Coolness with a capital C

I really wanted to share this with you.

I found this art online recently {I don't remember the store sorry}

And it was VERY expensive.

So I talked to my new friend Cheryl one day and she said she could create

this very thing for me for WAY cheap. Like I'm talking I am only going to pay for the frame cheap {which is only about 30 bucks}! 

Here is the finished product

Now mind you, these things on our sign are places, events, times that are important 

for D&I.

Isn't that amazing! I found a cool new friend who can make stuff!

So soon I am going to frame it and its going in our new lovely, classy bedroom 

that's going to be all about Dayv and I! It's a love nest of sorts!

Isn't that the coolest with a capital C?

I totally think so!

If you find it and want it, then create it! Or have a friend create it for you!

That's my motto and I'm stickin' to it!

books. 14 days. grateful. oh my!

I am currently reading this book. It's funny how this came into my hands. I was at a friends house and she was looking on her book shelf to pass some books along, kinda like a small token gift to us girls. She handed me this book, I read the title out loud and we headed out the doors after saying our goodbyes. I am being honest here, I wasn't going to read it. I didn't think it would be that great of a book. However, I felt led to pick it up. And pick it up I did! I have been devouring it at work daily. I have been marking it up, ear-marking pages, and simply soaking in every. single. word. It is a good book and honestly is meeting me right where I am. Which is a very good thing indeed.

And A&I watched these 2 movies recently...

Both were very good, wholesome movies, I like that in a movie. And I like NetFlix a lot too! My entire queue is filled with cool movies like this! We recently started a movie night once a week and it's been really fun!

My grateful list:

1. For standing still. Because it is in those moments that I am hearing the Lord very clear.
2. Talking to D for over 5 hours this past week on IM. I cherish that.
3. Alyssa and our shopping day together on Sunday. Fun!
4. The new paint in our bedroom! I LOVE it. I am taking my time doing it and am working hard to have it completed by the time D comes home {he doesn't like to paint and gave me the go-ahead to do that myself}.
5. Sewing with Alyssa.
6. Creating art that is a lot cheaper for our new bedroom. I am thankful I have creativity inside of me!
7. The nervousness of school starting tomorrow.
8. Working out with my friend Dallas. And working out Sat-Wed. is really cool too!
9. 2 days down of not eating any sweets. I can make it until D comes home, I know I can.
10. New friends who you are comfortable with instantly, those are kindred spirits.
11. Quiet time in the car.
12. Compassion. Because honestly I didn't have much for a girl I worked with and yet I find myself seeing, hearing, discussing things about compassion right now. And that is a clear, but gentle reminder from Jesus that I need to have compassion for this girl at work regardless of how she feels for me or treats me.
13. Sunshine.
14. Change. Even though I don't have it all together, I know the change the Lord is having me go through is important for myself and my growth in Him.
15. 14 days until Dayv comes home. I can hardly believe we are at the end of this most crappy deployment, ever.
16. Dreams.
17. Planning what I am going to wear and take on my romantic vacation with D.
18. Crying.
19. My word for 2010. Energy. And honestly how much time I waste on certain things that the Lord is showing me, I don't need too anymore. I realize through this entire journey that I waste a lot of stupid energy.
20. My aunt. Because we are a lot alike and she is going through what I went through and gets it.

As we move into the new week, I pray friends that you find yourself being able to stand still and hear the Lord! Happy week all!

I fell in to it!

Last weekend A&I headed into town after church to do a little shopping.
We had specific places we wanted to go too, but after we got on the
main drag, I decided that we might just think about looking for bedding for
our room. I never expected really to find anything and after a few stores I
gave up! But we were driving and I felt really led to go into Burlington. I almost
never go in there, but really felt led to go. So we get out not expected anything
and I stumbled on to this...

Yep! You guessed it! This is our new bedding. I surely didn't think we'd find
anything and yet we stumbled upon this. I wasn't so sure about it at first
but the more we sat there staring at it, the more I really fell in love with it.
And as soon as I put a sheet set in Robin's Egg blue on it, A&I were sold!
And the coolest part? It was pretty cheap! 80 bucks cheap! it came with
all of this: the comforter, a sheet set, a bed skirt, 2 regular pillow shams,
2 euro pillow shams,  and 2 decorative pillows.

I am totally stoked! I have the paint picked out for our walls! It's from Valspar called 
Drizzling Mist.  Here's a photo of it

Then we are going to use touches of these colors in our accessories. Probably mostly the Robin's egg blue because I love how sharp it look against the bedding set but touches of yellow seem fitting too.

