Green Hutch with hot legs

 Hey guys! I posted this post a while back about a hutch that I got for free from my friend. She didn't like it, wanted it gone, and I GLADLY took it off her hands. Swoon..I was in love with the spindly legs and curved front...and those knobs. to.die.for. Well I lived with it in its birdseye maple-ness for several months before I just couldn't stand it anymore and I HAD to paint it! I used a combo of two pints of oops paint that I had in my garage. I wanted a kind of bright mint green and I think I achieved my goal! I went completely against my normal protocol on this piece. I didn't sand it AT ALL. Didn't prime it either! GASP. I also didn't strip it to remove the wax. I wanted to get it painted while my kids napped and I was trying to be quiet...so I mixed the paint...realized I dug the color...and slapped it on this sucker! I LOVE how it turned out. The color is bright but goes so well in the room! Its amazing how much more I love this piece now. Its a statement maker...that's for sure! What do ya'll think?

 

Linking up with the following fab parties:

My healing....

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been MIA lately. Christmas, family in town, general craziness with two toddlers, lack of inspiration, etc. I hope you all had a great Christmas...
Ok so I've been meaning to write this post for a while but needed to not only be inspired...but also have time to think back....majorly hard for a tired Mama!
A while back I wrote This post...that was a tough post for me to write. I'd never been so transparent on my blog...showing my scars and wounds for the world to read. I am on a mission though...a mission to be the memory keeper for my family. To record my most precious and painful moments so that I never EVER forget them...even the bad and painful moments were invaluable lessons. If  you want to have the full story then please read pt 1 before reading this....ready? ok...

The night I met Ron....
I had broken up from my long term, on again off again boyfriend a week before and I wanted to go out! A friend of mine offered to take me out to play pool and blow off steam. I got off work, hurried home to change clothes, and met my friend Sarah in downtown Portland. Sarah had a friend with her...a guy friend that was visiting from college. He was nice and we all had fun together. About half way through our evening, and while walking from one bar to the next, The guy friend called his friend Ron and asked him to come meet up with us. He leaned over, while on the phone with this guy and told me, Hey you'll like him...I want you guys to meet. I gave him a rude and annoyed look. The LAST thing I wanted or needed was to meet a guy or be set up. I wanted NOTHING to do with men for a LONG time. I had been hurt badly by my ex and really needed to heal. Rather than saying this to him I just smiled and said ok. (I am a people pleaser at heart and can never hurt people's feelings). We were at a different bar...it was packed...smoky...loud...people were everywhere...and Sarah's guy friend leaned over and said...Oh hey there's my friend! I looked toward the door and saw him....
He was cute!! He had dark shaggy surfer hair, a skate t shirt, shorts, and flip flops on, and a big smile on his face. We were introduced and I was immediately drawn to him. The weirdest thing was that I didn't feel scared, or apprehensive, or guarded at all. I felt at ease, and excited to get to know him. We felt an instant connection. He was super nice, easy to talk to, laid back. He invited all of us to go back to his house to hang out so we all left. Sarah and her guy friend had rode together and they agreed to follow me, as I followed Ron. When we got to his house I went inside with him and we waited for Sarah and her friend to get there....they never showed. They stood us up on purpose so we could get to know each other! We spent the next 6 hours talking nonstop. Family, God, School...no subject was off limits and we were excited to learn as much as we could about each other. I left his house as the sun was coming up but I was not tired. I felt electricity...a feeling I had never felt before. I called my Mom on my way home and woke her up. I told her I met the guy I was going to marry...
Obviously she was terrified for me considering I'd ended a bad relationship one week prior. She was concerned that Ron was a rebound but that couldn't have been farther from the truth. God had truly designed this...from start to finish he had aligned our paths so that we would meet that night.

When I met Ron he wasn't currently living in Oregon. He had been living in Orlando Florida and training with a Wakeboard coach (he was a semi-pro sponsored wakeboarder...hence the shaggy hair lol) and was only in Oregon to visit his family for a couple weeks. I didn't know that he was going to leave in a couple weeks...he didn't tell me until I was already majorly falling for him. We spent every day together...with the exception of when I was working. We spent every night talking in person or on the phone. I was truly in love with him. It only took a couple weeks and I couldn't imagine us ever being apart. I vividly remember one night, as I was on the phone with him after leaving his house (he used to call me as soon as I left and we would talk on my whole drive home) and he told me he was leaving. He had to go back, to finish his training, to pursue this career. I was CRUSHED. I felt an ache so deep I could barely stand it. How could things work if we lived on opposite sides of the country?? I got home...sat in my car crying on the phone with him for an hour...and then he said something that I'll never forget...he said, Hey do you want to get breakfast? (We had spent the whole night talking, the whole drive home talking and crying, and it was now 5:30 am and he was asking me if I wanted to get breakfast?) Heck yes I do! We met at a little restaurant near my house and while we were eating he leaned over...with the hood of his sweatshirt up...and kissed me. I knew he was the guy God had planned for me....and he knew it too.

