count it all joy!

I don’t know about you, but I am pretty excited to see February go! Why you ask? Well, February has been quite an interesting month for me…car wise that is.

Earlier this month, on one of the most brutally cold days we’ve had (it was around 15 below if I remember) my lovely little car battery decided that it was just going to bite the dust as I was trying to start it up to drive home from work. Thankfully one of my kind co-workers spent 20 plus minutes helping me jump start my car to get home (yes, it was THAT dead, usually it only takes like 5 minutes, EKK!). My handy dandy hubby and I went to buy a new battery, and he was able to change it out himself (thankfully!). About a month before my car battery died, Scott’s had died and my father-in-law taught the hubs how to change them out! What can I say, this Minnesota winter has been brutal on car batteries, and with both our vehicles being around 5 years old it was time to change them both. Bummer that it happened so close to each other, but that’s kind of how it worked out, such is life! After that little hiccup, it had been smooth sailing…until this morning.

I was pulling out of my driveway on my way to work early this morning and my car just felt weird as I was driving it. It was making a weird noise and something seemed off to me. Now, I don’t know you about but I am totally clueless when it comes to cars! I never know what should make noise, what sounds normal/abnormal, and so on and so forth. I pulled quickly over to the side to check my front tire and it looked fine to me so I kept driving. As I pulled off my side street on to the main road the noise got REALLY bad and I just knew something wasn’t right so I decided to turn around and take the husband’s car instead of my car to work. (Side note: this is when it’s REALLY nice that he now works from home!) I was still right by my house so it only took me about 2 minutes to get back home and once I pulled into the garage I went to look again at that same tire and it was totally flat as a pancake! YIKES! Not how I envisioned my morning going at all!

At this point I knew that I had two choices, I could either let myself get really frustrated and annoyed with the situation, or I could choose to laugh it off and count it all joy. As I was thinking about all this stuff God gently reminded me in my heart what it says in James 1: 2-4, and it was just what I needed to be reminded of in that moment! Love how He does that!

James 1: 2-4 (MSG): “Consider it a sheet gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all side. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

I decided to not this situation that was thrown at me from the enemy ruin my day or steal my joy. I began to laugh it off as I switched out of my car into my husband’s. As I was driving to work and spending time praying and talking with my sweet heavenly Father (as I do every morning) my joy became fuller! Instead of choosing to complain and give voice to all the things that I felt went wrong this morning, the Lord instead prompted on me to give thanks for all the things that went right, so that’s exactly what I did.

I started listing off all the things that I was thankful for about this situation:

-I am so thankful that my tire went flat right by my house instead of on the freeway, or at work would I would have to try and change to the spare. (Lord knows that would have been REALLY bad!)

-I am so thankful that I was completely safe and sound in getting my vehicle home and that it happened to go flat perfectly at the right time.

-I am so thankful that I was able to swap cars with my husband and not be delayed in any way in getting to work.

-I am so thankful that my husband is working for home so that I could take his car and that today wasn’t a day that he needed to go into the office.

-I am so thankful that we have two vehicles that are (usually) in full working condition and that each time we run into an emergency we have a back up to rely on.

-I am so thankful that we have the finances to go buy a new tire tonight (in cash, not credit) and that we do not have to sweat out how to cover the cost of the repair. I know many people aren’t in that position and I am so thankful for the blessings we have!

In every challenge that we face, we always have the option to choose our attitude, as well as choosing how we’ll respond to adversity that we are dealing with. Let me be the first to say that I am not perfect!! There are WAY too many times when I choose the wrong attitude. I automatically get frustrated and start complaining, doing the whole “oh poor me, I don’t deserve this” thing and so on, and so forth. However, I am thankful that God never gives up on me! He is always working gently to correct and remind me of the things I need to change in my life and I am thankful that He was quick to show me this morning the right way to deal with this situation. It’s so awesome to be His child!

With all that said, here’s hoping the rest of this week is less eventful!!!! :)

flashback friday

Even at a young age I understood the importance of having fashionable accesories.  :)

I hope you all have a great Friday!



sitting pretty

As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, this past weekend the husband and I spent some time working on finishing up our loft.   Over the past year we have really been narrowing down what we wanted the space to be like and it’s now it’s really finally all coming together.  We started off with one simple bookshelf and from there it has grown into one of my most favorite areas in our house!  You should check out some of my previous loft posts to see how much it has changed over the past year.

Over the weekend, we went to Target and bought the final bookshelf, side table & lamp, as well as a desk for the loft.  We had previously had a desk in there, but my husband now works from home and we had to move the desk that we had in the loft in our bedroom for him to use for work.   Gosh, he sure knows how to ruin my décor! (Just kidding!)

 Of course, since we had a desk again we needed a new chair for it.  Now, I don’t know about you but I am not a fan of the clunky, unattractive, standard office desk chairs that you would usually gravitate towards.  I wanted to think outside the box a bit and find a cute, pretty chair to match my loft style!!  I have never done a chair revamp before, but I have always wanted to try one and I figured no better time than the present to try.  I didn’t think it would be too hard, and it really wasn’t!

