Wednesday

God's Gift To Me..

God gave me the most beautiful gift today..beautiful new life in my backyard. I adore flowers..Nana's Cana has taken over this corner.. and look pink oleander is blooming too!

Pretty Hibiscus

Mini Oleander- first year in 3 years it has bloomed. I am so excited to see this beautiful pink!!

Bouganvilla in the pots..

Bouganvilla in pots and oleander blooming in back.. plus our palms of all sorts.

I love all the added color to the yard. It makes me so happy!! Thank you for the gift!

Tuesday

Summer Updates

Aloha!!
It has been exceptionally hot for this time of year. We have hit record highs- the news even reported that last weeks highs at night were higher than the typical hottest nights in the summer. I am talking upper 90's during the day- AC running all day and night hot. Huge electricity bills hot.. Pool floating days hott.  Getting in the pool already hot- which is the earliest we have ever swam.
Typically I would still be wearing pants to work and leaving up the Spring decor after Easter.. but with all this hot weather and pool floating happening it feels more like Summer. I am sporting skirts, flip flops and wedges with sun dresses already. What happened to Spring? Umm I live in Houston-it's Summer already!!

I had an extra long weekend with Friday off and Monday. So after our relaxing Easter Sunday in the pool with family and friends, I took down all the springy decor! Away went our big E for Embley or Easter and out came the ALOHA door decor! I love it!
After I took down the E- I worked on the fireplace.. when I removed the Spring Blocks and moss bunnies it started to look a little bare. So I shopped the house and this is what it looks like:


I left the hydrangeas up because they remind me of Northwestern beaches.. and I love our branches in them from our wedding reception last year. I also added our seashells from the wedding, our Hawaii Souvenior plate and two wedding pics plus the aqua candle just for fun and height! I want stuff on the fireplace I just don't want it crowded and I would love to put laterns up with seaglass but the width of the shelf is too narrow.

Notice the dog toy on the floor-he he.
I also added new summerery pillows. My favorite color is aqua (hence our wedding colors were aqua and pink) and it looks so good with tan and brown. I found these awesome Sonoma Pillows at Kohls for 50% off and used my Kohls cash (which means they are almost free). I wasn't sure about the large size of the aqua pillows because I am used to a more traditional smaller size but I love love them. I also think the lumbar pillows with the white, tan and brown fit the color scheme perfect.  The colors really lighten the color scheme of the living room.  I removed the heavy chocolate faux fur blanket and just moved the aqua one to Nate's Chair. I think the living room looks stellar now and everytime I walk by I smile. The aqua pillows and throw pick up the other accents in the living room of aqua such as the cross, the embley stich work, the aqua pedestal and the hydrangeas on the fireplace and in the TV shelf. PERFECT if I must say.

 Check out my newest book.. OLD LEGENDS OF HAWAII.. such great stories.
 Here is our Health & Happiness Tiki.

Lastly, I updated the entryway chalkboard. I just wrote ALOHA in blue and added my book page wreath with a star fish glued to the center. Starfish were the symbol of our wedding! I really like things that represent us in the house and make us feel comfortable. The hawaiian pics sure fit summer well now! I also added a new candle with shells encrusted in it (much like PB's but much cheaper at Kohls).

I also finally recieved the vinyl to cover over the new seat cushions. I know that many people hate the idea- my own husband says they are grandma-ie. But we have so many friends with kids and I didn't want the fabric ruined. I also didn't want the colors to smear when wet pool butts sat on them. Which I know I can't be that person when people come over and I am like oh please don't sit down because I love my seat covers that much. So to solve that problem I covered them with vinyl..kid and pool friendly now. Here is how they look:

I know shiny right. I love shiny and even though it is vinyl I really like that the seats stay cool and that the material looks brighter with the clear over it. But Ms. Bella cat is throughly pissed at me. She slept in the second chair over from this pic every day in the sunlight.. the chair cushion had to be vaccumed from her siamese hair. Now that the seats are cool rather than warm from her heat she has moved on to the dining room chairs. Poor kitty..but my seat covers will live longer. Sorry Bella here are my sympathies.. didn't last long.

On top of all that I also completed my last 12 page paper needed for my Masters course. I am now out of school till May 10th. May 10th I will start a new course that will run for 6 weeks and I will be off the month of July for my summer break!! I graduate Feb 2012.. it is sooner than you think!

Monday

Olio Mood Boards! LUV!!!



