New Year

Wow. I can't believe I made it a whole year without one blog post update. This year was a great one, and I'm looking forward to an even better 2013!!!

This year there were some amazing events in my life:
1) Hubby started a new job which meant paid vacation, sick days, healthcare, and many future opportunities
2) WE BOUGHT A HOUSE. Yep, in July of 2012, after barely two weeks of looking/talking/house hunting we made an offer and found the perfect house. It's not a starter home, it's a long-term...forever? home. We love it here. And I can't wait to (at some point) share our progress.
3) I, with my now very good friend Mandi, continued studying for and took our NCIDQ test for Interior Design Certification. We found out almost a month ago we both passed!!
4) Both my sister and one of my best friends are pregnant! We will be welcoming a new niece in February and nephew (my good friend is an only child so their little boy will have lots of "auntie-but-not-really-related" aunts!!
5) I am attempting to get back into the gym routine with said friend Mandi, and hoping to continue with a healthier lifestyle in the new year!!




I've still been cooking, baking, and decorating up a storm over here. But am I back for good? We will see, though I'm sure I am still not up to any regular postings. But maybe I'll have even more great things to come back and share this year!

Happy New Year, all!!

life update

Well, it's no surprise that I've been MIA on my blog (and probably yours, too) for a few weeks now. I suppose it really hasn't been that long of a span, but it feels like it.

I can't make any guarantees I am back for a normal batch of postings.

My goal is to keep up the Tuesday Readings posts and possibly projects that might come along.

It's been days since I've even been able to get myself to the "new post" page. I'm not sure why, but I'm just not feeling a draw to blogging right now. I can't seem to understand what's on my heart and in my head right now, let alone try to type cohesive sentences about it.

I wish I could keep up to date with you all. My Google reader is over 1000 posts at the moment and I'm a little overwhelmed with life in general. I'm sure I'll hit the "mark all as read" soon and maybe then I can catch back up.

I'm appreciative if you've stuck with me, for those new friends I've met this last year and I apologize for not getting around to reading all of your lovely posts.

I hope to be back...not sure how soon, but I'll be around.

Weekend Update: Sept 30-Oct 2, 2011

Really, I don't have much to share about this weekend.

Friday afternoon/night Rachel + I shot our cousin's wedding (well, our mom's cousin's son...) and it was cold, rainy, gorgeous and so much fun. We danced, hung out with our family and stayed for the whole reception (that doesn't always happen). Can't wait to see the pics!

Saturday I slept in, had a horrible headache almost all day and did lots of laundry. Seriously, that's it. Oh and I tried getting caught up on some blog reading and I made chili for dinner. It was yummy. Josh and I finally got to spend more than 40 minutes together that night as well, since we had been pretty busy the rest of the week. It was nice just spending time lounging with him.

Sunday Josh and I were on band duty at church, then we had lunch, took a way long nap, and now it's almost 730 and we're just waiting for our Pizza Hut to get here.

The last three days have been cold (in the 40's - 50's), rainy, gloomy, kinda fall-ish, and fairly lazy (except for Friday). It's supposed to clear up this week in Erie and get warmer again, but I mean, let's face it. It's October. It's fall.

I'm looking forward to a not crazy week at work. No bids due, just time to get caught up on projects and get a lot of stuff out the door!

Hope you had fun and relaxing weekends!!! Next weekend will hopefully have some better weather so maybe we can get some fall fun in!

weekend update: September 16-18, 2011

Um, how is it half-way through September already!? My gosh, time is just flying by.

I'm sad summer is pretty much over, but I love fall! Except I'd love it even more if I could spend all the money I wanted on boots, scarves, jeans and jackets.
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After my crazy-busy work week, I finished up things on Friday and was out of there by noon. I had a few errands to run like going to the bank, getting tomatoes from the grocery store and stopping at the post office to mail a package for a certain special nail polish winner. I had a nice, relaxing lunch at home then took a well-deserved nap.

About 30 minutes into the nap I was awakened by my cell phone from an out of town caller, assuming (correctly) that it was from one of our vendors calling to ask me about that bid we won and had been working on this past week. Unfortunately the call was not a good one - saying the vendor product cost was way too high and there was some mistake. This set me into a crazy frenzy - shoes back on, keys, purse and out the door, leaving the room a mess from my blankets and lunch.

I got back into work after the longest 5-minute drive (yes, that's how long it takes me to get to work, I'm so spoiled) of my heart pounding, tears forming, talking to myself saying "There is no way. This could not be. Please God may this be a mistake on their part." I got into the office, explained quickly to Dory through panicked words what was going on. I immediately looked at my order to the vendor - it was way less than the amount they were saying it was. There was no way I could have gotten this wrong.

After several phone calls back and forth to my CSR and asking if they were sure they got all the discounting right, I relaxed a little and finished up a few other things. Then - the power went out. Awesome. No email access for me (like - for good - our server is at our office, so, nothing is coming in or out). I go to tell my boss and it turns out they had just witnessed a transformer blowing. AWESOME. So, I call my CSR, tell her to call my cell, and within 10 min she is calling back saying they didn't discount one line item and everything is now fine.