I asked D recently if he minded if I painted and he said no. So this weekend I'll be buying the Drizzling mist and get to work on our bedroom walls!

We think we "might" go with this bedroom set instead too because it is WAY cheaper! We're not completely sure yet, but the price difference between the 2 sets is HUGE! This bedroom furniture is from IKEA.  This way as well we'll be able to get the proper bed that D really wants!

So much going on in the Carney household and its all in our bedroom! How fun!!! I will surely keep you updated with photos!

Have you been decorating or are thinking of decorating? Share with me!

@42

I have been through so much these past four months that it feels like a full year.

I have endured. 

Sinned.

Grew.

Learned.

Hurt.

Got very angry.

Didn't hear the Lord.

Ached so much that I physically hurt.

Wanted to run away.

Realized I am not perfect.

Stopped worrying.

Trying to fix it all.

Be super hero.

Step in and fix things for A.

Let go.

Said "shit" a lot.

Cried.

Frustrated.

Walked-away.

Shut doors.

Changed.

And mostly just fell apart.

Materials used: American Crafts cardstock, CM corner rounder, October Afternoon Fly a Kite Sprinklers papers, Glimmer Mist, American Crafts Thickers, American Crafts I Do Collection; Pink Paislee tape, American Crafts pop dots, Generic buttons, DMC floss, Rhona Farrer stamp, 

And you know what? @ forty-two I realize its really okay.

It is really, really very okay.

Because standing in that void is exactly what this forty-two year old self should be doing.

Standing in the void so 

that Jesus can fill it instead of Elizabeth.

Stuff.

Just some random stuff..

* Found out D isn't coming home until the 14th now. *SIGH*
* Going to get all of my ducks in a row with A's school and finish preparing for the 30th.
* Work this past week was horrible except on the 17th!
* I am scrapping again and it feels good. This is my very first ever banner! It was fun to make and super quick too! I did this before work on Friday!

* I've got surprises up my sleeve for our romantic trip.
* I ate my very first vegan yellow cake with chocolate frosting! Thanks Nicole it rocked!
* I craves veggies all the time. Isn't that cool?
* I've felt more alive and more closer to Christ than I have in a long time. Praise God!
* We've narrowed down the bedding set to the first two. Dayv really likes the first one, I like the second one, but we'll prolly buy the first one. We both decided we're painting the walls gray. We're going to get crown moulding and going to accent with yellow/lime,gray,white, and robin's egg blue. SO EXCITED!!!
* I am working out at the gym as well as at home with Jillian. I am sore.
* I already have a list of things that we need to do before D comes home, even a grocery list!
* I've come to the conclusion that I don't need a FB account, so I deleted it. Dayv did too. We want to live a simpler life. If you have my email, then just email me!!!
* My tastes in our home have drastically changed. I find it interesting, fun, and weird all rolled into one.
* I fell apart at the gym the other day because I miss my  mom.
* I didn't get to chat with D this past weekend. His internet was out most of the day. I was not a happy camper.
* Just because I am standing in a void doesn't meant there is a void. Its a place where void is, but God is very much there. The empty pool, which is the vision he's given me where I am standing is the void in which I must stand in order to give up entire control of my life.

* I had to work on today and I wasn't happy about that.
* Alyssa makes me laugh really hard.
* I already have the album I am going to make of our romantic trip all ready! I have the album and have ordered the stuff to scrap once we get back. Nothing like being prepared!
* We finally finished Treasured Island. What a dull book. There is nothing like Muppets Treasured Island to make it all better! Now we're reading Swiss Family Robinson, which is by far a better book straight outta the first paragraph!
* I've changed my working out days. I am going Sat-Wed because our Thurs and Fri. are crazy busy.
* Jake gave me the worst bruise ever on my lower leg! It hurts so badly and all with his butt bone.... I know right?
* I am going to start taking my camera with me to hopefully encourage myself to take more photos...

Well its off to bed for me! Happy dreams everyone!

Opinions please.

We're doing a major overhaul in our bedroom.
Even selling our entire bedroom furniture and buying new.
This is what I really like { excuse the bedding set, totally not going with that but it was with the photo}.

So where does your opinion come in?
Well these are the bedding sets I like, but I wanted your opinion as to which you liked best!
{These are kinda small, so sorry if you have a hard time seeing them. I couldn't save them bigger on the site I found them on if you click on them they might be blurry}.

