{heirloom}

The weekend has been nice so far. Last night we had dinner with a bunch of Dan's family. His aunt and uncle were in town from Chicago, as well as his cousin and her daughter from Oklahoma. Megan's daughter Montana is the cutest thing and it was so fun to see Dan playing with her. He will be such a cute dad. :)

I got a wonderful gift today...the ring my parents bought for me that has two diamonds from my Grandma Orr's wedding ring. I absolutely love it! I cried when I put it on...makes me feel so close to her. Here's a pic (sorry its blurry)--->

Its a round peridot on a white gold band with a diamond on either side. I'm in love! :)

Here's a layout I did of my 29th b-day...had a lot of fun with this one...

Not much planned for tomorrow. I really need to do some yardwork and put out the new birdbath that Dan got me for my birthday. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

xoxo

{feeling productive}

Last night was such a productive night for me. We cooked dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, I took a walk and did some scrapbooking. This may be how a typical night is for most people, but we usually don't fare so well. I'm lucky if I get one of those things done in an evening! :) Nothing too exciting going on today...a pretty quiet day at work and not sure what will happen this evening. Hopefully I'll have another productive night since the weather has cooled off for my walks and I just got a new stash of scrapbook goodies with a bunch of AC thickers! LOOOVE those things! I also got some fun news this morning...I won a RAK of Hambly goodies from fellow blogger Lizz...thanks girl!!! I'm so excited to get my goodies! Here is the layout I did last night. It has taken me awhile to be ready to work with this photo of me and Grandma...I still got a little teary making it but I'm so proud of how it turned out-->



and here's the journaling (hidden under the photo)



Hope everyone is having a great day!

xoxo

{bye bye weekend}

I had *such* a fabulous weekend! Saturday started with a shopping trip to the mall where I found so many bargains...spent about $95 on over $200 worth of stuff. I got a really cute dress for work, jeans, a t-shirt in my favorite shade of green, two pair of shoes (one of them green) and a new wallet in (you guessed it)...green! :) On my way home from my shopping high, I noticed that there was an arts fair in town, so I called my mother-in-law and we went together. I found a cute pottery business card holder for my desk at work, and we sat and had iced coffee together and some great conversation. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with her. She is so fun to be with and we have great chats when it is just the two of us. The day finished up with watching a movie with Dan and doing some scrapbooking (can you tell what the subject is of two of these layouts???)

Today I did some cleaning when I got up...not my favorite thing but I feel so much better once I've done it. We took a necessary trip to Walmart and then went to visit our little "nephew" Gavin. He is just the cutest. We hadn't seen him in a month and he has grown so much! He is also smiling a lot and a lot more active and animated. I loved watching him react to his dad's kisses and voice. I caught a great picture of him smiling...

Well, tomorrow is another Monday, but with the way the last few weeks have flown by, I'm sure it will be Friday again before we know it!

xoxo

{painting fun}

I'm making a set of four paintings for a friend and I'm having so much fun making them. I hadn't painted in years and I'm rediscovering how much I like it. Granted, these are modern paintings with only 2 colors of paint, but that's a start, right? :) Here is the third in the set --->

Not much else going on today. Work is keeping me super busy but I'm not complaining...makes the days fly by!

Happy Hump Day!

xoxo

{another year wiser?}

So today was the big 2-9 for me. I have a hard time believing that I'm 29 years old...I really still feel like I'm 24 or 25 at the most. I wouldn't go back to those years though...those were some tough ones. Dan and I trying to find our way as a couple, figuring out my career path and going through so many interviews and rejections. 29 has found me in a very good place. I'm in a job that I am really enjoying and that makes me feel fulfilled. I have the most wonderful marriage that I could have ever imagined, and hopefully in the next year or so we will add to our family. ;) I've been exploring my creativity and finding new ways to express myself. I feel very comfortable in my own skin and able to be myself more than ever.

Dan and I had a fun day today to celebrate. We drove to Indianapolis and did some shopping. Despite the super hot and humid weather we had a lot of fun. We had dinner at On the Border...one of our favorites. I found a couple cute things at TJ Maxx...a brown dress for work that I can't wait to wear. Here's a pic of us in the car...hot and exhausted...

And here's another one I took just for fun --->

I'm a big fan of hand holding :)

Hope everyone has had a great Monday!

xoxo

{fun stuff}

Today has been a busy and tiring day. Work has been going well and I feel so blessed to have been giving this opportunity. I had a meeting this afternoon with my old coworkers to help train the person in my old job. After that meeting I was even happier that I have moved on. :)

I'm working on a new set of canvas paintings for a friend...really excited that she asked me to make them for her. I'm using a light blue and dark brown...two with a blue background and two with brown for the background. Here are the two I've completed so far...

I'm not sure if I'm 100% happy with them...the floral patterns didn't translate as well to solid color as I thought they would. Oh well...we'll see if she likes them. :)

We also got our new quilt set for our bedroom a couple days ago. Here's a pic of the room in its current state.

I want to get a new sheet set and we still need to paint the walls and trim. We'll get it done one day.

{thanks sharon}

So I'm having an extremely frustrating morning. I won't go into the details but it isn't even 9:00 yet and too many things have happened to count on one hand. When I finally got my email open, I had a message from my friend Sharon which helped me put it all into perspective...

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens. "Great", she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry."

She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact
lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him....I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

Thanks Sharon...I really needed that this morning!

xoxo