You Are My Sunshine

I was in the mood to paint something the other day. I gathered my supplies, my idea (in the righthand corner), and went to work. 

The intention was to make this a gift, but as I worked on it, I liked it more and more. 

The colors were bright and fun...

So I liked it so much that I decided to give it as a gift but keep it here... I gave it to Carson that night...

However, I AM willing to compose a similar piece of art if anyone wants one. Our entire apartment has been painted and sewn by me - I'd love to exercise my creativity and get it out of here :) 

diy: Silhouettes

So once upon a time, I was browsing the Michael's $1 bin. I came across this, and immediately thought it would be fun to use for a project. I wasn't sure what, and so it sat around for a couple of months, but then I decided to try something...

I used a picture from our wedding that I made black and white and high contrast

...then I traced onto fancy notebook paper (placed the paper right on my computer screen)

Cut out my little paper heads and traced them onto my little frame

I was going to embroider these in, but I don't have embroidery floss (neither do I embroider but how hard can it be?) So I painted the lines in (several weeks later, hence the new nail color)

Voila!

(Carson's silhouette looks like him. Mine does not.)

And this is what it looks like on the wall!

Could have been an easy-peasy under-an-hour project if I hadn't dragged it out... 

Seasonal

Fall happens to be one of my favorite seasons. I like crisp mornings, changing leaves, apple picking, sweater wearing, bonfires, pumpkins... all the things that make this season seem so special.

This fall, I'm welcoming all those things, albeit a bit sadly because I know that the chill of winter is soon to come. 

Though this is the case, it's going to come whether I welcome it or not, so here's what I've been doing to celebrate the season! 

So many people have made Fall bucket lists. I was inspired to do the same. I thought Carson would hate this idea, but he got really excited when I showed him the things we can do this fall. 

In addition to that, I had him bring up the Christmas boxes, where the fall decorations were stored as well. 

I had the silk leaves as part of our decor last year, found the branches at the Dollar Store (we now live in the city, or else I could have found my own sticks) and stuck them in the vase I'd been using all summer. 

I pinned this idea and actually used it. Love it!

Carson has asked me to please tell him not to eat these, otherwise his hands would be dipping in to grab some candy corn all the time. 

I sprinkled more fake leaves by the entryway and moved around the vases which used to hold springy paper flowers... I think it works for fall.

We also had these Styrofoam gourds and pumpkins from last year. 

I sprinkled fake leaves on the tops of bookshelves and tables in the apartment. John came in the day I decorated and said "It looks like fall in here!" I was happy to see that someone else noticed. 

This is one of my favorite seasons to decorate for because the things you can use are so obviously seasonal. 

living room details

Day 2 of house details!

The chairs Carson loves with a pillow cover I made. 

One of our bookshelves with a favorite picture from our visit to Savannah and a bowl I recently painted. 

Same bookshelf again!

Paper flowers I made last summer when the days were loooong and boring.  

Top of the desk.  

Our travel wall - map and places we've been 

Top of bookshelf by door. Wedding invite and wedding picture.

Entry bulletin board. 

Another thing I painted. Clearly too cheap to actually purchase things for our home. 

There are more details, of course. Our living room doubles as our office, study, and dining room so there are lots of details involved. I'll post other pictures another time.

kitchen details

I love our little apartment. It's certainly the first place where we've been able to settle and view it as a bit less temporary than our summer dwelling last year. 

So I thought you'd like to see some details of the place! 

Today, we'll tour the kitchen. 

A pottery thing Carson's friend Nick gave us as a wedding gift, employed in holding kitchen utensils. Love that happy face spatula from Miss Em.

My bird platter and crate and barrel nesting bowls. 

Love the warm colors.

The counter. Next to the bird plate and bowls is the microwave. 

My apron collection, minus one. 

Something from our wedding - our last name!

We could prop this window open into the hallway, but I like to leave it closed so that I can leave my frames out there to look at while I wash dishes.  

My passive-aggressive note. We just needed a little reminder. 

Target clock from the wedding. I saw it there the other day if you love this one. 

Owl cookie jar! Anniversary gift from my wonderful mom-in-law.

Spices. I go through the parsley like you wouldn't believe. I've refilled it four times and it's empty again. I love parsley. 

Moved this bulletin board to the empty orange wall and employed it to display wedding pictures.

