Happy HoliDIYs

If you caught my last post, hailing the little details of my Christmas mantel, then you saw some of the last month's proudest accomplishments.  Dan and I found ourselves heading into this Christmas season stockingless.  And even if we'd had stockings, it would have been a hopeless case, for we had no stocking holders. But now, oh, now we do.

I'm fairly proud of how these came together, mostly because it was not something I saw on Pinterest first.  Nothing really drives me to be creative than being...well, required to be creative.  I would have been totaly okay with buying some stocking holders, but we couldn't find any.  I didn't see any at World Market, Target,  WalMart...the Dollar Tree had some, but I'm not sure they would have been able to hold up a paper snowflake, much less a stuffed stocking.  So when push came to shove, I decided to make my own stocking holders. Take that. 

Adventures in Wifedom: Tips for Savvy Shopping

No shame, I'll just say it: this one's for the new wives.  For the out-of-our-parent's-housers. For the keeper's of the pad, be it a bachelor's or a bachelorette's. This one's for the people who are finding themselves suddenly responsible for themselves. For those of us that have recently had the sudden realization that houses do not just exist in harmony on their own, those of us that thought at one point, "Oh. So all that shopping and cleaning...that's a regular part of life now, a regular part of my life...oh." For those of us who immediately feel like a four year old as soon as we've had that thought.

If you are one of those people, can.I.get.a.HEY-O!

If I ever get current enough to do *features on this blog, you can bet one of them will be dubbed "Adventures in Wifedom" and it will chronicle all the epic moments I have learning to be a wife. Oh heck, let's pretend like I already have a feature. Here we go.

Around the House Weekly Five

I recently had a chat with a friend where I explained how she could set up her RSS feed to keep up with her favorite blogs, using mine as an example. We talked about how great it was that the most recent posts from all her blogs would just come directly to her; no longer would she be required to jump from page to page across the Internet tracking down blogs. It was great. I was so excited for her. Then, a few days ago, she sent me this text:

"Have you blogged recently? Cause if you have I did this rss thing wrong!"

Um, hi. Embarrassed, party of one. You did a great job with the RSS feed...but I haven't blogged since my last weekly five.

Called. Out.

Well! To make amends, I bring you another weekly five, this time centered around a little theme. Follow me after the jump to get in on five sneak peeks at the goings on at our place...

Weekly Five

As promised in my last, more serious post, I am back for a second time in one day to post and link up to a Weekly Five party going on over at Redirected Dreams. I even made a special trip to WalMart to purchase a card reader so that you could see my weekly five. (I figured since I deprived you of pictures earlier, I couldn't do that twice in one day...)

So now, without further ado, I present to you my weekly five - that which has blessed me the most in the last week.

Coming in at number one on my weekly five are two of my favorite people in the whole wide world.  My brother, Jonathan, and my mom, Mary Beth, both celebrated birthdays this past week.  I love my family beyond anything in the whole world, and I am always happy to see them make it another year. So thankful for them!!

Numero dos of the weekly five can be summed up as: Project Success. I don't know if you've seen this Sharpie on ceramic bit on Pinterest (I haven't...I heard about it via another blog...) but it's awesome. All those doodling skills you racked up in high school can finally come to something concrete. I'll do a little How-To later this week...not because you can't just look it up now, but so that I can show off some more of them. Because I've been making bunches.

 A surprise blessing was waiting for me at church this past week from my Secret Sister: a brand new journal and Diet Coke for me, and Triscuits for my adorable husband. I don't know who she is, but she knows me. If you're reading this, thank you!!! You are so in my top five favorite things!!

I always think that recipe success is a good thing, and the flavor fest that worked itself out on Saturday for my mom's birthday brunch is DEFINITELY one of my favorite things from the last week. I am beaming with pride and fond, delicious memories over this spinach, bacon, and goat cheese frittata and raspberry ricotta cheesecake. Yes. Please.

Last but not least, my top five includes the fun Dan and I had at the wedding of two good friends of ours. We are so very thankful for the Lord's leading in their lives and are looking forward to what He'll do next.  The wedding was beautiful - they did me the immense honor of asking me to sing and I didn't screw it up - and I danced so much at the reception that my thighs are still sore.  If you add that to the fact that my (free!!) spray tan ended up with my getting compliments instead of Oompa Loompa comments...the day is so worthy of inclusion in this weekly five.

This has been an incredibly fun post.  What a good habit, to reflect on the blessings in life. How about you? What are your five favorite things from this past week?  Let me know. :)

Tune in later this week for an answer to the question that thousands are asking...What's going on with the house??

I.Will.Let.You.Know. For now, I'm going to go and work on it with the hubs. Peace and blessings. 

First Days On the Job

It's always a little weird when you're starting out, isn't it?

There are always those little first day jitters, those moments when you think, "Oh crap, I just really messed that up and now everybody's looking at me like the newbie, aren't they? AREN'T THEY?! That's it I'm quitting."

It's always a slightly painful realization that you just have to wait for things to come, to learn, to get used to how it is here at the new job.

I consider yesterday as being my first day on the job at Wives, Inc. There was no name tag, no welcome packet, no instructions on what I can and cannot wear...but it definitely had all the same first day feelings.

The Best of Times...

Say that title five times fast.

It's not hard or anything, just fun, and interesting, and full of B's.




Sorry I haven't been here. Honestly, did anyone expect me to not slip up and slow down with the posting? Me neither. Things are SOO busy here. Some reinforcements recently landed (in the form of my younger brother and two friends), so I have hope that through the next weekend I'll be able to put a really good dent in my "To-Do" list.

It is pages long.
Pages.
Multiple pages. Through all of this busyness...I am feeling very blessed for getting to experience the joys of love in engagement. It's exciting. It's fun. It's fresh...really. Why wouldn't it be?