Nerd Excitement!

Okay, I am going to try to contain my excitement and share a nerd moment with you. Oh! and sorry for the lack of photos.But to fully grasp the excitement from this situation I have to tell you a little back story…..

Around this time last year one of my good friends Becky, who you can meet Here,  got me hooked on a little blog called Young House Love. Who am I kidding? It wasn’t a little blog; it’s kinnnnnd of a huge deal. John and Sherry who runs young house love are part a husband and wife team who run their blog FULL TIME! Yep! That’s how they make their living. Well anyway, I got addicted and by addicted I meant at least a few times a day I found myself saying, “Oh! I read about this thing on younghouselove”. Well I started looking through old posts and came across one of Sherry’s posts that mentioned her friend Katie Bower who runs the Bower Power Blog. I glanced at her blog, but never really had the time to fully read it.

Flash forward to now, and being that I am the spouse of a deployed marine, I have a lot of time on my hands. I finally managed to read a big chunk of Bower Power and let me just say…it makes my heart so happy! And yes, my excitement is borderline creepy but read it and you’d feel the same.

Well any who, I decided to shoot her a little thank you email because whenever I’m having a rough day or I haven’t heard from Matthew I check out her blog and it always cheers me up. Anyone who has the power do that, deserves a big thanks in my books. Plus, she is just such an inspiration. I knew I probably wouldn’t get a respond. She’s a busy lady with a toddler, a blog to run and a bun in the oven. But, after I discovered that I didn’t due to hot on my biology exam I got an email notification on my phone. At first I was excited because I thought it was Matthew. Then I got REALLY excited because I saw that it was a reply to me email. It wasn't anything long but it was short and sweet! I was just really flattered that she took time out of her day to email me back. Okay, end nerd excitement :)

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news give health to the bones-Proverbs 15:30

Our Story

Let’s just start off saying; I never pictured myself as one to marry young. I wanted to major in social work, minor peace studies and join the Peace Corps. But when God leads you to the one you’re meant to be with…you just know!

It all started when I was seventeen. It was October of 2009 and I had just gone through the classic messy high school relationship break up. He wanted something serious, and I realized I didn’t. It was tough. During that time I was a victim of cyber bullying and it was just an all around bad situation. Looking back on it now, it was probably the best choice I made in my entire life because it led me to Matthew. 

In high school I was never one to have a lot of friends, so my best friend was in the form of my big sister. Coni was then living in Florida because her husband, who is a marine, was stationed near the Florida/Georgia line. She knew how much I was struggling to deal with my bully situation and decided I needed a mini vacation to come see her. The only problem was that I was a senior in high school, working at a local small town restaurant and didn’t have a lot of cash. What was her solution exactly? She found me a date to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball that took place the following month. I would only have to pay for half of my airline ticket, which was great!

Right away I added Matthew on facebook and we started messaging back and forth. The messaging turned to texting and a few weeks later the texting turned to phone calls. Every day for a month I got to know this guy who I thought would just be my date for this ball so I could have getaway. It was actually really nice. I mean I was excited because I did find him attractive, but I really got to know him as a person. We talked about everything from future goals, favorite foods, to our music preferences and values.

Eventually November came and it was time for the ball. He came to the airport along with my sister and brother in law to pick me up. It was great because first off I knew him as a friend first, so it wasn’t awkward at all! I flew in about two days before the ball so we had time to really get to know each other. The ball was a great time and I knew when I was sitting in the Jacksonville airport waiting for my flight back home that it was something really special.

Marine Corps Birthday Ball 2009 

After months of me coming to see him, him coming to see me, and me living with my sister that summer I moved down to Florida to be closer to him. I have an amazing aunt and uncle who were gracious enough to allow me to stay with them for a few months. I took courses online while working at the local cracker barrel but made it work because I knew I wanted him in my life.

September 2010

It was a good thing too because Matthew proposed on October 13^th!

Our engagement pictures where taken by ty swartz photography

We married on February 19, 2011. It was the best day of my life. My family from Indiana and his family from Louisiana managed to make the trip to Georgia for the wedding. What was even better was that my aunt and uncle who are both pastors were able to perform the ceremony. They let me tag along with a trip to India with them in January of 2009. Between them giving me that experience and my love and respect for them, it made my wedding day perfect.

Ty Swartz Photography also took our wedding photos 

So here we are in 2012, currently going through our first deployment and preparing for our big move to Louisiana next year to start post marine corps life. I am so blessed and thankful for what the Lord has provided for me in my life. I look forward to sharing all of our blessings and trials that we have been given.

It's spring time!

For those who know me, know that I’m somewhat of a little crafting machine. Yes, I am that person that refuses to buy something if I can “totally” make that.  Even though I claim to be a crafting machine does not mean that I am good at it! There are a few rare occasions that the finished project turns out to look a little like the picture. Today was one of those occasions. I always find myself looking at the beautiful wreaths at Michael’s and my mind is blown by how much they cost.  They can range anywhere from thirty to one hundred dollars! Again, I said “Oh I can totally make that”.  I had a basic twig base wreath I bought for a Christmas wreath I made by just wrapping thick ribbon around it. But, I’ve been patiently waiting for the flowers to go on sale and today they did! They had fifty percent off my favorite brand of flowers. I forgot to take pictures of the entire process but I do have a picture of my inspiration from pinterest and my finished product. Enjoy! 

Here is my inspiration. I found it on pinterest and absolutely loved it. I really liked the idea of the house numbers on the wreath, but sadly Michael's were sold out of small wooden numbers.

This was my semi-finsihed product. I used the flowers, a wooden wreath I had from christmas, and pearls I used in my wedding to add a little extra something. 

This is my finished spring wreath! I painted the letter V to add since i couldn't add house numbers. I am so glad it even remotely looks similar to the photo!

