Friday Letters

Oh Huckles, you so silly.

Dear Steven - Tomorrow we leave for NY. We'll be married in 8 days :) Tonight is the last night I'll have to spend in our home without you. If I could, I'd give up the single life for you all over again. Life is  simply too much better with you in it. Thank you for loving me. Dear Mouse Living in My Walls - Oh, I hear your little piddle paddle at night! I know you're there. And I will find you. Or maybe I'll just buy a cat...Dear Huck - You take the most ridiculous pictures. I'm going to miss you when I'm away. But I do have a feeling that after 12 days at the daycare, you won't want to come home. You're going to have a blast! Promise. Dear Bridesmaids - Some of you I haven't seen in almost a YEAR! That is entirely too long. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to make my special day even more memorable! I can't wait to give you a hug! Dear Readers - While I'm submersed in last minute wedding preparations and bridal duties, some lovely ladies will be sharing their own wedding/marriage experience and advice in my absence. I hope you stop by to hear what they have to say! {Or read what the have to write. Details, people. Details.} Then I'll be gone for a week for my honeymoon! Don't fret. Time will fly {Ugh} and I'll be back before you can say OH.EM.GEE. you're married! 

Happy Friday!

It Is Well.

Just a couple photos of Huckleberry...

I love this goofy, crazy pup and am so glad he is a part of our little family! 

Although I do wish he could come to New York with us for the wedding, I know he'll be in good hands..

Every Wednesday we take Huckleberry to doggie daycare. It's a 6 acre, completely fenced in farm. 

The lady who runs the place actually does it right out of her own home. There are plenty of doggie beds, drinking fountains, chewable toys, and yummy treats for Huck and his furry friends to keep them busy for hours! She even has a designated digging area -basically just a huge sand pit- for the dogs! He is so excited in the morning when I tell him we're going for a car ride...he knows the routine, and to doggie daycare we go!

When we pick him up in the evenings he is completely worn out! And a tired dog is a good dog..

We know that while he's there he is in great hands. I am sent pictures via email throughout the day of Huck playing with the other pups! Always accompanied with the cutest captions! Seriously, it's the perfect place for a crazy, worrisome dog owner like me to send their fur baby. I don't have even the slightest concern while he's there. 

Originally, Huck was going to stay at a family friend's while Steven and I were away for the wedding...

but then things fell through, the couple could no longer take him. I was DEVASTATED. Daycare is not cheap...overnight boarding is even more outrageous...and since we'd been expecting him to stay with these friends free of charge, we did not budget for him to be boarded...

We told Maryellen, the lady who runs the daycare, our situation. And {just like every other complication in my path this past year} God completely worked everything out. Maryellen offered to take Huck in for the entire 12 days we are going to be gone for a ridiculously discounted price. She said it was her wedding present to us. And then, after I forwarded on this information to Steven and my family, my brother's offered to pay the remaining boarding costs as a wedding present to us! :) Seriously, we are so stinkin' blessed!

I love my family, my friends, my fiancé, and my pup! 

{Quite a turnaround from yesterday's mood, eh?}

Happy Wednesday! Two more work days till two weeks of vacation!

Ahhh, Freedom, you are going to feel so good :)

Weddings Are Such A Joy! Not.

Is it bad that I'm getting married in 11 days and I still haven't gotten my dress back from the seamstress?

Yeah, I thought so too.

Totally. Freaking. Out.

Thanks for understanding that due to the above issue, my stomach is in knots and I can't post about anything cheery and upbeat today. So I am signing off now.

{If you don't mind, say a little prayer that I get my dress soon. Like yesterday.}

Wedding Festivities Have Begun!

The only people left standing...literally.

This past Saturday wedding festivities truly began! I had a lovely bridal shower that morning {which I did not take one picture at...Seriously, I am the world's. worst. blogger.} and then a fun filled evening with some girlfriends while Steven and his boys celebrated his bachelor party.  

The above photo was taken at the end of the night. These were the only boys standing (serious). Steven may have fell over face first and busted his lip...resulting in the boys putting him to bed for the night. Yep. I guess that means his bachelor party was a success? Or maybe a total disaster? I'm not really sure. All I know is my fiancé has a huge lip. 

