Oh you don't want a $200 Anthropologie giftcard?

Because it's almost the end of summer.
Because who couldn't use $200 to anthropologie. 
Because it's so fun to find other fun bloggers. 
Did I mention the $200 to Anthropologie? 

I'd decided not to do any more giveaways on my blog. 
Just serious writing here folks! (Well.....) 
But when Jessica from Swish and Swoon organized this one I had to say yes! I love Jessica, I am such fans of the gals in this giveaway, and I absolutely love Anthro (my pre-baby employer). 

So enjoy, enter to win, it only takes a second and you get a bunch of entries! 
And check back in Wednesday for the semi-serious writing. 
I'll be all business by then! 

get it girl // mama shred

Just a quick pop in to say thank you Jesus for running. 

It's keeping me all kinds of sane right now. 

And the Mama Shred. 

I have a big Mama Shred update coming up in a week or so, but it's time to open up new spots because the first cycle is starting over again! If you missed out - now is your time!

Here is my current favorite running playlist. 

I bestow it to you for fun a fun hour of running, dancing with your kids, or cooking breakfast. 

For more MamaShred spots, go here!
Grab your spots quick. Get it girl! 
UPDATE: THE PAYPAL ISN'T RIGHT ON THE MAMASHRED LINK, WE'RE WORKING ON IT:) 

(pssst: Bloggers! Want to help Gospel Community? Steal that image right there ^, put it in your posts and link it to nicksconnolly.com this week! Thank you) 

don't be scared of summer + Albion Fit Giveaway

I have something to confess. 

For the bulk of my adult life, I've had a straight up fear of summer. 

Sure I love picnics and sun and playing -- but I hate bathing suits, shorts, and near nudity. 

I'm a modest kind of girl who feels like my stretchmarks are best kept to myself and, you know?

And then I found out about Albion Fit and I have to be honest. 

Now, I'm not scared of summer! I have to REALLY believe in a company and love their product to review it here, and I promise you - this is a product I love and am excited to share!

Albion Fit is a company that provides women's fitness and swimwear and nothing looks like it was made for a 12 year old. It's real, luxurious women's workout clothing and bathing suits that fit well and flatter your body. They asked me if I'd like to try something from their product line to review and since I knew I'd be in chilly Indiana for a bit - I chose the Balboa Tunic Dress.

I absolutely love this tunic because it can easily be worn two ways. When I'm in South Carolina in a few weeks, it will make the perfect blousy coverup to wear for hours and hours on the beach or while my kids play in the sprinklers in the backyard. BUT while I'm here in Indiana - I can wear it with long pants as a boho-ish type tunic dress.

Here are a few other of my favorites from Albion - the blousy bathing suit top and I love their hoodies! The gals from Albion are feeling super generous so they're giving one of you the Black Balboa Tunic as well AND a 15% discount for EVERYONE off the whole shop using coupon code NaptimeDiaries15. 

Follow the directions below to enter and head over to Albion Fit to use that discount!
None of us should be scared of summer, you know? 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

shake it up.

Wanna know a secret? 
This life, it is not all inspiration and excitement. 
I try not to be the wompy girl on the internet, or for that matter the wompy girl in the human world - the one who points out the bad and focuses on the sticky points of reality. But that doesn't mean I live a life that isn't filled with normal and mediocre and tired and stressful. 

Hayley and I are working hard on our Refresh eBook and the biggest thing I'm learning as we're genuinely trying to experiment with refreshment and bless other ladies with it, is that sometimes the biggest and hardest and most important step to experiencing refreshment is to stop thinking about how icky you feel and just do something. 

It's Wednesday. Are you tired? Worried? Sad? Burdened? Bored? 
Here is my casual and quick list to shake it up. 
Go on a walk. 
Write a letter to a friend. 
Put on this song real loud. 
Play hide and go seek with your kids. 
Try some abstract painting. 
Make a smoothie. 
Read a book. 
Take a nap. 
Do a little dancing in a room by yourself. 

