ribbon curls...

My dear friend Jessica is getting married, we, my sister Em and I, are throwing her a bridal shower this weekend. I leave tomorrow morning and will be back Monday or Tuesday so I will not be blogging during that time. However hopefully I'll be back with lots of pictures and fun stuff to blog about! :D
I'm off to keep packing! Chow!

short and sweet...

I bought this for the house this weekend...

Target has several different pieces in the recycled green glass on sale and I might go back and pick up a couple of the smaller items...we'll see. but I loved the vase and you can't beat 50% off!

however my main blogging today is paint! so go here.

moral project...

Though I wasn't able to attend the deployment meeting this weekend cause I had company and other things to be doing we still wanted to take part in the moral project being put together for the ship. So I got some details from our ombudsman and...

there it is. an 8"x8" square, they are going to tie them together and make quilts, and then later untie them so each sailor can have his. I must say ours didn't turn out as nice as I'd have liked but it was my first time doing a fabric transfer so I think I scorched the pics a little. :( However I don't have time to make a whole new one so it'll have to do. and I think he'll still like it. I left a little plain spot in the bottom right hand corner so Gabriel can color on it with a crayon if he wants. They said last year they did pillow cases, and that sounds like a lot more fun to me than what we did this time. So I think we might make one on our own and send it in the next package.

busy and boring...

So today was busy but I wasn't doing much to interest really. I mailed a box full of microwave popcorn to my beloved because the kind they have on the ship is "nasty". I cleaned the bathrooms, played with the kids, did dishes, put some random, sitting around the house needing to be put away, stuff away. We went to Lowes and used our rebate card to purchase paint for the living room. So hopefully by Monday I'll be posting pics over on everyday home of my new gray living room!
ya, so that's about it for the interesting blogability of my day. however so this post isn't completely dry I thought I'd share some of how my weekend will be. One of my beautiful sisters, Emily, is coming down in the morning to spend the weekend with me. Hopefully we'll get some painting done but honestly, if we sit and talk the whole time and don't get a thing done that's fine too. :D The only down side to the whole thing is we've been wanting to do a sister weekend and it hasn't worked out yet. so I'll miss having my other girls there as well. :(
So, why the Sephora picture you ask? well our friend Jessica is getting married in a month! So we're going with her tomorrow to Sephora to get some wedding day bridal make up! I'll get some great girly time in and be kid free for a few hours!

but wait!

I just realized I missed two of my favorites :)
Stephmodo (I've loved her blog for awhile now but am enjoying it even more since they are renovating a little cottage in France!)
Design*Sponge

cheating...

Today is day 4 in my blog everyday challenge and I have lots to get done before the weekend so I'm cheating and sending you to look at some of my favorite blogs.
The ones I check on frequently and glean countless inspiring ideas from.
This Young House
Chez Larsson
Pam Garrison
Paint in my hair
Grosgrain
Katie did
Sugar City Journal
Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Have a happy Thursday :)

Day 3!

Today didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned but I switched gears and pushed through. I was planning on running out and getting some errands done but Gwen decided to have one of her sleeping days so instead we stayed home and did chores!

I worked in my closet and was quite harsh in getting rid of things I don't like or ever wear. and then Gabriel and I washed the car and the jeep.

Once Gwen did wake up I took them out to the park to play so she would go back to sleep at bed time :)

Then we had dinner, read together, baths, Gwen off to bed, Gabriel and I watched a movie...

I got some exercise in and here I am!
However if you'd like to hear more about my closet, head on over to everyday home!

today it came...

Daily blogging challenge day #2

This afternoon I have been working on my skirt, last night I'd sewn up the pleats but by morning decided I didn't like the way it was turning out. As everyone knows, if you don't love it, you won't wear it. And I want to love this skirt!
So, I brought down my dress form and began pinning and playing around to see what I could come up with.

I ended up putting one larger pleat in the front, two small pleats, one on each hip, and lots of little knife pleats in the back. which is what you see pictured.

Earlier in the day I had gone to check the mail and was pleased to fine my package from Amazon had arrived!

I had ordered the book on Terrariums and the newest Enya CD, which although it's the winter/Christmas one and it's now summer, I got anyway. For anyone who really knows me knows how much I adore Enya! I'm excited to sit down and read the book though, I've been wanting it for some time and can't wait to glean knowledge and start making my own little terrariums!
you likely noticed that there are other items in that photo which I did not include in my list of arrivals from Amazon. That is because while I was sewing away the ups man arrived with Two more packages!!! One of which is the book and CD set of "Growing Kids God's Way". I'm really excited to start listening and learning from that one as well.
The third package was from Forever 21...