The fridge. The wedding invite on the bottom left is Josie's :)  

Tomorrow, I'll post some pictures of the living room details. 

This is mostly for my benefit, by the way. I love being able to look back and see our home!

I Kissed My Ideals Goodbye, Part 2

[click here for part one]

So as previously mentioned, I had pretty well-formed thoughts on dating, courtship, and the like. In retrospect, it was a little like setting your parenting ideals on the table before your first child is born. Lofty goals, but without an ounce of experience.

You may remember that something dear to my heart was the idea of the family sitting around the kitchen table laughing and making memories while bonding with my future husband. It seemed only right that "he" would be a person I had known for forever, respected and trusted as a friend first.

Enter Carson: A man I had not known for years, did not know my family, and definitely had not sat at my kitchen table.

I'm going to add in here that my ideals have a lot to do with the fact that I am a firstborn. I get something in my head and there is no one who is going to take that away from me.

Carson Bay did not know this about me.

(He knew I was a firstborn because one of his roommates was in my speech class in which we gave biographical speeches and that loving friend recounted all my information to Carson. But he did not know that he was dealing with such a stubborn individual.)

I accepted his first offer, which was to be his date to the spring formal. My reasoning was because you just couldn't say no without a reason. That would be entirely too rude.

When he got obtained my phone number (a true mystery to me... I hadn't included that in any speech), he called me to see if I would be interested in coffee. I demurely replied that I did not think it was a good idea. He, also being a firstborn, gave me several reasons why it was.. I didn't buy it and again refused.

And then tried my darndest to ignore the guy. Meanwhile, he pursued with all his might. Our story is really one of persistence, his trying to get me and my trying to "not lead him on" (because he was not the long-time-family-friend of my dreams).

He won, as you might well assume. Two weeks after that spring formal, we had a conversation in which we calmly told one another that we thought it would work for us to get married. It was a conversation oddly devoid of emotion for being about marriage and a future together.

He called my dad the next day (after he had talked to me... there went one ideal... but then again, how else would he get his phone number?). That evening, over coffee, we...

Started dating. Not courting. Dating.
One thing I've realized... the terms kind of coincide. But I've always pictured courting as more of a "family hangs out with the guy" thing and dating as a "family meets the guy after there's a relationship" thing... and so I call it dating. In reality, it doesn't matter. It's just a term thing, right?

He would sometimes come over and hang out with me and my roommates, but that was as family-oriented as it got. We were often unsupervised, unchaperoned, as we visited an Arboretum, went to lunch, went for walks, and sat under a tree at school, talking. It was not what I had envisioned. We even held hands once in awhile. It was wild.

After three months of dating (we dated in Spokane for 3 weeks and then were apart for 2 months), we got engaged.

Three seconds after that (or in that general vicinity), we had our first kiss. We were not married yet. Another ideal, just flushed down the toilet.

[While that was written oh-so-flippantly, I must let you know that none of it was actually done in that manner. The dating a boy I had not known for years and years scared me to death. I prayed about it like there was no tomorrow. The holding hands was discussed. The kiss before marriage was discussed.] 

One of the biggest things being in a relationship taught me was that I had been locking my ideals up in an iron castle. I had made things that weren't so big out to be non-negotiables, and not even considered things that were actually of importance.
The decisions we made while dating were made after lots of prayer and a considerable amount of discussion. We both tend to be over thinkers so that wasn't very hard for us.

Throughout my life, one of the bigger things God has had to "talk" to me about has been my setting my ideals above everything else, often including seeking Him in prayer on the issue.

This was the case initially with Carson... the reason I was deadset against his interest in me was because I was sure that it wasn't the right time. Unfortunately in my certainty, I had failed to consult with the One who created time. Once I prayed about it I realized that perhaps this was something that He had brought about at that specific time for a specific purpose.

I had to trust God and let go of my ideals, which has sort of been the story of my life.

This has really been written because God has been teaching me a thing or two about my ideals (did I not say it was the story of my life?). This whole relationship thing was entirely new to me before Carson and SUCH a good example of how easy it was to set my "I will" and "I will not" plans before the Lord.

It's reminded me that even really good intentions in ideals can become idols if we don't place them before God. And honestly, at least in my case, they could probably ruin relationships.

