Laughter

I think I'd like to brag on myself a bit.. I mean seriously why not! I deserve some props, it is my blog after all isn't it?

Sure thing! As I have said, lately I have been getting the itch to just scrap for the fun of it. With no strings attached, no deadlines, nothing. I do enjoy all of that, but scrapping just because is a new concept for me. I  heart it of course! It a new sense of freedom, but it also pushes me to do pages just because.

For instance, I love this photo of myself! 

 

Ha. Can I say that? Why yes, I guess I can. I like it because it was in a moment that it was caught where I was genuinely laughing. Most know my laugh is pretty loud. It's boisterous. It's hearty. And most of all, its real.

I couldn't wait to scrap it! I mean after all, this is what life is about isn't it? I love laughing! Nothing brings me greater joy then to fall out laughing. It releases so much tension, makes you feel great, and overjoyed too! Laughter is an amazing experience.

And I took advantage of that and scrapped it!

I wanted a big title. Ya know so it could say it all and then you looked at the photo and thought, yeah! I had so much fun making this page keeping it about the joy I felt inside when creating it and looking at that photo of me!

Let's Get Sketchy is having a design team call! Go check it out and apply to get your sketch on!!! Also don't be afraid to scrap yourself, your important too!

Planning It Out (a wedding that is..)

Wedding planning has been new and interesting for me especially since I've never had one and honestly I have been to two weddings in my lifetime (well 3 but I don't remember that one at all I was very young with my mom for one of her co-workers) and they were both family weddings.  

Very important facts for my wedding:

I didn't want a big wedding.

Photography means everything to me.

I wanted to stand before the Lord and make a proclamation.

I wanted easy.

I wanted cheap.
We both wanted to do pre-martial counseling. 

I wanted elegant. Simple. Classy.

Melding two families means the world to me.

First off, I am not normal by any means. When I met with my pastor and two of my dear GF's that are helping me with the wedding I specifically knew what I wanted and didn't want. Some of it is out of the box and rightly so.. I mean who am I? Different and unique. Some of it is traditional and some of it isn't at all.

Where we were having it was a no brainer. I wanted to get married in my church. My church means everything to me as does the people in it. They have been with me on my life journey and experienced it. They have worshiped, lost, grew, and became one body too. It was an easy choice. It isn't because my church is beautiful either (goodness knows it needs some cosmetic love) its because beautiful people are in it. Because our church body is small it really fit into the scheme of wanting a small wedding. With a small wedding comes more intimacy. That's what I wanted. And of course, Mitchell's family isn't overly large, and mine is not as well. Perfect. Sure I could have invited the world, but I wanted people there that could share in our special day that meant the world to me. So I invited 4 of the dearest of friends who don't live here. So far, only two are coming but I'll take that over none of them coming!

It was a must for us both to go through pre-martial counseling. I cannot say enough of how important this is. These sessions have been incredible and my pastor has taken us on a journey that will ensure our marriage is a solid one, its been fun, interesting, and insightful!  We have also done a video series as well and have read a book/study that deals with re-marriage. All of these faith-building things will give Mitchell and I something to build on. We are making a statement with our faith by desiring to ensure our marriage is built upon a firm foundation with Jesus. Neither one of us can image going in to this with anything other desire. Jesus is the head of this relationship, we both cherish that greatly! 

I can roll cheap, simple, elegant, classy, and easy all in to one.. Man you guys know I'm pretty cheap. But being cheap doesn't mean I have to lower my standards. It just means I prayed for things to be affordable. Simple, elegant, and classy really suits me to a tee. It has to be this way. I am not a fru-fru kinda chick. I got both Alyssa's and my dress at David's bridal. Both are perfect and exactly what I wanted and honestly I can hardly believe the total price! We both had shoes already which will work perfectly. I just went out and bought a few hair accessories and some jewelry too.

 (spinets of things for my wedding. left side: my dress in the box. upper right: the way I'd like to wear my hair. middle right: our invitations. lower right: Alyssa's dress.)

A lady in our church owns a flower shop, how awesome is that? IKR. Pretty darn awesome! She's doing our flowers and let me share with you, at a steal of a price for beauty! Rockwood bakery right by our house is our favorite place in the world. We go there all the time. They do weddings. Got the cupcakes there (and 10 of them are gonna be vegan).  Got invites out. Also blessing cards cut and ready (instead of guest book, we had cards made up that are small so people could write encouragements on them). Church booked. Honeymoon booked. Everything and I mean everything has been a blessing of a price. I am so thankful.

Now photography? Not so much. But we knew this. While I wished I could say we got a blessing deal here, we did not. However, I will pipe in and say I found an amazing photographer who not only does amazing photographs, won't break the bank. He is reasonable as far as my research goes. The coolest part? He's a neat guy and he wants to show what he sees through the lens in a picture. That is what I like. It's what I was looking for and found. And by chance! I had met with someone else about photos. Let me share with you how expensive they were, expensive! I was disappointed in their pricing especially since they were new at it and on top of that their photography wasn't that great... So I hit the internet for photographers. Interestingly enough I found many of them, a list actually for here in our city. I looked at the names and this gentleman's name stood out to me. I clicked on his site and the rest was history! True story.. I dug his name. It sounded professional, intriguing, nice, and smart. And of course he was all of the above when I checked out his site and then met him! So even though I would have loved for this to have been a blessing of a deal, I found the perfect photographer for us and that is what matters.

