Rooted In Love

To Live

2012-01-21T18:19:00.000-08:00

So I'm late to the "new years resolution" or "word for the year" post, but I can't let January slip by without cataloging my own new-found resign for steering myself to a better life.

I'll be the first to admit, although I love December and all its magic, I felt like a total slug most of that month. I was finishing up my Masters (which btw, I'm officially DONE with), eating poorly, not giving anything my best, and just overall in autopilot. So, January was a welcome, wonderful clean slate.

I made some more measurable and admittedly predictable goals for myself like eating better, exercising, and reading my Bible (chronologically this time with an app on my phone with is awesome), and I have done pretty well with each of those. I've already lost some weight, and I'm really focusing on preparing my body and my life for upcoming exciting times.

But, instead of just making specific daily goals, I really wanted to focus on the bigger picture. My mindset is so pivotal for me. I realized that all the ways I want to improve my life could be summarized with this:

"One final word, friends. We ask you—urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life.

1 Thess 4:1 (Message)

In other words, TO LIVE.

With one life to live, I try to remember how important it is to rise above the daily grind to that place of love, thankfulness, and beauty. No more mindless eating and using food as an escape! No more halfway doing my job with daily opportunities to make a difference slipping though my fingers! No more sluggish body not being treated as a temple! No more escaping to TV or mindless internet perusing!And not just to live, but to dance. I mean true waving-it-around-like-you-just-dont-care living. That's what I want my life to be, friends.

And so far, we are off to a pretty good start as evidenced by these miscellaneous January happenings:

Like using my Christmas present tickets to the Botanical Gardens for a bright date night.

The whole time we were there, Jason and I couldn't stop singing the Tangled song "And at last I see the lights"- I heart us.

Basking in the lovely glow of the sun setting over the city:

At last I see the light, And it's like the sky is new, And it's warm and real and bright

And the world has somehow shifted, All at once everything looks different
Now that I see you

And learning new skills: I do declare that 2012 will be the year that I learn to shoot manuel:

Shot in Auto:

And shot in manuel:

Jason's childhood teddybear-ready to be loved by future babes

Making the effort to spend intentional time with wonderful friends and their unbelievably, irresistibly cute baby girl

Sweet Noelle- I could just squeeze her.

And watching the world anew through her eyes:

Oh, a tag...how exciting!

Making friends with Zero-

Getting in touch with our inner child with spend the night parties with our neice:

Tickle Fight!

I think kids really have this whole "living" thing down-epecially this kid

And good old backyard time with the pups:

This picture cracks me up to no end-doesn't it look like he is dancing?? Hilarious!

My little lovin' pup

Yup, I'd say that's some pretty good hands-in-the-air livin'! And here's to a year full of it. Bring it on, 2012!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-26T14:32:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year as always!

This blog is all over the place, but I do like that it serves as a keeper of our memories. In fact, I looked back at our post from last year to settle a question about what we had done. It's crazy how quickly memories escape us. At Christmastime, I am especially keen on traditions and memory making.

So, right in line with that, we continued our tradition of going to see a movie on Christmas Eve. This year, we saw...

The Muppet Movie! Jason was thrilled about the scene to pose with:

Some of my friends had been posting on facebook about the treats they had been making which made me wish I had made plans for some. So we went by Publix and got the makings for Oreo truffles. New tradition? I think so.

We actually went to two Christmas Eve services this year. One at Jason's family's church and then one at our church (which we joined last Sunday!); Both were wonderful and full of joy and reflection. At our service we were able to take communion and then pray as a family. I'll never get over the fact that Jesus came.

Between the two services, we had a dinner of taco soup. Delish!

We went to bed, and I'll admit, I couldn't sleep very well. There is just something magic about Christmas Eve night.

We woke up Christmas morning and the magic began:

Jason cooking breakfast: bacon, eggs, and french toast. What a man!

Christmas breakfast table: please note the precious eyes peering in the window.

Jason reading Luke 2: the true "magic" of the day. God coming as a helpless baby to save us? Wow.

This quote from Donald Miller really spoke to me this year:

"I can't think of a better way for God to enter the world than as an infant. He became on of His creation, for the sake of His creation. For a period in world history, mankind changed the diapers of God. He nursed at his creation's breast. How discerning of him. What a fantastic way to build a bridge between infinite God and finite man. He depended on us for food and shelter and even life. He gave up power and control in an effort to love and rescue. Merry Christmas indeed!"

The pups enjoying the breakfast bounty:

Next, we opened presents. Jason was so sweet and thoughtful, he is lavish with his love. He gave me all you see pictured (including jewelry hidden on the tree, a Christmas book for my collection for future kiddies, and a favorite childhood Christmas movie) as well as tickets to go to see lights at the Botanical Gardens. My man, he is tops.

I did my best to speak Jason's love language through blu-rays, clothes, a new grill cover, and some hot sauce. I told him his presents were very manly, and that we were officially dorks since we got each other superhero shirts.

We got ready and headed to a beautiful Christmas morning service at church.

I'm calling this the official Christmas picture of 2011:

Next, we headed to my Mom and Dad's for some yummy christmas lunch. Many wonderful times have been had around this table with these wonderful faces:

Present giving ensued where we were lavished with way too many wonderful gifts as evidenced by this before and after shot of the living room:

Agreed!

Joy commenced with some self-timer picture taking. I love my family:

We topped off the evening with a favorite family past-time: board game playing. This particular game had Jason making donkey impressions from Shrek: hilarious.

Next, we headed over to Jason's parent's house. I don't take for granted the fact that both of our awesome families live in the same county as us. A great blessing for sure!

