Thrift Store Finds

Steph and Megan and I are planning to move into an apartment on July 1st, so we've been scouting for furniture. We just did our applications yesterday and put down a deposit. It's so fun to be finally doing that. Look what I found at the Habitat Store:

A little mid-century night stand, very well made, but with heinous drawer hardware and no character.
Megan and I painted it cream with tan inside the drawer and on the back of the shelf. Then we put the zinnia motif on the back and inside the drawer. We filled the holes from the other drawer hardware and used something more updated. I love it.



An adorable Hepplewhite chair, just what I've always wanted for my bedroom as a little desk chair. I've always thought Hepplewhite chairs were so classic, but I like them lacquered in color or in white more so than I do in the classic wood.
So there you have it...lacquered in red with a houndstooth seat. Classic.

More to come as we pull things together. I'm blessed to have roommates with incredibly good taste, so it will be fun to see what we can come up with together to make this little apartment a home. :)

Things I Did in a Dress Today

• Took off baseboard molding
• Put air in a low tire
• Moved furniture
• Packed up a kitchen
• Carried boxes

Just goes to show you that you never know what you might need to do when you get dressed in the morning.

Covet This

How stinking cute is this adorable chair? It is desperately in need of reupholstery, but wonderful nonetheless. I am hoping to do a fabric on the back that is hopelessly impractical with maybe a matching lumbar pillow. Not sure what I'll do on the seat and back...something that can stand to be tufted though, for sure.

Never Too Old to Play Dress Up

At one of the antique stores, we found a great little corner dedicated to vintage hats and jewelry. A couple of the girls get into that kind of thing, I really don't. I prefer dishes. Nevertheless, we all had a great time trying on the many hats and I think these pictures are super fun.

Rebecca and me, caned purses and all.

Erin.

Tanya.

Marya.

Rebecca. Definitely wins the award for most adorable in a hat.

So this was the moment of truth...hats don't fit my head. I tried on a ton of the hats in this booth and found my head was um...living up to it's name (Stirn means "large forehead" in German. What a name.)

There we go. The obnoxiously large one with giant flowers fits just fine. I'll take what I can get.

Antiquing with a Limit

I have come to believe that it is positively cruel to send me on a weekend trip antiquing with the design girls with only a carry on suitcase to bring back my loot. Perhaps it was good for me to have a limit, but I started two collections I've been looking to create.

When my grandma died, the one thing I knew I wanted to remember her by were her set of Pyrex mixing bowls from the 1950s. She probably got them brand new as a newlywed and they were likely all the rage.

Since getting those, I have started a bit of a love affair with vintage Pyrex glass and have been wanting some fun little storage containers for leftovers.

Behold, the precursor to Tupperware.
I own these. *Heart.*

My other fabulous find were four luncheon plates in pink depression glass. Can you imagine the bridal and baby showers that will necessitate? Can't wait! Of course, I will need quite a few more to do that. That shouldn't be a problem.

Items I would have snatched up if I had a small U-haul to take back:

I have a little problem that I call being sentimental over other people's family photos. If this were smaller and didn't practically demand an explanation as to who these people were, I might have snagged it for my shameful collection of other people's family photos. I don't even pretend that its not weird. Don't you worry.

What do you do with a little forgotten corner in your home? You put a beautiful, old, lead paint covered fluted column in it. And then you celebrate because it is just that beautiful.

I needed this whole set so very, very badly, but I would have had to throw all of my clothes out of my suitcase to fit them. This is just one of three, varying sizes, with a wonderful faceted crystal ball on the top of each one. How cute would this be for flour, sugar, and who knows what else that you usually put in canisters?! Unfortunately, TSA has made this an unrealized dream.

Becky, if you're reading this, this is exactly what I meant when I said you needed a mirror with some "body" over your sofa. Love it.

Interior Design Girls Reunion 2010

I graduated from design school with five other girls. As you might imagine, spending several hours a day locked into a little closet of a studio together made us close friends. We're all really different, but we have some important things in common, and it's fun when we get together. I feel blessed by their sweet, unexpected friendship. When we graduated, we said we'd get together again every couple of years and have a little reunion. We've had two already because Erin and Marya both got married. True to our word though, we met in Charleston this year and had a great time.

We spent an afternoon walking on the beach together. It was beautiful and warm and fun to have sand between my toes again! My apologies for the eighties hair I am sporting...the wind styled for me.

True to our past travels, we visited a fun local restaurant, Rebecca's favorite dive in Mount Pleasant. If you ever visit, it's a must. They had great salads, sandwiches, and desserts and a fun, local feel.

Tanya was pretty much willing her shorts to dry because we spilled an entire glass of water in her lap taking this picture. Luckily, we're still all smiles.

Tanya had to leave us before our last evening together, but we headed down to the Battery in downtown Charleston, walked along the pier, and had dinner. It was so fun...and poor Erin had blisters to prove it.

Thanks for such a fun weekend girls. Hope I can make it til the next time we get together! :)

It's Been a Year...

