This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Thankful I can share things I wrestle with with Ben. My heart has been fighting discontentment and jealousy this week.

About to finish up some of our school books for the year! Yippee! Can’t believe we’ve been homeschooling this long.

Beautiful, romantic blouse for summer.

20% off sale this weekend at one of my fave vintage shops, Ms. Tips!

Watch AMA, an insanely beautiful short film by Julie Gautier. It’s awe-inspiring, but causes me to panic just a little bit too.

Wovenfolk also has plenty of loose and flowy tops and dresses for warm weather.

I’m trying out this new face wash. I love that the product is cruelty-free, vegan, eco-friendly, and has 100% certified fair trade ingredients.

Love the look of Everlane’s new block heel.

We are all obsessed with The Greastest Showman, even though it’s not historically accurate, and the real PT Barnum was more questionable (but this would deserve its own post). We all thoroughly enjoyed the film and love the music. I’d like to run off and be a trapeze artist and sing while flying through the air. #goals

This article from Desiring God has encouraged me to put Christian biographies on our summer reading list.

Praise God I’ve been able to spend time in the Word first thing in the morning. It might mean my workouts didn’t happen or got moved to the afternoon, but this time is infinitely better for my soul.

It’s Mother’s Day weekend, so we will be showering my mom with love and I hope to get some quiet and relaxing (in a clean house) time myself.

I never knew I needed linen overalls in my life until they came into my life. And they’re high-waisted and have two front pockets! They’re pretty perfect! This vintage pair came from vintage shop ABLE. I may be headed to my 40s (still got a few years though), but I do still wear overalls. Honestly, when I buy things, I think, will I wear this when I’m 40? Thinking that’s still about 10 years away, but then it hits me, it’s only 3 years away. Since my late teens, my unwavering love for vintage is still here. The only thing that has changed about it are the eras and silhouettes I wear. Now, I go for more loose, oversized, and flowy, but will never turn down a good fitted pair of jeans. Overalls have also been a staple love, so much so, I still have (and wear!) the overalls I wore when I was a teenager. I even took my senior (high school portraits in them), so I will keep them forever until I can take legit senior portraits in them too. That would be a fun compare and contrast to do one day.

My heart has got a soft spot for women run businesses, especially vintage shops, and I love tooting their horn when I can, so I’m glad I get to share about the shop ABLE with you. The internet and social media helps make pursuing dreams like this possible, but the instagram algorithm does like to rain on that parade too. As a small shop owner myself, I do appreciate when people love something I found and rescued, bring it into their home to love and share with their community. Liv, owner of ABLE, has curated a lovely selection of goods (look at this beauty), and am especially appreciating her selection of vintage, bakelite earrings. I’m so excited to have this pair of linen overalls from her. With me being the shorty that I am, I had to hem the length and also adjust the straps (they were way too long for me), but with a little snip and sew, they now fit me perfectly. These will definitely be on rotation through the warm months, which is almost every month of the year for a Southern Californian.

As for my crochet top, it is an Edwardian top from Ms. Tips. Antique pieces make my heart have an extra pitter patter. This 1920s romper from Ms. Tips is especially summery and sweet.

If you’re looking for your own linen overalls, this pair of flax linen looks comfy, this one would be cute with a romantic top under, and there’s also classic denim overalls.

what i’m wearing: overalls, able shoppe. antique top, ms. tips. shoes, loq via garmentory. bolga basket, wovenfolk.

I’ve started prepping for some plant hanging workshops I’ll be teaching and have my pattern down for the class. I went back and forth between a few designs and different ropes, but finally settled on one. If interested in hosting your own pop-up workshop, email for mycakies at gmail dot come for more info. There is also a list of upcoming ones here.

Mark 9:23-24
“Jesus said to him, “If you can? Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

Recently, I’ve been asking God to help me with my unbelief.

My unbelief that a gentle answer is better than angry one.

My unbelief that God is in control and practicing self-control is better than me fighting for my way.

My unbelief that God satisfies all (when I feel the pressure of the day and turn to mindless stress-eating in response.)

