Adventure Itch

Do you ever itch for an adventure?  
It's this horrible, wonderful little itch for more.  Something different, new, exciting.
Something that would make all of your readers jealous and want an adventure of their own.
The itch of just wanting to go somewhere & do something out of the ordinary.  
The silliness of the simple things that can scratch that itch. 
But something...on adventures...you find yourself wanting something normal, regular, comfortable, and old. 
Maybe it's like buying a new & really expensive dress.  
You think it looks hot.  You get home, and it still looks hot.  So you go out and flaunt your dress but...pretty soon you're ready for your regular clothes that fit right.  Clothes that don't require constant glances in the mirror from every angle because you don't know what you look like if you have your  back to the mirror, left hand above your head, & your neck turned to the side.  Maybe adventures are sometimes ridiculous...like new dresses.  
But then...why do I keep getting the adventure itch?  
A part of me wonders if it's God's way of preparing me for a calling into foreign missions.  But when I think about it like that, the itch is suddenly gone.  And I'm ready to go to revival and be around regular people who fit me in a regular, comfortable, and satisfying way.  
But you know...I think I'd be happy in either place.  And it scares me.

Coo Coo Kachoo, 

Mrs. Robinson

Mr. Robinson's Opinion of Me Blogging

One of the cool things about marriage is discovering your spouse, no?  I love learning new things about my darling Mr. Robinson.  Every day, every task is an adventure & opportunity for growth.  I know it sounds mooshy and dorky, so let's cut to the chase.

Sometimes it can be difficult to learn something new about your spouse.  Sometimes you don't like what you learn.  And no, I'm not about to husband bash.  Haha.  This post is about something my husband doesn't like about me.   

My husband doesn't like that I blog. 

He thinks it is weird.

He thinks that all of us blogging ladies who e-mail back and forth and feel & act like we are FRIENDS, are dorks.

He thinks it is silly.

He thinks that if I meet any bloggers in real life, they will murder me. 

He thinks it's a waste of time.
He thinks that what is happening tomorrow (gotta come back to find out) is ridiculous.
When I call y'all my friends, he makes fun of me.
He refuses to follow my blog's Twitter account.
And don't get me started on what he thinks of me playing Draw Something with my blog friends, haha!

I think that blogging is fun, and a great way to document our life together! I think that those of you who I do correspond with regularly, are particularly awesome.  I know that there is a slight possibility that a serial killer could be among you, and I certainly hope that's not the case.  Do any of your husbands tend to feel uneasy about your blog or about your love of blogging?  

I want to say, specifically, that my husband would never tell me that I'm not "allowed" to blog.  We are independent enough to make our own choices.  But we do consult each other in all things.  He just thinks it's weird that I blog and picks on me a bit.    It kind of makes a little sad to think that the friendships I have with some of you are not regarded as "real" by some people.  So...talk to me about your husbands + their opinions + your blog....and so on.  How do you deal with it?  Is there a compromise?
  Have a great day!   

Don't forget to  come back TOMORROW for some pretty exciting stuff!! =)

Fabric Garland

Some of you may recall that we have a TON of fabric left over from our wedding.  We used a lot of burnt-orange in our wedding, and even had a 50 foot aisle runner made out of orange iridescent fabric.  Whoa, that sounds tacky.  It wasn't.  I promise.  It was gorgeous.  Here, look!  (I know that it's hard not to look at the bride & groom...but check out what we standing on!  And all of these pictures were taken before the wedding...before most guests arrived, but we did have a small wedding.)

Fabric Garland for their Christmas tree was one of the crafts Ashley made for their tree.  I admit, I had pinned a few different fabric-garland ideas, although I had never seen the garland on a tree before.  I loved it!

I took a piece of fabric down to the living room.  I am sorry the picture turned out so blurry... but I laid the fabric out on the floor.  Do you see the lines from where it was folded?  Those are the lines I cut along.  I like the longer pieces of fabric for garland over short, stumpy pieces.  It is all a matter of opinion.

My husband (bless his heart) and I took turns cutting up about 20 million strips of fabric.  Each strip of fabric was between one and two inches wide, probably.  :)  It's all about what "look" you like best.

