lately...

life lately

looks a little something like this.

wallpaper, one of the only things

that has made it on the wall,

other than paint.

lots and lots of paint.

oh paint.

did i mention paint.

yea paint.

okay i'm done.

(ps...we still have lots more PAINT)

ugh.

home decor books

and mags. 

it was so much more of an obsession

before i wasn't required to do it.

now, i am not inspired.

i'm trying though.

that pile should tell you, i'm trying.

there are little areas around the house

where things have been thrown.

to try and get the vibe goin that i have to

make this house a home.

there is effort.

slightly.

there are things just randomly placed.

just to see if they work in the space.

then, they are forgotten,

and we are on to the next remodel project.

there are boxes still.

loads of boxes.

we work like dogs 24/7 and yet 

there are still many many boxes.

there is evidence that we have unpacked 

the necessities.

caffeine.

there are shoes.

all around. 

coming off of tired feet.

just happy to be in the door

of this beautiful place.

there are treasures and decor

scattered about. 

laid out to provide inspiration,

so that i can find them a home.

there are little pretties that have

made their way out of boxes.

and in the midst of all of it,

there is a pug,

who has no clue what is going on

but is happy to have her own little yard

and way more space to run around.

oh and there is a girl and a boy too.

and we are so so happy.

so so happy.

so in love.

way more in love 

in the midst of this mess

than i expected.

a girl and a boy who are homeowners.

who are learning to adapt to that.

life lately has been so lovely.

even though the remodeling is exhausting,

along with both working full-time,

and keeping up with everything else.

(god bless people who remodel with children:

human ones)

life lately is new and different.

we are realizing how blessed we are

that god gave us this home.

we are trying to "enjoy the process."

we know we will look back on 

this time years from now

and we want to love it.

i won't lie though, 

it's a challenge.

the house is intimidating.

it's hard to juggle all of it.

it has been a little hard feeling at home.

but we are getting there.

and i'm excited to have the few weeks

of summer to focus on just the house

and getting it completely in order.

i am also looking forward to all of the 

big remodeling projects to be done.

so we can really unpack and move the

tools out for good.

oh and i'm looking forward to

having time for the gym again.

cause homegirl is getting fat!

anyways,

once again,

i will give god lots and lots

of glory for this life and all he has done.

and i will thank you guys for the continued

love and kind words.

and for visiting this little blog of mine.

sorry it's been so long.

and to the peeps who are

asking for before and afters,

they are coming, i promise.

as soon as the rooms are "done."

happy thursday guys!

have a great weekend.

ash...

operation house to home: a yellow mantle

first off,

thanks for the prayers

for my friend lin. 

she is home with her sweet

baby boy and doing much better.

it's amazing how quickly she recovered

and we only give the glory to god.

so, thanks for the prayers and the love.

in the midst of all that,

like i said,

we got the house.

it has definitely been surreal.

i am super excited but definitely keeping

it into perspective.

here's a shot of our new house.

there will definitely be a little bit

of work to the landscaping

but it's precious.

so this past weekend we started

painting and painting

and um....

painting.

i thought i would have 

such a clear vision for the house. 

i thought i did

 have a clear vision

for the house.

now, i am realizing otherwise.

i definitely am feeling

overwhelmed and questioning my style

and all of my decisions. 

the only room that i am pretty sure about

as far as colors and stuff

is the formal living room. 

here's what it looked like before we did a thing.

no offense to anyone who has

this green color in their house

but i hate it.

it is all over the house 

and it's just too much. 

there was also this

weird black slash brown

slash who knows tile 

under the mantle

that i could not stand.

i have always wanted a yellow mantle.

i don't know why.

just wanted a yellow mantle.

and i know grey is big now

and i know it looks great with yellow.

therefore, i decided to go with grey on the walls.

before painting the mantle,

i wanted to add a decorative

piece that looked like it was a part

of the original mantle. 

here's a shot of the work in between.

we added the primed wood piece

and screwed it to the mantle

before painting the whole thing.

i was excited about the grey because there

will be lots of white in the house

and i was excited to see a non-white room.

so....

here's what it looks like now

that we are all done.

we were going to tile over the ugly tile

and my dad suggested just painting

it white to save time and money.

he figured it would be 

fine since there will be little/no

foot traffic on those tiles

and it was simply for the look of it.

the white tile makes such a difference.

