To my Dad

Happy Father's Day to my amazing Dad!  You have taught me so much and made me feel so loved.  Thank you for your example of following the Lord and for teaching me about Jesus.  Thank you for your kindness and giving heart!  I love you!

Glazing Attempt #1

So I have been reading for a long time on craft blogs about glazing painted wood furniture or decoratives and I really wanted to try it.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It's not perfect (when is it ever?!), but it does add some color and some shabby-chic-ness to my house I think.  I used tutorials from The Speckled Dog and All Things Thrifty and there's even a video tutorial at All Things Thrifty which I found very helpful.  Here's my process and attempt at glazing some wood picture frames. 

These are the products I bought at Home Depot - Aqua Spray Paint, Kilz Primer, Faux Glaze, and Black paint 

1. I took all the glass and backing out of these wood picture frames that I got for $1 or less each at KCM resale.  (That is my new favorite resale shop.  It's cheaper than Goodwill and has so much more!!) Sorry, its just a local place though.

2. I sprayed each with Kilz Primer and let dry. 

3. I sprayed each with the Aqua spray paint and let dry.  (I can't get this photo to flip!)

4. Now the fun part: glazing!  Go to those websites above for very detailed instructions.  First I mixed the glaze (its looks white like glue, don't be alarmed at this as I was!) with the pint of black paint, although it could have used a little more black paint I think.  I painted on the glaze with a foam brush and then almost immediately rubbed it off with a damp cloth.  The black glaze is then just left in all the crevices and cracks of the frame (this pic is before I wiped it off)

5. And Ta-da!  I took some pictures I've had up for a while and put them in my new aqua frames.  You could also do some hand distressing of the frames with some sand paper if that suits your fancy.  

Here's a close up.  Oh my sweet bridesmaids!  And now I've put these frames in various places around the house to brighten things up a little.  So fun!

The book shelf in the living room

My entry-way table



Up next: Painting and glazing two wooden chairs!

Yeah Mon, No problem

Jamaica was delightful.  Warm and Sunny.  We spent the majority of the time laying on the beach, getting sun (a little too much I admit), reading, and enjoying the water.  We stayed at an all inclusive resort and only ventured off the resort twice in our 5 day stay.  Once to go out to dinner and watch the Mavs play (and way to go Mavs!) and another time to go to Dunn's River Falls, a huge waterfall that we climbed up.  The people were so fun and friendly.  Their accent was great and their favorite phrases were "Yeah mon" and "No problem mon", just like on Cool Runnings.

Day 2, we stayed in the shade because Ben and I both got sunburned the first day.  But it was just as enjoyable.

The "perfect" Sunburn.  Ben got so many comments about this heck of a sunburn.  Some random man even gave him a real aloe plant leaf.  Said he bought it for his own burn but that Ben needed it more than he did.  He's slowly healing.

Out to dinner

Chillin' in the chairs in the water...mine was the far one about to float away. 

The beach a little after sunrise.  Our hotel had its own island!

Kelsey, JT, Me and Ben - the gang we hung out with all week - we had a blast with them

Day 3 - Our day hiding in the shade after the sunburn

Love. This. Pic.

Daily Summer Goals

I find that goals make my life more purposeful and more joyful.  Even though they add structure, they also add freedom.  Below are some of my summer goals:

Daily goals:
Read the Bible and pray
Work on part or all of a craft project
Clean out one area/drawer/mystery stack, etc. per day that I am at home

Weekly goals:
Working out 3x a week
Home cooked meals
All Summer goals:
Learn to crochet, practice in travel time
Read through "Power of a Praying Wife" and apply daily (Anyone wanna do it with me?!)
Home organized with some better systems in place to avoid mess
Strengthen current friendships, make new ones

Should be one of the best summers yet!

First Summer Project

I have been waiting and preparing to do this project for a while now and I love how it turned out!  Last week, I went to Half Price Books and found an old hymnal for $7.  This weekend, I went to Michael's and got a green styrofoam wreath for $2.48 with a half-off coupon I pulled up on my iPhone.  And that's it!  I followed the tutorial on Jones Design company for a book page wreath and just used hymnal pages instead.  I used not even half of the hymnal pages so I have so many more left to do some other fun project with.  Emily from the Jones Design Company does a wonderful job of showing pictures for each step so I'll just show you my final product.

Eeek!  I just love it.

My photography skills are less than stellar (as well as my camera) but this gives you an idea.  I'm not totally sold on this spot for it, but it's staying there for now.

Good things

1. Today I bought two swimsuits at American Eagle for half the price of one at Dillard's.  Just call me Mrs. Thrifty Shopper.  And they're cuter too.

2. I'm adding back one by one in all the foods that I took out of my diet the last three months to see if they cause headaches.  Today and yesterday's food to add back in was chocolate.  Oh chocolate.  I haven't you in almost 3 months.  I had a kit kat at breakfast.  A mocha frapachino at lunch.  And then thin mints at dinner from the freezer that I had blocked out of my mind.  It has been delightful.  And the best part - I don't have a headache! (knock on wood). 

3. It's summer!!  And that means so so so many good things.  See previous post.

4. We're going on a last minute trip to Jamaica!  Soon!!!  We planned it last Wednesday.  Through email.  I'm so pumped!  Hence the need for the above mentioned swimsuit.  I also need huge beach towels, sun screen (I've been using the same bottle for about 6 years now), and beachy flip flops. 

5. This morning I had the opportunity to pray with several girls from my Bible Study class at Houston's First where I go to church.  It was refreshing, encouraging, powerful, and uplifting.  Prayer and fellowship are two wonderful gifts from the Lord.  Our focus today was perseverance.