Project..

Remember this post?

We actually painted the fireplace the next week! Here are a few before & after pics! We LOVE it! :)

The Murphy/Rat Poison Incident

Jonathan & I went to Sumter, SC last weekend to visit my parents. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing weekend - however, we did have an eventful Saturday evening.

At my parent's house, they have a walk-in attic that is connected to the bonus room so its very easy to get to. My parents are trying to down size and get rid of things that they don't need anymore and since we just bought a house and conveniently need ALL kinds of random things - I decided to go "shopping" in the attic. Mom and I were up there just looking around and I was picking things out to take home with us. We knew that Murphy had followed us upstairs out of interest (he's very nosey) and was just hanging out. He wandered into the attic (nosey again) and a few minutes later we turned around to find Murphy munching away on a dish of mice poison.. little green pellets that probably looked & smelled delicious to Murphy.. After all it is made to trick animals into eating it.

My first thought was "oh, its ok, Murphy has eaten a million things and has an iron stomach". Mom got really worried and then I realized that this is serious and could really harm him. Of course, I went straight to the internet. I am a pro at Googling.. "my dog ate a razor.." or "my dog ate an entire phone charger.." and so I typed "my dog ate mice poison"! Sure enough he wasn’t the only one. I quickly found directions to induce vomiting ASAP with hydrogen peroxide... 2 tbsp.. ASAP. Mom speed to the store to pick some up while I called the Vet hospital to confirm what I read. Sure enough, we poured it down his throat and the hydrogen peroxide worked like a charm. He threw up every last pellet of mice poison that he consumed (which was A LOT). We gave him water & dinner and he was back to his regular self in a few hours.

I did take him to the Vet on Monday morning to get his blood tested for clotting.. tests came back great and all is well for Murph man. The Vet did give us Vitamin K chewables that Murphy will eat for 2 weeks.. Murphy thinks it's a treat.

It was scary! But it really made us appreciate the crazy dog and all the joy he brings to our life.

...Wonder what he will eat next.

Big Time Update..

I'm back! :)

Here is what has been going on in my life:

In late September I started a class through Love & Respect Ministries. I heard of the class through a friend who got married in the Spring and I was really excited when she told me about it. I strongly believe my marriage is of utmost priority and worth every minute of investing in... as a Christian, I view marriage as a reflection of the relationship of Jesus Christ and the Church. It's the most important earthly relationship that I will ever have -- Now that's something to invest in! (and be knowledgeable about) So I just couldn't pass it up. I am sure glad that I didn't because I am learning so much!

A couple weeks ago, I gave Lisa (our fearless leader) a prayer request card where I shared that I have been in the "wilderness" with my job for the last few months and in a praying/waiting season for direction from the Lord about it.

The very next morning I received an e-mail from my friend, Erin, who had a friend who had a neighbor looking for a nanny! (how about that crazy connection?) I guess I should mention that I had been looking on & off for a nanny job over the past few months. But it really had to be the perfect situation to leave a full time job.

Well - this did turn out to be the PERFECT situation. And I start tomorrow! The family is super great.. I'll be taking care of twin girls who are almost 2 years old. Their names are Emily & Anna. :) It's Monday - Thursday, 4 days a week (!!) and exactly what I was looking for! Jonathan & I are both really excited (he has met the family and the twins).

So, I am super excited and I feel really blessed. I see the Lord's work in this and I know its where He wants me. I had been praying about my job situation for a long time, but I guess I really just needed to give it to the Lord (on that prayer request card).

Disturb us, Lord

borrowed straight from here.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
[Sir Francis Drake]

Design Dilemma?

The very first time that Jonathan & I first toured our house, I said "if we buy this house, I WILL paint that brick fireplace."



Since moving in, I have had a hard time actually doing it. Now that all the furniture is in.. it's hard to imagine the fireplace painted. My friend Mandy, who is aware of my design dilemma, sent me this design blog that just posted a How-To-Paint-A-Brick-Fireplace.

I am completely inspired.. not only with the painted fireplace.. but for my WHOLE house.

Check it out - I've also added them to my favorites.

www.younghouselove.com

Healer

love this..

Hello again........

