a new home!

Hey friends! I'm moving! Not me and my pups and hubby, but me and the found life. :) I know I've been absent from the blogging world for a bit, but I'm back and in a new home and with a new look!!! Head over to      thefoundlifeblog.com     browse around and have fun! I'll be posting over there from now on :)


Thank you for following me here, I hope that you'll continue to follow over at my new location. :)

April Goals

April showers bring May flowers.... I hope! I love rain and I love flowers! Anyways, can you believe we're already 4 months into this new year!? March seemed to come and go pretty quickly, I got a lot done, but I still feel a little undone.... 

March Goals-Work on the rebranding (getting it ready to finalize) - GAP is still in progress, but TFL is HERE!!!!
-Find some glasses! (I need new glasses with my new prescription, it's a long story but I've been trying to find some since the end of January!) - Finally!!! I have them!
-Exercise a minimum of 4 days a week - yes! It has been so wonderful! I love it!!
-Plan a trip to visit some family - all but one of my trips are planned, just waiting for finalize my last one :)
-Mail packages/birthday things - Check!

April Goals
-Mail out birthday present
-get prints made to send to a few people
-Finish GAP rebrand
-Exercise 4-5 days a week
-Clean backyard

What are your goals?

March Goals

February has come and gone... already! We even had an extra day in there, but we are already into March! February was a hard month, but at the same time it was good. I finally sent Derek off for the deployment but that means it's actually started, so much time getting ready for it and anticipating it and in just one day, it was here! So we are 2 months into it (January counts) and it's been hard, but good. 

February Goals

-Continue rebranding (getting it ready to finalize) - it's a work in progress, but it's coming along :) not quite in the final stages just yet though....

-Order prints for office - this has not been done...

-Exercise a minimum of 4 days a week (and plan the days out) - yes! although this last week has been a little hard to find motivation.

-Start reading (again) Power of the Praying Wife - yes, mostly I'm just focusing on the prayer side of it though.

-Clean out office (again) - this didn't get done. oops.

-finish hanging gallery wall (I finished the one in the living room last year, but decided I wanted one in our bedroom as well, so I need to finish hanging the frames in there) - it's not finished, I'm not really tall enough to reach the empty places left...

March Goals

-Work on the rebranding (getting it ready to finalize)

-Find some glasses! (I need new glasses with my new prescription, it's a long story but I've been trying to find some since the end of January!)

-Exercise a minimum of 4 days a week

-Plan a trip to visit some family

-Mail packages/birthday things

Do you have any goals for this month?

february goals

we are already into our second month of 2016! This is CRAZY! January went by pretty quickly. I spent most of the month slowly preparing myself for the deployment, finding routine and trying to get right. I cleaned house a lot with my extra hours at night, but somehow I feel like I didn't really get anywhere... At the end of the month D got to come home for a few days before he leaves. It was such a wonderful weekend, but it went by much much too quickly! We had a couple snowdays and took a drive to Tahoe on one of the cloudy snow days - such a beautiful drive!! The photo above is from that day. The shadowy figures in the middle left is a man playing fetch with his dog, who ran from the car straight into the water! It was freezing, but I don't think he cared one bit, because boy was he having a blast!!

January Goals

-Work on the branding side of things - I got a little ways into this.

-Start budget - woops. next month

-Clean out office - yes, although it's a mess again... not nearly as bad - mostly just papers I need to file/shred

-Find a good cleaning schedule (this has been on my goals list for years... sigh) - I haven't written it down for me just yet, but I did find one!

-Take down all of the Christmas decorations - check! (except for the christmas lights, I haven't decided if I want to take them down yet... they are white icicle lights... maybe when it warms up)

February Goals

-Continue rebranding (getting it ready to finalize)

-Order prints for office

-Exercise a minimum of 4 days a week (and plan the days out)

-Start reading (again) Power of the Praying Wife

-Clean out office (again)

-finish hanging gallery wall (I finished the one in the living room last year, but decided I wanted one in our bedroom as well, so I need to finish hanging the frames in there)

What are your goals this month?

that one time I got a perm

Years ago (2007), I decided to get a perm... I had wanted one since I was a little girl so I thought it was about time... My mother in love is a hair dresser, so she did the perm, only she had to do it three (THREE) times before it even took, and even then it wasn't all that curly, more like wavy as you can see above... it was only that wavy if I had a ton of mousse in my hair...  I have a super sensitive head and it knotted so easily with the perm so I was always in pain when I had to comb it! In the last picture (awe how cute!) you can see how it was barely even wavy without product in it.