Christmas magic and joy was put into hyperdrive with these sweet kiddos around:

(This is post finding some tinted chapstick in her stocking, oh my! Haha!)

We had more delicious food and were overwhelmed with many more extremely generous gifts. Honestly, our families are amazing. Then, we talked them into some more self-timer picture taking:

(I love how all the kids followed Jason in sticking out their booties, what a influence! Ha!)

We headed back to my parents house to end the night with a hilarious and creative scavenger hunt! My Dad is so creative in making up the clues!

We headed home and fell exhausted into our beds. We drank up all the sweet goodness that Christmas had to offer us: spending time as a couple, sweet time with family, and worshiping our sweet savior. What a joy, what a gift, what an abundant life!

Merry Christmas 2011!

Christmas Love

2011-12-21T10:46:00.000-08:00

I've been terribly absent here. My goal is to post once a month, which I obviously failed at in the past few months. I even considered closing up shop on the old blog, but I do love the unique outlet it gives me to express my thoughts and to potentially encourage others in the process.

I've had many ideas of things I wanted to blog about, and perhaps I will do that sometime; lessons learned in the past months, primarily about being light in the world. I do hate that so many of those thoughts I had and lessons I learned have so easily slipped through my fingers because I didn't take the time to write them down. All the more reason to chronicle and reflect...

For whatever reason, I've been feeling especially adult lately (some of you are probably laughing at me). I think it began when we bought our house, something about the magnitude and responsibility of that really resonated with me. But, it's more than that too. Lately I've noticed that my thoughts and feelings about life and the world have changed (in a good way). It's difficult to put it into words exactly, but I find my views expanding, the grace I give to others and myself increasing, and the magnitude of my purpose and the brevity of life coming more and more into focus.

One unfortunate side effect of adulthood I've discovered is how much more quickly time passes and how much more elusive magical moments have become. But last Friday, I was given a gift. It was my first elementary school Christmas party experience as a teacher (since my previous years as a middle school teacher held only exams on the last day before break). The morning was already wonderful, we were all allowed to wear our pajamas to school (a definite perk) and I had been absolutely overwhelmed with wonderful gifts from students and co-workers. Joy was in the air as our sing-along program commenced. The premise of the program was to collect toys for Must ministries, and as the children filed in to give the gifts, the chorus sang the song "believe" from Polar Express.

And in that moment, I felt it, that magical Christmas feeling that we all remember from childhood. I was trying to put my finger on what allowed me that moment, in hopes that I could recreate it for the future, and suddenly, it was obvious: it was love.

As I looked over my room full of students, I was overwhelmed with love. A few weeks ago at my home church's homecoming, my mom talked about how she had always felt "covered up with love" at the church. That is exactly what I wanted to do in that moment. I saw a room full of students, many of whom aren't loved by their families as they should be, and I longed to cover them up with love too. I prayed that they would know that they were loved by me, and infinitely more so by a creator who longed for them.

Later in the program, I probably broke ever good-teaching practices rule there is as I led my students around the room in a Conga Line to Feliz Navidad. But the smile on my new non-English speaking student's face and the exclamation from another student that I was "the best teacher ever" made it all so worth it. I'm so thankful for my daily opportunity to love on kids. What a gift.

I love Christmas: the magic of Santa Claus, the giving of gifts, even the hustle and bustle, because for me, it all points to love. I pray that my home and my life can always reflect this at Christmas and always.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whosoever shall believe in him, will no perish, but will have everlasting life.

Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, will together with all the saints, be able to grasp how wide, and high, and long, and deep is the love of Christ.

Love one another for love is of God, He who love is born of God and knows God. He who does not love, does not know God: God is love.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite Christmas songs from my very favorite Christmas movie:

It's true, wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

All of us like you.

2011-09-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite students who happens to have special needs gave me this beautiful note.

It's hard to read, but the time she took to type it and highlight it in pink had to be taken note. It says:

You are the greatest teacher ever. All of us like you.

How powerful. How beautiful. How profound.

This child, who understands at about the capacity of a first grader spoke more truth into my heart with those 11 words than any accomplished author or scholar ever has or will.

Now, do I believe I am the greatest teacher ever?

FAR from it, I assure you.

And do I think every single one of my students like me?

Absolutely not.

But sweet Hannah reminded me of a lesson that we can all learn from and be reminded of.

I am valuable.

What if we had this outlook on life? Instead of the constant questioning, comparing, and degrading of ourselves, taking on the attitude that...All of us like you!! Of course not in a conceited way, but instead in a way that asserted our own value.

One of my teacher friends who is going through some very hard times right now sent me an email that a friend encouraged her with that instructed her to envision the Lord enjoying her all day. What a thought, but how true! After all, it is in Him where our value comes, and how He does love and delight in us! If we would only believe it!

Just as Abileen's mantra from The Help said, what if I believed AND worked to show others that...

You is kind.

You is Smart.

You is Important.

Did you hear that? You are valuable and ALL OF US LIKE YOU!

I really do believe that all of my struggles would be solved if I could come to really believe this. No more self doubt, no more destructive behaviors, no more comparisons to others, no more jealousy. Just believing in myself, treating myself with value, deciding what to be and being it! Just love and acceptance for myself and for all who I come in contact with.

Really, this is the whole message of Jesus and the mission of my life.

To love and be loved.

Hey you,

ALL OF US LIKE YOU!!

Great is thy Faithfulness

2011-08-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

For many reasons, August has been a tough month. Without going into too much detail, I'll just say that it has been a time of transition and trial, but also one huge display of the faithfulness of God.

I wish I could enumerate all the ways, but I just don't have words, but so many times over this month, He has made Himself and His love known to me, and I'm just so thankful.

