‘This Is Us’? If you do and did not catch the season finale last Tuesday, fear not, I am not about to ruin anything for you. And, if you find yourself reading my blog right now, with no clue what ‘This Is Us’ even is, then please find a TV with On Demand RIGHT NOW. Just kidding. No judgment (okay slight judgment) here.

In the finale, Randall is giving a speech at his sister Kate’s wedding. “It’s taken me 37 years to accept the fact that there is absolutely zero point in trying to control the future,” Randall says. “Cause nobody knows where we’ll be. Not even a year from now.”

And, that is the absolute truth. Next year, next month, even tomorrow is not a given, and yet with that knowledge, it still hits us by surprise when devastating news shatters our lives knocking the wind out of our sails or our feet out beneath us.

I was talking to someone who was given a bit of a health scare recently. Finding a lump in her breast, she said before her mammogram, “I dread tomorrow, for I fear my life will change forever in that instant.” That fear is what drives us crazy and many times drives those to their knees to pray.

My family too is no stranger to life’s unexpected turns and the darkness and despair one feels when your world changes in an instance. In the fall, my husband suffered an eye injury. A story I shared here on the blog. While, we are grateful, faithful, and blessed, the news of his sudden partial sight loss was traumatic and the fear of what life looked like for us in the days, and months ahead were raw and new during each doctor’s appointment as more was revealed. I prayed for God to hold us in his hands. To wrap us up and scoop us in and carry us through.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

While those days felt dark, there also was so much light and hope. Small signs from above allowed me to breathe in the madness, and constant season of holding our breath. Like the time, we traveled in the thick heavy fog to one of Nathan’s daily appointments and with the radio down low, I prayed for a sign that we would be okay. Within moments, through the thick fog, a cross appeared in the distance along the right-side of the highway. I was mesmerized, eyes locked at this single cross that seemed so clear in the fog, all while I struggled to sometimes even see the highway lines. As we got closer, I realized it was the back structure of a sign addressing the opposite lane. The two pieces of wood, one a signpost and the other, a structure to hold the sign itself, formed a cross. I chuckled as we drove by and then realized, it was my sign. The cross was God, showering me with a sense of peace. While the fog was real and dense in the air outside our car, it too was the greatest foggy season our lives had ever endured, yet He was constantly there holding us.

Sometimes it takes heartache and sadness for us to look up with open hearts and mind, needing Him to hold our hands and guide our way. But the truth is we are all in good hands, each and every day. When I think back to our season last fall, I tend to think of the moments I felt more spiritually connected to God than any other time in my life, and it usually is because of moments like the story I shared above when I felt His love and guidance through signs from above. The reality is if we look even harder, God is holding us in his hands, even when we don’t ask him to. He is holding us through the happiest moments, regretful decisions, joyous occasions, sorrow, times of ultimate need, and even on times we may have ignored Him.

He’s got the whole world in his hands, including your whole world. As Isaiah 41:10 reads – “Fear not, for I am with you.” Cast your worries today away, for we all can take a deep breath and release in knowing, we are all, always in good hands.

Easter Snack Mix

Easter-Snack-Mix
If there is one thing I know with certainty it is that our home is a house full of sweet tooths. No wonder my dentist loves me.

Between Nathan and I, Logan’s poor genes don’t stand a chance with our instant cravings. I was born with an ice cream spoon in my hand, growing up with a grandmother and great-grandfather who could eat ice cream for every meal. I did not stray far, and my husband, well, I landed the sweet tooth jackpot as his family owns an ice cream shop in our hometown. Have you ever heard of a Boston Shake? It is a hot fudge sundae inside a chocolate milkshake. I mean just typing that I feel like I added 250 calories into my body.

Nathan is a mean sweets sleepwalker. Yes. You did indeed read that right. The man sleepwalks and eats sweets. As I type this I giggle but it is so true. I have woke in the middle of the night to what sounds like a flurry of mice nibbling in our kitchen to find my husband in a half asleep / half awake state, leaning against the counter, nibbling on a Reese’s Cup outside the junk cabinet, and I cannot do this superpower of his justice without mentioning the many times we find a cup with milk residue sitting on the coffee table after a night of sleep, only to giggle and say, “Well, I guess you found the Oreo’s last night?”

Clearly, someone is going to private message me this is a problem! 🙂

For me, it is a problem when we do not have sweets (because my gosh what will we eat?!) and it is a problem when we do because they are gone within 1- 2 days, and some sleepwalking nights. 🙂

Easter-Snack-Mix Easter-Snack-Mix

Easter Snack Mix

  • 5 Cups of Honey Cheerios
  • 5 Cups of Chex Mix Cereal
  • 2 1/2 Cups of Pretzel Sticks
  • 1 Bag of Peanut M&M’s
  • 1 1/2 Cups of White Chocolate Chips

Directions: Mix the first three ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave. Once the chocolate is melted into a smooth consistency, pour over the mixed ingredients and stir. Add the peanut M&Ms to the mixture and mix. Pour the mixture out across a table on wax paper and let it set. Once it has set, break apart and serve.

Looking for additional recipes? Here are some similar options.

Creative Easter Basket Ideas

Easter is a little over one month away, and I have already begun to save items in my Amazon basket for Logan’s Easter Basket. By the way, is there anyone else like me who shops online and never actually buys the things saved in their virtual basket? I wish I could say the same for my trips to Target.

I know some of you may roll your eyes at me when I say this (and that is okay because guess what? I will not know that you did) – I am not a big fan of filling Logan’s Easter basket with candy. Say what? Yes, I will say it again – I am not a big fan of filling Logan’s Easter Basket with candy.

While it may seem like a tradition that I am depriving my daughter of, let me assure you, she gets plenty of candy. Her basket will usually include a few treats like peeps, some McFarland Candies chocolates (a local chocolatier) and jelly beans, but other than that, I try to use her basket as a way to get creative with things she needs or I want to get her.

As a total presentation-focused individual, these Easter Basket ideas I found while scanning Pinterest, caught my eye. How fun are these non-traditional basket ideas?

For full disclosure, these ideas are not my own. They are actually from far more creative people, so I have been sure to include direct links to the sources. Just click the images below.

Photo credit – i heart arts n crafts

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Loves Of Our Lives

I do not remember the day I fell in love with you, Mom and Dad. I guess that is what it is like when you are a child. You enter this life with complete reliance and trust. Strangers hands that God placed you in. You have no say in where you landed, but you instead, just land, and by the grace of God I landed in two sets of hands of a mother and a father who gave me a privileged life. Not in the sense of money or things (although I know, having a child myself, children cost a great deal of money and I never went without), but more a privilege to be in a loving, healthy home. A true gift of present parents who not only sacrificed in their own ways to give me and my siblings a life that was kind, but were so involved in our lives, we never had to question if our parents would show up. In fact, I never knew such a worry in life, because they always showed up.

And, because of all of this, my mother and father are natural loves in my life. It was never a love I had to fight for or stress over. Instead, it was an easy, steady, and constant love that has shaped and carried me through my life.

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New Year – January Declutter Challenge

*This post contains Affiliate links.

Happy New Year! Holy 8 Ball, it is 2018. As my dear three-year-old says and manages to get every adult in the room to turn their head in horror, “What the!?” Yes, she just leaves it at that, “What the?!” Enough for a solid gasp, before a required chuckle.

Oh, oh, oh. If you are like me there is something about the New Year that reminds you of the return of Spring. A sense of renewal and rejuvenation to make things new. For me, it is a serious purge. I think it comes naturally with taking down the tree and packing away Christmas. Very quickly my warm, lit, cozy, cluttered home, becomes white, sterile and empty. It truly makes me want to clean out every drawer, cupboard, and closet in a complete act of victory,

So, I thought why be crazy, I mean, why do this alone? We all could use a swift kick in the rear to motivate ourselves and each other to declutter and minimalize our lives.

Won’t you join me? As described below, each week will focus on one challenge. You have a week to complete the tasks. Of course, you only have yourself to hold you accountable but we are in this together and will push each other to complete.

 

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Top Blog Posts of 2017

2017. Wow. Can you believe we are here starring at 2018? It is so hard to grasp how quickly time moves.

While I don’t want to say 2017 was a bad year because I know the good outweighs all the bad, and I am blessed for another year of life and everything and every day in between, 2017 has indeed been a very hard and challenging year.

I started this Top Blog Posts recap in 2015. Basically, I pull all my blog stats and see which posts generated the most views for the year. So the results below are because of you and your readership and support.

And, while we are at it, let’s talk about you, dear friend. I come to this space time and time again to share pieces and snippets of my life in hopes that one blog post or one line from a blog post would start to fix a broken heart, mend a worn spirit, ease a worried mind, or make even the most exhausted of parents chuckle.

You are not alone. We are not alone, and that is the point of Backwards N High Heels. To share how our lives while every so different, can also offer glimpses of ever the same.

I thank you for continuing to come to this space. For believing in me and heck, maybe even enjoying a thing or two I say. May God bless each of you as we wind down 2017 and enter 2018.

10 – Top 10 Reasons Living With a Toddler is Like Living With a Drunk Person
Top10ReasonsLivingWithAToddlerIsLikeLivingWithADrunkPerson_BestBlogPostOf2017

9 – My New Season With God
MyNewSeasonWithGod
8 – In Sickness and In Health
InSicknessAndInHealth_BestPostsOf2017

7 – Change
Change_BestBlogPostOf20176 – God’s Grace and Prayers
GodsGraceAndPrayers_BestPostsOf2017
5 – I Wish For My Daughter
IWishForMyDaughter_BestBlogPostsof20174 – We Swore We Would Never Become Our Mothers
WeSworeWeWouldNeverBecomeOurMothers_BestPostsof2017

3 – Great Wolf Lodge – Williamsburg, VA
Great-Wolf-Lodge_Williamsburg-VA_BackwardsNHighHeels_BestBlogPostsof2017
2 – I Failed At Parenting
IFailedAtParenting_BackwardsNHighHeels-Blog_BestBlogPostof2017
1 – This Part of our Story
ThisPartOfOurStory_BestBlogPost0f2017
Enjoyed this post?  Awe, thanks. I am blushing.  We can connect through facebook || twitter ||  instagram || pinterest || bloglovin’