2016 & January Goals

Happy New Year!!! (That was our Christmas card picture for 2015 - I found a 2 person sweater and it was magic! Yes, those are unicorns!!) I can't believe we are in the year 2016 already!! It sounds so futuristic! It's so crazy to think that my 10 year high school reunion was 2 years ago... 16 years ago I started high school... I'm almost 30 (which means I'm almost 60!!)

I haven't been around regularly since about August... Last year we learned that Derek would be deploying early in 2016.. so towards the end of the year I got pretty stressed out with all that was going on. And in the spirit of being authentic and transparent I will share a bit... We have been trying to get pregnant for almost 6 years. I've dealt with a lot of anger towards God and jealousy of friends/family about it and to be honest it's not gone. I don't open up about my struggle with it very often, not even to my best friend (she knows it all, but I just don't talk about it). But in September we saw a fertility specialist and did our first round of treatments. Sadly it didn't work, and then we missed our chance in October because we were out of country, and then we missed November because Derek was out of town for training the whole month, and we chose not to even try in December because of the upcoming deployment... so with all of that, and adding in a busy peak season at work, family visiting, Thanksgiving and Christmas and the deployment.... I haven't been around for much...

And as much as I hate deployments and being separated from Derek for so long, I am excited for this year and to tackle my goals!

Looking back at my word for 2015 and the habits I wanted to adapt I think I did quite well! My word was brave, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and I think I did that quite a bit! I met new people and I wasn't afraid to start conversations, I tried new recipes & food, I tried new activities and pushed myself on old activities, I even let go of a relationship that I held onto for so long and when I look back, I miss the good times, but I see that it was a difficult (not bad, but difficult for me and apparently them too) relationship for the most part and I feel at peace and I truly hope they do too!

My word for 2016 is...

In all areas from simplicity in my daily beauty routine, to simply being and listening. I am excited to work this into my life this year.

2016 Goals

-Get a few new tattoos (EEEK! I can't wait)

-Travel to visit family & friends (I also can't wait for this!)

-Re-brand/launch GAP & my Etsy (and maybe TFL too :))

-Find healthy foods that I love!

-Rock out!

January Goals

-Work on the branding side of things

-Start budget

-Clean out office

-Find a good cleaning schedule (this has been on my goals list for years... sigh)
-Take down all of the Christmas decorations

I'm keeping it light since we are almost halfway through the month already.

Do you have any goals this month?

november goals

Holy macaroni!! How is it November!? October sure was busy and November is proving to be busy as well! We had our first snow the other day, it didn't stick though... but last night.... it snowed and stuck!! I heard it last night as I was getting ready for bed, it sounded like rain/tiny hail hitting the sky light in our bathroom (Phoebe heard it and was so confused, she had no idea where it was coming from!). When I heard it, I went out front to see, and it was amazing! I quickly grabbed my phone to snap some photos, above is one that I got last night of the snow falling... Isn't it just beautiful!! It looks like glitter!! Sadly, by morning most of it had melted.

My October goals list was short because we were out of town for about half of the month - if you didn't read in my last post, you missed that we went to New Zealand and Fiji, but before that I was out of town for one of my best friend's wedding, and a concert before that!

October Goals

-Clean house - done! although everything was just moved from the main living area into the office or the guest room :/ 

-Finish dresser - oh. my. goodness. Y'all!!! It's done, and i love it!! There is a blog post coming for that soon!

-Exercise 4 times a week - I didn't get this one in, but while we were gone we did do hiking and our bungalow in NZ was on a super steep hill.. 

-Drink 8 glasses of water a day (I know I should drink more, but let's just start here) - I didn't get this either :/ it will forever be on my goal list..

On to this month:

November Goals

-Decorate for Christmas (this is already done - I always decorate on Nov 1-, but it was on my list for this month)

-Clean out the guest room

-Clean out the office

-Get our Christmas cards written and addressed, ready to be sent out in December

-Hop back on with #fitgirlsguide 

-Start our Christmas shopping

-Read "A Severe Mercy" with Derek

ch.ch.changes

Hey friends! As you may have noticed the past few months I've been scarce around these parts. I've been busy busy busy with projects around the house, projects for one of my best friend's wedding, and time traveling with Derek (we went to New Zealand -20 hours ahead- and Fiji -19 hours ahead of me here at home-). In all of this I've been working on some changes (some small, some big) to a few things (My photography and Etsy and this here friendly blog). I'm really excited about everything to come and I can't wait to share everything with you!

