Dream In Color

You My Fwiend...

that's what this little girl says to me everytime she catches me looking at her. and it just melts my heart.  she is honestly the happiest child i have ever met.  i could just eat her little marshmallow cheeks and she has a personality that anyone would kill for. loving that i get to spend so much time with her and my other little friends since moving back here. (but seriously missing my buddies back in chicago. :( )

 

i did LOTS of projects today, but only got a couple photographed...this first one is quite possibly the greatest invention in scrapbook product organizational products, but the black just wasn't working for me...so of course i had to change it. :) it's called a clip-it-up and its made by simply renee.  i found the link for one here, but i actually picked it up at archivers for a little cheaper. mine has the add-on for smaller embellishments at the top too which you can find here.  very VERY awesome for having all your stuff right there to use at any time.  it reduced my storage by a ton! and now it matches my new back studio. :)

before:

and pinkified:

 

you can also see a hint of my light green walls and hardwood floors in some of these photos (a HUGE improvement over the dark wood and pink padding on the floor!), but i made some stuff for the walls and want to add a couple more things before i share the full affect of it all. i did, however, work on making this lampshade to go with this cool cream organizer i got at hobby lobby on sale.  i just need to be on the lookout for some trim for the edges and i think it will look really cool.  the lamp is an old one that my mom found for me in her attic...

 

other than that, i painted some letters spelling the baby's name for above his crib, and watched 6 kids today...4 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. 

my life is very good right now. :)

A Project A Day...

first of all, my doctor appointment went absolutely GREAT today! i found the place, i had all the paperwork, i loved the nurses, the doctor was fabulous, and best of all...he said that everything looks perfect. so so relieved! i was a little worried after a mildly disturbing doctor appointment last week with my family doctor.  it took such a weight off my shoulders to talk to an OB and have him tell me that things are actually looking great. very reassuring. :)

secondly, i have decided that i'm going to try to do a project a day as much as i can for awhile.  i have so many fun projects that i have been wanting to do that i have the supplies for but never got around to doing, and so many things that i want to do for the house...so i'm going to see how this goes. i'll try to share as much as i can each day. so prepare yourself for lots of buttons...i seem to be obsessed! last night i was really tired so i just started sewing together a bunch of buttons and by the time i went to bed i had this fun little bracelet to wake up to.  i think i'm going to give it to shanie tomorrow when she comes over...or try to figure out a way to use it for something in my house. sometimes i get crazy cool ideas in the middle of the night when the baby and the neighbor's spotlight shining in my window (ANNOYING!) won't let me sleep.

this next one is the same idea, but i made it while i was sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office. i l finished just as they called my name, which was pretty cool. also probably going in the shanie donation bag, but very fun to make. i love doing things like this because they get my creative juices flowing, even if it's not really something i'll use myself. also, you can see the color of my VERY yellow hall here with my green bedroom in the background. i love my happy, colorful hallway. it makes me smile every morning as i'm leaving my bedroom to start my day.  i got some black photo frames to put up in it at hobby lobby today, but i want to get some cool decals to go behind them.  i searched for some on etsy and blik this evening after i got home,  but i have an idea for how to make my own with a little help from a very talented person i know, so i'm going to try that route first.

ok, i'm off to make a lampshade and some wall hangings for my studio before heading to bed.  i'll post an updated photo of what i get done in there sometime tomorrow!

GOODNIGHT! :)

Mr. Button Giraffe...

super fast update before i crash after a long day...

• still working hard on getting the colors i want painted in each room of my house.
• exhausted beyond belief at the end of everyday.
• my cousin kari and my friend amy came over today and helped me work on my studio. here's a quick before shot that i took.  we got it completely painted today...2 coats of primer and then 2 coats of the color i picked. it's looking SO cool, but will hopefully look better after my shopping trip tomorrow in fort wayne to find stuff to go with it all. 