Holy. Not the way to start a relaxing weekend.

After this fiasco, I stopped off at the library to drop off and pick up more books, then visited my parents for a few hours. Josh and I enjoyed homemade chicken noodle soup and biscuits for dinner and by 10 PM I was falling asleep on the couch.

Saturday was a relaxing morning, Josh off to work and me hanging out and catching up on some blogs. The rest of the day was spent photographing a wedding with my sister - check her blog for pics!

Sunday I sang at church, Josh and I had lunch, I took a nap and we celebrated his Gram's 86th birthday at his aunt's house with all his family!

I'm looking forward to another busy week at work, but with a lot less stress! We have lots more bids to work on this week and an open house with one of our vendors in Pittsburgh on Thursday! Can't wait! Hope you all had great weekends!

busy busy busy

I've been pretty MIA for the last two weeks - I had blog posts last week but they were all scheduled - and haven't been able to post anything for this week let alone be able to read all of your lovely blogs! I've also got some new readers out there which means expanding my blog reading as well, so I've missed catching up with you all the last few weeks. I've been working late every day this week plus I have wedding to shoot this weekend and I'm singing at church (so that means band tomorrow and a nap on Sunday).

Hope you're all doing well and I'm looking forward to be back next week with some fun things to share!

mid-week update

Some things I've been thinking about this week:

• Tonight I babysat my sweet niece Chloe and got to spend some time chatting with my brother-in-law, Brian. It was nice catching up with him and it's so awesome to be able to get along with my sister and her hubby so well and to call them friends - not just family.
• I'm still definitely interested in doing some sort of Bloggers-Bible something. I'm really hoping to focus this for women - specifically young/young-married and currently without children. I'm not trying to squeeze people out, but I'd like to do internet-Bible-study-type thing with like-minded females who are in the same situations as I am. I have three ladies interested so far, so if you are also interested let me know! I've been tossing ideas around in my head on how we can do this. My thoughts are to have passages to read weekly and to encourage one post a week - about the passages, what you learned, what you question, etc. Anyway - more on this when I get my head wrapped around it.
• My husband is great. He works hard to provide for us and keeps us in check. He doesn't have the benefit of two days a week off, so spending three days with him this past weekend was just so wonderful. 
• I've been really feeling like I need to get my eating and health under control recently. I have a hate-hate relationship with exercise and a love-love-love relationship with food, so it's quite a struggle. I wish I could get motivated about exercise and eating healthy, but what excites me is napping and chocolate.
• This weekend I have a baby shower for a friend of mine that I worked closely with for 2 1/2 years. I also have plans this weekend to see a friend of mine (and her new baby) that I was close with years, but probably haven't seen in almost 2 years!

So. That's what's been going on in my head this week. What's been going on with you?

Bloggers Bible Club?

Lately I've been really feeling the effects of not reading my Bible like I should - and feeling the guilt, though not really doing anything to change it. I had a kind of serious break down this weekend over something ridiculous and I've been struggling with envy/jealousy a lot lately as well, not to mention a general lack of guidance for my career path. I know that my lack of Bible-reading isn't the reason these things are happening, but I'm sure it isn't helping.

I know I don't talk a lot about God or my faith on this blog. It's not that I want it to be a secret, it's just that I've tried to keep a focus on this blog, and it has always been an outlet for my other passions - food and design - while I felt like my God-passion was satisfied through church on Sundays, being in the worship/praise band and occasionally attending small group.

I've always had Christian girlfriends, but as I've been growing up I've noticed most of these friends are no longer my age and are at different stages of life - most are my sister's friends or have kids. The small group I attended with my sister went through it's own changes and is full of married friends now with kids. Most of the friends Josh and I have at church that are our age are in small groups already, and due to his more hectic work schedule, it's hard for us to meet regularly with others.

I've been meeting new blogger friends recently across the globe and it got me to thinking. Is there some sort of Blogging-Bible-Club-Study any of you are a part of or is it something you might be interested in? I'm not even sure how it would work, so I'm definitely open to suggestions. Maybe a certain portion to read weekly and it can be posted about (if you want) or discussed via email? Or maybe even a new blog that anyone in the "club" can contribute too and discussed in the comments?

Please let me know your thoughts or if you have any suggestions of reading plans that you may follow. I know as we get into fall and then winter...that seasonal depression is going to kick in and I need to be prepared and motivated before that gets here!

some sort of slump

i think every other week i seem to go into some sort of blogging slump. two weeks ago i posted about being uninspired, then last week i posted like three recipes and a fabric friday post (okay, so that was just a picture of me in one of my favorite outfits).

this week i'm feeling it again. blah.

i can say this is mostly because it's a really busy week at home. i was out till 730 monday helping my sister with Jackson's 1-year pics, yesterday i was at Mercyhurst helping in the juring of the Interior Design Senior Projects till 830, Thursday i'll have band practice and Friday and Saturday i'll probably be sleeping. all the time.

