What I Have Learned After 20 Years of Marriage

Today I am spending the day with the love of my life, in one of my favorite places - the beach!! We are celebrating 20 years of marital bliss!! If you follow me on instagram, you know he surprised me with a trip to my happy place!  :) 

Even as I typed the title of the post, I had to pause at that number.  How could 20 years possibly gone by??  It seems like we met yesterday, and even then I knew we would be here, together, now.  

What have I learned about marriage after 20 years?  I have learned that I still have so much to learn.  Monumental right?  

I have spent the last 20 years getting to know my hubby, and still I know that I can go deeper and I want to know more. How is that possible, you might say.  People have so many layers to who they are.  If can take a lifetime to peel back each layer.  As you peel you discover more and more.  In my experience I have discovered more and more that I love!!

Marriage is a journey, and at the end of this life we will have lots of stories to tell.

Is it hard work - sometimes, yes.

Is it worth it - every second.

Maybe you are at the beginning of your married journey, or maybe you have been walking together a long time.  Either way I say, keep the faith.  Hold hands often.  Look into each others eyes - into the soul.  Say "I love you", and never stay angry.  

A sweet friend of mine shared her story and her grandparents story this last week, and I so enjoyed reading, and seeing, the sweetness of both.  Please go check them out - you will be encouraged for sure!!  

Now - back to the beach we go to soak in more sea-salt air. AAAhhh.

Yes, it's our anniversary vacation and yes we are at a Starbuck's so I could finish editing this post, since we have no wifi at our condo.  That's how much my hubby loves me.  :)  If you care to follow along on our fun in happy you can join me on instagram!!  See you in a few days bloggy buddies!!

Finishing Touches

Today I want to share with you the finishing touches to our master bedroom update. The last little bit of things that helped bring the room to completion.  Oddly, all of them include paint! :)  

First up are the night-stands.  Our bedroom is a hodge-podge of free items, given to us by friends and family, and a few few purchased pieces.  Of course, aside from the king size bed - none of those pieces were actually purchased for this room :).  The night-stands are no exception.  I had considered replacing them, but the budget did not allow it at this time.  So I decided to do the next best thing - paint.  

The piece on the top left had seen better days, and much of the finish was coming off on top, so it got a good sanding.  The other piece just got a good cleaning, and then both pieces got a couple of coats of primer.  Then I used paint leftover from our kitchen cabinets.  I just love the color - and it was free.

What a difference huh??  If you are paralyzed to pull out the brush and paint something, please go read Ashley's wise words about going for it!!

Next up was the "G" collage.  I started with several wood and some chipboard letters that I purchased at Hobby Lobby.  A little paint, and another sheet of polka-dot scrapbook paper.  

Most of them just got a solid coat of paint.  The large "G" got treated with silver and gold stripes, and the other large "G" got the polka-dot treatment.  All the letters got a little rub-n-buff love around the edges of the letter.

Lastly was the artwork surrounding the bed.  I had seen lots of cute ideas around the web with sayings or song lyrics.  I had in my head at first to do something over the bed only, but when I put the headboard up I realized there wasn't much room.  I also realized after painting the wall navy that there was quite a bit of space on the sides that I wanted to fill.  So, I brainstormed for a long time.  Trying to think of a low-cost option. Finally, I decided to try my hand at some 'abstract' artwork.  Yikes!!

This is what it looked like after the first round of painting.

Colorful and definitely abstract.  But, I knew I wanted to paint words over the 'art' and I thought this would be too busy.  So, now worries.  I took out some white paint and added a little bit of water to the paint to thin it out a little and then just brushed it on over this lightly, in one direction and then in the other.  This was the result.

Perfect!!  I could still see the pattern, but it was not as overwhelming.  Then, I drew pencil lines to indicate the boundaries of each line of print, and went to work with my gold paint.  Yes, this part was a little nerve wracking, but I just took a deep breath and went for it.  Knowing that if I hated it, I could always paint over it all and start again!! Lucky for me I loved it :).

If you not familiar with the saying - it's lyrics from a song sung by Randy Travis.  One of our favorites.  I'm not gonna say that hubby might have teared up a little when he saw this.  :)

Thanks for sharing in this makeover, it was challenging, but a blast all at the same time. It felt so good to just be doing something in this room that had been neglected for sooo long!! 

A little bonus for your listening pleasure :).

Linking up at Inspiration Monday Party / Monday Funday / Inspire Me Monday / Tutorials & Tips Link Party / Take-A-Look Tuesday / Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Summer Time!! {Family Friday}

Yay!!  Last day of school!!  (ya, i'm pretty sure i was just as excited on the first day of school, but whatevs)

So, what does summer mean to you??  For us, now that we have older kids, it means the end of routine and the beginning of crazy, all-over-the-place-camp-chaos!!  I am so thankful that our church provides so many wonderful opportunities for our kids to get away and spend time growing closer to God and building important bonds with good friends.  You can read more of my thoughts on the goodness of camp here.

So, our kids' summer calendar is all planned out and there will be plenty of packing, unpacking, laundry, and sunscreen.  And, in between there will be plenty of backyard pool time, and chill time.  These are my favorite things about summer.  Although I thrive in schedules, I really would prefer the schedule to start around 11am rather than 6am. Ha!!  

So, what are your plans for the summer?? Add collage gear shopping to our list and our summer is complete.  :)

Happy weekend friends!!  And yippie for summer!!  (sorry...I couldn't resist!)