the lake

Do you have a favorite place? You know one of those places that when your there it instantly feels like home. One of those places that always puts a smile on your face. One of those places that holds so many good memories. For me that place is the lake.

When I was about 14 or 15 we went to the lake for the first time. I don't remember a lot about that trip. But a few months later my parents purchased a house there and so began our weekends and summers at the lake. We spent countless weekends there when I was in high school. My parents were great sports putting up me and my wild bunch of friends! In college i'm pretty sure we were there every weekend, since it was only 45 minutes away. It was our escape from dorm life and a free place to do laundry! One of the first weekends my freshman year, my suite mates and across the hall suite mates all went to the lake. I remember being a little nervous because we were all still getting to know each other and wasn't quite sure how the weekend would play out, but it was one of the best weekends. It was the start of a great friendship between me and those 7 girls. Throughout college the lake was our favorite place to be! I remember skipping class, maybe once or twice...driving to the lake with some girl friends in the middle of the week, taking the boat out and enjoying the peace and calm feeling of having the lake to ourselves...until the dance party on the boat began. 

Then after college when I moved to LR the lake became our escape from the "real world" you know, being grown ups with full time jobs and all that stuff! We celebrated birthdays there, had amazing bonfires, saw some of the most beautiful sunsets, and made so many amazing memories over the years. To this day are some of my favorite memories. There were also some memories I would love to forget, like the time my cousin and his friends had an accident on the seadoos and not only did we have to call the paramedics to come out to the boat (don't worry he only had a few broken ribs!) but I also had to call my dad and ask him how we could take the seadoo back to the marina when it was floating in pieces in the lake. Then there was the time my friend was having a little too much fun and busted his chin on the seadoo and we spent the afternoon in the ER. 

When I was living in Australia, I missed the lake. I know...crazy! But for me the lake feels like home. I had some of my best growing up years there and so many of my favorite memories were made there. For me the lake feels like home, I feel like myself there and its one the most relaxing and beautiful places. 

We don't get to spend as much time at the lake now days. But this past weekend the hubby and I, and my parents got to spend a few days together, in one of our favorite places. We didn't do a lot, but it was the perfect weekend.

As you can tell, Marley really loves the lake too! It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend that we all needed.

lately

 I would love to fill you in on all the super fun things I've been doing this summer, but I haven't been doing much anything thats super fun. Depressing...I know. Grad school has taken over my life and my summer...depressing. Thankfully only 3 days left of classes! And teachers go back to school in exactly 2.5 weeks...again, depressing. I love my job. I really do love teaching, but staying home is kinda nice! The first few days I had no idea what to do with myself, but that passed pretty quickly! Now I have a good routine...besides grad school homework, I actually have time to go to the gym/spin class, grocery shopping, clean the house, lunch with friends, afternoons at the pool, errands, etc. I'm really enjoying it. Its going to be really hard to get back into my work routine in a few weeks...and have to wear normal clothes again because I have been living gym clothes and I'm not going to lie, I kind of love it.

So thats our life lately, or my life at least. The hubby is doing great! Loving his new job and praise the Lord, he starts working full time in less than 2 weeks! Our house is still a work in progress and will be for a while, I'm sure. I can't believe we've been homeowners for almost 4 months! We are loving summer in LR and enjoying some weekend getaways since Ben is off on Fridays. Summer has flown by, really this whole year has! Fall will be here before we know it. I will say that is one thing I love about being home in the US is having 4 seasons. In Australia all the seasons just kind of ran together. For example here in the US we have spring everything blooms, and fall the leaves change colors and fall, etc...you get the idea. In Australia everything was green all year round, that was just weird!

Sorry, so short and sweet but its time to go watch a movie and snuggle with my boys (aka-sweet puppy and handsome hubby)!

2 years

I had every intention of posting this on Tuesday...so pretend its Tuesday, y'all! :)

I seriously cannot believe this was 2 years ago!

I married this handsome man! This may be one of my favorite pictures from our 

wedding day...just look at that smile!

We had the most incredible day, surrounded by our family and friends.

It was a beautiful winter day for a wine country wedding. 

I loved him so much on our wedding day.

But 2 years later, I love him more than I ever knew I could!