so simple and cheap.

i found this chandelier at a flea market

in january.

i have spotted some similar

ones in some home decor books and fell in love.

when i saw this one,

there was no question

 it was coming home 

with me. 

i decided it would work great in this room

and since this is the room right at the front door, 

i figured it would be a great

statement piece for 

right when you walk in.

it took my dad about 30 mins to 

add a few things to have the light

working perfectly and install it.

i'm obsessed.

i love it so much.

and the yellow mantle is perfect.

it's exactly what i envisioned it to look like.

the wood piece is the perfect accent to add

just a touch of character.

we plan on just putting seating in this room

with no tv.

i'm hoping to read lots of books here

and just have a room where we can

visit with those that matter most.

i have no clue how i will decorate in here

or what furniture i will use

(minus a couple wall ideas)

but i am excited to spend time in this room.

shane has already said that he was

hesitant about the lighting

and mantle but he loves it

and said that he even wants

to put our bed in there because

it's his favorite room.

that makes me smile

because he doesn't always

love my crazy ideas.

i am hoping my visions all come together

and i am able to put together a

creative, unique space that is true to our style

and that makes us very happy.

i look forward to seeing it all play out

and i plan on keeping you guys updated

through my little corner in cyber space.

so get ready for lots of befores and afters.

thanks for reading...

ash.

life makes no sense...

we've been friends for a long time.

a really long time.

as far back as my memories go,

she is there.

our moms used to tell us that,

sometimes, we had to be apart.

they used to say that we couldn't

always expect to be together.

i never understood that.

we were better together.

as kids we used to talk about

who we would marry,

where we would live,

the babies we would have.

let's just say there were lots of 

MASH games.

as we got older, we grew closer.

we just knew each other,

in and out.

loved each other,

never, ever got tired of each other.

a couple of years ago,

things were said.

not so nice things,

on my part.

we fell apart.

we didn't talk for a while.

it's weird because even when we weren't

speaking, she was still my family.

her family was still my family.

it didn't change the fact that i loved her.

she sent me a text when i got my store

i'll never forget it.

it said, "passed by the store today.

it looks great. you must be excited.

good luck and congratulations."

it was one of the most treasured

messages i ever got.

we immediately started talking again

and it was like we had never stopped.

then, she got pregnant

and we grew even closer.

it was so fun going through that whole

process with her. 

it was one of the things 

we had always talked about.

(except for the fact that the baby's daddy

wasn't her favorite backstreet boy :)

she had the baby good friday

and i was so happy for her

and proud of her.

i knew she was at a place in

her life where everything was

going to be blessed.

the baby is beautiful

and she is excited about

being his mom.

then the most

unexpected chain of events

took place.

she was admitted to 

icu tuesday.

she was put on a ventilator

wednesday.

it's insane to me.

it doesn't make any kind of sense.

it's not fair.

it's crazy. 

we got the house,

shane and i.

yes the house that we lost,

the one that i adore.

we signed the papers wednesday afternoon.

we signed the papers at the exact time

they were putting the ventilator in lin.

the house was so big to me.

such a big deal.

so important.

now, it doesn't matter at all.

yes, i am grateful,

yes, i just want to praise

 god for that blessing.

yes, i want to give him glory.

but, right now,

it's all about her,

and her family,

my family.

making sure they are okay.

making sure she fights.

making sure she knows

how loved she is.

it's great to have your dream house,

but if you can't have your best friend over

to talk and laugh and dream more dreams,

to act completely ridiculous and vent,

what does it matter.

as i've been sitting

in the waiting room these last few days,

i've been thinking about so much.

about those couple of years.

i will admit there is guilt.

so much guilt.

regret.

lots of regret.

i've been thinking of

other relationships in my life that

have slipped.

because of words.

words that hurt.

i've been thinking about 

all the things that matter

and don't.

life makes no sense.

none.

all i know is that god,

and only god, 

is in control.

his ways are 

completely

baffling.

they don't make

 any kind of natural

sense whatsoever.

but they are so perfect

and so precise.

and done for so many

wonderful reasons.

his timing, sucks.

his timing, is perfect.

he will have his way.

he will work all

 things out for the good of

his children and for the greater

purpose of their lives.

he will bring peace 

when there is none.

he will bring strength 

when we are depleted.

he will bring rest in the middle

of chaos.

lin has a calling on her life.

