this precious life.

Okay, so we know that Pantone is ALL about color. It's rather the reason they exist in the first place! haha But did you know there is a Pantone HOTEL ?!!! In Brussels, Belgium! Talk about major color love!  super cute mugs!  the bikes are my favorite thing about this!  {all images via Pantone Hotel | see more here }

It's been a bit slow on the blog here lately, eh?!  Well it sure hasn't been in real life, let me tell you!! But I'm enjoying every minute of it. I love being busy:) Here's a roundup of January's projects... simple tutorials or links to tutorials should go along with each. And if you're needing fresh ideas, head over to the newly revamped  Inspiration page for links to some of my favorite blogs & websites! Shirt Alteration This before picture doesn't do justice to the shirt-- it was *very* stretched out from side to side. Cutting it down to size was super simple.  Turn the shirt inside out and lay flat. Choose a shirt that fits you well and lay it on top of the other shirt. Pin the shirt you're altering so you know where to sew. {Leave a little extra room for working with the armpits.} Sew up the sides & try on for fit. Check to see if/how the armpits need altered. Pin armpits & sew. {It helps to put the shirt on inside out to...

One of the things I find myself doing in almost every outfit this winter is mixing base colors. Most of the time it isn't as obvious as the combo I'm showing here, nor is it typically the focal point of my outfit.  But a little brown leather belt with a navy skirt or grey tights with brown shoes is fun & goes a long way!  Black & brown. Brown & Navy. Gray & Navy. Brown & Gray. Just a few combos. {Combining navy & black is *the trickiest* to balance, so play around with it a bunch before you walk down the street looking -as my Daddy would say- like a bruise;)} Wearing these base colors together used to be a HUGE no-no & major fashion faux-paux but fortunately for us, it's quite workable these days!! A few things to keep in mind: Make it look intentional -- this is *key* for these combos to work!  Watch when mixing more than one shade of a base color with another. {ex., brown on brown on navy, grey on grey on brown-- there are ...

As I was talking with Eleanna today {our phone calls have become really frequent in the last 10 days-- always questions to ask or thoughts to share about our upcoming travels!} she reminded me about Katie Davis and how she is in Uganda!! I've heard & read about Katie many times --she graduated in 2007 from the high school 5 minutes down the road from my house in TN-- but I had completely forgotten that she serves in Uganda! Eleanna recommended that I pick up a copy of her book to read but in the meantime, I googled her blog {Kisses from Katie} and started reading her posts again. How overwhelming!! In a *good* way though!!  Stories of God's overwhelming grace, overwhelming love, overwhelming goodness, overwhelming protection & provision. Beautiful. This paragraph stopped me cold & practically shouted at me from the screen of my laptop... because it's *exactly* how I've felt in the last 10 days. "The last few weeks have been so full of God’s b...

I just discovered the blog Mr. & Mrs. Glob Trot    aaaaaaaand it's marvelous!! {I'm having to *fight* to get anything done now! All I want to do is peruse through the gorgeous images!!} Yuriy & Julie left 3 days after their wedding in September 2010 to travel the world for 6 months-- and then blogged it all! Wow!! Would I love to do that!! It's getting me ever so excited to capture the world around me as I travel soon!!! You can also find Yuriy & Julie's shop full of gifts for travelers here and their photography business Manchik Photography here . {side note: I've been trying to gauge how much 50# of luggage is! I can make a tiny suitcase weigh a ton... let's hope I can make a large suitcase weigh less than 50#!}

A few years ago when Ellyn and I met in the middle of our very different styles and completely decorated our room red black and white people gave me many red or black albums to store my photos. {please explain to me how it was "meeting in the middle" because it didn't hold ANY elements of either of our personal styles AT ALL!}  Since then, we've finally come to our senses and are in the midst of making our room a place full of things WE love. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave room for so many red & black albums. But you don't know me at all if you think I'd go out and buy new sets of albums just because of that. There has to be a cheaper solution for changing things up!! I want the albums to be on display to be perused and not tucked under my bed so for the past 6-9 months I've had an idea in the back of my mind to recover them with burlap. But I couldn't find any at our craft/fabric stores {which I seriously must be blind because now I ...

I think God's timing is absolutely everything. Ever since Jr. High I've had a desire to be apart of a short term missions trip. I've never felt called by God to be a missionary but I have always wanted to serve others around the world at some time or another. {Not to mention I adore traveling/want to be a world traveler!!} All throughout high school, opportunities for STM {short term missions} would arise but each time God would shut the doors... as if He was saying, "not now".  Sometimes His, "not now" seemed more like a "not ever" to me but that was when I was forgetting how Jesus works!! Jump forward to the second Thursday in January. I had spent the day making bread, working on projects, hanging out with sick ones & watching Foyle's War. Nothing super spectacular about the day... just quiet & enjoyable. Then I found a great deal for Skydiving and got super pumped about it! Especially after I purchased my ticket to go this s...

love this quote. "Nonetheless, nothing expresses respect for another like a handwritten letter, and no love e-mail, text message or cell phone call will ever be carefully bundled into a memory box and savored for years to come. In a world that thrives on acceleration, the handwritten letter calls us to a time more deliberate, elegant, and gracious." -Tom Barlow and this. "The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It's the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years."  ~ Audrey Hepburn oh and here are some more. "It's more interesting to have just a picture of a small detail- then you can dream all the rest around it. Because wh...

This song has grabbed my attention over and over. I *want* my heart to look like God's heart. Our New Year's Eve devotion was about wanting things and how God wants us to want things. To want things that He wants for us. And one of the things for me is that I want my heart to look like His so that it might show forth His love, forgiveness & compassion completely. so my biggest anthem & desire for 2012: "At the end of the day, I wanna hear people say That my heart looks like Your heart, my heart looks like Your heart Unashamed I will dance, In Your name, lift my hands ‘Til my heart looks like Your heart, my heart looks like Your heart"

I love year end review posts & recaps but I absolutely fail at putting my own together. This year was fabulous in it's own way. Challenges, new experiences, goals accomplished, dreams fulfilled... I wouldn't trade any of it. But looking forward-- I am SO pumped about 2012!!  I cannot WAIT to see what Jesus has in store. now, switching gears a bit. All Elaena wanted for Christmas was a baby doll. Kind of funny since we have many dolls around the house. But she wanted her own. I think she sometimes has a hard time being the youngest. Always being around people older than her... she'll say, "can you feed me? I want to be the baby". So when she opened her very own baby doll Christmas morning, it was the perfect thing. She didn't feel like "the baby" anymore. She had someone smaller than her to take care of now. Love this cutie!