We've had a roller coaster of a ride during our first 2 years of marriage! But I wouldn't have it any other way. Marriage is hard, but sharing life with this guy is better than I could have ever asked for. I'm proud of us, we've gone through so many ups and downs in our short two years of marriage that most people never experience, and many wouldn't make it through. But he is my partner, for life, no matter what. A few weeks ago had to complete a 'stat dec' not sure if that term is used in the US...I don't think it is...basically its a form with questions and you have to complete it and someone has to notarize that it is in fact truthful. Not sure if I explained that right? Oh, well...moving on. We had to complete stat decs regarding our relationship, to complete my Australian visa. My visa was approved last year, but they want to check up on us and make sure we're still married. The form asked questions about our relationship, how we share responsibilities around the house, about our social lives, etc. We sat down at the kitchen table with each of our forms writing away. At the end we shared with each other what we wrote. Leave it to my sweet husband and an immigration document to make me end up in tears! 

Everyday I am thankful to have him by my side. I love him more than I ever thought I could love another person. He is my best friend, he makes me laugh when I want to cry, he prays for me and with me, he works hard to provide for us, he is passionate, kind, and a really great cook! He puts a smile on my face everyday and he puts up with me when I'm a handful! 

Our first year of being married we spent in Australia, trying to get settled only to find out that was not where we were suppose to be. We spent our second year, starting our life in a new country. I can't wait to see how God will bless us as we start this next year together. 

A year ago

 Today I'm feeling a little sentimental...or maybe nostalgic, so continue reading at your own risk :)

Today is July 3rd in the US and the wee early hours of July 4th in Australia. It was exactly a year ago we were snug in our beds at the Wyndham in Sydney, probably not sleeping because we were so excited about leaving to go to the US that morning! I think July 4th was the perfect day for us to travel to the US. Most people would say Christmas or Thanksgiving would be at the top of their list for their favorite holiday, mine is July 4th! What can I say...I love summer time, BBQ's, fireworks, etc!

We didn't decide to make our trip to the US on July 4th because it was my favorite holiday, but more importantly it was the cheapest day to travel that week! But it couldn't have worked out any better.

I really can't believe we've been here for a year! We left Australia with 2 suitcases each, excited for our few months traveling in the US, not knowing all the blessings God had in store for us. Not only is it the anniversary of when we moved to the US, but it also just a few days before our 2nd wedding anniversary! We have had quite the whirlwind in our first 2 years of being married, but thats deserves a whole post of its own.

I'm so thankful God brought us to the US, just like I'm thankful he took me to Australia. We have been so incredibly blessed in the last year and settled so well into our new life in the US. My heart is extra full today!

Hello, summer break

As of 4:00pm yesterday I am officially (and finally!) on summer break! For most, summer break started 2 weeks ago but I thought sitting in ESL Academy for 13 days straight, 10 hours a day would be so much more fun...not! But I survived! All I have left is a lovely portfolio to complete and turn my paper work into the ADE and I will be ESL endorsed. 

I've know about the ESL academy for years, when I used to teach in LR and I've played around with the idea of getting my ESL endorsement for a few years, and finally decided to go ahead with it, since it will make me more marketable as a teacher and it may come in hand one day if we ever live overseas again.

It was the craziest, most intense 13 days...ever! In fact after the first day I came home in tears telling the hubby I couldn't do it. He sweetly reminded me that I could in fact tough it out and also reminded me of that lovely pay raise that comes with it, can you say motivation?!

Thankfully I had some friends from school there to suffer with. We started around 7:45 ever morning and ended around 6 every night. We had speakers everyday, some days more than one. Some were great, some were painful to listen to. I related ESL academy to flying overseas...For 13 days we were stuck in a room with no windows or contact with the outside world! There were 116 of us crammed in a not so big room, 3 to a table...I was in the middle "seat" the food was not so great, and it was freezing! Ok, so. It exactly like flying overseas but I promise there were some similarities! 

So, hello summer break! Can't wait to see what kind of fun we'll be getting into :)

Master & Den before/after...finally!

We have had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Anytime you get 3 days off from work is bound to be a good weekend. Our weekend began with a camping trip to Petit Jean, but that will be a whole other post! Yes, this girl went camping and slept in a tent for 2 nights!