Then, we took turns tying the pieces onto the hemp string!  I made a loop at each end so that it would be easy to hang and hold on to.  Here is my hubs being a silly goose after we finished!  :)

We put it on it tree....but it looked really dumb.  Since we used longer pieces of fabric, the garland kind of covered up the lights on the tree.  That's what we get for using extra long pieces of fabric & not tying them to a strand of lights!  ;)  But, we feel like our creation will be very versatile and we can use it year-round!  :)  Here is the finished product at the end of the stair case...for lack of a better place to put it as of last night.

We spent about two hours working on it and we started & finished it all in one night.  It was very simple.  :)  We both love it!  It is also a unique way to preserve some of our wedding cloth.  Hooray!  

So, tell me.  Do you have any ideas as to what we could do with this strand of fabric garland?  It can't stay where it is...we use the upstairs of our home fairly often.  My craft room is up there!  :)  I'd love to hear your ideas!  

XO's! Thanks for reading!  Merry Christmas!

DIY Chalk Container

As per the usual, I found something I liked on Pinterest and decided to make it myself!  :)  My favorite crafts are the ones that I can make without having to buy anything new.  So, here is my pinspiration!  :)  And after that is what I came up with for our home based on this picture.  

  

Source: reneweduponadream.blogspot.com via Amie on Pinterest

To make my own chalk canister, I started out with a tin can that once held canned tomatoes.  Am I the only one who obsessively saves all of the tin cans I could be throwing away?  I hope not!  They are so versatile and I encourage you all to start saving them!  (I'm such a pack rat..)  So anyway, the can I used is short and fat.  This shape works best for the type of chalk I have (which are also short & fat.  My adorable husband bought the wrong kind, but it's totally okay!)

    

I washed the can first.  I usually take the paper off of my cans, but I left the paper on this one so that I wouldn't have to use primer before painting with chalk.  Ultra sneaky.  :)  

I do not have spray paint chalkboard paint, but I do have the regular kind!  I love it!  I've used it a TON!  I painted the paper label with chalk paint by using a sponge.  :)  Two coats was all it took.    

I ordered some liquid chalk pins off Amazon.com and they are amazing!  I used them to write the word "chalk" on my can after letting it dry overnight.  *It's very important to let the chalk paint sit & dry COMPLETELY before writing on it!*

My chalk was once stored like this in a cabinet.  : /  It was very sad, messy, and pitiful.  It was also ugly and forced me to keep my chalk hidden!  How dreadful!  

BUT NOW...it is stored in this beautiful tin can!  :)  

I set it next to the HUGE chalkboard that's in our foyer.  You can find the Fancy Chalkboard Tutorial by clicking here!   It's my first tutorial, the first DIY project we completed for the new house, and it's also my FAVORITE thing in our house!  :)  I hope you'll check out that post because frankly, this picture is horrible. I apologize.  But you can see the little can at the bottom!  :)  

 As always, thank you for reading!  Have a great day!  :)

New, Old Trunks!

I had the greatest thing ever happen today. I won't even describe it first.  I will let the pictures tell the story before I let my fingers go wild!  :)

Today, my grandma comes to me at work and tells me that she has something for me from her sister (my Great-Aunt Linda).  Apparantly they had recently spoke about my new obsession & search for vintage suitcases.  I am particularly fond of family heirlooms.  I much prefer to have things handed down to me...family members' possessions that have a story to tell...possessions that have another life to live (through me/us)!  

The suitcase on the bottom belonged to my father's mother's father's mother.  My great-great grandmother.  Wow.  

The bluish suitcase on the top is my Great Aunt Linda's.  Her parents gave it to her as a high school graduation gift.  

+ an engagement picture of us, a strand of broken fake pearls, a mirror project I've been working on for about a month, a set of skeleton keys from our wedding decor, a skeleton key burlap sack I bought from Etsy, a lamp from my old apt., and a cross-stitch of a roses that my father's father's mother made.  :D  

What a story, huh?  Tell me about your family heirlooms!