• found this little sewing supply organizer at a garage sale this past saturday. it looks awesome with mr. manz's baby quilt in real life. 
• (you can't tell too well here, but his walls are a light brown that i LOVE! i'll try to better capture it soon.) 

• lastly, a little giraffe that i found at goodwill for $2 in fort wayne.  it was pretty rough and just a wood carving but i fell in love with it and nurtured it back to life last night by painting it and then supergluing buttons to it.  it will also go in the baby's room. (min reminded me just as i was starting to take the before picture-hence the small amount of blue paint on it.)

• sorry for the boring post...too tired to write about anything long or cool.
• off to try to get some sleep before my first OB appointment since moving back. hoping and praying things go well for me and my little love. wishing my mom wasn't on vacation so she could come with me.

NIGHT YA'LL!

 

Green...

so i was going to wait to show any pictures of my bedroom until it was all done...but then i figured that i'll forever want to be adding and changing things, so i'll just post updated pics along the way.  so far this is my favorite room in the house. i love all the colors. can't wait to make some things and add some big photos...that type of thing.  i'm planning on spending the weekend being creative, so hopefully i'll have new stuff to share by the beginning of next week. but until then, here you have it. the green room...

i don't know if you can tell exactly in the photo, but the afgan on the bed is the color that i matched the walls to.  i was at a friend's house a couple months ago and she gave it to me to get rid of because she thought it was so ugly. i can't wait to tell her that i created an entire room around it. :)

 

i got the brown vase at my favorite thrift store back when i was living in chicago, and the vases came from anthropologie and urban outfitters. clearly i need to find a couple more things to go in the empty ones and a way to better hide the cable cord.

the family that sold the house to me went through everything they wanted to take of their grandmother's and i could have anything they didn't want...which was an AWESOME deal since i got all my appliances plus all kinds of cool little treasures like this little lamp.  all i had to do was clean it up and put a bunch of buttons in it.  it's now one of my favorite things in my little house...

and that's all for tonight, folks! i'll update more soon...have a good weekend!

Finally...

got my internet back.  and i have a phone again. HUGE relief.  almost as soon as i got here i realized that i have almost no cell phone service here, which is severely annoying.  so i have been texting everyone anything i need to share all week and as much as i usually prefer texting, i'm just ready to have a phone again.

in other news, i got everything unpacked except my scrapbook stuff...which amy is going to help me organize in the back studio.  and i now have a bright green room to match my quilt in my bedroom.  it looks wicked cool with my old furniture and the woodwork and hardwood floors. my brother chris is hopefully going to install the light for me tonight so i'll post photos after that. we also painted the baby's room light brown and the laundry room and hall yellow. i think it all looks awesome, but i'm already getting lots of comments about all the colors. ah well, as long as i love it...:)

i'll try to update more soon once i have pics to go with it all. and if you need my new phone number just text me on my cell or send me an e-mail and i'll try to get that to you... 

Please Wave The White Hanky...

it's something i've never caught on film.  never even tried. because when it happens the emotions of the moment overwhelm me so much that grabbing my camera and snapping a picture is the last thing on my mind.  it's something my dad has always done when i left home. ever since i moved to chicago i don't think there has ever been a time he missed. whether it was raining or sunny, whether he was all alone or surrounded by a large group of people, whether i was coming back home the next weekend or not until 3 months later...he never failed to pull the white hanky out of his back pocket and wave it high in the air as i pulled out of the drive. and he wouldn't stop until i was out of sight. i know because for the next mile i would keep looking back in my rear-view mirror to see if i could still catch a glimpse of it waving and it would always be held high in the air.  waving. shining.  signaling to me until i was just too far on my way.

