Master Bedroom Mood Board

My Master bedroom has always been an area that was neglected. I would rather focus on other areas before my own room. It was just never a priority. A friend of mine recently redid her Master bedroom and it inspired me and got me excited to redo our master bedroom.
Here is the plan I came up with. These are just guidelines and I am sure my inspiration may change along the way as I discover all of the wonderful finds out there. I am starting on the journey now to transform our room into a place that we both LOVE walking into. I will post projects along the way and hopefully soon I will have the finished project.

A Year of Date Nights

For Christmas this year I wanted to give my husband something a little different. I decided to plan out 12 dates for us to do throughout the year. One for each month.

As I was browsing the Hobby Lobby isles I came across this awesome little box. It is awesome for many reasons, first- the size was perfect and second- it had a stamp from Spokane, WA which is where my husband is from so I grabbed it along with some neutral colored card stock to make my own envelopes and I headed home

I wanted to make individual envelopes for each month so with a template I made little envelopes and with a handy dandy Cricut I cut out each months name

Here is the finished product. My hubby LOVED it and now we have a fun and cute way to display our dates for the year.

Here is the list that I used:

January- Watch a Bowl Game at Yardhouse with drinks and appetizers
February- Dinner and a Comedy Club
March- Coffee and Antique Shopping
April- Game Night at Home with Takeout Chinese
May- Picnic and Geocaching
June- 2nd Saturday Art Walk and Dinner
July- Sushi and Rose Garden at The Capital
August- Golfland Sunsplash
September- Wine Tasting in Apple Hill
October- Overnight trip to SF with Breakfast at Dotties
November- Mandarin Festival
December- Victorian Christmas

This is a tradition that will carry on, my husband told me that for next year he wants to plan out the years date so we will flip flop each year of who plans out

Fun and Funky cork boards

I was looking for a fun way to display cards from people, random pictures and anything else I deemed worthy to display :) After A LOT of searching at my "go to" places like Target, Hobby Lobby, Homegoods, Crate & Barrell I came up empty handed. I knew in my mind what I wanted (which for me is usually worse because then I can never ever find what it is I have in my head) so I decided that I would just make what I wanted.
I went to Hobby Lobby and bought 2 unframed cork boards
1 yard of this awesome fabric that I love! It was $8.99 a yard but with my 40% off coupon I got it at a great price

I had a roll of twine at home and after a few cuts, a stapler gun maybe 30 minutes of my time I had exactly what I had been wanting and viola

They are great for right by my front door and come Christmas time they will be my Christmas card holder

With the extra fabric I had I decided to cover an old but super sturdy box to put on a shelf on my kitchen island to tie the fabric in. I also plan on covering 2 of my dining chairs in this fabric too (that post coming soon)

Slacker of a Blogger

Well friends my first attempt at being a blogger was a flop! I over estimated how much time I would need to put into it and what I had already commited too. With working, being a mom, wife and friend this blog took the back burner. I am happy to annouce that I have found myself with a lot more free time as of lately. Since I stepped down from my position at our church I find that my "to do" list has cleared up and I now have time to actually dedicate to this whole blogging thing.
So once again sorry for flunking out of my first attempt to blog....I promise I will be better.

I already have some fun posts ready to go from a DIY Menu board, a Master bedroom mood board, a reflection over the last couple years and a lot more so keep your eyes out and spread the WORD!

Art- Show me what your workin with

I don’t know about you guys but my daughter comes home from school and church on a weekly basis with a slew of art projects, paintings, colorings and everything else that she can get her hands on so I end up with a TON of papers and not enough fridge space. I decided to make her, her own wall to display the art where everyone could see

I got the clipboards from target, metallic spray paint (so they would look like metal) from Lowes and we had just bought an activity mat for my son that I decided could live without the A, R or the T

And Woala, I have a space that is easy to change out and can be displayed in a fun, clutter free way

Maddy, Mommy,Daddy Date Night Jar

My husband and I have made it a tradition to each go on a date once a month with our daughter, Maddison.
We usually take the first two Tuesdays of the month and my husband will take her out one week and I will take her out the next.
We have been doing this for sometime now and we realized that we were doing the same old same old each month, movies, Chik Fil A, Frozen yogurt etc...... and we wanted to get creative .
So I stumbled through my cabinets to look for a fun vessel to use for our ideas and I cam accross this fun glass container. It previously had cookie cutters in it but they were always a pain to get out so it worked great for me to repurpose it.

