Active

I never thought I would be the one complaining about getting older and not being fit. But I feel like one day I woke up and was like "When did I stop trying?" That must have been the day my muffin top appeared and my skin started sagging in places I didn't think could sag!
Back when I used to do promos and "modeling" I was in shape, fit and feeling good, but the one thing that I didn't like was, when I was out running, at the gym, or doing hot yoga, I may have been with friends, but I was not spending time with my husband. I decided I would rather be with him and connect than think me being fit was more important than our relationship.
So in turn I now find myself sitting on my growing ass watching way too much t.v., eating all the horrible things he can get away with and not feeling too good about myself, but I'm with my hubby :)
After much trying to get him to motivate us (in his defense, my job maybe mentally exhausting, but his has been physically trying, so he hasn't needed to work out), he finally decided to feel better together!!!
We decided that when I get home from work the T.V. is off, if he wants to watch it all day that is fine. We need another hobby then right?
Last night we headed to walmart and after destroying their bike department, I can't believe not one employee came to yell at us, as we proceeded to take every single bike down from the racks and ride their flat tires around. We actually had a blast trying, testing and playing with the bikes. Every bike I loved I couldn't touch the floor on. Dennis even said to me, after this I finally realize how short you are! hahah thanks honey!
I really wanted the classic Schwinn look, the long sleek body, with the large tires and raised handle bars. Sort of like this:

Every style that I just loved didn't come with gears, which Dennis insisted I needed. (and after attempting to climb a hill I'm thankful for!) So after some frustration I finally found the bike I wanted. Dennis was easy, he tried three and was good to go!
So we drove home (we had to take the cars home!), tested Burton out on a short ride around the complex to see if could even follow along side us. He didn't do too bad, but he needs more practice.
Once I got home though I realized that Walmart forgot to give me my bike bell (had to have one of those!) and our bike lock. So we hopped on our bikes and rode to Walmart, than to Taco Bell (You may think we are defeating the purpose, but we would have went there anyways, atleast now we worked for it!)
Once we got home (after burning thighs and realizing that I need more work on getting up hills) we remembered we had no where to store these pretty new bikes.
This is where they ended up:

Yup that is the dining room again! On the right is all my Scentsy boxes (I have lots of stock and business supplies), on the left is my craft table aka the dining room table! I guess it works for now.
Can't wait to see where these bikes will take us, and hopefully we can motivate each other to not let them collect dust.
As we were riding along, Dennis yelled out, this is better than watching T.V.! Wahoo!!!! Can't wait to be active together and feel good!

All you need is the right tools

Dennis came home after my craft day to find me exhausted and barely any projects finished. After I whined that we don't have enough room for my sewing machine, he told me I could take over the dining room table now (Scentsy already overflows in the dining room, but I try and leave the table empty.. not anymore!). He is such a good husband :)
Sunday after a fun day with my dad planning an up coming road trip (more on that next time!), and a fierce game of dominoes, we stopped by my mom to grab her extra sewing machine. Luckily for me, my mom always wants the newest and best machines (she has 4+ sewing/embroidery machines). I was able to snag the last one she wasn't using.
Even better? Oh ya, since mom works at JoAnn fabrics she is always buying stuff on sale and never really having a need for it, until her baby girl comes and raids her stuff. I was able to snag up an awesome pink rotary cutter! Check out my new tools:

This bad boy can even do embroidery! I can't wait to get the attachments (once they are found).

I also stopped by mom's work yesterday and picked up the rest of the felt I needed to finish my scarf. Here the glorious finished project!

I was really hard to take a picture of it, I hope you can see the detail, it is super fun. I already have 2 other colors of felt, so I can make more!

Feeling a little crafty

After spending endless hours on pinterest I figured it was time to have something to show for it. Today I dedicated it as crafty day. I went to the craft store twice yesterday; my mom is a manager at JoAnn Fabrics so I always stop there first, but they didn't have lavender essential oils so I had to stop at Hobby Lobby, which is extremely dangerous, you better walk in there with a game plan in mind or full pockets of money! (One cool thing is if you are buying something not on sale, pull up their website and show them the coupon on your phone and get 40% off!!).
Woke up early to tackle my projects and remembered my mom yelling at us when we were kids to not use "her" scissors on anything by fabric, now I realize why! After attempting to cut my calicos with dull lame scissors, Dennis and I had to head out to breakfast and to the craft store again!!!

Okay back at home and focusing on my projects I go. Another reason I can't wait for a house? My craft room/office. Currently we don't have enough space for me to fully spread out, I have already taken over the dining room, storage room, and the only closet in the house, which still is not enough. I can't pull my sewing machine out of our large storage room, so I figured I could do all my projects by hand stitching them. Brilliant idea, until I'm half way through my first project Baby Belly Bags (BBB). My stitch is taking way too long, and I had to do it twice. Even though I got enough materials to make 15 little baggies, I only finished one. :( If I had that glorious sewing machine this project would take less than 15 minutes, in my current circumstance it took me over an hour!

So here is what I got so far.....



Filling the baggy



Materials for my BBB's

The finished project (well, one of them!)



I decided to take on this cute little pin because, I have lots of preggo friends and I read alot about these, they are supposed to soothe the babies, relieves gas and comfort them. After the onesies, I really wanted to do more homemade gifts.

Okay next project, again another one I can't finish!

This one is a felt flower scarf, super duper cute,  I knew I wanted to tackle this one.
I cut out the scarf and than the circles, but I ran out of felt!!! I almost cut all of the circles needed, scalloped them and put one flower together. My hand is sore from holding my new scissors and honestly I'm a little mentally beat!
But guess what? I'm going to head to the craft store.. again! This time before I leave the house I will shower and actually get ready for the day.
Here is my scarf so far...