it always meant something to me. always drew such a strong emotional reaction out of me that my dad made a habit of waving it for me when i left. it was such a small, seemingly silly thing, but it was a small thing that represented home to me. something that i would look forward to while at the same time dreading when the time came for me to say goodbye to the people i love most in this world. but it's significance didn't really hit me until about a year ago when my dad came to see me after i had made a major life decision. a decision that he didn't agree with. something i was so scared to tell him because i knew how very disappointed he would be in me. but when i finally did tell him, he, in traditional dad fashion...in true CHRISTIAN fashion...first told me that i should know that no matter what happened to me or what decisions i made in my life, he would always love me no matter what.  and then he told me something that i will never forget. he told me that no matter where i went in my life, where my path led me, no matter how much he disagreed with my decisions, i would always be welcome at home. and that if i ever wondered if it was still true i should call or write and tell him that if i was still welcome at home that he should stand outside and wave his white hanky in the air.  and in that same breath my dad promised me that from the second i asked that question he would be outside...that he would stand outside until he saw my car coming down that road...no matter how long it took.  and that the second he came into my view i would see that he didn't have a single white hanky in his hands...he would instead have the biggest white sheet he could possibly find. and that all around him there would be at least 19 other people holding their own sheets high in the air to signal my welcome and their love...

my dad cried when he made me that promise.  just like i cry every time i think of that conversation i had with him.  and out of all the stories my dad has told me over the years, it is by far the most memorable and meaningful thing i can ever remember coming out of his mouth.  because at that moment i knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that my dad loved me without question, without boundaries, without exception. like a father is supposed to love his child. and every time i feel a little lonely, a little confused...every time i wonder if it's the right thing to be moving back to paulding i just look a little bit to the east, a little bit to the south, and i smile through my tears...because i imagine that i can see my dad in the distance, tirelessly waving his white hanky high in the air...  

so this is it, dad. i'm coming home...

I Have Purple Hair...

so i told my hairstylist julian (whom i adore and will miss SO much!) that he could do anything he wanted today when i went to visit him since it was my last time. i just closed my eyes for about 2 and a half hours and when i woke up i had purple hair. with red clumps. and lots of random cutouts. i pretty much love it.  (please pardon the bad photos...i took them really quick in my florescently lit bedroom in the mirror. eep)

a baby belly pic...

and other than that, just a few layouts to share...(photos of me and the kids by rebekah price)

 

and that's all i've got for today...

Some Baby Fun...

so tonight i thought i would share with all of you what i'm thinking of doing for the baby's room. (i'm finding it very hard to write about him and not say his name, so hereafter he shall be referred to as mr. manz) first of all, i found this ADORABLE quilt at the land of nod outlet that i absolutely love...

a friend of mine from around here just recently told me about the outlet that is super close to our house and it's become one of my favorite stores these days.  i love the land of nod, but it tends to be a little (lot) expensive, so when you can buy the same stuff for 20-75% off, i'm all about it. and there is even a link on their website (at the bottom of the sidebar on the left on their homepage www.landofnod.com where you can order from the outlet online!) you have to really check everything over to make sure there aren't any flaws, but alot of it is just stuff they used as a display or that people brought back without ever using.  and that was the case with this one. absolutely nothing wrong with it and SO cute! my mom and dad and angie actually helped me go through everything at the store to choose the one i liked best last week when they were here. they were so patient about opening and examining everything for me. and my dad was all about showing me how all the furniture goes down $100 every week, so i'm watching the chair below to see if i can get it for super cheap.  right now it's at $391. it would match everything in mr. manz's room so cool, i think, and it's a rocker, but SO comfy. i would love to rock him in it and then when he gets older it could be moved to the living room or something...  

i'm finding that i'm way more obsessive about getting everything perfect for his room than the rest of the house.  i ended up not getting the curtains or matching bumper because i'm not into the whole matchy/matchy thing and i want to see if i can find something i think looks cool with all of it. i did buy 2 green and 2 blue of these corkboards that match the colors, though. (the colors come seperately) i have already painted different things over them, but i'm not finished yet. i want to figure out what i'm doing before i paint too much just in case any of the colors change or something...