There it is. My prescription to shake it up today. 
What helps you? 

Also?! Today's the last day of our MOVING SALE - 40% off in our shop! 

Last big sale till November! Ah! Don't miss it! 

our healthy dream | an essential oils giveaway

I'm a dreamer. Nick and I dream on datenights and I dream while I run and I like to ask people about their dreams. For me, it's not always the crazy outrageous stuff - but I just like to hear the commonplace, "this would sure be a sweet life" dreams. For example, for awhile now - I've had a simple dream that our kids would grow up with really comfy beds. Not extravagant. Not expensive. Just a comfy mattress with some sweet clean sheets. I dreamed that they'd look back on their childhood and remember peaceful nights in their beds. 

This kind of dreaming is so good in small doses, because it jars us into reality about taking steps for the simple dreams. I don't want five years to pass by and realize I've been so caught up in the day to day and the big endeavors, that my kids didn't have sweet and simple beds and clean sheets, you know? 

Anyhow - this isn't a post about beds. But it is about a dream that I'm taking baby steps towards. In all honesty, when I dream about ten years from now - I want to be really, really healthy. I don't want to be really, really skinny or worship health - because it's not the end all be all, but I do want to know that I'm stewarding my body well and raising my family in simplest, healthiest way I can. 

Our family has had a windy road to health and wellness. A few years ago, we had a really standard american diet with lots of diet coke and boxed pizza (not that there is ANYTHING wrong with occasional diet coke and boxed pizza) and very little thoughts of health mixed in. Then we went into an intense phase of natural living - gluten free and vegan and making our own soap. Since then, we've been kind of finding our way - what works for us and what doesn't and what matters to us and what isn't so important. And every once in a while, we have to do these little checks to make sure we're on the right path. 

That's where Jodi comes in. I met Jodi through The Influence Conference last year and had an immediate connection with her. Just before Christmas, our family went through a horrible horrible season of sickness. I was having pregnancy complications, we all went through the flu, the stomach flu, multiple colds, and more than our fair share of puking. It seemed like we were always on another antibiotic and I didn't know how to get out of the crazy cycle of sickness. During this season, sweet Jodi emailed me and began to tell me about essential oils. She offered to send me a complete set of the Young Living Everyday Oils completely free, no strings attached, just to bless us. We were skeptical but desperate. 

I toyed with the oils a little before having Cannon, but not much. It wasn't until I came home from the hospital with intense uterine trauma that I got interested and started really asking Jodi questions. I had an abdomen that was bruised and crazy swollen from my complicated c-section. I was in serious pain and doctors and nurses gave me no real solution except to wait for it to heal - possibly six weeks or more. The first night I really tried the oils on my swelling and bruising, I was doubtful and hopeful all at once. I put Panaway and Lavender all over my abdomen and woke up to a stomach that was half the size it was the night before, with most of the major bruising GONE. 

Since then, I've slowly begun to learn more about essential oils and their benefits. I'll be 100% honest and tell you, the husband is still a good bit skeptical, but Jodi recently got him some big legit chemistry books that explain how the oils work and he'll be working his way through in his own time. Now, we're using lemon oil in our water for detoxing our liver and digestion. We're using Thieves for sore throats instead of tylenol. Panaway on sore knees after running. My kiddos are learning to stick their little toes out of their beds every night for their Peace + Calming oil application on their feet. Lavender, Peppermint, even Frankincense on Glory to help protect against seizures. I can't explain intelligently how essential oils work, but I love that we're reaching for oils over our medicine cabinet more often - and feeling more healthy everyday. 

Jodi has been incredibly generous and helpful with us and asked if I wanted to reach out to my readers and give away a set of the Everyday Oils Kit from Young Living, that comes with nine different oils - Lavendar, Thieves, Panaway, Peace and Calming, Peppermint, Valor, Purification, Frankincense, and Lemon. The thing I love about Young Living is that when you get their starter kit - you also become a distributor so you get wholesale prices on oils forever more!  

