Sometimes you just feel crafty

Sometimes you just feel a little crafty....

So what do you do? You find someone who needs some crafting done. :) Shortly after getting married and moving to Bartlesville, I met some new friends. Jeejo and Erin. They were married the month before Andrew and I were married. Therefore we have newlywed-ness in common. Some of the things we don't have in common are : 

• Jeejo is from Inda
• They live in a cute apartment built by Erin's Grandpa
• They have done lots of traveling in their lives
• They have Erin's family here in town
• But the BIGGEST difference is that they are expecting their first baby.

The baby is due on the 4th of July but they expect she will be here any day now. Her name will be Alexis Grace and she will be one of the most precious babies.  I wanted to do something special for them so I offered to help in their nursery. It was a fun project that involved lots of brain storming from some friends at work! The first thing I did was make them something special just for Alexis. This is a bow board. You know, somewhere to hang all here frilly little bows that will be just precious. I think one of the best things about little girls is bows!! The bigger the better... but sometimes small and sweet are just perfect too. But bows nonetheless.
Here is the process...

Paint a canvas... doesn't have to be perfect... just covered.

Grumble about getting paint on the kitchen table... (luckily it came right off later!)

With Pandora paying on the computer... measure lots and lots of ribbons the right length... this will depend on how tall your board is. My ribbons were different widths, I wish I would have gotten a couple that were wider.

Mint Tea is required on most projects... or coffee... or if you are splurging a glass of wine.

With a dab of hot-glue attach ribbons (as strait as you can) to the back of the board.

Grumble about your cruddy painting job.

Flip the board around every 3-4 ribbons to make sure they are all relatively strait...

This is what the back should look like ... I'm slightly OCD about a few things... so I had to do mine in a repetitive pattern. I think it would have been just as cute to do them randomly.

This is what the other side will look like. I LOVE these colors!

This is the back of the board when it is done...

And this is the front.

 I added a ribbon on the outside to finish it off.

I did a few things in the room. I wish I had before and after pictures but I was in too big of a hurry to get everything done.

This was an old lamp that I just added carnations and leaves to ... this gave it some color and a new look.

I just added ribbon ties here on the curtains to soften them up some. They later added a white cornice board to the window which pulls it all together nicely.

Fun wall decorations...

The 'bow board' :)

Butterflies floating on the walls...

Here is a mobil I made out of some colorful flower ribbons they had...

And here is my husband THRILLED about helping out! (I needed his muscles!) 

So there it is... the first nursery that I have ever helped decorate. It was fun! While doing it I did get lots of ideas for ours... someday. It was quite an adventure and so fun to bless them with my time and energy so they could have a day out! Now I can't wait for sweet Alexis to get her so I can offer to babysit!! :)

Bowling

A few weeks ago some friends invited us to a bowling party. We had so much fun. I'm not going to lie... I was a little irritated and not very excited at first. I am NOT a big fan of bowling, however, we had so much fun.
Here are a few pictures that I'm sure you will get a laugh at. :)

On an added note, I went to lunch with these girls yesterday and they rocked my world with their honesty and openness. I have been praying fervently for  Godly women in my life that I can be transparent with and they will love and understand me regardless. We all talked about where we are in life and the junk that we are going through and were able to give each other affirmation that it is ok. All three of us are in different stages of life. Jamie has been married for 15 years and has 3 kids from 2 - 14. Deborah has been married for 3 years and has a little girl who will be 1 this summer and Andrew and I ... well we hit 1 year in a couple weeks and have 3 dogs. It has been great fellowship-ing with these ladies.
Thank you Father for your blessings which I take for granted daily!

Jamie showing off her bowling ball! 

Deborah and her ball... might be the same one Jamie was using. 

And Deborah bowls... 

There goes John with is bowl! 

Jay is VERY tall... I could imagine bowling would be scary for a very tall person!  They have much further to fall than short people! 

This was the picture my hubs took of me... kinda need the WIDE lens on here! Thats a lot of back side there... Too bad I had the bowling shoes on... the turquoise heals I was wearing looked MUCH better!  

John and Jamie - They have been married 15 years and are just precious!! 

My hubs... what a bowling Rock Star! He had this little booty shake thing that he did... looked ridiculous but ... it worked. Go figure! 

Jay and Deborah - they have been married 3 years this summer!

It was so much fun hanging out with these other two couples that are in different places. John and Jamie have 3 kids from 13 - 2 ; Jay and Deborah have 1 little girl who will be one this summer and 2 Boxers who happen to be my favorite dogs!! It has been great fellowshipping them and learning from them over the past few months. I can tell that God is really forming special friendships here.

To Market To Market

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

To market, to market, to buy a fat hog,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,

Home again, home again, market is done.

Ok so maybe we didn't buy a fat pig, a fat hog or a plum bun, whatever that is. But we did go to the Local Farmers Market one beautiful Saturday morning. 