I have decided that while Nathan is away, and shopping with kids is so difficult that I would try some online shopping. So I got plain white and gray tees (cause I am rather boring), a skirt and top, and a black cardigan which has a lovely lace cutout in the back!(and it all fits!) You'll also notice the pink flower head band and the necklace.

The necklace was a fun find, I liked the poetry of the heart with the anchor seeing as my love is out at sea. And since the heart is a locket I can even put his photo in it! Man I love being a girl! :D
So, it's been a fun day.

A challenge...

I have been contemplating a lot lately, things in life, the goings on of my family and friends, and such... if you haven't heard the latest yet my sister Emily did a perfect post which I don't think I could improve upon so go check it out! :)
I have also been working on my goals of things I want to accomplish and do while my beloved is out to sea. I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to it or not but I think I've decided for it. And the "it" is committing to blogging more regularly. I don't ever want to blog out of obligation but I think it'd be a fun challenge to blog every day for a month (unless I'm out of town etc...)
So, here is post #1 for my self imposed challenge:

A skirt in the making...

I am using some left over vintage fabric I got from my mom at Christmas. You might recognize it as the same fabric I used for this apron. However because I did make the apron I didn't have quite the full amount to make the skirt I wanted. But by lessening the size of the pleats I think it'll still work out. Won't be as full of course but I SO wanted a skirt out of this darling fabric so I'm willing to compromise :)
I'm hoping to sew it up this week so stay tuned...

Busy little bee with a heavy heart...

So my beloved had to leave as I said before. Thankfully my parents were coming to visit over the weekend so I had just enough time to clean my house top to bottom and welcome their arrival and no time to sit around missing him. The kids are still adjusting a.k.a. not sleeping well, it's 8:30 right now and I can hear them up there playing and making a huge mess of their room. But I'm tired so I'm ignoring them for the moment.
I was reading Proverbs 31 yesterday evening before bed and was pondering the first couple verses about the woman who fears the Lord...

Proverbs 31: 10)An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11)The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12)She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.

I've been going through an entire study about being a help meet to my husband, what that looks like, how to truly become the woman that fears the Lord...and I've enjoyed practicing in the past months. striving to be a better wife and mother. But last night I was struck. In what ways can I specifically serve my husband, maintain his trust, and do him good while he is far from me physically?
Here are just a few of my ideas for the moment:
-Continuing in our plan of parenting and working hard to raise our little ones up in the Lord.
-Maintaining an orderly home and myself in a pattern of discipline so as not to fall into lazy habits or pity parties
-Pray for him daily
-affirm him from a distance, telling him of my pride in him and my love for him
-sending regular pages and letters from me and the children for moral
-keep a God honoring attitude and spirit
-maintain the cars, washing them and other small maintenance upkeep that is important.
-staying faithful to him always. (this seemed obvious to me at first, but I realized just now that many navy wives aren't faithful to their husbands when they are away and that mine appreciates that I do)
-Leaning on God for my strength and needs and never allowing myself to grow bitter or resentful towards my husband over his absence from the home.
-taking care of myself, spiritually, emotionally and physically, in other words not "letting myself go"

well that's all I can come up with right now but it's a good list I think. And one I will practice and work on in order to honor God and my husband while he is away. That I may continue to strive after becoming a woman who fears the Lord and who is far more precious that jewels.

wondering what else I'll be doing while he is away?

I have a bridal shower for a friend that my sister and I are hosting, then Gwendolyn's 2nd Birthday this June.
July brings my birthday, said friend's wedding, a visit from my mother in law, and most likely my youngest sister's bridal shower as well.
August will likely be my sister's wedding and a baby shower
during all those months as well as the ones to follow I will also be working on my house. Be sure to check in on my home blog if you're interested. I have some sewing projects I've been wanting to work on. And I'll be planning out the coming school year for Gabriel as we venture into the world of homeschooling!
And that's just the big stuff! I'm sure there will be plenty of trips to the park, pool and zoo as well as trips to see family and friends and hopefully visits from them as well.

So, just a few thoughts and some things to look forward to in my life.