A Couple of my favs...

A Country Farmhouse

I love this blog. Her and her husband bought an old farmhouse and renovated it to this amazing little home with a wrap around porch and beautiful windows, which are all in harmony.  Plus, they have a great view of the mountains in the background from their front porch.  The house could only have been done by someone with a vision and taste.  It's just so beautiful, and I love the furniture and decorations... all seeming to stay with the same style and time period.  The outside of the house actually looks better than before where the windows and the wrap around porch just go together.  If you check it out, there's a link on the right when you scroll down to view the posts about the renovations, each showing before and after pictures.   This is the picture that drew me to her blog, and I've been in love ever since.  ... very close second to my love with Pottery Barn.



Meadowbrook Farm

Here's one more blog that's totally worth checking out.  I am in love with her blog layout, pictures and beautiful flowers.  She and her husband also renovated an old farmhouse, barn and property, which you can all find in the blog too.   I just love old barns, and it makes me sad to see them sagging with their roofs caving in.  Anytime, someone's maintained one, it makes me happy.  They're a dying breed, but just so good to see as part of the country skyline.  There's one on Gray Rd, which I believe is part of the CPMorgan family.  I knew I would love living in our apartment and driving to work partially b/c of that old barn and the small corn field still being plowed on this road. 

Anyway, I think I would like both of these ladies from their blogs.  So accomplished and love their taste.  If you check out their blogs, you may just see a comment from me on there now and again.  My boss says I'm a stalker, but neither of these ladies should worry, as I believe they live on the other side of the country. ...at least, not until vacation time.

and with that, I'll leave you with a picture from the Meadowbrook Farm blog.  With spring finally waking up and the sun warming the land, I love seeing the sweet daffodils popping their heads out from the ground.  Aren't they so beautiful and fragile?

Bikers.

Tonight's the night.  The bikes are in the living room and receiving the cadillac of spring preparations before taking that first, long spring ride.  For me, spring cleaning means reorganizing and dejunking.  But not for Josh.  It's time to test the brakes, pump the tires, lube the gears, etc.

Right now, there's a certain look on his face telling me he's enjoying every second of it.  A look that for him says, "I'm in my happy place."  I remember the first time we went on a bike ride together.  It was such a special moment to me because I knew I was seeing him in his element. ... relaxed and enjoying every moment of it. 

In other news, we had my nephews over a couple of weekends ago.  And for a little one on one time, we did the "great trade" with my parents where we each got one at a time for an evening and then traded for the next evening. 

Here's my nephew enjoying his daper good looks in the mirror. 



"I'm too sexy for this haircut..."  :)

How He Loves

I don't know if I'll ever get tired of hearing this song.  From the CD "Church Music" by the David Crowder*Band, it's worth stopping the busyness of your day and just listening.  Before you know it, you just might find yourself in a one person worship concert.  p.s. this whole CD rocks and is worth the purchase.

Without further ado, and for your listening pleasure...

Click Here for Video of "How He Loves" by DCB

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

Clean as a Whistle!

I love spring!  Waking up to the birds singing... the sun starting to poke up over the horizon... and giving the car a fresh all over clean.  That's right.  Josh and I both washed and cleaned our cars out yesterday, and it definitely goes down as a very happy moment.  I mean, it got a spot on the blog, right? 

Mike's car wash with underbody wash and wheel bright?  Check. 
Floors swept out with Mike's power sweeper?  Check.
Wash the inside of the windows and door frames?  Check. 
Wipe down the entire inside with Armor All wipes? DOUBLE check!  ... Josh actually tried to help me with this, but I wouldn't let him.  I saved it for last partially because there's an order to these things, but mostly because it's my favorite part of cleaning out the car.  I love how the dashboard looks once it's been cleaned good.  And with the Armor All wipes, it seems to repel dust and dirt longer giving it an awesome shine.

See... isn't that beautiful?  ... just look at that shine! ...





I'm definitely having a dad moment by taking a picture of my car.  I mean, if you go through my parents' photo albums, you'd find pictures of almost every car they've owned thanks to my dad... The Oldsmobile "Big Red," the diesel, two door Pontiac "Black Attack" and the "clunky car" come to mind as cars we had for a while.

When I was a kid, I would go outside and help my dad wash and wax his car.  It was a great opportunity for one on one time with my dad.  It's not like I had to worry about one of siblings fighting for a chance to clean.  Looking back, I think I talked his ear off, but he never seemed to mind.  We would just be out there during the long summer days with him putting on the wax, and me wiping it off as the sun hung just above the horizon.  I will always be thankful for those memories as a kid.  Even now, I get to have good conversations with my dad on the phone or by email. ... and it all started with a little elbow grease and a can of car wax.

The Midnight Run

When you first get married, you often have the joy of buying all the things that make you an adult.  You get things you didn't have a need for before... a spatula to flip your eggs, a carrier to take your cupcakes to a shower, or a lamp for that perfect spot in the study.  But there's also some things that you don't even think of buying, until you absolutely need them. 

Our friends came over a few weeks ago, and we were so excited to hang out.  It seemed every time we tried to plan something it fell through, but finally, we were together.  We'd had a great dinner and were now back at the apartment chilling.  They have two little ones whom we adore (and often quote for months afterwards), and their little boy, Elliot, had done an awesome job that night packing down the mac and cheese.  Little did any of us realize, he was packing it right on down, and it was about to come out.

It was somewhere in the middle of talking about houses and watching the Olympics that Elliot caught my eye.  It was a particular look and body stance that I had seen from him before, and just at about that time, a smell began floating through the air, and Elliot announced to us all, "I'm pooping."  Well, anyone who knows me, knows that that general topic holds a dear place in my (still a kid and maybe I should have been a boy) heart.  I mean, I'm even dedicating an entire blog post to it. 

Needless to say, all attention went to Elliot's "situation."  It was astounding to see such a small, little guy, have such a successful poop.  His dad decided it was so bad that perhaps he should flush the poop down the toilet so Josh and I wouldn't die in the middle of the night due to the fumes.  However, the situation quickly escalated when the poop lodged and didn't flush properly. 

And that's when we realized, we hadn't totally bought everything we needed for our apartment.  It wasn't my husband or I who earned the need for the first plunge while married.  It was our dear, little 2 1/2 year old friend, Elliot whom due to his successful poop caused us to wander out to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night and invest in our first "Mayes plunger." ... which, by the way, we, of course, happened to be completely out of toilet paper and bought the extra large quantity with our plunger investment.. 


.... the perpetrator.