Our House: The Entryway

so, right now i'm about to share 4 photos of the same thing. yep. that's how i roll. 

this is entryway. entryway, meet blogisphere. 

the entryway is graced with my most favorite piece of furniture in our whole house. its original purpose of use is a changing table, but since my youngest was old enough to seriously damage something by plummeting off of it 2 YEARS AGO (!) it has found new use as our entryway table/office storage system. i inherited her from my late Tia Diana. she passed away when i was 18 and my dad thought i would like it. good looking out dad! i feel like i should name her. not sure what though. any suggestions?

i finally got around to throwing some stuff up on the wall above (insert table name HERE). several weeks ago i hung out with the increds Cherish. i was having an "i-need-to-escape-my-house-and-sick-children" moment and she came to my rescue. we popped out a couple of these gorgeous wreaths. heart her. heart her wreaths.

i'm totally in love with it. that's why i had to post so many pictures. 

i also could not stop myself from making a micro-mini banner to strew across the top. 

alas, i love entryway all the more. what do you think? have you ever named random objects like furniture or plants? i've had several cars names Ginga over the past couple years... i think the table looks like an Olive, or maybe Sage since she's kind of a sage green color??? 

confessions

read at your own risk...

 not including one load in the washer + one in the dryer. 

1. i JUST put away 10 loads of laundry, like last night right before bed. now i am doing 10 MORE LOADS OF LAUNDRY. part of the reason this is such a huge feat for me is because i am so O.C.D. about the laundry washing process. this is what goes on in my brain: let the laundry pile up and flow over the basket until i run out of underwear and the kids have no more socks. then, micro-sort. make a pile for whites, lights, brights, darks, linens, big A,  & little A. this takes about 30 minutes. i know. THEN, i fold it all and put away straight from the dryer let all the clean laundry pile up on the bottom of my closet and get frustrated everytime i can't find something. i am well aware of all my issues and am working on them. i've gotten better at folding them after each load... it's the putting it all away that makes me cringe.
2. i love the smell of my kids breath and sweaty heads. 
3. when i get a manicure or pedicure i usually file my nails before i go in then come home and touch up the paint. i don't know why i spend the money. i usually only get it done once a year, this is probably why.
4. my daughter asked who Jesus was last night. oh. crap. i guess we've been reading too many princess stories and comic books. the only book we read before bed after this question was The BIBLE. now, there is no question and i will make sure to even out the playing field better. 
5. i love when my Mr. makes fun of me. it's the most hilarious thing in the world.
6. laughing is my favorite.

ok, so if you're all like me and love to peek into people's dirty little secrets, then i hope you feel like you know me a little better. hope you aren't scared. can you relate to any of this? do tell....

MARRIED!: Zak & Karey

more paper? i know.

congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Shultz! (wow, it's crazy to even say that! woo hoo!) 

ok, let me just start by telling you how awesome Karey is. she is REALLY REALLY awesome! not only she is beautiful, talented, and the sweetest person you'll ever meet, she also loves Jesus a whole lot. and it shows. i met Karey at Hume Lake Christian Camps during the summer of 2005 (i think, jeez it was so long ago). she was the intern photographer and i was a band-aid for my Mr.'s band that was leading high school students in worship for 12 weeks. i had an instant girl crush on her and we were fast friends. i am so proud of her. she has since then started her own photography business (that ROCKS!) and faithfully waited for the Lord to bring her the perfect man. and. did. He. ever. i am so happy for these two love birds!! they are PERFECT for eachother. 

ok, so onto the paper...

invitation card | front + back

 karey asked for modern with a touch of whimsy. these are perfect, no? she sent me a picture and i pretty much did my best to copy it from head to toe. i did use all my own fonts (and by that i mean i found them all and added them, NOT i'm totally a typographer, because that would just be a dream come true.)

map & directions | front + back

 i think i finished designing the entire invitation suite in one hour. it was all so stream-lined and karey was awesome about getting all her info to me in a timely manner. she was very thorough and i bet it's because she's in the wedding industry and knows how important it is to be detailed. 

rsvp card | front + back

 i don't even think there were any changes that needed to be made, maybe one. i think she was my favorite client. and i'm SOOOOO honored that i got to be apart of her wedding because let's be honest... she totally knows tons of awesome wedding vendors because of her job... so THANK YOU for choosing me. i hope you were pleased with your service and product!

invitation suite

i just love karey with all my little heart and am truly excited for these two people to be together. many blessings on your new marriage now and forever. love you guys!
p.s. the results are in for the giveaway!

