.guest bedroom take two.

Do you know how sometimes you just spend so long daydreaming about how you want a certain room to look? If you're like me, you've spent hours saving images online of rooms that inspire you then slowly gathering the accessories you need to recreate that beautiful room in your own home. I am happy to say that my guest bedroom is transforming into a room I love...a lot. I used to have this room decked out all shabby style. At one time, I was truly in love with everything about this room. Here is a picture of what the bed used to look like:

It astounds me how quickly my taste has changed. Since the guest bedroom is sort-of "my room" to do with whatever I please (My husband's room is the office.), I am having a ball turning this space into a fun, colorful vintage/eclectic haven. I don't have pictures of the whole room, as it is still a work in progress; however, I just couldn't wait to share what I've done so far:

Decor so far:

+ Green & white duvet cover by IKEA (purchased off eBay)

+ Vintage quilt on foot of bed was made by my Great-Grandma

+ Vintage pillowcases from a thrift store

+ The hoops for the wall art were all purchased at a thrift store. They hold fabric scraps.

+ Keep Calm and Carry On print that I made and framed in a Wal-Mart frame

The desk next to the bed will get a blog post of its own. It's my sewing table, and I plan on painting it...maybe. Anyway, the best part about it is that friends bought it for me while they were out of town and browsing a thrift store. (Awesome friends, right??!!!) They said they thought I would be interested in this desk since they knew my love for vintage furniture, and of course, it was only....$5!!!!!! Five dollars. Yes, you read that right. Five dollah.

Someday soon I hope to finish the room off and show pictures of my sewing table and the dresser across from the bed.


Linking up @ Tatertots & Jello

.the "L" word.

Oh, the "L" word... You are the source of many struggles for me.

No, I'm not talking about love or lust. It is to laziness that I refer. That nasty "L" word that I despise and try so desperately not to be categorized as, yet I find myself face-to-face with this awful trait more often than I'd like to admit.

Lately, I confess I have struggled with the desire to do anything but what needs to be done. I attend my jobs (all 3) faithfully and very rarely "call in." I regularly do laundry, grocery shop, feed and water the dog, put the trash out, straighten up and cook dinner.

However....

Sometimes I entitle myself to way too much "fun" spare time. Instead of loading the dishwasher, I'll run by the thrift store and browse for a good deal. Instead of sweeping the floor, I'll spend way too much time on facebook. Instead of cleaning the shower, I'll watch a recorded tv show.

I am ashamed to admit the things that sometimes get neglected around here simply because I plain don't feel like it.

I guess since I don't have to answer to my parents anymore, I've learned how to do just enough around the house to make it appear like I've put effort into it.

But I am learning that a big part of keeping my husband happy is by devoting more care and attention to our home. Not only that, but I want what I choose to do with my spare time to be honorable in God's eyes, whether I have to answer to my parents or husband or not.

There are specific things I know that I can improve on around here, and am praying...yes, literally praying that God help me overcome the allure of that nasty "L" word.

I would appreciate any prayers you could send out for me concerning this matter. Every day is a new step in my Proverbs 31 journey, and it is a big deal to me that I excel for Christ and my husband in this area of my life!

.she's special.

I am blessed to call this woman my mother. She has been such a faithful example of loyalty, kindness and selflessness. It is because of her that I learned how to sew and create. I am so thankful she has always been a Proverbs 31 woman, leading me by example. Now that I am grown and married, I can honestly say she is my best friend. She's the one I call first and the one I want all the happiness and blessings in the world for.

I love you so much, Mama. Happy Mother's Day! You're the best.

.chillin'.

It's Saturday night, and I'm on our bed with my new laptop (my way early birthday present, which I LOVE) trying to stay cool under our ceiling fan. You see, Hubs is a rational, penny-pinching conservative who doesn't believe we've hit that point in the year that the a/c should be turned on. Although we did have a day or two in the past week where the high was only the lower 50's, today and tomorrow boasts highs in the 80's! I hate sweating in my own house. A spoiled American is what I am...

Some things on my mind are:

* Summer vacation...it's so near I can almost taste it. My Summer will be spent doing more for the local magazine I work for, including more writing assignments. I am also super excited to have more time to devote to sewing and crafts. (And on a side note, can I just say that "crafting" really has come a long way and totally isn't associated with nerdiness anymore. Crafting is actually the hip thing to do right now! Who would've ever thought?!)

* Shopping...more specifically, bargain hunting. Lately, I've been hitting the jackpot at the local consignment shops and scored some really sweet Summer clothes. The thought of paying retail for something just makes me cringe now.

* Levi...my soon-to-be-here nephew. I bought him a second batch of clothes today while I was out and about. Now someone needs to have a girl because I have been seeing some of the cutest little baby girl outfits and am just waiting for a reason to buy some!

* Prayer requests: My sister's job. My friend Sarah - her Dad has an extremely rare form of cancer and will be going through surgery and chemo soon.

Thankfully, I am feeling much cooler now after sitting under our ceiling fan. My eyes are so tired, and I am looking forward to church tomorrow.

Oh, and to Bethenny Frankel, if you are reading this, the dude you hired to edit your website is definitely a good writer; however, I couldn't help but notice a pretty big grammatical error in the blog post by him that you read outloud. If you really want to hire a proofreader for your website, you should really think about hiring me. That dude may be a good writer, but you need me to edit his stuff before you post it to your site. Thank you.

Goodnight for now!

.one worth remembering.

Tonight's GNO was one for the books! Here's why:

* The evening started out with a quick dinner at Chick-fil-A, where I got hit on by a gray-haired employee who asked me what fragrance I was wearing because it was 'frantastic.' Awkwardly, I answered him - to which he so creepily replied, "Mmmm. That's nice."

* Not long after we arrived for dinner, the tornado sirens started going off and our phones started blowing up with texts and calls about hail, tornado touchdowns, taking shelter, rotation in the sky....

* We finished our meal then packed in my car to drive to the theater, where we watched Soul Surfer. Old dude cuts in line at the ticket booth to demand his money back on his tickets since we were under a tornado warning and he didn't want to stay for the flick. We mosied on into the theater, with a warning from the ticket clerk that our safe zone was the bathrooms if things got bad.

* Soul Surfer was so good. I mean...like, really good. I left feeling thankful, blessed, inspired and wanting to work-out because that girl has an amazing bod!

* After we made it out of the movies with our lives still intact and a diminished storm warning, we started feeling frisky and ventured out to TCBY. Can you say...delish?! I had a little bit of the strawberry kiwi, plain strawberry, orange sorbet, and ruby red grapefruit, no toppings. Every flavor was da bomb!

* We then went to Keri's house to watch the Girls Night Out country concert that had been recorded. We ooh'd and aww'd over Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, talked about how Reba's mouth annoys us, puked in our mouths a little whenever the Judds were shown, and sat in amazement at Carrie Underwood's version of 'How Great Thou Art.'

* We giggled A LOT. Exchanged high-fives (and missed most of the first attempts). Watched silly youtube videos. Played with Keri's dog. Acted really goofy and girly.

It was the perfect night with girlfriends!

.a shower for abby.

Yesterday, I co-hosted my sister-in-law's first baby shower! The theme was "Showers of Blessings," and the main colors were blue and yellow. We incorporated as many rubber duckies, umbrellas, and fake raindrops as we could. Oh, and the insane amounts of balloons floating around the room added just enough "whimsy" to the decor. Abby was surrounded by family, friends, and co-workers as she opened gifts for baby Levi, and there were lots of smiles, laughter and pictures taken. I picked just a few of my favorite pictures to share on my blog.

We ordered the cake from Harps grocery store. The top layer was white cake and the bottom was chocolate.

This is the mobile I made for the shower. It displayed six pictures from some of the biggest moments of Abby and Lawson's life together, cut into the shape of raindrops and hanging from doily clouds.

This is Abby's silhouette matted with a message board for Levi. It's going to travel to all of her showers and will include hand-written messages from each guest!

This punch was yummy! The funny thing is it was supposed to be blue with the foam on top resembling a bubble bath but red kool-aid was accidentally bought and we tried to make it blue by adding food coloring. It turned out purple, and all the little duckies that were supposed to be floating on the top...well, they didn't float. :-)

When the festivities were over, Abby and I were heading outside to release the balloons into the sky.

There they go! (Notice how someone's bundle of balloons got stuck around the light post? LOL)

It was a fun day that left me even more excited than ever to meet my little nephew! Only about 3 more months to go!

.spring so far.

It's been a while since I last blogged. Even though I check my followed blogs nearly every day, the desire to update mine just hasn't been there. I worry sometimes that what I'll have to say won't be interesting or I won't have any new pictures to upload, but today I reminded myself that those are not the reasons I blog. As simple as my life may be at times, it's mine to document; therefore, I've decided to recap my Spring up to this point.

Hubs and I took a trip to Little Rock to visit my sister and her husband back in March. It was a little getaway for the two of us (well, 3 of us, since we brought Simon along). Simon isn't allowed on the furniture at our house, but he is at my sister's house. Simon loves "Little Rock" because it's total vacation mode for him. He jumps up on the couch every chance he gets to be by his people, and he even got to sleep with us! Fun times for our little family.

Recently, my sewing "hobby" has turned into more of my sewing "job," and that is an exciting thing. In the past month, two different business owners have contacted me about selling/consigning in their shops. Not just that, but I've been receiving steady orders from not only friends but strangers as well -- people who stumbled across my blog or facebook page. I feel like God is blessing my sewing business, and really showing me he wants me to focus more time on it. I'm itching for Summer to get here because I'll have so much more time to do just that. I plan on making a work-at-home schedule for myself this Summer on the days that I don't have to work my other jobs. I want to not only sell locally but open my etsy shop as well. God has shown me that something great could really come from my dreams of selling the fruition of my creativity. I want to cultivate Shabby Threads into a legitimate business because I know when I have kids it can be a source of income that will allow me to stay home with my child.

I am highly considering getting highlights in my hair again. I have been natural for a while now -- over a year for sure and possibly even close to two years. My hair looks dull to me, and the awkward I'm-growing-it-out length is not helping any. I also know that I need to get on a regular workout regime, but I'm having a serious problem getting motivated. I weigh more right now than I ever have in any point in my life, and I'm not liking how certain clothes are fitting. I want to devote more time to taking care of myself, and I'm praying for motivation.

Really thinking more about how my 28th birthday is approaching in June and when Leslie and I should start "trying" for a baby. I'm praying for God's timing on all this and that Leslie and I will decide together when to start the process.

Speaking of babies... I'm going to be an aunt to a little boy! Levi William is due in late July, and I'm growing more and more anxious to meet him. He is already such a loved little boy, and poor thing is going to be spoiled rotton. He is the first grandchild for my parents, and I'm excited to see everyone get to interact with him.

I'm sure I'll think of more later that I could've included in this little recap, but for now I'll call it good. I'm going to go pray for some motivation to get some intense Spring cleaning done on this house! :-)