other than that, i bought some cool wooden toys and hardback books at garage sales, which i'll probably use as decorations until he's old enough to play with them. i'll try to post some photos soon. too lazy to take them now. i also got some fun storage stuff and i'm working on some canvases of my own that i got at michaels to do some more art for his room.  i think the room itself will be painted brown so that i can put the colors in the quilt into the art.  and i have alot of shelves being stored in my parent's attic that i'll probably paint to match everything too. oh yeah! and this cute little giraffe bank, where i have started collecting mr. manz's college fund. :)

i really REALLY can't wait to get working on his room, even though it will probably be the third room i do after mine and the kitchen, since i'll want to be using those before october. :) my mom and angie are going to start working on getting the house a little more ready this week so that i can move in by the time i move home next saturday. they are so SO amazingly good to me. i can't ever thank my family enough for all they have done to help me make all this possible...it's so hard to believe that i'll have my own little house!

:)

A Million Shattered Pieces...

so i started getting serious about my packing this past weekend. at first i was really doing ok.  doing what i had to do. moving on. starting my new life with my new little love. focusing on where i was going to put everything i was packing up once i unpacked it in my new home.  making sure i was wrapping everything good enough so that they would weather the trip to ohio. getting excited about the things i found that i had been wondering what i had done with...

but as the boxes started to pile up in the hallway, the reality of it all started to sink in.  and it seemed like everytime i closed a lid on a full box, my mind opened a memory of my time spent with my buddies, and with every memory another piece of my heart seemed to shatter. until the tears were falling so fast they were blinding me. until i thought i couldn't bear it anymore. until i began to wonder how i will ever truly stop hurting at the thought of not seeing them everyday...

and i remembered:

• all the times over the last 2 years eric has told me that he loves me more. at least 10 a day. probably somewhere around 25 on average.

all the times julia made me turn my head away super fast so she wouldn't see me smile when she said "yes, your majesty" or "yes, queen" in her mock-sincere voice when i just got done bossing for something she had done.

2 little hands slipping into mine everytime i stepped out of the car...crossed the street...or just needed them most.

eric running off the bus every single day to tackle me with a hug.

julia bringing me art she had created for me at her little artdesk that she spends hours of her time at.

looking up into my rearview mirror everywhere i went and seeing 2 little hands shoot up and flash me the "i love you" sign every single time.

them fighting over who got to sit by me at restaurants.

their reluctance and then excitement at learning how to read and write.

their first day of kindergarden.

slipping them extra treats, and them always confessing to their mom and dad.

singing to them at bedtime, in the car, everywhere we went.

teaching them how to use a camera...and putting them through endless photoshoots.

goodnight hugs, walks to the duck pond, nightly bathtime, spongebob and so much more.

i remembered that for the last 2 years almost every single monday through friday they have been my constant companions, my little buddies, my biggest fans and the greatest joys in my life...

 

i watched them grow.  i stood with them through the sad phases, the constant fighting phases and the happy phases.   i watched as they grew out of their 4 year old clothes, their 5 year old clothes and alot of the habits that came with those ages. i watched them make friendships, some they kept over time, and some that lasted only a little while. over the last 2 years we ALL grew so much. we learned to laugh together, to love each other, to understand each other's quirks. we all became the best of buddies, the 3 of us. and each day, we reminded each other that TODAY was "the best day ever". we had little inside jokes that seemed silly to everyone else. we learned to anticipate each other's next words. and we really did have the time of our life.words cannot even describe how hard it is to pack up 2 years of my life into boxes. to walk away from 2 little people that mean so very much to me...even when i have so much waiting for me on the other end. i just can't help but wonder how much i'll see them after i'm gone. if they will call.  if they will visit. if they will remember our time together the way that i remember it. if they will remember me at all.

and so i know that for a long time there will be a sadness in my life like nothing i've ever felt before. i know that there will be many more nights when i cry myself to sleep. i know that i will feel the emptiness everytime i cross the street with 2 empty hands at my sides. that my heart will feel like it's been shattered in a million little pieces. but i also know that i will always have the memories from the last 2 years. two very very happy years with my buddies. and those memories make it all worthwhile...