Well, hello there. It's been forever since I've had a quality blog post. Unfortunatly, this will not be one either. Darn. I was on a roll for a couple weeks - then life hit.

We are almost all settled into our new home.. with boxes cleared from all rooms except one! The "office" is more like the "catch-all" :) And it will probably stay like that for awhile.

We are really enjoying the joys & extras of having a house such as the backyard, garage, driveway, an extra room, ect. It's wonderful! And we LOVE the neighborhood - Brightmoor is such a great neighborhood to take walks/runs - and while we are still fairly new, it's fun to blindly walk around looking for new routes & cut throughs in the neighborhood.

My excuse for slack blogging? Have I ever mentioned that hotels don't close on the weekends? They do.not. Since July 4th I have had to work the last 4 out of 6 weekends.. and the other 2 weekends, you ask? a.) we moved and b.) we went to Alabama.

All the work has definitely worn on me - August was HARD. But I do have a couple weekends off coming up. We have a trip planned to VA for a family wedding for Labor Day weekend (next weekend!) and then we are making a weekend get-a-way to Ashville, NC for our 1 year A.N.N.I.V.E.R.S.A.R.Y!

My dream job will be Mon - Thurs, 9am - 4pm. :) Any suggestions???

One Word Wednesday..

ADDICTING....

Show us Your Life - Wedding Reception & Honeymoon

Jumping on board again with Kelly's Korner today. Just can't resist showing Wedding Reception & Honeymoon Pics :)

Our reception was held at NorthStone County Club in Huntersville, NC

With help from some dear friends, we choreographed our first dance to "Better Together" by Jack Johnson.

We had an AMAZING dinner and then it was time for cake!


My ADPi Sisters sang to us:

Everyone danced the night away!

My brother in law, Josh, gave the sweetest toast - he worked super hard, was really nervous, and it was awesome!

The night flew by.. so thankful I have wonderful memories! We were off to the Westin in downtown Charlotte for the night and then to Mexico the next morning!


Should I stop there? Nah.. here are a few honeymoon pictures:
We stayed at an all-inclusive resort in Rivera Maya, Mexico! It was the best vacation of my life!

This was our view from our room - we got upgraded at check-in to a "Casita" with our own infinity pool!

We hung out at the beach for most of the week.

The resort was so beautiful.

We did an "adventurous day" and went zip lining, rappelling, and snorkeling in caves.



We had a private candle light dinner on the beach..



Oh, Mexico! Hope to go back some day. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Busy Bee

Can you say BUSY? Last Thursday evening, Friday, and Saturday I joined Jonathan in Atlanta for Booster University. Booster University is the company's fall semester kick-off that they have every August. It is filled with challenging speakers, worship, manly competition, and seminars on the vision/mission of Booster. This year they invited the wives & fiances to come for the last day. We were treated like royalty. Put up in hotels, valet parking, a women's luncheon, t-shirts, booster cookies, and best of all the guys were just SO genuinely thrilled to have their "Booster Lady" there to be apart of something that is so special to them, i.e. their jobs. How blessed we are to be apart of something so awesome. A job that's mission is Kingdom Building. I mean, is it even a "job"? ;) - - pictures to come.

We headed back to Charlotte after Booster University on Saturday and MOVED on Sunday. Jonathan's family & some good friends all rallied up to help us pack the U-Haul truck and move from our SouthPark apartment to our Matthews home. Can I just say that we barely got everything in the U-Haul truck (a really big one). We have WAY to much junk.. I'll be making a trip to Goodwill very soon.

We even had visitors stay with us on Sunday night - my dad, mom, and 2 cousin camped out in our box-filled home and went to the airport early the next morning.

Got up and went to work on Monday, Tuesday, and here I am on Wednesday.. ready for things to get back to normal.

On another note - this verse in my devo really challenged me this morning:
In Galatians 3:3, Paul asks the people this question: "Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?" (NLT)

Baby Jade

Mark & Angela Rhodes had their precious baby on Friday (July 24) morning! It has been fun to watch them through every step of their pregnancy with Hannah Jade. They will be such wonderful parents!

Here are a few pics from the hospital visit..







Baby fever? nah..

Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dresses

Today I am joining Kelly's Corner in Show Us Your Life - Wedding Dresses because I LOVED my wedding dress... and I love to remember my wedding day (even though it was less than a year ago). I hope I never forget the details of our day!


Here is the front:


And the back:


I loved the bead work!


And just for fun..


Thanks for stopping by!

Part II - Comparison..

Renee Swope, who is the author of the devotion that I talked about in my last blog post, did a follow up to the devotion on her blog.

The devotion was about getting to know the real & unique you. In the follow up, Renee explains the dangers of comparing ourselves to others (something that probably ALL women struggle with).

I'll try to sum it up.. she explains that comparison can be our worst enemy.

Comparison is so dangerous because “When we compare ourselves with someone else, we can never measure up because we compare our insides (how we feel) with their outsides (how they seem to feel).” The outside apperance of someone you don't know on a personal basis can be so deciving.

Paul talks about the comparison trap in 2 Corinthians 10:12, "but when they measure themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding."

This is my favorite part of the whole post :

Comparison causes us to compete with each other. God never intended for women to compete with each other; He wants us to complete one another.

Be encouraged..

Cont..

I really thought the 4 personality/temperments were very interesting.. apparently I missed this part in Psychology 101..

Taken from here..

Phlegmatic
While phlegmatics are generally self-content and kind, their shy personality can often inhibit enthusiasm in others and make themselves lazy and resistant to change. They are very consistent, relaxed, rational, curious, and observant, making them good administrators and diplomats. Like the sanguine personality, the phlegmatic has many friends. However the phlegmatic is more reliable and compassionate; these characteristics typically make the phlegmatic a more dependable friend.

Choleric
A person who is choleric is a doer . They have a lot of ambition, energy, and passion, and try to instill it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. Many great charismatic military and political figures were cholerics. On the negative side, they are easily angered or bad-tempered.

Sanguine
A person who is sanguine is generally light-hearted, funloving, a people person, loves to entertain, spontaneous,leader abilities, and confident . However they can be arrogant, cocky, and indulgent. He/She can be day-dreamy and off-task to the point of not accomplishing anything and can be impulsive, possibly acting on whims in an unpredictable fashion. The humour of Sanguine is usually treated with leeches. The reason it is treated with leeches is based on the process of the blood being sucked out and being able to understand the effect of the process.

Melancholic
A person who is a thoughtful ponderer has a melancholic disposition. Often very kind and considerate, melancholics can be highly creative – as in poetry and art - but also can become overly pre-occupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world, thus becoming depressed. The temperament is associated with the season of fall/autumn (dry and cold) and the element earth. A melancholic is also often a perfectionist, being very particular about what they want and how they want it in some cases. This often results in being unsatisfied with one's own artistic or creative works and always pointing out to themselves what could and should be improved.


After reading more details about each type, I think it's harder to pin point which one discribes me the best. I think we all have a little of each temperament in us.. but probably lean more towards just two main types. Maybe I should ask Jonathan what he thinks ;)

Which teperaments describe you?

Part I - the Real Me..

I get a daily devotion from Proverbs 31 in my e-mail every morning. It is so incredible how they can describe me to the T sometimes.

This devotion describes a common question of mine. What is my dream job? What in the world would I do if I had a million dollars? or all the free time I needed?

The devotion reminded me to continue to ask God what his dreams are for my life. And that I need to get to know the real me. Instead of just realizing that my personality is unique, ask why my personality is unique and how does that relate to God's plans for my life.

I think it's such a great idea to pick up a book and study personality traits..I have never seen anything like this before and I thought this was great :

In her book, Personality Plus, Florence Littauer describes four personality/temperment types. See if you can relate to the desires and emotional needs of one or two of these:

Phlegmatic: Desires PEACE
Needs times of quiet, reduced stress, feeling of worth, relaxation

Choleric: Desires CONTROL
Needs appreciation for achievements, opportunity for leadership, and participation in decisions

Sanguine: Desires FUN
Needs attention, affection, approval, activity with people

Melancholy: Desires PERFECTION
Needs sensitivity, stability, support, space, silence

I am definitely choleric & maybe a mix between phlegmatic/melancholy? Would I rather be peace & fun? YES! But I know that the Lord "created my inmost being; (and) knit me together in my mother's womb." (Psalm 139:13) I am uniquely made and God has unique plans for my life.

