A Whole Shoe Box Full of 'em...Dangly Ones!

One of Eric's favorite things to say to me is from the movie Home Alone....remember when Kevin's mom is trying to buy someone's plane tickets to get back to her son on Christmas? Well...she tries to bribe an old lady with money and anything else just so they will give her a ticket. She is offering her earrings as a desperate final attempt and the wife's husband interrupts to say, "she has her own earrings....a whole shoebox full of 'em...dangly ones!" as he dangles his fingers by his ears.  Why is this one of Eric's favorite things to say to me (fingers dangling and all)? Well, it may or may not be true that I have a small earring fetish. I just love them...especially big, dangly ones! In fact, the bigger and more dangly the better! lol
I most likely have one (...or two...) shoe box(es) worth! However, I don't just stuff my precious earrings into a shoe box.....no! In fact, I am going to share with you a creative and decorative way to store your earrings!

One of my besties, Meg, made me this for one of my bdays:

Isn't it awesome?! It has definitely been put to good use. She is so creative. She bought a frame, painted it black, and put a mesh screen on it so I could hang my earrings. Maggie's parents ended up making one for her as well and her's has a stand on the back--she keeps it in her bathroom and it seriously looks great as a decoration! Maybe she will share a picture with us sometime :)

As my earring collection continues to grow...I am running out of space on my cute little frame. I am needing to acquire one more like the size of this one:

This one is my sister's. She loved mine and wanted something like it, so when she found this old screen at a junk sale it was just perfect. It's big, I love the color, and she didn't have to do anything to it! She has it hanging in their bathroom and she put little hooks on it so she can also hang necklaces and bracelets on it...genius!! My mom, sister, and I love old, antique things. I never thought growing up that I would follow after my mom's style of "country/antique" (not because I didn't like it, but just didn't think it was what I wanted--in fact, I loved my mom's style...it always felt very cozy and just like home should feel). I should've known better!  :)

Hopefully the next time we go on a junk hunt I will find a similar one! Anyone know of a junk sale coming up or a good place to get stuff like that?!

Even though Eric teases me, you know a good husband when he still buys his wife earrings for her bday, Christmas, etc....even if she does have a whole shoebox full of them! :)

P.S. Stay tuned for another awesome jewelry hanger/display post...Rach made it for me!

Friends are the flowers in the garden of life... err, something like that ;)

The topic of friendship has been on my mind a lot the past few weeks.  I consider myself a relational person but by no means do I have the corner on what it means to be a good friend.  However, since good friendships are one of my many passions, I thought it wouldn't hurt to write down some ways that I have found to make a friendship strong:

#1 Encourage, encourage, encourage.  I so wish I was better at encouraging!  As women, we can do a pretty good job of tearing each other down but our love for our friends should be verbally evident. Sincerely complimenting a friend and telling her how much she means to you, goes a long way.  Be spontaneous and unexpected-- not just complimenting a new outfit but also your friend's personality and the things that mean a lot to her (her ability to be a level-headed mother, her knack for organization).

#2 Know what "language" your friend speaks.  Does she like to talk over coffee?  Receive special gifts? Give you lots of hugs? You can often tell what someone loves by what they do for you.  We may think we're really loving on someone at a given moment yet we find out they aren't catching our drift because we weren't speaking the same language.  If your friend loves words of affirmation but you always vacuum her house-- it's not gonna go far.  Learn more about this sort of thing in The Five Love Languages-- a must read book!

#3 Listen!  One of the best ways you can love your friends is to listen to their hearts.  Ask them what's going on in their lives and really pay attention to what they are saying. When a friend brings up something going on with her, thoroughly engage in the conversation and don't just switch the topic over to you.  Follow-up at a later date by asking her about the things she was sharing with you previously. Active listening is a lot of work but it's well worth it!

#4 Go out of your way to serve.  Some of the most meaningful things my friends have ever done for me were things I knew they did out of their love for me and not because they were gaining something in return. I've had good friends help me unpack, do my laundry, help with projects around our home, make a meal for my family... and those things go a looong way.  Philippians 2:3 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves".  That verse does not mean we shouldn't think about our own needs or our family's, we need to be healthy enough in the relationships with our children and spouses, that we have time and love to give freely to our friends.

# 5 Take care of yourself.  It's very true that if you don't take care of yourself, it's pretty darn hard to be a good friend.  I am the best at being a friend on days I have set aside time with the Lord, had some moments to regroup, styled my hair, played with my son or had a little order to my day.  (Mind you-- this is hardly ever done all in the same day!)

#6 Pray for her.  There is nothing more beautiful you can do than go to the Heavenly Father on behalf of your friend.  Make it a point to pray for your friends through the highs and lows of their lives.  If time is short for you, pray in the shower, on the road, during commercials, when you're going number 2 :)  Whatever you have to do to make it happen, do it, because nothing will help your friend or friendship more.