Meeting up with the boys was completely unexpected and we all thought it was hilarious they were the only ones still going. {Honestly, they needed to be in bed by this point too} The good thing was I got the inside scoop on their shenanigans before I saw Steven's busted lip. I think the warning was pretty necessary. That's not the sort of surprise one enjoys two weeks before the wedding...

All in all, it was a good weekend. It's starting to feel more real now. This whole I'm getting married thing. And although I'm having bouts of hyperventilating and spastic crying, I think I'm holding up pretty well :)

Hope you all had a great weekend! 

Friday Letters.

Dear Body - I don't know what's wrong with you, but you better snap out of it. 2 weeks before the wedding, with so much still left to do, is NOT the time to be getting sick. Am I sick? Or is this just complete and utter exhaustion? I'm not sure. But it should probably end now. Dear Wedding Festivities - You officially start this weekend with. My first bridal shower and my bachelorette party are on Saturday! I'm stoked! {Obvi. Who wouldn't be?} Dear Huckleberry - I really, really with I could take you to the wedding with us. We would get you a tie and some cuffs and you would be the cutest dog around {well, you already are}! I'm going to miss you sooo stinkin' much! Two weeks may end up being too long without my little man. Dear Money Tree - It would be really lovely if you'd decide to take root in my yard. Just saying...

Life Lately.

In the midst of crazy wedding planning and preparations life still goes on. And when I do remember to push the stress aside and enjoy myself I realize that, indeed, my life is quite enjoyable! And even though Steven and I are on a tight budget {weddings tend to do that to people} we still manage to have the best times together. It's true what they say, you know. The best things in life are free.

Like our precious, Huckleberry. {Okay, maybe he wasn't free. But you get the idea.} I love to take pictures of him sleeping like this one.

(I don't know how that is even comfortable...)

And cooking together. Steven is an excellent cook :) I know, be jealous, ladies.

(Green onion for some chicken enchiladas. Yum!)

And my quickly growing strawberries in the garden.

(Can't wait till these little guys are plump and red!)

And watching my man do work! Last night he began building a desk for our office.

I think it's good to take time to put the wedding planning aside and enjoy moments like these in life.
After all, the wedding is only one day.

Fix It.

Via

If you were to ask me for one thing that I have taken away form premarital counseling I would say that MARRIAGE IS GOING TO BE TOUGH! 

obvi.

Communication

Respect

Love

Selflessness

Kindness

....

The list could go on and on.

It's not that this is new information to me. 

I have heard people say all my life that marriage is one of the hardest things they have ever done.

Marriage is tough.

A sacrifice.

A blessing.

A giving of ones' self.

Daily.

A continual outpouring of every good thing in you to give to another.

Marriage is exhausting.

Exhilarating.

Terrifying.

An ever-changing, developing, mind-blowing whirlwind.

And since you and I live in a fallen world,

Marriage is broken.

We must massage, mend, and mold it.

And then get up the next day and do it again.

But I've also learned, 

that if done right,

MARRIAGE IS WORTH IT.

Round 'n Round

Huck is easy to please. All he needs to make him happy is hotdogs, an abundance of sticks, and another dog to play with. When I moved out of my lake home rental he lost his friend Amigo. Luckily, our new home is beside the friendliest of neighbors who have 3 dogs! I think Huck and Missy are dating. Either way, he has a blast when she comes over for a visit! :) He likes to play the same game he played with Amigo. It's pretty much tag with sticks.

**Wedding Update: Steven and I have another premarital counseling session today. {Maybe a little more on that tomorrow} Time is quickly ticking away with the wedding only 18 days out! Thankfully, there isn't too much to be done until then. Things really fell into place this past weekend and I feel as though we're in the home stretch! So excited!!! :)

Happy Tuesday, friends!

