the thankful project: an experience

Have you heard of The Thankful Project yet? If not, you should jump on over to Chasing Happy and read a little more about it. Such a great concept for this type of year. While I missed the first three days and probably won't be doing the full month, I will be blogging about a few topics along the way. 

November 4: An Experience

In July 2007, I was blessed with an opportunity that I had dreamed about since I was a little girl. You see, I grew up in a small (like 350 people small) midwest-farming town and the biggest event of the summer was our county fair. The whole county basically shuts down and everyone you know spends the week at the fair. Still to this day, it is one of my most favorite times of year. And for my family, it is something that we all are a part of. We all spend the week together and it's just so great.

And ever since I was a little girl, I had always dreamed about being the fair queen. As silly as it may sound, it was a big deal to me. In the summer of 2007, that dream became a reality. It was my third attempt, which is more times than most people compete. Honestly, it took a lot of courage for me to run that third year. Most people stop after two years, but I knew that I wanted to try one last time and if I didn't, I would have always regretted it. Thankfully, that persistence paid off.

It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I got the opportunity to meet a lot of people, travel to new places and do a lot of fun things. It really was a dream come true for me. It was a time where I could represent something I loved and believe in. But more than that, it was a time in my life where I learned about God's timing and perfect plan for our lives. I learned more about patience and letting go of a situation than I ever meant to. That summer was one that could have been filled with a lot of pain and struggle for myself and some family due to different situations going on, but instead it was one filled with new experiences and celebration.

So while being the fair queen was filled with fun events, dressing up and other wonderfulness; it was also a time in my life when I saw God work in a very real way. Plus, I learned a whole lot about interviewing, public speaking and public relations (which was my major so that helped, too). All of those things together made for an experience that shaped me then and still does today.

 

welcome to november + a giveaway

Welcome to November! Today I am blogging over at Simply Clarke so be sure to head on over there and check it out. Plus, you can enter to win a fabulous giveaway!!

Ok, now go visit me over at Simply Clarke-- Happy Friday!

welcome home

As you may have noticed, I've been a little mia for the past week. Since then, we've moved into our house and I've turned a whole year older. On Monday, I turned 27, which just seems crazy to me. And even crazier is that now we are homeowners. A whole lot of awesomeness going on here.

The past weekend we were so blessed to have our parents, siblings, cousin and grandparents help us move out of the apartment and into the house. It took a lot of muscle, advil, patients and love from them and we couldn't be move thankful for all their help. Plus, it was even more wonderful to have so much of our family in OUR home. Talk about warm fuzzies--I was full of them.

As we are starting to make our space look like a house again, it is so great to make it even more of our own. This weekend we have plans to take a trip to IKEA-- two points for my husband coming up with that idea. I'm not sure if he realizes what he just got himself in to.

And even though I'm not a big fan of Halloween-- the dressing up part, let's be real I do like the candy part-- Happy Halloween. Enjoy a fun and safe day of trick-or-treating!

wednesday words

For the sake of my sanity, today I have to focus on packing and more packing. So I leave you with this.

house inspiration

These days all my creative juices are being used up in our house, or they're being killed by inhaling too many paint fumes. Either way all my energy is being poured into painting, cleaning and dreaming about our new house. This week is moving week and so there is a lot to be done in the next few days, including packing up the apartment (which I may or may not have yet to really start). The carpets in the house are being cleaned tomorrow so it is my deepest desire to have all the painting completed by the end of the day. We've gone through gallons and gallons of paint, which I have mentioned yet that paint is a bit expensive when you're painting your whole house?!? But besides the endless hours of painting, exhaustion and body aches, I am so so pleased with how the house is slowly transforming into our own. It's amazing how paint can completely change the look of a room. We're almost done with the painting, as husband says-- we're rounding third-- and I know it will all be worth it in the end.

From paint to decor, here are a few images that I'm looking to for inspiration for our new home. 

Master Bedroom:

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

 Kitchen:

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

 Half Bath:

via Pinterest

 Entry way:

:

via Pinterest

 Living Room:

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

That's all I have for you on this chilly Monday!

first peek at our house!

We have been spending every extra minute of time at the house this week-- painting like crazy. I love watching the house transform into our own space. But as much as I am enjoying this process, my arms hurt and I will be thankful when I no longer come home with paint in my hair.

Here is a brief look into the downstairs of the house. I took these pictures right after we got the keys so there is no painting done yet. I promise I'll show you the after pictures soon.

Entry Way and Stairs

I loooove the arched doorways.

Living Room

More living room

And I love that we have a fireplace, and that we've already used it!

Family Room

My hunky husband in the kitchen.

Dining Room

We have a lot of plans to continue to transform the house into our own, but for now painting is our biggest project. Plus, house renovations are expensive. So we're taking our time on making changes, but don't think we don't already have it planned out. Here are our first five projects:

• New kitchen counter tops and flooring
• Add an island in the kitchen
• New storm doors for the whole house
• Completely renovate the master bathroom
• Add a deck to the backyard

As you can tell we've got big plans and most of them are big projects, so we'll be completing them slowly over the next few years. As for now though, I am so so pleased with how the painting has turned out and I can't wait to share it all with you. Plus, I can't wait to move it! Only eight more days!

Hope you have a fabulous Friday!

arizona recap

I finally remembered to bring my camera back from the house, so now I can give you a full recap of our trip to Arizona! We originally traveled to Phoenix for a work conference for Jake, so we spent the first few days visiting and exploring with some of his work colleagues. We had a great time hanging out by the pool, exploring the city, shopping and, of course, eating. So many good places to eat. Seriously, so much food. But we also spent a good amount of time exploring the outdoors. The landscape is so different than here in the midwest. It's a lot less green with a lot more dirt, but it really is beautiful. On our last day in Phoenix, we rented a jeep and took it off roading through Tonto National Park. It was awesome and so scary all at the same time.

The men had so much fun scaring driving through the mountains. Even though there were moments when I thought we may tumble down the cliff, it was seriously so much fun! And a great way to see the mountains.

 

 

 

 

During one of our out of car explorations, my hubby managed to open up a prickly pear cactus to see what it was like.  He may or may not have acquired some pricks in his fingers.

 

 

On our way to Sedona, we took a side trip to drive the Apache Trail. It wasn't as nerve wracking as the jeep, but it was still filled with hair pin turns and cliffs. But again, it was beautiful. Plus, we stopped for some ice cream at a local ghost town.

 

We arrived in Sedona after having dinner with some of my family in Prescott. It was great to see them and visit with some friendly faces. Our first full day in Sedona was cold. We were really surprised that it was so cold because it was 90 while we were in Phoenix. Even though it was cold, we still wanted to hike in the red rocks. We started at the Boynton Canyon which was great, until it started to sleet on us. Then it got a little colder and wet. Thankfully, the sun came out and we could hike a couple other trails.

 

 

Yep, snow.

 

 

Oh, and there were the bears. We didn't actually see any, but it made it more interesting.

After hiking, we spent the rest of the day walking throughout Sedona shopping and taking in the sites. If you've never been to Sedona, it's a great little town to visit. So much to see and so many shops. Plus, there is a stunning view everywhere you go.  We originally had planned to go to the Grand Canyon, but thanks to the government, we couldn't go. Only slightly annoying.

 

We left Friday morning and traveled back to the midwest. We had a fabulous week in Arizona and definitely will go back. Hopefully, next time we'll get to go to the Grand Canyon. Anyway, thanks for letting me share all my vacation pictures. Now, I have to get back to packing so we can move in just 10 days!!!