Great is thy Faithfulness, Oh God my Father

There is no shadow of turning with thee

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not

As thou hast been, thou forever will be

Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness

Morning by Morning, new mercies I see

All I hath needed thy hand hath provided

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.

Tomorrow is September: a new day, a new season, and new mercies each day.

I hope to be back soon with some recent thoughts and lessons.

Cryptic Lyric

2011-08-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Deep thoughts from Zero

2011-07-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! Zero here, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to all my adoring fans out there!

Mom took these shots of me the other day. I'm not sure why it makes her laugh so much when I perch on the rail like I often do. I mean, I hear a noise and I want to see what it is, so the only logical explanation is to hop up on the rail to check things out.

My mom is so hilarious with that camera of hers, she was shooting my good side, so I thought I would let her snap a few. We've been running together this summer, so I wanted to show off my new figure to everybody anyways.

Then, Mom came out and took a few more pictures. I wasn't really in the mood to talk, so I just let her take pictures of me in my deep mood of introspection.

Many times, I enjoy just gazing off into the distance and pondering the mysteries of life.

I hope you can take some time today to ponder the beautiful things of life. There's just so much beauty to gaze upon and enjoy.

Much love to all,

Zero

The Journey Continues

2011-06-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, as I finished up the most amazing student teaching experience anyone could ever ask for, my mentor (who is one of the greatest teachers and people I have ever known) surprised me with the most amazing and emotional moments I have ever experienced.

He had all the students leave the room, and then asked me to close my eyes and take him by the hand.

And, at the end of a seemingly long walk, he leaned in and whispered...

This is where your journey begins.

Then, I walked down the hall as the entire 7th grade stood and cheered.

I don't think I'll ever forget that moment, and what it meant to me. I think of it often even now.

A few months later, I was praying and pleading that I would somehow secure a teaching job in a dried up market, and I was so, so thankful when I got the call from E.T. Booth Middle School, first inviting me to interview and then offering me a job.

For the past two years, I have had the honor of working at Booth. I prayed when I got the job that I would not forget how badly I wanted it and how blessed I was to get it.

A few months ago, I interviewed and was hired at a new elementary school in my county. I'll be teaching 6th grade there, and although I am very excited about it, I am so sad to leave the place that first made me a "real teacher".

I have taught a total of three years (including one as a student teacher), and for each year I have an envelope with letters I received.

I took some time tonight and looked back over these letters; the representation of this journey that I'm on, and I was so, so blessed by them once again...

2008-2009 Student Teaching at MMS:

Some letters made me laugh...

Some made me cry....

2009-2010 School Year BMS:

And with each letter, you pray that sometime between the "Please sit down and don't talk"s and the "Do you have your homework"s, that you truly did impact their lives...

2010-2011 School year BMS:

You pray that perhaps sometime in the future, they might remember something you said or did and that it will make a difference...

...and you see just how much these "students" have taught you...

As I look back over my journey thus far, I see more than just students. I see so many teaching giants that have stood in front of and beside me.

From my own K-12 teachers to the many great professors I had at Berry including the late Dr. Prince who penned this kind observation that I will always cherish...

to the friends and teammates I am so very sad to leave behind at Booth who's emails and letters I will also hold dear...

I'm so thankful for each person that God has placed alongside of me along this journey. And as the journey continues, I know I can trust Him to plan and guide each step.

Our first home

2011-05-10T06:59:00.000-07:00

So, big news around these parts! First, as of April 8th, 2011, Jason and I are officially homeowners!

Big news number two, I started a new blog to talk about all the adventures of home owning and decorating:

http://rootedinlovehome.blogspot.com/

I still plan on keeping this blog, but it will now be reserved as a journal, I may even go private on this blog so I know just who is reading all these inner most feelings.

So, even though this is house related, I wanted to post my feeling side about this big step in our lives. I absolutely love having this blog to look back on and see how I was feeling in different times. Especially since it holds everything from student teaching to graduating from Berry to getting married to my first teaching job. I was actually so encouraged a few weeks ago because my cousin (who is the age I was when I started the blog) said she went back and read every post and could identify with all that I was saying. I cant imagine what it will be like to look back on all of this ten years from now!

It isn't too hard to tell by looking back over past blog posts that I had the house itch in a bad way. My original plan was to find and move into a house sometime between June 2011-June 2012. But I just couldn't stay off of realtor websites for the life of me. We started going to look at some of my favorites "just to see". Back in December, we actually scheduled an appointment with a realtor to "just see" a house that seemed like a killer deal. We didn't end up liking that house at all, but the realtor began sending us links to houses that met our criteria, and one faithful afternoon. I saw this picture on my screen:

And it was perfect. It was a ranch style in the location we wanted with a nice yard and a garage and the deal closer for us....a full basement. I couldn't get the house out of my head. So, once again "just to look", we contacted a realtor to go see the house. I even told him in our first email that we didn't really want to buy until this summer.

On February 7th, we went and saw the house for the first time. Jason was sold from the first time he walked in. Though I wouldn't admit to it then, I was already pictuing us living there. I was picturing toddlers in the bathtub and where I would put our Christmas tree even from that afternoon. We had a long talk in the basement with the realtor, I still had a goal of buying a house with cash (which wouldn't be possible with this house), so we decided to look at some fixer uppers. We went on a few more tours of several houses, but one horrible driveway and hearse in the next door neighbors drive way and hole in the ceiling after another, I saw that a fixer upper wasn't really what I wanted. The original house was never far from our minds. In fact, we usually referred to it as "our house" even in those days, and did things like drive by it after Sunday night church "just to see what it looks like at night". When we first started looking, I had the mentality that there were a million houses that I would love, but the more houses we saw, I saw how rare a house we both thought was perfect really was! So after a particularly bad house tour, I looked at Jason and said "I think I'm ready to put an offer in on "our" house".

