Just a quick hello to slip in the link to our wedding website. I made it a while ago but never added much to it. Once the invites went out and the website was on the invitations I knew I needed to finish this baby off.

So here it is, a very abbreviated snap shot of how 4 years of friendship lead to 3 years of being in a relationship which in turn lead to 1 year of being engaged!  And we are now only 75 days away from being Man and Wife.

Remember how I was all excited to redecorate my hall bathroom? Yea....I was maybe just a tad niave as to how easy that was going to be.


I present to you the problem. You see the people that lived there before us tried to use this special plaster on the wall to make it look... stucco? Maybe they just wanted some texture, I don't know. What I do know is that I don't like it and that its peeling off and leaving a nice white spot as you can see in the picture.



See the "texture" I'm talking about? Its not the style they were going for that bothers me, its that it was poorly done and looks sloppy and unfinished in most places in the bathroom. Since it appeared to be flicking off quite easily (I couldn't help but pick at it everytime I saw it, much to Mark's chagrin) I had the brilliant idea to just scrape all of the yucky plaster off the walls, prime what was underneath and then paint it fresh since it had nice flat plaster job underneath it all.


So in all my first time home owner, DIY bathroom redecorater niavity I decide to get out a putty knife at oh... 9pm on Friday.... thinking that I would have the plaster off the walls in no time.

Getting ready to leave for my long run... I am trying to get excited about it but 10 miles seems daunting! Nevertheless my race is only 5 weeks away, so the training needs to be happening in full force with determination! No time for being lazy or anxious!

Wanting to keep to what I said in an earlier post, I have chosen a new bible verse for the run. Needing to be filled with love, peace and a grateful heart this morning for all God has done for me.

"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts."

Colossians 3:14-16

, Here's a picture of our bathroom... showing a nice view from the tub.  Everything is tan. Tan walls, tan counter top, tan flooring and tan tile in the shower. So, needless to say, it needs some color!

I've registered for bronze bathroom fixtures like soap dish/dispenser etc. because I like the way the bronze will look against the counterops and flooring. My orignal thought was to paint the walls green but I can't find a shower curtain that will complement green walls!

I've already admitted that I am unashamedly addicted to pinterest, but unfortunately most of the things I pin don't ever make it off of the computer screen and into real life. Today however, I can pat myself on the back because not only did I actually MAKE something I saw on pinterest, I did it on a SEWING MACHINE. This girl - who sewed the top of her apron to the bottom of her apron when her grandma tried to teach her to sew - made 2 pillow slip covers! By MYSELF. And... wait for it... I even figured out how to thread the bobbin. I'm not going to lie. I was pretty pleased with myself.

Here's the link to my pinterest which will take you to the site that the original idea came from.

Here's my take on the instructions:

1.) Buy your choice of fabric and either pillow forms or old pillows that need to be covered.
 2.) Measure and cut fabric. Width should be 1 inch wider than your pillow and length should be 2 1/2 times longer than your pillow.
 3.) Lay fabric down so the side you want shown is facing you. Fold up about 1/3 of the length of the fabric and then fold 1/3 of that back down. Its hard to see in this picture because of the way the fabric is but if you look close you can see how I've folded the fabric up so the white side is showing and then back down to see the cowboys side again.
4.) Now fold the top of the fabric down so that you partially cover the fold you made in the previous step. There should be a just a little strip of the fabric that you want to see showing.

Today I took a dip in the Freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean! Every year my work makes up a Polar Plunge team to raise money for the Special Olympics of VA and then one chilly day in February we join with thousands of other people to get together and run like lunatics into the ocean.

It's really quite invigorating.

This year my family came down to watch my crazy antics and I talked my brother into plunging into the freezing depths of the ocean. I thought it would take some coaxing to get him to do it but apparently he's just as crazy as I am and went right along with it!

First I briefed him on the proper way to plunge into the ocean, seeing as I'm an experienced plunger, having done this last year you see.

1.) Rule #1 you must RUN not WALK into the ocean, lest you lose your nerve
2.) Rule #2 you must completely submerge yourself into the depths of the water, even if it only comes up to your knees
3.)Rule #3 you must scream like a wild banchee the entire time. (He didn't comply with this rule for some reason)

After the rules were set we were off! Not only did we run in and out of the water once, but three times! And yes. We went all the way under. We could barely feel our feet as we ran back up the beach to our towels and it took us a good 1-2 hours to warm our bodies back up! But not only did we raise money for the Special Olympics but I made great memories today with my brother! He even wants to do it next year.

Pictures soon :)