I'll be ordering that book. Join me in getting to know the women God created us to be.

Date Night!

Jonathan took me on a spur of the moment/mid-week date night on Tuesday! I had gotten home first (Jonathan normally beats me home in the evening) and I was just about to start making a casserole when Jonathan called and said that he got a check for doing some baseball lessons and wanted to take me out to a nice place for dinner. I was game!



We walked across the street to Firebirds. Have yall eaten at Firebirds before? I think its a chain.. the food was AWESOME! We split the Lobster Spinach Queso and their BLT side salad (YUM!) to start and then we both ordered Filet & Shrimp with a loaded baked potato. Can you say calories? It was such a treat though. And the left overs for lunch were just as delicious.

We are so grateful that Jonathan can still give pitching lessons every once in awhile because it gives us some extra cash to do fun things like this!

Let me also mention that when we moved into the Colony Apts, we were so excited to be able to walk to shops & restaurants.. since we are moving out in 2 weeks and had yet to walk to dinner, we decided it was about time.



We decided to walk off our dinner for a few minutes and ended up at Barnes & Noble where we spent over an hour looking around. I found the greatest calendar/planner - its July 2009 - December 2010.. how great is that? I can do some serious planning with that thing. I liked that it was light & fits in my purse too. I've been looking for something to use for work & personal stuff all in one. I was also tempted to buy the first Twilight book.. but I passed.. for now. I am in the middle of a Francine Rivers (love her!) book right now, and I knew it would be hard to finish if I bought a new book in the middle of it!

Thanks, Jonathan, for the spur of the moment/mid-week date!

I wonder if there will be beaches in heaven..

a scare in the night..

Last night Jonathan and I both headed up to bed around 10:30ish as we normally do during the week. We both read for about 1/2 an hour and then eventually fell asleep around 11:00 or so. After being sound asleep for what felt like a few hours, I remember vaguely, sub-consciously, hearing Murphy growl all of a sudden. Unsure if it was my dream or real life, I didn't really react.. I was definitely half asleep still but a little more aware of my surroundings. A few minutes later it had become clear to me that Murphy was now up and moving around and had walked to the top of our stairs.. and was growling even more intensely. That's when both Jonathan and I realized that, ok, we are not dreaming, and Murphy has heard something that has startled him, and that's not a good sign.

Jonathan quietly hopped out of bed to join Murphy at the top of the stairs. Although our hearts were pounding, we were both completely silent waiting for another sound that had set Murphy off to begin with. During those 5 minutes I was silently laying there thinking how grateful I was that 1.) I had a guard dog and 2.) I had a large husband and 3.) Jesus was my ultimate protector. After about 5 minutes of listening, neither of us heard anything. In the meantime, Murphy seemed to have lost interest and went back to his spot to lie down.

Jonathan got back in the bed and I asked "is everything OK”? Jonathan replied, "I haven't heard a single noise in the last 5 minutes". I did a recap of our nightly routine and I had specifically remembered checking both locked doors and I knew that all the windows were locked. I knew there was no way that anyone could get into our house via doors or windows without waking us up. That's one advantage of an old and creaky house. But then I asked Jonathan, "well, why was Murphy growling”? Then it occurred to me "has Murphy EVER growled in the middle of the night like that"? Jonathan confidently answered "No".

We both knew that neither of us would fall asleep without knowing for sure that the coast was clear downstairs. At 2:00am, Jonathan woke Murphy back up, I turned on the lights in our bedroom and I grabbed my cell phone incase I needed to call 911, and Jonathan lead the way down stairs to check things out.. I followed at a distance.

There were no signs of intruders downstairs.
Murphy, who had acted as a superb guard dog, certainly seemed to enjoy the late night adventure.

Here’s the funny thing... I didn’t even remember the whole ordeal until about five minutes ago.

Summer Booster Party

We had a Summer Booster Party last weekend! It was so much fun. The Charlotte Team is gaining three new Experience Leaders for the fall; Mark, Kyle, and Scott. All three (plus 1 wife and 1 girlfriend) were able to come to the party so it was a great chance to introduce them to the Booster culture/community. We are so excited to have them on board and to get to know everyone better.