A Secret Garden

I didn't think we had any flowers in our garden, just weeds. I was planning on weeding the entire area, simply pulling everything up, not knowing someone had taking the time to plant seed before me. We get so busy we don't really look at the world around us --or examine with more interest the "weeds" in our own front yard. But, even without a helping hand, these flowers bloomed. Sad...I didn't think to look more closely until they were beautifully blossomed. But that's in our nature right? We only stoop to smell the beautiful, thriving flowers. Heaven forbid we ever stoop to give the struggling ones a helping hand. If something doesn't catch our eye, we are apt to consider it a weed, and ignore it or pull it from it's roots. 

Thankfully, some flowers, even those who have been cast off and ignored, still thrive. Just think of the beauty we'd be missing out on if they didn't exist. 

Funny how the Lord can use a few, simple flowers amongst a cluster of weeds to convict my heart. 

Thank you, Lord. I needed that reminder to love others today.

Friday Letters

Our college days. {Notice someone's mouth in between our faces? I know, weird.}

Dear Steven - Last night me and your mom went through old photos of you to use at our wedding. You were so cute and chunky! I loved seeing bits and pieces of you growing up. However, in an odd, inexplicable way, I almost felt robbed of time with you. The most bizarre pang of jealousy went through me towards everyone surrounding you in those photos. The ones that had been there for you in each and every stage of your life --seen you grow, mature, and eventually find yourself.  Although I'm glad I met you when I did, {we wouldn't be the same people we are today without those singular, earlier moments that shaped us}, but I wish we had even more memories together. I felt like I had already missed out on so much of your journey! As if time has robbed me of an even further depth of love. I am grateful for the time the Lord has allowed me to spend with you. Luckily, I now have the rest of my life to watch you grow up! I hope from this moment forward, I will remember just how precious each and every moment I spend with you is. I continually take advantage of the blessing you are. Forgive me. Let's hang out tonight..I love you, fiancé. 

Wedding To-Do's

With only 23 days until the wedding, I am beginning to feel the pressure to get things done! Seriously, someone should come and give me a swift kick in the butt because I feel as if I am just not being productive enough right now. Unfortunately, I have a job..

Okay, that's not unfortunate. But being at my work desk 8 hours a day doesn't leave much time in the evenings to run wedding errands. Here and there I can make a phone call relating to the wedding or pick something up real quick, but, most of the time, I have to sit at my desk while biting my nails and watching the clock simply waiting for the 5 o'clock hour to strike so I can rush out of here and accomplish some of those wedding duties looming over my head.

Yesterday, I finally had time to go and get my dress fitted. That felt good. However, afterwards I did end up getting lost somewhere in downtown Kent. So, an errand that I expected to take 30 minutes ended up taking 2 hours! Yep. Obviously my navigational skills are lacking...

Luckily, Steven and I have most of the after the wedding details figured out, such as changing my name, insurance policies, etc. That boring stuff. But as for the wedding itself, important details are still missing. For example,

• Steven still hasn't gotten his suit back. He sent it in to get alterations done like FOREVER ago. Seriously people! Get him his suit!
• I haven't purchased our wedding flowers. Because....well...I don't have the money too! HA! Okay, it's really not funny but I'm choosing to laugh instead of cry.
• Wedding favors. There was a bit of an issue with the printing company. Basically, they messed up royally and I don't think we have the time to wait for them to correct their mistake. *Crossing my fingers though it gets resolved! And soon!*
• Purchase bridesmaids gifts. I know what I'm getting my girlies. I just need to find the time to go out and get it! 
• Find Steven's birth certificate. Yeah, we kinda need that to get our marriage license. Oh birth certificate, where oh where are youuuu????
• Go through some old photos of Steven growing up with his mom to have a little timeline strung with twine at the wedding. {This one will be fun!} 

I'm sure there are a lot of to-do's left off this list. Those are just the ones on the forefront of my mind. Between our busy work schedules and other daily responsibilities it has been a struggle..this whole planning thing...kinda a bummer. But I know in the end being together and married is truly all that matters, right?

How did you deal with the stress of wedding planning? Were there any details on your big day that simply had to be left undone due to time or money? I'd love to hear about it all!

Dresser Revamp

Note to self: Next furniture revamp take "before" pictures. And take all photos while the project is still outside. 

Lesson learned.