You can absolutely just enter the giveaway below, but I highly suggest you check out Jodi's site and look through the options of signing up as a distributor if you're at all interested in using oils for the longterm. For us, it's going to be a long road to getting the most out of them - but I am really, really excited to learn and mainly to just gain more knowledge on helping our family be as healthy as possible. 

Excited for the sweet gal who is going to win this package! 
I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also! One other little treat - every Friday for the next month I'll be having a giveaway or promotion of some sort. I'm really excited! Check back in for more from Lisa Leonard, Albion Fit, and more!

make it cute.

Hello, loves! I have a quick little businessy tip and trick that I'm excited to share today. 
Something we encourage gals with in The Influence Network is to have multiple streams of income/ministry/business - essentially, have a few different things going on online. I absolutely subscribe to this belief and I love having my hands in a few different things and projects on the world wide web. 

There's always a line to draw where you're not doing all the things, but you are participating in the endeavors that are life giving to you. For me, not everything I do online makes money - but it is all life giving. And when I find that it no longer is or I cant' sustain it - I usually faze it out. Anyhow, today's tip is for all ladies, whether you have a lot going on online or offline or WHEREVER. 

I don't have all day to sit on my laptop and I know you don't either. I decided I needed a little inspiration to keep me going when I sat down - to help me think through and pray for all the things I have my hand in, but also make me smile. 

So I made this little cutey!
I'm going to walk you around it clockwise.
A little virtual walk through my online things, if you will. 

It starts in the top lefthand corner with a scripture I'm praying over my online ministry. 2 Corinthians 10: 13-15. I literally just took a screenshot from esv.com. Next, the naptime diaries logo - reminding me to stay on my blogging schedule + keep handling the creative direction of the shop. Beneath that you'll find a SUPER SECRET first glance at our new Influence Network branding. Shhh.... Don't tell anyone I showed you. Below that, SheReadsTruth - a great reminder to finish up my research/writing for our most recent plan. Under that - the Gospel Community logo to remind me to pray for our church plant. To the right of that, the eBook cover for the eBook I'm finishing up with Hayley this month! The flowers just remind me of feminine goodness and look super inspiring. The shoes get me pumped about running and The Mama Shred and the picture of the bridge in Charleston gets my little heart thumping for our future city and the people within it. 

So there you have it! A fun, fresh, inspiring desktop background. 
And if it looks pretty, it will help you keep it clean, which will help your computer not crash. I genuinely think my husband would rather see our bedroom untidy than my desktop all cluttered. This helps me help him! 

What's inspiring you these days? 

Whole ladies + first Mama Shred update

Woosh. I guess it was a really good idea to blog through this "get in shape - physically and spiritually" process. Because tonight, all the voices in my head are saying QUIT but the blog schedule is saying UPDATE AND KEEP GOING. And so I shall. 

Last time I shared about the Whole Ladies endeavor, I was hopeful and I have to say - I'm truly still so hopeful. Tired, but hopeful! I was just about to start the MamaShred, an online personal training program with Bobbi of NHerShoes and I knew I didn't want to look back on this season and only see days filled with yucky heart issues of how I look. 

Let me give a practical update about how actually losing weight is going, then I'll get to the heart stuff. 

So, the MamaShred program is AMAZING. The meal plans, workouts, accountability are all seriously A plus plus. I'm pretty confident I couldn't be doing this on my own. I KNOW I wouldn't be working out if it wasn't for our group accountability and cheering one another on. 

I've only lost four pounds, but I know that is a solid doctor recommended pace for weight loss. AND my nursing supply has been great throughout the process because my diet is so much cleaner + more balanced. I'm a little discouraged because it would be great to see some biggest loser type weigh-ins, but in general - I feel so much better. A few weeks ago, I couldn't run more than 4 or 5 minutes and this past weekend, I was able to run 6 miles. I'm able to workout and make it through Bobbi's amazing strength workouts and I'm just starting to feel more whole body-wise. About once a day, I'll stop and realize - I don't feel crazy fit or in shape, but I don't feel like I'm still in that damaged post-partum shape. And for that, I'm super grateful. 

