July 2013

What I Love About Me ~ Oana Befort


What I Love About Me

This summer, I'm hosting an ongoing weekly series called "What I Love About Me," where I ask a variety of women bloggers what they love most about themselves! This was a project I started last summer, and I'm happy to bring it back.

In our culture, it can be hard for women to think and talk positively about ourselves. TV, movies, commercials, magazines, and even blogs constantly prodding us with messages about how we are supposed to look, act, and feel as women. It's easy to be susceptible to these messages, and it's not uncommon for many to find themselves on a constant quest to be "good enough" in society's eyes. On top of that, those who are confident and vocal about their good qualities are often thought of as arrogant, conceited, and sometimes others even feel the need to "take them down a notch."

With this series, I want to promote women realizing and celebrating the amazing aspects of themselves, without fear or shame. Today's amazing woman is Oana Befort



Oana Befort



What I love about me.

I have to admit that when Chantilly wrote me about this blog post I was a little intimidated. I am the kind of person who tends to be too exigent with herself, always trying to improve and sometimes forgetting to sit back and see what she already is.

So... The thing that I like the most about me right now is who I am as a mother. I can forget about everything or any silly problem when I look into my little boy’s eyes, I love the fact that I am probably the funniest person in the world to him and the one that will always be there for him with a constant growing love.

I love the fact I am a hard worker and I always knew that I wanted to be a creative. I love that I kept trying to do what I loved the most, despite many hard times, context and some discouraging words (why do we always remember those?).

I love the fact that I am friendly, sociable, open and I can sit and listen + keeping a secret.

I love the fact that I am depending on God and I have him as my source of strength, inspiration and encouragement. I truly believe that I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for him.

xo, Oana Befort

Oana Befort



Chantilly

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Seeing stars


Just popping in to give you guys a peek inside one of the camp events I headed up recently. It was an "evening under the stars" dance. I envisioned tons of glittery stars hanging from the ceiling, so that's exactly what we made!

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Greetings from the other side of the world!! xoxo

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Chantilly

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Dodge's Market


Hello friends! Hope you are well :)

Today is just a simple post, filled with some pics from Dodge's Market. It's a cute local restaurant that everyone goes to on their days off. Being the cafe connoisseur that I am, I can't help but want to come here all the time. One major drawback though: they do not have iced coffee!! This is major for me, but I overlook it. It's too pretty to skip.

Along with being a general eatery, they also sell little cakes, candies, jams, and other cute stuff...

dodge's market elmer, nj dodge's market elmer, nj dodge's market elmer, nj dodge's market elmer, nj dodge's market elmer, nj dodge's market elmer, nj 20130707-IMG_1776



Thanks :)) Hope you're having a beautiful morning!!



Chantilly

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What I Love About Me ~ Mollie from Wild Olive


What I Love About Me

This summer, I'm hosting an ongoing weekly series called "What I Love About Me," where I ask a variety of women bloggers what they love most about themselves! This was a project I started last summer, and I'm happy to bring it back.

In our culture, it can be hard for women to think and talk positively about ourselves. TV, movies, commercials, magazines, and even blogs constantly prodding us with messages about how we are supposed to look, act, and feel as women. It's easy to be susceptible to these messages, and it's not uncommon for many to find themselves on a constant quest to be "good enough" in society's eyes. On top of that, those who are confident and vocal about their good qualities are often thought of as arrogant, conceited, and sometimes others even feel the need to "take them down a notch."

With this series, I want to promote women realizing and celebrating the amazing aspects of themselves, without fear or shame. Today's amazing woman is Mollie from Wild Olive



Screen Shot 2013-07-16 at 10.37.52 PM

There are many things that I like: embroidery, cute things, books, drawing, crafts, and more. These things are reflected in my blog. There are other things I love, like my family and God. But what do I love about myself? One thing comes to mind as the best and most important thing: I love that I find my identity in Jesus.

As a blogger, okay, as an anything, it's so easy to compare yourself to others or to rely on feedback from readers or friends to define you. I know that all too often I start looking at my blog stats or how many times a post has (or hasn't!) been pinned, and it's easy to down on myself, questioning what I'm doing. But those thoughts don't hang on for too long.

If tomorrow morning I wake up and the entire Internet hates me, I am still a child of God. Nothing changes that. He makes me whole.

This one thing defines how I perceive myself more than anything else does. Does it mean that I don't need to change and improve things about myself? No. But it does give me a level of contentment as I rest who I am in Him.

xo, Mollie from Wild Olive



Chantilly

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Favorite Things About Camp


camp diaries

Greetings!

The other day I had one of those epiphany moments, in the form of a wave of gratitude. I was thinking about how lucky I am to be able change up my life, and come to such a wonderful and inspiring place. The environment is beautiful, and I'm surrounded by such talented and happy people. So I thought I'd share my five most favorite things about being at camp:


1. Nature
Being a city dweller, I'm it makes me happy to be able to spend so much time with the Earth. Sure we have parks, but it's just not the same. The camp is near a lot of farm land and open fields, so even just driving down the road on time off feels like a special experience. The best thing is walking across the field at night to get to my bunk. When I look up and see the stars in the night sky, set against the outline of the trees, I feel magical.

