Urban Outfitters

I've been in love with a few items at Urban and with a desire focus on the Master Suite, I've been doing some intense detail research all over the internet!I love the pillow cases that add a dash of the yellow that I'm looking for along with a happy message. The message board will be perfect for those early morning love notes to the hus since I leave for work before dawn breaks and he's still asleep.

In serious need of some curtains to cover our sliding glass door that faces an access street, I bit the bullet and purchased Urban's Waterfall Ruffle Curtains.
While I thought they would be completely overwhelming in our room, they add this soft, romantic feel which is exactly what I wanted.

So the real purpose of this post is actually to share some discount codes I found in case you too have found yourself in love (or even in like) with some of their fun home finds! I'm incredibly frugal so while these items are are way above what I usually spend, the discounts softened the blow.

The promotion code: CLASSACT will get you 10% off your purchase.
The promotion code: FALLFORIT will get you free shipping on any order.

To cash in on the savings, enter the codes at check out.

{You will need to enter one code initially and then when you see your total, hit EDIT in the payment box at the top of the screen before processing your order. You'll be able to enter the second promotion code at this time to get both discounts}

Planting Love

Back in May when we bought our first home, I lovingly named our new project "Beauty for Ashes." It became that for me for a number of reasons, but the obvious is that the house had been abandoned, unloved, and forgotten.

My husband has wanted to own a home for years. For some reason, it was something that was hard for me to believe could happen (especially in California!) We had looked throughout the years but I always had a hard time seeing "potential" in what we could afford. I had unrealistic expectations for our first home and I didn't know how to get past them. Every time we looked, I never had anything good to say...until this house.
When I saw this house, I saw what it could be! I saw what it was going to be! I saw a home, I saw love, I saw a dream that could actually come true. It was oddly, my husband this time who took convincing. Like I said--it was pretty disgusting inside and out (we didn't even get decent photos of how horrible it was before landscaping demo cleaned the dirt up!)

4 months later, the house has a new face and above all, it has a new heart!
It will continue to be loved whole, it will continue to be seen for it's potential, and it has become beauty from ashes.

{The fence was a big project!
In the first photo you can see it was oddly pushed back from the curb and cut in around an access box. We pushed the fence out and squared it off so our munchkin could have more space to play!}

It is not lost on me how blessed we have been. It may have been overwhelming in unexpected ways, but it has been an incredible blessing!
We are so thankful!

PROJECT: Wallpaper Shelving

Mission: Add Some Back Splash!

Inspiration:

As it turns out, what I thought I came up with in my head is actually a big trend at the moment--using wallpaper to spruce up the mundane!
Here's one source for example!

So, for the cupboards in the first photo--which are filled with stuff that "isn't quite in it's place yet"--I am trying to figure out which route to go:
contact paper, wall paper, gift wrapping paper.

I just need a little something without a whole lotta permanent commitment!

Making House a Home

The new house continues to come together....
baby steps.
A LOT of baby steps!
I keep finding that things don't seem like they are "in their place" yet.
Know what I mean?

So many new nooks & crannies.
So many open spaces.
So each day we live here--or I should say, each day I slow down a bit and breathe--I figure out a little more of what makes the house feel like home!

At the end of the day, it's the people that live in the house and the people that visit the house that make it home.
It's true.
But I do love styling it and surrounding it with beautiful, bargain friendly things!

Amore

Ohhhh hello weekend, boy have you been eagerly anticipated!
The hus and I are off to Moss Beach this weekend for a photo shoot and my brain is on AMORE mode.
I am slowly finding my groove in this new life between the house and the job and I'm starting to resurface and it feels so nice.
Now, if I could just create more time...
hmm....
HAPPY WEEKEND!

Rescue the Room!

I just realized---I never have shared before and after photos of our new home.
Hmph, time flies!
That may have been a misleading intro because neither of these pictures are our home
HOWEVER
they sure are inspiring me!

The hus has put in his request,
"I really want to finish our bedrooms!"
Dually noted hottie-honey!
I guess it's time to get re-inspired and something about these two photos really does it for me!

What are your inspirational blog sources for rooms?
Maybe I need to take some pictures of our blank canvas and get some of your input!
I have huge walls, tall ceilings and NO idea where to start...
other than with a wallet and a priority on a headboard.

What Will I Choose?

I recently heard a message within sermon that understanding what God is doing in your life can be a lot like watching a Polaroid develop; the longer you wait, the clearer your understanding becomes.

