project life + FAQ.

i am proud to say that i'm all caught up on my project life. even through THIS week. 

woohooo. 

although - right now, i'm just going to share ONE week with you.

this was the week that began with us WINNING THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP.

yay!!!

so that made up a lot of the first page. different thoughts & memorabilia. 

plus that extra fun picture from the wedding. 

and b & nana's new thing of walking to the post office & mailing letters.

they mailed this letter on tuesday & we got it wednesday.

the front page of the newspaper the morning after the big win.

{there was SO much stuff i could have saved from the mav's win. i had to choose - since i didn't want the memorabilia to take over in this case.}

i didn't have anything for the back. 

so i just took a big sheet of blue paper & made stars with my FAVE players. 

just a little something to make it look thought-out & 'finished'.

my little muffin - charlotte. 

i actually didn't take any pictures this week. 

so - like i said before about NO RULES - i slid them in here. 

the only pics from this week were on my iPhone. the flowers & the one of me in the lake.

i must tell you that the iPhone pics turn out really well. seriously. so don't be afraid to develop pics from your phone! at least try them and see. 

okay - here are some FAQ's .

Q: what supplies do i need to get started?

A: project life is a product created by becky higgins. it is set up in a week by week format - but does not have to be used that way. i ended up getting the project life kit that is no longer available. next year's kit {from what i have read} will be available in november or december. so be on the lookout.  in the meantime all you need is a three-ring binder 12x12 scrapbook {found at target/walmart/joann/hobby lobby, etc.}, some becky higgins divided pages, becky higgins journaling cards, and perhaps some solid color cardstock if you want to cut your own journal cards. i also would suggest getting these twin-tip sharpie markers. i LOVE these and whenever i hand write, i use a combination of the thick end & thin end and it's handy to have them on the same marker.

Q: i'm not crafty/a scrapbooker/creative. can i do it?

A: absolutely. honestly, it's as easy as printing your pictures, dropping them in the pockets & writing down a few thoughts for the week. you can really simplify the process when you're swamped with other stuff & you can elaborate the process when you feel so inspired. i love looking at ali edwards's stuff. but it can overwhelm you if you compare too much. i would also suggest reading becky higgins's blog.

Q: do you constantly have pictures being developed? 

A: nope! i get my pictures developed at wolf camera. they have 3.5x5 pics on sale for six cents on tuesday & wednesday. so, typically, i will load my pictures monday, edit tuesday & upload/order wednesday. if i miss that window, i wait until the next week. this does not mean i get 'behind' though. because i will generally fill in with scraps/trinkets & notes before i forget. 

Q: do you take pictures everyday? 

A: no way! sometimes i will go on a good streak of keeping my camera at arm's length a few days in a row. but most often, it has to be intentional for me to take my camera with me. if we're going somewhere and i don't have my camera, i either snap a pic with my iPhone or keep a receipt/packaging etc. and sometimes i don't do anything at all! believe it or not, i don't document everything. i try & get a good balance of the good & the bad so i can remember it ALL when i look back, but days will go by when i don't even remember where the time went. {yesterday was an example}. 

Q: i don't have kids, do you think i could still do it?

A: please, pretty please, do it! i wish i had this format to document our life before kids!!!! i can't remember what it was like! so please do it! if you still don't feel like you can fill it out week to week, just do it on a month to month basis. just make it work! it will!!

okay - enough writing for today!!!!!

let me know if you have any other questions - i'll do my best to answer them. but i'm no expert. it's just a new found love of mine!!!

happy thursday.

bag makeover.

it is no secret that i love these bags.

i've even gushed about them on this blog.

i think they. are. fabulous. 

they are the perfect diaper bag.

pockets for bottles, sippy cups, rattles, diapers, etc. etc.

they're canvas so they are super durable {and even though it says not to, i've stuck mine in the washer and let it air dry}.

i love them.

so.... when i saw this, i knew that my already-so-cute bags needed a little makeover to put them over the top. 

what do you think?

and you want to know the best thing? 

it's 98% new sew. 

for my first one {an old bag of brady's that i don't use anymore} i made a ruffle - and i did sew to make the ruffle. 

but the flowers i made were all scissors and hot glue.

