"I'm going to decorate"

This past weekend I just decided "I'm going to decorate". Maybe it was the dreaming and planning that happened the previous weekend on my shopping trip with my mom, or maybe I was just sick of looking at my moving boxes with all of my decorations in them (6 months post move). 

I find it so funny because I love decorating, but I've found that I love planning as well and sometimes I am super indecisive. For awhile I held off on adding things to our walls in anticipation that we were going to paint (that has yet to happen as well). But, after rummaging through our boxes and looking at special pictures and art from loved ones I decided it was time to get them out. I missed that stuff. 

Here are some little changes I made over the weekend and projects I completed:

 I finally hung some frames and artwork. The faux bois painting is an old one I did a few years ago, but that I love so much. And then I framed the cute Valentines Day card to Seth. This is the wall right in between our dining area and kitchen.

I finally brought in my DIY vase that I completed a few weeks ago. I took a 50 cent, glass thrift store vase and painted it white and glued a clay flower to it (inspired by Anthropolgie's beautiful vases).

More posts to come!

Weekend with Mom

Last weekend was just what I needed. Most the time I just need my mom, ya know? Just sitting at her house, drinking her coffee, smelling her laundry detergent, and eating her food is all I need. But last weekend I had a little of everything. My husband was out of town for a staff retreat so it was the perfect weekend for a getaway!

I headed to her house after work and we prepared and planned our weekend. We traded vehicles with family, stopped by to visit my grandparents, and relaxed. The next morning we headed to ikea. Holy moly, I felt like I was going to a theme park! I was so excited and ready to experience the place for myself for the first time. It did not disappoint.

We spent around 5 hours wondering and laughing, dreaming up ideas and plans, and struggling to push carts that were not made for the amount of shopping we were doing :)

But I came out strong with some great solid pieces that I have been drooling over. I'm not sure what was funnier...trying to collect all of these boxes and push them around the store, or driving around all weekend with the car stuffed to the brim!

After that long day, nothing better to do but skip dinner and catch the next showing of Safe Haven! (Lovedddd that movie so much!)

We ended the day with soup and salad and a relaxing evening in the hotel.
The next morning we got up and went to a mall area and got another few hours of shopping in before we called it quits and headed home.

It was a wonderful weekend and most of all I really enjoyed some quality time with mom. She is one of my favorite people to be with :) I am so thankful for the person she is and I feel so blessed to have her as my mom. The older I get the more I appreciate her sacrifices and her love. (Love you mom!)

a weekend away

Today I am off to spend a relaxing weekend with my mom. I have been looking forward to this weekend since Christmas and I have very high expectations! We have wine, good food, hotel beds, ikea, and the mall to look forward to. So, by the time you read this I will be stuffing all my ikea boxes into a vehicle and probably enjoying a few bottles of dt.pepsi and cookies to reenergize me :)

Happy weekend!

Happy Valentines Day!

I picked up this cute Valentines Day Card at Anthropologie last week for my Seth. 

We usually don't celebrate Valentines Day, but I selfishly have intentions to frame it in our kitchen after I give it to him :).

Who says cards can't be practical? 

I hope you have a very happy Valentines Day!

I wish more for you that you know the unconditional love of Christ and that your journey to model that kind of love with your spouse (or future spouse) is beautiful and blessed. 

Our church has had an amazing series in February titled: Catching Foxes. It has been a great reminder about the redemption of Christ, how it applies to our relationships, and the ups and downs of just being humans.

"Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. "

Song of Songs 2:15

New Job!

Last week had some excitement to it as I accepted a position at an adoption agency in town!

The road to switching jobs sure is bittersweet. Putting in my notice at work was hard, but now I have 3 weeks of telling all my clients that I will be leaving. It will be rough, but I have such a peace about this change and quite honestly I could not be more excited about this new job. I have always been interested  in adoption social work and I feel that I have been preparing for this job for the past 4 years with my experiences and passions.

Just in the past few months I have had some anxiety about my career future mostly due to confusion and not being happy with where I was. But there are so many answered prayers in this job and I have high hopes for it.

So many things to be thankful for! Hope you are having a great week!

2013 Planner

My planner has arrived!

I am so pleased with my planner that I made on Blurb!
I got creative with it and thought through what I wanted in my planner and made it happen. I believe that I might be making one of these every year. Very affordable, great quality, no creative limitations!

The things I wanted?
Meal planning with space for the grocery lists
simple place to plan for my blog
room to draw/write down projects for the month
to do lists (lots of space for this!)
prayer lists, sermon notes, and a thankful list
space to jot down activities to incorporate during the month
to record monthly goals
keeping track of birthdays

So far? I am loving this little guy.

To see a peak inside click Here!

January Review

February, already?

Honestly, January has been awesome.

I haven't been checking in as much, but I have learned that if I don't set goals things just don't happen. So, the bad news....January I had no goals or plans for the blog (which is why this place was a ghost town). The good news...I set and accomplished numerous goals in my life in January. Also, the good news is that I ordered my planner and I will be adding some "blog themed" goals very soon.

Intentional is my word for 2013
Here is how I did last month:

Relationships:
We started a small group at our home that takes place on Monday nights. We enjoyed around 4 dinner/lunch dates with friends/family. I talked with a good friend from college on the phone (thanks Stacy for initiating :). I have also found myself praying more for others and our future as well. Unfortunately, I think much of those prayers started with an anxious heart but daily I am reminded of God's promises and provisions.

Health:
I am super proud to say that Seth and I are still going strong and doing the Insanity program! Honestly, this has been super huge for us. I could not do this without him and his accountability and we both want this for ourselves and each other so badly. We are wrapping up the 4th week of the program (almost halfway!) today and will have a week of recovery videos before starting the second round of videos. I have lost around 10 pounds and somewhere between 2 1/2- 4 inches (we forgot to measure the first two weeks but I lost 2 1/2 inches in just the last 9 days!).

Marriage:
I really look forward to our hour and a half workout time every evening. We are spending way more time together and after our workout we always head right up to bed instead of sitting on the couch on our computers watching Hulu into the wee hours of the morning. We talk more and we are just really bonded and seeking the same goals. Numerous times over the past month I have been reminded how amazing of a team we make. I am so incredibly blessed to be his wife. We truly are better together

Time:
I am managing time better. I have been actively working on projects (see last post) and have just felt busy this month. That's good though, right!? I am staying on task and getting things accomplished which feels great. Oh and I took video footage from an event our church had a few weeks ago and received a lot of positive feedback. I am getting more and more comfortable with my camera...I just need to work on getting it out daily!

Faith:
I mentioned above that I have been praying more, but I have already slipped behind on my reading program. I have taken a few opportunities this month to share my faith and invite people to my church. But, I'm still being stretched in this area.