 (spinets of things for my wedding. upper left side: my ring. upper right: making a wedding album. lower left: where we're going for our honeymoon. lower right: our engagement photos, I took them!)

I can attest that this has been one of the most laid back things I have done in planning something. Everything has come together so wonderfully and I am very thankful of that, very thankful! It's been an adventure planning a wedding just like I wanted and I've enjoyed every step we've taken!
I am very ready. I am super excited!

The Itch

 You know what I mean... You get supplies and you want to scrap them! Or better yet, you have supplies that have been sitting in your craft area and you decide to bust them out and use them! 

I did just that. I have supplies, don't we all? Sometimes I think I have too much. I often go through my scrapbooking stash and get rid of things and give them to our church. This way the women that meet once a month can go through it like kids in a candy store and the stuff can actually, GASP! be used... LOL. 

I do hang on to some things though. Things I love and can't part with. But my entire room has gone dwindled down to one single desk and I couldn't be more happier (well truth be told working on a smaller desk area is the hardest, but I love my desk!) just having things I love and actually use.

The other day I had that itch.. To scrap. So I took a hard look at my supplies and decided I didn't need a fancy new kit (don't get me wrong, I love my kit that comes every month!) I just needed to use the stuff I loved, and out of that things were created!

Do you have that itch too?? If so, get creating!

Cherished

One of the greatest things in my life is the relationship I have with Alyssa. Many of you have read countless stories on here about how much she means to me and the fact that we are super close.

It's true! My relationship with Alyssa supersedes the kind that I thought we'd have that's for sure! Yes, I prayed and let me tell you how much I prayed in the dark hours of her bedroom as I was feeding her that our relationship would be different. Very different from my mom's and mine that's for sure.

There was a time frame where she was a daddy's girl and I prayed for that too. I wanted Dayv and Alyssa to have the best relationship that any father/daughter could. They still have that today, thankfully!

But let me not diminish the fact that the older she got, the more she gravitated to her mommy! Much to my hearts desire, of course!!

It isn't that she favors either parent over the other, it is just a very different relationship she has with both of us and certainly going through what we did for as long as we did, brought us closer. I know they tell you that you aren't supposed to be friends with your kid, not until they are much older and can appreciate it. I worried about it at times if she'd listen to me when I rode her monkey or scolded her. And she hasn't ever treated me like a friend in those instances. She knows the boundaries that I am mommy and she is daughter but our relationship as I have been told by many is not something that is often common with mothers and daughters these days. That we have something special. And I can be as unbiased as I can, but they are right and its true!

Tonight she and I are speaking at our church together for the very first time. I am prayerful that there will be many more opportunities to share in this ministry together and this summer we are going to be writing a mother/daughter daily devotional together too! God has wonderful things in store for us and our relationship!

We do have something special that extends just the mother/daughter relationship and I couldn't cherish that more...

Currently

Why hello there!

 

Loving: That I am almost at the end of my journey and season with Taco Bell. I have 13 days left. I cannot deny that while thankful of the opportunity to run a fast food store, I am over it! 

Working on: I've been a busy girl re-doing some things in our apartment. Things I had been thinking of but put off. The ice cream chair was my mom's and its been teal, pink, and now red. If you know me you know I am in love with red! The painting I found at Value Village for 6 bucks. It's been yellow, red, and now black framed. I absolutely love this painting. 

 

 

Reading: Recently we (Mitchell&I) started Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey. Let me tell you that this is changing our lives as we speak! I didn't grow up in a home that had good money sense and didn't have that within my life for a long time. Oh it wasn't that I didn't pay bills and such, but paying for things with cash? That's a new concept and one that both Mitchell and I are excited about. Paying off my student loan will certainly make me feel like I lost a trillion and one pounds when we finally do!!! I cannot say enough about this and his principles. I am on board with this 100%!

Watching: You think we'd be sick of it by now but for some reason we are eating, breathing, sleeping The Hobbit. I dunno why but we keep watching it. Alyssa and I are kinda freakish like that.

 

Listening to: Well that's kinda a given isn't it? I mean we're watching the movie so we play the soundtrack too and of course hear it while watching the movie. I told ya we were freaks!

 

 

Anticipating: Friday. Alyssa and I will have our first speaking engagement together. Here is a peek at what were doing... I can hardly wait to share with the women in our church!

Enjoying: The sunshine. Days off. Dreaming. Planning. Finishing last minute touches for the wedding. Snipets of time with Alyssa. Texting with Mitchell. 

Thinking: About making our new apartment our home! I think about this a lot. Things we're going to do. Furniture we will buy. Flooring we will put in. 

