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The Princess is all glorious in her chamber…even if it’s a barn!

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  • Create Your Perfect Autumn Bucket List
    I love creating bucket lists. I don’t always complete my seasonal bucket list, but I enjoy making them. One of the reasons that I enjoy creating bucket lists is because they help me to be more intentional about how I spend time during a particular season. Another reason is because they remind me to slow down and take the time to appreciate the gifts that God is sharing with us during this season. They remind me to be present and enjoy life. While it is fun to share my seasonal bucket list with you, this year I would like help you create your perfect autumn bucket list. In the last few years, one thing I have learned about creating any type of bucket list is that it is something that is personal. You can go to Pinterest and do a search of autumn buckets lists and come up with hundreds (if not thousands) of autumn bucket lists that are written by other people, but creating a bucket list (or really any type of life list) is about creating memories for yourself and for your family and friends. What good is it to print of a bucket list of things you and your family and friends don’t enjoy doing? So go grab a mug of your favorite tea or hot chocolate. Grab a pen and some paper or your computer or tablet, and let’s dive into creating your perfect autumn bucket list. When I sit down to create my autumn bucket list, I like to brainstorm activities that signal autumn to me and they usually fall into one of three categories: creating a cozy environment, creating an experience, and the sensory experience of autumn. Creating a Cozy Environment Autumn is a season of change. The weather is cooling, the leaves are changing, and the days are shorter.  And there is nothing better than creating warm indoor environments to combat the cooling weather outside. Some great ways to do this are: Creating an Experience Creating memories is an important part of life, and in order to create memories you have to create experiences. There is a saying, “People will forget what you said, but they will remember how you make them feel.” (Or something like that. I might have paraphrased that a bit.) So what do you want your friends and family to remember? Include them in making your bucket list. What do I mean by “create an experience”? I simply mean that you should do something meaningful for you and your family and friends. Do something that you enjoy and invite others to join you. What brings you joy? If you have a family, what do they enjoy doing together? Some of my favorite things include: Autumn Senses The tastes, sounds, smells, and feel of autumn are like no other time of year. There is an earthiness about this time of year. In the homesteading and farming worlds, this time of year is harvest season. That means the smell of hay being brought in and food being preserved for the winter. For some people, it means pumpkin spice and for others it means caramel apples. Everybody has their favorite scents and tastes of the season. Here are some wonderful ways to delight your senses this season: There are so many things to enjoy about this season like the cooler weather, warm sweaters, the sights and smells, cozy nights in with family and friends. Creating your perfect autumn bucket list should be easy, but don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself to complete everything on it. It really is just a reminder to be intentional and slow down and enjoy life. For more bucket list ideas, check out the following posts: What is on your bucket list this autumn?
  • A Few of My Favorite Things
    Hello, Friends! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to me! Happy birthday to meeee! Happy birthday to me! Today is my birthday, and I want to celebrate it by sharing some of my favorite things with you. (Note: At this time I am not an affliate with anybody so there are no links to purchase these things.) My Favorites Things: Colors: Red and blue Food: Pepperoni and black olives pizza Drink: Raspberry green tea (I take Stash’s Wild Raspberry Tea and steep it with green tea.) Bible verse: Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Vehicle: Jeep Wrangler Animal: Horse Current hobbies: Favorite Book: The Bible… I was going to list other books, but then I realized that it would probably be easier for me to list my favorite authors than to list my favorite books. These are the authors that I read their books over and over again. A couple of them are ones that I purchase their books as soon as they come out or pre-order them. Favorite Authors: Here is where my inner geek comes out. My Favorite Movies are: TV Shows:
  • Celebrate with Me!