Then on February 29th, we went and saw the house for a second time. This time with my parents and brother and Jason's parents and niece. That crew looked the house over from top to bottom and walked away saying it was great. Then, it really started to hit me, where we really about to do this? Was it right? Was it the best choice? Were we ready? We went and ate dinner all together after touring the house, and I could hardly keep it together. In the parking lot of Zaxby's, my mom hugged me and told me everything was going to be okay. I sobbed all the way home.

Thankfully, after prayer and encouragement from friends and Jason, I put my big girl panties on and decided we could do it. On March 5th, we submitted our offer. He countered once and we accepted on the terms that the projector would be included. Then we started the long and stressful process of finding a loan agent, signing the contract, inspecting, etc. We had some drama with an encroachment issue (neighbor's fence over the line) and getting all the loan stuff worked out was pretty intense, but we got it all together. Honestly, that month of limbo didn't feel like we were really moving even though we were doing all kinds of things for the loan and packing and selling a bunch of stuff on ebay, it still didn't really hit me.

Then, on April 8th at 4:00, we went to our closing. Everyone had told us how long it was and how many papers had to be signed, but it honestly wasn't that bad. We met our seller who was a preciously nerdy guy in his early thirties. He was super nice, and I felt bad for him since he had to pay money at closing because what he owed was more than what we paid), but I didn't feel too bad since that showed what a killer deal we got (we bought the house for $37,000 less than what he bought it for five years ago). : )

We headed back to the basement apartment where my family and Jason's parents met us, we packed what we could get in one load including what it would take for us to be able to spend the night. My mom, sister, and I unpacked the kitchen and the boys set up the bed. Soon, Jason and I were standing there alone in our new home. We sat on the back deck and ate Chef-Boyardee Ravioli for dinner, and it was perfect. It was just one of those look-over-at-the-one-you-love-and-can't-beleive-you-get-to-share-in-this-crazy-awesome-life-moments. I wish I could bottle that night up and hold onto it forever.

So, as of this week, we have lived in our house one month. I've been surprised that it has been more of a transition than I thought. Jason and I were totally self sufficient and independent while living in the apartment, but there is just something that makes me feel a little bit more independent (and scared) about owning a home and truly living on our own. We are still transforming the house into our home, and project by project it feels more like ours. We had dinner on the back deck again last night and walked around the neighborhood, and I swear I almost had to pinch myself to believe how wonderful my simple little life is.

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

He became sin, who knew no sin.

That we might become his righteousness. He humbled Himself and carried the cross.

Love so amazing, Love so amazing.

Jesus Messiah, name above all names.

Blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel.

The rescue for sinners, the ransom from Heaven

Jesus Messiah,

Lord of all.

Happy Easter from our family to yours! He is risen!!

Zero is One!

2011-04-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a few days late, but I had to note an important family milestone we just experienced. Thanks to the trusty old blog I saw that it was March 30th, 2010 when I came home to this little face:

Trust me when I tell you that our life has not been the same since!!

The past year has been full of the love and joy that only a four legged friend can bring.

Snuggles on the couch:

Holiday fun:

Magical Moments:

And PLENTY of laughs : )

He has certainly had his share of "Marley and Me" mishap moments (in fact he got out of his fence today...again). But he sure has brought a lot of joy!!

We love you Zero puppy!!

Beautiful

2011-03-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

It's been quiet around here lately, but tonight, in my own moment of quiet, I'm finding time to reflect on the past month of beauty I have experienced.

Contrary to the quietness here, this has been a hum-dinger of a month. On March 5th, my baby sister promised her hand to the man she loves.

That same week, we signed a contract on our first home. Yup, the months of blogs about longing-for-a-home will soon be over. We are hopefully closing on April the 8th. I'm considering making a rooted in love home blog that catalogs the whole experience of buying and decorating. Because, I could totally go for being on of those "famous" home-bloggers. Hey, it could happen. : )

Then, this past weekend on March 20th, my best friend became a Mama.

It has been a month full of moments I will never forget. A month full of beauty.

Beautiful: Realizing my little sister is becoming an amazing woman.

Beautiful: The faces of grandparents and aunts as they see their precious granddaughter and niece for the very first time.

Beautiful: Uncontainable excitement for a undoubtedly amazing future together.

Beautiful: The earnest prayer of promise of a Godly man for his brand new granddaughter

Beautiful: The unbelievable, unbreakable, undeniable love of a mother

Beautiful: The fact that we can continue in the Love of Christ

Beautiful: The fact that He numbered every. single. hair.

Edited to Add:
My Best Friend's Mom (pictured above seeing her grandbaby for the first time), just emailed me this and I had to share it here so I would have it forever:

Your camera eye is amazing. You have the heart of a poet. Did you ever read the play Our Town in high school? If so, you may remember when Emily is in heaven and she wants desperately to go back and relive a day of her life. Somewhere along the way, she asks, "Do people ever realize life while they are living it?" THAT's what someone with a poet's heart recognizes, and you captured that with your camera on Sunday. How can we ever thank you for that?

She is too kind in what she says about my "eye", but this encapsulates what I was trying to say here and what I love about photography. May we all always see these beautiful moments in our every day life and live our lives with poet's hearts.

Blessing Ring

2011-02-21T12:06:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most loved idea from the baby shower, was the blessing ring.

Originally I was just going to make one like this one:

http://brodyfrancis.blogspot.com/2009/10/blessing-ring-and-nap-time.html

The idea they had was to keep on the cards from the showers, birthdays, or any other event together on a ring. (Which, you may still could do this on yours Am, I don't think I mentioned it to you!).

I took mine a step further though and decided I wanted to provide cards for everyone to write a little message to the baby on.

Then, one night at dinner, my sister and her boyfriend were talking about his aunt had people write letters to her unborn children to be given to them on each of their birthdays. And thus, an idea was born!

Here is how I made the ring for Baby B. Once again, I used the handy dandy cricut:

First, I cut out square pieces of cardstock using my paper cutter. Then, I made the flowers on the cricut and punched them out and glued them on the cards.

Next, I made and cut out the numbers and letters and glued those on.

I'll admit, this took awhile, but it was totally worth it in the end.

At the shower, I wrapped the ring with the cards up as a part of my gift, and told her to open it last. Then, I explained to all our guest that they were to take a card and write a letter to baby B for that birthday.

Meanwhile, I played Taylor Swift's "Never Grow Up". I had written out the lyrics for Amory to read as well.

Let's just say I had to leave for a moment to go get some tissues for her : ).

Next, we read each of the cards 1-18. I even had some cards from friends that couldn't be there as well as Amory's two little sisters.

Another cool thing was that I used the cards as decoration by clipping them to fishing line (these were actually the one that already had the messages on them, so I was able to take them down while everyone wrote:

This was my favorite part of the shower, and it's a gift that will keep on giving to sweet baby girl!!

Baby Shower Wreath Tutorial

2011-02-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is how I made the pink feather wreath I used for my BFF's baby shower:

I knew I wanted something for the door, so I started brainstorming. I happened to have two pink feather boas on hand (doesn't everyone?). One was from my bachelorette party and one was from a news years eve party.

So I started searching for images, and I found this (among others):

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1903256

$40? Granted it has an embroidered sash, but I think I could really go into business here.

I found a scrap piece of leftover foam board we had, and started creating.

Now, here is where my friends are going to start cracking up, because guess what I used to trace for the base of the wreath...

You got it. The 2.00 Goodwill basket!!

They were joking with me at the shower that I post about this basket all.the.time, and that I could probably do a blog JUST about the basket! Haha! Well, here it is, use #476!

Anyways, I cut around the outside of the basket with an exacto knife, and then made the center hole with by tracing the top of one of my bowls.

Next I just started wrapping the boas around the foam board cut out and securing them with a thumbtack, like so...

Since I had two different shades of pink, I alternated the colors making the striped effect. Two boas was plenty for full coverage.

Then, I just tied some tulle I had to make a hanger and voila:

Then I just added the other decorations you see on the top picture that I made on the cricut!

So, total cost (to me) for this decoration: free

Well, minus the 2.00 for the Goodwill basket. : )

My Best Friend's Baby Shower

2011-02-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I threw my best friend a baby shower. This was my first time to ever play hostess for a big event, and it was a blast! Since some of my ideas were from blogland, I thought I would "pay it forward" and share what we did so maybe others can be inspired!

I'm planning on doing a separate post on how I made this wreath!

Here's the food! We had spinach dip with crackers, strawberry cookies made from cake batter, oreo brownies, fruit tray, chicken nuggets, cupcakes, veggies with dip, and triscuits, cheese, and pepperonis.

We had Raspberry lemonade, which I adapted from another recipe and contains just the minute maid concentrate and a bottle of sprite, and sweet tea with hint of peach, which is made from lipton tea bag and entirely too much sugar.

I made the diaper cake by just looking at pictures of ones I found online. You basically start with some sort of tiered base. Many I found used other baby items such as formula, bottles, etc, but I didn't realize I needed something like that and I was ready to make it, so I used....wait for it...solo cups. Classy, I know.
Next you just roll the diapers and secure them with a rubber band, then secure it around the base with a larger rubber band, and decorate with ribbon, etc. I made the little lollipops/flower/whatever you want them to be on the top with baby washcloths on straws : ).
You can also see two other ideas in this pic. First, an idea a friend tole me about was having all the guests self-address an envelope so that the mom-to-be does have to take the time to look the addresses up!
Then the other side were the supplies for our first game, diaper art! I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of the funny stuff people wrote.

Pretty much all the decorations were made on this bad boy:
http://www.cricut.com/
Unfortunately, the one I used does not belong to me, but I think it would be well worth the investment.

Another thing I tried to do was to think of multi-purpose decorations. For example, I got four receiving blankets and used them as table decor and then that was a part of my gift!

I made the pom poms using Martha's tutorial found here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/tissue-paper-pom-poms-how-to
I just used fishing wire instead of a floral wire thou and it worked great!

Am got a lot of really nice things and we had a wonderful time! I couldn't help but flash back to all the moments we've shared together. From meeting for the first time in our freshman dorm rooms (where Am took a picture of me while I was talking on the phone to Jason, haha!), enduring college classes together, trips to the beach and passion conferences and each other's houses, being there for each other's engagements, driving around and sobbing the weekend of graduation, being in each others weddings, and now being on the heels of her becoming a mother! It's a great blessing to share life with great friends!

I'm so glad He came.

2011-01-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

Six years ago, My Great Aunt Bonnie wrote me this card as I graduated from High School:

I've thought about and been encouraged by those words many times in the past six years.

Today, My Great Aunt Bonnie went home to be with Jesus.

To know my Aunt Bonnie, was to love her. She was a heck of a woman, full of spunk and wit even at 90. Even more apparent than her shining personality, was her love for the Lord. She was known for coming up with questions about scriptures and stumping everyone around. She was a prayer warrior, and was the matriarch of our family and church for many years.

There is so much I want to remember about her. How she smiled so brightly when my family and I would sing one of her favorite songs "I've been with Jesus", how she threw her head back and cocked it slightly to the right when she laughed or grinned, and how absolutely delectable her chocolate pound cake was (my hips will always remember this one the most, I think).

But most of all, I think I will cherish these simple words she wrote to me, and really, to all of us who knew her. I have no doubt that when Aunt Bonnie met Jesus today, she knew the "farthest" things she did in life were those things she did for God. A huge smile plasters my face when I think about her reuniting with her husband, parents, and siblings and hearing "Well done, good and faithful servant!" May the magnitude of eternity manifest in each decision we make on earth. May we realize that life is short and fragile and take every opportunity that we have to love on earth.

My Aunt Bonnie was also a great song writer. Her "most famous" song was called "I'm so glad Jesus came". The third verse said this:

When I draw my final breath

and my eyes shall close in death

Chilly waters I'll not fear

for Jesus will be near.

He will gently take my hand

lead me to the promise land.

Praise the Holy name of Jesus,

I'm so glad He came!

I'm so glad, Jesus came, praise His holy name!

Though the stormy clouds may rise, He's ever just the same.

He will light the way for me from here to eternity.

Praise the holy name of Jesus, I'm so glad He came.

We will miss you Aunt Bonnie, but we are so glad Jesus was there with you as you crossed over today, just like you always sang about.

Edited to add 1/28/10
I just got home from the funeral and I had to add this. The whole funeral service revolved around what a legacy Aunt Bonnie left, and it encouraged me so much. One specific thing I want to remember is that Aunt Bonnie had read through the Bible 13 times and was all the way to Mark on her 14th time. I want to be a student of the Bible like she was, and I've got to read it 12.5 more times just to catch up with her! Each preacher talked about how they knew she prayed and how she had prayers stored up even now. One preacher said that he knew that our town was a better place because Bonnie had lived here. I am encouraged by this to do two things. First, that it is time for me to step up and be a woman of God. As the older generations are leaving, I realize that I need to step up and that we have "big shoes to fill". Second, I am encouraged to remain faithful and never to grow tired of serving the Lord.

Thank you Lord for her life and legacy!

New Year, New Camera!

2011-01-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

This is old news for most, but I wanted to document my new found love on the old bloggy-blog too!

After months of deliberation, I finally made a decision and bought a Cannon Rebel Xs!

We got a great deal on it and it ended up being the exact amount of money I had saved/been given/had giftcards for!

I have a lot to learn, but I've already had a lot of fun learning how to use it. Here are some of my favorite shots so far:

extraordinary.

2011-01-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

All I know is, if you don't figure out this something, you'll just stay ordinary, and it doesn't matter if its a work of art or a taco, or a pair of socks! Just create something... new, and there it is, and its you, out in the world, out side of you and you can look at it, or hear it, or read it, or feel it... and you know a little more about... you. A little bit more than anyone else does... Does that make any sense at all?

~ P.S. I love you

I couldn't face being cooped up for the rest of my life in a shabby little office...Oh, I'm sorry Pop, I didn't mean that, but this business of nickels and dimes and spending all your life trying to figure out how to save three cents on a length of pipe...I'd go crazy. I want to do something big and something important.”

~ It's a Wonderful Life

It's a new day, It's a new dawn. It's a new life. And I'm feeling good.

Here's to you 2011! Bring it on.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! I was so thankful to have my blog post from last year telling about Christmas because I had already forgotten so much of it!

Christmas Eve, we continued many of our traditions. First, we went to the movies and saw "Tangled" which we both absolutely loved!!! Next we went to the Christmas eve service at church. Ashleigh, Mandy, and I sang "Jesus, what a beautiful name". My parents and brother came and we all got to take communion as a family. It was, as always, so beautiful.

We came home and began a new tradition of eating Taco Soup for dinner. I totally played Feliz Navidad as we filled up our bowls, I am just that cheesy.

Then, once Eden and William came, we watched "A Muppet's Christmas Carol". That's when I really started feeling the magic of Christmas, those songs do it to me every time!

The next morning, Jason and I woke up and had Christmas morning, just the two of us. We started by opening our stockings. Then Jason read the Christmas story and cooked breakfast. Then, Zero got in on the fun and came in and opened his presents (haha, oh yes we did).

Opening his wrapped present, all without thumbs, very impressive...

It's a...

Bone!

Next, Jason and I unwrapped our other gifts to each other...

And so I can remember when we are old and grey, here is what we got:

For him: 6 blu rays (found at a crazy good black friday deals at wally world), two pairs of jeans, some random groceries, and his favorite: the pointer finger!! He saw it at Hob Lob and played with it all through out the store, so Santa decided to bring home the joy and put it in his stocking.

For her: two Christmas movies (my favorite), headphones, three cds, a game, a beautiful antique cake plate, and continuing the jewelrey-on-the-tree tradition, a beautiful necklace! That crazy hair is all mine thou, haha.

We chilled out for a while and then heard a sound and found that it was sleeting which soon turned into a beautiful snow. We went out and relished in it because we knew it probably wouldn't last! Here we are with the first few flakes:

To our joy and amazement, it kept snowing ALL day!! It turned into the most beautiful white Christmas!! It was Georgia's first since the late 1800s!

It was truly magical.

The day followed with lunch and presents with my family, then dinner and presents with Jason's family, then back to my parents for a crazy awesome Christmas night scavenger hunt. I didn't take pictures again this year of all that, sheesh!