I found this awesome wsebsite Olioboards.com this weekend. I love it. It is soo awesome.
I have been getting the PB Kids & PB Teen Magazines with my regular PB magazine. I love looking thru it and thinking about what the nursery of our first born will look like. PB just kicked off their summer line with tons of ocean/beach inspiration ( I lust so bad after). 
Since I have no other rooms in the house to complete anymore I decided to create some mood boards for girl and boy nurseries. Both sexes will have our beautiful dresser and rocker in it. So there needs to be a touch of green and blues in both. Also I thought the perfect theme would be ocean/beach since we got engaged on the cruise and married on a beach. Plus the beach  is a very relaxing place to be and I want the nursery to be calming but something that can transition for a growing child.  An added bonus is I have always been a beach girl- but Nate teaches aquatic science- so it is kinda a tribute to both of us in the space. My favorite colors are blues (aqua), white and pink.. so here is the first board I came up with.
I love the hints of pink and turquoise. Lots of blues (beachy yet still girly). Almost everything on the board is from PB TEEN or PB Kids..except the rocker which is ours.  The drapes are striped and sheers have sea turtles. I love em!! We swam with the sea turtles in Hawaii and in Hawaii the Honu Turtle is seen to protect children & bring health and happiness to those who respect them. No matter what there will be sea turtles in the room some how (even if it is a small touch).  I want to buy the sea turtle sheers now but I can't find a place for them in the house other than a nursery!! Next I made two boards for a boy- one is an island theme and the second is more a beach theme with sea turtles.


I am more drawn to the second board.. of course all of these are just ideas and I just wanted to play around on OLIO Board. I am sure by the time Nate and I actually have kids there will be something totally different out there for me to fall in love. I just had to share my adorable nursery boards. Go check out olio board it is awesome!!

This time last yr.

This time last year I was freaking out about my wedding and bridal shower, finalizing every little detail..trying to lose weight..hating my accounting job, saving every little dime for the wedding, focusing on finishing school to be a teacher while completing a degree for accounting I will never use now, fretting about my teaching test and finding a new job and dreaming of Hawaii while listening to Bob Marley, Jack Johnson & Micheal Franteli & The Spearheads.

This time this year- as in right now.. I am dreaming of Hawaii still (what's new- I am an island girl and if I can retire on one I will), dreaming of a having child, dreaming of summer,  trying to maintain my weight for a healthy pregnancy, trying to save $ still but for a baby not a wedding, fretting about my teaching job, studying for my masters in education and just keeping my head above water. It is amazing what a year can do in your life. We have had a wonderful year full of great memories but we have had our share of trials. God has shown me that I need to trust and follow and I am hoping this next year I will be so much better at that than I have! Here's to another year!

Common trend in both years other than money and Hawaii .. I am one anxious worrisome girl and I need to let go of that..working on that too. Here are a few of my favs from the moment we got engaged, engagement pics, wedding and honeymoon. Have fun looking.. it took me a whole year to plan that wedding and I wouldn't change much other than my no show ukulele player and hula girl.. Nate and I talk about Hawaii all the time.. we miss it!
 One of Our Engagement pics with my shoes!

The day before our wedding walking from Rehersal Dinner at Duke's to the Tiki Bar..
 Aww Beautiful Beaches


 My hubby singing to me making me laugh so hard to our song  Jack Johnson "Better Together"

The Day we got engaged somewhere between Key West & The Bahamas on a Cruise!


 Hawaii Honeymoon!

We tied the knot!! Damn look at my hott hubby ;)

Maybe this July instead of tying the knot in Hawaii (or getting engaged two years ago in the Caribbean), we will be getting preggo in Belize and Isle of Honduras!! Wohoo!! Wouldn't that make the perfect story! I hope my hopes are not just that... hopes! Please pray!







Tuesday

Exhausted..

Last week was an incredibly long week.. I had projects to do around the house, my ring to get fixed, hair appts, my mom's appt, Nate's appt, than spending all day Friday setting up for the science festival and all day Saturday at the festival. Needless to say I am exhausted. Even after my extra day off Monday I am still exhausted.  I slept in Monday- but than last night I stayed up late trying to finish my presentation for my master's class and with yesterday off today really is my monday! I hate Mondays! Luckily for me, I get to go and see Jake play tball tonight and play with lil miss Mia. Yesterday I also got to snuggle with Miss Gracie Lewis and play with Gordon ( I say play but lil G Man is shy around me).. he warms up right when I am leaving..lol. Guess I will have to spend more time with him this summer.