When we returned to Little Rock we got to spend the rest of the weekend with my parents who came to visit. My mom and I hit the ground running,trying to finish up a few rooms in our house. I'm so thankful for my mom and dad. They have been a huge help to us with our house! I've had a lot of ideas in my head for the house but my mom is so great at putting my ideas together and making them come to life. This weekend we finally finished a few rooms and I'm so excited to share them!

Master bedroom before

Master bedroom after

I love how our master bedroom turned out! We wanted a relaxing, beautiful, clean space and I really felt like we achieved it. When we chose paint colors for our house we knew we wanted neutral, clean colors but we still wanted some color! We picked this green for our master bedroom from Sherwin Williams, it was called liveable green. I love it! We built the whole room around this color, which was a bit of a challenge. I found our bedding at the Pottery Barn outlet store. We opted not to put bedside tables in our room. For a few reasons, really...I couldn't find any that would work with our big room, but also I had these ladder shelves that I couldn't find the right spot for them anywhere else in the house! I love them because for us they are more functional than bedside tables. With the shelves, the wall mounted lighting and the many pillows I figured we could get away with not purchasing a headboard for a while. I made the framed artwork above the dresser from an old calendar with scenes from Italy. We still need blinds in the master bedroom, and the whole house for the matter but other than that, this room is complete! 

We've also been working on our downstairs den, which was a huge job! The painting took quite some time. But my amazing hubby has worked so hard on it and it turned out SO well! Here you go...

The downstairs den before

Downstairs den after

I feel like the lighting is all off in some of thee pictures, I guess that's what I get for only ever using my phone to the photos. 

Again, I'm loving how well this room turned out! Since we have 2 living rooms, we wanted this to be our main, cozy tv living room. We painted it the same as our master bedroom. We bought our white (yes, white...don't worry we bought the fabric protection!) from Hanks Furniture. My mom made our curtains from drop cloth. I love all of the special touches in this room from our wedding and my moms Pinterest creations! Again we still need blinds, a coffee table and a few other things but this room is mostly complete. 

I'm so thankful for our house. We love having a space that is ours and we can make our own. It has been a wonderful journey so far! 

A little "before & after"

I was looking at photos earlier of our house when we first moved in. It already looks so different! So I thought I really needed to share some before and after pics. Its so weird to see what it looked like before. Of course I remember it like that because thats how it looked when we were contemplating buying it, but now it feels so different, it feels like our home.

 Once the house is completely finished (at least up to my standards) I'll post a big update with all of the before and after pictures, but for now ill at least share some of the changes we've been working on!

Looking at the eat in kitchen from the dining room.

Eat in kitchen, from a little different view, but you get the idea. 

We decided to do yellow and grey for our kitchen. Most of our house is neutral/natural colors but in the kitchen I wanted a little pop of color, but still wanted it to flow with the rest of the house. The curtain fabric is from Target, and it is actually a table cloth my mom turned into curtains! She is amazing!!

Forgive the mess in my kitchen! At some point down the road we will paint the cabinets white, put in new counter tops, subway tile back splash, new appliances and hardwood floors...all this will be a ways down the road!

This is our guest room before...

And after...

We didn't have to do a lot to this room, mostly just paint, furniture and curtains. Since we got a new king size bed, we just used our queen bed in here. My parents also brought us over all my bedroom furniture from their house, so we've mixed and matched a little around the house. We still need to order blinds, for the whole house but for the most part this room is almost finished!

My mom made these awesome drop cloth curtains!

This is a little surprise...I made myself a "office" in the closet in the guest room. It's a huge walk in closer, that we really were not going to use. I was wanting a little area (but not the size of a bedroom) to organize some of my school stuff and work on grad school stuff. It's the perfect spot...still a work in progress though. There is still plenty of room in the closet to the left for guest to hang their clothes, and the bedroom has a dresser so all I have to do is close the doors when I don't want to look at my mess!

This was my latest project in the master bedroom this weekend. I can happily say that our master bedroom should be finished this weekend! I actually took a old calendar of Italy to make the 6 framed pieces. Such an easy, cheap project but it fits in that room perfectly, up against the green. So here is a sneak peak of that room, the rest you'll have to wait for my next update!