The weather was excellent. We saw many fun and just too cool things! I can't believe I had never been to one before.

This particular day they were offering rides on a steam engine locomotive. (For a mere $10 a pop and they were sold out before we got there! Actually they sold out weeks before the event ever happened!!) I I had a jealous fun time watching all the kids hop on the train and go for a ride. There were some people giving away their extra tickets. I was on my way to beg for some of these tickets when my wonderful caring husband said, "it sure would be sad for us to take those tickets from kids who really want to go..." I agreed but in my head I thought "HECK NO!! I wanna go for a train ride!! This SUCKS!"

So I'm making it a plan to have a kid at next years train ride... so I won't feel badly if I need to beg for an extra ticket or two... :) 

Here are some pictures to commemorate the fun event. Oh did I mention we walked there? It was fun! On the way home we stopped at a junk store and had so much fun looking and talking to the owner. He is a believer and was full of passion for the lost. It was fun talking with him and hearing about his life. 

Ok now here are the pictures... 

I always have the most awkward smile when I do the 'self picture' thing... UGH!
The hubs is looking great as always! 

This was a train they were letting people and kids explore.

The steam engine!! (that we were NOT on!!)

My hubs and I by the 'prop' train.

I do believe we will! :) 

And there ends our fun morning out. We went home that day to do some serious spring cleaning. It was hard, it was ugly, but boy was it needed.

seasons of change

This time last year, my world was in full change mode!
When I find myself thinking about this time last year it is with a smile and a tear. It was so much fun to experience and watch all my dreams unfold.
3 years ago if you would ask me what my idea of the perfect life was, it would have looked like this... (I'll use bullet points, its how I think!)

• I will live in Midland
• My husband will work an 8-5 job
• I will work as a teacher but my job will be totally extra 
• We will be expecting our first child, I will be quitting my job when the baby gets here
• I'll be a size 8 and tan year round
• We will live in a gated community 
• We will have a 5 bedroom house 
• We will have a made come and clean every weekend 
• We will have 2 dogs 
• We will have dreams of having 3-5 kids 
• We will be picture perfect. 

HA! Boy was that fun to relive. NOT! I would have been miserable. Who in their right mind wants to be that stinking perfect!?!?! NOT ME! 

Now my life looks nothing like this and I love it. I wouldnt change it for the world! 

Again with the bullet points

• We are buying a house this month in BARTLESVILLE OKLAHOMA! 
• It will NOT have 5 bedrooms
• We will NOT have a made
• We have 3 ROTTEN dogs
• We are not expecting a baby and I am ok with that! 
• we are anything BUT picture perfect
• I am not a teacher, this is hard for me sometimes, however, I see that God has me in this spot for a reason. And His plans are GOOD! 

That is just an update... I wanted to share the beautiful picture in my head that I saw today... the picture of what we are today... and I love it. I'm so glad God has changed the desired of my heart. 

Just to add some fun here... I'm going to include some pictures from the move up to Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The move that changed the rest of my life!! Thank you Jesus!!

This is me, out side of my empty classroom. The first thing we loaded up was my boxes from there. Then I said good bye to all the friends that had grown to be family through the 4 years of my teaching career. Such an emotional time!

So I just realized that this picture is sideways but I like it... it was from the start of our trip... about 6 in the morning. See.. we are smiling... everything is great!!

This stop included frustration, tears and possibly a temper tantrum... but I got some McDonald's and it made me happy!

Ba-da-da-da-da I'm lovin it!

This is ________________ week.

UG!
So it has finally happened to me…
I put on my FAVORITE blue jeans… you know my cowgirl jeans… You know that comfortible wonderful feeling you get from putting on your favorite jeans... they feel like... heaven!! Then throw on a pair of cowboy boots ... HOLY MOLEY you are unstoppable!
Yeah well about that… they buttoned but they didn’t zip. I had a melt down in my closet. My myself. It was pitiful! My eyes were poofy. My make up was ruined. (but the melt down had to burn calories right??)


I hate myself for being so flippin lazy.

This is go week.
This is kick my butt into gear week.
This is no matter what is going on find time to eat right and work out week.
This is not getting a chocolate bar regardless of the cravings week.
This is water and coffee only week.
This is NOT sit on my butt and watch my favorite shows week.
This is think positive week.
This is get everything done at home and workout week.
This is NO eating out no matter how tired or busy I am week.
This is… that means no taquitos at QT week.
This is not complain about my weight… be proactive week.
This is take the stairs week.
This is walk at lunch week.
This is sweat like it is in style week.
This is run to early 90’s pop music week.
This is think about the benefit of being 25 lbs lighter week.
This is do not even think about a sugary sweet week.
This is drink lots of water… even if it means 15 trips to the bathroom every day week.
This is …

Boy am I horrible at this.

Its only Monday and I want a chocolate bar… for breakfast.

Pray for me... its gonna be a rough week!