Well last week I showed you my DIY calendar for our family. I wanted to create a family message center of sorts on this wall. Keeping it fun! I wanted somewhere where we could display notes, pictures and maybe eventually kiddos art.

I have decided that when I first decorated our house it was too serious and grown up. It wasn't to my tastes because I thought I needed to decorate according to what everyone else was. When in reality I like things fun, light and not serious at all. I like bright colors like white, blue, greens..etc. And even if I change my mind later at least I gave it a shot right. Plus your house should be a reflection of you and what you love so now I am trying to build that in our home.

I loved the kitchen gallery memo wall I created but I thought it needed a tack board and some color. I didn't want to put too much up and make it too busy since it is a narrow hallway. Plus I couldn't find any boards I liked that weren't over 100 bucks (I love Ballards with the lovely frames). Than I went on DaySpring with my 25% off and found great stuff for the gallery wall in the stairs and the kitchen.


I found this awesome metal strip with clips to display art, notes or pictures. I also loved that the clips had scriptures and inspirational qoutes on them with cute things like flowers. I took a close up of the clips. they have this in black and brown. I love them and it wasn't expensive.




 



I also found this awesome plague and I loved the bright colors!





Here is a pic of the whole wall now.. I love it and how inspiring it is. Plus we can display our favorite people next to the calendar too!
 

Hope you like the gallery wall!
I have all the frames for the gallery wall up the staircase but have yet to start. I know the pictures I want to display but I want to hang the frames first in case I want to rearrange the frames. I bought another frame from DaySpring to display. Here it is:

I really liked the saying and the beach theme to it.  And here is my stack of frames just waiting to be hung and filled. I got two shadow boxes to fill with hawaii reminders of our wedding/honeymoon trip. Oh and yess that is my backpack on the ground too..lol.
On an end note- someone in our house is enjoying the spring weather and the windows open (Bella). She just adores sitting high in windows and furniture. Here she is stalking birds from the window. Bella and Smokey actually fight over open windows so Bella always ends up in the bathroom window because she is mobel enough to get up there.





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Thursday

To Follow you must learn that God should go first

Today was the day that I took my mom to the Dr for her procedure and Nate went in to find out what the mass in his ear was. I have been stressing, losing sleep, graying my hair with worry and praying to GOD!  Luckily God knew exactly what that Dr was going to tell Nate and he was trying to teach me to trust in him and follow him (God not Nate)- instead of leading a life in which I am always in control!  DaySpring is a Christian company that sells cards and gifts and they have a stepping stone that says "Dear Child, It is not following unless you let me go first. Love, God" This statement sums up the last couple months of my life.  Because of what has happened in my life- serious of events really (being abused as a child, losing a father, losing my grandma & aunt to cancer, my mom fighting her battle with cancer, seeing a child die before me, having a miscarriage) I have had some trust issues with God. I am not looking for pity here.. I have just been handed my share of battles in my life and thru them I have had a love/hate relationship with God.  I like to be in control. I admit this but I also like to try to be a good Christian yet when you are at your darkest moments it is sometimes hard to see the light. So trying to be a good christian I pray to God, I tell him my worries and I try to trust him.. but yet I am still leading instead of following. I am learning God is hinting to me in his own ways that I need to follow and trust. Yet learning to follow is a more difficult task when it comes to something as big as giving your life to something that sometimes has lead you in your worst moments and you still can't understand. Learning, trusting and following isn't something that happens overnight..I am a work in progress..yet  I am striving so hard to work on this. It takes two people to make a relationship work and really I have been expecting God to do all the work with out every really giving my trust and thanks to him.

So I hope that I may learn to fully trust  in him and be his Child that learns to follow, trust and adore him even in my darkest moments because Today has shown he knows us inside and out and he will lead us. With that said, Nate learned today that he has a bone that is growing out of his eardrum. Supposedly, he was probably born with it and it was never noticed or it has enlarged recently. They are going to monitor it and remove it if it enlarges anymore. I am so overly joyed that it is not cancer and I don't have to have another person close to me fight that battle. I want to cry literally I am sooo happy.

My mom is ok. She reacted a little weird to the chemicals but overall she is good! Looks like a strawberry she is red. But well..

God Bless Our Family!

Thank the Lord for protecting my family.. God listens, answers and loves us.. I just need to remember that. Have a good evening.