Waiting for the New Year

Watching the sun set for the last time this year,

feeling incredibly grateful for abundant blessings in my life,

happy to have some things behind me,

looking forward to next year with hope, God's gift to us,

so thankful for you, my friends.

Happy New Year!

Living room updates

Here is my living room now, with the walls painted:

I've found through trial and error that I must go with very light color on my walls. This room has low ceilings and not a lot of natural light so it tends to be dark.

After living with my green walls for about a year, it's refreshing to switch to soft gray.

I chose Ben Moore Halo based on liking it in "For love of a house" blog.

The kitchen is still green, and will stay that way for now. I'd rather focus on other projects first!

Now, we're off to town for some shopping, then maybe this afternoon we'll make cookies. I'm trying to savor these last few days of holiday vacation - school starts on Monday.

Have a blessed day!

Yesterday....

Some snapshots of a lovely time spent with family......

Check out my Sister-in-law's  gorgeous dining room!

Paper chains made out of old books, burlap bunting,

more old pages scrunched up and glued to spell JOY.

We had fun eating, visiting and crafting.

We made these canning jar snow globes....

some fun paper decorations....

Homemade cotton candy!

Visiting the goats.

An afternoon tea party.

Good times!

I'm thankful for my family!

Hope you all had a blessed weekend.

A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future.  ~Author Unknown

Old Sled...

I've been seeing runner sleds decorated like this a lot. I decided this would be easy, and it was!

I have it on my front porch - you can see, I tried to blur the edges of the picture to hide the dirty floor.

Sometimes, I think I try too hard.... oh well... would have been easier to just clean the floor.

Hope you all have a great weekend, today was the last school day until January - Yes!!!

Looking forward to some cozy days with my little family - now, some snow, please!

Edited to add:

I'm linking up to:


Primp

Driftwood...

Here's some driftwood that we collected on and around the Florida beaches. It was hard to find, maybe that's why anything made with it is so expensive.

I think it's beautiful. 

Some changes I've made to my mantel and shelves...

I'm repainting my living room right now, so my pictures are close-ups so you can't see all the chaos!

Here is a song I've been enjoying.   

Indescribable

Back Home and Reflections....

It's nice to be back. Sort of. I loved our vacation. 

It's good for me to get away, to spend more "fun" time with my family, away from daily schedules and all the little stresses that come with it.

And I love the coast and beach. It's just so big and awesome.

I like to sit at sunset and just take in all the glory. The colors, pink skies and blue water, streaked with orange, gold and silver.

The children are content to play for hours. Little Brother is happy with a shovel and pail playing in the sand. Big Sister likes to get in the water with her board to catch waves. She's turning in to a good little surfer.

My Mother-in-law came out from California to be with us and that was so much fun! The children really enjoyed spending time with her, and she was also a great babysitter allowing us to slip away from time to time for mini dates.

Back at home it's gray and raining, but not too cold. I have plenty of cold weather projects to keep me busy.

My sister told me once that she likes to make the winter go by faster by catching up on all her indoor projects. I like that, and it has helped me deal with the cold days.

And Vitamin D, that helps too. 

Speaking of my sister, she's expecting twins. Boys. I'm so excited! 

I'm looking forward to sewing and knitting for them. 

And being their Auntie!

I am so blessed. I've been thinking about it more lately. And it's not that I have a lovely family, and a nice home, though I do have them!

It is that God has given me his peace and his presence when I'm willing to receive it.

You know, the last few years have been rough. Just so much change, so many unchartered waters.

My confidence has been shaken, I've had much of what I thought I knew suddenly put in to question.

It was scary at first, then I remembered who gives me ultimate peace. And he has been faithful to me time and time again. 

And now, looking back, having gone through the roughest part, I'm thankful for this. 

I think that this is what it means to be victorious in trials. 

I'm not saying this to bring up any differences that we may have, but instead, to encourage others that are struggling.

I've learned that no matter what happens, I have a Father who loves me. Nothing can change this, not even my own doubts.

I have questioned a lot, and I'll be honest, even questioned God. But I know that he understands me and my questions.

 That his love for me is because I belong to him, not because I am good.

This is how I feel towards my own children, but I still struggle to accept this from God.

I've learned that when you're in the middle of the storm, all there is to do is hold on. And that's all he wants us to do. It's kind of hard to have perspective when you feel like you're drowning. 

The perspective comes later. And that is part of the plan.

And that he may not make it go away, but he will go through it with us, if we want him to.

And the pure joy, and peace that comes in the middle of pain is only from him. 

I want my children to see that when I fail them, God won't.

To look for that relationship with him that will weather all storms.

Vintage Beach

We had an awesome afternoon at the beach, and I had fun with some Hipstamatic shots...

Goodnight!

The livin' is easy...

On a shady side street there is an old beach house... 

with a white picket fence...

come on in the gate, and see how busy I've been...

the porch lets in dappled sunshine, it's lovely!

Yes, I've been real busy reading. I finished "The Help", it was such a good read.

I'm starting to get into the "vacation" mode. Life is just so simple here, the biggest decisions are, do we go to the beach or the park this morning, and what should we make for dinner?

Seafood, of course!

We left home on tuesday as soon as Big Sister got out of school and drove straight here arriving at 5:30 wednesday. 

I'm thankful for safety on the road.

Yesterday was filled with buying groceries and settling in, also naps.

But we did make it to the beach and of all things, I forgot sunscreen! So, we're a little toasty today.

This morning Little Brother climbed into our bed at about 5:30. Neither of us could sleep after that, so we quietly got up and went to the beach to watch the sun come up.

I've always wanted to do this, glad I did.

Then, when the others woke up, we all walked to Starbucks for breakfast and swung by Whole Foods for some groceries before we came home.

Now, we're hanging out at the house waiting for evening when Grammie flys in from California.

I'm thankful for this chillin' time, it's what we needed.

Wishing you all a happy, blessed Thanksgiving! 

Packed and ready to go!

In just a while we'll be on our way to The Sunshine State.

We've been counting down the days - this is our first real vacation of the year and we are more than ready!

So stay tuned for some water and ocean fun coming soon!

Armoire Transformation

I bought this armoire a few months ago with the intention of painting it white. 

And I finally did! Yeah for me! I love getting things done!

So here are the before and after pictures...

I thought that I would try homemade chalk paint. Bad idea - it is great for a small project, like a picture frame or a little chair, but for this, it didn't work so well.

No matter how much I stirred, it still had little pieces of grout in it, made the surface really bumpy and I had to sand all the little bumps out. So, I switched to regular paint.

I'm really happy with how it looks now! And I got some new knobs for it as well.

Now, I need to paint the inside.  :)