A Pinteresting July

Onesie Frappes

I made these super cute oneseie frappes for Olivia's baby shower...they're made up of a onesie wrapped around a cloth diaper and two washcloths with a little sock on top for the cherry! SO CUTE!! Here was my pin inspiration. {I used scrapbook paper and a a scrapbooking flower to make the little coffee cozie around the outside, but someone at the shower asked if it was a headband. I liked that idea even better - next time I'm using a headband!}

Diaper Devos

I made THESE diaper devos for Olivia's other baby shower. Just bought a package of diapers and printed off a verse and devo thought borrowed from the Mom's Devotional Bible and put one devo/verse combo inside each diaper. She loved it! Here was my pin inspiration.

Cake Mix Cookie Bars

I didn't take a picture....WHAT???

I made a plate of these to take to a party right at the beginning of the month. Since it's not Christmas, I obviously didn't use the red and green theme...but I used regular M and Ms. I'd like to try this one again sometime using a different flavor of cake mix - just to see. Here was my pin inspiration.

Drive in Movie Nest

Ryan does not have a Pinterest account, nor does he check mine - but he completely nailed this pin inspiration for a drive in movie date nest. Pillows, blankets, pizza, popcorn, cookies, coke - even bug spray. It. Was. Perfect. You can read more about the date here if you want full inspiration/recap.

Red, White and You Printable

I used this pin inspiration to print off a little message for Ryan on the 4th of July. I put it on the hammock in our pirogi for him to find during our picnic! He loved it.

July Printable

And I used this pin inspiration to find a good solid July printable for my living room frame - which I also used as a decoration for our picnic!!. I love the burlap look!

Cheeseburger Kabob

This pin was my inspiration, but I ended up going a bit of a different route with it...used meatballs instead of lunch meat - and added cheese and bun pieces to each end - to make a cheeseburger kabob for our 4th of July picnic!

Pasta Salad

This pin was what inspired me to make pasta salad for our 4th of July picnic, and when I thought we were taking our picnic on the road, I planned to serve it in little jars like the pin shows. But we stayed home, so I used a regular old bowl and served it normally. :) I also made this healthier version from the Dashing Dish website.

Berry Dessert

I made this pin inspired dessert for our 4th of July picnic - except I used blackberries instead of blueberries. We like them better. I did serve them in small bowls {glass ones} until I ran out of them and then I put the rest in a loaf pan. SO YUMMY.

Sandy Shadow Box

I used this pin inspiration to make a picture frame featuring sand from the beach where we got married. I brought a bag of it back with me - and used one of our "beach weeds" pictures from our honeymoon to complete the project. If I had it to do over, I'd have made the picture the full size of the frame, but I still thought it turned out well!

Red Robin Petite Burgers

This pin I read told me about smaller burger options at Red Robin. Ryan and I both ordered a "petite" burger last time - which is really the same size as a regular burger anywhere else!

Church for Two

Ryan and I stayed at the lake through the entire weekend, which meant we were up there for Sunday morning and church time. Ryan suggested we might attend the boat-in service, which was very exciting to me, because I've never been to boat church before!

But by Sunday morning, we were exhausted - after a Saturday that began early with barefooting and ended with a seven hour trip to a parade for work. Being up, dressed, ready, and across the lake ready for church at 7:30 a.m. was daunting. So we decided to do our own church service for two down at the lake. And I'm not gonna lie to you - I think I felt more intimacy with the Lord in that experience than I might have trying to hear over a gaggle of boats.

We loaded up our coffee {of course} and our Bibles and drove over to a picnic shelter by the beach area of the lake. It was a lovely July morning, as you can see:

SERIOUSLY, INDIANA???? HOODIES IN JULY?????????

But I digress.

So we sat in the little shelter and talked at long, long length about the things that God has been putting on our hearts about His purpose for us as a couple and the future He has for us.

We read verses and I shared quotes I had run across last week, when God poured them in front of me, one after another.