2. Community
Coming to camp means getting to know 100+ fellow staff members, and 400+ kids in two months time. It is overwhelming, to say the least. It's pretty inevitable that you will get close, and have intense emotional experiences with some of these people. But I've found that even the negative experiences have value. Even through the negative, you bond. So even as you're fighting over curriculum plans, having power struggles, and trying to work through the weird attractions you have to certain people, you still end up having a deep respect for them.

3. The kids
These little nuggets are the reason we're all here... but it surprised me just how close you get to some of them :) Not only that, but how close some of them get to you! To know that you are positively affecting someone else's life is like no other feeling. You are helping to create memories that they will have forever. That is so powerful.

4. Performance opportunities
Part of me loves coming here to take a break from the competitive nature of my field in a major metropolitan city. You would think that New York, being a haven of the arts, would be a really supportive city for artists, but that's really not the case. Here, everyone gets the chance to be a superstar :)


5. The schedule
This is a really weird one, since I usually enjoy a more leisurely pace of life. However, I’m also constantly stressed out trying to remember things all the time. The schedule here is rigid, but at least it’s a system. Our everyday schedules are four times as packed as anything I do at home. The downside to this is obviously that you have very little free time. But the upside is that time goes by so much more slowly. Things that happened in the morning seem like they happened a week ago. And if something bad happens to you in the morning, you usually forget it by dinnertime :P



Have a beautiful day! How's your summer going so far?? xx



Chantilly

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Reading Terminal


Happy Friday all!! How was your week? One word to describe mine: Busy :P but such is camp...

The other day a group of us went to Philadelphia on our day off to get away from the madness for a bit. We visited Reading Terminal Market, which I also went to last year. This time, it was raining all day long, and we unfortunately had to walk long distances to get to a couple other places we wanted to go, like Macy's and a cute little local bar. Even so, we had a lovely time!

I also had an iced espresso! If there's one thing I've missed since I've been at camp, it's a proper iced coffee/ espresso drink. I've been dying for one since I got here. Anyway, here are just a few snaps from the day (mostly at Reading Terminal.)

Reading Terminal Market Reading Terminal Market Reading Terminal Market Reading Terminal Market


I had a roast pork sandwich! Yummers.
Reading Terminal Market Reading Terminal Market


I've hustling extra hard here lately, but making it work. I hope you're having a lovely day :) xx



Chantilly

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What I Love About Me ~ Sara from Chalk White Arrow


What I Love About Me

This summer, I'm hosting an ongoing weekly series called "What I Love About Me," where I ask a variety of women bloggers what they love most about themselves! This was a project I started last summer, and I'm happy to bring it back.

In our culture, it can be hard for women to think and talk positively about ourselves. TV, movies, commercials, magazines, and even blogs constantly prodding us with messages about how we are supposed to look, act, and feel as women. It's easy to be susceptible to these messages, and it's not uncommon for many to find themselves on a constant quest to be "good enough" in society's eyes. On top of that, those who are confident and vocal about their good qualities are often thought of as arrogant, conceited, and sometimes others even feel the need to "take them down a notch."

With this series, I want to promote women realizing and celebrating the amazing aspects of themselves, without fear or shame. Today's amazing woman is Sara from Chalk White Arrow


Chalk white arrow

When Chantilly asked me to write this post I thought it was such a brilliant idea, but the more I thought about what I would actually say the more stumped I became. It isn't that there aren't things about myself I do love but then again, the things I love about me isn't exactly a topic I usually put a lot of thought into.

Like many little girls growing up, I was constantly told all the things I was good at or that I was beautiful or things such as how much I resembled a princess ... However, as I grew, I started to compare myself to others and began to let the hurtful things others said affect me resulting in a lowered self-esteem and like most of us, started focusing my thoughts on the negative parts of me rather than the positive.

Chalk white arrow

So after considering just asking Camden (my husband) to just give me something he loved about me, I finally decided on one thing I do love about myself and that is the ability to easily forgive. I have never been one to hold grudges and have always been able to forgive others whether it be something small and petty or something heavy and relationship threatening. Honestly, I have a hard time holding onto grudges even if the other hasn't apologized. It's just something that has always come easy, and this is what I love about me.

Chalk white arrow

xoxo, Sara
www.chalkwhitearrow.com



Chantilly

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Farmer's Market!


Happy Monday everyone! Things have been really ramping up here at camp, so this will just be a short update. The other day, we had an outreach trip to a local farmer's market. All the kids taking morning classes had the chance to come out and perform the pieces that they've been working on :)

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The actual farmer's market ended up being not much more than a few tables of sparse fruits and vegetables. But it was still a really lovely time. And it's always great to give the kids a chance for more performance experience.

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Hope you are having a great day!!



Chantilly

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