Easy energy balls

The monthly happy hour at my gym again means another healthy snack recipe!

Ready for some super simple energy balls?

Energy Balls
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter of your choice)
1 cup oats (I used quick oats because they’re what I had on hand, but old-fashioned work too)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
3/4 cup add-ins: I used 1/4 each of sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and mini chocolate chips (but shredded coconut, carob chips, other seeds or nuts, etc will all work!)

Directions:
Put honey and peanut butter in a large microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 10-15 seconds, stir to combine. Then dump in everything else and mix! Form into small balls, layer into an airtight container with wax paper separating layers, and refrigerate 4 hours. Makes 20-30 depending on size.

Enjoy!

Pigs and mustaches

Time to catch up on sharing a few of my most recent baking jobs! The same customer requested these for 2 separate parties. Seems to me like the birthday girl in both situations had a fun sense of humor 🙂

The pig cake is wrapped in Kit Kats, and the mustache cupcakes have chocolate mustaches personally drawn/created by me 🙂 such a fun time!

A few hours in Boston

I was on the ground in Boston from 8am to 2pm, and let me tell you, you can do a lot in that time! I had a couple hours after I finished up what I was sent there for work to do, so I decided to check out a couple new spots that I hadn’t seen on previous vacations to the wonderful city! My main mission became getting a Boston cream pie to bring back home with me, so upon a little research I found that the Omni Parker House hotel, where the BCP was originally invented, also happened to be just around the corner from the job site I’d been sent to survey. So off I went!

And like the dessert nut I am, I laid that delicious treat onto the ground (it was in the container still) and set about taking a picture that I thing really sums up my passions: dessert and freedom. Amen and amen.

Then I walked around the city and snapped some pics of the great historical sites around me. And lucky me, it was a BEAUTIFUL day!

“When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity”

Oh. Man. I have been a huge Jen Hatmaker fan for almost a year now – as long as I have known of her. If you want to look into the life of a woman who is genuine, hilarious, and truly wrecked for the kingdom of God in the best way ever, I highly suggest that you check our her blog, her books, her speaking engagements, the show HGTV just did about her family’s move into a new home and the renovations that followed, or just follow her on Facebook. Her love for our Savior is contagious.

See? Practically besties 🙂

I saw a Facebook post last month that she was re-releasing her book Interrupted from a few years ago, but with revised and expanded content, and wanted to offer 250 bloggers a chance to be sent an early release copy to share about with their readers. So thank YOU my lovely readers for the chance to tell you a little about this book! And I got to enjoy some quiet time on a plane ride to Boston this morning to finally dig into my notes and write!

First of all, I think this book is for everyone: men and women, believers and non-believers, young and old. Everyone. In our busy and fast-paced world it is so easy to become a creature of habits, put our heads down, and just get through life numbing yourself to anything that disrupts your focus. How often do you lift your head up and think: “what if I’m missing the point?” or “is this all there is?”. It’s also so easy to feel discouraged in our time and feel like God has never been more absent in society than He is now. (But this isn’t true.)

Second – this book is best described as a conversation. I probably didn’t read it as quickly as I was supposed to, but honestly I loved reading and then having a time to pause and reflect and dig into my heart and get into prayer before hours or days later I’d pick it back up and continue.

During this few weeks of reading, I FINALLY took something that had been on my heart for a long while and turned it into action: connecting with and sharing what I hope and pray is a meaningful gesture with the homeless people I see daily who are begging on street corners and at major intersections that I drive by every day. I would avert my eyes at traffic lights in hopes to not FEEL anything that made me uncomfortable. I sat in tears for a good while after I felt these words jump off the page and squeeze my judgemental heart until I wanted to burst:

We are not allowed to neglect the oppressed because we have reservations about their discernment. We cannot deny love because it might be despised or misunderstood. We can’t withhold social relief because we’re not convinced it will be perfectly managed…we are only qualified to administer mercy, not judgement.

