Nursery Sneak-Peak!

As I said before, my mom has been here helping to get things ready for BABY ... (she had to leave yesterday and I miss her so much already!) I told her the only reason I was letting her go back to Mississippi is because I knew she would be back in a couple of weeks when Raleigh Grace makes her debut into the world!

She helped me clean the baby furniture and get it all ready...

After she left, I did Raleigh Grace's FIRST load of laundry-- I washed most of her newborn and 0-3 month clothes, some socks, washcloths, towels, sheets, changing pad cover, mattress cover, and changing pad liners.  I still need to wash her blankets and some more little things but it was so fun washing and drying and hanging up/folding all her cute little things and feeling just one step closer to being ready for her arrival any day! :)

little bitty clothes :)

what a blessed little girl already!

never have I ever seen so many pink things! :) <3 it!

Since I washed the sheets and such I found it was an appropriate time time to "dress" the crib and changing table!  Its coming together slowly but surely and get excited because I am going to show you a few sneak peaks!! The bedding just came yesterday also and I really LOVE it! The bumper is oober soft but the sheet is one of those that after you wash it it wrinkles times five thousand! I doubt I will ever have time to iron a crib sheet for heavens sake! ha!  I will be reviewing it online since it wasn't cheap but that's really my only complaint.  It really is beautiful in the nursery! (I am not posting full pics because like I said in an earlier post her nursery is NO WHERE near finished but maybe I will get it all done before her first birthday ha! I'm joking but not really ha!)

Feeling super motivated (or maybe intense nesting!?) I also decided to break out our fall decor and do a little fall cleaning!!! It has finally been feeling a lot like fall here in NC lately and I am loving it!! Hubs seemed a little concerned/surprised that I was already breaking out the Fall decorations but like I told him-- If I didn't do it now then it might not get done until after Halloween (been there done that!) ha! :) I haven't taken any pics of that so I will try to get some on here soon :)

Overall, very fun, productive day!! :) Now for a few sneak-peak pics of the nursery ;) (all pics from this post taken with the trusty iphone, sorry for the somewhat mediocre pic quality!)

dont mind the mess and her carseat in the background ha

Ta-Dah! :)

Things I wish I were better at....

couponing

blogging (and keeping up with it)

finishing reading a book

cooking (i'm SO craving THIS right now!!)

via

cleaning

making crafty things...diy? (project for this summer: learn how to make hair-bows!)

from Etsy

decorating 

saving money/ sticking to a budget

organizing and staying organized

{and} getting rid of things.  I am seriously so bad at this...

there you have it... do you think I can perfect some skills this summer??? we shall see :)

{all pics from google images unless otherwise noted}

Confessions

There are some things that I feel like I need to get off my chest so to speak.  So this is going to be just that!


1)Although it bugs the mess out of me that K plays video games for hours on end with his friends "online,"... I find it extreamly awesome that they can play the same game and talk while doing it all through the xbox360.  I secretly wish that there were "games" that I could play on there with all my girlfriends while getting to chat it up.  Sounds amazing!!! (and yes, K will find this out for the first time reading my blog- which he does often!)


2) I have not been a very good housewife lately.  It seems since I started teaching that that is all I have time for these days.  I come home completely wiped out and exhausted and honestly I am too dang lazy to cook a meal.  I miss cooking for the hubs.and keeping the house clean.  One of my goals is to make a weekly meal plan and stick to it!


3)On cleaning-- I don't think I was ever very good at keeping a clean house even before I was married.  I was better at it back then because I only had the mess of one not two but this I admit is something I need to work on.  I am going to try and hop back on the FlyLady bandwagon- it really is a great SIMPLE plan to keep your house looking great if you just stick to it- and she emails you what you should be doing for the day/week. 


4)I miss going to church every week at the same time and building community with those people we go to church with.  I am so excited about K's new job (='s better schedule) and pray that it will provide many opportunities in the near future for us to grow deeper, together, in the Lord and his will for our lives!

5) I am terrible at budgeting but I try... and I really do try... but I still stink at it.  Anyone out there have any miracles that I should try out? I waste so much time stressing about such things. 

And now that I got that off my chest I am going to go clean this house and cook some dinner for my hubby!! Hope you have a great weekend! :) xoxo

****update****

after I posted this post I realized that Dandelion Wishes does "Friday Confessional"... nope its not Friday but thought it would be fun to link up anyways... this is my first time linking up! :)

miscellany monday!

write some randoms, then link up with Carissa at Lowercase Letters :)


1) Last night when the hubby got off work we were supposted to go to a friends Christmas party but he got off super late and by the time he showered it was 8:30 and we still had tons to do before today (and leaving town later this week).  We decided to get a quick dinner at Chilis -- we both got dressed semi-nicely and enjoyed a great simple date before getting to work!

Margarita chicken... decent- not my fav.

2) we are STILL writing Thank You's from our wedding! We were so BLESSED by so many people giving us awesome gifts it just seems like we can't seem to finish- we WILL this week becuase I refuse to send our Christmas Cards out without finishing the Thank You's first... so yea, thanks keeping me busy too!