So, with this in mind, I trekked out to my local thrift stores in hunt of the perfect chair to use as a desk chair.   It took me a few stops, but I finally found one that I love.  I wanted something with a wooden back, and this little baby caught my eye!  The price tag made this even better, only $7! Steal of a deal if you ask me!  I bought this little baby and brought her home to start working on making her into something gorgeous!

I started by removing the chair cushion, and then I sanded the chair down to get it ready for painting. 

I opted to use one of my go-to favorites for the paint color, Rustoleum’s Heirloom White of course.  I used this same paint color on the corkboard revamp that it is my loft as well, so I figured this was the best way to tie it all together (plus I am just in LOVE with the color!).   I had to coat the chair with about 3 good layers to make sure that it was well covered. 

Here she is looking nice and pretty after all the paint! Already so much better!!

For the chair cushion, I opted to go with burlap for the new fabric.  I love how classic burlap is! My husband is not much for prints or anything that is feminine looking, so burlap is the perfect compromise for us.   It meets his requirement of simple and plain, but still satisfies what I want in the room. 

I took my burlap and started wrapping it around the cushion.  I don’t really know if I did it in the “right” method, but as long as it looks good go with it! I used our staple gun to secure it in place as I wrapped it around the cushion.  Super simple and within minutes I had a beautiful new cushion! 

I love just love it! It looks so cute and fresh! 

Once I was done with the cushion, all I had to do was reattached the cushion to the chair and I had the most adorable office chair that I had been dreaming of. 

Don’t you just love it?! It better than I had ever hoped it could be!  Overall, my first chair revamping experience was amazing! I am kind of addicted to it and want to do another one, although I have no place for another chair in my house! Haha!! Hopefully I will find an excuse to makeover another one in the near future. 

So here’s a few more pictures of how cute she looks in my loft now!  Did I tell you yet how much I love it?! :)

So, I am dying to hear your thoughts on it! Hope you love it as much as I do! I will be doing another loft post when the room is completed.  We have ordered the loft seat that we have wanted and it should be delivered in the next week.  I can’t wait to see this room finished! I hope you will swing by again to check it out once it’s done! I know I can’t wait to show you!

**I linked up this post to the following parties, swing by to check out other great projects!***

http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/
http://www.justagirlblog.com/
http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://froufroudecor.blogspot.com/
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
http://www.creationsbykara.com/
http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/
http://designergarden.blogspot.com/

be my valentine!!

So, did you all have a great Valentine's day? I absolutely LOVE Valentine's day, it is one of my favorite holidays for sure! I was so excited about it this year that I made some yummy treats to bring to work for my co-workers. Who says that just because you aren't a kid that the Valentine's treats have to stop? I decided to make some M&M "Cakies" as well as some chocolate crinkle cookies!! They turned out so cute and yummy (from what I heard)! 

I found these adorable plates at Target and wrapped up the goodies for everyone! I love how cute they looked!

I also made 2 of these cute little baggies with a free printable I found! Don't you love how cute they turned out?

What can I say, I love any excuse to bake up some goodies!! I just can't help myself, I have a baking addiction!

Our Valentine's day plans weren't really anything too special.  We decided to have a quiet "romantic" dinner at home, well as romantic as we get!! I actually really love just having a nice night at home with the hubby.  I am all for going out to a nice restaurant, but I equally love making a delish dinner at home for my man! It's an excuse to actually get him to eat dinner at our dinner table. We are horrible about eating in the living room.  Don't judge me! LOL :)

Here's our cute little dinner setup!

Look at my beautiful roses from the hubs! Aww <3

I was so excited to cook dinner in my adorable new Anthropologie apron that I got from the hubs as my Valentine's gift.  Seriously is this not the cutest apron EVER?!

Love, love, LOVE!!!

For dinner, I decided to make cheesy spinach stuffed chicken breasts, green beans, & a garden salad.  For dessert we had chocolate pudding with homemade whip cream!  Simple, delicious, and totally perfect for a yummy dinner at home!  

Yum, yum, yum!!  Overall, it was the perfect night at home, I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine's day! I am so thankful that I have had the same Valentine for the past 8 years! My hubby is so good to me, and I am so blessed that I haven't scared him off yet! Haha :) 

Here's some pics of our fun night together! 

I had to BEG my hubby to take a picture with me....he is so anti self taken pictures! LOL! Below is proof that his patience wore out with me after taking one picture.  I had to tackle him to try and get one smoochy picture.

Haha hilarious right?! It's SO us though you don't even know!  I love how quirky and weird it is, true to form! 

I hope you guys all had a wonderful day with your lovelies! I have a really fun revamp post that I will be uploading later this week, so you better swing by!