So I set off on a trip to Target and bought supplies to make what I now refer to as “blessings bags” — bags filled with things to make a poor and homeless person just a little more comfortable and a note of loving encouragement and prayer. I keep them in my car and hand them out at traffic lights like a lunatic when I am at an intersection where someone is begging. I am still thinking and praying and knowing that this will continue to evolve, but I feel like it is hopefully a helpful start. And I have already been so humbled by my few interactions in the last week that have involved brief but beautiful conversations with the recipient.

Being ignorant in our intervention is just as unhelpful as detaching ourselves because we want to assume that the oppressed people of our world are thankless, reckless, and irresponsible. Maybe there are some who are, but when we stand at the gates of a Heaven we will face an account of our lives – what we did and what we didn’t do. Dig into Matthew 25 here, but the main idea of what matters and what doesn’t is our care for the oppressed. I remember being annoyed by the WWJD bracelet fad as a kid. But there really couldn’t be a better question to ask ourselves constantly. What would Jesus do? Because whatever the answer is in any situation, do that. And then do more of that.

I practically want to recreate most of the book for you right now because there is just so much to talk about and think about. But instead I’ll share one more concept that I really identified with: the concept of Communion as a call to action in our lives, not just a ritual process at church. Jen explains it in great detail from a theological standpoint that amazed me and I had never heard explained this way. When Jesus shared the bread and the cup with his disciples, it was a symbolic ritual, but also “a new prototype of discipleship. ‘Continuously make MY sacrifice real by doing this very thing.’ Become broken and poured out for hopeless people. Become a living offering, denying yourself for the salvation and restoration of humanity…we don’t simply remember the meal; we become the meal.” If we are to feed His sheep, we need to be broken to feed others.

Boom. Brain explosion, yes?

So I challenge you as I challenge myself to not strive to be at the top in life, but to find the bottom and pour yourselves into the oppressed people who Jesus would’ve no doubt been right alongside of. And also to strive for great things: great giving and great loving — to not get complacent and comfortable. I think to a person who used to be very close to me who I was so humbled and amazed by the deep and powerful connection in their heart to seeing the needs of others and wanting to go to the corners of the earth to make things better — but fear of the uncomfortable and breaking the cycle of expectations is such a hard barrier to break through for all of us, and this person especially. It breaks my heart. I can’t say I get it right either, but I know that I don’t want to (and really CAN’T) ignore the call anymore. I want to live big and love more boldly than ever before. Are you with me?!
Ask Jesus to interrupt your life so that you are never the same again.

Now the fun part! Where to get your copy. I also want to send someone one. I wanted to do a giveaway with my copy, but it’s well-loved at this point and you deserve a fresh one! So comment below with an answer to one of these:
1) What would you struggle to give up if Jesus wanted to use your life to make a difference in the world?
2) In your community, what would make the Good News seem good again to people watching the church?
3) Do you use the Bible to defend things in your life instead of define it? How so?

Another great read: Pursuing Justice, by Ken Wystma

I continue to be amazed at how I feel like God is calling my heart to these great books of conviction and true heart changes and growth. It’s like He has been knocking at the door and I’ve been peering through the peephole waiting to open up and let Him in because I know it’s gonna be big. But as I’m sitting here, door open, heart open, I can say that it is exciting to be more present than ever in my faith. Before I opened this book this past weekend, I had ordered an engravable from Stella & Dot with a bible verse that had really been imprinting itself on my heart a lot lately – Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? (NKJV). So it really just felt that much more perfectly planned that this book spoke specifically to that verse.

So this leads me to a little review about this book:

Ken Wystma challenges the reader before you even crack the spine of Pursuing Justice. The back of the book asks: If God designed us to experience true happiness, why do so many of us feel dissatisfied and purposeless? Throughout the book Ken uses his strong knowledge of theology combined with stories from his long history of ministry and travel to share the gospel and the call of God for justice. Whether this is a familiar concept or an entirely new one, you will appreciate his hopeful message and find there is always room to grow and learn. One of my favorite passages in the Bible is a core principle of our calling as believers and constantly referenced in this book: to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly. I appreciate his approach to pursuing justice: that even though we can’t fix the world, we can certainly change it. There is nothing trendy about justice, it is our duty and pleasure to live (and die) for it. This isn’t a guilt trip book, or even a “how to” with any sort of checklist. Instead, Ken equips you with the knowledge and encouragement to assess how the pursuit of justice is happening in your own life, and how to grow in that pursuit. Prepare yourself for a beautiful and transformative read, and then share it with a friend!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Florida and Hoopla!

