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This month was jammed packed with amazing things! We hosted our 3rd annual 4th of July cookout. (which I didn't blog about.) We crammed 20 something people into our < 800 sq.ft apartment because if you haven't heard, Florida is now the most wet place in the U.S. Seems like it anyway, and it poured all.day.long the 4th. We watched fireworks the weekend after the 4th because of all the rain, and I forgot to share my pictures of that! I hosted a baby shower for my favorite person ever, Angela. (and haven't blogged about that either, YET.) Then we celebrated Dakota's birthday a few weeks early with a bakery themed party! (it just happened last weekend, so no, I haven't blogged about that either. ha)

I feel like I suck at blogging about events and things we do, but really it's not that at all. It's that I'm so busy having so much fun with my family that I sometimes forget to pick up any camera besides my phone. It's convenient, and sure, I wish I was more thoughtful about using my real camera but I don't want to be only enjoying the party behind the lens. You know? I actually do happen to have pictures of all of this that I just haven't shared yet, so....I will get to work on that immediately. 

Happy Friday! 

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According to Instagram, this looked like a good month, and I'd have to agree! These are one of my favorite posts to do each month. Also, July 1st? I cannot accept that the year is already half over!!

April seemed to be a good month for a lot of people, but I am glad to say goodbye! Even though it seemed to go by super fast, it wasn't my favorite. I kind of slacked big time on taking pictures this month. Because it was such a hard month, I didn't find myself reaching for my phone to capture little moments as much as I would have liked. This month will be different! Even if life is hard, or I am feeling uninspired I will make a point to capture beautiful things.

NIGHT IN

Stephen is headed out of town for the night, and while of course I will miss him, it's also kind of nice to have an ultra girly night. I'm calling it my girls night in, and by girls, I just mean me. Things like hour long baths, shaved legs, painted fingers and toes, face masks, unlimited amounts of Shirley temples, and Breaking Dawn parts 1 and 2 are on my agenda tonight. I'm thinking I'll even make a homemade pizza for dinner! All of this, of course after Dakota goes to bed. I might even go totally nuts and write a letter to my sweet penpal/friend Katie! ;)  These are my must haves for a night of pampering! Any thing you always you in your pamper nights? I'd love to know, and try it out for next time!

 

SNAPSHOTS

1. Finally finished that diy. 2. Picked up the Perks on vinyl this weekend. 3. Writing desk in our room. 4. How I feel almost every morning! 5. Sewing all day er'y day. 6. Got my birthday nails done yesterday! 7. morning coffee. 8. A well slept in bed. 

STAY HUMBLE

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes things don't go how you think they should. And sometimes life just slaps a lot of crap on your plate, and you don't really feel like you deserve any of it. No one ever said it was going to be easy, but in all honestly, I've had it pretty easy in my life. I wasn't sheltered by any means, but in the grand scheme of things, my life has been pretty easy. I have recently found myself comfortable in the good. Started to maybe even think I deserved all the good things God has blessed me and my family with. That is so far from the truth. I am thankful for His grace daily, because without it, I would have no good in my life.

I'm reminded of the print/quote that says "Work Hard & Stay Humble." I want this to be my attitude. I always want to stay humble, because I do not ever want to have to be humbled. I have SO much more to be thankful for than I have to worry about. I find myself thinking "why me, what did I do to deserve this" when any bad thing comes along in my life. When those days come along, I want to remind myself of all I've been blessed with. My family is highly favored. But you know what? To be honest, that is hard. It is hard to just grin and bear it. Or to bite your tongue, when you have so much to say. To work insanely hard, just to see someone else get that promotion. To pray for someone when you'd rather tell them a thing or two about themselves. To accept that sometimes you don't have control over things. To see the silver lining on a day that is full of clouds. It's hard. My days always turn around though, when I stop and take time to appreciate all I've been given. I don't really know how to sum this up other than, I'm constantly learning. How to be a better wife and mother. I'm always trying to be the best version of myself I can be. This is one of those lessons that I need to put to practice.

MONTHLY GOALS

I really wanted to share my yearly goals here, but since I wasn't blogging when the New Year rolled around, I figured I could share my monthly goals instead. Does anyone else do this? I scribble down between 5-10 little goals I'd like to accomplish within the month in whatever journal I'm using at the time. Sometimes they're practical, sometimes they are to help me get closer to accomplishing my yearly goals, and most of the time they're just for fun! These are my goals for the month of March. All of these are things already in the works! I'd also like to add that March is the month of birthdays: Angela, myself, and my mother-in-law all celebrate birthdays in March. I love spoiling people and shopping for the perfect gift.