- Mrs. Bay ;)

notes

carson and i write notes to each other a lot:

from "hey, would you mind stopping by the bank on your way home?" 

to "hey, i love you!" 

to "you know, i was wrong and didn't realize it till you had already left. so here's my apology."

our index card supply is dwindling as a result.

anyway, here's one i found on the table last week when i was sick.

he's so sweet :)

I Kissed My Ideals Goodbye, Part 1

When I was in Junior High, I read Joshua Harris' "I Kissed Dating Goodbye".

As a very mature (in my own mind) fourteen year old, I defined several key elements to my own future courtship. That book and its sequel, "Boy Meets Girl" were actually quite influential in my early dating philosophy.

[disclaimer:] I will say this... they're not bad books! And while I think "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" does idealize courtship perhaps a bit too much, I think much of the advice is sound. The book has nothing to do with it other than setting ideas in my head. I made ideals of my own free will. I tend toward making rules on things that are actually more like gray areas... and that's what this post is actually mostly about...

So for several years, I planned to do things the old fashioned way. I would be friends with a boy, he would like me and without my knowledge, speak to my father. He would outline his plans to woo me and wed me, and we would have a lovely little wedding in a small white church, in which we would have our first kiss. During the period of courtship, he would spend Sunday afternoons at my parent's house after church and throw the football with my dad. He would be from the South and our babies would have accents just like him.

Well, I moved away from home at the age of 19 (a year away from my intended "marry by" age, also determined when I was fourteen), thoroughly single. I did have close guy friends, but no marriage proposal kept me home.

By this time, I was actually a bit cynical on the whole relationship thing as a whole, having seen so many broken hearts from both dating relationships and courtships. I liked the idea of getting married, but the pre-marriage, relationship part freaked me out. It was at this time that I decided that I would agree to an arranged marriage. No games, just "Here he is!"

That didn't happen either.

So I was 3,000 miles from home, single, and content in that. Possibly overjoyed in that. Possibly smug and prideful in that. Possibly just about to have my lofty ideals kicked in the face.

Over Christmas break that year my relationship status was discussed. A friend asked me about my single state. I made lovely comments on being content and all sorts of things. I even had a conversation with God about possibly making a vow to not get into a relationship that year... not that I had all sorts of offers that needed turning down, but it was really heavy on my heart. The sign I asked for didn't happen so I didn't make that promise...

...and that turned out to be good. Because just five or so weeks into the semester, a strange guy from two of my classes (who coincidentally happened to be around a lot more), asked me to the spring formal.

My ideals were about to be crushed. I was going to lose a battle.

And to make it even worse, people from Washington don't have Southern accents. No hope for those future children.

...to be continued...

an adorned home: bedroom and bathroom

I've been making things, revamping things and making small purchases to make our formerly unfurnished, sparse apartment a homey, inviting place.

May I show you around?

First, we'll begin with our bedroom.

We got our bedspread from Target after the unfortunate stolen comforter incident this summer. I really like it! The pillows are all made by me! The bigger ones are just placemats that I've stuffed with fiberfill (couldn't find a link... but they're Target also). The smaller one is inspired by this post.

Our nightstand looks like this, minus the wheels. Three plastic drawers, filled with things that would fill a dresser, if only we had one. You can see that I've attempted to make it prettier by adding more burlap with another strip of fabric across it. looks better than plain old plastic! The lamp was mine from before we were married. 

The wall opposite our bed was bare and lonely, so I gathered up frames of various shapes and sizes and made a collage. It's a look I like, though perhaps it could have been more carefully arranged. Just something to tweak in the future!

There's also a mirror on this wall... and what you'd have seen if I hadn't used the zoom would be the hamper. The closet may not get a spotlight. It's pretty crazy. 

This is our bathroom! 

It's tiny but we don't really need a huge one. No fights have been had about the lack of sink space and the size hasn't been a problem. I recently (this week) added the two frames to put something pretty in the space and really like it. We added two metal shelves under the sink for storage and it makes it look messy but it's worth it for the storage!

This is the other side of our bathroom. It's so nice to get that natural light during the day. 

I'd like to hang something on that wall and I'm sure I will in due time. 

The shower curtain is from Wal-Mart and it coordinates with the mat that isn't pictured and is the color of our kitchen walls :) 

More for another day! I'm working on pillows for the living room right now and trying to organize :)