Crochet, Convention and Colds

My my my. It has been awhile since I have blogged and I am ready to get back at it. Between job changes, events and illness I haven't gotten a chance to catch up! But not for much longer, let's get you up to speed!

In October I finished nannying for some of the greatest kids I know. Their mom was blessed with a new job and there was no longer a need for me to watch them. This was hands down the greatest job I have ever had and they were a huge blessing to me! (Love you guys!) Afterwards I applied for many other jobs with no luck. I knew I had to find a way to make money but I didn't want to just apply anywhere. David and I prayed (and continue to pray) about my job situation and we both feel like God is opening doors for me to do what I love and make money from it.

 I love hand lettering signs, cards, chalkboards, banners, etc. and I've recently taken up crocheting. So after little deliberation, I decided to have my first ever sale of my handmade items on Facebook. I scheduled a time and made an announcement to my friends about it and when the day came... I posted and prayed.

After 20 minutes of nothing, I started to panic a little. Maybe no one wants anything and God and I miscommunicated about this whole "You gotta start somewhere." statement. Before I could even finish my "Lord, help me hear you a little more clearly from now on" prayer, I had my first buyer! (Shout out to Jodie F.) I ended up selling all but 2 within the first 6 hours of my sale and it felt good. Needless to say, I am excited to have my next one selling infinity scarves and boot cuffs. Stay tuned!

A couple weeks after, David and I took our youth group to National Youth Convention in Nashville, TN. This was our 2nd year of heading up this endeavor and our first time taking them out of state! It was an adventure to say the least and we all had a blast! There is just something about seeing 3,000+ teenagers raising their hands, shouting and worshipping God together. And even though the conference was geared towards them, they blessed us just as much. We love FAC Zero Gravity!

Do I even need to say anything about this one? Haha. They really are the best!

And of course, there is that third thing... Colds. But how beautiful is this snow we got! Ahhh, yes. I think it's safe to say that it is officially winter. I hope everyone is staying warm and building snowmen. I know we will be! Happy Friday!

Five Things I've Learned in Five Months of Marriage

Humor me. To many of my readers who are married and have been for 28 years (Hi mom!) just sit back and relax and maybe get a good laugh. I know you have experienced things that I cannot even begin to think of. But with five months of marriage under my belt, I have learned a few things. Some the easy way but mostly the hard way. Here we go!

#5. Sweet potato fries are not easy to make. You cannot just cut up that rock of a potato, toss in some olive oil and seasoning and put in the oven at 400 degrees and expect greatness once you decide to take them out. They will come out burnt to a crisp and you and your husband will have to eat spaghetti for dinner.

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#4. If you want your dishes clean and you have a dishwasher, you have to shop around for a good dishwashing liquid. We went with the first one we saw, denying the good one since it was more expensive. Well don't! It doesn't get the job done and leaves you in an argument with your husband about how he isn't cleaning them off enough before putting them in the dishwasher. ( Oops!)
Solution: Do them by hand with Dawn dish soap or buy Cascade and apologize to him with ice cream. 

#3. When bringing home a special treat for yourself, do not leave it on the counter, tabletop, bar, coffee table or in plain site. Your husband will eat it... even if they are cough drops that "taste like candy."

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#2. If you ask your husband to do some housework for you while you are at work, make sure to explain how. For example, I asked David if he could do some laundry while I was at work. Because he is so sweet, he did it and didn't even complain. Unfortunately for him, when I got home to white lint balls from our towels on all our clothes, a white shirt turned pink because of a rogue red tank top in the whites and a shrunken cardigan sweater I had just bought; I complained. Thus resulting in this...

#1. Never jump from around a corner to scare your husband. His natural reflex is to punch or kick the on coming object. Lesson learned the hard way. 

There you have it! Five months worth of life lessons. Do any of you have some funny stories from your first few months of marriage? I am always up for a good laugh!

Dresser Re-do

I would venture to say that I am a very enthusiastic person. Those that know me would probably agree with that statement. With that being said, sometimes I'm a little over enthusiastic and over ambitious when it comes to DIY projects. Like this one.

It was on a rare Saturday that we had absolutely no plans. We were so excited to have an entire day to ourselves. We slept in, made a big breakfast and just relaxed. But by noon, I was antsy. I had to get up and do something. Anything. Then it hit me. Let's redo our dresser! I already had the primer and paint. David, being as sweet as he is, nodded his head out of sheer "husbandly" love and we emptied the whole thing and brought it out onto our patio.

After getting it outside and searching for an electric sander for 30 minutes, we ended up having to sand it down by hand. After about 45 minutes of sanding, we had to go search for paint brushes. After searching for... awhile, we came to the conclusion that we left them at the other church campus during VBS time. Soon, I began to feel a little defeated. Why on earth didn't I plan this out a little better?! We finally found 2 beat up brushes and decided to use them to prime the dresser.  

Did I mention that it was 97 degrees outside with a heat index in the 100's that day? Yeah. (Sorry again babe!) Thankfully, the paint didn't bubble in the heat or get too sticky. That would have made this a complete fail. Anyway, while the primer dried we decided to cool off and run to Lowes to buy polyurethane to seal the dresser and to buy replacement drawer pulls. Why did we need to replace those you ask? Please check the picture below and don't become too jealous.

