Green for St. Patrick's Day

Top, Cardigan, Skirt, Boots, Purse: Thrifted // Tights: ?? // Necklace: Shabby Apple // Bracelet: eBay

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen

-The 'Breast-Plate' Prayer of St. Patrick

Although I'm not a Catholic, I have always loved this prayer attributed to St. Patrick. Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope ya'll had a pinch-free day! My sister's baking up some traditional Irish soda bread for dinner and we're enjoying lots of Irish music, me while I get some work done on this week's statistics homework. Altogether, a loverly day!

My Week in Photos {#1}

Hello, everyone! I thought I'd try adding a weekly instagram feature to the blog--I only recently got hooked on instagram (if you have one, you can hop on over and follow me at deckedoutinruffles) and I really love it as a quick and easy way to share photos of life's little (and maybe big!) moments. Let me know what you think!




During my last day of spring break, I decided I wanted to make something like this for my wall, so I got out the perler beads and within a half hour or so, I had this! Isn't he cute? I have a newfound fondness for deer...and owls, and foxes. He was quite a pain to iron, though!



I've been doing my spring cleaning for the past week or so. It's a slow process, and I've been so focused on getting it done that sometimes I'll stay up late cleaning. I just really want everything to be nice and organized so that my room can be a place to relax. It's very unlike me, however--as my dad says when he sees me cleaning, "Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?"




I started my new classes this week: statistics and public speaking. These two are some of my more dreaded required classes--public speaking tends to terrify me, while math has never been my strong suit. Still, I think they'll both be interesting and at least useful classes.





I started work on a new sewing project! I forgot how happy sewing makes me...especially with such fun fabric! Any guesses as to what it's going to be? It's almost finished, so I expect you'll be seeing pictures of the finished product soon enough!





For my confirmation, I wanted to have freshly painted nails--this is what I came up with. The yellow is from my March Julep box (which I ordered completely by accident, since I forgot to cancel for this month, but am very happy with), and I really like it, despite the fact that I've never been a huge fan of yellow.





My little cousin, Ally, drew a picture for me this past week. I was so touched! I think that one of the sweetest gifts you can get from a child is one that they made specially for you--it shows how much they care. It makes me nostalgic, too--when I was little, I drew pictures for everyone. My style was very similar to this, but I was obsessed with curls, so all the girls I drew had poodle hair.


Well, those are a few tidbits from my week! How was your week?

Another Milestone

Dress: Ross // Tights: JCP // Shoes: Target // Necklace: Claire's // Earrings: Gift // Hair pins: DIY {tutorial coming soon} // Nail Polish: Julep's "Leila," with silver glitter polish from Forever21

Hello everyone! I don't know if I've mentioned it on the blog at all, but the last couple of weeks (well, really, months, but in particular the last two weeks) have been pretty crazy for me. First, school is always crazy. I don't know where I got the idea that these eight-week courses wouldn't be too tough--they are a lot more intensive than I had ever expected. Not that that's a bad thing. I enjoy being challenged and I am the kind of gal who always needs something to do, so in a way, I really like it. Then then over the past couple of months, something new was added to my plate--my impending confirmation. I'm not sure how many churches do it, but in the church that I am a member of, in order to become a communicant member, a person has to take an instruction class and learn the key doctrines of the Christian religion (think along the lines of the 10 commandments, Law and Gospel, baptism, etc.). It involves a huge amount of memorization, and in the end, a public examination and confirmation of faith in front of the congregation.

When I was little and my grandpa was the pastor, I honestly thought that this was the most terrifying thing ever, and I couldn't imagine myself ever going through it. And yet...this past week, I actually did it, and (surprise!) I survived, after a crazy amount of studying and making myself almost sick with stress and unnecessary worry. And it was an incredible experience. My class and I (it was an unusually large class of 11 people) were all a lot older than the age when most are confirmed, and after waiting for so long and working so hard, it was rewarding, among other things. I know I am strengthened in my faith because of it, and I'm just overwhelmingly happy to be confirmed and to be able to take the Lord's Supper.

I know I don't really talk much about my personal life on the blog, aside from the occasional tidbits about school, and I think it's something I should start doing more often. Not overloading you with stories about my day-to-day life (though a little bit of that), but talking to ya'll about what's important to me. Like this. :) I love when bloggers do this, and so I want to do it a bit too.

Anyway...if you made it to the end of this post, first, congratulations (it seems really long to me!), and second, I want to ask your opinion about something. This new, more confident me is thinking about doing a vlog. Would any of you be interested in seeing one? What would you like me to talk about? Let me know in the comment section below or in an email (deckedoutinruffles@gmail.com). I'd love to hear your thoughts!