He has Risen!

Happy Easter! I have so enjoyed She Reads Truth this week as they guided us through the lead up to Jesus' death on the cross and then His resurrection. It really helped me see the despair and deep sadness of this day, as well as the beauty, love, and great gift that it is. I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to understand Easter on another level.

Jesus arose. He isn't in that tomb. He is alive and in heaven, and He wants you to join Him in heaven one day, too. Believe in what you can't see, have faith that He is your savior, open your heart and acknowledge there is an empty space crying out for Him. He loves you and He will hear you.

He paid the price for me. Nothing I could do would get me to heaven, but He gave me my way in.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Me. Sewing. Seriously!

Ya'll, I haven't sewn anything since home ec class in 8th grade. Or was it younger than that? Whatever, it's been over 20 years, easily. And I've never used an internet pattern.. But I have now.

One of the blogs I follow, Grits and Giggles, asked for testers for a pattern. So I let her know, if you need me, I'll be glad to try. Yay, she chose me to test one of her patterns! I've really been wanting to learn how to sew for Macy, so here was my chance!

I'll skip over the drama in the store where I planned to buy fabric and left ticked and empty-handed and instead show you the dress I made with lots of help from mom!

Get the pattern HERE on Etsy! You know you want it!

Welcome to the Lindsey Reverse Knot Dress by Grits and Giggles! The joy of this dress is how the straps feed through the button holes in the back, making it very adjustable! We made ours a bit on the large size for growing room, but she's good to wear it now thanks to the adjustable straps!



The straps make a cute bow in the back, which is stinkin' cute!



It really wasn't hard to make, and now that I've done one, I could do many quicker. And you can really make it look different! Check out some of the other testers here and you'll see what I mean!

So there is my first handmade Macy dress! If you are sewing machine savvy on a Kenmore, please let me know. I bought one at a yard sale with no book. :( Thanks ya'll!

Friday's Letter

Dear world, it's for the best if you'll just go ahead and admit this is the cutest baby girl you have ever seen. JUST ADMIT IT!

Dear coworker, it's kinda funny to hear you snoring ... but I also know you stay busy 20 hours out of 24, so it's ok, snore away.

Dear Pen Pal, thanks for the awesome REJOICE journal. It totally made my day to open my mailbox and have a present instead of a bill! ... or in addition to a bill? :)  THANK YOU!

Dear local produce stand fruit and veggie box, I'm so excited to be part of your program! I have prepaid for 7 weeks of homegrown goodies and so look forward to the program beginning!

Dear Pressed Clovers fans, look for a coupon code on my Facebook page on April Fool's Day! :) Woop woop! (hello gift ideas!!!)

Dear MJ, It was so good to catch up on the phone today. How can we be in the same county and still not have time for brunchy lunch? This summer. No excuses allowed. Brunchy lunch between friends.

Dear moon, well hello there!  I love it when you visit and it's daylight outside.  It's like a special little treat, just for me.  Yes, I know, it's the simple things that make me happy.

Ya'll, it's Easter this weekend.  And I love me some peeps and chocolate bunnies.  BUT, Easter is about MUCH MORE than peeps and chocolate bunnies.  So please reflect on Jesus, God's only child being sent to our imperfect world, living a sinless life, weeping and despairing at the thoughts of being separated from his Heavenly Father in order to pay for our sins.  And on the third day, he arose!  Up from the grave he arose!!! So thankful for this selfless act that gives me an opportunity to enter into heaven. Words cannot explain.

Sticking my nose up in the air...

As everyone is revealing their Cara Boxes this week, (here is mine, I think I revealed early?), I like to check out everyone else's and leave comments here and there.  When someone emailed me back and we started this chat, I realized - I am a snob.

Not your everyday run-of-the-mill snob. Like, I don't get snobby over your income, your clothes, if your toes are the right color, if you have a trendy car or a smashing haircut.  I truly do not care about any of that.

I'm a pen snob.  I want nice pens that write decent. Goooood pens. Smooth writing pens. I'm even happier when they are in a dark navy ink color. Not bright blue. Not black. But blue-black. Yeah, I'm picky. I'm a pen snob.

I have a feeling I'm not the only one. Who else out there is a snob about something?  FESS UP.

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I'm also confessing here my new love of DUCT TAPE!  Well, decorative duct tape.  Isn't this stuff awesome?

My niece needed her dance box decorated and I was at a loss at how to make it cute for her.  It's a big plastic tool box, how do you cute that up?  After buying $35+ worth of supplies at Wal-Mart, I ended up only using $9!!!  I'm taking back all kinds of stuff because once I discovered my love for duct tape, I just didn't open the rest of the stuff.

The polka-dots are from a roll of duct tape and the letters are from a duct tape sheet - about 8" x 10". I still have over half the roll left for other projects.

So how did I get cute letters when I don't own one of those Cricut machines?