He left for Florida a few days later...

And came back! :) He couldn't be away from me and I couldn't be away from him!

We got engaged one year later and married a year after that! We've been married for going on 7 years now and I can truly say that God makes things happen for a reason. If I hadn't broken up with that ex when I did I would have never been out with my friend that night...I would have never met Ron and my life would not be what it is today! I am eternally thankful to God for his crazy amazing plans. I would not trade my husband for the world!!

Lyla lately...

Lyla turned 16 months old yesterday!
(moment of silence for my Mama heart)
My precious girl went from this....

To THIS

I can.not.believe my baby is that old already! She's growing like a weed...finally sprouting some hair...talking LIKE CRAZY (see the list of words below)...eats more than her 3 year old brother....and is just an amazingly happy girl! I am crazy in love with her! I melt every day! She has this amazingly spunky yet mellow spirit and she makes her parents very proud!
Ok so Lyla has gotten super verbal lately. She's practicing saying lots of words that we say. I tried to do baby sign language with her...Liam was a whiz at it and still uses the signs a lot to this day...but she never was interested. I tried and tried...and the only one I could get her to do was "all done". Hey I'm ok with that. I guess I should just go ahead and get used to the fact that she does everything on her own time. She didn't crawl until she was 11 months...didn't get her first tooth until she was 10.5 months...but she started walking at a year and hasn't slowed down since! Her current words are : Mama, Dada, Wawa (water), Cheese (when I tell her to say please she says cheese lol), No more (said with her index finger pointing at the offending subject...usually her brother or our dog), Momeeee (usually she squeals this VERY loudly when she's tired or hungry), Top it (stop it), um...i think that's it. She "talks" ALL.DAY.LONG...but it is this gurgly baby talk that is so stinking adorable and I need to record her talking so I can always remember it.
Liam and Lyla are becoming closer and closer as they get older. Liam loves Lyla...he plays with her and they have a nightly scream-a-thon...which is where they chase each other and run around the house screaming at the top of their lungs and laughing! They are so cute together doing it that I don't even mind. They are bonding!!
This motherhood thing...it is an amazing, crazy, stressful, busy, meaningful, love-filled journey that I wouldn't trade for ANYTHING!

My Pinterest addiction has reached obsessive proportions!

So...I'm sure you guys have heard about Pinterest. If not...let me enlighten you. Its only THE.BEST.THING.EVER! Have you ever seen something amazing online? Like...I have to save this somewhere so I don't forget about it...so let me copy paste this website into a file on my computer that's getting bigger by the day. Well you don't have to do that anymore! You can actually save the idea...WITH A PICTURE...and the address that it came from ALL IN ONE PLACE! Boooyah! It rocks. Seriously. You can compile a huge database of all your favorite ideas, recipes, DIY projects, places you want to visit, photos, etc. There are literally billions of ideas out there and you could save them all to remember for later! Pinterest should've been invented years ago. It totally changed the way I research projects too! Now instead of going to google all the time I go to Pinterest!
So I'm sure after I've gushed and rambled about how great it is you're all gonna want to get on there right? Well you need an invite to join. If you would like one you can request it from Pinterest or you can leave me your email address and I'll send you one right away! Leave it in the comments section and I'll hook you up! Here are some of my FAVEY FAVE ideas and goodies from my Pinterest account...links to all these fab projects found at the bottom....

I could've shown you about 500 other pics but that would've been a REALLY long post! Please check it out! It'll have you hooked! Remember to leave me your email address and I'll send you over an invite if you are interested!! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Can you believe its November already? Crrraaazy!

 Ugly lamp covered in rope
Shelf made from old crates
Aged paint technique with soap
Yarn wrapped letters tutorial
Fabulous inspiration room
Heavenly Frye boots. SWOON!
Fab Fall Outfit
Hanging planters as toy storage...or fruit storage...or hair dryer/flat iron storage...The possibilities are endless!!!

