Just get up and do it!

You know when you have things that just hang over your head...not like sick things like cleaning or laundry. Things like...well why don't I just use my example to explain. I have this drawer thing that we have had since our condo. The previous owner of our condo just left it in our garage. We had been using it for nic nacks in the garage (light bulbs, levels, tools, etc) but have kept it. Well our new bedroom needs a dresser...a little one and it just seems like it would be perfect. It is old and kinda gross-but then it hit me. All those cutesy things I see at the antique stores or shabby chic stores were all pieces of nastiness before someone took them and made them cute-why can't I do that? So today....I got up and did it.

I took some paint, put little Isabelle in her bouncy saucer and out we went to the garage to paint it. It looks pretty good so far...I have more plans for it...but for now it is looking good! So it motivates me to think...why can't I do that myself...that is my new slogan. For the most part everything is not that hard it just takes confidence. So here is my encouragement to you ladies....just get up and do it!

So beside painting that drawer thing I had quite the day I guess. Isabelle rose early so we played for quite a bit. She was adorable as usual. I really cannot get enough of that girl. Then she was having a hissy fit (she is teething and I think that really makes her sad and ouchy mouthed) so we went for a drive. We picked up Nate and ate at this breakfast place called the Red Apple. You can imagine how cheesy the decor is:) But the food is great and they are really sweet there and it is RIGHT by Nate's office. So we go there quite often. Isabelle is happy the moment there are people around she can stare at. The girl is 8 months old and already a people person and people watcher (what a mini-me) I usually am a salty person...eggs, bacon, potatoes...but for some reason today I needed Chocolate Chip Pancakes. What a little kid am I? They were perfection. I swear the moment one bite went into my mouth all was right with the world again. (The top of the pancakes is covered with chocolate chips that are totally melted but still in their "chip" for...heaven!) It was amazing!

Then Isabelle and I went to this resale shop called Twice is Nice. I found some fun toys there for her and some fun fabric for sewing with...it was a fun little trip. We went home and I started sewing. I have no discovered that I can make those cute little baby onesies with something sewn on the front. I have done a bird (my favorite) and a heart. The little man's tie that I tried does not look like a tie...rather an exclamation point. So if you know someone in the market for an exclamation point shirt/onesie let me know. I would love to get good enough at them to sell them on etsy...but that could be a long time coming. I also sewed this change purse type thing. It is cute. I think I will take some pictures and post them- I am all for the visual.







Anyhow...after that Nate was home and we went to Panera for dinner. So good...bacon turkey bravo is all I have to say. If you have never gotten it GET IT! You will not be disappointed I promise. Then we went to the library and got some movies and books. Then my parents came over and we all chatted before making a trip to the local ice cream shop for yummy cones. I got double dark bitter chip...(chocolate ice cream with bitter chocolate chunks in it...can you see a theme of chocolate in my life right now:)) Nate and I drove with my parent's there and then walked with the stroller home. Cute little Isabelle fell right asleep on the walk...she is such a darling. And now we are home and going to be getting in bed soon. But no that does not mean sleeping. Nate and I love to just laugh and be immature once in bed-who knows what brings it out when we are laying down...but something does. Loves to all and more to come later. I think I want to start posting recipes and fun things like that-in hopes that people will comment on them and even leave their own fun stuff for me to try. You all have no idea how much I love reading every one's comments on here-really it is just my attempt to get more people to leave comments:)

High Point: That first bite of Chocolate Chip Pancake with hot coffee to wash it down. Really eating that with Isabelle to my left and Nate across from me made a lot of things right.
Low Point: When Isabelle was having a complete meltdown...and my sanity was quickly slipping away....teething...thank goodness I do not remember that time of my life!

Married Two Years....LOVE IT!

Since today marks the two year anniversary of me and my wonderful Nate's marriage I am in quite the wonderful mood! He is taking off the whole afternoon to come and play with me and Isabelle...and then tonight my sweet parents are not only watching Isabelle while we go out to dinner-they also are paying for it as a gift to us. They really are the best!
http://whitechocolategrill.com/index.php
This is where we have decided to go to dinner tonight. It is called The White Chocolate Grille. There menu is amazing....desserts are listed first:) I have been there twice and have not been disappointed. Let me tell you if you go get either the white chocolate brownie (a no brainer...but it is unbelievably sweet-I could not handle having it all unless there was a large espresso helping me wash it down) and the apple dessert. I am not a huge...yeah I love apples in dessert...but really this is a deep fried donut like thing with apple flavor and caramel drizzled all over...get it!

