If I could do it all over again, I would love to be a travel agent or tour guide, as I love to find little hidden places or unique spots to visit. I've never passed a road I didn't want to drive down! And having gone to college in downtown Chicago, visiting the city many, many times over the years, having a husband who works there...all these add up to me being quite familiar with the city and having developed my favorite spots to stop. I'll skip over the museums (go - they'r

“I’m fairly local. I’ve been around. / I’ve seen the streets you’re walking down.” -Twenty One Pilots There's a new grocery store that's...

At first I wrote this out all happy and rah-rah, but I don't think I put enough emphasis on how overwhelming it was for me when I was...

A verse pulled completely out of context promising wealth and health if only the person would pray "right." A talk on how questioning the...

So maybe writing a post sounded enticing as it keeps me in the comfort of the air conditioning! Heat has crept into our area, storms rolling through, humidity blanketing any physical efforts. Ah, summertime! But really, I'm writing this because July is about to end - which is exciting in our house, because my husband won a photography contest and his picture was chosen for August on a local calendar. It's about to be the Month of HIM around here! But before that celebration b

This summer I've been studying prayer, so I've been writing about it, looking at prayers in the Bible, doing word studies and reading...

If there was an award for Best List Maker Ever, I would 100% nominate myself, dumping all my half-used notebooks jammed full of various...

I have an hour of free time between errands. I head toward my favorite stop: the bookstore. I drift between genres, picking up books...

It's TryDay - which, in this B Side world, means it's time to share a story to hopefully inspire you to try something new. I'd like to...

Have you wanted to study your Bible but were either too intimidated or too overwhelmed to know where to begin? Sadly, I think this is true for many believers! And we're not just intimidated by the Bible, we are also intimidated by the people who make the Bible sound like it's reserved for only the super intellectual or the pastors/leaders. While there are leaders and pastors who are great Bible teachers who we can take great insight and learning from, I truly believe we, as b

This mini brown butter banana bread recipe is perfect to serve one or two people!

Whether we've faced it with family, friends or acquaintances, we've all been in situations where we've wondered how we can best help. And...

...yet there are the days when every street corner rounds itself into a sunlit surprise, a painting or a phrase, canoes drawn up by the...

Since we're halfway through the year, here are the best books of 2023 SO FAR, not in any particular order, but all at least an 8/10 in my...

There's something nostalgic about summer and remembering driving kids around to activity after activity: sandy, half-soggy loud little...

Hey, Hey! It's Theology Thursday! This summer I'm focusing on prayer. Here's this week's thoughts: Last Thursday when I didn't do my planned post on prayer, I felt bad for not being consistent as consistency is what I'm working at being better at! But then I calmed my inconsistent self down because my reason was SO GOOD! It was because I spent the day hanging out WITH my daughter, who had just gotten home from a five week trip overseas, which came right off her semester at c

my grandpa would go on yearly fishing trips and bring home a teacup from Canada for my grandma. decorating with them makes me happy. So,...

I firmly believe in the value of a good hobby (or two...three...four!) to keep our minds active, and to help engage in the created...

I don't know where I'm going But I sure know where I've been Hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday Here I go again, here I go...

Hey, hey! It's Theology Thursday - what could possibly be more fun? This summer, I'll be looking at the topic of prayer. Read the first post in the series here: the fastest pray-er in the [mid]west and read on for this week's thoughts: I love a good pen, great notebook and a list. I do, however, have this little tickle in my brain that says if I mess up the page with a spelling error, weirdly written "e", or wrong pen, I have to start over. Then I get stuck because if I tear