You are my sunshine...

I dedicate this post/project to my future husband. I love my house- but it is missing a man cave and with my soon-to-be husband moving into the house in 60 days. So I am trying to give him a few "manly" things in the house. I decided to take this cute, but rusted, cabinet (perfect mini bar for the patio!)...

So after a steel brush, a hose, some scrubbing and some spray paint..sunshine yellow in honor of App State University, the soon-to-be-hubby's alma mater... the project is a work in progress, but so far it is looking good... stay tuned for final project! 

Oh... a HUGE thanks to my Mom who is in town and helping me with this project- among 100 others!!!!

365 Days...

It was actually more than 365 days ago that I signed my name to a 30 year mortgage! 29 years to go! I became a homeowner a year ago on May 27 (I know this post is a week late!). I look back and can't believe the progress I have made on the house. I will have to admit, I went full steam ahead when I first moved in, but when cash and time became more and more limited I slowed down. The past few months I have been planning my wedding and attending many other nuptials. I have a few small projects that are on my list to finish soon, but more on that later. 


In the meantime... here is a look at the changes!

more on this change.. but this is picture above is my "after" photo

These are just a few of the changes... take a look at my blog posts throughout the last year for more of the projects and details!

Turning to God.

The love our Savior has for us is amazing. The last 30 days have been filled with God's amazing spirit and love and also filled with the questions of "why?"

In April I had the chance to go to Kansas City to celebrate my cousin's beautiful wedding! The love and presence of God was inspiring and so powerful (sorry, all the pictures are on my Dad's camera!).

12 hours after returning to Atlanta, I found myself at Emory hospital with my fiance as we prepared to say goodbye to his father who was putting in a hard fight against cancer. Eric's father lost his battle with cancer on Wednesday, April 20. It is an experience I do not wish upon anyone! I know he is in heaven, watching over all of us.

3 days later we celebrated Easter Sunday. Eric and I embraced the beautiful service and had a quiet brunch at a local restaurant. I decided to spend the day outside working on my yard..it was wonderful to be in the sun! I even found a little surprise as I was clearing out the brush...

4 days later, I returned to the airport to fly back to Kansas City for one of my best friend's wedding. It was a wonderful weekend...

BEAUTIFUL BRIDE! I called it when we were in college ;)

Back to Black

I had every intention to wake up this morning and go to church, clean house, do some laundry and enjoy a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon. That is before I hit snooze a few too many times and didn't get up in time to go to Church. So instead of letting the day go by without being productive, I decided to tackle my noticeable project that I have done in a while.... another paint job. This time one that the entire neighborhood will see! 


I love the brick my house is made out of; however, the color of the shutters and front door was clearly the neighborhood paint special from 1970. I have counted at least 10 different houses within a block of my abode with the same blue accent colors on their house...

not a fan of the screen door... that will be changing at some point!

I thought I would be able to take the shutters off, but they are super glued to the house. THen I thought I would be able to put a piece of newspaper behind the shutters and spray paint them... wrong. So I ended up having to paint each one with a 2-inch brush and make sure I got under each piece of wood. So after picking up Pure Black Behr Premium Plus Exterior paint (pre-mixed so I didn't have to stand in line at Home Depot with the other 50 folks deciding to do a paint project this weekend)

After washing the door and shutters with some Murphy Oil (Thanks fiance for helping me!), I started the paint project. THe front door has 3 coats on it and the shutters took just 1! The gloss paint makes it a little more challenging to paint and is a lot glossier than the blue. BUT I love it!

The current screen door makes the front door look really dark, so I hope to change this soon. And get some new lights!

Spring is in the air (and so is wedding season!)

I am really looking forward to working on the exterior of my house this year. There is a lot of random plants growing in random places and I know it just needs a good days worth of clearing and trimming. Now if I can only find a money tree to plan in every corner I will be good to go! 


I am blessed to celebrate the 7 weddings this year.. plus mine! However, that means cash is going to be a little tight to do some of the projects that are on the list. In the meantime, take a look at the beautiful Hsu/Roser wedding this weekend at Lake Lanier. Beautiful bride! Beautiful weather! Beautiful location! A start to a beautiful marriage.... she had some amazing personal details at the ceremony that I am not going to share because I am borrowing some of the ideas for my big day :) 

Puppy love

My fur-child, Snyder...

is loving his (our) new house... especially the big backyard..

so when I thought about how to decorate my guest room, I thought the lil guy needed a little recognition.. he is my pup :) 


so I decided what to do with this cute painting I got in Rhode Island, while visiting my bestie, Mrs. Ruby Red Slippers. 

I found this frame at Goodwill (x2) for only $5 bucks...

and with a little black spray paint, fabric to recover the photo mat, I ended up with this..

I decided it would go perfectly in my guest room...

I know..it is not the entire room... just wait, I am doing a few other things. Still deciding on what to do with the identical frame that I bought with this one.. maybe a picture of my lil guy? I am having fun bringing some Black lab love to the guest room!!


I mean... look at this guy...how can you not love him?

Prayer- it's a powerful thing!

Wow... so I didn't realize that my last post was more than a month ago until my best friend pointed it out yesterday! Life has been crazy! It has been 30+ days that have proven how powerful prayer can be in your life.

In February, my Grandma lost her battle to Alzheimer's. She had battled with this terrible disease for 4+ years. I know that she is in the arms of God right now.

In February, my fiance's parents battled health issues and spent time in the hospital. Again, the power of prayer was amazing!

In the same month, my future brother and sister-in-law welcomed a baby girl into the world. I am so excited to be Ava's Aunt and see her grow up!

It is times like this that make me stop and evaluate what I prioritize in life. In the next 5 months Eric and I will celebrating the amazing thing called love as we attend 7 weddings, not to mention our very own big day in August!

It is times like this that you realize how amazing God is-- no matter what the situation is!