I then took some fun pink scrapbook paper in honor of Maddys' favorite color and cut it into 6x3 inch pieces folded them in half then got to work on a list of fun "dates" that we can take Maddy on. Some of them costing money and some of them free.

So now when the day is approaching for one of us to take her on a date she can just go to her "Date Jar" pull out a pink slip and it will be decided what we will do
Here is a list of the dates that I put in the jar (these will have to be updated as weather and seasons change)

1. Hot cocoa and cookies at The fountains
2. Library Date (go to the library, read some books and get some for home)
3. Sushi dinner (Maddy loves "sushi")
4. Home Depot Date- To get some fun plants for a few pots that she decorated
5. Art Museum Date
6. Art Beast - Art studio in Sacramento
7. Go on a "photo shoot" (this would be one she would do with my husband, I would not be able to help her at all)
8. Movie night and popcorn at home
9. Cupcake decorating contest
10. Pedicures with mom
11. Maddy's Choice (she can pick whatever (in reason that she wants to do)
12. Fort Night (make a fort in maddys room, have snacks and read books)
13. Park and picnic date
14. TuTu making party (Maddy LOVES TuTu's and anytime she can get a new one puts a smile on her face)
15. Wacky Tacky
16. Dollar Bin shopping0 What kids doesn't like the Dollar Spot at Target. Give Maddy a budget and let her shop
17. Go to the Zoo
18. Maddy's Movie pick
19. Flower Planting party
20. Make cookies and take them to the fire station
21. Easter Egg Hunt (anytime of the year)
22. Craft Night- Grab whatever paper, scissors, glitter, crayons, boxes, etc and see what you can make
23. Open swim at the indoor pool (this would be most fun in the winter when she hasn't swam in awhile)
24.Wii Night

Here is the finished product

Mold Me and Move Me

I recently gave my testimony to Fuel High School ministry at our church and leading up to it I was rather nervous, being that this was the first time I would share some very intimate and personal moments in my life with a group of (mostly) strangers. Not to mention they were teenagers who had no idea who I was and why would they care what I had to say?

When I was approached with the opportunity my immediate response was Yes! I knew the Lord needed to use me and I couldnt let my fear get in the way of His plans. As I was preparing for this time in the weeks prior I struggled with what I would say, how I would present it, what details to go into and what to leave out. I didnt want it to be too scripted but at the same time I knew I had to have a game plan. So I mapped out what I would say to an extent and figured the Holy Spirit would take me the rest of the way.

The night came for me to speak so with my husband and a few great friends there to support me I "took the stage" and boy oh boy did the Holy Spirit show up for me. Not only did I refrain from tears (which if you know me this is HUGE) but He spoke through me and it was awesome! As I was coming to the close of my story and I was sharing what God has done for me and how the Good News was Great news for me something unexpected came out of my mouth
"dont let your selfishness trump Gods glory"

 I finished my story and I didnt really think about it until later that night and I just couldnt get the phrase out of my head.


"Dont let your selfishness Trump Gods glory"

How many times do we allow this to happen?
How many times do we selfishly do what we want and we leave no room for Him, His plans or His glory.
How many times in our own selfishness do we accomplish something and He doesnt get the glory?

I would love to say that this isnt the case in my life, that I am never selfish and I always put His plans first but that would be a big fat lie!
His plans are usually scary ones, uncomfortable ones and challenging ones and I find myself always second guessing what I know He is telling me because I am being selfish, because I am scared.

What I can say is that I am a work in progress. The more and more I let Him guide me the more I am leaving room for Him to be glorified through me. The more I draw closer to Him the less fear (though it is still there) I have for what His plans are.

I dont want my selfishness to trump His glory.

Lord, mold me, move me and make me uncomfortable.