Long Time Comin'

All throughout my life, my mom would ask me each year what I wanted for Christmas. What parent doesn't? As I entered high school, I didn't really WANT anything. I had everything I needed and then some, so I was running out of ideas to tell her. One year, on our annual mother/daughter weekend, I found inspiration.

Kitchen dishes.

Yes, that's right... a sophomore (or junior- I can't remember) in high school wanted kitchen dishes. So, for Christmas that year, I received dishes that I had salivated over in the store. For each Christmas following, I received various household decorations and appliances.

Each Christmas, I would excitedly open my gifts... and then take them straight to the storage room. You see, I have been saving these items for my first real house. When I moved to college, I didn't take any of it with me because I wanted it to be special for my first place... with my husband.

Well, the time has come! I have FINALLY been able to use some of the items that I've had for 7+ years. It's been really exciting, and I still find them as pretty now as I did then. Of course, I had to take pictures to blog with. Who wouldn't get excited about something like this?! ; )

The rich golden rod yellow, berry red, and sage green still capture my eye. What a beautiful dish! Mom tried to give these dishes a "test run" for years. I must say, they are well worth the wait!

Mom, of course, found a crockpot to match. How fun is that?

Anyway, I was relieved when we moved in here that the color scheme was not cooler colors (such as blue, gray, or green) in the kitchen. Since it is also a pretty golden-ish color, the dishes compliment the walls nicely. I look forward to hanging some of the wall decorations I have been collecting as well.

New Furniture!

Our "house" is coming along VERY slowly... and I'm not sure how "surely"... you know the saying, "slowly but surely". Anyway, it's pretty much a disaster so far. I'm going to leave it at that though. Anyway, we had already decided to use some of our tax return to purchase new furniture. So, we did! I have taken pictures from the internet to show you our new items because I can't get a good shot or angle in this house right now. I want you to see them for how pretty they are, and someday I will repost when I feel like the environment does them justice. By the way, if you are wanting more details on the house, just send me a private message on facebook. This is as public as I am going to make things.

Take a look!

To begin, this is how we enjoyed a movie our first night here. Andrew's been using the blue chair as his recliner and the white table as his kitchen table for two months now. Sad, huh?

Here is our new kitchen table set! We love high table tops and dark wood. This little table is perfect for our little family. Someday we want a huge kitchen table for lots of kiddos to sit around, but this fits our needs right now. It's too cute for words.

I really like our living room furniture! The cutie patootie loveseat is what sealed the deal for this set! I also really like the legs on the couch and loveseat. My only concern is that Theodore will use the space to hide in when he's in trouble. Regardless, they are very comfy, and I curled up on them in the store and felt right at home. I am excited to have room for people to sit when they come over. Right now, we just have a couch, and I feel silly when people can't get comfortable in our home. I look forward to purchasing a rug to go with these... and I have my eye on a set of lamps with giraffe print shades.

Last, but not least, the husband got his recliner. The actual recliner is not as shiny as it is in this picture. It's more of a distressed look, and for a recliner, it looks pretty sharp. ; ) He's very excited about this piece, and I must admit, he looks super cozy in it. I already warned him that I do require nightly snuggle time on the couch regardless of how much he likes his recliner. Luckily for him, I enjoy curling up on my little loveseat enough to let recliner time slide.

Overall, things are becoming much more comfortable and feeling more like a home. It's the little things that count!



Welcome Home!

This blog is going to be dedicated to bragging about my amazing husband. If you read my last blog, you know that he drove 16 hours just to pick me up from the airport. He was already a hero in my eyes, and I definitely did not expect to be greeted the way I was once we arrived at the house. Check out how sweet and thoughtful he is...

On the kitchen counter, he left this sweet sign along with a blow dryer, mirror, lint roller, wash clothes, Nerds, and Sprite. He chose all of my favorites... and some things that I couldn't fit onto my carry-on and set them up ever so sweetly. I am blessed!

By the bathroom sink, he had set up everything that I would need for the week. My hair products, my facial cleansers, my toothbrush, a hand towel... everything. How cute is that?!

He also had a bouquet of flowers waiting on the dresser for me! He was a little disappointed because it was supposed to be red and yellow tulips (I love tulip bouquets), but I have assured him MANY times that I love this bouquet. The colors are so bright and peppy... and they definitely brighten the room. I am enjoying them very much!