Much like the rain that fell all around us that morning.

With the waterfront in our line of vision, we shared...prayed...read...dreamed together.

And God was so good and faithful and heard the cries of our hearts and the Scripture we claimed toward our future.

Church is many things. It's the assembling together of people to read, pray, sing, admonish, and encourage each other. It's a chance to be unified with other believers and learn together in a group.

But sometimes church is two souls huddling in hoodies underneath a picnic shelter gripping coffee cups and knowing that where two or three are gathered - He is there too.

Thankful for Sabbath rests.

Lake Livin' Is the Life for Us!

Most people have their "thing." The "thing" they grew up with and loved so much, they come back for more as an adult...and they introduce it to the next generation, hoping they'll love it just as much.

I have a bunch of friends who grew up in the church camp not far away and it's their "thing." They love going back to family camp every summer and taking their kids with them. I tried to fit into that scene a couple of summers, but I never found my place. I didn't have "remember that one time..." memories and just felt like an outsider.

But when I spent summers visiting the lake with my friends, the Smiths, I began to find my thing. They graciously extended the invitation for me to experience lake livin' - and they taught me important things, like time doesn't exist at the lake. You do what you want, when you want. You don't have to wear makeup or shower or do your hair if you don't feel like it. It's acceptable to sleep until 10 and need a nap at 2 and no one looks at you strangely.

It just so happens that Ryan's family grew up on the same lake, so I've now married into a lake lovin' family. And this past weekend, we had the chance to spend some hours at the lake with them.

The lake is where you enjoy things like sunset boat rides {sans the sunset for us because the sun opted out of making an appearance that day}.

And getting up early {early, early, EARLY} in the morning on a Saturday to be the wife of a water sports lover...who donned his wet suit while I downed the first travel mug of coffee.

And out onto the early morning waters we ventured...

And I waited through the spray of water to see him appear:

And he LOVED IT.

And when the water became too choppy, we came back to the cottage for warm breakfast and hot coffee and lazy sitting around in our jammies with his family talking about everything that popped into our minds.

And when we weren't gathered around the table with everyone, we were hanging out by the water's edge, enjoying what we've come to love about the lake...like...

...the boat floating at the end of the pier.

 ...the ducks swimming by...

 ...the skiers preparing for the ski show {which we had to miss because I had to work}...

 ...clouds and blue sky... {we mostly saw the clouds and had faith that the blue sky hid behind it}

 ...of course, the water itself...

 ...toes in sand....

 ...THIS handsome face...

 ...a quick boat ride for two love birds....

 ....this would be the other half of the love birds....

....and all the things the Smiths taught me to love. Things like naps and no schedule and lots of food, laughter, and fun together with family.

The lake is our thing. So hard to come home!!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, we enjoyed a great church service. Exceptional sermon, we felt. And we got to sit in the service with our neighbors...kind of a new thing for us to have people we know in the church we've been attending such a short time. And then in the afternoon, we alternated between resting and adding some new touches to the bathroom - like this medicine cabinet. {The old one still said "Sears and Roebuck" inside if that tells you how old it was.}

* Monday evening we continued the bathroom renovation palooza with the addition of this very cool cabinet. Storage is really at a premium in that room and it occurred to me that we could spring for cute and functional over just cute. So we found this cabinet which we THOUGHT would show up assembled. Whoopsie! So Ryan spent the evening assembling and I spent the evening painting, and the marriage of the paint and the cabinet proved a most pleasant combo. {Decorating not final.}

* Tuesday evening we did the same thing as Monday evening, so that's boring to re-read. Instead I'll tell you that we also celebrated national ice cream month with a treat. I tell you this because this right here was my act of love for the day. Ryan's favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. Mint of most kinds gives me a headache. So when I came home with mint chocolate chip ice cream AND ate some with him...he knew he was so loved.