Above is an image I snapped while driving around New Zealand. We went to the north island and these beautiful rolling green hills are everywhere, usually covered in polka dots of cows or sheep or both. It was ridiculously beautiful there and we both can't wait to go back someday! Don't worry, I will be posting about the trip!

October Goals

Y'all!! I have been going crazy! I'm not sure if I told you about how busy the rest of the year was going to be (starting in August) but the craziness has not let me down! September was full of doctor's appointments, projects, work, chores, and lots of early mornings!

I set my goals for September pretty light as I knew it was going to be a busy month...

September Goals

-Decorate the house for Autumn - yes! Although we have a lot less autumn decorations than I thought.

-Work on time management - I've been working on it, not sure if I'm there yet, but I've been making brain dump lists and boy has that helped me! 

-Go to the doctor's - check!

-Get prints ready to order - I have some pictures set aside, but not all

-Send out birthday gifts - Check!!!

-Work on dresser -yes! Y'all we are so close!

-Go to Pottery classes - I can't tell you how much we have enjoyed our classes!! Derek is a pro at throwing on the wheel! Some day we would love to own our own wheel and kiln!

-Practice cello - sadly this has not gotten as much attention as I want it to. I did practice, but not nearly enough

October Goals

-Clean house

-Finish dresser

-Exercise 4 times a week

-Drink 8 glasses of water a day (I know I should drink more, but let's just start here)

That's it folks I have a bit too much going on to commit to anything else at the moment, so I'm keeping it light again!

How are you? Have you set goals this month?

september goals

September is here!! (I'm actually writing this on the 31st and I'm so excited because it's pretty chilly out! It really feels like autumn!!! It's 59 degrees outside! Bring on the cold crisp air! (I found that picture above on google, but I'm dreaming of sitting on those chairs with some hot coacoa, a blanket, and my favorite guy!

August was full and a bit stressful, but good! And I know the rest of the month will only be some of the same. I went to some Dr appointments, spent time with my mister, got tattoos, worked a lot, and started taking a pottery class.

August Goals

-Celebrate my birthday :) yay! - yes! Derek even decorated the house and had a confetti popper!

-Start round 2 of the fit girls challenge (you can follow me here if you want!) - I started, and did alright, but for the most part, I let the stress (and birthday celebrations) get to me...

-Go to the doctor's (I've needed to make doctor's appointments for a few years and I finally made the appointments in July - but the last one didn't have an opening until the middle of this month) - yes! I have another one in September too.

-Work on the dresser (I'll blog the process when it's done) - I worked on it, but I got very little done on the dresser this month. I need Derek's help and we haven't been able to get out there.

-Work on our gallery wall - I have some frames I need to order prints for and get hung up - I got some of the frames painted but I still haven't ordered my prints yet.

I'm keeping it pretty simple for September's goals...

September Goals

-Decorate the house for Autumn

-Work on time management

-Go to the doctor's

-Get prints ready to order

-Send out birthday gifts

-Work on dresser

-Go to Pottery classes

-Practice cello

Are you ready for autumn? Have you set goals for September? Share them in the comments below!

summer lovin'

I can't believe that August is already half over... my favorite time of the year is autumn, but summer has always had a special place in my heart because it's my birthday!!! This summer has been full and I've loved pretty much all of it!! It's been pretty rainy - it even hailed!! Like gigantic big hail! I've only ever seen hail a couple times and it was so cool!

We will be pretty busy for the rest of the year, so this summer has been perfect not going on any big trips, just taking it easy at home. This month's circle link up is a review of our summer, so here's mine.

This summer we:


- Celebrated the birth of my favorite human being. He was pretty excited that the leftover frosting on his plate looked like a seahorse.

- Went to the movies... a few times - we saw Jurrasic World, Spy, Mad Max: Fury Road, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant Man, and Trainwreck (we didn't look at the reviews of this one before we saw it, it had some funny parts, but had we looked up reviews and ratings, we wouldn't have seen it).

- Walked around downtown. Our capitol grounds are beautiful and it's such a lovely place for an afternoon/evening stroll - and we took advantage of this beauty a few times!!

-Helped my mother-in-love pack up and move :(

- Crafted! the wreath was inspired by one that I saw in a store, I wanted to buy it, but Derek suggested that I make it myself, so I did! It was fun and I love it!

- I made goals and worked out.

- Did lots of yard work, pulling weeds, cutting grass, and aerating the lawn.

- Did the recycling. When we lived in Georgia we had separate trashcan for recycling that was picked up with the trash, but it's different here, so we take it to the recycling bins and separate it all out.

