Find The Beauty

I started seminary school this week. 

Or, to more adequately put it, I had about 4 minor freak outs within the last 7 days. I was intimated by the syllabus, cried when I submitted the biggest payment of my life, cried some more once it actually hit my account, got knots in my stomach when I tried understanding things I usually breeze through in Exodus, and pretty much felt all around discouraged, inadequate, unprepared, and just plain scared. 

You know what, though? Through the fear, and the anxious nerves, and the worried tears, and the uncertainty, there was this undeniable joy. 

Oh you guys, the joy has been so darn thick. 

Because I can one thousand percent say that there is no where I would rather be. There is nothing I would rather be doing, and nothing I would rather my money go towards. 

This life I want to live might not look responsible, or rational, or realistic. But as my dear friend Diana said in a gchat therapy sesh, the Lord never called us to be responsible in a worldly standard. If He had, He wouldn't have praised the woman who broke her alabaster jar full of expensive perfume on His behalf. 

I want to be a woman who gladly gives it all for Jesus. Because there is so much beauty in a life surrendered to the Lord. 

***

You know where else there's a whole lot of beauty? Over on Bouqs.com. 

The Bouqs Company is a new online floral company that delivers beautiful, vibrant, fresh flowers straight to your door.  

The flowers featured above are called "Desperado," and they're even more gorgeous in real life. 

If you're like me, sometimes it can be tough to get a gift in the mail on time for a special event or birthday. I've always been a fan of sending flowers to show someone I love that I'm thinking of them. 

I've had a variety of experiences with different companies { I won't bash anyone, but once my flowers didn't show up on Mother's Day! :( }, so I know good customer service and good prices when I see them. And though it's not shown in my wardrobe choice above, I also know vibrant colors when I see those! 

The Bouqs Company has it all. Know someone who might need a little extra lovin' right now? Why not send them some flowers to make their day? I know they'll be thrilled to see this on their doorstep.

The above links are affiliate links, meaning that I receive compensation for any referred sales. The above product was provided for review from The Bouqs Company, but all opinions are 100% mine.

Some Lace & Some Navy

Happy Monday! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I'm so excited to kick off this week by reviewing my first eShakti dress, especially considering I'm pretty much in love with it. 

If you aren't familiar with this company, be prepared to meet your new favorite dress site. Online shopping can be pretty tricky, am I right? I used to be a major skeptic, only buying shoes or something I was positive would fit. 

eShakti makes online shopping a whoole lot easier with tons of possible customizing options. Want longer sleeves? You can ask for that. Want shorter sleeves? You can ask for that. Want to change the length of the dress? You guessed it, you can ask for that. Heck, you can even enter in all of your measurements and have it completely custom made for you. Like I said: tons of possible options. 

I ordered the Illusion Lace Crepe dress, and I couldn't be more happy with it! I chose a standard size, didn't change a thing about the sleeves, and made it a tad shorter at the "above knee length." It fits like a glove, and I am so happy with the material and length!

I now consider myself a huge eShakti fan. Head on over to their website to check out their huge selection of cute, classy dresses. That'll definitely be one way to make your Monday better!

*Product provided by eShakti. All opinions are my own. Photos taken by Alicia Nelson Photography.*

Perfect Foods Bar {Review & Giveaway!}

If you follow me on any sort of social media, you probably already know that I have an obsession with Perfect Foods Bars. 

I have loved these bars for a long time now, and I'm super excited to be partnering with them for a giveaway! Before we get to that, allow me to tell you why I love these delicious things. 

One // I understand all of the ingredients. Yes, all. This is big for me, because how many bars these days claim to be healthy, but you can't understand a single thing that's in them? I'm not saying those ingredients are unhealthy, because how would I know if I don't know what they are? 

In Perfects Foods Bars, I know what each of the ingredients are. I see that they use organic products, and I can verify that there really are no artificial ingredients, no preservatives, and no refined sugars. Major win in my book. 

Two // There's an average of 15g of protein in each bar. All flavors have between 10 and 18g, and for a vegetarian like me, that's huge! Since giving up meat, I've been much more conscious of making sure I get enough protein through out the day. I actually think I eat more protein now than when I was eating meat, because I never thought about it before!

These bars are great for helping me to get that daily dose in. 

Three // The size! Most "meal bars" are way too small for me. Just keeping it real here, I'll usually eat a bar and get hungry within a few hours. Perfect Foods Bars are big, and dense! I love it, because they really can be a meal replacement. I not only eat them for breakfast (like, every day), but I've also had them for dinner before. Having a busy schedule, sometimes I have to just grab a bar on the go. The fact that I can have a bar for dinner, and be good for the rest of the evening? I'm a girl who is always hungry, so that's really saying something!

Four // The flavor. These bars are gooood. If you're a peanut butter lover like me, you will be just as obsessed as I am. I've tried every flavor, and just when I think I have a favorite, I get hooked on a new one! They're all amazing. 

Also, I've been having them almost every day for months now. Still haven't gotten sick of them. 

Five // Perfect Foods Bar is a family business, that's located right in my home town of San Diego. So basically, that makes me family too, right?  I'm definitely down to support a local company, and it's not hard to support them when I'm such a big fan of their product. 

I could probably go on and on, but instead, I want to give you the chance to try them for yourself! Perfect Foods Bar was kind enough to send me a sample pack, and they want to send you one, too!

One lucky winner will have their own sample pack shipped directly to their house, and I can't wait to gush over how amazing these bars are once they arrive!

Good luck! And Happy Friday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Erin Condren Life Planner

I have always been a paper planner kinda gal. I remember wayy back in elementary school, getting excited over the free agendas that they would give us. And in high school and college, writing down my work/school schedule and color coordinating all of my various events was one of my favorite pastimes. 

Go ahead, call me a planner nerd. I embrace it. 

So imagine my excitement when I saw these amazing Erin Condren life planners. I saw my sweet friend Caitlin's review, and just knew this was a match made in heaven for me. So to the website I went, the order was placed, and a couple weeks later I was ecstatic to receive this at my doorstep:

It's perfect. Everything I could hope for, complete with colorful stickers and inspirational quotes. Because who doesn't need those? 

I could not recommend Erin Condren more. Consider me happily set for 18 months of handwritten planning. It's a happy Monday, indeed!

Free Glasses, you say?

Was tagged to do a 5 facts post, hence where this came from on Friday:

And it's true, I've got horrible vision guys. 

Unless you saw this post, you probably wouldn't have known. Since that is the only picture on my blog of me in glasses. 

Until now:

When I was contacted by Firmoo, I could not have been more excited to do my first product review on a pair of their glasses. 

If you're a blind bat glasses-wearer like me, then you probably know that paying for prescription glasses can be quite the pain. Especially when you're also investing in contacts. 

Not anymore!

Firmoo offers all customers their first pair of glasses free! You've just got to pay shipping, and bam. You got yourself a pair of super cute glasses delivered right to your door!

And even if you're going to invest in a second pair later on, the prices are still so much cheaper than they normally are! With just as great of quality!

I know where I'll be getting my glasses from now on. 

Check out all of the different cute styles at Firmoo.com.

Happy Monday, lovelies! I've got some good stuff coming for you this week. Get your prayer pants on, cause I'm gonna have some major prayer requests coming your way. So thankful for the incredible gift of fellowship that Blogland has given me.

Love you all.