The party consisted of outdoor games (boys), great conversations (girls), pizza, and a game of "celebrity".

Faith, Family & Freedom

Every year our Christian Radio station here in Charlotte hosts their Faith, Family & Freedom event at the Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, SC. Every year around January the radio station starts advertising for the event.. so by the time summer rolls around I always have the add memorized :) Our good friends, Chad & Kristy, had plans to go this year and they invited us to join them! We grabbed some dinner together and then headed over to the stadium.



We sat in the stands when the concert first started, but then made our way to the grass area with our blanket.



A pic of my handsome husband..



The concert featured Matthew West and Natalie Grant - they were both great!



And the evening finished up with fireworks.. an early 4th of July celebration.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Charlotte Booster Team

Home Decor & Paint Colors

I've had so much fun the last few weeks thinking about decorating and paint colors for the house. We didn't really think that we would be moving again so quickly (although I was keeping my fingers crossed for a fireplace for the Winter 2010).. It seems like just yesterday we were painting our apartment.

Our current paint theme for the living room is a burnt orange with tans and light greens. I like it, but the orange can be some what dark. The orange was more of a trendy choice.. With a house, I feel like paint colors are a whole different story! We have to find something that we will like for a long time - since painting is such a hassel!

I have been requesting magazines from Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Pier 1, ect to look at the popular paint colors and home decor these days. Luckily, the house already has really nice and neutral paint colors. We are just thinking about painting the kitchen and master bathroom.

I'm thinking about painting the kitchen a bright, sunny, yellow and then going with a yellow & green theme in the living room.

This is my inspiration for the living room (for now) :


Since we already have green.. we just need to add the splash of yellow! The walls of the living room are a khaki color so it won't be as bright as the picture.. but I hope that the yellow kitchen & yellow accents in the living room will make things bright & happy. :)

Weekend Fun is to come..

It's been a really long week. I am really looking forward to the weekend! I think I live for the weekends.. yes, its true.

Anyways, here is what we have planned:
Saturday AM - Going to one my best friend, Angela,('s) baby shower. Angela and I met through mutual friends a few years ago.. she went to Jonathan's high school and married Mark who played baseball with Jonathan. We saw each other at showers & weddings throughout the years. In the fall, they moved to Charlotte and since then we have become such good friends. We go to the same church and Mark will be working with Jonathan on the Charlotte Booster team when school starts back up. Angela is so much fun to hang out with - she is the outgoing personality that I've always wanted. Anyways, I'm excited about the baby shower and even more excited to meet Hannah Jade in a few weeks!

Saturday PM - We are going to a Wedding in Columbia, SC. My friend named Crystal is from my home town of Sumter, we both went to Thomas Sumter Academy, and then we were at Winthrop together for a few years.. although she was always a few years older than me. Our parent's are good friends also. Jonathan and I love going to weddings together now that we are married! :)

Sunday - Father's Day!! We are having a cook-out/swim party at my parent's house in Sumter. Jonathan's family is coming and we plan to celebrate our fathers, eat some yummy BBQ, enjoy the pool, and play some games. I love when both of our families get together.

...Maybe I should take Monday off? ;)

a sneak peek!

counting down the days until July 27th!

Murphy's Summer Haircut

Murphy, our 2 year old Golden Retriever, got his first summer hair cut yesterday. To me, it was a pretty big deal. I LOVE Murphy's pretty hair. Its long, sometimes tangled, and probably really hot, but it so cute. A golden retriever is no golden retriever without the hair!

Anyways, after Jonathan insisted for almost two weeks that Murphy would LOVE a lighter load for the summer, I decided to give in. I mean, it grows back, right?? Jonathan was off on Friday, so he took Murphy into PetsMart and he gave them strict directions NOT to shave all the hair off the poor guy. I'm not gonna lie - I was pretty nervous.. and anxious to see the outcome.

Around 5:30pm Jonathan and I both went to pick up Murph and he looked so handsome! He was like a new dog - happy, lighter, cooler, and clean cut. This will probably be a yearly occurrence. Well, depends how the growing-out process goes.


BEFORE/WINTER:




AFTER/SUMMER: