Fall

I don't know anyone who doesn't love fall and really look forward to that first day where it feels like fall outside - when pumpkin spice makes its return, all the yummy fall scents hit the candle isles and of course football!! 

My fall decorating started with a trip to Hobby Lobby, only to return home and realize I had bought almost all the same stuff last year in the after season clearance sale. I returned the items and went to Dollar Tree to see if they had anything different and found a lot of stuff to compliment what I already had! 

A few of the details: 

• A cupcake holder with a sparkly pumpkin on dry beans. 
• The vase and all the decor came from Dollar Tree, I just added a little gold paint to the leaves to make them stand out a little more! 

This frame came from a flea market and I had been looking for the perfect place to use it! I started to make a wreath for the front door and decided the frame would be more fun! I bought the sign at Hobby Lobby for .99 and painted it with some paint I had at the house!  I had saved the yellow yarn from an Anthro gift I had received and drilled two holes in the sign and there it was! I used floral wire to attach the flower pieces and then just added the burlap ribbon bow! It was so much fun and ubber simple to make! 

The vases on this table came from Dollar Tree as well as the pumpkins! I cut up an old coffee bag on some books to set the center piece on! Again, super cheap and a lot of fun! {I will admit that the first bag of candy corns ended up all eaten and I had to buy another bag, but goodness they were delicious}

I got this chair for free at a garage sale last fall and decided to use it as part of my fall decorations this year! I had this small canvas with a eurpoean painting on it but had never used it so decided to just paint over it! I also wanted a burlap pumpkin so I decided to try to make one! 
I took a small bucket we had left over from our wedding and put newspaper all round it! I used the other side of the coffee bag and bunched it up around the newspaper! I took safety pins and pinned, from the inside, so that it stayed bunched up then put a rubberband around the top! I found a piece of bark out of our yard and used it for the 'stem'! 

I got this shutter at a garage sale last year and decided to paint it using Annie Sloan chalk paint! (this was my first experiment with the paint and I fell in love) I had it as my centerpiece on the table, but once the table got a facelift for fall, I decided to use it here! I have been collecting acorns from our yard and adding them to the small floaral arrangement! I had found the green and orange mini gourds at Dollar Tree, but adding the acorns makes it look a lot richer! 

These branches came from Dollar Tree and I wrapped part of a coffee bean bag around an oatmeal container! 

I have almost completely burned through 2 candles since I got it all decorated. I just love the smell of fall!

Promised Land Living

This last year I did a study called 'One in a Million' by Priscilla Shirer - I would highly recommend this study to anyone wanting to study the old testament and learn about the journey the Israelites took from Egypt to Canaan. Not only did I learn a lot about the history, but also learned a lot about the character of God and the fullness of what He offers us as His children. I also loved learning about wilderness seasons and understanding more why God lovingly takes us through them, and understanding more about my own heart and fear of the wilderness! 
At the end of the book she has a list called 'Promised Land Living,' so while on vacation this summer I decided to study these and really pray that I would expect and desire to get more out of my relationship with the Lord! 

As John and I studied through this list, we were both convicted of places where we settle for less, and encouraged in how loving Christ is that He would offer so much for us! Here is the list, well worth studying and praying to desire these things! 

1. Senses and acknowledges God's continual presence - Psalm 139: 7-10
2. Is led by the Spirit of God - Romans 8:14
3. Recognizes and tears down strongholds - 2 Corinthians 10:4
4. Separates physical and spiritual abundance - Luke 12:15
5. Lives free from a lifestyle of sin - Galatians 15:1; 1 Peter 2:24
6. Shows evidence of conformity to Christ's image - Romans 8:29
7. Has confidence in their standing of righteousness before the Father - Romans 8:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
8. Casts anxiety and worry on God - 1 Peter 5:7
9. Gives thanks in spite of difficult circumstances - Philippians 4:6
10. Counts suffering for Christ a blessing - 1 Peter 2: 19-21
11. Displays divine power in weakness - 2 Corinthians 12:10
12. Senses God's comfort and hope - 2 Thessalonians 2:16
13. Has confidence to draw near to God - Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 10:19
14. Lives as an alien and stranger to this world - 1 Peter 2:11
15. Hears the voice of God - John 10:27
16. Discerns the guidance of God's Spirit - John 16:13
17. Believes God can supply their every need - Philippians 4:13
18. Is open to receiving gifts given by God's Spirit - 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
19. Recognizes and utilizes spiritual gifts for edification of Christ's body - 1 Peter 4:10; 1 Corinthians 4:7
20. Displays the fruit of God's Spirit in her daily living - Galatians 5:22-23
21. Experiences consistent joy and peace - John 15:11; Philipians 4:7
22. Recognizes and utilizes God's spiritual armor - Ephesians 6:10-18
23. Desires to know and do God's will - Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 2:10
24. Expects that God is able to do more than you can ask or think - Ephesians 3:20; 1 Corinthians 2:9
25. Anticipates seeing the miracls of God - Galatians 3:5
26. Is content with what they have - Philipians 4:12; Hebrews 13:5
27. Confesses sins and believes they are forgiven - 1 John 1:9
28. Values connection with the body of Christ - Acts 2:46; Hebrews 10:25
29. Pursues unity in the body of Christ - Ephesians 4:2-6; Romans 14:19
30. Forgives when wronged - Matthew 18: 21-22; Colossians 3:13

guest room

All of our family lives out of town, so we have guests often, but this just wasn't cutting it:

We added some color and got rid of the brown tapestry curtain::

This window is a fun place to write 'welcome' to whoever is staying with us, using dry erase! Ive had a lot of fun with that! 

This pic is super blurry, but you can see how just adding a shelf (from a garage sale - $1.00 & spray painted black), and a few other things to the wall really made a difference.

Now this room is becoming a nursery and we are turning our office into a guest bedroom! I am so excited for our nursery and cannot wait to see it all come together! 

COLOR IN THE KITCHEN

Once these two projects were done (bar, cabinets), I was again ready for another! Ready to get some color on the walls! But I had a really hard time deciding on what color. After MULTIPLE samples, we finally decided on a good neutral color that complimented the dining room well, was simple, and looked really pretty with the cabinets!

The thing we learned in the long search for color was to think outside the box. I knew I wanted something in the green family (to compliment the color of the dining room) but after a long day of frustrating samples realized that was not working. We started looking in the grey/brown family and finally found Clay Pebble by Behr - a very earthy color with just a slight green undertone. It wound up being the perfect color - FINALLY!!!

Just a small example of the amount of samples we tried - eeks! 

Before

During

And after 

Because of the lighting in the kitchen, it is hard to get a good picture, but you get the idea! 

Adding color always makes things feel a lot more cozy and more like home! 

and because I cannot just stop after one project, next will be making curtains for that window :)

trashcan find

I was hanging out at the park one day with a sweet friend of mine and I saw this:

She laughed when I said I was going to dig it out, but I loved the wood and saw some potential! 

I got it home and let it sit in the sun for several weeks - just to let the sun do any sanitizing that might be needed! Then with the help of my sweet husband we got the 'signs' off and in about 5 minutes I had them painted with some sample paints we had! 

One was a gift for my sister for her engagement party, one for our laundry 'room' and one for us! 

{Fun. Simple. & Free}

Week 27

It is finally September, College Football, and we are now in the 3rd trimester! 

Gender: What are you guesses?!? I have thought girl all along, but this week I started thinking boy - all I know is that I cannot wait to meet this little one!!! 

Movement: Moves all the time and has started getting the hiccups several times a day :)

Weight Gain:  14 at my last appointment - I go back next week though (hopefully the first thing my midwife says this time wont be 'WHOAH you put on some weight' - like she did last time)

Maternity Clothes: I am so grateful for my sweet friends and the clothes they have let me borrow - I am definitely starting to not fit in a lot of my own clothes and am loving having options from them! My favorites are the skinny jeans (I like pretending that its already cool outside)

Sleep: Considering I got up at 5:30 this morning because I was tired of laying there trying to sleep, and its now 2am and I am wide awake (there was an hour nap in there this afternoon), I am starting to think that sleep is a thing of the past - at least I will be prepared for the lack of sleep with a new born!!!! The things that have kept me up have been random - heart burn, restless legs, and itchy feet - SO BIZZARE!

Cravings: FOOD AND ALL THE TIME

Favorite Moment this week: I still absolutely love when John gets to feel the baby move and hearing him talk to and pray over lil pumpkin! He loves to read psalms and pray over the baby and it melts my heart every time - I already love family time so much! Another not so sentimental favorite from this week - college football finally started!!!!!!!!!! We recently had some good friends {Klint and Mary Elizabeth} move across the street from us so today we started a tradition we hope to continue for many years - Cinnamon Roll Saturday, while watching College Game Day - it was pretty awesome and as Mary Elizabeth said 'I woke up this morning and turned on Game Day and it felt like Christmas' - couldn't agree more!!! 

And one of the BEST MOMENTS EVER - getting to meet my cousin's baby girl! Libby Shea is 6 weeks old and absolutely precious! We had a really sweet time with her parents!!