Jessica McCarty, Author

Sconces. I have wanted a set of candle sconces since the hubs and I got married. That's eight years, a long time. Being frugal, I can't stomach the thought of paying full price for something that holds a candle. It's ridiculous. This morning I visited my local thrift store in an effort to find my husband some work pants. No luck there, but . . .  Ta-da! It was half price day, so I got two for $1.50! They are also my favorite color, blue. Hooray! They're a little chippy. You can tell they were once gold. But I don't care. I'm totally digging the shabby chic-ness. Plus, it goes with the brass around my fireplace. I left the thrift store feeling pretty good. I headed out to run errands, only for a guy to cut me in line at the bank and another person pull out in front of me. Cue panic. I drive my husband's old car and have yet to get used to where the horn is at. I honked, a little delayed, mad at people's rudeness. Why are people so...

Yesterday marked one month since the release of A Desperate Love . Yay! (I'm in love with the above photo. I didn't intend for it to be so dark. But it's okay. It makes it feel mysterious.) (This one takes me back to middle school yearbook class. I loved when we did the black and white photos. I still have them!) I know, I took a lot of photos. I'm so proud of my baby! * I made fall cookies last night! Yummy! One of the drawbacks of living surrounded by corn is that it's occasionally hard to find things. For example, I visited four stores and found zero leaf shaped cookie cutters. Zero bottles of fall sprinkles. What's a corn girl to do? I made my own leaf stencil and cut them out of the dough one by one with a plastic knife . . .  Some I made into circles. I'm not crazy. Then I sprinkled them with either cinnamon or red sugar. 'Cause that's how I roll. * Currently, I am rea...

I was standing in my kitchen earlier this week and had to ask myself, "Am I spiritually hangry?" You know what I mean when I say hangry, right? That moment when you're unnecessarily grouchy because you need to eat. I was realizing that, man, was I ever being a grouchy jerk. The thought struck me that all my talking with God over the course of the past few days had not remedied said problem. I have to wonder if God was pointing at His Word during my grumpiness going, "Jess, eat a sandwich." So, I read my devotional this morning, bleary-eyed as I was, and I ate two granola bars (don't judge me). And I feel pretty good. Now for coffee! 📖 I finally finished Waking Beauty . I think this book was 467 pages. It was long. Really long. This is a fairy tale retelling with a Christian twist. The character known as "The Prince" (AKA Jesus) was worth getting to at the very end. He is beautifully written. There's also a battle ...

Last night was the final high school soccer game for the third eldest child, marking the end of a chapter for us. From the beginning of my marriage, I have endured rain, sun, and cold watching the four young ones run up and down soccer fields. Mind you, I am not from a sports family. My husband is one of three boys (all sports guys). Needless to say, it was a bit of a culture shock for me. But I can tell you, I know way  more about sports than I ever dreamed I would. I can also tell you that my husband loves the Cubs. I can name a few of the refs' hand signals when we watch football. I can also tell you that I still have no idea what offsides is, no matter how many soccer games I've seen. All I know is that certain players are too far ahead of other players. But I'm proud of myself for knowing that much! 🕮 Speaking of learning things, I have wanted to learn how to make a Word document into a picture for a long time. This week I googled it, played around w...