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.

Belated

If you were wondering if the Chubby Chicks quilt ever got finished (and I am well aware that you are not), it did. Four months ago, just in time for Christmas. Don't judge me in this picture. I finished it at 2am.

Time With the Fam

I got to spend some time with my family this weekend, which was so fun. Betsy and her husband, Rocky, and daughter, Elise came from Nebraska. We celebrated my dad and Elise's birthdays (she's ONE!!) together. Rachel and her boys came up from Denver. It felt comfortable and normal and it was good to be together. A few family pictures...
My sister Betsy (left) and Rachel (right). We discovered I was the tallest and should stand in the middle. Do you know how momentous this was? I have never been the tallest in any other picture in my life. Write it down. Big day.
My sweet nephews and niece. Orion (9), Elise (1), and Coda (4). Coda has such a sweet relationship with Elise and loves her dearly, you can tell. It is such a tender thing about him.

The whole family...fun to see our family growing! Elise, Rocky, Betsy, me, my dad, Rachel, Orion, Coda, and my mom. And...big news...Betsy is pregnant again and due in December. How exciting!

My One and Only

Easter was just a couple of weeks ago, and I thought I'd share a couple of reflections. At our Christmas eve service at church, one of our pastor's asked if our hearts were prepared for Christmas. I'd been working crazy holiday hours at the Mace, been shopping for Christmas gifts, helping with decorating at church...it was a crazy time of year and as I sat there I realized...my heart was not at all prepared for the very holiday I had been running myself ragged to celebrate. I think everyone has had this realization, and, if you're anything like me, you probably have it every year. *Sigh* But at that moment, I decided that I didn't want to feel that way about Easter this year. I really wanted my heart to be readied for Easter. I picked out a Bible study that would focus my heart on Christ and began it shortly after Christmas. I didn't necessarily time it this way, but I finished it Easter day and it was such a blessing. Easter has never meant more to me, because I have never been so intimately acquainted with the life and heart of the One who bled and died and then rose again on that day. Here are the highlights of what God taught me in the past several weeks:

• Jesus' birth was preceded by a 400 year period of silence from God. How the people must have ached for a Savior and how much faith it must have required to continue to believe that Christ was coming when it had been generations since God had been heard!
• God is faithful and inconceivably enjoyable even when a request goes unmet (Zechariah and Elizabeth)
• Jesus' mother Mary was chosen by God for a special role. Her song (Luke 1:46-55) reflects that she must have loved scripture and had a unique heart for the Lord, including more than 12 Old Testament references.
• Christ's very job description is given in Isaiah 61, including to heal the brokenhearted. The original word for heal means "to mend by stitching." He had to be pierced to make us whole again!
• Every need humanity possesses is secondary to the need to hear and receive the gospel.
• Christ holds us responsible for the things we only say to ourselves. We are accountable for our thoughts! (Luke 7:39 and surrounding story). Our innermost places need daily purification. Part of the process is recognizing and confessing judgmental, impure, or critical thoughts before they make their way into our mouths and actions.
• Hearing God's Word is fundamental to growth of any kind! (Luke 8:11-15)
• "Wrath" means "utter abhorrence to sin but with longing mixed with grief for those who live in it." Even in His wrath, God is merciful!
• Few things cause people to sin like unforgiveness!
• The four cups of the passover meal represent the "I will" statements of Exodus 6:6-7: I will deliver you, I will redeem you, I will take you as my people, I will be your God. How profound that we are His chosen ones.
  
• The cost for me to become a new creation was beyond what I can fathom!
  

Things I am praying as a result of this season:

• That God would motivate me to actively engage myself in every message I hear or read, to be teachable because His Word is always living and active, regardless of delivery.
• That I would develop God's taste: desire what He loves, hate what He hates, marvel at the things He finds marvelous...
• That God would give me a longing for the sinners of this world to be forgiven, not for the sinners of the world to be judged.
• That God would search my heart, soul, and mind for vulnerabilities to foolish decisions.

On the last day of my study, Beth Moore poses this question:
"Has Jesus become your One and Only? Is he transcending all else in your life? Is he beyond compare? Your one and only Savior? Your one and only deliverer? The one and only lover of your soul."
I am so blessed by God's goodness. He does not allow me to draw near to Him without changing me. I feel like I know Him so much more now and I can honestly answer more truly than before, yes, He is my One and Only.

What a Mess...

I am realizing that I am truly my mother's daughter. For the longest time, I have always thought of my mom's van as a sort of black hole slash Walmart because it has EVERYTHING you could ever need in it. It is chock full of a bunch of stuff and there isn't a lot of room to sit in it and actually go places.

Shamefully, I must admit that my car has become the same. *Sigh.* So, I cleaned it out yesterday and you just won't even believe the contents. Thought you'd find it entertaining:

• Snow boots
• Lunch box
• 2 translations of the Bible
• Book
• 3 clothes hangers
• Package of thank you notes
• Googly eyes (like for crafts)
• Painting clothes
• Favorite jeans...was wondering where the heck those were
• Diaper wipes (Sunday school kids)
• Tacky glue
• White label stickers
• Red acrylic paint
• Character bandaids in 2 varieties (Sunday school)
• Bandaids (obviously, I'm set should I ever need one)
• Pair of socks
• I Pod cord
• Lint brush
• Interior design idea book
• Hot pad
• Dress pants
• Green purse
• Plum purse
• Red marker
• Saline nasal spray
• Phil Wicam CD
• Polka dotted flip flops
• Winter scarf
• And here's the kicker...a fondue pot and 6 forks.