We were so blessed with so much this Christmas and this whole year. I took this picture Christmas night on my mac and I think it really sums up our merry little Christmas:

I'll end with my night's Facebook status which sums it up so well:

This status just can't contain the joy, love, and blessings I feel today. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. From this fullness of His grace we have ALL received ONE BLESSING AFTER ANOTHER. John 1:14,16

Christmas Decor Inspiration: Prepping for the Sales

2010-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not quite sure what my problem is, but I can't seem to be content with the look of our Christmas tree. I can't believe it, but I'm considering hitting up the 90% sales to revamp our Christmas tree again for next year. I really don't know why I care since it's only up for one month, but I've found myself searching for inspiration...

One thing I know I want to do is hang up some ornaments above our tree and from our Christmas chandelier next year ala Lettered Cottage:

I also really like the look of these trees, which are surprisingly just classic red and green:

This one is from Small Words Blog, She calls it "wacky and tacky", but I like it! I especially like those sticky out things at the top.

This is something else I want to add..floral wire! Our tree looks slightly bare when the lights are out this year.

A totally different look, but I also really like this tree:

This is actually a friend of mine's house. This is a terrible picture of it, but it is very pretty and natural looking in person. I actually have pictures of this entire house tucked away in my inspiration file that I hope to do a post on soon.

So, there you have it, who knows what my tree will look like next year!

Christmas Redemption

2010-12-23T04:28:00.000-08:00

There's a story I've heard my whole life that is said to be a Cherokee Indian proverb...

A wise chief told his grandson that there is a battle that goes on inside everyone. "My son," he began "inside all of us, there are two wolves, an evil wolf and a good wolf. The evil wold is full of selfishness, envy, bitterness, greed, malice, and hate. The good wold is full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

(ok, I'm paraphrasing, and yes those are the fruit of the spirit).

The young boy thought for a moment, and then asked, "which one wins?"

"The one you feed," he replied.

As much as I hate to admit it, over the past two months, my evil wolf has had a lot more strength than I would like. I've been surrounded by a bit of drama lately, and just as the evil wolf would have it, it has permeated my thoughts and relationships with the majority of people in my life, including my relationship with my Savior. This created a domino effect, and I've definitely felt the darkness creeping up to swallow me, and at some points, I lost my focus.

There are so many things I try to make my "good wolf" believe like the fact that "hurt people, hurt people" and that harboring bitterness only hurts yourself (the person your bitter toward really doesn't care that you are hurt or mad!). I know that I don't ever want to be a mad/bitter person!! I am tired of having joy stolen from me and those I love.

There will always be hateful people, bad circumstances, injustice, selfishness, adversity, and evil. However, I must choose to turn my eyes upon the One who we are celebrating during this season. I know the thief (aka the evil wolf) comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But JESUS came to bring abundant life.

I refuse to let anymore of my abundant life be stolen.

It may seem an odd time to post these thoughts, amidst the slew of Christmas jolly and joy, but upon second thought, it is amazingly apropos.

I think of old Ebenezer Scrooge, and how he found redemption from his bitterness and greed through a reminder of his mortality.

I think of the Grinch, who found redemption through the love of a little girl and the realization that true joy can not be store bought.

I think of Kris Kringle on Miracle on 34th Street when he said,

"I am not just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit and has a jolly demeanor, you know. I'm a symbol. I'm a symbol of the human ability to suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives. And if you can't accept anything on faith, then you are doomed to a life dominated by doubt."

I think of an all powerful God who left paradise to endure hardship and scorn, injustice and slander, greed and selfishness on earth even though he didn't have to. The One who looked evil right in the face so that we can have this wonderful, abundant life and eternity in Heaven.

So, I'm off to feed the good wolf through everything from the big stuff, like the amazingness that is fellowship with the Holy Spirit through His word, to simple Christmas pleasures and warm fuzzies, you know the type.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Christmas Favorites

2010-12-22T07:05:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas! I just want to soak it up!! You can bet in the month of December that any movies I watch or music I listen to will likely be Christmas focused. I even often tell Jason when he wants to do something non-holiday focused in December, "That isn't very Christmas-y".

So, I decided to compile a list of my favorite Christmas movies and songs:

First my favorite movies (7...I know strange number)

7. Home Alone

6. Miracle on 34th Street

5. The Santa Clause

4. Polar Express

3. The Grinch (Jim Carey)

2. Elf

& undisputedly number one:

1. Muppet's Christmas Carol

Two movies everyone raves about but I haven't seen yet are....

It's a wonderful Life

Christmas Vacation

I know, I gotta find them and watch them!

Then Music!! I love music!! I split it into categories:

Popular/Secular:

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays- Nsync

The Christmas song- Carpenters

Santa Clause is coming to town- Jackson 5

Muppet Christmas Carol Music

All I want for Christmas is you- Mariah Cary

Jesus, what a wonderful Child- Mariah Cary

Emmanuel- Amy Grant

Keep Christmas with you- Sesame Street

Carol of the Bells

Sleigh Ride

I really like these three albums:

Carpenters (Christmas Portrait)~Amy Grant (first one)~Peanuts

Popular Religious:

Mystery- Selah

Welcome to our World- Amy Grant

Joseph's Lullaby- Mercy Me

Winter Snow- Chris Tomlin

Candlelight Carol

When Love came down- POG

Hymns:

Ring the Bells

Oh come all ye faithful

Oh little Town of Bethlehem

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Silent Night (I especially like Taylor Swift's version)

It's so neat because when I look over this list, I can see influence from so many friends I've had over the years, and so many memories come back. I'm sure there are many songs I overlooked! So tell me, what are your top three (or more) favorite Christmas movies and songs !?

