thrift store redo

Found this cutie patootie at a local thrift store..

and turned it into THIS!

dresser: $10
world market knobs: FREE with world market coupon
spray paint: $5

I'm super happy with the outcome and can't wait to add this to my room.

Mr, don't you love the yellow? I told you to have faith in me :)

long time coming

I've waited a year to say happy fall 2011.

Is it because my favorite season is fall? Hmm..let's see..

It could have a little something to do with salted caramel mochas floating around in Starbucks nationwide. I may or may not be guilty of filling cups with whipped cream, caramel drizzle and roasted sea salt..eating it like ice cream then acting like it didn't happen, but I prefer not to say.

Maybe I wanted to remind y'all that the seasons are changing. Like, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't understand why the leaves are changing color and why cool weather entered the picture again. You're welcome.
Or just maybe I've waited all year to wish you a Happy Fall, because it's the season of.. Mr coming home!!! Freakin jeez....are you serious? It's already here?

So of course I can't give you dates because OPSEC...duh. Operation keep Mr's unit safe as they travel. But I can tell you the season, and the season of Fall is a good one this year, my friends.

For the reasons above as well, but mainly because the Mr and Mrs will be together again. 

Sigh..

Happy Sunday but more importantly Happy Fall!

Crazy Girl

   
Mr can attest that I'm a crazy girl right now. Between juggling school, deployment, work, talk time with him, and loads of other happenings..I've become a little out of whack. Even though I tend to have minor freak outs from time to time, he's always there reassuring me and building my confidence back up. Like I've said before, deployment brain is to blame for my craziness..I don't doubt it for a second. But the crazy will die down and my life will fall back into place once Mr is home, safe and sound. For now I'll continue to be the crazy girl while counting the blessings Jesus brings my way..blessings like this stud..

 

Linking up with one of my favorite ladies, Goodnight Moon!

just barely here

Oh, hey.

Remember when I didn't have 4,132 things to do every day? 

That sure was nice.

DIY laundry detergent

I've seen this all over Pinterest and was just waiting until I ran out of regular detergent before I ventured into the land of true domestic wife. This stuff is ridiculously cheap and easy to do. All items can be found at your local grocery store on the laundry aisle.

You will need a box of Borax, Arm & Hammer super washing soda, and fels-naptha soap. I've also seen that Zote soap from Home Depot works well too. For the final product I dumped everything into a mason jar I already had, then went to the dollar tree and found these coffee scoops!

I took this picture after I was finished, hence no picture of the fels naptha, but click here to see what it looks like.

So the worst part of this was the 30 minute soap grating process. Maybe I just have a terrible cheese grater, but regardless of the time it took, I'm convinced it's worth it in the end!

Grate down the whole bar then add 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda

Mix it around thoroughly and then dump into your favorite jar.

Breakdown:
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda: $3.99
Borax: $4.79
Fels-Naptha Soap: $1.27
$10 for everything. Cheap, cheap!
(Optional Coffee Scoops: $1)

Each load takes only one tablespoon, a tablespoon people! Which means this mixture will last 60+ loads which is double the amount of any detergent I used to buy. Oh wait..there's more..the Borax and Arm & Hammer boxes are enormous and I probably won't have to buy new ones for like 5 years. Borax can also be used for almost any of your household cleaning needs. So have I convinced you yet? Go make your own detergent!

Bathroom Re-Vamp

Best friend and I are impulse crafters. We live and love to plan our crafts, but sometimes the moment strikes, and it has to be done that night. Sometime before school and work kicked in, we found time to hang out. Best friend mentioned that her bathroom needed a redo and she had a couple things in mind. With a quick trip to the 99cent store and Walmart, we transformed her bathroom to a little bit of elegance :)

The mason jar soap dispenser was one of my favorite touches.

We took 99cent store vases and hot glued them onto candlestick holders, tea light holders, and smaller vases to elevate and add contrast!

my sweet, sweet love

i carry your heart with me

i carry it in my heart

i am never without it

anywhere i go you go,

my dear;

and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling

i fear
no fate

for you are my fate, my sweet

i want
no world

for beautiful you are my world, my true

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant 
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart

i carry it in my heart

e.e.cummings  

eep that's gross

but still kinda cute.

mushroom in my houseplant

:)

photography

these are two of my favorite shoots from the last couple of months. photography has definitely slowed down for me with school and work on a back to back schedule, but i just wanted to share a couple of things i've been up to :)

the following images were taken by me, while second shooting with a local photographer. all image © belong to them.

seasons

the transition between seasons is refreshing. just when i cant stand the scorch of summer, leaves make their way south. colors change and light breezes swoop through the valley. sipping on pumpkin spice lattes peppered with cinnamon, on days just cold enough to wear cuffed pants and cardigans but not so cold that a pair of flip flops won't suit.

undoubtedly, the smell of spice permeating throughout my home and summer flowers replaced by splashes of warm toned accents will fill my spirits with fall. my text books will fall open more often than not as the semester unfolds, but partnered with fall festivities, motivation will reign through.

pumpkin patch trips, candy corn filled aisles, hot apple cider and the like, play over in my mind as the season shows itself more each day.