This year, I have been challenged on the same subject repeatedly: What will you choose, Your family or {your own desires} {what others think of you} {your pride}?

This challenge was initiated back in February when I released a dream I was chasing. At the height of the dream taking a serious leap into the next phase, I heard the question: What Will I choose, my family or my own desires? I felt like I was at a crossroad and I could have chosen myself but I would have been saying "no" to the two boys God has given me. It was a heartbreak, a genuine and very real heart break but in it, I heard Him saying, "You will be rewarded."

In May, I was presented with a professional opportunity that has challenged me to learn new boundaries. When I say yes to work, I am saying no to my husband and my son. When I say "just a minute," I'm telling them what my coworkers think of me means more to me than what you have to say. At the end of my rope with time, I was brought to the same question...What will I choose, my family or what others think of me?

Today, another opportunity has come before me. It is an opportunity that says, "Perhaps you will have Fridays with your son, perhaps not. Perhaps you will work your same schedule, perhaps not. It will be hard, challenging...." Can I do it? Yes. Do I want to prove myself? YES. But here I was, eating pizza with my boys and realizing---it's happening again. I am being asked, What will I choose, my family or my pride?

I am staring at the Polaroid and shaking it waiting for that big picture to become clear. I am asking this question tonight: Why is the same lesson repeating itself this year? What is God trying to teach me? What am I missing that I am facing this "source of income" challenge that comes with the same question each time: What Will I Choose?

The picture is, at best, hazy, but I am hearing a message that brings me peace as I fight the butterflies and desire to unfold the unknowns, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on [my] own understanding" Proverbs 3:5.

So tonight, as I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep... keep me in Your will, help me to continue to say YES to my family, help me hear what You are asking, and grant your servant favor, Lord. I am Yours to use and it all belongs to you.

Beneath the Good

A simple question often evokes a simple answer.

"How are you?"
"Good. How are you?"
But what's beneath that?
What's beneath the surface of "good" that we aren't saying, that we aren't hearing, that we're not really asking, that we don't know?
The truth is, I am good but there is more to that good that I am not saying. Things that don't feel good, that don't look good, that aren't good, but I can't speak of them.

The question was too simple and my answer is too complicated.

***
I sat at a table I have sat at for decades with faces I have known the same amount of time. People I love so dearly I cry when I leave them. I cry for the changes, the gratefulness, and the appreciation. I cry for it all and I am left with a punch drunk emotional hangover digesting the tilt-o-whirl that is life, that is family.How am I?
I am good.
But beneath that--I am trying to compartmentalize who I am and the emotions {guilt, stress, love, happiness, anger, frustration, smiles} that go with each and every part of those compartments. At the moment, I am trying to understand why I was so upset over a passing incident that was not about me but I made it so.

I grew up in an incredible family of people with strong personalities. Men who were bred to provide, lead, and surpass the men around them. I was born into women who are secondary voices to the men but headstrong, opinionated, and achievers. I was born among men who work and women who sustain a home. The age old tale of my experience as a mother has been defined by the fact that these women's stories are not my own and I constantly feel other by expressed expectation and the absence of relation to my walk. It plagues me and has made it impossible to understand and appreciate my road and what I need to do. {tears}
I sat around a table this weekend talking. A grandfather, his granddaughters, and one grandson. As the grandson received an incoming business call, the grandfather addressed his appreciation for his grandson's dedication to his job and inside I boiled.

I boiled because a) I don't think business should ever come before family and a table should never be left for it b) I boiled because I would never be congratulated for professional dedication that took over a weekend. I would be asked, "what else can you give up to be home?" And in that moment, I wanted my phone to ring. I wanted to direct a call with "Did you receive the venue contracts and received countersigned documentation, update the database, inform marketing..." I wanted in inflate a piece of me that could perhaps prove my worth in an arena that could be identified with. However, this one piece...this professionalism I take on while being a married woman and mother will always make me other in my self understanding within my family.

What I wouldn't give to fill these bottles and watch these hands every day...what haven't I given to try???I grew up with and know an incredible family. I have the most beautiful family of my own. It never ceases to amaze me how challenging this road is to allow myself to be different, to know difference, and to come to appreciate the uniqueness of my own story. Instead I fight to shove my awkward jigsaw piece into a 50-piece puzzle and will continue to until I can just say, "this is who I am, this is my road, and I will make the best of it."

So, How am I?
I am good...
and beneath that good, there is just a bit more than you asked for.