I found a font I liked and printed the letters out on regular paper. I used pencil to scribble all around the outline of the letters and placed it face down (pencil rubbings face down) to the back of the tape sheet.  Then I realized I couldn't read the letters through the paper anymore because of the pencil rubbing! So I printed another, placed it on top so I could SEE the outline through the paper and using a pen, traced the letters with LOTS of pressure. When I took off all the paper, the letters were traced onto the back of the tape sheet.  Just cut and stick to the box!  With the left over tape sheet I made stars and hearts and added little details to carry the zebra print all the way down to the bottom.

I thought it was cute! I know there are dance moms that have much more creativity and do all kinds of oh-la-la things to their youngin's dance box... but hey! I'm happy, she's happy and that's all that matters. :)

Muffin Monday - GUEST

Today, you get a treat! Muffin is taking a break from being photographed and CHLOE has stepped in to help us out.  Chloe is my sister's cat, a large white cat with an itty bitty squeaky voice who just wants to be snuggled and petted constantly. 

To be a hefty kitty, she's definitely agile and can jump crazy heights.  Chasing moths is one of her favorite things.  And avoiding the dog in the house.

 I have no idea what this look is all about, but it makes me laugh.  I must have taken a dozen photos just to get these two. Just wanted to be petted and just refused to be still until I did show her some love and affection.

And this would be my sweet nieces!  I know I'm a bit late on the St. Patrick's Day celebration, but I love this picture from this past weekend.  Adorable? Why yes, I do think so.

I'm heading out of work a few minutes early.  We are selling all kinds of Macy stuff - we need some space and some money to buy her MORE STUFF! :)  Woop woop! Wish us luck!

Friday's Letters & Confessions

Dear Friday, I needed you. Actually, I needed you yesterday, but I also understand you can get here any earlier, so I forgive you for that.

Dear Macy, Sweet Niece, you are so dang cute.  You are at the stage where you learn something new everyday.  It's totally awesome and I love being so close to you that I can enjoy it.

Dear Spring, I'm not sure you received the memo, but you are supposed to be here by now. Granted, you are queueing the plant life around here, but you may need to discipline Mother Nature. She's PMSing or something and giving us the COLD SHOULDER. Seriously, warm it up a bit, ok?

Dear Me, I'm so excited! I did something crafty/pintrest-y and it turned out pretty good! I waited until my Cara Box partner got her box to post this - so here it is! A message board (she actually pinned something like it and I made it).  Just use dry erase markers. I so hope she likes it. She loves whales, so I think she will.

Dear Leslie, how awesome to meet my first Blogger and Etsy Shop Owner in person! I loved the items I bought from your Etsy shop... oh my gosh I'm ready for spring!

Link up with everyone else at Ashley's! :)

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I Confess...

... I have eaten my weight in choclate this week, but don't judge me. I might knife you.

... I have not been focused AT ALL this week. Or last week. Hm... maybe not the week before that, either. Do I need an intervention for my attention span? 

... I managed to get at least four letters out this week, which makes me very happy!

...My house is a wreck and I have totally not felt like doing anything.
This weekend is THE WEEKEND to get it cleaned up and looking like a nice home again. Unfortunately, Toys R Us is also having a sale... so guess which one of these will actually win out this weekend. :) 

... I'm totally excited to do dinner and a play with my friend, Donna, tonight. Dinner is Japanese Steakhouse and play is Chicago and a local high school.  YAY! Can't wait! 

Make your confessions with Aubrey!

Note to Self: #1

Dear Self,

I was thinking back and reliving some old memories about you the other day.  My my how you have changed over the years.  Back in high school, you were a skinny hyper and probably manic teenager with no direction.  Although you thought you were presenting yourself as endlessly happy, the older me is realizing you didn't actually come across that way.  I think it was that whole temper thing or the boyfriend drama that possibly ruined the facade.

Anyway, fast-forward to the you that was about 10 years ago or so... maybe a few years less but I'm too lazy to do the actual math when it doesn't matter.  That you, wow... that you had some brass ones and some big ol' butt kickin' boots.  Whoa Nelly, you were bad to the bone. The older me is thinking it may have been the issue of feeling like a doormat in the relationship and then it carried over into the workplace, where you were also feeling like a doormat. So, you put on your boxing gloves and went to town. *sigh* Those were some rough days, but girl, I gotta give you credit - you learned how to fight.

In thinking about the me of today, I feel like I'm a lot more laid-back.  Maybe it's the massive weight-gain since high school that has sapped my hyper tendencies. Maybe it's unloading the relationships that were making me feel backed into a corner.  Maybe it's just getting older.  The cool thing is I'm kinda ok where I'm at right now.  I probably shouldn't be... I should probably want to toss aside this feeling of life being a comfy old t-shirt that's been washed too many times and is now soft as butter. Maybe I do need to get that scratchy old sweater life out of the closet and bare my teeth a little more than I do. Get good and riled up and wanna fight again.

Eh. I feel like those drama-filled days will return soon enough. I think I'll wallow around in this comfy old t-shirt version of life a little bit longer.

Sincerely,

Me.