Before church yesterday, I had Andrew snap a picture of me with my flowers.

I am so grateful to have such a caring and thoughtful husband. I realize how blessed I am, and I do not take a single ounce of his sweetness for granted. I wish that every girl got to experience the love I receive each and every day. We are all deserving of this kind of love, and I am so thankful that God has blessed me with a man who shows such deep and genuine love.

He is incredible!



Adventure of a Lifetime

Most of you have already seen pictures on facebook and read bits and pieces of what happened on my way to New York through my status updates. Very few of you know the whole story, and it's good enough to share.

On Friday, I was picked up around 2:15 at my house. I was shuttled to the airport and arrived at 4:50. I was nervously finding my way around hoping that I would reach my gate on time. I arrived at my gate around 5:20 only to find out that there was a 25 minute delay for take off. I called Andrew and told him. He assured me that if we left on time, I would have no problems making my connection in Detroit. So, I waited.

30 minutes later, we were boarding the plane. As I was stepping onto the plane, another passenger came out with her rolling bag, looked at mine, and said "You are going to have to check that, they ran out of room." Sure enough, I was going to have to check my carryon bag that I worked so hard for to avoid checking it. So, at the last minute, a guy slaps a tag on it and gives me the other portion with a handy tracking number. All should be well, right?

So, the flight goes smoothly except I was seated next to a squirrely couple who totally did not deserve the window sleep. The lady next to me was a complete grouch and slept on her husband's shoulder when she wasn't being grouchy. The man read a book the whole time and didn't look out his window once. Waste. Anyway, that's beside the point.

So, we land in Detroit with an hour for me to get to my gate. Piece of cake, right? I pulled out the handy map Andrew made for me, read some of the signs, and found a shuttle through the airport. When I exited the shuttle, I still had a ways to go. Luckily, they had people movers... except people were just standing still on them. So, I ran... and beat everyone on the people movers. By the way, I was still wearing my dress clothes and shoes from my externship that day.

So, I made it to the actual gate with 20 minutes to spare. I texted Andrew and let him know I was there. I was so excited! I sat down to breathe... that's when they came over the speaker and quickly said, "The 9:56 flight to Ithaca has been cancelled. Go to Gate 2 for rebooking." WHAT?!?! How can it be cancelled?!

So- I sprinted back across the airport to Gate 2. I saw a flight boarding for Elmira, NY which would work very well. Nope, no such luck. There was no way I was getting on that flight. Ugh.

So, here is where the fun really began...

I joined literally hundreds of people in line. You see, they also cancelled about five other flights. At first, there was no word as to why the flights were cancelled. No one was coming around talking to us, and there was only one girl at the counter for rebooking. Finally, a person in line caught someone's attention and demanded to know why the flight to Ithaca was cancelled. My ears perked up, because I was also very interested. I was on the phone with Andrew, and he said the weather was fine, so I knew that wasn't the reason. After a few minutes, she came back and announced that our flight had been cancelled because there was no crew. How in the world do you have a flight booked and NO CREW shows up? Needless to say, this did not make people happy. Weather is one thing, lack of professionalism is another.

Regardless, I spent about 3.5 hours in this line waiting to get to the rebooking desk. For the first 2.5 hours, there was only one girl working the desk. When it was finally my turn, I approached the man who was going to decide my fate. But wait, he had to take a phone call first... from his girlfriend... who he "aww babied and I'm so sorry-ed" because he wasn't coming home for a while because he had to "deal with people whose flights were cancelled". I was NOT happy. Let me tell you, I did not ask for this to happen. So, any bit of sweetness I had in me was gone at this point.

When he finally got off of the phone, he told me that there were no more hotel rooms available for the night and assured me that I would be fine staying in the terminal. Great. He also told me that my flight had been rebooked for 10:20 the next day, but he added that he could not promise that the flight would go out. Therefore, there was a good chance I could be there until Sunday. Wonderful. He then tried to send me on my merry way. No way. I asked him for food vouchers as I had not had anything to eat since breakfast. He sighed, and after some coaxing, handed me some vouchers. Then I had to request a blanket and a pillow. Afterall, I was already at home sweet home. When he came back with the blanket, he told me that they were out of pillows. I exclaimed, "Of course you are." Not nice, but I was not happy. I then asked him where I could find my luggage that I had to check at the last minute. He asked for my tag, scanned it, and told me that it could not be located. OF COURSE. He told me that I would have to leave the terminal to go to baggage claim to find it. TSA was already gone for the day, so this meant if I left, I couldn't get back in. I wanted to find my luggage though, so off I went.