3) I had to take my car into the shop today and drop it off :( SAD!  Hopefully I will get it back beginning of next year.  Now I am driving a seabring... Can't say its my kind of car lol.

4) We are STILL not done with Christmas shopping.... enough said.  (This year we are shopping online for 2 reasons. 1- I don't feel like messing with the crowds 2-this way we can ship everything without having to go to the post office- 2 birds with one stone right?)

5)My house will NOT get clean and stay clean and it is driving me C-R-A-Z-Y!!!
We leave for NC soon and I am wanting so badly to have it clean before we go so we can return to a nice house!

6) We are SOO excited about going to NC for Christmas! We will celebrate this Christmas JUST like we started it 2 years ago!! (K and I met on Christmas Eve!) Wow, I can not believe it has been that long but at the same time it seems like we have been together for 10 years :)

Top 2 Tuesday... Cleaning/ Organizing Tips

Actually, I am pretty horrible at keeping a clean house despite my desire to.  We aren't dirty here but just a little messy, consistently.  So here goes:

1) In my attempt to get on task, and not have to clean everything in one day i visit this trusty website called Fly Lady.  It really is AMAZING!! It sends you a daily email with what you should be doing on that day and it also gives you goals for the month, cleaning tips, etc.  It is FREE and SOO worth your time! It will also switch areas every week to keep your whole house organzied and clean :)

2) I love the clorox wipes but I am with many of you wanting to use something non-toxic.  I have been using the "Greenworks" products which are all natural and I love them! They are gently priced (2-5 dollars) and work great! I think I started using them when I had a coupon... thats how they getcha! :)

Head on over to Taylor's blog and link up with your favorite tips!

One Week!

The past couple of days have been wonderful.

Yesterday I had an interview at Premiere Academy (an early childhood development center here in Dallas. I think that went well but I am just merely a little frustrated that I feel that my lack of experience might hurt me. It would be a 2 year commitment and a 9:30am-6:30pm job. wheph! If this is not the job for me or if it is, I am still asking for God's guidance and his will to be done. He has provided for me my whole life, even more abundantly than I could have imagined and I just pray that this is all for his glory! I will keep ya'll posted and again, thanks for your prayers! Its such a joy to be surrounded by so many believers that I know are there for me even when I do not see them on a daily basis.

Last night while Karl was working I got to meet with 2 amazing girls who also happened to be recently engaged within the last few months. We had a great time talking about how God is working in our lives and our relationships, telling romantic stories and just having a fun time. Oh and good food too. Yummy BJ's!

Today Karls ring finally came!! YAY!!! BUT.... we missed it and wont be able to pick it up at the POBox until tomorrow because it came certified mail and we were at lunch when the mailman came. BOO! So thats TWICE that we have missed the mail coming- and both of our rings. ha. So I guess on the agenda tomorrow is to go pick that up. Hopefully its all he ever dreamed of (because I'm so sure that he has been dreaming about his wedding band ha!- not!) and that it fits on his finger.

Lunch was amazing today. I FINALLY got to hang out with some of my favorite IBM people!

(this is a pic of one of my besties, Dana, oh how I had missed her!)

It had been tooooo long! And to make things better we went to my favorite deli- Hang Out in Coppell! :-D wahoo! So ... all in all... wonderful day. However, I really missed my daughter, the fry master :( Sadness. Come back to me love!

Well the real countdown is on!!! 7 Days...!!! And there are still several last minute things that I would like to do. I would like to do a little shopping... im not completely happy with the outcome of the shoes I have, so I might take another look at some other stores. We need to finish our vows. Make dinner reservations. CLEAN MY HOUSE!! figure out how I am going to do my hair... and get my nails and toes done... duh! :) I get to pamper myself for this right?! Any suggestions are more than welcome and appreciated.

Happy Friday to all and have a WONDERFUL weekend!!

Stuff, Stuff EVERYwhere!

Wow!! I have realized that I have a lot of STUFF! shoes, clothes, purses, books, crafty stuff, decor, etc etc etc.!!!! AHHHH its going to make me crazy!

What started a couple of days ago as "cleaning out my closet" has now become, "clean out my closet, dresser drawers, room, guest room, and anything else my ADD mind comes across!" -- what a nightmare! A little side note to my soon to be hubby- I LOVE YOU! A Lot! and man you have no idea what I have been through just to try to move over so we can have our house, not my house. I can not wait to share my life with you!! :)

So yea, thats about all I have been doing all day today, and deep down I really wonder if I am getting anything done. I mean, I know I am but it just seems like sometimes I am just re-arranging my junk. ha.

Went and had a nice little work-out today, first time in quite awhile and it sure felt nice. Going to plan on making 2 days in a row tomorrow unless for some reason I can't get close enough to being "done" with picking up/ cleaning up/ organizing... well, you get the idea. I can NOT wait till I'm done with this!

At the end of the day here is my progress:

-closet floors completely clean minus shoes and that jazz

-1/2 of my closet empty and closet shelves organized!

