Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Resolutions

Yeah yeah, I know. It's been a couple months since I posted anything and I'm way late on my resolutions. I'll be honest, I've never been a big fan of making resolutions for the New Year but I'm going to try it this year and see how it goes.

The past couple months have been crazy and this next month is only going to get crazier still. It's finally hitting me exactly what we are doing. Tim and I are currently in the process of moving out of our house by ourselves while simultaneously taking care of our three toddlers. We don't have movers coming, which is the norm for military families doing cross-country moves, because we are not moving with orders. Tim leaves for another deployment very soon and I'm moving with the kids to my parents house for six months.




Deployments are not easy, and I don't say this to garner sympathy, it's just a fact of military life. But thankfully, I have a great family and great in-laws who do not hesitate to help me when I need it. It's how families should be and I am certainly blessed to have such a good one. So with that being said, here are my 2012 New Year's Resolutions (four days late):




1.)Be more positive. I have a tendency to get grumpy and negative when I get overwhelmed and I need to stop. Like now. It's not setting a very good example for my kids if they see me like that. I want to teach them how to deal with struggles in a healthy way. Now this doesn't mean I'm going to turn into this giddy, over-medicated, laughing-all-the-time mommy, but I will try to smile more.





2.)Put myself out there more. I've already taken the first step to doing this. I'm going to the Haven Conference this year and I am so excited and terrified. I don't know anyone going and the thought of walking into a huge room of total strangers (except for interacting online) gives me heart palpitations! But I am so excited thinking about all the new friends I'm going to make, not to mention all the awesome stuff I'm going to learn. There are some incredibly inspirational people leading the conference and I can't wait for June to get here!!



3.)Start an Etsy business. This is the biggie. This is something I've been thinking about doing for awhile but haven't gotten the courage to accomplish. I love sewing and making things and I love being able to stay home with my kids so why not put the two together and try to make a business out of it? I finally told Tim about this dream last night and he was very supportive of the idea (Love him!) so now all I have to do is make it happen. I've already started writing up a business plan even though I know NOTHING about starting a business. My degree is in Exercise Physiology, and I never took any business classes in college so this is WAY out of my comfort zone.

4.)Be a better blogger. I did improve last year but I still have a long way to go. The big issue for me is time. With three toddlers at home and none of them in school yet (next year!) it's hard to put enough time into my blog to get more readers, post more projects, interact more with people, etc. I appreciate all 28 of my followers (I'm ecstatic that that many of you follow me!! Thank you so much!) and I want to be able to build relationships with people in a way that I didn't get to do last year. My kids still will always be my priority, but now that they are older and more independent, I hope to put a little more time towards this blog.




5.)Be a better military wife. Be stronger than I think I can be. Have more faith that God will keep my Marine safe. Just have more faith in general. Pray more. Encourage more. Think of myself less. Read my Bible more. I truly have better days when I do this.


That pretty much sums it up for this year. I'm going to be working hard to make all of these things happen and I have a supportive bunch of readers so I know you all will help me!! I hope you all are having a wonderful January and a fresh start to this year.

Here's to a great 2012!!











Monday, January 2, 2012

Driftwood Lamp

Sooo here's the story...

I've had this lamp done for a few weeks now but iphoto was being weird and not recognizing the images that I had downloaded. Long story short...it's cooperating and now I can show you the final product.

In case you don't remember what the lamp looked like before here ya go...
Fugly? Yes. Potential? Yes.

While perusing ebay I came across a white driftwood lamp with a linen shade for...gulp...$329!!! Now, I have no clue what kind of person could justify spending that much money on a lamp. Here's the link so go take a peek:http://cgi.ebay.com/WHITE-DRIFTWOOD-LAMP-Natural-ORGANIC-Coastal-BEACH-/180612958335?pt=Lamps_US&hash=item2a0d5f087f#ht_1686wt_933


Price aside, I thought it was a beautiful lamp and so I decided to try to copy it for hubby's nightstand. I found my lamp on ebay for $40 (totally worth it since once again, I bought the shade from Pottery Barn with a gift card) and when it finally came in the mail I was a little worried because, well, it was super ugly!

But it's amazing what a little paint will do...

Love it love it love it!

I applied a coat of primer first and then Rustoleum's Heirloom White, but decided I liked how the white primer looked better than the creamy Heirloom White so I then put another coat of primer on top. A bit more work than planned but the white looks so much better with the linen shade. And the lamp looks great in the master bedroom.

Now all I need to do is fix those pictures on either side of the bed. We just had new pictures done so it can wait until we replace the old with the new.

That's it for now. One of my favorite people, Audrey, is coming over for dinner any second so it's time for me to go and enjoy some wine!


Weekend Bloggy Reading