#7 Quit saying you're too busy.  When all is said and done in this life, the most important thing we can leave behind is a loving legacy. There will always be things in our lives that take up our time but people should never be treated as burdens. It's hard to be good friends with someone if you aren't available.  Return phone calls, do your best to email back when you are emailed, make a regular girls night out with the special women in your life.  It doesn't have to take hours a day to be a good friend...

#8 In fact, it just takes 5 minutes. ;)  Sometimes we don't have an hour to give to a relationship but we can usually take 1-5 minutes to let a friend know we are thinking of them.  Send a quick note or email. If you find something at the store you just know your friend would love-- get it for her. Have takeout delivered to her house for her family's dinner or when you're preparing dinner for your family, double the recipe and give her half.  Make a list of spontaneous and easy things you can do for your special friends and make a commitment to do one thing off the list per week.

#9 Be transparent and humble.  No one wants a friend that acts like they are perfect.  Share your flaws with your friends and before you know it, she will be sharing hers with you.  And don't always feel like you have to have an answer when problems strike your friends' lives. Sometimes we just need a hug and a, "I know life stinks sometimes" and not some Hallmark quote or off-handed advice.  (My friends know this is hard for me!)

#10 Don't be so insecure.  Insecurity breeds company and it doesn't do any good for your friendships when you talk bad about yourself or wallow in your own pitfalls constantly.  Breath life into your friends' lives by confidently loving yourself and others. When you love yourself, you love others deeper and will talk about/to them with kinder and gentler words.

#11 Prepare yourself for the worst.  If you are someone's go-to-gal, you may be on the receiving end of some pretty difficult times if and when stress strikes in her family.  Know how to be a good friend when someone is grieving, just had a new baby, lost a job or whatever BIG things may come her way. My very good friend Jessica has been through some pretty hard times in the past year and has written some really poignant blog posts about her loss and how to help a grieving friend.  It was amazingly eye-opening for me!

#12 Remember friendships are never perfect.  There is no such thing as a perfect friend so stop looking for her.  Look at the people God has placed around you right now and pour into them.   I'm not saying to never make new friends but it can be easy to feel like we just haven't met that perfect friend yet. Be gracious to your friends and don't expect them to hang the moon for you (I need to work on this!). Don't expect yourself to be the perfect friend either-- it takes a lifetime to master being a good friend.  Our Heavenly Father loves us and came to Earth to free us from the chains of imperfection.  Ultimately, quit looking at what you can get out of a friendship and start looking at what you can give. 

Being a friend is a lot of work.  It's not possible to be best friends with every person you meet.  There are certain people who come our way that we really connect on a soul level with and those are the people we should invest the most amount of time in.

I just read in my MOPS Momsense magazine this month about a Home Team.  It's a fabulous concept I have never heard of before.  Pretty much you look at who your Home Team is (the people you call in the middle of the night, don't feel like you have to wear makeup around etc) and keep in mind that they are the people you need to love on the most.  They need you as much as you need them. They are the people that will be there for you through thick and thin.  It's all too easy to feel like we have to meet every person's needs that come our way but that isn't possible and in the end our deep friendships suffer.  (Don't take this too literally and only stick with the Home Team, acquaintances and strangers need love too!)

I know this is SUPER long and probably confusing at times but I was on a roll and felt like I couldn't leave anything out:)  I could post it in two parts but if I forget to post the 2nd half you will only know how to be half of a friend ;) Ha!  Anyway, I hope it helped you in at least one area of your friendships.  I know I definitely have some things I need to work on!

P.S. What did I leave out?  What do you do to be a good friend?

bathroom facelift

in the spirit of room makeovers this week (check out hannah's new dining room color), i thought i would share our new and improved bathroom. we didn't do a whole lot of over-hauling, but just enough to really clean things up and simplify. unfortunately, i am terrible at taking before pictures, so you will just have to take my word for it. here are the few that i took before we started making changes:

first things first....the hardware. brassy, shiny, and not our taste. as you can see, they got voted out. and then nicely lined up so i could take a picture to post on craigslist. anyone want 'em?

the best pic i could get of the whole bathroom. this is still with the brass hardware. also note the purple and white sponge paint on the bottom half of the wall. hoo boy...that had to go.

a close up of the purple madness. imagine, if you will, various sizes and colors of lighthouse wallpaper, lining the top edge of this paint. making its way all around the bathroom. they got yanked during the destruction of the kitchen wallpaper...hence, no picture.

new color and new fixtures. sans wallpaper.

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this guy is so much more delightful to wash your hands under:)

replacement towel bars. these babies really proved my husband's good handiwork. he put these in all by himself, with barely any tools! sometimes i think he's a human level....the guy has an eye for straight lines!! ....if only he knew how to use the towel bars, which would eliminate the wrinkly towels, eh?

so there you have it. a (fairly) cheap and easy way to makeover a room. five rooms painted, two to go!

what do you think??

And Let There be Light!!

When Eric and I moved into our new house we loved pretty much every aspect of it. The people who had lived there before us had done a TON of amazing things with the house (seriously you should see the before and afters!) It will be 100 years old not too long from now :) Even the paint colors were ones that we enjoyed. It was awesome to not feel like we had to rush into painting every room. We lived in it a year before we officially decided we wanted to repaint the dining room.

Here is a before pic: 

We decided that the color was a little too dark, especially with the way the daylight comes into our house (our house faces east, so the windows on the side of this room face south, which doesn't allow a TON of daylight). It's a great color for the Christmas season, but for the remainder of the looong winter it doesn't help the glum feel. In the summer it felt off too. And to be completely honest, it wasn't a very "Hannah" color :) Does anyone else do this? My friends and I say this type of thing because we know each others' styles so well that they become titled as either very "Hannah", "Maggie", or "Rachel", etc.

So, I gathered a little inspiration from the room we have claimed ours at the house in Mexico we've stayed at the last two years. I absolutely adore the color scheme in this room...and as our good friend, Marissa pointed out...it was a very "Hannah's colors" room. :)

 The color of the walls of this room is actually the type of color I am looking at for when we re-do our kitchen (hopefully happening soon). I found a similar one when we were looking for the dining room paint called "Apple Crisp". Mmmmm...doesn't the name of that sound just perfect for a kitchen color?!

I also found some inspiration from my Better Homes and Gardens magazine, when they confirmed that my idea of the type of color I wanted  for the dining room could actually work. Thank you BHG!!

So, without further adieu...here is the new and improved dining room! (We re- painted just the top portion):

The color is "Juicy Passionfruit". It is a peachy, coral, orange color. It definitely brightens the room! I love how it looks with the dark wood-work. I think it goes great with the rest of our decorations and will be a color that works all year long for every season. Not to mention that it is very "Hannah" :)

A good friend of ours painted it for us...besides not having much spare time, we were also very intimidated by all of the trim!! I actually know a few great painters if you are ever in need--let me know!


So....what do you think?!

Taming our "craft itch"

No, this is not a post about medicinal treatments for a scratchy ailment.  :)

Maggie emailed Hannah and I last week wanting to get together to craft. She said something about having a horrible craft itch and needing to get together to solve that problem. We laughed.

We all have projects we can work on and what's better than doing them in good company?  It's a way for us to laugh together and feel like we're accomplishing something pretty too :)  As a side note, I am loving having Maggie so much closer than she used to be.  It's like a 7 minute drive to her house now and I get to see her all the time!! Craft night never would have happened before she moved.

So, last night we got together and brought our supplies to my place to craft.  I worked on some surprises for Judah's birthday, Hannah scrapbooked her and Eric's engagement, and Mags was eager to create a wreath she's been loving for awhile now.  I also got on the wreath bandwagon toward the end and started a green and white one.

Mags "rolling" one of her felt flower roses for her wreath.  

Some of my creations.  (Hannah had fun messing around with my camera and took this fun photo).

Measure twice, cut once!

Hannah scrapbooking...  truth be told, this was a faux-shot because we had forgotten to take one of her when she was actually working lol.  

None of us finished our projects; between eating 56 monster cookies (give or take a few) and Maggie's car getting hit by our neighbor, we could have used another hour or two:)  Maggie's car is alright by the way, but that sure was a strange chain of events...

Anyway, I know a lot of you out there like to create things... and sometimes it can be therapeutic to work on projects alone but nothing is better than chatting, eating and crafting with some great friends.

happily busy

for lack of ideas on what to blog about, here is a look into the happenings that have occurred over this past month. as the title of this post states, our little family has had a lot keeping us busy, which i thrive on. as a stay at home mom and in-home child care provider, i count on weekends and evenings to remind me that there still is a world outside of my living room.
so for those of you who would like an insider view to my happily, busy life....here is a peek:

february 5th and 6th
february kicked off with some more home makeovers. my mom graciously came over on saturday the 5th and helped me paint our guest bedroom. the room went from a fluorescent, pale lavender, to a much more appealing neutral beige. (shoot! forgot to take a before and after pic....you'll just have to take my word for it:)) we knocked it out in about two hours. my mom is the world's best painting buddy, because she prefers to do the trim and doesn't like to roll. don't understand it, but i'll take it! thanks for all your help, mom!

the 6th was spent cleaning and prepping for rachel's birthday/ superbowl party at her mom's house. brandon spent the weekend with friends, so peyton and i made our appearance at the party. it was fun to be with rach on her actual birthday and to spend time with her friends and family. here i am with the birthday girl, herself....happy two-five, rachel!



february 9th
had a girl's night with my two wonder women. we celebrated rachel's birthday at Red, the chinese bistro on ingersoll. SO. GOOD. in fact, it was that delicious, that i talked my husband into taking me there for valentines day! more on that later...

february 12th
while my mom and i were out gallivanting at hobby lobby (LOVE that store), my dad and brandon spent the morning finishing up our bathroom makeover. they installed a new faucet to match the rest of the hardware that we purchased a few weeks back. i plan on doing a separate post to show off the new bathroom....complete with before and after pics. get excited:) brandon and i also took peyton sledding for the first time in our backyard. she was adorable....and now points to the door all the time and signs "please", asking to go outside. how can we say no?


february 14th
ahhh....v-day. gotta love it. my guy went shopping and bought me a new dress and some matching jewelry from White House, Black Market. i was stunned. and he did great! i love both the dress and the bracelet! if you knew brandon, you would understand that this was a big step for him. he despises shopping of any sort, so i felt very flattered. he even braved the weird looks from teenage girls and walked around Forever 21 to find me a cute shirt, "just because." love that boy:) we dropped peyton off at the grandparent's house and had a romantic date at Red (the restaurant i mentioned before). you just can't beat free babysitters, who will watch your kid overnight on valentines day...wink, wink:) this is the only picture i got of us before our date. i am notorious for not keeping my camera battery charged and having it die on me right before an important event. sigh....



february 18th
my dad's birthday! my parents, brandon and i had a double date at The Longest Yard, a sports bar in Valley Junction and then headed back to my parent's place for cake (which i baked! who would have thought? and it turned out perfectly!) and presents. brandon's mom took peyton off our hands for the night, so we had two nights that week that we could pretend like it was just the two of us again. after you have kids, it's easy to forget what life is like before kids. like remembering what it's like to sleep in:)

february 19th and 20th
spent the weekend up with brandon's family and attended our first Daytona 500 party! brandon's mom and step dad are big NASCAR buffs and they love to host events at their home. why not have a party to watch the Daytona 500? it's kind of like a super bowl party...except for NASCAR! this is the 10th year they have hosted this party and it delivered. jenny and kevin out-did themselves with smoked pulled pork, hamburgers, potato casserole and tons of appetizer-like foods. it's safe to say that we'll be back next year:)
here are a few pictures from that day (sorry their so random...i was busy stuffing my face.):

couldn't have a post without this sweet face:)

blair (brandon's sister) and i

having fun with some krispy kremes. blair's idea.

and the month isn't even over yet! i'm sure there will be lots more excitement to come. thanks for tuning in for my random post...leave a comment if you liked it!:)

so this is L.O.V.E.

This post was intended to be for last week, but if you can all bear with me due to the fact that my home computer has broken down and we are in the process of searching for a new one! It makes it just a tad bit difficult to post! ;) So...pretend like it's last week please!

.............................................................................................................

Well, since it IS the week of Valentine's Day, I figured I would take this time to dote on my wonderful hubby.

I am SO thankful for Eric. He is truly my prince. As my sister pointed out in her speech on our wedding day, they say hindsight is 20/20. You see...my FAVORITE movie when I was growing up was "The Little Mermaid". I would literally perch myself on the edge of the couch (aka my own personal "rock") and sing along with Ariel (ahhhhhhh......ahhhhhhh.....you know the song), waiting for my prince Eric! Seriously, how amazing is it that I actually was waiting for my prince Eric?! God blows me away with His creativity! A big part of that little girl connected with that movie in a much deeper way than anyone could imagine, including herself.

Along with being just as handsome as the Disney prince Eric....

(see the resemblance?!)

http://www.google.com/

Eric also has many other prince-like qualities. He totally pampered me and treated me like his princess this V-day! We both agreed to a price limit for each other's gifts this year and Eric (sneaky him) all along had something else up his sleeve. Along with some Dove chocolates (my fav! oh and they were peanut butter!), some earrings from Franchesca's (one of my fav stores!), he totally spoiled me and got me a 90 minute hot stone massage!! (gasp!!) What a keeper, huh?! :)

I cannot even begin to descibe all that he's meant to me the years we've known each other. I continue to be blown away by the man that he is and who he continues to become in Christ. I love watching him follow after God and along with that leading me as he goes. I continue to fall more and more in love with you every day, Eric! Thank you for everything.

You were well worth the wait. :)

P.S. Share with us about what someone special in your life has meant to you!