• Life,  Marriage

    Home Tour!

    I am so excited about today’s topic. I have been wanting to do a home tour since we moved into our apartment but I never felt that it was ready. I still don’t but it’s come a long way since we moved in so I thought nows as good a time as ever so… Welcome to our home!

    living-room

    If you walked in this is what you would see. Most of the decorations I’ve used actually came from our wedding and a lot of them are homemade so they are really sweet reminders for me.

    living-room-3living-room-2

    I am still in love with that coffee cart and am so glad we bought. Also pictured is my desk that I (try to) spend my mornings reading my bible and journaling but don’t always make it.

    kitchen-2

    This would be our kitchen. It’s not very big but it’s just what we need.

    kitchen-table

    And lastly, our dining room. We bought that table when we moved in and we absolutely love it. It’s so cute and the perfect addition to our little space and it fits our style so well. The cards hanging above it are from our wedding and the banner is also decoration from our wedding. Oh and those are my wedding flowers. Did I mention that all the decorations in the apartment are from the wedding? 😉

    So this is our home and my favorite part is who I spend it with. A huge shout out to my husband for helping me straighten up so I can take these pictures- you’re the best 🙂

  • Life

    5 Things That Bring Me Joy

    Blog-tember Day 7. I missed a day yesterday but can we all just agree that blogging every day is hard. To all you guys who haven’t missed a day – you all are the real MVPs. Anyways, today’s topic is 5 things that give me joy! Easy!

    one.

    Hearing a sermon that was exactly what my heart needed. There is nothing that gives me more joy than knowing God cares for me and meets me right where I am. These sermons encourage me like nothing else and show me that God always is there even when it feels like He isn’t.

    two.

    The beach. I seriously love sitting in the sun reading a good book, hearing the ocean break against the shore, and feeling the ocean breeze. perfection. if you need me Saturday, that’s where I’ll be.

    three.

    Following a challenging recipe and having it come out awesome, especially when my husband tells me it’s awesome ;). There’s not much more satisfying than that.

    four.

    Reading a really good book. Either one that gives you all the feels, like you can completely relate or just one that is completely unexpected and awesome. Those are always the best.

    five.

    Coffee. And that awesome productive drive you have when you drink coffee at just the right time and get all the work done.

    I could honestly go on and on. There are plenty more things that give me joy. Maybe I’ll have to write another (more extensive) blog post about all the things that bring me joy. What brings you joy?

     

  • Life

    My Most Memorable Birthday

    Today’s topic is not something that I would normally write about on my blog but I’m determined to stick to writing every day so here goes nothing.

    When I think of birthday’s I don’t really remember too many of them to be honest. I remember when I was younger I used to have all of my friends over for a “Sleepover Party”. These were the highlight of my winters, as I did this every year for probably a good 5 years. Every once and a while there would be a huge snow storm (because my birthday is January 22) and some friends wouldn’t be able to make it and I would get really upset. As fun as these birthdays were I don’t think I would consider them my most memorable though.

    My most memorable birthday was probably when I turned 18 I believe and my best friend and boyfriend at the time threw me a surprise birthday party. I had thought that nobody really cared about my birthday up until then because I had tried to plan something myself and all of my friends told me they were too busy. I was so upset. So me and my best friend decided we were going to just go out to eat together to celebrate and she surprised me when all of my friends were at the restaurant. I felt so special and loved that day. I don’t have any pictures from the day but I still remember how special it was.

  • Life

    Currently: September

    Today’s Blog-tember post is a “Currently” or what have you been up to? These are my favorite posts too!