My unbelief that Christ is the ultimate treasure and that I can’t serve two masters. I believe the lie that stuff makes me truly happy.

My unbelief in knowing God is the good provider, as I try to plan for every aspect of the future when tomorrow isn’t promised to us anyway.

My belief isn’t to be placed in myself. I think that’s the problem; I believe myself too much. Love myself too much. That’s why all my wires get crossed and I go haywire. The outcome is never good. Belief ought to be placed in one who is worthy and that ain’t me. God is holy and all-powerful and sent His perfect Son to die for a crossed-wires, try-to-be-self-sufficient person like me. Christ is where I place belief, as feeble and weak as it is, Christ is sure and true and worthy to be the object of my belief and worship. I will continue to fight to cling to Christ and ask God to continually help me with my unbelief.

Of course, True’s first day as a 12 year old started off with the birthday breakfast in bed tradition. This time, she was served a 12 stack of chocolate chip pancakes with a bell pepper elephant made by Ben. We gave her some presents along with her breakfast… her mama-made birthday dress, cowboy boots, instax photo stuff, and a magical mirror. She had requested a Whatever After themed birthday, because of one of her favorite book series, so this magical mirror was the key to unlocking some birthday magic.

She read the message on the magical mirror and she was given a reply (by Ben) to give a hint to what was the next adventure. The reply was a little rhyming poem that gave her clues to where we were going and what she had to do. The first one took us Pumpkin Rock, which was a nod to the story of Cinderella (if you head here, note it is a bit steep going up and down the hill)…

Next, it led us to the Giant Apple Boulders, in which our poem to her touched upon Snow White’s story…

Then, the next magical mirror reply led us to the Frog Prince (and there was a snake rock not too far away)…

This next one was a bit tough, but it led us to an Elephant Rock (or lamb), which was touched upon in the book series for the Cinderella story. This one was hardest to find because we thought it was in the landfill, but it was outside of it. That was an adventure because we drove into a landfill looking for it. While here, she was also given a special purse to rub, a la Aladdin…

The magical mirror seemed to be done with the rock scavenger hunt and it led us to drop off the 3 younger girls with a friend, and Ben and I took True on a date. Her choice was ramen! It was nice to give her undivided attention from both of us and a date like this is something we never get to do, so it was extra special to give her this time, and very special to us too. She is super chatty when she’s alone with us!

After lunch and picking up the other girls, the mirror led us to all of our favorite ice cream place, which was part of the hunt to defeat the Snow Queen. Though once we got there, we were too busy indulging in ice cream to snap a picture. Lastly, the mirror took us back home where we ended the celebration with lasagna (her request) and a crownie cake (the book refers to brownies and crownies).

It was a full day of adventures celebrating our 12 year old! We’ve got one year until she’s a teen and I’m so thankful she still loves fairytales. She is not in a hurry to grow up and definitely cherishes being a kid. I’ll take all the years of that I can get! Time really does go by fast and I’m so thankful to God for allowing me this opportunity to disciple her heart. We’ve been at odds more lately, I think it’s that tween-hormonal thing, but she is also my sidekick. We love her so much and are praying God teaches her to rely on Him and His Word to carry through life. Happy 12, dear Truey!

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

My girls of course had fun putting on their costumes for May 4th. Their love for Star Wars is so cute!

I like the raw hems on these jeans and want to give it a try the next time I find a pair that needs some cutting.

The girls and I are excited the one month countdown until summer starts now! Woot!

A perfect denim skirt for summer.

I picked up some cool sunnies from this depop seller. Depop is another good marketplace to find one of a kind goods. I’ve picked up the best $8 vintage jeans and now $12 sunglasses.

This creative book looks like something the girls need for summer.

If you love vintage clothing, Pieceology Vintage is a shop you must follow.

Happy school testing week is done!

Wovenfolk carries some vintage denim! More will be trickling in here and there.

We’ve got glorious 90 degree weather this weekend. I might not think it’s so glorious in the summer, but I’m loving it now.

Happy weekending, friends!