    Hello, Friends! My birthday is this month and I want to celebrate it with you! Will you join me in this month long celebration? How many of you celebrate your birthday in September?  Let’s all celebrate. This is my favorite time of year. I love the autumn months and not just because of my birthday. The weather is starting to get cooler. The leaves are starting to change colors. It’s time to pull out the cozy sweaters and the hoodies, find some great cozy books to read and new crochet projects. Let’s add some mood lighting and blankets around the house. Just make the house extra cozy. I like to spend a little more time in the kitchen baking and just spend time enjoying family and friends. I grew up in a small farming community. This time of year is harvest season. The gardens are putting out their last fruits and people are in the kitchen preserving what they can for the seasons ahead.  We lived next door to my paternal grandparents when I was growing up and they had a large apple orchard so for us this time of year meant picking apples and making apple juice, apple cider and applesauce. They also had black walnut trees lining their driveway, and my sister and I would walk with Grandpa up and down the driveway picking up walnuts. Despite all the work that happens in autumn it is a time of slowing down. It is a time of preparation and thanksgiving. A time to look at what the Lord has blessed you with and a time to prepare for the winter ahead. For me, autumn has also become a time of planning. Every year around my birthday, I become reflective and start looking at my life. I start wondering and dreaming and even become a little restless. While most people set their goals or resolutions around the New Year, I have started setting mine around my around my birthday. (Around New Year, I will choose a word for the year and review my goals and make any changes.)  I do have to tell you that while lately I have great at the dreaming and planning, the last few years I have really failed in the doing. I have had some major struggles with my mental health as well as my physical and spiritual health, and I am hoping and praying to change a lot of that in the coming year. I want to instill new habits in my life and that is one of the reasons that I am attempting to take a more holistic approach to my life and this blog. For the next month, I will be sharing my plans for the coming year or two, some of my dreams and goals and ways that you all get involved if you desire, some of my favorite things like books and movies, recipes, etc., and also all things autumn. I also want to answer your questions. I am ready, able and willing to answer any questions.
  • Welcome Back to the BarnPrincess!
    Nine years ago I started a blog on BlogSpot called The BarnPrincess. When I started the blog I thought that it would be something fun to do. It was just meant to be a hobby, a way to be creative, share recipes and crafts, and encourage other single Christian women. I started it with no clear direction. Just a desire to share recipes, DIY’s and my faith. I thought other women are doing it so why can’t I? Well, sharing my faith and sharing my life took over the blog. Mainly because I was terrible about planning ahead for recipes and DIY’s. Every day for nearly four years, I wrote and I blogged before I hit a wall. I wasn’t suffering burnout, but my focus had turned from my relationship with God to myself, to everything I had sacrificed to move back in with my parents so I could take care of my grandmothers. My focus turned to comparison and envy because I felt like I was working so hard on the blog and taking care of my grandmothers and I felt like no one cared. I was sharing the posts of other bloggers that I enjoyed reading, but I had very few people who were sharing mine. Comparison wasn’t only restricted to my blogging. I was constantly comparing my life to my cousins’ lives, to the lives of other singles, and my family. I wanted to know when it was going to be my turn–when someone was going to start sharing my blog posts, when my family would recognize what I doing for them and what it was costing me to do it, when I was going to be able to travel, when I was going to be able to have that I had spent my life dreaming about. All of this comparison led to feelings of hypocrisy, envy, anger, and some bitterness (especially towards my family). I become discouraged and depressed. Many days I wouldn’t leave my bed or room except to take care of my grandmothers’ needs. I stopped cleaning the house. The meals that I prepared went from homemade to convenience cooking. I would stop writing for several months, write for a week or so, and then quit again until I finally just stopped altogether. The blog remained up for a couple of years after that until I finally decided that I wasn’t in any condition emotionally, mentally, and spiritually to continue with the blog. I knew that