Hello Monday! August 18th, 2014

It is Monday, time to say hello! Hello Monday is where I say hello to the fun that was last week and the excitement that this week will bring. I'm joining the community at Lisa Leonard Designs, won't you join us?

Hello Monday.

Hello friends visiting from Canada.

Hello feeling Canadian again for a few days. 

Hello late night chats...again!

Hello fun, yummy Maine experiences.

Hello being blessed by family and the beautiful place God has given them.

Hello major life events in my family. Not sure I am ready for them yet, but then are we ever, truly prepared for change?

Hello Instagram. I'm super excited to have joined, can you tell? ;) Follow So Sew Organized here!

Hello new Back to School items in the So Sew Organized shop. I bet you know a student that NEEDS one or two of these!

Hello working on notes for a workshop next month.

Hello planning about new blog posts.

Hello settling in to routines and habits of my own.

Hello getting used to this busy, on-the-go life I'm living this summer.

Hello readers, hello to a new week! What are you saying hello to today?



Linked up to Lou Lou Girls, the DIY Dreamer, Joy Dare, Weekend Wind-Down

Birthday Recap and the Blessing of Friends

Last week I celebrated a birthday. Want to see a bit of what the day was like for me?

The night before my birthday, I had a dream about being back at college with my friends. That is not so unusual, but in the dream, one of my friends said something really, really funny, and I was laughing so hard in my sleep that I woke myself up. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never woken up laughing out loud before! Even once I was awake, I just could not stop laughing. {Thinking about it later, it wasn’t really that funny! Guess it was just one of those middle-of-the-night things!}

So when I woke up on my birthday morning, I felt all sorts of funny. Like I’d missed out on something, just a feeling that my day felt pretty empty. And then suddenly, I realized what it was: my friends were missing. I found myself wanting more than anything to be surrounded by my friends again. And so, I started off the day a bit down in the dumps. :(

But my oh my, be careful what you wish for. :) By the end of the day, the Lord proved to me that I was surrounded by my friends...maybe not the exact friends I had been thinking, but a big circle of friends that love me. Let me explain…

Every Tuesday morning, I help with a Bible study at our local nursing home. The residents there surprised me with a birthday cake, a big gift basket, and a little party of our own! What a fun treat! I was not expecting that at all, but these dear residents made sure my morning was special.

Snagged this from my Facebook page...the leftover cake! See the clef signs?? So cute!

Later in the day, a friend of mine picked me up to go shopping, but little did I know she was an ally in a bigger plot! :) She got me to the Chinese resturant, where I was greeted by a whole roomful of ladies from both of my churches. What a surprise!!!

There were more ladies not in this picture!

There I was, literally surrounded by so many dear friends, and I realized: what more could I ask for on this birthday?

These ladies truly spoiled me. Besides the fun of going out for supper with all these friends, they had secretly worked with my mom to get me a ton of oh-so-practical things for gifts. Here is a peek at the things I received:

Some fabric and sewing supplies

Sweet stuff!

These ladies know me, lol!

Basket of random goodies...I got three huge baskets like this, plus other gifts!

This picture really takes the cake. This is all beauty supplies that I received! I'm not going to have to buy razors or shampoo again for a long, long time...what a blessing! I have to organize a whole cabinet just to make room for all of this!!

I am truly so, so blessed. In the three years of living here in Canada, I’ve made so many friendships that I value greatly. I have so much to be thankful for...and remembering this great birthday with curb any future down-in-the-dumps feelings I might be tempted to have. :)

Thank you to all of you who made my birthday a special day, either by your physical presence or the many virtual well-wishes I received. I am so blessed by each of you!


Oh, and one other thing...I had a super exciting moment when I found out my friend Andrea gave birth to her twins on my birthday! I’d been asking her to do that for months. :) You can read about her new life with four kids ages 3 and under on her blog!

Today I'm Thankful For: A Week With Family and Friends

I mentioned yesterday how much fun we had last week in Maine, but here are a few pictures to prove it!

I am so thankful for all of my family. We all stay pretty well connected with Facebook, but it is always nice to be able to visit in person! There are always lots of exciting things happening on the family farm that we wish we could be part of.

When we first arrived, we got to witness this:

My cousin was moving this recliner across the property for another cousin. Redneck? We think so.

Sorry, but I just have the cutest cousins in the whole wide world. Look at that picture and you'll see I'm right! A couple of years ago I unknowingly started a tradition with this little guy. We played a "game" as he calls it where the couch is his base and I have to try to tag him before he gets on his base. I stand there all innocently acting like I don't know he is right behind me...then whirl around and try to grab him. Anyway, every time I come he says to me, "I know what game we can play!" he never forgets. Cutest thing ever!

Rachel's close friend from North Carolina was able to come up with friends for the week and spend it with Rachel. They were thrilled to be together again, and she got to meet Judah for the first time!

