wedding bells

meet lizzie and trey

she's my cuz and one of my favorite people in the whole world

he's...growing on me...;)

they are awesome and so happy and so perfect for each other. and this weekend they are getting hitched! YEAH!!

i'm taking some time off work this week to hang out with them and help with last minute wedding details. my plan this week will consist of whatever the bride needs. and hopefully a lot of this



i hope to have some fun pictures to share next week. this will be the first wedding caroline gets to come too. her gran jan bought her a super sweet dress and i know she will look just precious.

i always have so much fun with my cousins. i only have a younger brother, so i've always been thankful and feel really feel blessed that i have these two amazing cousins that have always been like sisters to me. i'm so honored to stand up with lizzie this weekend and support her and trey as they enter into marriage.


pray for clear skies and cool summer air this week/weekend. everything is outside. a shower, the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. we don't need any mothers-of-the-bride flipping out on us! =)

have a good week blogland!

DIY chalkboard

i thought i would share a little craft i did about a month or so ago. shaun and i are always trying to cook at home more, and we always say that we just need to sit down and make a menu. well, i looked around our kitchen and noticed that we don't have anything hanging on our walls. we bought our house knowing that we were going to gut and re-do the kitchen as soon as possible. i haven't decorated in there at all. i don't want to spend money on stuff that possibly won't work in our new kitchen. so, out walls are bare and it's very boring in there.

so, i thought i would add a little something to the wall the would be functional but also cool and kind of like art.

how about a chalkboard for a menu? great.

i went to a local 2nd hand store called Restore and bought an big, old ugly picture frame for i think $15.

i already had some green paint, so i just painted the frame. it's an awesome color. the bathroom in our old house is this color and i'm thinking about using it in our kitchen/dining room once it's finished. it's tansy by sherwin williams.

while the frame was drying i painted the back panel (the mdf part that had the hooks on it for hanging on the wall) with chalkboard paint. i got the chalkboard paint at Home Depot for $11. it's tintable and i decided on the dark brown color. i think it was called espresso.


the directions for the chalkboard paint said to let it sit for 3 days before using. then "condition" the board by rubbing the chalk sideways over the whole board. i'm not really sure what this does, but i did it.

Once everything was dry, i attached the painted mdf back to the painted frame and hung in the kitchen.



we have used it as a menu and for weekend to do lists. i was very pleased how it came out and it was pretty easy. once C gets older, she is definitely getting one for her room.

enjoy!

i'll listen

life has been different lately. i've been wanting to blog, and i have things to blog about (i've been getting a little crafty), but things have been so different lately, i haven't been able to work blogging in.

i've gained some perspective lately. this whole "this would never happen to someone i know" perspective that i walk around with has been shattered. for the past month and a half, God has shown me that no one is the exception. and that life and love and everything in between is a gift. and now i know that that could happen to them, and i know that that could happen to me.

i've taken for granted my husband and my baby and my life. but i've had my eyes opened so big this past month that all i can think about now is how wonderful they are. and how much i love them. and how thankful i am for them. and how that no one is immune to divorce or cancer or hurt or devastation.

i want to blame the devil. i want to tell him to get out of my life and my friends lives and stop wrecking everything. "you are hurting people i love and that makes me hurt. leave them alone!"

but then the people that bring me back to reality are the people who are hurting. they are glorifying God through their circumstances. they are finding blessings in times of despair. i am in awe. we have nothing without God. we don't have health or love or joy. we have nothing. we can pretend and try to live without Him, but he is what brings the good things in life. and unfortunately the bad things too.

what is going on? what are you doing God? i trust and know that you have a greater plan and that you know what you're doing, but why? why are these things happening?

you can tell me, i'll listen...