 I won't tell you my fav's so I don't sway you.  Also if you didn't mind giving me your opinion on wall color too.. I was thinking of a shade of white of some sort, but also going gray too... I wanted to highlight a color like as an accent throughout the room. I wasn't sure if I wanted to put that on the walls or do that with accessories and just have the walls a shade of white..? We are also going to put up crown molding in the room too to give it a real classy feel.

 Which one do you like best? Why? What color would you paint the walls? Why? What accent colors would go good with this other than red? I love the teal {shades of that}/gray/black/and some shade of white.

So share your opinions and thoughts!

Color. And the day.

I think you've heard me say many times that color is amazing.
Not only is it amazing, I simply cannot imagine life without it.
And in an effort to continue to bring that to scrapping, I found
a place that has color palette's weekly! What a terrific way to
incorporate color! I was giddy to do this straight away!

I couldn't of stumbled on a more beautiful color palette than this! Isn't it yummy? Gorgeous? I thought so too. 

And this is the layout I created using that said yummy palette! I really enjoyed just scrapping because. And yes, I've used these photos numerous time, but I really love them!

Me thinks I'll be following The Color Room and all of their colorful palette's from now on! You should follow them too!




I am really enjoying scrapping again! I don't do it daily like I used too, but when I sit down its quite refreshing to sit down and actually just do a  layout!  I really do need to get up on new photos though... I keep saying that and life gets in the way and by the time I remember  its night and too late to take them... *SIGH*

So my birthday was precious! It was a really good day. Work was good, I was in high spirits and I had many well wishes wish me birthday greetings. I left work and went to the gym. I wasn't going to work out and treat myself but I figured I had the time and no excuse so I went. After that I rushed home to get ready and when I got home A told me to not move and out she brought the most beautiful bouquet of flowers that I had seen in a long time! They were from Dayv!! It made me smile and tear up too! There was a lovely, mushy love note and a balloon too! The perfect gift and I thought it was so cool that he took time out to do that while being deployed! He's such a wonderful man!

Becca's hubby is getting out of the military and they are moving back home. So the girls {our old woman's bible study group} got together to send Becca off. I love Becca, she is such a fun delightful girl!

Then after that, I rushed home to get A and take her to a friends house for a sleepover. Lori and I then hit the road for dinner {at a new place that rocked} and shopping! We went to the newly opened Hobby Lobby here in town and let me just say, I've never stepped foot in one of those ever until last night! It was amazing and sometimes overwhelming with all the stuff in there. There was SO much. I got a new center piece for our dining table, which I simply love! I'll take photos of my center piece and my flowers tomorrow, it's rather dark now!

But all and all it was a wonderful day! I got a GC to Amazon from my brother and his wife, which rocked! I bought 3 new CD's and a game! We got GC's for Lowe's which really rocked and I'll be using this weekend for home stuff! Lori bought my dinner and gave me the cutest mug and wonderful card that summed up our friendship really well too. I even got a small bag of peanut M&M's from Dallas at work and a lovely card!

It was a fun birthday! Hopefully next year though, D will be home and we can celebrate together!!!!

Hope your rest of the week is a great one!





p.s. Dayv told me last night during our chat that it was in fact a romantic vacation for just the two of us! He told me because he wanted to make sure that Alyssa was okay with us doing this and not be upset. I had already been talking to A about this, because I wasn't sure which way it would go. I cannot tell you how TRULY EXCITED I am!!! Just me and Dayv.... The thought makes me giddy! And then he's going to go on a father/daughter trip with just Alyssa later too! Isn't that exciting! I certainly think so.

Happy birthday!!!!

Happy birthday Dayv!

and happy birthday to me too!!!

Today is our birthday! Yep. We've got the same birthday!!! That's why I married him after all, lol!
He's 37 and I'm 42.

And he's the most wonderful man, ever!
And even though he's not been home in I don't know how many years now on our special day, I am with him in heart still counting down the days to when he comes home! That's the best present yet.

I hope your day is filled with some kind of fun!!!!
I love and miss you!

Whew....

What a weekend!

I think we were busy throughout the entire weekend.

Shelves are up in A's space.

Chandelier is up in dining area.

Den floor and hall-way floors are completely finished.

Carpets are deep cleaned.

All linens have been cleaned.
Spelling tests have been taken for placement.