    wildwood.JPG

    Reading: I’ve gone on an accidental reading hiatus like I normally do. For some reason I can’t seem to stay consistent when it comes to reading but being on vacation has helped a lot. My mom bought the seventh Harry Potter book and I’ve been reading that. I’m still unsure of how I feel about it.
    Playing: monopoly and all the board games! That’s what vacation is for!
    Watching: Grey’s Anatomy of course! I’m trying to not watch any Netflix this vacation I think and read more. (Also part of my September goals.)
    Trying: to read more, eat better, and work out more. All the good things.
    Cooking: nothing at the moment but I do need to create our food plan and budget for this month.
    Eating:  all of the unhealthy things like chips, processed food, and more chips.
    Drinking: some awesome coffee from a small mom and pop coffee shop right down the road from our hotel.
    Calling: no one, who has time for calling people.
    Texting: also no one. I only ever text my family and they’re all here with me now 🙂
    Pinning: yummy new recipes!!
    Tweeting: nothing. I haven’t used Twitter in a good while.
    Going: to the beach today! The weather looks like it finally cleared up – I’m so excited.
    Loving: this last vacation before fall starts and spending time relaxing with my family.
    Hating: that we only have two more days 🙁
    Discovering: that not everyone loves the beach like me and it’s mind boggling.
    Thinking: about the start of fall and how excited I am for it.
    Feeling: slightly sick but hoping it will pass because I want to enjoy today.
    Hoping: that the rest of vacation we will have good weather and that time will go nice and slow.
    Listening: nothing at the moment.
    Celebrating: the possible new job that I am going to start in a few weeks and how good God is.
    Smelling: salty ocean air 🙂
    Ordering: hopefully some more cute decor for our apartment (I see some cute fall decor in our near future.)
    Thanking: God for this time I get to spend at the beach with my family.
    Considering: the new job and if it is a good fit for me despite being slightly risky.
    Starting: to look forward to fall and the crisp fall air (just as soon as we get back from this vacation!)

    So as you can see I have vacation and the beach on my mind. Sorry if that’s all I talked about lol but that’s currently what I’m up to. What is everyone else up to? This month I’ve re-found my love for blogging because of the Blog-tember Challenge, hosted by Bailey Jean. Come join us!

  • Life

    Summer Favorites

    As promised I am back again today for the real Blog-tember post for September 3rd.

    Now that summer’s at an end, share a list of favorites from the season!

    Netflix: It’s only fitting that this one’s first because we’ve done A LOT of lounging and watching Netflix this summer but it was exactly what I needed after a crazy busy spring from the wedding and all. For most of the summer if not all we’ve been addicted to Grey’s Anatomy.

    The Beach: The beach has always been my favorite place to be and Tommy fell in love with it this summer too so it’s been a really sweet time getting to go to the beach together and having so much fun.

    Recipes + Pinterest: I’ve learned of my love for cooking this summer since getting married and I’ve had so much fun finding new recipes on Pinterest, making a shopping list, going shopping and making a new dinner.

    Making Budgets Using Dave Ramsey’s Budget Worksheet: I seriously love, love, love making budgets and seeing exactly where our money is going. It’s so satisfying to me and has made us able to be able to take weekend trips to the beach knowing that we can do it responsibly and not spend money that we shouldn’t be spending. It also helps you see in the beginning of the month how much extra money you will have and then you’re able to not spend it frugally.

    Trying different kinds of coffee: I’ve always loved coffee but this summer I experimented with trying different kinds and learning how fun that is. This was also the summer that I got Tommy to actually like coffee. SO EXCITING.

    So there you have it. Our summer doesn’t sound all that exciting but it was exactly what I needed and wanted. A slower paced time where I can recharge from all of the business that is wedding planning. What have you been up to this summer?

  • Life

    September Goals

    Okay, okay, I know I’m off to a bad start but I promise I had good intentions to write every day. But the beach is very tiring and distracting so I was basically set up to fail haha. But today I’m going to make up for it and do TWO days worth of posts! 🙂 (Mostly because it’s super windy, cloudy, and cold today but that’s besides the point 😉 ).

    Toady’s prompt is to: “Share a list of your current goals.” It’s been a while since I’ve shared any goals on here so I why not start back up now?

    1. No credit cards. I’ve been making monthly budgets for almost a year now and last month decided I was going to not allow myself to use my credit cards and I did really well so I decided I’m going to keep that up this month.

    2. Speaking of budgets – I want to stick to my budget this month. I usually do pretty well but I lost track of the spending on about the third week of the month. I want to try to use the envelope system and put cash in envelopes and only use that money for what it was budgeted for.

    3. Spend as much time outside in the sun while it is still warm. Tommy and I started going down the shore about a month ago and want to make up for all the time we didn’t spend at the beach and in the sun in the beginning of the summer so while we still can we plan on spending most of our free time in the sun. 🙂

    4. Spend more time with God reading His word. The past two weeks have been rough for me when it comes to being consistent with reading my bible. I want to spend more time this month being consistent with this again. I know how important it is for my sanity to do this – to remind myself daily that I am not in control of this crazy life, but that God is. I also know that this important for my sanctification because God uses this time to transform my desires into more pleasing ones to Him and I know I desperately need that as well.

    5. Less Netflix, more Reading. Enough said.