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."Deuteronomy 31:6

D-Day

The day I have been dreading for months has finally hit, D-day. Also known as, my husband’s deployment date. For those who are military wives and family members, you know exactly what I’m feeling right now. But for those you aren’t, it is similar to your heart just stopping in your chest. No matter how much preparation or readiness meetings you go to, nothing can prepare you for the initial moment that it becomes real. My heart broke with every piece of gear he took out of the car. But, I know these next 8 months will be very interesting to say the least. But, moving onto some happy news. Since the hubby will be gone I will be doing a TON of projects around the house, pinterest projects and that means a lot of blog posts! J So, just bare with me until I get used to M being gone and I promise to bring lots of great posts in the future! 

Oh Baby!

I know, I know. I am so mean because the title of this post has nothing to do with my having a little bundle of joy. A girl can hope, but a baby isn't in my cards any time soon. But, being that I am near a military base a lot of my friends have children so I vicariously live through them when my baby fever hits. This time around, a good friend of mine recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. So as my baby gift I decided to make a crib skirt. I read about how to make a "no sew" crib skirt one on my absolutely favorite blog, younghouselove. I added a few modifications to make it work for me, but it was a great base to start with. I love to sew. However, I am not what I would consider a pro so to make sure I didn't screw it completely up I decided to rock out heat bond. It turned out great! Please excuse the quality of the photos, I only had my cell phone.

First, I gathered my supplies. Before I did anything I measured the sides and ends of the crib. Every crib is different so make sure you measure it yourself and not base it off online measurements. On each side I measured from side to side and from the highest the crib mattress setting until the floor. I also added an inch to each side to include a hem. I got the fabric, heat bond, decorative ribbon and a fabric pencil to make sure everything was 100% accurate. 

I measured an inch for the hem, but did it multiple times along the fabric so it'd be more accurate.

Then, I pulled the fabric up the the lines I made and ironed. This gave me a nice crease so all that I had to do lay the heat bond inside the crease and went over the creased again to activate the stickiness of the heat bond. I did this process to the bottom and both sides of all four pieces of fabric leaving the top without a hem.

After I made the hem on each piece, I started to apply the ribbon that matched the nursery's color scheme. Again, I used my trusty heat bond. I just cut a long piece that matched the long piece of ribbon, lined it up with the bottom, and ironed until it had a strong bond to the fabric.

 I got really into the ribbon process and started to space out. It resulted in me adding ribbon to the wrong side, so I did what any girl would do. I just added ribbon to both sides and bottom of each piece of fabric so it'd all match. It actually turned out even better than I pictured. It's funny how those things work out! 

After bonding the ribbon to the fabric, I took another type of ribbon and connected several pieces to the top of of each piece. I used heat bond for this step as well but since this is what would be connecting the bed skirt to the crib I also hand stitched a few stitches to make sure it was extra secure. 

I removed the mattress from the crib and used the ribbons to attach the crib skirt to the springs.

You want to make sure that the skirt just grazes the floor. But, by using the ribbon you can adjust the height of the crib mattress but just pull the ribbon farther or lower on the springs.

The finished product! 

inspiration: Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in fear of God; 2 corinthians 7:1

Just a little hiatus!

I just wanted to tell everyone I am still here! This week was the first week of my new term so I was a little busy. But, this week I will be back with a few new posts and a few projects! God bless :)

Traditions

Happy New Year

I wanted to share a new tradition that has been recently added to my life. Being that I am from Indiana I am no stranger to the stupid, cold, white fluff that takes over our town during the winter. Snow. Some people love snow, but I have and will never be one of those people. So what did I do? Married someone from the south of course! The few times snow is anywhere near acceptable in my book is when you just need that one snow day to catch up on sleep or a good sledding trip, and of course on Christmas. If it were to even snow again for the rest of the season I would be perfectly fine with that.Luckily, I won't have to deal with snow only when we visit my amazing family back home. My mission is to gradually talk members of my family to move south until they are all out of indiana, haha. A girl can dream!  But, back to snow. As many times as you hear stories about reindeer making "tracks" in the snow, that is hardly ever the case. I can only remember a handful of times that it was actually snowing on christmas eve and christmas morning like in the movies. Now, I can always remember it snowing on new years eve. With all of the snow I never even heard of a tradition they have in the south that I am all too willing to adapt to, "popping" fireworks! I mean, if you really wanted to you could light fireworks on new years eve but you would look rather silly bundled up in the snow trying to light a sparkler. This year was M and I's first new years eve where were in the same place together so we took full advantage of it! My in-laws bought a ton of fireworks and as soon as it got dark we went to town! It was so bizarre. Here I am, in the middle of winter, in just jeans and a sweat shirt -gasp-! It was something I wasn't used to at all but boy did I enjoy it! If I were in Indiana I would of had to wear; jeans, boots, a longed sleeve shirt, a thick winter coat, gloves and a warm hat. It was a nice change of pace. I have a feeling I am going to be adopting a lot of new traditions into my little family but some will be the same. Case in point, Cabbage. My mom always made us eat cabbage and pork on new years day. Well made isn't the right word because I absolutely love cooked cabbage. Add just a little butter and seasoning salt and I am in heaven! Growing up she would put quarters in the pot when it was almost done cooking and if you got money in your bowl you were going to be extra lucky that year. We don't get money in our bowls now but I almost get anxious if I don't eat my cabbage for good luck on new years day! I'm so grateful that my mom carried on traditions like eating cabbage for good luck or eating finger foods on christmas eve onto to me and my siblings, because it's something that I will carry onto my children in the future. Traditions, to me, are what make the holidays more memorable!

 

inspiration

where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncirumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all- Colossians 3:11