Everyday Hat

To say that it has been cold in Chicago is quite an understatement. It has been painfully cold. I have been wearing all the layers I can find.   I found this hat at H&M (shocking, the majority of my clothes are from H&M...) but it has been a fun way to switch it up a little bit while staying warm. 

Exact hat found here// Similar here // Really love this option // Also like this one with shorter brim// Necklace here//Jeans here, a tried and true favorite // Similar shirt here. 

^^ Inside of the Park Hyatt 

Date Night Makeup

This make up is not for every day coming and going, but for special occasions it is always fun to try something different. For Valentine's Day I went all in and experimented with a very red lip. It is so easy to spend close to $30 dollars on a single stick of lipstick, but you can easily get the same result for way less cost. Travel back to your middle school days and go check out Wet & Wild Lip Stick in Cherry Bomb for a strong red that looks great on most complexions. I say this because I asked some girls in my office what shade their lipstick was because it looked amazing on them and they all recommended this! Plus for only $1 you can experiment with different shades and not feel guilty about spending a ton of money. 

Lipstick here // The same eyeliner that I have used for years because I am so obsessed with it, found here // my new obsession, the Smashbox contouring sticks // I use this as a powder contouring and also as a bronzer // the concealer that I wear everyday // 

Happy Make Up Trying! :) 

Cupcake Decorating Heaven

This past Valentine's Day goes down in the books as the best one of my life. Matt surprised me by taking me to "Give Me Some Sugar" in Roscoe Village where we got to learn how to decorate cupcakes (my obsession with cupcakes means that this was basically like taking me to heaven itself). The space is as cute as can be and the woman who teaches the classes is such a hoot and a half. She is so much fun and makes it such a fun event. The space also allows you to bring in your own wine while you frost cupcakes. You can attend cake frosting classes and learn how to make french macarons. The space hosts private parties as well. It would be the perfect spot for a birthday party or a bachelorette party. Perfect place for a date. We had the best, best time.

^The cupcakes that I decorated. 

^^ The cupcakes that Matt decorated

^^ The most amazing Valentine

The Bachelor and Female Comparison

I love the Bachelor. I have won Bachelor brackets. I obsessively live tweet episodes and actually cry during emotional and not so emotional moments. I get emotionally attached to the contestants and follow most of them on Instagram. I shout at the TV when things get awkward and have probably devoted at least a year of my life to just sitting and watching those sometimes three hour weekly episodes.

You could say my “sport” is The Bachelor. 

And although I realize that it’s a TV show, it is more active than you think …  see shouting at TV …

Intellectually I know that the Bachelor is not great for women. (There are exceptions, see Andi, accomplished attorney and Emily Maynard = saint). I know it’s not great for women like I know football is not great for men. Football players leave the field with minor concussions and physical after effects from the combat of the sport that will follow them late into their lives. Bachelor contestants leave the show, return to their normal lives and jobs with a national reputation as the “crier” or the girl who drank too much at the cocktail party. Some contestants leave relatively unscathed, but those are generally the ones who win. The rest depart heartbroken.

This past Monday’s episode was pretty typical of most seasons. Bachelor Chris, unnaturally tan farmer from Iowa, went on a group date with about six women. Chris is clearly more into one of the girls, Brit, who is so self aware that she is on national TV that she sleeps in a full face of makeup (Wut!) and all the other girls can clearly see it. Chris takes his chosen, Brit, to a concert and leaves the rest of the girls alone with their vino. But when he returns, they are beyond heartbroken.The girls see and know that Chris likes Brit more than them. They then begin to spiral into deep, deep caves of comparison and self-doubt.  

And this is why The Bachelor is bad for women.

As a woman, the smallest you ever feel is when you start comparing yourself to that girl with the better hair, skin or job. The desire to be chosen is good. The desire to be married is good. 

But none of these desires are safe in an environment where comparison and competition is the name of the game.

Seeing the object of your affection chase after some other twenty-something with better hair is enough to make the sanest woman go cray.

God is so cool because He knows this.

His plans for female soul flourishing and beauty unraveling involve not competing for some guy but being the one being competed for. 

The visible evidence of that system breaking down is obvious – it is a probably pretty normal girl sobbing on national TV, mascara streaming down her face… Not pretty.

He desires for you to feel like the most beautiful girl created- not to be constantly reminded that there is someone else out there with better hair. The Bachelor system preys upon female insecurities in a way that The Bachelorette does not. Men do not relentlessly obsess over whether one of them is better dressed or in better shape than the other the way that women do. Last season Andi’s winner Josh seemed to be completely un-phased by the fact that Andi had slept with one of the other guys in the Fantasy Suite the night before. If the tables were turned, any normal woman would have lost it.

Next Monday I will watch The Bachelor again because it is entertaining and I do not live in a monastery. If you want someone to gossip with about the show, I am your girl, let’s just not pretend that the system with its grandiose dates is better than the one that God designed for us. 

Field Museum

Guys. The Field Museum is free for the entire month of February. Go check it out. I had not been over there in years and forgot that it is actually pretty interesting. some exhibits are more interesting than others... aka the jewelry one as opposed to the plant one. The museum is open 9 till 5 every day. We were actually able to see most of the exhibits there without having to pay any sort of extra entrance fee which was really great. 

Weekend Light

Lately I have been obsessed with the word "glory." Everywhere I go it somehow comes up. Spoken or unspoken everything in my life has been just pointing back to "glory." The most amazing sunset on Saturday night. Being in the perfect place at the perfect time to really take in everything in its full glory. Friday night spending with women watching the "IF" gathering oozed with glory. My heart jumped. God's glory alive in these women - accessible and relatable. Glory alive in the midst of heartbreaking vulnerability. Women who were not performing the role of "nice Christian woman" but who were real, honest, authentic and far more powerful and beautiful as a result. My tendency to lead with vulnerability has resulted in off handed comments that do not fit the perfect image of the "nice Christian woman" so watching these leaders really resonated with me. Imperfectly and often with a lot of desperation,  I cling to Jesus. I got to visibly see the glory in other women who do the same. 

"And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:18. 

Every time we get overwhelmed by the glory of God we are being transformed into HIS image with ever-INCREASING glory. What an incredible promise. At times it feels too good to be true. In the midst of walking around the city, which I know like the back of my hand, God showed up with the most jaw dropping cotton candy sunset you could ever imagine, and all I needed to do was contemplate His glory which in turn leads to my own transformation. How is that even fair? He is so much better than fair. He is full of glory. What a good, glorious, awesome God. He wants to reveal His glory to us. How amazing is that?

Hand Painted Valentine's Day Card Give Away

These.cards.are.everything. Hand painted with water colors. Absolutely the most beautiful Valentine's Day cards you can find. Plus it is always so fun to give an original Valentine's Day Card that you know for sure the other person has never received before. Clearly I am obsessed with Valentine's Day and these cards just make the obsession grow. The art of writing notes to your loved one is such a beautiful dying art that is so overlooked in the age of fast and digital. Morgan of Resource Designs makes everyday life just look more beautiful. Check out her website for updates on her adventures in Europe and her documentation of everyday beauty. To buy more of her beautiful hand painted one of a kind cards, check out her etsy site. 

Subscribe to Wonder & Awe and enter for a chance to be eligible for a free give away of the Resource Design Valentine's Day cards pictured above. Check out Resource Design for more of Morgan's beautiful creations. 

To win, subscribe to Wonder & Awe and a lucky winner will be chosen by February 10th.

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Winter weddings

Matt's brother got married this past weekend in a beautiful winter wedding. Dressing for weddings is always kind of tricky. Weddings are not appropriate places to have a big fashion moment. All of the attention should be on the bride and that means you should not wear anything in 1) white (duh.) and 2) too flashy. Finding dresses for winter weddings is also harder because you do not want to look like you are going to a Christmas party but still want to look cute for the winter. It means you need darker colors and you can never go wrong with black. 

^^ Black dress on sale from Zara. Necklace from Forever 21, years ago. 

^ Black short heeled boots from Steve Madden Girl. 

^^ Such a fun time with this man. 

^^ Beautiful dessert spread. 

^^ Best dressed guy there. 

Sweet little black dress. Similar dress from JCrew Here.Cute dress except make sure you do not get it in white! (eek!)

Interesting dress option in dark yellow which would be fun for winter. Cute Brocade dress.

Bittersweet, MI

This past weekend I learned how to ski! On our way to Matt's brother's wedding in Michigan we stopped by at Bittersweet and Matt taught me how to ski. It took me a little while to get adjusted and learn how to kinda maneuver the skis but as soon as I got the hang of it, it was so much fun! I can't believe I had not learned how to ski earlier in my life. Of course I fell multiple times, laid on the ground and thought that I was going to have walk down the hill, but guess what? I made it through it! Such a fun time making new memories and enjoying being outside in the winter. 

^^ Cutie