before I could continue blogging that I needed to get my heart right with the Lord, but I was depressed and angry so I fought it. I ignored my relationship with God, and I acted like a spoiled child because I was not getting my way and so God let me have my way and I continued on feeling miserable and depressed. Feeling angry with my family, feeling abandoned by my friends, and feeling justified in feeling miserable and depressed. I was self-righteous in my anger and holding on to all of the wrong things. And I wish that I could say that one day I had an epiphany or some miracle was worked, but it hasn’t been like that. There has been no miraculous turn around. There has just been a slow and painful acknowledgement that I have been wrong, that I have been miserable and depressed and that I only have myself to blame, and that my focus has been on the wrong things and for all the wrong reasons. I have slowly come to the realization that I need God, not just for what He can give me, but because I am miserable with this separation between us. I need Him every moment, every minute, every hour, & every day. And I need to share Him with the world so I will start again. I will write for Him. I will share my thoughts, my feelings, my talents, and my lessons learned. I have plans and ideas and restarting The BarnPrincess is just one of them. I’m still working on the plan, but I want this to be a place where all women feel welcome. I want to be what I wanted it to be the first time I started it…a place where I share my faith, recipes, crafts, and even about being a single Christian. I want it to be a place where things can be discussed openly and honestly and with encouragment. My mission with this blog is to glorify God, to encourage others, and to have fun while doing it so pour yourself a glass of sweet tea and join me on the porch. Let’s get the discussion started. Introduce yourself and tell me where you are from. Let me know what you want to see more of: faith, living single or DIY’s.
  • TSL: The 30-Day Challenge for Single Christian Women
    Welcome back to The Single Life! These posts are meant to encourage and strengthen single Christian women in their walk with the Lord. They are to help you become more intentional and live life now instead of waiting for a husband who may or may not ever come. I recently ran across this post on Popsugar that was a 30-day challenge for single women. While I loved the idea of the challenge, many of the activities on the challenge were geared for one thing…finding a man, and while I don’t think that is necessarily bad, I wanted to do a challenge that also helped us celebrate being single and I wanted a challenge that would hopefully draw us closer to the Lord as well as closer to finding a man who is close to the Lord. You can start this challenge anytime. Just print it out or click the link below for a printable calendar. Day 1: Choose a Life Verse Pray and ask the Lord to guide you to a Bible verse that speaks to you and make it your life verse. Focus on having it memorized by then end of the 30 days. Post it where you can see it every day. Journal about it. Be creative with it. Why did you choose that verse? What does it mean to you? How does it give you strength? Or how does it give you direction? Day 2: The Most Important Things Write down the 3 most important things to you in a future husband. What is most important to you? Is it his looks? Is it his faith? Do you want him to family oriented? Do you want to him to make a lot of money? What are the 3 most important things that you are looking for in a husband? Limit it to just 3. You might have a longer list, but think about what is most important. Day 3: What You Don’t Want Write down the 3 things that you absolutely can’t stand in a future husband. What are your deal breakers when it comes to dating someone or the person that you want to marry? Day 4: Glamorous You Get all glammed up and take a bangin’ selfie. Put on your favorite outfit. Fix your hair nice and do your makeup. Then start snapping pictures. Choose your favorite one and make it your profile pic on your social media networks. Are you like me and don’t take selfies well? Ask a friend or family member to take some pictures for you. Day 5: Bible Study Join a Bible study in your neighborhood or online. Day 6: Dream big Spend the day dreaming. What would you do if money were no object? What do you think that the Lord is calling you to do? Write a mission statement for your life. Create a vision board or prayer wall. Make a bucket list. You can focus on just the current season or you can make a list of all the things that you want to do throughout your life. Day 7: Write it down. Write a letter to the Lord about being single. Tell Him about the hurts you feel as well as what you like about being single. Ask Him to heal your hurts and help you find contentment in this current season, and thank Him for