When I arrived in baggage claims, I waited an hour in that line. When it was my turn, the lady scanned my tag... and my luggage still could not be located. Oh my gosh. Seriously? So, she called out over the speakers and requested that everyone keep their eye out for it. She then sent me to belt 5 to wait.

At this point, I pulled out my paper thin blanket compliments of Delta airlines, and set up camp next to an electrical outlet so I could plug in my dying phone. I then waited... and waited... and waited. Oh, and did I mention that the ONE food place that was still opened closed as I was waiting in line to ask about my luggage? So, yep, you guessed it... no food still.

A couple hours later, I heard the belt siren go off, and I jumped up. When I saw that bright orange pop up on the belt, I was so relieved! I ran over and snatched it right up.

A guy then came over to me and asked me if this was my luggage. I said that it was. He then said that it was a good thing that it was such a unique and bright color or else I would have probably never seen it again. Wanna know why? It didn't have the tag on it. OF COURSE. See that little tag? That's the only identification on it... and that was put on it to send to belt 5. It did not have any information on it to go to Ithaca... or where it came from. Had I not left the terminal to find it, it would still be lost... and had that guy not taken the time to look a little harder, I would not have it. I thanked him several times.

Now that I had my luggage, I left the floor by belt 5 and found a row of seats in a great location...

1. They were in front of the night security desk
2. They were also in front of the bathrooms
3. They were right by an electrical outlet

After all of this, I still had some smiles in me. I was exhausted, but there was no way that I was going to sleep. I mean, afterall, I was all alone with only a few employees of the airport. No way were my eyes closing.

A couple hours later, I was still waiting.

Luckily, I had Andrew to keep me company. My main concern at this time was food. I still had not eaten, and I was getting very hungry. Around 4 or so, a sweet lady appeared from virtually nowhere and asked me if I would like some water. I quickly exclaimed "YES!" Before I knew it, she was back with a bottle of lukewarm water and several packages of airplane pretzels. Boy, these things have never tasted so good! I was very appreciative. 30 minutes later, this lady appears out of nowhere again with a banana. Her random acts of kindess definitely did not go unnoticed!

Around 6:10 on Saturday morning, my adventure in the airport drew to an end. This is not a surprise ending, because most of you know what happened, but...

My amazing husband came to my rescue! When he found out that my flight was cancelled... and that I was not promised a flight the next day... he immediately made the decision to drive 8 hours to get me. Pretty amazing, huh?! So, not only were we apart for a month, but he also rescued me from the airport. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was to see him! It did not even matter that we had both been up for 24 hours and still had an 8 hour drive ahead of us, just being with each other made EVERYTHING worth it.

We ended up being awake for 40 hours (Andrew) and 38 hours (me- due to the time difference) by the time all was said and done. Crazy, yes. I didn't even do that in middle school! Like I said, it was absolutely worth it. I am SO thankful to have a husband who didn't think twice about coming to get me. He also stayed on the phone with me for the majority of the time to make sure that I was safe. He's incredible- and I am grateful!

So, that's the story! It was absolutely insane, but it makes for a great story now.

New Hair

I think that I have finally gotten my hair to the point where I want it... and I love it! It's fun, sassy, AND professional. Perfect combination for my lifestyle!

Holy longness! This is what my hair looked like at this time last year. WOW!

This is what my hair looks like now. I didn't realize how much more red shows in it when it's short. Oh well... I have learned to embrace the red.

Love the stacked cut! It is so much fuller in person.

Anyway, I think I'll keep this style!



It's a ball... it's a cat... it's Theodore!

My goofy cat sleeps in some of the weirdest positions. Last weekend, we were curled up on the couch watching movies, and Theodore curled himself up so tightly that he could almost pass for a ball. Not really, but he was awfully curled up.

I love this last one. His little curled up rabbit feet made me laugh. Mind you, this is a 13 pound cat curled up this tiny. He is a goofball!

I know I post about my cat a lot, but he keeps me entertained... and he makes me smile. For being "just a cat", he brings a whole lot of joy to my life!

Meet Fiona (and Flora)

Last night, I became aware of a very alarming situation. Fred was missing.