Best Pinterest Recipes of 2017

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It is no secret, I adore Pinterest. I have told you all this time and time again. While it may seem unimaginable, I do recall a time, when recipe references relied upon bookmarked recipe books or printed off recipes online. In fact, I still have both! I have a cabinet in my dining room hutch that is reserved for said books, which contain a few favorites. The worse part is I have to remember which book included the recipe, which usually results in me pulling out every book to skim through each. I too have a blue battered three-ring binder that contains all of the recipes I have printed online over the years (pre-Pinterest). Today it is more convenient to turn to my Pinterest App, which includes a great search feature, allowing me to look through saved Pins. Voila, I have my favorite recipe at my fingertips, in seconds.

But let me advise, not every Pinterest recipe is a winner. In fact, there are some real hum-dingers out there. Some I have experienced first hand, thinking, “Boy, the photo did you more justice.”

I refuse to keep a pin on my Food Board if it is not approved by me. So, in honor of the New Year approaching, I decided to share my favorite Pinterest Recipes of 2017.

Chicken A La Gloria – Cooking With Sugar
Sweet Potato Fries – New York Times
Honey Mustard Chicken Avocado Bacon Salad – Cafe Delites
No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread – Girl Versus Dough
Slow Cooker Sausage, Spinach, and White Bean Soup – Damn Delicious
Apple Cranberry Walnut Salad – Creme de la Crumb
Chessy Zucchini Bake – Lemon Tree Dwelling
Mom’s Seasoned Pretzels – Sallys Baking Addiction

So, which one are you most interested to try? Let me gently nudge you that all are super easy and super delicious, or else they would not make my list!

Enjoyed this post?  Awe, thanks. I am blushing. We can connect through facebook || twitter ||  instagram || pinterest || bloglovin’

Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale

Nordstrom-Half-Yearly-Sale_2018 copy

This post contains affiliate links.

Tis’ the season. Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale has returned. What does that mean? Well, it means up to 50% off some of the best fashion items and named brands out there. I am talking Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Madewell, Hunter and more.

Basically, it is an excuse to stay in your pajamas until 11 am, pour a third cup of coffee and peruse the web for some of the best online deals since Cyber Mondy. Yes, it is that cool!

So, here are some of my top picks that are available. The annual sale is available until January 2, 2018, and many items will sell out, I repeat will sell out. In fact, items I wanted to include sold out overnight before I could share this post.

Pictured:  Original Insulated Boot  |  Sneakers  |  Bootie  |  Crossbody Bag  |  Wallet  |  Ring  |  Watch   |  Beanie  |  Lounge Shorts  |  Herringbone Scarf   |  Raw V-Neck  |  Jonah Neck Tie Top  |  Twist Fleece Pullover

Here are some of my top accessory picks from the sale!

Here are some of my favorite clothing picks from the sale.

Happy Shopping!

 

 

Today You Are Three


Today is the day my baby girl, turns three. THREE! Seriously, I still do not know how that possibly could be. I look at the clock now, and think back to three years ago today, when she came into this world three weeks too early, but right on time for me. My little Christmas baby and present. A joy and complete whirlwind arrival. I think of her tiny little fingers and nose and swear I can still smell her sweet newborn smell if I think really hard. And, while I very much find birthdays for myself exciting, for Lo, they are all too often bittersweet. She has grown. Another year down. And, yes, I am grateful and blessed for this past year, it is too nostalgic to really think how quickly time does pass and every moment and milestone you thought just would never come, has come and gone. But, instead of focusing on my pitiful sadness of watching my baby turn into a little lady, I celebrate her and the many joys she has brought to me.


Today you are three!

  • Your imagination and the wonder in your eyes. Watching you pretend play is like living every day in theatre. You are so committed to your imaginary world and bring us in with your stories and play.
  • Your uncanny ability to hear a song play once and then be able to sing the lyrics upon the second time it plays. I cannot tell you how many times your Dad and I have looked at each other, “Oh my goodness can you believe this?”
  • How when we say our nighttime prayers, after listing all our family, you pause, giggle and say, “And, waterparks.”
  • The fact that you can without certain, determine if I have heated your bottle to the perfect :35 seconds.
  • Your sense of adventure and exploration. A distinct characteristic you must have gotten from your father.
  • When you ask to eat at “Chic FOR Lay” 🙂
  • Your idea of a Saturday. Shopping! Girl, your father is going to be in trouble.
  • Your my cuddle bug, and I love when you curl up in my arms.
  • Speaking of that you are my baby cakes and honey bee and if I address you anything different you quickly remind me that those are your names.
  • When you take your little hands and squeeze our checks and announce, “I love you!”
  • Your obsession with the movie ELF this holiday season.
  • Your big blue eyes and bright smile.
  • Your giggles and laugh really are my favorite.

Today you are three! But, as I explained to you last night as I put you to sleep, while two is now gone, my sweet baby, you will always be. Remember, you promised!

Happy Birthday, our sweet girl. We adore you and love you.