The LR/dining area floor has to be put on hold by special request. Dayv wrote me and asked me to shift our savings for when he comes home. I didn't ask questions because that is the new me {the old me would have pushed and pushed because I had to know but now I don't need to know. It's the whole giving up control thing} so I just set out to start shifting gears. So the money went to D and the flooring will have to wait. You see, we like to buy things {don't we all?} however we save up for what we want instead of going into debt to get it, hence the floor savings. But that's going to D for something special {I actually found out what it was much to my dismay}.

The little side story. D wanted this money right? I didn't ask questions right. Well he tried to use an expired card CC {see how often we use it} and it didn't go through. He didn't have time to get a new card and all that jazz, so he used our main account. The first day there was just a "lodging" on there. I didn't ask questions and we both thought that was good. Until the next day when I went to pay bills and check things in our account. The entire name was up there and I found out where we are going. I was very sad because bless his heart he was trying to make it a secret, and now I know. I don't know anything else though I only know where we are going. I don't know when. Don't know if its a family or romantic vacation, I don't know where it actually is since I've never been there {but its a place I've always wanted to go!!!} or what kind of lodging it might be. Oh yeah, I took off 7 days of work for Dayv's coming home! I am totally stoked to have that many days off so we can all be together!!
So even though I know and he tried so hard to make it a surprise, it is still a surprise, sort of!
I am TOTALLY excited!! He's such a wonderful guy!

On the scrappy front...

A new layout I created recently  for a challenge on Scrap Gal. Its a challenge about our dream vacation.

While I don't have a "dream" vacation per-say to some exotic place, I dream of both of these places all the time when I am thinking of vacationing. One is the beach and the other one is a ranch in the mountains. I love them both, completely. Its why I decided to put them both on the page because they are equally places that I love! {no its not a hint to D about our surprise trip it just happened to fall in place at the same time! LOL}.

I also thought you might like to click on this!!!! So totally neat to see my stuff up there and for sale! How fun!!!

Oh.. We're not getting re-married or having a wedding. Sometimes I dream of this and other times I just think its a complete waste of time. I know, fickle. But I think we've honestly made up our minds. New rings, yes. Photos in a tux and wedding dress, yes. And when I give the new ring to Dayv {its a surprise for him eventually} then I will read him the vows I wrote for him. I still do dream of a gray/yellow wedding.  Still dream of walking down the isle and seeing his face standing there at the alter. However, we've got bigger fish to fry. And honestly having a wedding takes a lot of time and effort. None of which I honestly want to put in to, and if I were really honest Dayv doesn't really care about getting re-married. But I have to share with you that I've decided to go another route with my ring. I still would like a new ring. He would like me to have a new ring. And I have this beautiful 100 year old diamond ring that I wear that came from generations of beautiful women in my family. The idea to do something to it came to me while I was at my aunts. Talking about using things that were given to us {like my mom's desk and painting it} suddenly didn't seem so frightening. So I asked her opinion about taking the diamond out of this current setting and putting it into a new one. She thought it was a great idea, but did suggest I didn't tell my gram or she might freak. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that its my ring and I am a new generation. So I talked to D about it and he was all for it. I've been wanting to make the switch to white gold anyway and it seems like the perfect match. Because honestly as much as I've love a brand spankin' new diamond I've got a beautiful very old, very expensive, and very cherished one on my finger. So I set out to see if it could be changed up. I went to a fabulous place here in town. We were in the store about 20 minutes when I found "the one". Now I know I said I was fickle and at some things I truly am, but this is the ring I'd like to get. And my diamond will add perfectly to it.  I don't have a photo of it though because it would have been caddy for me to of taken a photo and I wasn't sure I could anyway. But back to the one! I found it. I know I already mentioned that, but the mere mention of it has me totally and utterly excited!!! Although that has to wait a month or so because the surprise vacation is next and then we can start saving, and then the flooring! LOL. The ring is 2000 bucks. But I dream of it being on my hand often!!! So exciting.

Well with that being said, I'll close for now to hang with Alyssa.
Hope you have a really great week!!!
Here we are at 26 days til our guy comes home!!! Yeah us!

30 days.

It is about time.

Here we are at 30 days left.

1 month.

seven hundred and twenty hours.

Can you believe it?

I can't.

This has been the very most longest deployment ever in the history of the Carney's lives.

I hated every. single. bit. of. it.

I can't lie.

It was the worst ever.

But. we are almost finished.

30 days.

I am excited.

Dayv is excited.

Alyssa is excited.

You can bet we hope the 30 days goes by like super fast!