Who is Fred? Fred was my flashdrive. Yes, I named him. You see, when I first started grad school, I had a horrible habit of leaving Fred in the clinic at school. I named him to make him more personal. It worked. I haven't left Fred since then. Sadly, Fred could no longer handle the stress of grad school and my capstone project. He is now MIA.

I can think of two possibilities:

1. Fred was thrown away (by me) with a stack of papers.

2. Theodore's jealously became too much for him, and Theodore removed Fred from the situation.

Whatever the case, Fred contained my entire grad school (and clinical) career, and now that is gone. Luckily, Andrew and I switched computers at the beginning of the fall semester. With that, Andrew moved all of Fred's contents onto the computer. So, I've only lost last semester and the beginning of this semester. On top of that, all of my important assignments (my research paper and capstone project) were sent via email with each draft. So, I still have those. Today, I purchased Fred's replacement(s).

This is Fiona.

Am I particularly fond of the bubblegum, middle school pink? No, but I thought this color choice would nicely contrast my dark desk just in case Fred is missing because of me. You see, Fred was a rich black. So, I decided to take that factor out of the equation.

I sure hope Fiona is a bit more loyal than Fred.

This is Flora. I needed a smaller flashdrive to use for an upcoming video assignment. I choose little Flora for the same reasons... easy to spot, hopefully hard to lose.

Anyway, I was very proud of myself. I handled the situation fairly calmly. A couple of friends kept me from shedding too many tears... and I didn't say a single foul word (not even in my head) throughout the entire ordeal.

Afterall, what can be done about it now? Nothing.

So... here's to new beginnings! : )



Greenest of Green

I told myself that since I am moving in May, that I would not buy plants this spring. I lied.

While grocery shopping today, at Wal-Mart of all places, I saw the greenest of all green plants screaming my name. Yes, I had no option but to purchase this lovely plant. It was a magnetic force that I could not resist.

See what I mean? Could you resist this pop of color?

Who knew Wal-Mart could carry green plants. I was astonished.

Best purchase of the day. I smile each time I look at it.

What happy little spring faces.

Ahh. It's perfect.

I love, love, love flowers. They can lift my mood like none other. If I had it my way, I'd have a bouquet of fresh flowers in my kitchen or living room at all times. This little purchase, believe it or not, relieved so much stress that I've had due to school and every day life.

Yes, I love flowers that much. They truly are one of God's greatest creations.

Exciting Step!

I feel like my little business has grown a lot since I first started. At first, I was creating orders for close family members. Then, with the start of my facebook site, friends started requesting items. I then expanded my circle to the world of Etsy. I have shipped orders to all the corners of the United States and to various places in Canada. All of this has been exciting, but I didn't really expect the next step to come so quickly.

Let me backtrack. The other day, my friend and I were on a walk. It was a gorgeous day, and we decided to walk around downtown. We came across this adorable boutique, and we both wanted to go in. When we walked through the door, I told my friend that I wanted to run a shop like that... or at least sell my stuff in one. There were cute bows, pretty jewelry, fun accessories, and consignment prom dresses. I began talking with the owner, and I brought up the subject of selling my items.

She asked me to bring some of my stuff in. I decided to save time, and I sent her a link to my facebook page and my Etsy site. She emailed back saying she was interested in purchasing six feather combs to sell with the prom dresses she currently has. Since I am moving in May, I opted out of a consignment deal. So, that means she wants to see how well these items sell before she invests more money into my products.

Anyway, YAY! I am very excited. I spent a little bit of my afternoon crafting these pieces. I will take them to her on Tuesday. I hope they do well in her shop. Most of all, I hope she does well with her shop. It's adorable!!

Take a look:

These were the colors she requested in the price range she felt comfortable with. I am so, so excited to see if these do well. It would be nice if I could fulfill another order for her before I move to New York. Once in New York, I hope to find another little shop to sell my stuff in.

YAY for success! Thanks for letting me brag a bit. : )

Ummm... Now What?!

So, tonight I was putting together a package to send to Andrew. I was taping the box together and making sure it was secure. I flipped it over to start filling it, left to get the items I'm shipping, and came back to this.

I know that he misses Andrew, but really?

As I type this, he is sound asleep in the box. I guess he really thinks he's being shipped to New York.

I do know this... he is not going.

And- it's really hard to pack with him in the box.