- Went to doctor's appointments - they've been a long time coming, things I've put off because I don't like going to the doctor...but then who does really?

- Thrifted this dresser!! Back in Georgia I bought a beautiful dresser for only $25!! I was going to clean it up, paint it and give it new life... Three years later I finally got around to start working on it only to discover it was a mess and falling apart (like wood was disintegrating). I was going to have to basically buy a whole new dresser to rebuild it and I just wasn't up for that kind of a project so I began looking for another dresser that was a bit less work and I found this one! It's perfect and I can't wait to share the finished product!!

- Went on walks to the hardware store! We live pretty close to some shopping so a few times we walked over to get supplies for different projects.

- Cleaned and organized the garage... This was like 2 years late... We organized it when we first moved in, but since then we've had things thrown in there and it was terrible to try to park and move around in there.

- I went to an interview and got new silverware!

- Played in the rain.

- Went grocery shopping and got LITTLE MERMAID PAJAMAS!!!!

- I played me some cello and built a little shoe rack for the entryway.

- Went to the store and got super silly and took silly pictures and laughed too loud.

- Worked.

- Went to the fair! For quite a few years, the fair has come to town and it's always on a weekend that we are busy and can't go, well it happened again this year but thankfully we had just enough time to make it the last night it was in town. We even rode a ride... my favorite ever Gravitron!!

- Did face masks (and Derek tried to look as creepy/scary as he could) and colored in a big Disney Princess coloring book that my mister got me for my birthday!

- Went bowling! We have a tradition of picking ridiculous dumb silly weird names (it's like illegal to use your actual name or something, I heard, it's a law probably). Derek picked this time, I'd tell you, but they were so silly/dumb I can't even remember ...but usually they have a bunch of letters and look like this - ffffffffllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyyeeeeeerrrrrtttttttt - they are basically the best ever.

- Went to the farmer's market. We got the cutest basket to carry our finds in! We got a Nevada magnet (made by a local potter), some local honey, local blood orange olive oil (YUM!), pulled pork, and 3 nectarines (we ate 2 and only brought 1 home).

- Celebrated my birthday with a LITTLE MERMAID CAKE!!! (would you expect anything else?)

- Airbrushed with markers! How cool is that!? Derek got me this awesome little pump airbrush! You can even use fabric markers and make shirts!

- Enrolled in a pottery class where we learned how to throw clay on the wheel! I took a pottery class in high school, but it was all hand building. This class was so much fun!!! It's 4 weeks and we can go in during open studio to play around more! I can't wait to show you what we made!!

- I got tattoos (or as Derek loves to call them tuh-tooos)! I have been thinking and dreaming of these for a while and they became a reality this past weekend! I love them so much!! The verse on my foot is my favorite verse as well as the first verse that I ever memorized in 2nd grade. It's been a resting place for my whole life. Also it is in my own handwriting, how cool is that!!?? The anchor is for Derek and a few others in my life who are my anchors, who keep me from floating away when times get tough and when I seem to forget everything else I've ever learned. But it also stands for Hebrews 6:19. (this was taken the night I got them, so they are a bit swollen still, also say hello to my strawberry mole on my arm underneath the anchor).

How has your summer been? What have you been up to? Do you have any tattoos?

friday's letters

Dear Apple, Thank you for making my birthday so wonderful! We weren't able to be together for birthdays last year and we won't be able to be together next year, so I love that this year we got to really cherish each other! Dear Rain, You have no clue how happy you make me! I am so thankful for rain! I jumped in puddles of you and danced around as you fell from the sky today and it was glorious! Dear Readers, I'm not sure how many you are, but thank you so much for stopping by and leaving nice comments, you sure know how to make a girl feel happy! Dear Weekend, Let's do this! Dear Dresser, I can't wait until you are done and in your new home! Dear Dishes, Just stop already ok! Dear Favorite Husband, Thank you for encouraging me in this new endeavor of mine. I love you more and more each day!!!

august goals

August!? WHAT!???? So I'm sure I've said this every month, but this year is just flying by!

First of all... it's my birthday month yo!! I'm going to be 29 on the 5th... which is basically 30 which means I'm almost 60....

July was busy and came with a semi-unexpected, but good thing... Like you may have read, I got a job. I wasn't the most keen on getting one at first, but as it became a reality I started to get more excited for it. I work at Michael's as a support specialist and I really enjoy it!!! Because I got the job some of my goals didn't quite get accomplished, but that's ok! Here is what I got accomplished:

July Goals

-Finish a few crafts I began this week - to be honest, I can't remember what crafts I was supposed to finish... I don't think I finished them though :/

-Celebrate the 4th of July!! - yes! We didn't do anything big, but we did cook out!