-3 empty dresser drawers

-guest closet COMPLETELY cleaned out, and now completely filled with my winter and professional clothes/ suits/ etc, and with two- three drawer plastic organizers (4 1/2 drawers full of clothes/ stuff)

-Tons of bags of trash, about 5 empty boxes, and a huge box thats overflowing with clothes and shoes to give away- yay! this has been needing to happen for some time now!

I'm not quite as far along as I wish I were but thats what tomorrow is for- to hopefully unpack my 2 suitcases from living on the road (Guatemala, Houston, North Carolina, all summer); wash a thousand loads of laundry and actually put it away- not in a basket! Clean kitchen, finish removing last bit of clutter from guest room, my room and clean the bathroom and under the sink.

Also, I can not leave this out:

Today is Daddy and Sonja's 20th anniversary!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! I love you both, and Daddy I really miss you today, as does Sonja. I can't wait to see you one day!

This time of my life sure is hard for me, not having my daddy here with me. My whole life I have been looking forward to daddy walking me down the isle, and sure, he still will but not physically. Thats been the cause of a lot of my emotional rollercoaster-ness. I'm trying to be strong! Just praying for Gods presence!

On top of all that, today my fiance had his "going away party" and I just hated that I couldnt be there. As he was telling me what people were telling him, and telling him goodbye and all that it kinda got me all down in the dumps, which is weird! I'm not leaving him, ha! Good ol wacky emotions. Anyways, I'm so excited about starting our life!!

Blessed (in more ways than one) !

Okay so first off I really do not want to get in the habit of only writing every two days. but here goes again...

Yesterday was quite a productive day! I think that I have been so excited about getting married and having a new roommate that I woke up yesterday at 9am, and happily jumped out of bed and got to work. If you know me at all... well... yah, thats NOT me ha! So by getting to work I mean I went to my office/junk room/extra bedroom and got to cleaning out the closet that was still full of boxes from when I bought my house over a year ago. Why didn't someone just come over and throw that stuff out for me? Obviously I haven't missed it in the past year so why would I now... anyways, story of my sentimental/pack-rat life! So now that the closet is cleaned out (cheering!) the room is a complete train wreck!! Not only that but so is my hall and everywhere around the room. I guess you have to make a bigger mess before really cleaning up, or at least thats my story and I'm stickin to it! So yea, that room is still a work in progress- My goal is to completely clean out that closet to use to store my out of season clothing, because to be completely honest, I have been really living in my house -- living- to the full extent of the meaning of that word! So where will the soon to be hubby put his things... well thats the issue I am trying to resolve. By 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon I had had enough of that for the day.

Met one of my sweet YL girls for lunch and went shopping after- Garden Ridge occupied me for about an hour and after thinking long and hard about some purchases (mainly new patio furniture) I decided that I would "wait and think about it". That might not seem so productive- but thats huge progress for my impulsive buying habits that I am trying to break- or at least get a better hold on. Welcome to married life right?! ha! So I have to share with you- and vent just a little about this... (and sorry Jen if I sound like I am coping you but this hit me before I even read your blog ha) So its August right? and early August at that... but I walk into G.R. and this is what I am happily greeted with:

Clearly I wasn't the only one baffled by this because the lady that was walking in at the same time as me stopped, starred, looked and me and we both threw our arms up at the same time. Could this really be true!? Im all for planning ahead... but really people? Almost 5 months ahead!? No thank you! I would still like to be laying by the pool without thinking about which colorful Christmas tree I should be purchasing (none this color, thanks!) What are your thoughts on this?

Moving on.. . I met with another one of my wonderful YL girls, and we went to our place. And you wont be able to understand my obsession with "this place"... until you have had it! Its the BEST thing ever... Yogurt Land!! Anyways... here is a sample of my work :)

We had a wonderful time catching up- and I am still shocked that one of my YL babies is going off to COLLEGE this year, wow!

So, yea! That was my day pretty much and of course ended it with about a 3 hour convo on the phone with the fiance ;) ahhh i just love him!!

And all that just to catch you up with yesterday!? So just for your reading pleasure, I wont kill your eyes and Ill keep today short. Its days like today that I don't enjoy posting much on anyways because I'm a little embarrassed... It was a very lazy day! I did meet up with my dear, dear friend Tara. It was a very bittersweet day with her, we had a blast together, as always, BUT she is leaving me to go to Jordan (yes, the middle east- not the guy) for a FULL YEAR! I said my goodbyes, came home and got ready for dinner with another wonderful friend (wow! just writing about all of them reminds me how VERY blessed I am with some of the best friends in the world, and I'm not just saying that!)

Lori and I had a wonderful dinner with some of the best service ever! ha! It seemed like we were both having sorta rough nights but the moment we saw each other it was all better. We caught each other up on life. We talked wedding plans and shes a year up on me (being happily married since last summer) and she gave me some great advice, and just tips on married life in general. I love everything about her. I really believe she is my sister - and still to this day believe that God placed her in my life two years ago and had prepared us for each other. She was going through some of the same issues I was back then, and its neat to see Gods work in her life to prepare me in my ways of life. She had a short engagement, and is happily married to an amazing man! She is now mentoring me through my engagement and marriage. You go Lori! You go God!! So blessed!