I haven't done any re-measuring since the beginning of the MamaShred, but I look forward to doing that on my next update. My goals for this next segment are to continue to clean up my diet, make it through a heavy week or two of social events while still eating clean, and GET IN MY WORKOUTS. At least 5, preferably 6 per week. 

From a heart perspective.

The patience that is needed in this process is so helpful. It keeps me constantly confessing what is really wrong with my heart. I want to be seen as beautiful. I want to be seen. Jessi wants to be seen. When I'm thinking right, in the purest place I can get, I know that I know that I want Jesus to be the only thing seen in me. I know that the fruit that is found when I'm walking with Him is greater than any size I could be, any perfectly made-up face, or fresh hairstyle. Is it amazing to be healthy and fit and feel good, yes? Is it amazing to have to remember what is actually the ONLY good thing about me while I go through that process? YES. 

When we started Whole Ladies, I kept saying over and over again - I feel so fragmented. I feel like I don't relate to my body. I am so relieved to say, I feel less that way every day. This body is becoming more comfortable and more familiar every day. And I am grateful for how the Lord is strengthening it. 

How about y'all?  What's going on with you?

Food? Eating? Exercise? Heart? 

I'd love to chat! Next update coming in two weeks!

If you're wanting to participate in the MamaShred, Bobbi is opening up the next cycle with a few more spots! It will start next Monday and you can sign up here. Please tweet me or Bobbi if you have any questions. I will tell you, the first round of ladies has SO enjoyed it and I know you'd love it too! 

Hannah of Home Truths.

One of my favorite parts about this blog is introducing y'all to other creative women. Today, meet Hannah - a sweet new friend of mine in the UK with her own scripture print shop! 

Tell us a little about your family! 

I'm 25, I got married at 18 and have 3 gorgeous girls - Seren (4), Poppy (2) and Myla (8 months). My husband is training to be a minister in the Church of England. He is currently completing a 3 year 'curacy' (training on the job) in Bedfordshire, England. Next year we will be moving on as he takes on his own church. We are also about to embark on the homeschooling journey - lots of change ahead! 

What made you start your shop and what keeps you going? 

The business idea totally landed in my gap like a gift from God. At Christmas I was lamenting to my sister that I had no dreams and visions of my own. The only dream I've had is to get married and have babies. I had a creative ache I had no idea how to satisfy. And then in the new year my husband and I were having a half jokey conversation about businesses I could start. 

I was totally inspired by Jessi's tagline - creatively writing truth on the walls of your home. I've always scribbled scriptures on paper and canvases around our house and I LOVE writing. It all just came together from there! I'm enjoying it so much - it's been so life giving. That's what keeps me going. Also I'm financially investing in two wonderful causes and that is a HUGE motivation and such a privilege. (I support the ministry of THIS amazing family, working to bring the healing love of Jesus to women who have had abortions and miscarriages and also to orphaned children in the Philippines, The ministry is called Know More Tears and they blog here http://newloveministriesint.blogspot.co.uk/)

Do you have any encouragement for other creative women? 

God placed that creativity in your heart and he has a purpose for it. I love this verse 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

He has beautiful plans for your creativity and you need only to wait on him. He is faithful and will bring them to fruition, to bring HIM honour and glory. What a privilege to reflect the creative heart of our heavenly dad.

What is the one thing you wish people knew about you? 

I feel a lot more wild on the inside than I look on the outside ;) My nose piercing is the extent of my external craziness, but a big part of me would love bright pink hair and loads of tattoos!

What is your favorite scripture? 

My all time favorite verse is Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is in your midst, 

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness,

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing. 

It was carved on my heart when my mum gave it to me when I left for boarding school aged nine. Can you believe the King of Kings, the God of angel armies, the Lord of the universe sings over each of us with loud (wild!) singing. He loves us! 

Go check Hannah out and give her some love!

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