balance.

Boy oh boy, am I the worst blogger ever?

Maybe!

Say hello to my balanced breakfast!

(Clockwise starting from top): V8 juice, homemade iced coconut latte, grapes, 2 eggs over medium on top of "double fiber" english muffin. Yummy!

Here's what I love about this picture:

1. Breakfast outside on my adorable new bistro set

2. That mug (from curlygirldesign.com which has crazy cute stuff, you must check it out!)

3. I have found a totally doable way to incorporate veggies into breakfast

4. This is one of the most balanced meals everrrr.

5. The book (An Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Raddish...the author of several heartwarming, women-empowering novels that are sure to touch your heart and make you think about your life!)

What a delightful morning.

On other news:

1. Bathroom is painted. First official before and after pictures soon to come (SO EXCITED!)

2. I have a tomato plant now, and so far, it's still alive (Also, SO EXCITED!)

3. Hosted Harry Potter Marathon...was quite fun :) Thanks to all my beloved guests for a good time

4. I am getting a little tanner! (SO SO EXCITED!!!)

See you soon, readers! :)

painting, pt. 1

What a loooooooooong day of home improvement! I started off by switching out the bright yellow switch plates with perfectly reasonable white ones.

Before                                                                                             After

                         



I think we can all agree that the original plates were heinous. So score 1 for me in this first really visible improvement! And yes, I will switch the switch so it's not red anymore.

Then I spent at least 2.5 hours spackling. I detest people who put tons of holes in their walls and contractors that use tiny nails and staples without puddying after. Ugh!!!

Case in point...look how many holes puddied in just HALF the closet (pink spots)

But once the spackling was done, we went and bought the paint (and chips and beer!) and got to it. Started with the red wall in my bedroom.

After some time of doing what we could to make the paint go on nicely...we finally called it. I'm having a hard time because yesterday dad was in town and we picked colors for all my rooms and I was SO excited to paint, then today we paint and it goes on streaky and you can still see the horrible pattern from underneath.

Michele was quite a help though

                                         See the streaks?

But we bucked up, and moved on.

Today's accomplishments: switch plates, spackled all my room, changed out shower curtain, spackled and prepped for office painting, cleaned kitchen (dusted/washed top of fridge and cabinets, wiped out inside of cabinets, scrubbed kitchen counters), and started putting things away. It's starting to feel like a home.

However...the dust in this place...gross.

Until tomorrow!

the new home. the project.

 First bit of good news today...class is cancelled tomorrow! Yippeeeeee!

Second bit of good news...Kassie and Lauren's dog Maddy are friends now :) Lauren and I took our precious pooches downtown and grabbed iced coffees (since the sun was FINALLY out!) and strolled on over to Reaney Park. It was glorious. The girls did a pretty good job considering that neither of them have much experience behaving downtown. Then...the cleaning began! Below are some "Before" pictures that Lauren encouraged I take (Thanks!) of the trailer. Then we set to work.

Progress: Main bedroom walls cleaned, rugs vaccuumed and shampooed. Study walls cleaned. I'm pretty happy with the progress. Have fun browsing the before pictures. It's not a complete disaster, but it's certainly going to be a project! I hope you'll enjoy the updates along the way.

 

The Living Room

                              

The Bathroom (shower curtain MUST go!)










The Study






The Kitchen


 





 My Room









The Laundry "Room"

summertime.

Summer is finally here :) Today after my second day of classes I went downtown for lunch and a lovely stroll with Caitlin. With a coffee in my hand, and a friend by my side I ventured into the small town gems that Pullman has to offer. Places like Plum Orchard and Lily Bee's make Pullman a really special place. It is nice to finally see that sun.

 Then after my stroll I wandered over to Safeway to buy some ever delicious summer produce. I came home cut up some strawberries, watermelon and cucumber to take to the trailer for some delicious snacks while I am busy busy cleaning, painting, and moving. Now I just need to get my butt moving on, well, moving! Wish me luck!

podcasts.

blessing :)

I've been having a hard time being disciplined in my quiet times this summer. I find that if I don't have a schedule I easily put off Bible time. Maybe for multiple reasons including: sloth, denial, fear, etc.

Sometimes there is so much going on in this crazy head of mine that I don't want to sit down with God because I just don't want come face to face with what's bouncing around in there. So that's the fear aspect. Kind of the denial part too.

And sloth...well that's self explanitory. I'm lazy. I so do not want to be.

So last weekend I was at church and the pastor read from 2 Timothy 1-14, and wow it was jam packed stuff, but ultimately the sermon talked about how to keep yourself on fire for God. It also gave me the idea to download some sermons in the form of podcasts onto my iPod and listen to them when I run.

Two birds. One stone.

I get a chance to connect with God while doing something good for my body. I'm trying to be better to my body-it's not easy-but turns out I like running. The podcast I listened to today was really eye opening.

I've learned that intentions and feelings and thoughts mean nothing. Action. Action is what matters. You can tell me you love me. You can tell me that you've never felt about someone the way you feel about me. You can want to be the man for me-but until you take action, risk, to be that man, to love me-it means nothing. We can have every intention of living a better life, of being an outward focused person-but again, life isn't about intention, it's about action.

Take action. Don't wish to be the person you want to be. Be him/her.
Don't take a passive role in your own life. Don't sit back and expect God to bring every blessing to you...have an interdependent relationship with the Lord, not a co-dependent one.

Take action.