Sorry, no before pictures of the dresser other than this one you've already seen. I didn't even think about pictures until the first coat of paint was on and drying! What sort of blogger am I? Good grief...

Also, these photos weren't taken until Steven and I moved the dresser inside.

We definitely don't have good lighting in our bedroom, so I was forced to use the flash resulting in poor photos.

Sorry friends! I promise these photos don't do the dresser justice!

 I'm proud of my first furniture transformation!

Anyways, my {soon-to-be} mother-in-law gave me a 5 drawer dresser with baseball and football knobs. To spruce it up a bit, I painted two coats of a pale blue color onto it. I love the subtle blue and the girly, rose knobs she gave me, CUTE!

 Like my sideways picture taking? Don't judge. Yesterday was a loooong day.

She only had 6 of the rose drawer knobs, so I had to go buy four different knobs to complete the dresser. Little does she know that the reason I love those girly knobs so much is because back home in WV there is this little white dresser that use to be in my bedroom that has these same exact knobs! What are the chances? It's such a sweet reminder of home and my childhood :)

I know it's very feminine, but Steven said he likes it! So instead of putting it in the closet like we originally planned, we are keeping it on display in the bedroom :)

What do you think? Other than my subpar photo taking skills do you like the dresser? 

House Projects

It seems like the to do list for our new home keeps getting longer! I'll tell ya, it's hard to be productive when you're on a budget. There are so many things we need to buy for the house but the expenses of the wedding our looming over our heads. A lot of the house projects simply have to go on the back burner until we get back from the honeymoon. However, being the obsessive control freak that I am, having unfinished projects all around me is really starting to stress me out! 

First, there is the closet. In this post, I explained the weird layout and our challenge of making this the most efficient space we possibly can. Yeah...hasn't really happened yet. Can't I just take this closet off Pinterest and magically make it mine??

And I'll take that dress too.

Also, we have a TV dilemma. Our living room has a large fireplace (see?), and the only space to put our TV is in the corner to the right of the fireplace. No biggie! We bought an articulating corner wall mount for the TV and tried to install it only to find that the wall we needed to mount this thing to missing some important features...like STUDS! {You know, the wooden beams inside the dry wall that keeps the structure of a home standing? Yeah, those are missing.} So basically, there is nothing sturdy inside the walls in that corner to hold a heavy TV...

Let me clarify, there ARE studs in that wall, they just aren't as close together as they should be, meaning we can't hang the TV. Yeah, it confuses me too. 

All in all, Steven and I have a rather quirky home. But we still love it. 

Some projects that I can tackle??

Making a rustic, chic pantry door like this one.

Organizing kitchen cabinets.

And working on a photo collage for the living room. {Which Pinterest has been providing great templates for!}

All photos via Pinterest.

Hope you have a wonderful day! :) 

By the way, only 25 days until my wedding! 

Just an FYI.

Weekend Highlights

I had a great weekend with not too shabby weather to boot! 

Here are some highlights.

Beautiful peonies from my {soon to be} mother-in-law. 

A little furniture renovation. More pictures of the finished product to come later this week!

Huckleberry chillaxing in the car :) What a cutie pie!

My new chalk mug. 

That's all I could think of writing to express my feelings this morning.

Hope you had a great weekend!

3 more work weeks until Steven and I leave for our New York wedding!

WooHoo!!!

Friday Letters

Dear Steven - Only 4 more weeks until we're husband and wife. Thank you for dealing with my crazy emotional state lately. I have the tendency to get lost in the minute details in life, but you never fail to reach in and pull me out right before I get pulled in deeper. Those details, I tell ya, they can be suffocating. Dear Huckleberry - You like squash. I'll add that to the list. Dear Wedding - My to-do list concerning you is quickly dwindling. I still have to get my engagement ring cleaned, order flowers, and get my dress fitted. All will be complete by next Wednesday. Do you know how wonderful Wednesday is going to feel? Dear Readers - Thank you for reading my blog! It's funny that someone besides my mother reads this now...but the comments and emails I read are so encouraging and so much fun! I have genuinely enjoyed this blogging experience and the totally odd relationships that have formed because of it! Life is funny.  Dear Slugs - You are EVERYWHERE! I need to call a slug exterminator! Dear Washington State Residents Who May Read This Blog - Are you experiencing a slug infestation too? We should form a support group.