Oh yeah! Check that baby out. Cute, huh? Let's just say Hobby Lobby saved the day with their big selection of knobs and drawer pulls! 

So after gallivanting through Hobby Lobby and getting a tad bit sidetracked by their Christmas decorations, we selected these three knobs. (The picture on the right is an image I found on pinterest to show you the color scheme of our bedroom. Plum, mustard yellow and mint instead of sage.)

We ended up buying three of the one in the middle, taking it home and hating it on the dresser. They were just too small. So we went back, shopped around some more and left with three new knobs that we absolutely love!

Are you ready to see the finished product? Let me remind you of what it looked like before.

 And after...

 Tada! We love it. It is kind of difficult to see what color it is but it sea foam/mint green.  Like these super cute bikes! >>>

There you have it! After enduring the heat, hand sanding and lack of preparation, we have a lovely mint green dresser that I adore. Have you ever tried to tackle a project on the fly, only to realize it was much bigger than expected? Please share in the comment section below. 

A Challenge

It is so easy to get caught up in everything that is wrong. "The sink is leaking." "The car won't start." "We can't pay the rent this month." "My dad is really sick." "I am overwhelmed by fear." "I have anxiety problems." "We still haven't sold the house." "The school called. Lice outbreak." "The fridge is empty, and the pantry." But what exactly do we achieve when we weigh our mind down with all this stress. Just thinking about it won't change anything. STOP. There are going to be somethings sometimes that you just can't fix on your own. Pray about them, read God's word to give you peace  and be still. Sometimes, that is all you can do. But what do you do in the mean time?

My dad has always told me that when you are struggling with something like fear, go speak faith into some else's life. Or perhaps when you are struggling financially, go bless someone else with what finances you do have or pray for God to bless them financially. The first time I took his advice, I was astonished with the outcome. Blessing someone else in my time of need, blessed me. This idea has been forgotten in today's world. So many people are out to cover their own skin before considering what anyone else needs. 

Hebrews 10:24-25 says this,

"Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."

After reading this scripture, I felt challenged. What can I do to help motivate and encourage others to do good and show love? The first step, do it myself of course but at random! If you haven't fully grasped the concept yet, I'm talkin' random acts of kindness. The kind where you randomly do something or give something out of the ordinary to someone you may or may not know without getting anything in return. For example, when my grandma was dying in the hospital I spent many days up there and lots of money on parking. After leaving the hospital of what seemed like one of her worst days, I pulled up to the parking attendant to pay and as I reached for my wallet, the bar immediately rose to let me through. I went ahead and asked how much it was and she proceeded to share with a huge smile that the man in front of me had paid for my parking. Shocked, I just kind of stared at her for a moment and offered to pay for the person behind me to keep the kindness going. 

What if everyone really grabbed ahold of this concept? What if every single week we made a change in our routine just to show love to someone or to encourage them? I know this post was lengthy but I pray that God would grip your heart to do something to encourage someone this week and in the weeks to come. Are you up for the challenge? I am.

Chalkboard Paint Obsession

Imagine my surprise as I am scrolling along on Pinterest and I come across this awful picture above! First thought,who doesn't love chalkboard paint as much as I do? Second, why on earth is this being repinned on Pinterest: the DIY Utopia?! Excuse me while I become over dramatic about chalkboard paint! Of course you can chalkboard paint everything! *sigh*

In our most recent endeavor of planning a wedding, we used chalkboard paint numerous times.

Used on this old four pane window to write our love story.

Honeymoon Fund or now we call it our Vacation Fund

Again, on a window for our wedding program. (Favorite use for it yet!)

We even used it in some of our engagement photos, like this one.

And now while we continue decorating our house, it's still in use!

An entire wall in our tiny kitchen. Perfect for lists, encouraging words or notes to one another!

So whoever says you can't use chalkboard paint on everything has obviously never met me! If I had it my way, our entire apartment would be one giant chalkboard... Okay, maybe not that far but you get it! Have any of you used chalkboard paint recently? Are you as in love with it as I am? Do share!

XOXO

Chrisi

A Little Post for a Big Day

People try to tell me I got married over a month and a half ago. I don't believe them. Seriously, when did May 4th, 2013 become a day of the past?! It seems like I should be running around making cloth flower petals for bouquets, shopping around for a flower girl's dress or telling David to stop spending money because we need it for other things! (Well, that last one is still going... you get my point) 

I can honestly say though, that I thought I would be more upset about how one of the biggest days of my life is already over. Surprisingly, I'm not. The day was wonderful and all the hard work that was put into it was all worth it but it's nice to be able to go to sleep and not wake up in the middle of the night screaming "The rings!" or "My dress!" or even "Why yellow yarn?!" (If you haven't heard the yarn story/dream yet, you should sometime.) Truth is, I couldn't be more happier if I tried. I am married to my best friend and God has truly blessed us!

Now for those of you who were unable to be there, we would still love for you to share in our lovely day. So enjoy some pictures that capture just a glimpse of what our May 4th, 2013 was like!

*All photo's were taken by the great Grant Gaar. Check out his website at grantgaarphotography.com!

Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us and to everyone who played a part in our big day! It was a splendid occasion!

XOXO

Chrisi