My brother doesn't always treat girls this way...oh wait...maybe he does! :) Here he is with a cousin the same age as he is. They went at it all.week.long!

On Friday I played the piano for the wedding of some close friends of ours. It was beautiful.

I was so thankful to see friends from school that I never get to see any more!

The bride was gorgeous, of course!

Carrie was their flower girl, after spending a couple of her younger years trying to be this groom's bride, lol! Hey, at least she got to be in the wedding!

It was a fun, but busy week. We got back on Saturday, and look how much these little guys grew while we were gone:

Last week I showed you our itty bitty pea plants, and now look at them!

It won't be long and we'll be eating those yummy things. Can't wait!

Our strawberry plants seem to be doing great too:

And look what else is about to bloom...

Yuppers, my precious lilacs!! I can.not.wait. for these babies to open, that is the best part of the entire year!

To wrap it up, I'm thankful for family, friends, and our so-far-so-good garden. What are you thankful for this week?

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

April DIY project: Getting my Paint On

I was asked by a friend to help her with a little painting project this month, and I couldn't have been more excited. I actually really like to paint, and don't often get the opportunity to do it! There is just something so rewarding about seeing a project come together and the difference a little paint can make!

You've heard the saying,

"A little caulk and a little paint will make a carpenter what he 'aint."

Yup, pretty much true. :) I'm not carpenter or painter, but we managed to get 'er done and it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Here are a few pictures of the process:

The house is a split-level, and the area we were tackling was the entry just as you walk in the front door. If you've been in a split-level, you may be able to picture this area with its high, high walls!! Good thing I am not afraid of heights! I started by taking off the existing border and prepping the walls for painting. I used this miracle gel to get the border off:

Even with this stuff, it was no easy process, let me tell ya. That border was going nowhere! But we managed to get it all off after a while.

We used this spackle in a tube to fill some holes and cracks:

That stuff was great. It was quick drying, we could have painted over it in 15 minutes. And it was very easy to use!

Here is the paint color she picked...

Not too much different from what was already there, but enough to give it a serious facelift!

Before we could paint the walls, we I had to paint the trim boards all the way around. They had been painted the same color as the wall previously, but we wanted to change that to a sharp looking white. Even just that step made a HUGE difference!

There are those high, high walls!

Next, cutting in. Can I just say that is my least favorite part of the process?

Finally...covering the entire wall with that beautiful new paint!

But that wasn't the end of the newness. Did you notice this light and its awkward position on the wall?

It is hard to tell from this angle, but the light was off centered. We think it is so you can reach it from the stairs to change the bulb? Who knows. Anyway, it clearly needed and upgrade, and my friend had just the thing!

The picture is a little dark, but we obviously couldn't have the power on while we were installing a light, now could we? Oh, and just for the record, I had the difficult job of holding a flashlight for this part of the job. Aren't I a hard worker?

There was one more detail to add, and that was in the form of a vinyl wall art! I had actually bought this for my friends birthday, but shes been waiting for this painting project to be complete before hanging it. She is smart, isn't she? I just love how it turned out in the space! The blurred part is just the first names of each member of their family. (For those interested, I had it custom made from here and got a coupon code from here {but don't tell my friend I'm cheap like that ;) })

Here is the light and art together:

I think it all came out superb!

Since I took these pictures, they have added new flooring, baseboards, and some other details to the area, plus there are more to come! I'll be sure to snag a "its completely finished" pict for you when the entire area is done.

It was a fun project, and now we're hard at work revamping the kitchen! It is fun to work hard and get dirty like this, especially with such amazing results!

What DIY projects have YOU been up to recently?

Girls Day Out

Saturday I had a great day out with some friends. Sort of a goodbye party, but we won't say the "g" word. Hate that word. It was a fun, fun day though. I already mentioned getting a mani/pedi...

I had never had a pedicure before, and can I just say, I'm in love. How relaxing! I felt like a princess.

Here is Angela waiting for her manicure. She had never had a manicure or a pedicure! Poor thing.

Brook getting her manicure. Because of the blurry picture, doesn't it look like they are arm wrestling? Tee hee!

I don't usually paint my nails at all, but this was a nice treat. Here are Angela's and my beautiful fingers and toes. 

Pictures can't show how relaxed and stress free we felt. :)

After the mani/pedis, we took Rylan to the park and had a picnic. It was another be-youtiful night, and we had a blast!

What a cutie!

This girl doesn't hold still for two seconds! I have about a zillion blurry pictures of her because she always moves and looks away at the last second. She was super cute, every few seconds she  would grab our arm and say, "cheese!" Apparently she thought we had to have our arms linked to take a picture. Too cute.

We walked down to the water and saw this boat being pulled in by a tugboat. This thing almost took up the whole canal!

What a nice, relaxing night to a nice relaxing day. I will miss these peeps when I leave! I am so thankful for the experiences I've been able to have while I've been down here.