the cool breeze will blow, the leaves will change color and the official start of the new season will make its grand appearance before i know it. 

mindful musings

pictures to edit..text books to be read..work memorization to be done..emails to be answered..bills to be paid..gas tank to be filled..phone calls to be made

fun to be had?

i would like to think that i deserve a little fun amongst the exhaustive list above.

overwhelmed and ready for a break. life is busy and deployment is ever present. longing to kick that word to the curb, go days with out thinking about or even remembering the days of deployment. i've grown spiritually, independently and emotionally...that's all very true. but i'll save that post, those words will come at another time, as it's end draws closer maybe. reflecting on the growth and things i've learned will take some time. i want to remember some things, not many..but some. i want to reflect on it to the fullest.

but
feeling so blessed to have a job and education, time to fill the empty void of husband-less nights. thankful for mr and the man he is. thankful for his heart and the love he shows me every day. thankful for anniversary flowers and notes from across the ocean.

overwhelmed by the undeserving love of my Savior. though i neglect Him most days, never on purpose of course, the list above tends to fill the time. thanks for remembering me Jesus. when i'm not faithful to devote deserving time to you, i'm welcomed back with open arms. the idea of this blows my mind. who else does that? no one. i'm blessed and undeserving of such a love like this. thank you my Jesus.

the thoughts need to roll out, unedited and choppy sometimes. it might not make sense to most, the short sentences and barely finished thoughts. but they're written down now, stored somewhere in the archives of these posts.

maybe i'll look back in 4 years and remember thoughts after my first two weeks on the new job and senior year of college. i hope to remember the blessings in my life and always cherish what i've been given.

cliche? absolutely. but it's cliche for a reason.
Jesus is good to me, and i'll be forever grateful.

i love you mr

R&R part five: Tattoo and a Recap

If I don't document the details, I know I'd be upset down the road, so for memory's sake here's the final details of Mr's R&R trip!

Mr has wanted a half sleeve ever since I can remember. The idea of it made me nervous for a long time, but after seeing the excitement in his eyes every time he talked about it, the excitement began rolling off to me. Once we decided that the half sleeve was absolutely happening, the debate between color vs black and grey began. Mr wanted color..I wanted black and grey..in the end, his long time dream of a half sleeve, color tattoo became a reality.

And the final result!

The rose is for his wifey and the ship is for the sake of Art. He couldn't be happier with the outcome and I think he looks mega sexy ;)

Our final date was spent at the movies, seeing Friends With Benefits. It took a little convincing for Mr to watch a movie with J.Timberlake as the main man, but he ended up liking the movie a lot! Then we met up to have a drink with his buddies so he could show off the new ink. By this point, we both realized our time was dwindling but kept our spirits up so we could enjoy our final day together. We relaxed all morning and afternoon, listening to Pandora and eventually turned on Tangled. YES, Mr watched J.Timberlake and Tangled within a matter of days. He's wonderful! For dinner we made homemade pizza and danced around the kitchen while listening to music. Couldn't have been any more perfect!

Having Mr home was something I had anticipated more than anything all year (obviously). But it was better than I could have ever planned for. We got a small taste of married life and it made both of us even more excited for his permanent return. Although R&R was everything we had hoped, it was still bittersweet. Getting that small taste of married life and then letting it go, so soon, was harder than either of us had prepared for. Believe it or not, the send off for R&R was 10x harder than the initial deployment goodbye.

Mr went back to Iraq nearly two weeks ago, but he'll be home again soon. I started my new job three days after he left and my senior year of college a week after. We've adjusted back to our terrible Skype connection and opposite schedules/time zones. Our lives fell back into old routines just as we knew they would, but every time I think of the special two weeks we spent together I feel blessed to have Mr in my life.

R&R part four: Open House

Oh hey, remember when I was recapping R&R like twelve years ago? Let's continue..
Mr and I got home from Santa Cruz and spent the rest of his time here with friends and family. The night we got home was spent with my best friend and her hubby before he left for more Coast Guard training. We played Mexican train and drank $1 bottles of champagne out of $1 wine glasses..we like to keep things classy.

Friday night Mr and I went to a baseball game. My friend is the MC and was able to hook us up with a pair of free tickets. Awesome right? :) Our team lost but we drank $9 beers and had lots of fun!

 
After the game we got some fro-yo mmmm...

On Saturday we had an open house where everyone could come see Mr and hang out! We had a pretty good turn out and everyone seemed to have a good time.

 

the ping pong hats were absolutely necessary

yumminess..

Mr and I had a child...

or maybe I just wanted to steal this one. Not only is this baby girl the cutest thing you've ever seen..but look at Mr Tenderness himself? sigh..

The rest of the night was spent drinking with our buddies..(Has there been one post with out alcohol in it yet? The man has been deprived of any fun for months, so please don't think we're outrageous). 

Our bearded friend, Brad and my lovely lady friend Krista..we're friends in real life.. not just on blogs ;)

The open house was a success and at one point in the night there may or may not have been a group of grown adults playing ring-around-the-rosie for thirty minutes. Oh the power of a cute three-year old..

Come back for more tomorrow! There's tattoos involved.. oooh the suspense!