the lessons you are learning through being single. Day 8: Make Time for Family Call your parents, your grandparents, your siblings. Volunteer to babysit. Support “their thing”: a blog, a business, an art project, a piano recital. Plan a family reunion. Host a family dinner. Day 9: Learn Something New Enroll in a class at your local library. Take ballroom dance lessons. Learn to play the piano. Take an art class or a cooking class. Day 10: Girls’ Night Out Plan a girls’ night out with your besties. Get all dressed up and go out to eat, to the movies, or shopping. Day 11: Date Online Sign up for an online dating service like Eharmony or Christian Mingle. If you are already a member, update your profile and your pictures. Day 12: Be Neighborly Introduce yourself to your neighbors. Make a list of them so you can call them by name when you see them. Ask about their families and their jobs. Bake a cake or cookies and give it to a neighbor. Host a block party. Offer to help an elderly neighbor mow their lawn or shovel snow depending on the time of year. Day 13: SM Friends Reach out to someone you only know through social media and invite them to hang out with you. Lunch. Dinner. See a movie. Whatever. Just reach out and let that SM friend know that you want to be IRL friends too. Day 14: Prayer Walk Go on a prayer walk and pray for the people in your neighborhood. Day 15: Stranger Danger? Start a conversation with a stranger. Reach out to someone you don’t know, and possibly make a new friend. Day 16: The Woman I Want to Be We have already written about 3 things we want to find in husband. Today’s assignment is to write down the qualities of the wife/person that you want to be and the steps that you can take to become that type of person. Day 17: Unplug Spend the entire day away from social media. If it is the weekend, turn off your phone. No Facebook. No Twitter. No Instagram. Do something creative. Read a book. Exercise. Spend the day with family or friends. Day 18: Serve Volunteer at your church or a non-profit in your area. Become a mentor. Lead a small group. Help feed the homeless. Become a Big Sister. Pray for your church leaders. Go on a missions trip. Day 19: Be daring. Do something daring with today’s look and spend the whole day thinking positively. Get outside your comfort zone. Do something you wouldn’t normally do. Try something new. Day 20: “Me” Night Date yourself. Take yourself out for the night, or even stay in for the night. Go out to dinner and see a movie or stay in, order pizza, wear your most comfortable pajamas and watch your favorite movie. It’s your night. Do what you want to do. Day 21: Get social. Join or start some sort of social group. It could be a book club, sports, photography group, hiking, etc. Whatever you are interested in find a group and get social. Day 22: A new look Do you have a date your excited about? Or maybe your just tired of the same old outfits? Give yourself a makeover day. Buy a new outfit. Maybe get your hair done and look for a new look to do with your makeup. Day 23: Lunch Invite a friend to join you for lunch. Day 24: On Your Own Spend the day doing something on your own. Go to the movies. Take a walk. Spend the day shopping. Explore your town. Don’t invite anyone to go with you. Just spend the day the way you want to. Day 25: Girls’ Night In Plan a girls’ night in with your besties. Have a spa night, movie night, game night, or craft night. Or choose another theme. Make it a time to relax and enjoy being together. Day 26: Build Your Own Family Open your Bible and mark down every time you find that God talks about the poor, the outcast, the widow, the fatherless, etc. Read through some of them. There are a lot so you don’t have to read through them all. Write down a few practical ways that you can build community into your life or take care of people in need. Day 27: Memories Create a new memory today. What is something you have always wanted to do but have been putting off doing? Buy a new picture album and start filling it with happy memories. Day 28: Pamper You Light candles, turn on relaxing music, & take a bubble bath. Pamper yourself for the night. Day 29: Alone, but Not Lonely Prepare a loneliness kit for those days when you just feel all alone.  Ideas of what to include: Things that inspire you Cards with Bible verses that remind you that you are not alone Your favorite book Your favorite movie Your vision board Things that make you laugh Cartoons Videos Things that connect you to the people that you love A small photo album with pictures of your family and friends Cards you have saved Letters & notes Things that make you feel pampered Bath salts or bubble bath Candle with your favorite scent A gift card for a mani/pedi A gift card for a massage Things that make you feel grateful Your gratitude journal Day 30: Have as much fun as possible!  
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