FEBRUARY ACCORDING TO INSTAGRAM

 I love Instagram. It has sparked so many friendships, fulled so many craft ideas, and brought me countless bouts of inspiration. Last year I tried to commit to a 365 project and failed half way through. This isn't one      of those. But I do (usually) post at least one, if not two, photos on Instagram daily. Truth be told, I kind of love taking photos more on my phone than I do my actual camera because there are so many fun editing apps, beautiful filters and magical light leaks to be had! How about you? Are you a die hard DSLR user or an iPhoneographer? 

SNAPSHOTS

Yesterday I was feeling pretty awful. I spent most of the day on the couch, or in the bed laying around watching movies and resting. I'm not sure if it was the amount of rest, or the amount of Nyquil I had, but I am feeling quite a bit better today. I'm still not 100% so I'm using that excuse to hangout in leggings, eat a ton of soup, and watch SVU/Twilight marathons. Judge me if you want. Tomorrow I'd like to be feeling like myself again, do you hear that body? It's the weekend and no one wants to be sick on the weekend. 

HUZZAH!

Words cannot express how happy I am to be writing this post today! After over a 6 month hiatus, I am here to report that I will be blogging again! I took some time off for a few reasons, some of which being: we canceled our internet to save money for our wedding, we got married (!!), and I just felt too pressured. No one was pressuring me, except for myself. I've written down a bunch of goals and ideas I have for this blog, and I am surprised by how different they are than goals I had for this blog when I first started. I pressured myself to write too many posts too fast, and not develop any quality content. I was naive in thinking I'd have to put little effort into making this blog a success. Don't get me wrong, I worked hard! But like I said before, I didn't spend enough time really developing concepts. 

This go 'round I don't plan to put myself on any sort of schedule. If I don't post everyday, that is O K A Y. Actually, I'm not even planning on posting daily. If no one reads my posts? So what! This is ultimately for me, and for my family. No set amount of words to meet some imaginary quota in my mind. No agonizing over photos that don't quite look professional. No repetitive, lacking emotion set schedule of posts that must happen every Monday, or Thursday, or Friday. As far as ideas, I do plan on posting about things I'm passionate about. And a lot of that is the content I was posting before, but this time I will be writing/posting/creating with purpose.

I feel embarrassed to even admit this, but I was constantly hung up by the fact that I didn't have/couldn't afford to pay someone to create a breathtaking design for me. I doubted my self and the thought that people might just want to actually read my blog because I didn't have a cohesive layout that was pretty to look at and set me apart. I even felt that way when I decided to start writing again. But I'm happy to say that I put on my big girl pants and got over it. I went to work trying to make something myself, and I'm actually proud of what I've been able to do. Will it win the imaginary 'Blog Design of the Year' award I've created in my head? Probably not, but that's okay with me! Because I made it, it's a refection of me, and I'm happy with it. It's so exciting to have a fresh new space to write/create in.

I hope that you'll join me on this new adventure of blogging with purpose. And in the meantime.....what have you been up to lately? ;) 

What's in my bag?

Today's challenge on Instagram is to post a picture of 'What's in your bag.' So I thought it would be fun to share the details of that here! I've seen lots of people do it, and it's neat to see what things people keep in their bags. And to drool over all of the beautiful bags people carry. It's super cold here today so this was the perfect activity to do inside! Don't mind the ugly carpet, we rent! Do you do regular posts of what's in your bag? xo.

Clockwise From Top: Cosmo Mag with Dakota Fanning (she's adorable!) + Parent's mag ♥ Dainty Squid pouch with DS business cards ♥ 2011-2012 Daily planner (from Target) + headphones ♥  Owl journal  + Papermate pins--my fave! ♥ Lemon hand sanatizer ♥  Olivia Sticker + Movie Stub (We saw War Horse!) ♥ Taylor Swift CD ♥ Boy Girl Party Owl pocket mirror ♥ Gloves ♥  Random Instax and ribbon ♥  Nail Polishes: Forever 21 + Milani ♥  Headband + Dakota's cell phone :) ♥  Gum + WWJD Post-its ♥ Vera Bradley Folklore Pen ♥  Foxy Wallet ♥ Mini tape measure + EOS chapstick ♥ I got my bag at Target!