The book was about setting up automatic contributions to savings accounts and such so that without much thought, your wealth would build, automatically. You know, because left to our own devices of actually manually moving money every month into a savings account, most of us might forget or find something more fun to do with our money.

One of my secrets to friend making is to automate it.

Stick with me, it makes sense and isn’t near as rude as it sounds.

to read the rest of this post click on over to (in)courage today, meet you there?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Today’s Lovely Limitation is hanging out over at (in)courage.  Join me there to find out about one of the most ignored, powerful limitations.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

The 10 winners of their choice of print from Jones Design Company through DaySpring are:

And whoops, I never announced the winners from the last giveaway :: TWO Life to the full :: one to keep one to give away::

And ONE lucky person won a $100 shopping spree!

I’ve already sent out an email to each of you with instructions so if you recognize your name or comment go check  your email!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

If you’ve been watching my tweets I’ve been all braggy about hanging out with 23 of the (in)courage girls at Hilton Head Island, SC this week.

We’ve had a fun time eating and laughing and eating and taking photos and eating and talking.

Thrifting with Dawn, Tsh, Melissa, Heather and Jen.  And Wolfie.  Do you see him?

We’ve seen lots of pretty scenery like Harbour Town.

And this.

We had lots of hanging out time~captured by Simple Mom.

And we had a brain storming session.

And we all sat real close for a photo.  No killers in the bunch, even though we all met through the internet.  Except for me and my sister~ we met before the internet.  Getting together with real life people is a hundred times better than online.

And we think you would like that too which is why (in)courage is planning something big for next year and it’s all about getting together (in) REAL LIFE.

DaySpring and Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce hosted the (in)courage bloggers for a long weekend of dreaming, praying, eating and planning for the (in)courage community, along with relaxation and fun. And eating. Resort Rentals of Hilton Head Island  generously provided beautiful beach front accommodations. DaySpring took care of all the incidentals and meals for each of the bloggers. Those delicious meals. Hilton Head Island is where our family loves to come on vacation and I bet your family would love it too. Special thanks to the dear, Jessica Gardo from the Hilton Head Island Chamber of Commerce for helping coordinate our trip and being simply fabulous the entire weekend.

Don’t forget to check out the (in)RL info~killers need not reply.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED:: winners announced here

Oh how you are gonna love me for this!  Actually, I have nothing to do with this but, I’m delighted to get to show off DaySpring’s new line of canvas prints created by the lovely Emily from Jones Design Company.  People, I have been waiting for these to come out for months and they don’t disappoint.

Plus, you can even get them personalized.  The prints are simple with a clean, graphic modern look but still have encouraging verses and a handmade feeling about them.  I’ve been a big fan of Emily and her textural, layered, neutral style for ages and I’m thrilled to have some pieces that she’s created.  This one has Matthew 5:14-16.

I’m giving this print to a cute couple who are getting married next month.  Such a great wedding or housewarming or Christmas gift.  I can see one in a nursery with the baby’s name on it.

Here’s a little peek into Emily’s home~you can see lots more photos here.   Don’t you love her style?   She wrote a sweet post today about her childhood dream and how an email from DaySpring made her cry in the parking lot of COSTCO.  One of my favorite things about DaySpring is how they intentionally are always seeking out new artists with their own unique signature look.

Anyway, the prints come framed or wrapped.  I like the framed the best.  No, I like the wrapped canvas.  Wait, the framed.  For sure.  Unless I can get the wrapped canvas which I like better.  I like them both obviously and I really like them together.

And in true Emily from Jones Designs style, they even look good with book pages.  Which comes in handy for me because I’m all about the book pages right now since I’m fancying up my house for my sister’s Book Release Party {it’s not too late to RSVP if you want to come}.

You can put book pages on anything.

Like the very box from DaySpring that these prints come in. But enough about the box.

I love the navy chair print up in our bonus/guest/place where boys play video games room.