Very little tools needed for this project, just have to make sure you have enough felt, I think I made my circles a little big!
Here is the awesome tutorial I am following Felt Flower Scarf

Messy

I'm more than totally obsessed with Pinterest, I'm pretty sure I spent hours last night just looking and totally random pins. Which on its own is alot of fun, but when you are doing it on your tab, the mobile Pinterest isn't really the best, it isn't an app, just a mobile version of their website. So when I try and pin something sometimes it errors and sometimes I get just what I want :)
I have pinned tons, but only actually tried one crafty thing, these adorable little baby boy onesies with a fabric tie on the front. I loved making them, can't wait for more boys so that I can make more of them, I made a few for Hollie's soon to be baby boy (which should be coming any day now!!!!)
The other day I attempted a hair style that I found (here is my pin for it ). It turned out cute, but not really as messy as I wanted it, so I tried it again this morning, but threw in my "bump" to mix it up too. Messier the better right? hahah I like it, but I have more perfecting to do!

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I have a few more plans for my next project. I love, love making jewelry, but now I'm enjoying making baby gifts for all the little ones my friends are having. Tonight is a great night to master a few of those :)

Home is where the ......

We are in the process of looking for a house, probably not to buy yet, just a rental, I need a break from owning. We are in major need of space, we have a 600 sq foot 1 bedroom condo. Most days I have no idea how we fit in it, and on rare occasions its cozy. But I'm dying for a house, rooms, a closet for Dennis and a place I can entertain. In the past I have been known to throw pretty fun parties, but with the limited space we haven't had one in awhile, and it makes me sad and a little introverted. I'm so ready to lead groups for church, share my home and be proud of my space. 
Since we are in the in between time all I can do is dream, oh and do I do that well! I have already planned every room in my imaginary home. Now to just find all the furniture to put it to reality. Off to craigslist I go! But I have emailed a few ads, and no responses, purely rude! :(
Here are some of my ideas:

 I like the simpleness of this room, combine that with some Coca-Cola from below and I'm happy.

The first thing I want to put up in a new house is Dennis' pool table, it has been in storage for 4 years now :) He loves Billiards and loves Coca-Cola so I want to combine these two and make an awesome game room. We have a few more game items to put in there, we just need more Coca Cola stuff, which unfortunately is too darn expensive, so that may take a while to fill that room! 
So the  next room is my dining room, depending on our space we probably won't have a formal dining room, which I'm okay with, we can always put a top on the pool table for large dinners. So I want a simple nautical dining room.

I love this room, and more than anything I love the chandelier. I have talked to my dad about making us one, we just need to find a large helm (wheel) and it can be done!

I really want to find an old port hole, that will probably be the most expensive of my finds.

Alright I should really get to work now.. and continue dreaming :)

Good News & 41 -60

Another trip to the Doctor yesterday, after very old school ultrasound (the screen is  yellow!) they determined the mass they saw in my ovary is gone! My HCG levels are down to 141! Everything is doing what it is supposed to be doing! About time! But on other ickyness.. TMI alert.... after lots of cramping I started bleeding last night and finally passed tissue, which sounds gross but is a good thing, that is what has been climbing my HCG levels and my body hadn't let it go yet. I was actually quite relieved to see it, as I hadn't had any before.  Luckily I get to wait 2 more weeks before another blood test, I'm so getting tired of feeling like a pin cushion!!!!

Okay now on to happy things :)

My thankful list continues:
41. The smile when Dennis first sees me
42. The smell of fall
43. Hearing God's word
44. Being able to comfort a friend
45. Meeting nice strangers
46. Flying and not feeling sick
47. Feeling inspired after hearing someones story
48. Watching Dennis' face as he opens gifts
49. Making crafts
50. Throwing a party
51. Watching the snow fall
52. Wearing beautiful gifts from others
53. A kiss on the cheek from my mom
54. Having your prayers answered
55. Not having your prayers answered and know there is a greater purpose
56. Praying to my heavenly Father
57. Walking in to church and seeing an old friend
58. Giving
59. A really good phlebotomy technician
60. Watching others give

Condolences

I can do sympathy, but condolences has always been something hard for me. I have never known what I am supposed to say to someone after they have lost a loved one. I think I always came up short in this area. I'm sure most of that was because I had never lost a family member since I have been an adult, until now.
Now I finally get the other end of condolences. I have realized that all that I would say before was not good enough or too much. For I have heard some odd and awkward things, and found that the ones I feel most comforted in are the ones that have been there, they know. After having a conversation with a friend of ours that has had a miscarriage and given birth at 20 weeks to a still born, I finally could truly say to her, I'm sorry you had to go through this. As a couple months ago I had no words I could say, nothing I felt was good enough, so in turn I said nothing.
I have received very pretty flowers, including a mini poinsettia that sits on my desk at work that I just love looking at during the day, but yesterday I received the most amazing and touching gift. Our friends Matt and Karen sent us this card:

They honored our little one with a tree planted in Washington. How amazing is that? I have never heard of this before. Dennis and I were just blown away with the thoughtfulness and true love that was given to us. We will frame it to always remember our little one who couldn't stay.
So what I have decided, if you don't know what to say, simply say I'm sorry or we are praying for you, those have been the most comforting to us. That you could fill your prayers and thoughts with us, that is heartfelt.
Thank you to everyone for your gracious words, even the funny ones, it made us laugh through a tough time :)