It’s the thought that counts.

So I cooked up an awesome plan for how I was going to give Chris his birthday present. Let me just start out by saying…I had the best intentions.

I had a friend from church build him a much needed workbench for the garage. I figured it was about time he had a space in our house that was just ‘his’.

I schemed up this really great plan to have the garage all cleaned out and the workbench put in its place while Chris was out of town so I could shout SURPRISE as I threw open the garage door when he returned. 

My SURPRISE plans were ruined a bit when Chris came home early from one of his out of town business trips….

..and then ruined even more when I had to stay at work late the evening the carpenter was going to come over to take the measurements. I had to spill the beans and tell Chris what his present was, then ask him to re-arrange the garage a bit to make space for the guy who was coming over in, oh… 15 minutes. Well, no pain no gain, I guess. But I had that Chris had to do work for his own present.

I was so sad that my surprise plan never came to fruition, but Chris was still excited and very surprised that I thought of that as a gift. Yay me!

Less than a week later, the bench arrived… and we had to do some more rearranging in the garage.

I am completely embarrassed by the state of my garage.

Just a side note, we are preparing for a huge garage sale to benefit a missions trip to Mexico (more on that later), so that accounts for all of the ‘to-get-rid-of’ piles covering the floor.

Also in our garage? All of the unfinished furniture projects that I have going on…. like this guy! (ps. I am still open to suggestions on what to do with it)!

and yes, that is a Michael Jackson Thriller album in one of those boxes…

I know you were eye-balling it.IMG_4201 Thank goodness we have an attic. We keep a lot of keepsake things and holiday decorations in large rubbermaid containers up there so they stay out of the way when we don’t need them.

IMG_4203

Here is the new work-bench.

IMG_4208

I specifically requested the shelf underneath for added storage.

I found some plastic storage bins at a thrift store that will fit perfectly on that middle shelf and hold all sorts of things like tape, paint brushes, sandpaper, and small power tools.

The bench is also free-standing (not build-in), so we can take it to our next home when the time comes.

IMG_4209

He’s happy, I’m happy…and now our tools are happy!

another birthday….they just keep coming around every year!

No, it’s not my birthday (yet). Chris turned 28 this past weekend.

I know, you are probably thinking we are youngins.

In my mind, I’m thinking “we are nearing 30 without any kiddos yet”!

Anyway, there was a birthday, so we got a little of the family together to celebrate.

More importantly, I attempted a cheesecake.

Yup…. THIS girl made a cheesecake….from scratch!

In fact, I made 2 – one for Chris’ birthday lunch with my family, and another to share later with our small group.

Here is the proof:

IMG_4191

(the other cheesecake that I made didn’t even crack…. scouts honor!)

IMG_4192 When I told Chris I wanted to make a dessert for his birthday bash, and asked him what his favorite was…for some reason I was expecting something like “a box mix of yellow cake with confetti frosting”.

Instead I got ‘apple pie’ or ‘cheesecake with strawberry topping’.

grrr, those desserts weren’t already in my itsy-bitsy repertoire of ‘can-do’ food things.

Guess I’ll have to try something new. After all, it is for the love of my life.

IMG_4193

IMG_4194

um, let me just say that I absolutely hate profile shots of myself, but I recently read a post from another blog (sorry, I couldn’t find the link again to give you props!) where she talked about how she is going to stop deleting the photos of herself that she doesn’t like… because then there wouldn’t be any photos of her at all.

And I find myself doing the same thing -deleting photos and being very selective about which photos I allow others to see, even my husband, because I am so self conscious about how I look.

Well, NO MORE!

_________________________________________

There is also another birthday boy in the house….

Baxter will be 6 months old this month!

In honor, I thought I’d share a few photos of our growing boy

IMG_4136

Chris and my brother at my parent’s house.

IMG_4147

IMG_4151  

scratching.

IMG_4152

He’s getting so scruffy.

Time to get him stripped – I don’t want him to start looking like this.

praying for daylight

I don’t know about you, but about this time every year I fall into a little ‘funk’… most likely due to a plethora of cold, windy days and a paucity of sunshine.

No comments from those of you who live up north, where there is actually snow on top of more snow and ice on the ground for long periods of time….I know you deal with way more in the ‘winter’ department than we do here in south-eastern Virginia, but  hey – it’s still chilly and gloomy here!!!

Right around the time change (er…spring forward?) I start to accomplish more in the evenings. On most days in the winter, after working a 10 hour day and getting home around 6:30 or 6:45, there seems like very little time between stepping in the front door and laying my head on the pillow (keep in mind my bedtime is about 9 or 9:30). Now that there is still a bit of sunlight in the sky when I leave work, I feel rejuvenated. I accomplish much more in that same three hours after coming home.

If you are like me, and slowly coming out of your winter funk, then your house might look a bit like mine….

Spring Explosion!

Here’s a tour of some of my favorite spring things

IMG_4075

The pedestal table was actually a curb-side find while on my way home from work one day. I had left early because of some really terrible tummy issues and thought I would just barely be able to make it home. Of course, that would be the day that I see this beauty at the curb, with the nuts and screws taped nicely together, ready for someone just like me to drive by. Talk about poor timing. I was in so much pain, but I wanted this table SO badly….I actually scraped some of the paint off of my car trying to cram load the table in the back seat of my little compact.

Of course I prefer real flowers over fake ones, but with my work schedule (and my lacking green thumb), fake ones will have to do.

Plus, they start out cheerful…. and they stay cheerful!

The green floral chair was my first purchase for our new home (way back in June of last year) from World Market

It is actually the piece that I designed our entire living room around

Well, that and all of the other wonderful furniture pieces gifted to us by Chris’ parents. Without the furniture they loaned/gave us before their move to Germany we would have…um, the green chair pictured above….and, um the tables I rescued out of the trash.

IMG_4077

I have had these green and blue striped pillows with the buttons since college, and they seem to roam around the house in various places throughout the year. 

IMG_4079 

IMG_4081

Can you tell I love green?

Here our the wonderful built-ins that I have become spoiled by.

Where else would I display all of my pretty green things?

IMG_4084 

IMG_4085

IMG_4086

These are two linen paintings that I fell in love with from a consignment store.

Unfortunately, Chris does not share my affinity for them; not for lack of trying – I have even quizzed him and demanded that he tell me what he doesn’t like about them and, in turn, I have proudly described all of the things I do love about them, to no avail.

IMG_4088

IMG_4090 

I’m not sure how much this giant framed mirror would have cost me at full price/brand new, but I found it buried behind hideous pictures of pastel teddy bears at a thrift store for a measly $10.

Chris wasn’t too happy about this one either, not because he doesn’t like it, but because I purchased it before we even had a home.

Hey, when you find it at a thrift store, you’ve gotta make a quick executive decision!

IMG_4091

Our ‘entry-way’, which is really just the beginning of the big great-room.

 IMG_4092 IMG_4094 

IMG_4095 IMG_4097

The mirror is a thrift store find, the candle holders and candles (complete with ribbon) are from our wedding – I didn’t even change a thing, and Push-up Duck (an explanation on his name might come at a later date) is from… I don’t remember where.

Trash to treasure

Remember these fellas?

furniture for blog 002

Well, my friend Tiffany and I were driving around town when we snagged them off of the curb, about to be tossed! I think it is important to note that Tiff. was about 7 or 8 months pregnant at the time… what a true friend!

Well, it has taken me until now (um… a year later) to actually do anything with them.

Baxter, get out of the way!!

IMG_4063 

IMG_4069