Link Love

so, i totally feel like a biter right now. i've seen alot of blogs doing this link love thing and i'm totally joining in. i guess i just feel like it would be a great way for you to see what i love to look at and also the things that keep me awake during naptime because i can't stop thinking about how much i want to make them myself.

so here it goes:

this print makes me want to abandon the whole car theme track i'm on in my son's room and make it a space theme. (see above)

going to be using this as a resource when i start my garden for canning all my fruit and veggies. (*crossing my fingers that i don't kill everything!*)

REALLY want to munch on this today.

if i could plan my wedding all over again it would look like this. i love all the natural colors.

too bad i don't live in SanFran or i could be THISCLOSE to fulfilling one of my Thirty Before Thirty with this.

i guess i'll make my own CAKESTAND!

i'll be printing these so my son will think i'm the best mom in the world when he gets up from rest time.

this book is infuriating, heart-breaking, and gut wrenching. i am on my knees for these kids and their cities. Lord, come quickly.

can i please be bold enough to do this to a wall in my house? and does it come in removable, cause we are renters?

thank you, Melissa, for being honest about your post baby belly. my second baby is 2 1/2 and i'm still struggling. p.s. you look good.

ok, that was fun. hope you like all the things i like.

GIVEAWAY: love banner

ok people. i need your help. i'm thinking about either opening up an ETSY store or trying to sell some premade banners locally. what i need from you is if there is still a market for these (do you want one?) and if i were to make a custom one for you what would you want it to say? 

in exchange for said help i will give you this. made in mind for a baby girl's room, but you could really put it anywhere you'd like. 

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. all you have to do is become a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post with your answer and i will randomly pick a winner by monday, february 28th, 2011 at 2:00pm. make sure to leave your email address or someway i can contact you if you end up winning. good luck!

if you want to see some other ones i've made in the past you can click here, here, here, and here. 

thanks friends, i REALLY appreciate your help!

and the winner is: LEAH OHLSON!!! congratulations!! please email me your home address so i can mail it out to you.

thirty before thirty

or 20. depends on if you're a glass half empty/full kind of person. i'm choosing to see it full at the moment because i can't think of anything else to add to the list am such an optimist. 

i recently turned 29 in november and there is a strange pressure building up. it could be the other blogs that i've seen with cool countdowns and i feel the pressure to be cool OR the fact that i have 56878356878 things i'd like to change slash do and doing it before 30 seems like a good goal. whatevs.

so here it is:

• get out of financial debt. living debt free so we can go on a sweet vacation be better stewards of our money and give more is our numero uno goal this year.
• make a habit out of reading the bible, daily.
• print and frame 4 years worth of family photos.
• find a good school for big A. this needs to happen in two months. eek.
• loose my pooch & love handles. shut up.
• make good Pho from scratch.
• train for and run a 1/2 marathon.
• get my business license. 
• get one more tattoo.
• have a date night with my mr. at least twice a month.
• plant a garden.
• start saving for a real vacation. because joining my mr.'s band when they play at camps with our kids is NOT a vacation. 
• make love to my husband everyday for 30 days.
• be more consistent about being mentored by my mentor. 
• become a mentor. 
• make affirming my mr. a natural habit.
• give my kids more of my presence, daily.
• monthly grocery shopping.
• learn calligraphy.
• make good tamales from scratch.

finish ongoing projects: (this is where the extra 10 come in)

• felt aquarium shower curtain for kids bathroom.
• spray paint school chairs for big A's room.
• create more "art" for the house
• big A's granny square blanket. because what boy doesn't want a granny square blanket at any given point in their lives? 
• little a's bubble crochet blanket. 
• little a's dresser.
• big a's dresser. 
• pillows for living room.
• little a's name story
• curtains for the living room.

not in that order. except #1. i'll make sure to update on my progress on each of these items. this is good accountability.

calligraphy photo found here.

Tea for Three

my mr. is the director of worship at the well community church. once in a while he has to do what they call the "iron man", which is all 4 services + the midweek service on wednesday nights. on days like this my kids are in rare form; throwing crazy fits, fighting with each other, down right disobeying me... most of it has to do with the fact that we start the day out rushing out the door to church and i'm a drill sergeant because there is no room for dilly-dallying. but i also know they love their daddy and have a hard time understanding why he has to work some nights. 

tonight was one of those nights. so to make this night a little more fun i decided to do a tea party for the three of us. i broke out the mini dishes we got from IKEA that i won't let them use because i'm afraid they will break them. so really, its like our fine china. i made chicken salad finger sandwiches, soup, and served tea and strawberry scones for dessert. the kids loved it. 

 sorry about the terrible quality of the pictures. it was dark out and my lighting was bad. as much as i love photography, it is just not my thing. 

 cutest mini cream and sugar set on earth.

 like my glass domes? i'm totally in love with them. i found 3 (!) of them at Goodwill for $3 each. score.

 and those beautiful vintage footed rosette crystal plates were a gift from my amazing stepmom. she is always finding cute stuff at antique stores for me! 

 the domes are a perfect fit! i would also love to get some tree trunk slices to use as "everyday" bases and make them into terrariums filled with felt mushrooms. another project to add to the list? YES! the crystal will just be for special occasions. like our tea parties.

 cheers!

 um, this is just amazing.

superman (who is really spiderman, who is really peter parker), mommy, and the princess/ballerina. duh.

 you know you wanna come over and have tea with us. we would love it. any reason to break out the IKEA china.