My hurt

I have wanted to share my story for a while but didn't know how. How do you share the deepest details and hurts that you have experienced? How do you streamline all of that into something that's readible and makes sense when its all just a huge ball of pain inside of you? I'm just going to start....I hope I don't lose you. 
***takes deep breath***

I was raised in a small town on the Oregon Coast. I am the youngest and have one brother who is 8 years older than me. My Dad was in the Navy when my parents were first married and they did quite a bit of traveling, so they waited a while before starting a family. When my Mom finally told my Dad that she wanted to have a baby, my Dad's response was no. He didn't want kids now...sure he did when they first got married but now he didn't. No kids. My Mom was understandably upset and angry. She walked out on him and was gone for about a week..staying on her parents couch. She agreed to come home if my Dad would change his mind and start a family. He agreed and they had my brother. He loved my brother and embraced being a father. They went fishing, played sports, and really had a tight bond. After my brother was about 6 my Mom wanted to have another child. She approached my Dad again about it and my dad emphatically said no. There would be no more kids. He was done. My Mom left again...this time for about 6 months. She moved to the city, got a job and an apartment and prepared to raise my brother by herself if my Dad wasn't willing to be sensitive to how badly she wanted another baby. My Dad was basically parked on my Mom's doorstep during that time begging her to come home. 
She finally agreed after my Dad agreed to another baby. He made it clear that he didn't really want this baby but was doing it for her. That's when I entered the picture. As most of you can probably guess by now I have had some issues from that situation. I have known since I was a child that my Dad didn't want me. I don't know how I found out but I've known for a long time. As a result of this knowledge my Dad and I have always had a strange relationship. I have never felt close to him. In the beginning I tried really hard to win his approval..which was always nearly impossible. I played the sports that he wanted me to play so that he would spend time with me...although all the time that he did spend playing sports with me was spent with him instructing me on how to do things differently...not being proud of me. I spent most of my childhood trying in vain to win his affection and approval. I never felt like he loved me...although he told me he did. He honestly just didn't know how to relate to me. He thought if he was hard on me it would show that he cared...or if he criticized my sports that he was interested. A 10 year old girl doesn't see things that way though...they feel unloved and that their Daddy isn't proud of them. I grew up being very close to my Mom. She was everything that my Dad wasn't. Nurturing, caring, patient, and gave me unconditional love. She filled in the gaps in my heart. My Dad was very emotionally abusive to my mother. He never hit her or was violent with her but he told her on a fairly regular basis that she was stupid, etc. He would not let her have any say in how things went in our family. All the vacations were where my Dad wanted to go, the budget was done by him, the bills were paid by him, he decided EVERYTHING. He was extremely controlling and my Mom was a passive peacemaker. Not a good combo. I vividly remember an occasion when my Mom decided to invest in something similar to a 401k through her work (she was working part time while I was in school) without consulting my Dad. I came home just before dinner from playing at my neighbors house. I saw my brother sitting at the end of our driveway on our fence. He looked stressed. I climbed up next to him and listened...I could hear my Dad screaming at my Mom all the way out on the fence (we had a VERY long driveway and very good insulation in our house). My brother eventually had to get involved in that argument so my Dad wouldn't be violent towards my Mom. My Mom left my Dad when I was 14. They had been married for 30 years. My brother was in college and out of the house and I moved with my Mom from our small town to a big city. I started over. New friends, new house. I was damaged from so many years with an unloving and emotionally abusive father and didn't know where I fit. I carried that feeling with me all through high school and in to college. I tried to overcompensate for my pain by being outgoing, bubbly, happy ALL the time (at least on the outside). I made friends easily and kept myself very busy. I fell in love for the first time when I was in college. He was dark haired, brooding, had a major chip on his shoulder, and was pretty moody (sound familiar? Ya he was pretty much exactly like my Dad). We were serious almost instantly! He became emotionally abusive towards me pretty gradually. He would occasionally say things that were rude or very insensitive but follow them up with a couple good things to keep me from getting too hurt. It got worse...and worse. We were together off and on for about 3 years and whatever sense of self worth I had before that relationship started had dissolved completely by the end of it. He lied to me all the time. Always kept me guessing. I was a Christian and loved the Lord...went to church regularly before him and for my whole childhood. While in the relationship I stopped going to church and stopped praying. I disconnected from all my Christian friends and replaced them with partying friends. The only way I can describe it is that I lost myself. After I finally broke up with him I couldn't believe how far I had fallen. I was a miserable waif of a human being. I honestly didn't believe that I deserved better...I just knew I couldn't take any more! I changed my phone number so he couldn't contact me and I could make a clean break!