i know the sweet hand of god

is on her. 

i know he loves her and will

take care of her and her family.

i know there is a purpose to this.

she will fight.

she will heal,

in more ways than one.

she will walk out of that

hospital and go home

to that baby and raise him

to be an amazing little man.

and we will both look back

on this and,

it will make sense.

we will see why.

until then, i will pray

and watch her get better

every single day.

ash...

today...

today was a day

filled with joy.

this morning,

i watched one of 

my best friends since i 

was super little

have a beautiful baby boy.

parker keith.

he is so sweet and perfect.

i mean, is there anything

more precious than a new baby?

i think not.

he's having a few tiny

issues and i ask that everyone

say a lil prayer for him.

other than that,

i adore him already.

i love having another little person

to spoil and snuggle and love.

speaking of little people that i adore,

we went to a crawfish boil with our fave

three little people today.

we got to spend some much needed time

with family and friends.

as you can see,

there were lots of snacks.

we also had some delicious crawfish.

we played games, painted, and just 

had a blast.

the best part,

the boo was off all day,

and i got to see him.

:)

now, i am stuffed

and pooped

with a full heart.

it was such a great day.

hope yours was too.

ash...

a layout...step by step

i often get the question,

how do you scrapbook.

i know, as a scrapper,

it is always

fun to learn the process

that other scrappers use

to complete a layout.

so, today,

while creating,

i documented each step.

here is a layout...

step by step.

the first thing i always do is

pick my pictures.

i do not ever scrap in 

an order or rarely have 

a plan on what i will scrap.

these are some pics

of lu from disney.

usually, if i choose multiple

photos, some of them

may get left out by the time

the layout is done.

that was the case on

this layout.

i ended up only using 3 of these.

the next thing i always do is gather

a variety of papers

that i want to use.

i usually end up way overdoing

the amount of paper.

i also try to pick from a variety of

different brands and color schemes.

it is rare that my layouts are

very matchy matchy.

the next thing i do is pick some stuff

that i want to incorporate on my page.

again, some of this stuff will

get left out and some other stuff

that i haven't chosen usually

gets added.

however, when i have some special stuff

in mind, i want to make sure

it makes its way on the page.

again,

i just pick stuff i like.

no rhyme or reason.

the first thing i usually 

lay on the page

is the paper.

(unless the background

doesn't involve paper)

more paper gets added

and then the pictures. i try to 

use different textures on the

background to add interest

and depth.

then, i start to add some

embellishments where i feel

they look good.

this step usually takes forever

with way too much thinking.

i end up moving things around 100

times before i commit.

i like things to look balanced

with being totally symmetrical.

on this layout,

i added some mist.

usually, when i mist,

i cover everything else up

except exactly where i want the mist.

i do not like the unpredictability of it.

i want the control.

lol.

so, as you can see,

you don't always love what you

do and there are sometimes things

that just look terrible.

this mist is an example.

for some reason, it was

super watery. 

i hate the way it looked.

i went on to try and fix it

with some black paint

to add a touch of black to pull in the

border of the pics.

again,

i hated the paint.

it just looked like a hot mess.

i covered the top arrow up with

some more embellishments

and didn't quite mind the second one

after.

one of the last steps

that i always do is add my title.

i usually have one in mind when i start

my layout but it is one of

the last things to go on the page.

i do it last because

i like to tie all the colors

and styles in from the page

with the type of letters i use.

i used to never journal on my layouts.

i would either type my journaling

or have vera write it for me.

i learned to embrace my

handwriting. 

(even though i'm still

not crazy about it)

my wonderful friend

miss lily told

me once that my kids

will want to see my story

in my handwriting

and i agree.

and there you have it

the finished product.

i must add that the last thing i do,

before the title and journaling

is glue everything down.

i hate gluing down before

i am absolutely sure i am done.

it does create issues but that's just

how i have always done it.

commitment scares me.

i am so glad i finally had

time to scrap

and to put some effort into a blog post.

i gave the blog a little makeover

and i hope you all like it.

i am definitely enjoying this 

spring break.

i have so much time to catch

up on all sorts of random things

i have been wanting to do.

i plan on making lots more

things tonight.

hope you are all

enjoying your week.

ash...

inspiring spaces...

these places...

they are inspiring me...

home decor is such an obsession for me.

and i love love love these spaces.

that is all...

ash...