and i just discovered button cover kits. so - instead of burning the ends of my fingers until i say words that are not appropriate, i can use this! i found them at joann for $2 and they are EASY PEASY.

was your monday happy? 

mine was. i hung out with a new old friend and her little muffin. 

love. her.

see you tomorrow!

how does your garden grow?

why is it that on the days that i have prayed specifically for patience in the morning {before the day even gets going} i am tested beyond my wildest nightmares dreams?

that's how this friday is going so far. 

one thing right after another. it's almost laughable. almost, but i'm not. quite. laughing.

but these pictures i took yesterday from my beds make me HAPPY.

can you believe that god has such an imagination? i love watching flowers {and strawberries... and whatever else...} grow from a bulb to a bud to a bloom.... sometimes i think the way that my brain works {the creative way} is 'good-for-nothing'. but then i see this and think that our loving father is the creator of all imagination and beauty. how could he ever have dreamed this up? flowers that are all different. all unique. every last one.

and flowers that turn into fruit. or vegetables... or herbs. 

i mean, how can i think that creativity is good-for-nothing??

love.

have a happy weekend! hopefully your kids are behaving {if applicable}.

excuse me while i go wrangle the supposed-to-be-napping 3 year old that i hear above me jumping on his bed.

away.

that's where we've been.

away.

and it was nice. so nice, in fact, that i really didn't even want to come back.

to reality.

oh yes, i'm a bad mommy, i know. not wanting to come back.

i did want to come back and get some really good cuddle time in as well as a few kisses... but then i wanted to go back.

i guess being a grandparent IS all that it's cracked up to be? right?

anyway.

back to being away.

a few weeks ago... the hubbs came home & told me that he was taking me outta here. what? for no reason? yup. {well, kinda...}

first up?

a pit stop in marble falls.

a cool, little town.

we stayed at the holiday inn express. 

it was truly the nicest holiday inn i've ever stayed at. seriously. if you have to make a pit stop... stop here. it was clean AND pretty. {and it smelled great}.

oh yeah - and we woke up saturday morning with this view of the hill country.

ahhhh..... doesn't it just make you feel good?

yup.

friday night we ate late-night-style at the chili's in town. chips & queso. yum. and it was 11:00 p.m. when we got there. but there were no littles! so we could. and we did.

and it was awesome.

saturday morning we ate breakfast here.

yumm.y.

so good. it was one of those places that you seriously think about having a piece of pie for dessert. at 10 in the morning. wow.

then we took off for our next destination.

not before stopping in a few little towns to go antiquing. and take pictures.

{can you guess why we had to take this picture? ha. the hubbs & his love for past presidents.}

we made it to fredericksburg around noon.

we ate lunch.

we checked in to our b&b {thanks for the recommendation, dave}.

it was beautiful.

& secluded.

with a hammock in the back yard.

ahhh.mazing.

just what the doctor ordered. no spit up or diaper genies within a 100 mile radius.

after a few {okay, several} miscelaneous purchases, we ate dinner. on a patio. listening to music.

there was music everywhere. & patios everywhere. yaya.

have you ever seen a chicken fried steak this big? i didn't think so.

THEN... for the grand finale on saturday night, we went here.

and really, it deserves it's own post. but i didn't take my camera in. because i was too busy two-steppin' with my hubby. and listening to rosie flores.  who is awesome. and is older than our parents.

so.much.fun.

i took a video. but you can't see much.

we were in a different world.

first of all, there's nothing in luckenbach. just the dance hall. you'd miss it if you weren't looking for it.

we walked up around 9. there were 5 or 6 men who were probably days away from the end, no joke as old as our grandparents just having a jam session. on picnic tables. with a banjo, a harmonica & a fiddle. seriously. i felt like i was in a scene from a movie. {like crazy heart or true grit - but i've never seen either of those so i can't really say}. it was awesome.

then it was 10. and the real band started to play in the dance hall. and everyone just sorta got up and went inside. and put their drinks down and started dancing.

and not like swing-dancing-at-the-prom dancing. or i-think-i-know-how-to-do-this dancing. like, really, really dancing. these people were serious. and they didn't ever sit down. just took a break to take a sip of their beer and then go back to dancing. all ages. younger than us all the way up to WAY older than us. it was awesome.

and my hubby wasn't half bad either. i've been begging him for YEARS to take me dancing. {we went when were dating to PR's in ft. worth & he thought way less of it than i did}. we stayed for two hours. until the band took a break. i was just learning how to let him lead we were just getting the hang of it. but we.were.pooped. man, that dancing will wear you out.

so we headed home.

and slept on the most.comfortable.bed.ever. seriously. jeff told me to call and find out what kind of sheets and mattress pad they had. it was that comfy.

wow. i wrote  a lot.

more tomorrow. {or saturday, whenever i can weed my way through my laundry & dirty dishes....}

nighty night.

we did it.

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, my running buddies and I met up to drive downtown with our hubbies for the Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon! {Of course, it was also the first day of Daylight Savings Time, so we lost even another hour of sleep!} The story goes a little like this:




On the Thursday before the race, I started feeling a little 'tickle' in my chest. My first thought was, "oh no - I'm coming down with something" so I loaded up on all the medication I could find to kick it before it even started. Well - it didn't happen. I DID come down with a nasty chest cold.... in a matter of 24 hours. I told the Hubbs that I would walk the entire thing if I had to... I had not come this far to quit - no matter what the circumstances.


So - on Saturday, amidst my terrible cough, Julie, Joanna and I trucked it downtown to the Convention Center to pick up our race packets - and experience what is known as the "Fitness Expo". Wow.... what an experience!! So many people... so many free samples! We kept looking at each other and saying, "are we really here? are we really going to do this?" I do have to say that throughout our training, we each thought that there would come a point where we'd give up. BUT WE DIDN'T! The point here is that if we can do it, ANYONE can do it. We're not exaggerating when we say that!


After the expo, we met up with our hubbies and Kaytie and Josh {Kaytie was also running in the race - just a bit ahead of us :) } for a yummy pasta dinner at Maggiano's. Yum Yum. We met at 5:30 and we all had the goal of being in bed by 8:30. NONE of us slept well though {including my hubby} because we were concerned that the time change wouldn't kick in on our alarms and we'd miss the race!!! Wouldn't that be awful?




Sunday finally arrived. It was pitch black when we left the house... bagel, banana and coffee in my hand, we headed to meet Joanna and Julie. The Husbands dropped us off at the starting point around 7, I took a swig of my cough syrup and we headed into McDonalds for one last potty stop. {We weren't about to go in a port-a-potty when there was a perfectly 'sanitary' and warm potty to go to}. Turns out we weren't the only ones with that idea! We waited 35 minutes for the potty. In line, we met some other girls that were running for the first time too. They kept asking "are we crazy to think we can do this?" We could only laugh - because we were thinking the same thing!!


8:00 rolls around... the first wave starts. We slowly, I repeat SLOWLY, move up to the start. I think we finally started around 8:25. The first two miles, my chest hurt pretty bad, then we saw my parents, they cheered loudly for us, and we pushed forward. It warmed up pretty quickly and the first time I even thought about feeling tired was around mile 7. I walked through a water stop, just a few steps so I could get some good water, and started running again... feeling much better. Then the next thing I know, we see our hubbies and a big purple sheet that had "RUN RUN RUN" spray painted on it, hanging from a truck bed on Mockingbird. What a pick-me-up!


The next wall I hit was around mile 10.... and it was really me thinking that I needed some water to cool down... and there wasn't another water station until mile 11.5! After I got my water, I felt great - and finished strong! We finished in 2 hours 31 minutes.... an 11:31 pace. {Although my watch told me it was 2 hours 29 minutes and an 11:27 pace - which I like to go with}.


I could NOT have done this without my running buddies.... or without the incredible support of The Hubbs. He encouraged me when I was sore or feeling overwhelmed by a 10 mile run on a Saturday morning. He's in for the next one, by the way. The atmosphere was so fun on this one... not that I have anything to compare it too! :)


Enjoy the pictures!

before the race. before the crack of dawn.

a sea of people. {we were always cheered for as 'team purple'}.

again - a sea of people on mockingbird.

13,000 people to be exact.

here we are when we first see the sheet.

again- laughing at the sheet.

{why am I so short? i don't look like a runner!}

with my hard-earned medal.

my sweet parents.

they met us three times throughout the course.

a much-needed distraction for all of us.