i must confess i did some cooking and baking yesterday...at 10:00 at night...after having a breakdown and crying into my hubby's arms...and made a single-ish serving of homemade mac-and-cheese and these cupcakes for two from how sweet it is. unfortunately the mac and cheese was not that great, not blog worthy for sure. and my cupcakes tasted really eggie (my fault, i'm sure) and i was impatient and frosted them RIGHT out of the oven...so...disaster. only to feel more disappointed in my skillz by the end of the night.

so, there you have it. hopefully something share-worthy will come out of tonight. it is a GORGEOUS day, as i can tell from the window in my office that shows me blue skies through the window in the warehouse.

this is my only view to the outside world from where i sit. it's not much, but i am the only person that has a view at all...so i'll take what i can get!

happy Wednesday people. we're that much closer to the weekend. i hope you all have an inspired day!

fabric friday: failure.

sorry guys. totally didn't even try to post this past friday for my weekly "series." i've been feeling a little uninspired lately and lacking the desire to write and take pictures and have started several posts only to leave them unfinished without a plan to ever post them.

this weekend i cleaned our stove and sink and added some things in the kitchen that i wish i would have before-and-after'ed - because seriously, our stove must not have been really cleaned in years - but i didn't take any before pics and then didn't care so much about taking after pics either.

so, i apologize. hopefully some interesting and inspiring things will happen this week. lately i've just been really "blah" and i'm sure this 50's and rainy weather is NOT helping.

hope you all had a lovely weekend! anyone do anything fun? anyone else feeling like they are in a slump because of this crazy weather?

birthday post (belated)

so, like i said days ago - happy birthday kristen!

last friday was my former roomie kristen, from andthenifound5dollars. kristen is a long time friend, the first K in "SKANK," a Penn State Behrend lover, wine connoisseur, shoe fiend and fashionista. i was so fortunate to spend two years living with her! we had a great time as roomies - making dinner together, watching and making fun of Rachael Ray, watching Seinfeld reruns, leaving for work at the same time...

alas, life moves on and she bought a house last year and i got married. kristen now lives in our old neighborhood with a super cute house that she did amazing job painting and decorating. i'm so proud of her success and joy in her career, buying her first home and owning her new doggie Daisy!

5th or 6th grade (can't remember which) - i'm on the far right, kristen is on the far left (stephanie is in the middle)

former roomies - on our way to the Erie Bayhawks game for Behrend students, alums and staff!

NYE 2007

 

 

wedding days! 2010 - photo by Danielle Hartland

kristen - i hope you had a super awesome birthday! it was so great to spend it with you! thank you for being such a great friend and roomie. it has been a blessing to know you!

personal

wrote a long post about life, careers and changes.

felt it might be too personal to put into the blogosphere, so i saved it, and this is what you get instead.

i have a new goal: be the best i can be. at everything i do.

as this applies to my job/career, it's mostly a push to learn and understand more. i'm ready to be completely proud and confident in what i do - from the start of a project with a sketch or drawing to a customer to when our installers come back after project completion. webinars, training, vendor/plant visits, spending more time so i fully understand - whatever it takes.

wish me luck. i'm already starting to think i don't want to put in the work that this is going to take.

remember the goal for 2011: stop saying. start doing.

would love some words of advice or encouragement from anyone who might have gone through a similar life situation.

struggling

i've been really struggling lately. at work, with money, with wedding decisions...i've been in a funk.

i really don't like it.

i feel like i'm not doing my best at work. i feel like i'm not doing my best with budgeting. i feel like i'm getting too frustrated over stupid wedding details that don't matter. i'm not really quite sure what to do with myself.

i have a very hard time getting up in the morning. sometimes i think i should ask the bosses if i can work 9-530 and maybe that extra hour in the morning will help me feel better all around and therefore make me a better employee.

usually i'm convinced it's my attitude that is my problem. with everything...

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough problems of its own..."
Matthew 6:34

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7


why are these so hard to live out? no matter what your faith entails, being joyful and not worrying about "tomorrow" is good advice...it's just so hard...

"funk"

i've been in a major funk lately. i'm not sure when it started, but for the past couple months i've just felt very unsatisfied when it comes to my career and hobbies. i feel like i should be doing MORE with the skills that i have, even if that doesn't reach to "career" (at the moment) and is fulfilled through "hobbies." i need to do more that involves interior design, but i don't know how. blah, anyway, that's what's been going on with me lately.

yesterday night i was able to fandangle my way into singing at church on one of my off weeks (i'm not able to sing on my normal 4th and 5th weeks...so...). also, Josh is playing electric guitar, so that was another reason i wanted to get on this week. this is the first time we've been in the same worship band at church, so i'm pretty excited. also, Bri moved Josh to be in a different spot...placing him right next to me. during our sound check i think i got a little giddy, messed up some words, and maybe frustrated Brian a little...but i think i got over it pretty quick. i love watching Josh play because he's SO TALENTED! i'm really looking forward to Sunday.

my parents have had some friends from England and their two kids staying with them all week. tonight we're having a little get together at my parent's house with some family and friends that know the family.

but really, i'm just glad it's FRIDAY! co-worker Bethany is off today, hopefully i won't be too bored or lonely without her!

tomorrow: kayaking with some of my skank's: KC and Stace!