My family helped me heal and I got back into church. I knew that God loved me and wanted me to have more. More love. More consistency. More fellowship with believers. More time with Him. I went out with a friend about a week after the breakup and met a really amazing guy. That guy would end up changing my life and making me a mother!

To be continued.... 

Linking up with On my heart @ The Wiegand's

Burlap Fall banner and a harvest mantle

Hey guys! I got a little creative yesterday...you know...instead of cleaning my house or doing the 12 loads of laundry that needed to be washed. Sometimes the mood just strikes and you have to give in! ;) I wanted a Fall mantle that wasn't too theme-y or busy. I wanted to work with what I have and "shop the house" for the pieces to decorate with. Isn't it amazing how things that you already have can be re-invented to make something totally new? Love that! So I have a few things that always live on my mantle. I have a faux topiary in a white antiqued urn, the mirror on the wall, and a vintage cursive handwriting sheet from a college in my hometown. I wanted to add in other things that went with the season but would work with what I already had going on up there. So here's what I came up with...

I added some small pinched flowers all over the topiary in both orange and burlap...looks a little funky from that angle but its cute in person..promise! :) I also added a cream candle in a large amber glass pedestal vase, I took a small orange dish that I made in high school ceramics class and put a large pinecone in it. I added an old book that I plan on putting something on top of...any ideas? I also added my mod podged jute vase project from a year ago with some pom-pas grass from my yard. Oh and of course my new burlap Fall banner that I made yesterday! You too can make one! Sooo simple....here's what you need...
Burlap-Cut into triangles that are roughly the same size. One triangle for each letter.
Acrylic paint/small paint brush-Black for me so its easy to see but orange or white would've been really cute too!
Your computer- I printed out the word Fall in a font I liked
Mod podge-I used matte
Twine for hanging

Cut out your triangles of burlap first. If the burlap is wrinkly you can rinse it with water and smooth out the fibers and stretch it lightly when its wet. This will remove the wrinkles to give you an even surface to paint on but it also causes the edges to fray a little and looks really cute when dry.
Once your triangles are dry you want to cut two slits in each one to feed your twine through. The slits need to be parallel and near the wide edge so the point is hanging down.
Next sketch your letter on your triangle. You could use the light trick and put your paper behind your burlap but I decided to wing it. I'm crazy like that! I used a plain black sharpie to sketch it with because my paint was black and I wanted it to blend.
Fill in your sketched letters with acrylic paint and let dry.
Apply a layer of mod podge on one side of each triangle and let dry. Once dry do the same thing to the other side and let dry. This will prevent your burlap from fraying and give the triangles a stiffer and more obvious shape.
Feed your twine through your new triangles and hang! I put mine over the mirror and I love it there but it'd be super cute in a doorway or on your porch outside (keep it out of the rain though). I hope you all try this...super easy and fun!

Have a great week!!

Linking up with...
Whatever Wednesday at Mommahenscoop
One project at a time @A bowl full of lemons
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @Coastal Charm
Anything goes party@Type A Decorating

Lets be honest...

Bloggers have a nasty habit. We always want people to see us, our homes, our families in their best light. We don't want people to know the mess that's hidden just out of sight in the picture, or the Mommy that's taking pictures of her mantle and her cute furniture redo instead of  herself because she is still in her pajamas at 2pm! That's what's real folks! I adore blogs...don't get me wrong. Blog reading is one of my most favorite ways to unwind. I have gotten into the habit though, of only posting when I have something that I feel is interesting and worth sharing. I have definately gotten into the habit of sugercoating MY reality. I recently read a post by The Wiegand's (Love her!) that really helped me put things into perspective. I realized that as a woman, a Mommy, a blogger...I haven't been helping other's by not showing the "real" me...mess and all! Instead of being honest and raw and unapologetic about my life and the ups and downs that go along with it, I've been helping to perpetuate a feeling of inadequacy. Flaws are a beautiful and magical thing and they tell a powerful story! Without our flaws we wouldn't be us! There is no one out there that is perfect. God has a plan for you and me and is going to use us....flaws and all! I found something on pinterest recently that hit home...

Or this....

I want this blog to not only be a place to share my furniture projects and creative ideas, but also a place to share my  heart with all of you! I pray that we can begin to celebrate all the flaws that make us who we are!