What in the world?! You'll be happy to know that my car is now vacuumed and washed and that today I was all that is man and refilled my very own wiper fluid. I deserve a ribbon.

From Indoorsy to Outdoorsy

I bet you thought I'd never go four-wheeling and camping for five full days. I certainly never did. I left during the middle of last week to go to beautiful Moab, Utah and enjoy quite an adventure. I had so much fun and was completely out of my comfort zone. Here are a couple of pictures:

This was my first obstacle. I was a little bit of a dare devil, I guess, because I really wanted to do this whole Jeep Safari thing 100% if I was going to do it at all. So I rode along for some really scary obstacles. This one wasn't bad once I had something to compare it to, but at the time it was terrifying!
I was laughing and screaming at the same time and this is kind of what that looks like. :)

One of the most interesting things for me to watch on this trip was how all of the guys seemed to just have a sense about them with four wheeling. There would be a problem and they'd just all jump out, pop the hood and start checking things out. They always seemed to know what to do but they rarely communicated about it. They just kind of worked together. It was fascinating. We were going up this really steep obstacle when Colby popped his tire off of the rim. It was sitting right on a rock and the guys didn't want him to move it because it would ruin his rim. They needed to change his tire, but the truck was at a 45 degree angle. They all got in there and assessed the situation...

Then they jacked it up a little bit and put the rim on a piece of wood so that it would be so bad. The tied a strap to Ben's truck (parked in front) to give Colby's truck stability.
Then they changed the tire and it was finished. The whole thing probably only took 15 or 2o minutes. I could not believe that, almost without a word, all of these guys could solve the problem.
This was the scariest thing we did the whole trip, and I got to ride along!! This is called the Escalator. The way this whole thing works is that the boys walk the obstacle and decide where they want their tires, etc. This is called "a line." Then someone is in charge of making sure they keep their tires where the driver wanted them and they get going. It's a pretty controlled environment, really.
So at this point we're on a pretty steep incline and I am almost completely laying flat in the truck because of it. You really can't see anything at certain points and that is terrifying.

There is then a big hole in the ground and it has water in it, which isn't great because the water doesn't help traction. So the goal was to keep the tire out of the water.

This is Ben telling Briton that there is not way the tire will be able to clear the hole without doing through the water a little bit.
Feeling a little bit scared at this point and pretty unstable but trying not to make that known.

Yep, that's three tires making contact with the rock. Scary.

So at this point we were pretty much stuck in a hole.
Here are the guys trying to figure out how they should get the driver rear tire out of it's little rut.

So they tied a strap onto the truck and then they all pulled on it. They're not really pulling the truck out, they're just providing tension so it doesn't roll down the very steep rock we were on.

What a fun time! Might post some more pictures later.

Been Away for Awhile...

Haven't been too into blogging recently, but I guess people want some updates, so I'll see what I can muster up. :)

What's happened during this little blogging hiatus...

• My sister and her family moved to Nebraska. This was met by tears on my end for sure, and I miss having her and little Elise nearby.
• I moved out of my parent's house.
• I took classes to learn to be a nursing assistant, enjoyed them, got through clinicals, got offered a job then failed the strength test to do the job, hence, still at Macys.
• God used that disappointment to stir in my a greater longing for the lost, and that is exciting.
• I've thought much more seriously about getting my masters.
• I celebrated my 23rd birthday a couple weeks ago with a bunch of friends. It was great! Hard to believe all of the wonderful friends I have made since being here less than a year. What a blessing!

Brr

The other day I was driving to work, basking in the no-need-for-a-coat weather and thinking...I am so dramatic! I can't believe I always thought it was so unbearably cold here when I would return over Christmas from South Carolina.

Twenty four hours later I was freezing to death (practically). It has been in the single digits all week...like 5 degrees today. My iPod nearly froze just being in my car, while I was driving it.

And I bought snow boots. They're so tacky they're almost cute.

Chubby Chicks

I'm making this for my niece for Christmas. I started today. :) Hopefully...it will be done on time. Isn't it so fun and cute? I am excited to see how it turns out. I'm doing pinks, greens, and robin's egg blue. I needed my sweet old grandmother in the quilt shop today to help me choose fabrics that would work together. :(

Happy Holidays

We celebrated Thanksgiving a little bit differently than I remember doing it last time I celebrated with my family (four years ago). We always used to go to my grandma's house, but since she passed away we've done it here. This year, our kitchen is being redone, so we ordered our whole meal from Whole Foods...except the pies.

My mom gave me grief for showering and doing my hair and wearing real clothes on Thanksgiving. I wanted to feel human. She thought it was "very Southern" of me. So, she told me to put on my apron and smile for a "Paula Deen" picture of me with the only homemade part of our meal...the pies. Is that not the cutest hutch you have ever seen. My parents just got it at the flea market. I told them to go ahead and put that in the will for me. :)

The weather was so good that we had our meal outside with a fire in the fire pit. It was fun!
The next day, my nephews joined us and my dad was making them so of those gross little potato triangles that you thought you didn't have to eat outside of a school cafeteria. My dad called me over and said, "Hey Emily, Happy Hannukah." Hilarious.

Summer Tugs at My Apron Strings...

This summer I bought fabric for this apron. It's fun--vintage looking, with bold, graphic lemons.


I finally cut it out and got busy...and here it is!


This is my favorite apron pattern! I love the big bow, the rick-rack edging, the generous pockets, the button back... I think I might love aprons. Wearing them, making them, giving them as gifts.


Next up, I want to make an apron combining robin's egg blue with cherry red. Can't wait!