the one with the mom jeans

the one with the mom jeans

*THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS* 

Judging by the title of this blog (MOM JEANS AND JESUS) you probably figured that I love mom jeans and my absolute favourite pair are the mid-blue Kimomo jeans from Monki and have been for years. 

I got an email today letting me know that currently, ALL MONKI JEANS ARE 20% OFF!!!! So I simply had to come on and share this with y'all because if you're on the lookout for some new jeans, Monki is DEFFO the way to go. I also have the Taiki jeans in Black which I also love. 

Here's a selection of some of my favourite mom style jeans from Monki to inspire you! The Kimomo jeans have straighter and skinnier leg while the Taiki jeans are more traditionally mom jean like with a wider leg and both are GREAT and come in multiple colours!

What I Spend in a Week At University

What I Spend in a Week At University

A big part of going away for uni is learning how to budget and manage your money. Northern Ireland is a pretty affordable place to live and I try to be as minimalist as possible. I'm still learning how to budget better so a big part of this post is actually just for me to see how well I'm managing my expenses as much as me sharing with you all what I buy in a week.


Monday

My pressed powder just died a slow painful death so I very glamorously began my Monday by popping to Tesco to buy a new one. - £4.00

I then got a train from Belfast to Coleraine. This is a bizarre thing that we do in Northern Ireland where we all go home for the weekends, call us home birds. The train price has also been increased this year so it's actually become something that I actively notice this year as opposed to previous years when I'd just pay it and think nothing of it - £8.30

Once I arrive at Coleraine I then get a bus to Portstewart, the next town over, which is where my house is. - £1.60

As it's the start of the week I also did a grocery shop to stock up on fresh produce for the week and to fill my store cupboard as it's the beginning of a new term. - £28.89

Monday Total Spend = £42.79


Tuesday

I don't have class on Tuesdays so I literally had no expenses today because I was at home all day doing laundry. Yay for chores and yay for no expenses

Tuesday Total Spend = £0.00


Wednesday

Grabbed a lift to uni and picked up a banana as an after-class snack. I've been feeling nauseous a lot recently so I'm limiting myself to the blandest foods possible to try and alleviate it a little, hence the banana - £0.35

I then went to the library and treated myself to a Wispa gold with my lunch afterwards because it's a bad habit and I'm not at all ashamed - £0.77

I ended up not getting the bus at all today because my friends all so kindly gave me lifts to everywhere I needed to be so I managed to avoid that expense which is usually a staple in my daily expenditure.

Wednesday Total Spend = £1.02


Thursday

Hopped on the bus around 12 to head into uni for the day - £1.40

I made lunch before I left the house so I didn't need to buy anything in uni. I was originally planning on picking up some chocolate from the shop on my way home but by the time I ended up leaving the library, the shop was closed so I guess that was a blessing in disguise! My friend also very kindly gave me a lift home so I didn't need to pay for another bus fare.

Thursday Total Spend = £1.40


Friday 

I got the bus again this morning and you know the gist by now - £1.40

I had a really long lecture so I treated myself to a lil bag of Minstrels during the break... oops - £0.77

I also managed to run out of lunch food (oops) so I had to grab a wrap from the shop to eat on my way home - £2.99

Remember when I mentioned that we all go home at the weekend? yeah, guess what? Another train fare!! - £8.30

Friday Total Spend = £13.46


Saturday

I ended up not going out on Saturday and ended up just staying in and watched some Netflix and some rugby which meant I also didn't spend any money. 

However, as it's the 1st of the month it's the day that I pay my rent. I'm not going to disclose the exact amount that I pay for rent so I'm excluding the value from my expenses.

Saturday Total Spend = £0.00 (+rent)


Sunday

I got a hotdog for breakfast at church this morning (which I generally do most Sunday morning's because it's there and it's handy - £1.00

Bad habits die hard and we have a habit of always going to get ice cream after church in the evenings and this week was no different. - £4.50

Sunday Total Spend = £5.50

So that brings us to the end of the week and that brings my weekly spend to the grand total of (drum roll please)

Weekly Total = £64.17 (+rent)

This was a reasonably normal week but my expenses change week by week so if you enjoyed this post and would like to see another one in the future let me know and I'll maybe do a part two.

what jesus has been teaching me lately

what jesus has been teaching me lately

Long-time no faith post. I've taken an unplanned hiatus from posting on social media which as someone who's livelihood is online seemed like a weird thing to do and something that I never actually ever envisioned myself doing. I've never really viewed my social media usage as toxic or a distraction but having a week out of pressurising myself to keep posting content that I thought other people would enjoy was actually very enjoyable and the world didn't implode. SHOCKED FACE! I say unintentionally because during this time I was desperately scouring my hard drive for pictures I could post that I hadn't yet but then I caught a grip of myself, slowed down and thought 'Why am I really doing this?'. 

Authenticity is key! And me posting a photo from summer when in reality I'm stuck in my house revising for exams does not scream authenticity to me! So many times you can get so caught up in busyness but most of the time, it's not even busyness it's actually laziness and procrastination that masked in the noisiness and brashness of social media. 

Getting away from the hustle and bustle of keeping up with my Instagram feed meant I was really pressing into Jesus this past week and here are a few things that He's really put on my heart.

Trust in His plan
I'm doing a year-long devotional this year, specifically Women of the Bible, and we're only 3 weeks in but it's already hitting me with some hard truths! Week 2 was focused on the story of Sarah and how when she tried to take God's promise for her into her own hands it ended in disaster. She was barren and was promised a Son so sent her husband to sleep with her servant to act as a surrogate. It was a plan, it worked, but it wasn't God's plan for her. Sarah grew jealous of Hagar and ultimately sent her away along with her son. But God intervened, He didn't give up on Sarah and fulfilled that promise to her. He brought her Jacob, which means laughter. When she took the plans into her own hands, it ended with pain but when she handed it over to God she was rewarded with laughter! How often do we take God's plans into our own hands and get rewarded with failure! 

Reading this reminded me (super randomly might I add) of one of my favourite songs, Los Dias Raros by Vetusta Morla. The last line of the song is 'It begins with cellophane and ends with an echo'. So many times our testimonies can begin by us being blessed with a gift, God working in our lives and if we take that gift and use it, we'll echo God's love for us all around us. 

Contagious
While I was on my hiatus I was also watching A LOT of Queer Eye and every time I watch an episode of Queer Eye I'm struck by how evident the gospel is. It might seem weird that a show about 5 gay men making over (or making better) someone from the deep south of America could be considered the gospel because it's such a far cry from what we expect the gospel to be. We're familiar with the gospel, it makes sense to us but for the religious rulers and the people of Jerusalem at the time that Jesus was telling parables it was not. We've grown so accustomed to the teachings of the Bible that God's grace doesn't shock us anymore, we don't always see the miraculous things that He's doing in front of our very eyes!

"Forgiveness is  something that's contagious, Freedom is something that's contagious"- Karamo Brown

We are forgiven so that we can forgive and we are free in order to free others. Our pictures of what we think a Christian should look like can sometimes taint us from doing our job in evangelising. If the boys from Queer Eye can make someone loveable, think about how much the love of Jesus could impact someone's life!

Back to our First Love
So often we can completely miss the point of Christianity. It becomes more and more about going through the motions, striving for growth, striving to see breakthrough that we can forget that the foundation of all of it needs to be Jesus. Our first love isn't the first thing we loved, it's the thing that we love first, before anything else. Jesus should be our first love. Everything else we do should flow from that place of loving Jesus above all else and that's when we'll start to see the blessings flow. Start 2020 (albeit it a little late) on the right foot, with Jesus at the centre.