Owl Always Love You

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Today's post is all about one of my favorite animals, the wise o'l owl!

Please enjoy the following owl madness.

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Happy Birthday Mike!!!!

Happy Birthday Mike!

I really really really wish that I could spend ALL of today with you and celebrate but we'll be together soon I promise...

I want you to know that I love you more than I ever thought I could love another person. Random smiles splash across my face when I think of you during my day. It can be while I'm pulling into work, or while finishing up washing the toddler's sippy cups. The thought of you warms me and provides a boost of energy every time. 

People thought I was crazy when I fell for you but now they see that you're the perfect fit for me. You really are my other half and I'm happiest when you're standing next to me. I look very much forward to marrying you!!!

I miss your fingers wrapped around mine, and I miss seeing that twinkle you get in your gorgeous eyes moments before cracking a joke. 

I can't wait to see you again.

Happy Birthday to my sweet love!

P.S.

Wanna see what I got my Dr.Who fan?

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Old Books Centerpiece

I love old books.

I love walking to old bookshops and being overwhelmed with the smell of old books. 

Recently, a friend of mine gave me about 100 of her used books. I was thrilled!

Not only could I get some good reads out of the pile but also had pages and pages to use for crafts!

So I made this vintage/antique store centerpiece a few Sundays ago. The bunny and doilies are my mothers so I'll have to buy some of my own once I move out. The mason jar is from my collection of wedding centerpieces.

I tore the cover off of two of the books and gave them an older/antique look by staining the pages with coffee. I bent the binding a little and scrapped away at some of the pages with a pair of scissors. I was really rough with the poor things and even set them outside, sitting wide open, to dry in the sun.

I really love how old the books looked when I was done abusing them. I tied the little one with twine and added a paper doily just because I have so many sitting around.

What do you think I should make with the other books I have laying around?

Showing Off My Crocheted Bowl

Good Monday morning!

Today is a special day because its the last Monday I will be working at my daycare in Canada. This is my last week of work before I get married, move, and start my new teaching job in Vermont.

I'm very anxious, excited, and nervous all at the same time. 

I've always said that crocheting calms me down, so here's a little show off I made a few Saturday's ago. If you follow me on Pintrest, you've already gotten a glance at this bowl.

I made this cutsey little guy out of a t-shirt I scored in a free box at college. 

Sometimes I would grab a big o'l tote bag and go dorm hopping looking for free boxes. Sometimes I walked away with some really neat stuff and other times all I got was a work-out. 

Sigh...so many stairs!

This bowl took me a little over an hour to make and gave me a nice little handcramp along the way. 

It was totally worth the pain...don't ya think?

The plan is to display my bowl on my teacher's desk next to my owl candy jar. 

(they'll make the perfect couple!)

I can drop in my keys and cell phone in the morning before the little munchkins swam the place. I can't wait to give up the excavation process currently required to find these life or death items in my giant purse. 

How am I doing

Hey Guys,

So I just wanted to give another little snapshot into my heart today about Dad's cancer.

He's cut off all of his hair since it started falling out with the treatments. He's gone to doctor visits with Mom all of the time and Mom had turned into a pretty good nurse.

You should see the box of pills and things she has Dad tightly schedule on. She's also gotten pretty good at giving him those injections. Personally, I hate needles and leave the room the moment that thing makes it's grand entrance. 

So how am I dealing with this. I obviously can't ignore the fact that my dad has cancer anymore. He's bald for one thing, and second...he's in bed a lot thanks to the treatments. To be totally honest, I can't look at him sometimes. I'm trying to trust God...but it's really hard sometimes. 

I love my Dad. I don't want to see him like this. I don't want to see my mom like this. Sometimes I just have to look away, or lock myself in my room.

I throw myself into wedding plans, teaching activities, or pintrest. Sometimes I just need to break away from the real world and not have to think about the pain.

I know I should be praying more than I am...but that also forces me to think about the cancer that's trying to kill my daddy.

I can almost feel God's arms wrapped around me, trying to comfort me, but I think that my struggles to escape reality are also pulling me away from the comfort he's trying to give. 

I can't lie and say "Oh yeah, I'm doing fantastic! I'm actually on a spiritual high right now" because I'm not always doing "fantastic". 

Sometimes I'm screaming inside, sometimes I'm whimpering, and sometimes I'm just silently pushing it all away.

I'm so sorry I can't share happier news about what's going on in my heart. 

I guess I'm just trying to let things out before they take over, and desperately asking you to pray for my Dad, and to pray for me.

So Excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys I'm so excited!

Next month I get to marry my best friend!!!!!

Please excuse me as I run around my room screaming like a freak....

Honestly, some of my friends thought I was a little crazy when I feel head over heels for Mike. But now everyone see's what I saw about 5 years ago.

Yeah we're total opposites at times, and our personalities don't match but it's basically a perfect fit. We balance each other out and he just makes me so terribly happy.

He makes me laugh and gives me that tingly little feeling in my stomach when he smiles. He's honest, loyal, and so selfless. 

It's crazy how many times out paths crossed in the past and we never really got the chance to even say "hello". We've always seemed to be that person the background somewhere catching each other's eye just for a second. 

Mike, I'm so lucky to have meet you and fallen in love with you. You're absolutely perfect for me and I know our friendship will grow every day we're together.

Wedding Nightmares

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Good Monday to you,

I've thought about writing this post for quite a while now, and finally got my fingers typing. 

I'm not sure if every bride goes through this during the months of wedding planning, but I've been having wedding nightmares. They started off once every two weeks or so, but now I get them every night.

I've never dreamed my wedding without some sort of disaster. I'm not talking "Oh the flowers aren't just right", I'm talking "Where's the groom?" "You can't fit in your wedding dress, just wear this black one." or even "Grandpa just had a heart attack before you walked down the aisle." 

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Yes, I've had so many horrible dreams about my dress. Most of the time I'm too fat to fit and end up getting married in my blue jeans or even a black dress. Sometimes something even gets spilled on it the second before I walk. 

Sometimes my dress fits fine, but my hair has suddenly all fallen out! Once, I even had my hair up in a pony tail and the elastic broke. I asked for help from my Mom to fix my hair and she said "Oh no, you're fine" and I had to walk with that ugly bump you get in your hair after wearing a pony tail all day.

Other times I dream about makeup going wrong. My hands suddenly lose all coordination and I smear powder, lipstick, and mascara ALL over my face. Of course everyone else is too busy talking to hear me ask for help and I always end up in a panic sitting in front of the mirror. 

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Sometimes my nightmares give me the false sense of security.

I get ready, my dress fits, my hair looks great, I even make it down the aisle without anyone in the church having a heart attack. Then I see the back of Mike's head and think to myself "That's not quite right", and he turns around.

It's not Mike!

Other nightmares have me driving around frantically trying to buy flowers, finish making the favors, and find the church all at once. Of course all this happens on the day of the wedding, hours from the "I do's". Talk about high stress levels...

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The majority of these nightmares leave me feeling tottally overwhelmed. 

The decorations aren't finished, the food still has to be cooked, and the guests have not where to sit because the chairs haven't been set up yet. 

I almost always find myself frantically running around trying desperately to finish everything while all of my friends and family stand around and watch me. 

I never get any help from anyone in my dream and I wake up freaking out thinking its the day after.

All I can do is take a deep breath, tell myself it was all in my head, and I've still got time to get everything ready. It's not the morning of the wedding, there's no need to panic.....yet....