And just in case you think my house is always in order….I just cleared out that one corner.  And look how good that corner looks with that big substantial chair print!  Makes my room look so good I don’t even notice the mess.  Almost.

Of course DaySpring wants to give away some of these pretties~what’s a sponsored post without a giveaway?

Leave a comment with your favorite style to enter to win your choice of print framed or unframed: 1 winner per 100 entries {free box to book page up is included!}.

You can check out all the styles here at the DaySpring site and see all the available styles and personalization options.

Leave a comment to enter to win, good luck!

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Whep, it’s official. My three boys finally have their first full day of school today.  I’m so ready for beef stew and new episodes of The Office and yellow pencils with fresh erasers.  Not to mention three days a week I’ll have guilt free hours all to myself to completely devote to all things bloggy.  You know, since I basically took the entire summer off expectantly.  Anyway, my house is in chaos.  It needs a shakedown and a hose down and a douse in antibac.

Anyway, I thought today would be a fun day to touch on some of our favorite school time tips.

My best ones are::

Start a lunch basket if you haven’t already.

Buy a stack of poster boards NOW to avoid that 8pm night before hey mom, I need to do a project on a poster board and turn it in tomorrow blues.  I just slide them behind our hutch in the breakfast area.  Target has poster boards for 32 cents.

And my most obvious, most hated, most loved, I-finally-have-accepted-that-it-works-for-our-family-secret-weapon…is…at (in)courage today.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

I’ve been a blogger for three and a half years.  But I’ve been rearranging homes since my Barbie days.  When my husband and I got married I assumed it was normal for a person to try the sofa in 12 different places in the room.  And my husband just laughed about it. Over the years he’s put up with me painting and repainting and changing furniture around and bringing orphaned chairs in our home. And he’s encouraged me along the way.

Today I’m sharing a little more of our journey over at (in)courage.  We’ve just started a new adventure and it’s been a long time coming~it’s taken us 16 years but, finally my husband and I both are two of the lucky few who actually get paid to do what we love.  Neither one of us set out to make it happen, but we did notice a trend in how it happened.  Come join in the conversation…

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

We all do it.  You know, save those cards, notes and little kind words that people have given us over the years?  Here’s a some of my personal stash and I admit, I’m not that much of a sentimental person.   Join me at (in)courage today and you can see a little of my encouragement stash~do you have one too?  Plus, there’s a surprise once you get there…

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

If you haven’t heard, two people near and dear to me left the comfort of family and the familiar to visit The Philippines with Compassion International this week.  My friend Tsh also known as Simple Mom and my real life baby sister, Emily from Chatting at the Sky are there with a group of bloggers.  She will love that I called her baby, right? And I have to go for a week without talking to her on the phone. I’m pretty sure that’s a record for us.  But it’s worth it to read her words about this trip and the people she meets.  They will change you.   You need to go read them.

Our family started sponsoring an 11 year old boy after I followed Gypsy Mama and read a particular post on the Compassion trip to Guatemala last year. Currently, there is a special need for children over 10 to find sponsors.  Many people opt to sponsor younger children and for some reason, the older ones get overlooked.  In a few weeks the youngest boy in our house turns 10 and suddenly ten years old and over is such a special age to me.  They are still little and impressionable and it’s such a magical age.

No matter what, you will enjoy reading the words of Emily, Tsh, Kat, Stephanie, Lindsay. You can keep up with all the posts in one place here. Also, you can follow the compassion bloggers twitter hashtag #cbph

If you feel compelled to consider a sacrifice of $38 per month that will change the life of a child in poverty, click on the button or click here to learn more.

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?

Funny thing what I’m writing about at (in)courage today.  I’m getting ready to launch three new blogs~hopefully within the next week and suddenly, I hear a Whisper reminding me to remember to do the opposite of launch three blogs.  And then I also talk about President Obama.  And then I also give away thousand dollar bills.  Oh wait, I used that one yesterday.  But I really did mention The President. See you there?

Meaningful, fun and FUNctional {I am funny, no?} have you seen the new Urban Soul Travel Mugs ?