On to other things!
I've been dabbling more so in scrapping again!

Here is a layout I did of our 4th of July this year.

I used the new Bo Bunny Block Party Collection.

I am really diggin' these colors together!
I am still trying to get some photography in. This way I can scrap more!!!
I even rearranged my space again and find that I love it more than ever because everything is closer to me! And on top of that its simpler. I am going through a purger and simple stage in our home and I am really likely de-cluttering. It feels good!

Well folks it's Thursday and tomorrow is Friday!!!!!! I love the weekends and I love that we've only got 30 more days until Dayv comes home!

Home Ec Class with purple-y projects!

Alyssa and I are taking this class.
Go check it out and take it too!
We can't wait to get started and have geared up and hit the stores to start collecting for our many neat projects!

Speaking of projects...

Jumpin' start my scrapping again makes me happy!
I did these two for 2 challenges/contests that LP is having.

I used Bo Bunny
Sun Kissed Collection
with these two.

And you'll note this is more using purple! I dunno what's goin' on with me but I really like this color as of late.

It feels yummy to scrap!

Hello Sunshine!

I created this album for The Scrappy Gourmet recently!

You can check out the site soon and buy it there if you are interested.

I am simply in love with the wonderful, bright colors as usual!

I think this year I have made more albums than I have ever made since I have been scrapbooking. I have been challenged and pushed in this area, and I am completely
thankful for it because I am truly loving creating these and more!

I wanted to add my grateful list. I've not been doing as of late and I miss it.

1. Lists because crossing them off means I am being productive.
2. Our new den flooring, I love it!
3. The fact that even through the summer, we've turned off our AC every single day and only turn it on around 4pm. I love Washington!
4. Doors that have closed, they bring me relief to know that letting my foot go from the door way means that I am stepping aside to allow God to in fact close the door. It feels nice.
5. Right now, I realize that where my focus needs to be is on the few friends I have and cherish and my family and what is going on within our home.
6. To know I am a puddle of goo, and I don't have to have it together all the time.
7. Surprises because they make me happy!
8. Our home is our dream home and more.
9. I am grateful that I don't possess a single "fakeness" within myself. I am raw. real. honest.
10. Saturdays that are pj days where we do nothing but hang around the house.
11. Food. I love smoothies, veggies, and humus a lot.
12. Calm. That is how I feel these days.
13. 35 days until the most wonderful person in my life comes home!
14. Talking to Jennifer very late at night for hours. Her reaching out to me, meant the world to me.
15. Talks with Alyssa that are real about life.

Thank you AC!

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to American Crafts!!

This year has been an A-mazing year for me being on the team and I have enjoyed every. single. bit. of it!!!

From the bottom of my heart thank you SO very much!

To all the new girls who made the team for next year, you're going to rock and shine!

updates.

Since it is so close to D coming home, we've cracked down on eating better. I am working out 5 days a week and trying to not eat any sweets.
I want to look hot when D comes home after all!

We stopped doing school right now. Mainly because although Spanish was fun, math was not. And you know what? It's summer and we have bigger fish to fry. We start August 30th. The date is firm, A knows this. And that gives me a full month to get it all together because there is a lot to get together!

I keep walking through our house and purging things. I am liking living a little bit simpler.

I have D's Christmas present picked out. It's expensive and I hope he likes it. I wished I could show it because it's totally cool, but I can't. It's just cool though and will involve more changes around the house.

There are a ton of new CD's I want. They are

All are really cool Christian bands. I am diggin' them.

Still haven't gotten the chandelier. Not because I didn't order it
but Lowe's called me {was supposed to be here by the end of July} and now told me
it won't be here until August something. Normally I wouldn't wait
that long, but I really love it and already paid for it.
I also thought as long as it's here before D gets home then that works for me. I'll take photos of it all when its all finished though!

Lori and I laid the den flooring and it looks great! I am just waiting for the base
board paint to dry so I can put most of the room back together. I have to wait for A's area
because we have to put new base boards down since they didn't put any near the closet entrance due to the closet doors being on.
I'll take photos once it's all completed.

Since our entire LR is messed up with our den stuff, I
haven't been scrapping much again as of late. I am really missing it.
Also missing taking photos. It's on my daily list now to take them.

I can hardly believe it's August already! Of course I want the time to fly by,
but it's really flying by!!! LOL. It seems a lot of the time August is the month
that you spend getting ready for fall and school!

Well that's about all for us right now!