-Begin my 28 day kick start challenge (fit girls guide) (I made an instagram account for this if you want to follow along!) - Yes! I just finished and will be starting round 2!

-Help my mother-in-love move - I'm sad she's gone, but all the moving was a good little workout booster!

-Get my water in daily - I have been doing really good at getting my water in! Thankfully!

-5-6 days of exercise - It wasn't 5-6 days every week  - because of the job and doctor's appointments and other things, but I got at least 4-5 days every every week.

-5 days of cello practice - sadly I haven't gotten to practice much... I miss it! 

-Go on a hike! - no hikes :(

-Finish organizing my computer - It's almost all organized, but not completed yet.

August Goals

-Celebrate my birthday :) yay!

-Start round 2 of the fit girls challenge (you can follow me here if you want!)

-Go to the doctor's (I've needed to make doctor's appointments for a few years and I finally made the appointments in July - but the last one didn't have an opening until the middle of this month)

-Work on the dresser (I'll blog the process when it's done)

-Work on our gallery wall - I have some frames I need to order prints for and get hung up

How are you doing with goals? Did you set any this month? Share them below!

what's up wednesday

This was the view from my backyard in the beginning of the month as I was stretching outside.


What's up!? It's Wendesday and here is what's going on around here!

What we're drinking this week:

Water, water and more water... I LOVE cold water... and by cold I mean I want to see an iceberg floating in my water bottle... I have been trying to stay away from soda and juices for a while and while I've had a few glasses of crystal ice, I've been really loving all this water! Also this water bottle! It's my favorite! Contigo makes awesome bottles, and this is my favorite of theirs!

What I'm reminiscing about:

NYC. We saw something about the city this week and it made us miss it so bad! I used to live in NY when I was younger and I fell in love with NY. I wanted to take Derek so we went there in 2007 and he fell in love too! The next year in August, I half jokingly suggested we go for Thanksgiving and he agreed! I was so excited! He proposed to me on that trip, the day after Thanksgiving in Central Park. This picture is from the day he proposed (before he actually popped the question). We are on the top of the Belvedere Castle in Central Park. Please take me back!! 

What I'm loving:

These sisters. You guys!!! I just can't tell you how much I love these little furries! They don't cuddle often, but when they do it's enough to make your eyes pop with cuteness! Just look!! Tell me you aren't in love! 

What we've been up to:

So I got a job. I'm a working girl now. I mean I was a working girl before, but now I work for someone... I work at Michaels and I love it! Part of my duties are to go around and put out clearance labels, so as I go around the store finding the products that are being marked down, I take pictures of all the things I want to buy and crafts I want to do! Here are some soap making molds - to the left is candle making stuff ... both of which I want to try! 

What I'm dreading:

A certain doctor's appointment I have later this month... we are having some blood work done and it's not a secret that I don't like needles, so I'm not thrilled about it... 

What I'm working on:

This dresser. I have been looking for a dresser to use as a TV stand in our living room for forever. I found the perfect one when we were living in GA it was white and beautiful and only $25!! Y'all I overpaid... that thing is a mess! I super tried to see if I could make it work, but it's so messed up, I'd have to rebuild the whole thing... so I continued to look and I finally found one!! So I'm working on getting the varnish stripped and making it nice and pretty so it's ready for the living room! I can't wait!

What I'm excited about:

I'm so excited to go to David's Bridal to find my maid of honor dress for my sweet Karlie's wedding! She lives in Texas with her southern gent, and I miss her so much! I wish she could go with me, but I know she will be there in heart! Her wedding is in October and I'm going to ball like a baby!! 

What I'm watching:

The Biggest Loser. I love that show! It pumps me up and gets me excited!!! If I'm doing my workout at home, I will put on the biggest loser and work out with them! 

What I'm listening to:

I have a playlist that is set to random and it goes on anytime I go in the car, shower, chores, or out for a walk. So I've been listening to whatever my phone plays.

What I'm wearing:

This second I'm wearing workout clothes (I actually worked out too!) but lately I've been wearing jeans and tshirts because that's the work wear!



What I'm doing this weekend:

Working and working out, and working on the dresser! Derek also has to work this weekend - BOO!



What I'm looking forward to next month:

My birthday!!! :)

I'm linking up with Mel & Shay