Christmas Creativity

2010-12-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I had several projects to tackle and I was bitten by the creativity bug in a major way.

I love being creative. It's when I feel most alive. None of these projects were very exciting or creative to begin with, but I took the opportunity to make them my own!

First, I had two parties that I needed to fix a dish to bring. First, I made the chocolate/peanut butter/ powdered sugar cereal mix that goes by many names:

puppy chow/white trash/muddy buddies/snowman poop, take your pick!

Anyways, as i said, the project wasn't very exciting, but I made it so thru the presentation, it's all about the presentation.

First, I put it in my trifle bowl. Then I decided it could use something more. So I added some ribbon and a gift tag with a verse about snow:

Then, I made spinach dip for a family party. I grabbed my faithful $3 Goodwill basket (that I've already used 6 or 7 times for different things, great find!!), and found that my plates fit perfectly in them. I put the dip in a clear bowl, and prepped to put my snowflake Ritz when the time came.

Next, I had some wrapping to do. I bought this red swirly paper at Hob Lob this year for $4 (50% off it's normal price of course). It's a little more than I wanted to pay, but I found it to be totally worth it. This paper is awesome!! It is so thick, has grid lines, and you get a ton of it on the roll!! I picked up some pretty tulle ribbon and loved how these packages turned out!

I actually printed these gift tags for free off of this blog!! I love them, and you can't beat free!!!

I got the checkerboard paper last year 90% off at T@rget along with the curling ribbon.

I had been wrapping with it for a while, and right after I wrapped my Dad's gift, I discovered that I was out of ribbon. I had some excess paper I had just cut off, and decided to cut out a star or something and just put it on top. I full expected that it would look terrible, but I really didn't care and I knew my Dad wouldn't either. So I started tearing up the paper, and inspiration struck. My little flower-like creation ended up being my favorite "bow" of all!!

So now, the presents are all wrapped and the stockings are hung!! Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Decor 2010

2010-12-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our house!

This year my "theme" for our decorations were cranberries, starting with the pinecone and cranberry wreath on the front door!!

Here is our Christmas table scape. I changed out some of my plates to make them red and green and put together the centerpiece.

The centerpiece may be my favorite decoration of the year. We bought ALL the cranberry stuff at T@rget 90% off last Christmas. The star is actually a tree topper, but I ended up using the one we had last year. So I put it in my goodwill basket, covered it with a scrap of burlap, put the cranberry garland, and sprinkled some left over ornaments and pine cones. I love it!

Right inside my living room door, you will see my willow tree nativity. My parents gave us this as our wedding present and I actually left it up all year!

I <3 Christmas cards, especially picture ones!!

Here is our tree and stockings!

In a night-time glow...

Jason, Zero, and my stocking! We got our stockings and holders 90% off at Hob Lob the year before we got married, and we got Zero the cute felt one this year at Tar-jay.

Here are some close-ups of some ornaments: These are also from last year's 90% trip:

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of our traditions is to buy an ornament each year that represents that year for us. This was our first Christmas ornament:

And here is our 2010 ornament; the year we got our pup!

My mom gave us this at one of my wedding showers, it's a hand-painted ornament of the chapel we got married in!! Beautiful!

Our lighted topper:

The tree skirt may surprise you, its actually my bridesmaid dress from my BFF Amory's wedding !!! I'm all about repurposing! Plus, it just looks really beautiful!

Merry Christmas!!!

Traditions

2010-11-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

It's offcial, the Christmas season is here and in full swing! I can't believe tomorrow is the fist day of December! Honestly, time goes by so much more quickly as an adult than as a child!!

This is the second Christmas as a married couple for Jason and I, and something that I have been thinking about a lot lately are the traditions we set as a family.

I have found out about myself that I LOVE traditions and just being festive and jolly in general. However, I want to be careful not to become all type A obsessive over it (very possible...haha)

We already started a few fun traditions last year including buying an ornament each year that represented that year, spending Christmas morning together with just our family and cooking breakfast and reading the Christmas story, and our church's Christmas Eve service.

Plus, we have some traditions with my family that I love like going to see Christmas lights, watching A muppet's Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve night, and our newest tradition of a Christmas night gift/scavenger hunt!

There was one thing that we did last year that I refuse-to-repeat-as-long-as-I-live-so-help-me (was that too type A?). I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but due to poor planning on our part last year, both Jason and our families all ate Christmas Eve dinner after our wonderful church service at.... Krystals. Now, I don't like Krystals on a good day, but on Christmas Eve, I wanted to cry!!! How un-festive and disgusting.

So, I'm finding, if I want to make merry, that I need to be the one to make it happen!! In fact, I was inspired of this fact over the weekend. Jason's aunt and uncle invited us over to their house to build gingerbread houses. They have two precious teenage daughters and have been doing this every year since the girls could sit at the table. I was so inspired by Claire, Jason's aunt. She is a very creative person and had the whole house aglow with Christmas music, refreshments, and all the candy you could imagine to decorate your house. She even had a snowman sign that said "Be creative today!" For me, it was one of those becoming-who-you-want-to-be-moments. Number one, I want my home to be a place of creativity for my children. Secondly, I saw that if I wanted to be festive that I could make it happen! No matter the opinion or attitude of everyone else, I can be the Christmas thermostat not a thermometer and change any day from gloom to merriment!

This caused me to start collecting traditions that I hope to start, especially when Jason and I have kids. Here are two ideas I've seen on blogs and loved over the past few days....

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2010/11/update-free-jesse-tree-advent-devotional/

http://granvillehouse.blogspot.com/2010/11/countdown-to-christmas-with-books.html

I would love to hear some of your traditions too!!

Merry Christmas-ing!!!