XOXOXO 

a busy weekend & first valentine's memories

Another weekend has flown by, and I am seriously bumming that tomorrow is Monday already! I am feeling really excited about all the things we accomplished this weekend.  This week I got a really nice BONUS check from my job! I've said it a million times, and I will say it again, God is SO good to us! In an economy where people are struggling to find jobs and make it through each day, He has been blessing us left and right and His favor and blessing is so evident on our lives it's awesome.  I say that not to brag on us, but to give glory to Him for all the good things He has done for us.  We are more grateful that words could say! It's nothing that we could do on our own, but only what He can do for us! It's amazing to see God's word work in our life, He is such a good Father!

With that said, we had the extra money to buy some furniture pieces we need to finish off our loft.  YAY! You know it's bad news for your bank account when you take TWO cars to Target just to get your purchases home, and then need TWO carts for all your purchases! Hahaha :) Sad, but true! We bought the final bookshelf, a desk, side table, and a lamp.  My awesome hubby spent all day putting everything together!

I'm an awesome helper...really I am :)

We bought a 4th bookshelf to complete the loft! 

Love, love, LOVE!

My handy man :)

I also got to get my craft on this weekend! I got to revamp a chair that we are going to use for the desk chair. I don't know about you but typical office clunky chairs are UGLY in my opinion.  The chair revamp is SO fab, it deserves its own post, so keep your eyes peeled, I will be doing that this week! I am falling so in love with my loft.  It's near being complete, we ordered our loveseat this weekend as well and as soon as that is delivered I will do another post showing you the finished result.  It's gonna be fab!

Today, we got to spend some time with sweet little Brinley! I love it when my sister in law asks me to watch either of her boys.  We love spending time with them so it's always an YES on our end!  We got to spend time with sweet Brins since they were taking his big bro ice skating.  We had such a fun afternoon with our sweet little chunkers.

Of course, first stop the pantry!! This kid loves to eat!

Aww this melts my heart!

Who could not love this face?!?!

We had such a fun day with this little buggy! 

So, I know I am getting long winded here, but with tomorrow being Valentine's day I wanted to reminisce about Scott & I's first Valentine's day together.  We celebrated our very first V-day together back in 2003, we had been dating for about 2 months and it's quite evident in the card I got from him. 

See that, it's a mushy romantic card and what's that a PERSONAL hand written note? That's banana's! It's something that's truly foreign in any card that I have received post marriage.  I love looking back at this and seeing how sweet, cheesy, and newly in love we were.  It's adorable!

I guess he really did mean what he wrote...all these years later and still very much in love!!!

Our romantic dinner at Panera back in 2003! It really was cute since it's the same place we went on our first date.

Hope you all have a great Valentine's day with your love!

weekend wrap up

Last week was such an eventful week, I feel like I barely had a minute to wrap my head around it all and the weekend finally came.  Work was incredibly busy and I was totally worn out each day, and then of course we had so much to celebrate with welcoming my baby nephew to into the world.  By Friday, I was certainly worn out!

I am so thankful that I had already planned this weekend as a 3 day weekend, I know I needed the extra day.  What made it even better was that Scott also had a 3 day weekend, so I got to spend some extra time with my favorite guy!

On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at my nephew Brennen's basketball game.  I haven't been to one of his games since he was in 8th grade, and he is in 10th grade now, so I was LONG overdue! I intended to go to one last year, but time slipped away from me, and then the one game I planned to go to we got a horrid snow storm and I was stuck in traffic for 2 plus hours and missed the game.  Even though they lost the game, I was thrilled to watch my nephew's mad awesome skills.  I am such a proud auntie!

Sunday, we were total lazy pants and sat on the couch ALL DAY long watching Super Bowl coverage, and then of course watching the big game!!  I personally am excited that the Packers won, not because I like them  in any shape or form, but simply because it kept Ben Rotheslisberger from tying Tom Brady in Super Bowl wins.  (Yah, I am that lame & obsessed).  Speaking of obsessed, the true highlight of my Sunday was the fact that my boy, Tom Brady, was unanimously voted in as MVP of this season! Ahh!! SO excited! He's ah-mazing.

Okay, I'm done with my Tom Brady rant (at least for today.)

Today, my hubby decided to bring me on a date afternoon and we went bowling.  I am a horrid bowler, it's actually kind of embarrassing! I did SO awful my first round, but was able to make it up on the 2nd game.  Don't believe me?  This will speak for itself.

See that score? I tied my whole entire first round score in the first two frames of the second round.  Haha!!! What can I say, I was having an OFF day!  Nevertheless, I had a bunch of fun with my sweetums.

I had to take a picture of these bowling shoes.  Seriously, how weird are they? I guess people can't tie laces anymore???

My awesome "I just got a strike" pose! Haha :)

See, I did redeem myself!! 

Overall, it was a great weekend! I am kind of bummed I have to go back to work tomorrow, but such is life! Here's wishing all of you a great week!