Eating: Can you say A LOT? I dunno about you, but it seems once a month I go through spurts of eating. I feel like a piggy, yet I am hungry. What is it with cycles and the things it makes you do! Ha.

Needing: To pack my lunch for work tomorrow. BLICK.

 

Feeling: So loved by and for.

Praying: For God's grace to continue to shine upon me.

Hope your week is going good!

Sing!

In trying to jump back in to scrapping, I realized my love for following sketches again! Boy I tell ya those things really do a lot of the leg work for you to get your juices flowing, and I am grateful for them for sure!

Scrapbook Circle April Sketch Challenge was a great help in that!

It's what I love about sketches the most.  You can follow them and end up with something entirely different!  Love this color combo and using the April kit was fun too!

Ever in a bind? Use a sketch!

Impromptu

If you know me you know I am not very spontaneous. I would really like to be and there have been times in my life where I am, but I am truly a planner. I like to plan things. Planning to me is half of the fun of a trip. However, just this past weekend something came over me...

We were scheduled to meet up with Mitchell and Drew for lunch. We decided we'd meet 1/2 half for each other and that meant 2 hours of driving time. Perfect! Alyssa and I set out and she drove. We enjoyed being together in the car with singing, talking, and being still too. It was a lovely time.

Alyssa has been practicing more with driving because she's gonna take her drivers test as soon as she turns 16 next month! Whoa! Where did the time go. I'm sitting here writing that and realized my girl is gonna be 16. Sheesh.. Time has flown. She did a great job driving!

Because she was driving, I was able to actually check out the scenery more so than if I were to be driving. Let me tell you it was a beautiful day both there and back! I couldn't believe the wonderful things I saw while driving and I couldn't get enough of the sky and its beauty either.

I must have taken at least 20 photos of the scenery I loved it that much! Ha. It was delightful and yummy to be able to see what we saw. To enjoy it and each others company too. We have some of our best talks in the car. You can see the difference in our terrain as opposed to when we drive closer to Seattle. It is just prettier. Greener. Gorgeous.

We finally met up with the boys. We were all hungry and it was while we were sitting in this new restaurant to eat, Alyssa and I devised a plan. To stay over night there in the city we were in and have a family impromptu time! Now, if you know Mitchell like I do it would take him a minute to process this whole idea (gotta love a man who processes!) so when we did he thought it over for a minute, got on his phone and took care of business. We changed our eating plans though and ran to Taco Bell for cheap food. Next thing we knew we were driving to our hotel destination. It was a quaint place (and even if it didn't have a pool who cared!) and then we decided to just hang out. That's right, we got a hotel room and hung out for a couple of hours, together. What did we do? Watch TV of course. We watched Wipeout, a show I had never ever seen. It was funny and the kids spent a lot of time telling me about it. We just hung out there and did that for a bit and enjoyed each other, laughing and being us.

Then we decided to do another cheap dinner (with the impromptu trips comes not spending a lot of money) so we went to the grocery store and each of us had 3 bucks to spend on dinner. 

Our dinner.. A bag of corn chips, salsa, yogurt, cheese, popcorn, and sparkling blueberry&grape juice. Yep! That was dinner. It was so much fun walking around the store trying to find things to eat on a budget. We laughed and had a hard time deciding as each of us wanted to ensure we got some yummy stuff. We came back to the hotel and settled in with our dinner and watched more TV. The kids wrestled, we all laughed, joked around, and hung out. I will admit, I was the first one asleep but everyone soon followed behind me.

In the store we decided to get the sparkling juice to celebrate our impromptu trip. when we had gotten settled in our room and about to eat, it was so cute when Drew said, wait lets all drink and toast together to be a family! 

The coolest part about the trip is that it wasn't planned. We had no clothes, no toothbrushes, nothing but us 4. And we had a complete blast!

 

 Now we have something to look forward to as a family again and again, impromptu trips!

Easy-Deasy

 Everybody's got some kind of talent. Some can create something so masterful that you wonder how they did it. Some create something so beautiful that are only brushstrokes on a page. Whatever it is and what draws you in is up to the viewer. In most cases, I see some beautiful pages out there within scrapbooking. I love looking at the in-depth process it takes to create pages that are certainly master pieces! But me? I like it to be cute, beautiful, and easy.

If I have to force anything it will lead to a disappointing page in the end for me. So I stopped fighting it and just created with the notion that its all about me (lol just about the only thing that can be!) and scrapped the way I like. Do I always love everything I create? Not always. But there in lies the key to art.. Just allowing your creative juices to flow without the backlash of trying to achieve perfection.

I got these Washi Tapes from my Jenni Bowlin box and was gonna try something neat and cool but the easiness of myself won out! I actually love the tapes a lot, but secretly I wished they were paper and so I cut them like they were, why not!

And this page? Sheer luck actually. I thought gosh I love the texture lets see if it will go on this heart and it did!

I enjoy this hobby so much! For me it is about the freedom of creating what I want and if its easy, then so be it! I go with what works at the time in which it does!!!!

I like it easy-deasy for sure!