So a big and exciting part of my July was heading down to Florida for a long weekend to go to our Stella & Dot annual conference (which was being held in Orlando this year) and then get to take advantage of being so close to home and went down to spend a couple days in Sarasota with my fam.

Man oh man, thousands of women in one giant room can really get excited about the smallest of things! It’s amazing! Our conference was amazing! The swag bags, the fashion show, the training and coaching….it was all so great. It makes me so excited and I feel so blessed to have found such a great fit with this company. It may be jewelry and accessories (which we all love) but it’s also at the core, a company and a force of women (and a few men) who are committed to creating happiness and opportunity for other women through genuine connections that just happen to form over a bond of something simple like jewelry. I got teary-eyed so many times listening to the powerful stories of all the women who had truly changed their lives by taking the simple step to sign up and try out being a stylist. I just love it.

Here are some pics from Hoopla for your enjoyment 🙂 lots of great time bonding with my team too!

Goodies and loads of freebies from the new Fall 2014 collection in our swag bags! Plus I earned the flamingo pouch and tote in a spring/summer incentive.

 

An awesome runway show to see all of the new fall 2014 collection!

Paradise, right? The Marriot World Center in Orlando was an awesome place for our event. I’m sad to say I never made it to the pool, but just looking at this view every day ALMOST as exciting and relaxing.

I loved this quote that our CEO Jessica referenced during a great motivational and insightful talk she did.

Christy Turlington came to talk about a bracelet that we designed in partnership with her to support her organization: Every Mother Counts.

(I love how it’s broken down into such a simple thing — in 3 months a stylist could just have 3 girl’s nights to style and have fun with other women, and at a minimum, would earn $500 in free jewelry and at least $500 cash, and that’s just “working” a few hours — love it!)

 

My fabulous friend and also my Stella & Dot sponsor! Love her!

Pics with our little team!

I also came back with some big goals for growing my business and am excited to start coaching more people along in the most fun and flexible super part time job ever! I am looking to add 2 people to my team in the month of August so if you or anyone you know wants even just a little more info, let me know! I’d love to share the joy! And signing up here is super easy 🙂 http://www.stelladot.com/brittanyallen

And then onto the part where I spent time at home with my family! Oh and a little Disney time too!

 

 

 

My niece has excellent taste in jewelry!

This is a picture of a picture, so pardon the quality! But it was a special chance while I was home to get all of my family together including my grandma. As I write this 2 weeks later I’m so sad to say that she just passed away a few days ago, which makes this last time I saw her that much more special. Thank you, Lord!

A little view of the yummiest dessert pretzel I had in Norway of Epcot, along with a peek at my new bracelet (the orange one) that supports Every Mother Counts that I mentioned above — and a bracelet that I got as a gift from Stella & Dot for growing my team!

I love this picture, haha, this is the Paris Market Tote from Stella & Dot, and I felt like it needed a photoshoot in France at Epcot. That’s probably as close as it’s going to get to the actual Paris for a while!

Went to this new restaurant (well, new to me) in Sarasota with my family. It was SO tasty!

My wrap was veggies and white bean hummus — it was awesome!

I also couldn’t resist a little photo shoot with my cutest pup in the world — Bianca. She loves going anywhere with the family, so she was happy to hop in my bag in hopes of a trip!

I had SO much fun with my niece Ava – she’s 2 and so full of personality. I love her so much!

Trying on my new fall pendant over neon.

Barely spent any time at Siesta Key, but at least I made it out for a sunset!

Back at the airport and headed to DC after a wonderful 6 days!