* Wednesday night we took a night off from home improvement and headed to Wabash for dinner with my/our friends, John and Christi. Christi was one of my college roommates, and now she lives way too far away for my liking. She and her husband are visiting the area for a bit and I wanted to be sure to see her before she went back home! So we met up for dinner and had a great time chatting. {They'd met Ryan at our wedding but hadn't really gotten to know him.} Loved the memories we made!

* Thursday night we worked some more at home, but it was such a perfectly gorgeous night out that we had to take a walk at the end of the evening. Perfect end to a good day. And I was excited to see that my flowers are still going strong! {This is big for me. I usually kill plants.}

* I had to work this weekend, but we did manage to make a quick trip up to the lake Friday night to spend some time with Ryan's family. Such fun! We got to have dinner with them and enjoyed a night time lake ride with everyone.

* We spent the night at the lake, and before I had to go to work yesterday, Ryan got a chance to barefoot on the lake. He LOVES that. It as my first time to see him do it - and all I have to say is he has way more talent than I do!!! After that...we were off to the next parade!

The Saturday Six

One.

Source

KariAnne has done it again. A project that is so simple and so I Wanna Do That!!!! Cork on a desk. Brilliant.  Read here.

Two.

I love being out of college - largely because I'm not taking loans and I don't have to do homework unless I genuinely want to. But I miss the writing accountability and encouragement that my college classes offered. If you are a writer, check out this piece. It's kind of a small dose of college in a very abbreviated, free format.

Three.



As you might imagine, I hear a LOT of music every day of the week. :) Every now and then, I get a catchy fave that I really enjoy hearing. Current catchy fave is Plumb's One Drop. And I have to say - Plumb, I love it that I can understand every. single. word. you. ever. sing. Well done.

Four.

Source

Please tell me I am NOT the only person out there who was both frightened and driven to giggles by the town crier declaration of the new prince's birth. {Frightened from the look on his face as he yelled and driven to giggles by the whole look and sound of everything.} This is why I can't be royal. I'm prone to giggling at inappropriate times.

Five.

Source

I'm running out of wall space for cute wall art. Hey Ryan? Should we add on a wall just so I can decorate it? It needs to serve no other purpose. Okay seriously. This week I interviewed a guy from P. Graham Dunn, which is a home décor company. Check out their new wall art ideas. Puzzle pieces that interlock. You can get as many different ones as you like and make your own unique art. Shut. The. Front. Door. {And hang this stuff on the back of it.}

Six.

And because everyone needs a laugh...do check out the video of the day I learned to ride the rear wheel drive trike {at work}. My instructor? Jim Barron of the morning team. Those of you who listen to us will understand why this was a questionable choice of instructor. {HA!} He's also the videographer.

The Strange Things I Pause to Photograph

There's a distinct possibility my brain is fried. So I fear I come to you with NO deep thought today.

Several blogs I read do random post of the "photo dump." Sounds most unappealing, doesn't it? But reading one the other day made me a bit curious about what I've photographed on my phone...that is just flat out weird. So here you have it. The weird things photographed in Bekahland.

The tub of butter, before that first invasive swipe.

Oh come on. One of you out there has to love that as much as we do.

Our thoughts after sitting by a VERY unruly family in Red Robin during one of our dates. {Parents may have been worse than the kids.}

I shudder just remembering. We did actually kick our seats back in the car and sit in silence for a while after exiting the restaurant.

Braeya, helping to make the bed.

I use the term "helping" very loosely.

And speaking of Braeya, she got me a birthday card, too.

She just sort of never made it to the store to pay for it.

You NEVER know what you'll see on the interstate.

And sometimes you still don't know even after you've seen it.

Sometimes I send Ryan pictures to brighten his day.

My co-workers, no doubt, think I'm NUTS.

Funny signs you see in Hobby Lobby.

But refrain from purchasing. HA! :)

And that's that. A sampling of the "phone dump" madness. One day I will be deep again. {Wouldn't expect that in the next week.} {Just keepin' it real.}

We're Not Hardwood Folk

As you know, we've been working on our house. It started out as a project that we hoped would make the place more marketable next year sometime when we planned to put it back up for sale for our great move to Fort Wayne.

Buttttttttttttttttt...in the process of fixing up our little bit o Shafferland, we've kind of fallen in love with the thing. It has been most unexpected. And now we're in the great land of limbo. Will we stay here? Will we move? Bottom line: we have no clue. God hasn't revealed His plan yet...and that doesn't surprise us. He tends to reveal in the last moment...at least for us.

In the meantime, we're making changes to improve this home...for us. After all, this is our home. Whether or not it's our forever home, I have no idea. But for now, it's our home and we want it to reflect who we are and what we love.

The carpet in our main living areas {living room, dining room, hallway} was about 30 years old. I've talked about it a little bit already. Great quality...but dated. In fact, a few years ago, when I had new carpet put in on the stairway, the guy who came to install it walked in the door, stopped in his tracks and said, "WHOA. You need to get rid of this Grandma carpet." My feathers ruffled just a bit. It was my Grandma's carpet, thankyouverymuch.

But he was right. The carpet was old and just...done. So as part of our renovations, Ryan and I decided to get new carpet. Nothing fancy. Nothing elaborate. Just newer. {And by newer...I mean just flat out NEW.}

So we went to the store, picked it out, ordered it, and then came home to rip up the carpet that was there. One room at a time. We started in the dining room. Ryan sliced the Grandma carpet with his little knife and peeled it back.

Hardwoods.

We looked at each other with somewhat of a sick expression. I mean, hello!!! We watch HGTV!!! We know the value of hardwoods. And while I had an inkling that hardwoods were under that carpet, I had NO inkling they'd be in such great shape. They needed cleaned off and that was about it. No stains. No sanding. Just great hardwoods.

Ryan voiced what I wouldn't dare. "Did we make a mistake? Should we not have ordered the carpet?"

I spoke up with what I hoped would be our saving grace. "Well, I think when we get over closer to the living room, we'll find a hole in the floor where a furnace used to be. I've heard people talk about it."

Found it!!

We decided we'd live with the hardwoods for a couple of weeks and see how we felt about them...and if we needed to cancel our carpet order and just eat the cost, we would.

About two days in, I made a declaration.

I marched up to Ryan and said, "I hate hardwoods." Then I gasped and covered my mouth as though I'd just said the unpardonable...

He laughed and said he didn't really care for them either - at least in the main living area.

The house feels cold. Not temperature cold, but just hoity toity cold. Impersonal. Echo-y.

Not. A. Fan.

And then there's the issue of putting down a blanket every time I have to do my ab work.

And the coffee cup that we won't talk about that got shattered into a billion pieces when it took a tumble from the coffee table last week and hit that hardwood.

We have stopped short of making a paper chain to count down to carpet installation day.

But every single day, we declare how many days remain until we have that fabulous new carpet oozing around our toes. {Our bare toes which don't see much floor time right now because hardwoods don't feel good to us.}

I say all of this to say...this decision of ours has been most unpopular. People gasp as though we've committed a crime when we tell them we're covering our hardwoods with carpet.

And I say this. We know. We know hardwoods sell houses. We know we could cover the hole with a rug. We know this is a treasure.

But bottom line? We hate hardwoods.

We want to lay on the floor and watch a movie without putting down an air mattress to protect us from the hard floor. I want to work out without a blanket. I want to drop something without breaking it. {And we're both a bit on the klutzy side, so this is a distinct probability.} I want the house to smell new and not echo and to be warm again.

We're not hardwood folk. We're carpet people.

We're so glad we've had this month with our hardwoods. We're glad we know without a single question that we made the right decision for us. Because, after all, this is our home.

And if we sell? We'll leave a nice note letting the fine buyers know there's a treasure under there.

But for now, we are unashamed carpet lovers...counting down the days until our house is back to normal.

Whatever that is.