I was journaling this morning and realized...I graduated exactly one year ago. Hard to believe. This has been an unexpected, productive, and needful season and one that I would not be quick to give up if I had to do it all over again. I have learned more in this year than I did in all four years of college.

I came out of college like most recent grads do, believing that my hardwork and education would take me far if I would just try. Well, try I did and I found myself working at Macys full time. Not exactly what I had in mind. I had envisioned a career as a designer. I had maybe even half expected (sigh...must I admit this?!) that Mountain View's coffee date/ring by spring/marriage within a year thing might actually be a go for me. I envisioned living with a couple of my girlfriends since high school who I had remained close with throughout college in an apartment, on our own. I am learning that I have a right to none of my plans and that sometimes, God has something to teach me in delaying or completely changing the plans I have for myself as I learn to yield to His will for my life.

In this season, I have...

• Begun to see that my education and interest in design is more than anything a "giftedness" that God has given and that I can and should use it for his glory. I maybe had a glimpse of this in college, but didn't really understand it until I was given the opportunity to use it to serve my church body. It has blessed me immensely to work with the other women I get to come alongside and it has humbled me greatly to realize that no one is a better designer than the Lord.
• Learned that I like people, including their quirks and difficulties, more than I thought. I had always said I'd hate residential design because of having to really work with people. I've done a little bit of residential work since graduating and I actually love it. And, the people I sell shoes to at Macys are sometimes downright weird, cranky, or hard to deal with...and strangely I find I like those customers the most.
• Learned to work hard at whatever I do, even if it is selling shoes!
• Understood what it is to live "on mission." Coming out a of a Baptist school, I had forgotten what it was to be surrounded by the world and have an opportunity to be salt and light to a world desperately in need of Him. I have seen God move in miraculous, undeniable ways in the hearts of my co-workers. It has been sweet to see Him naturally develop spiritual conversations.
  
• Become genuinely broken for the lost for the first time in my life. I hate that it took this long. Seen myself, more clearly than ever, as being just the same as every unbeliever in my life if not for Christ.
  
• Learned to long for my family to know the Lord, to see them be radically and unequivocally changed by Him, rather than to desire for behaviors or circumstances to change.
• Glimpsed the beautiful picture of biblical community in my church body and in my Life Group. Enjoyed what it is to bear others' burdens, serve others, and meet practical needs. I have learned to labor in prayer for those dearest to me.
• Been wooed to the Word more intimately than ever before. I can't think of another time in my life where I have been this delighted with the Lord. That feels so weird to say, and I'm far from where I'd want to be, but I always thought being delighted in Him to be an elusive concept, and I'm learning that it is tangible. I am finally beginning to know what David spoke of in the Psalms when he said he longed and panted for the Word.
  
• Learned that I love children and enjoy teaching them in the context of Sunday school. Before I went to college, I had no desire to ever have my own children. Throughout college, that slowly changed and I developed an interest in children's ministry that was well nurtured at Newspring Church. Since coming back, I'm enjoying planning lessons for 4, 5, and 6 year olds and loving the opportunity to present the gospel in an age appropriate, engaging way. I am learning that I am priming hearts for salvation when I teach Sunday school and this feels heavier and heavier every single week.
• Come to understand that God can redeem my heritage and He will. This has given me abundant hope for a bright future. I am enjoying how He is letting me love on other people's kids and be a part of seeing another generation love the Lord.
• Learned that when Christ saved me, He desired for me to enjoy the fullness of my salvation by being in bondage to nothing. I have learned to surrender the lies I have believed for years and bring them under the authority of scripture.
• Finally understood that to glorify God means to make Him known.
  
• Learned the many Hebrew names of God and become enamored with the fullness of God's character revealed in them. I did a series of water color paintings of the names (picture will follow...eventually). I have never so wrestled with the character of God, but it was a good struggle and one that left me loving Him more.
• Become burdened for prayer in a way I can't say I've ever been before.
• Seen that God has cast a vision for this season of my life to be used to minister to other young women. It has been unbelievably satisfying to meet with other young women and share my life with them. The Lord has developed sweet friendships with several girls, and I think we have been mutually encouraged by what He has brought about.
• Experienced first hand that God saying "no" can be evidence of His faithfulness. I can think of at least four "nos" this year that did just that. They are a gift, looking back on it.
• Been blessed by friendships with young men who love the Lord and want to serve Him faithfully. It has been sweet to see some of those friends date my friends and it is a privilege to be surrounded by young men of such character.
• Experienced a opening of the floodgates! For years, I have been virtually numb and unable to cry over things I find sad, painful, or difficult. My heart has really tendered in the past year and God has allowed me to cry when that seems like an appropriate emotion.
• Learned that real life means trusting God's timing and that, in this stage of my life, I will no longer just be doing exactly the same thing as others in my same season. God brings about different things for different people at different times. He's sovereign and I can trust His timing!

I imagine that's not all that has been accomplished in my heart, but that is what I can think of off hand. I can't imagine what my life would be if God had not done all of that and really settled my heart on Him. This has been good.