Just a Lovely Way to Say "Thank You"

In December I gave you all a little glimpse at how talented my mom is at scrapbooking. She made the world's cutest scrapbook for Huckleberry! If you missed it, make sure to check it out here! But not only has she scrapbooked me and my two brothers lives from birth to present {as well as all our family pets}, she also makes greeting cards for any occasion! And I was lucky enough to get a little package in the mail filled with homemade Thank You cards to send out after my bridal shower and wedding. Seriously, they are too cute!

She made sooooo many different kinds! Each is so unique but all resemble the rustic, blue and burlap wedding theme! I wanted to show you every single one, but I spared you a super long, tedious post and picked out a few of my favorites.

 Love the little hearts on this one!

 How cute is that bride and groom stamp?!

 I think my absolute favorite is this last one! 

Isn't she amazing? Thankfully, I have a crafty mother because Lord knows I definitely do not have the patience to make my own thank you cards!

I tell her all the time she should seriously consider opening an Etsy shop and trying to sell her custom made cards and scrapbooks. I think it would be a hit! Maybe not a "quit your day job" sort of thing...but if it's something you enjoy doing, why not?

What do you think? Would you buy custom greeting cards or scrapbooks on Etsy? And how do you feel about a giveaway for some of my mom's greeting cards? Is that a giveaway you'd be interested in entering?

Love, Huck (part 4)

Hi Grandma! It's me again, Huck!

Did you know we moved into a new house?

And I'm the boss man of this kennel too.

Here's my serious boss man face.

I have to protect mommy from the unknown that surrounds us now.

I'm the man of the house until daddy moves in.

It's hard to protect mommy at times though.

She's always walking outside before sniffing.

I do my best though.

{After all, she is the main supplier of hotdogs in this place.}

When she gets careless and silly, I'm stern with her.

I love my new house though! 

When the coast is clear, I go outside and eat sticks.

I've never seen so many sticks in my life!

Did I mention these sticks are HUGE! 

The only thing better than sticks are hotdogs.

But I'm sure you know that.

Mom says we won't be meeting now until November.

I'm not certain when that is, but mom said I'll be one year old by then! 

I wonder what I'll get for my birthday...

HOTDOGS??

Anyways, when you come I'll show you around our kennel.

I know where all the best digging spots are!

Maybe by then we'll have more furniture and we can lay on it together when daddy isn't looking...

Just don't tell him I said that.

Love, Huck

Read more letters from Huck here!

House Project 1

In my recent house tour post I left out photos of the master bedroom. Our room is a little quirky and we're not really sure what to do with a lot of it yet. One of the obstacles we've encountered is the closet. With it's odd layout, we are having trouble deciphering the best way to maximize the efficiency of the space. 

There are 2 big issues with the closet.

1. We have a closet within our closet. I'm not lying. It is definitely the weirdest setup I've ever seen.
2. Our water heater is in the closet within the closet. Taking up more storage space and leaving us with an even more odd layout.

Here's the view when you first open our closet.

Double mirror doors reveal a walk-in space with no shelving or any sort. The second door is not in the middle of the back wall either, leaving the left and right side of the closet uneven for shelving. The far right wall is not even either. The front portion is set deeper than the back portion.

Weird, right?

Inside the second closet is a longer, narrower layout. You can see on the left side is where the water heater is stored. So that space is completely used up. The right side has one rail for hanging clothes and one shelf directly above it.

Just some of my clothes are in this back portion of our closet and it's completely filled up. Steven and I want to make this space much more efficient before he moves in after the wedding. We have a tall five drawer dresser I plan on touching up with some paint and new handles and placing in this closet. Other than that, we really just have to rely on shelving units. 

Huckleberry's helping daddy with measurements :)

So what are your thoughts? Any ideas on how to maximize a small space? Have you had a similar problem with a closet? I know IKEA has some great storage options for small spaces, but I'd love to hear your ideas as well!

Hope you had a great weekend!