So that is the plan for tonight. Who knows what fun we will have today. I love Nate so much and let me take a few moments to tell you all why.
1. Nate loves the Lord...loves who the Lord has made him to be...loves how the Lord has changed his life...loves how the Lord meets his every need
2. Nate is the kindest person I have EVER met. Now keep in mind I live with him and we have never been apart! (true fact: since the day we got married we have not spent one day apart from each other...may scare you but we LOVE it!!) To be able to say that he is the kindest really is saying a lot. He never gets angry, never looses his temper, never is mean-spirited. He is kind! It is beautiful.
3. Nate is so organized and good at being a MAN. He takes care of so much of our house stuff (payments, mantinence, grass mowing, issues) and knows how to do everything. I mean the man seems like he came from the womb knowing how to fix any problem. The other day the drying we freaking out...I mention it and what do I know but Nate has taken apart the drying (gotten eletricuted, and cut) and fixed the problem. He just knows how to be that part of a man-I love it!
4. Nate is a lover. No, I am not going to go into the wonderful things of Nate being MY lover...I am just going to say that Nate is someone who loves well. He loves deeply and he shows it with selfless acts always. I feel like he never tires of serving me and is always looking for opportunities to serve me. Almost once a week Nate will truly ask me "Abby, how can I love you better?" I mean...I am so blessed to get this one!
5. Nate is a goofball. When we first married I would say I was the one that was craziest and silliest...little did I know that I would rub off on Nate in an outrageous way. He is soooooo FUN! We lay in bed so many times at night and just laugh at our immature play. He really has the best comic timing and knows just what will tickle my funny bone. He physically never minds making a fool of himself if a good laugh will follow-I love it. He lets me be a goof too and there are few things that will bring a couple closer than laughing together often.
6. Nate is the most beautiful father. I will not write much here because for some reason this always gets me emotional...as it is now. But Nate loves our little girl, cares for her, protects her and delights in her the way every little girl (and mother) would dream!
7. Nate makes me feel beautiful and desired every time we are together. I know that Nate finds me stunning and lovely (and ladies I am not one of the women that really is both of those things all the time...he just only has eyes for me) because he pours over me compliments and attention. He vocalizes every day that he wants to have time with JUST ME where he can just sit and talk with me. I never feel ignored, or unattractive, or boring-he brings out the things I love about myself because he loves those things about me well.

Now I could go on and on....but already I think I have gushed a bit too much. I cannot help myself when it comes to Nate. He is that amazing!


Now, back to my day. So after a rather long night of Isabelle getting up constantly (yesterday was her cousin Ann's 1st birthday party and Isabelle ate cake, went swimming, partied hard...that might have something to do with it) I commited to getting up at 7:00. Isabelle helped me make a yummy latte...(skim milk, double shot, splenda and cinnamon on top)



and then she went down for her nap around 10:30. Things are so quiet when she is sleeping. Nice break always-but if I had to choose I would have her sweet little voice chirping all day. She has started to say "Ma..." and sometimes "MaMa" when she sees me or wants me. I cannot help myself I love that girl. This morning as I was looking in the mirror at us I decided it would be a good idea to post pictures of the everyday. Not just the blog worthy photos (you know what I mean, where you look cute and thin) but the ugly ones too. So I have posted some, this is me this morning when I roll out of bed to take care of Isabelle. (in complete fairness I will let you know that some nights I wear a very cute nightgown to bed...this just was not one of the nights:))

















Well, now that those pictures have been posted and everyone is wondering how in the world does she still have dignity and self-esteem....I will just let you know...it is fun to show the real you. Oh, one last thing I wanted to post was a great little piece of furniture Nate and I got at this antique place down the road. We LOVE IT and have it in our office so I get to stare at it whenever I blog and it makes me HAPPY!!

Pictures of headbands and studio

Some of the headbands.....and my awesome furniture find and "art studio" (fine...I had to put one of the little girl too...I could not help myself:))

Headbands

This morning started out with Isabelle getting up at 6 am. She simply wanted to be in bed with me and Nate and was quite entertaining when she finally arrived. Though my eyes were far from being wide open....she is such a crack-up and there is something really sweet about a baby, your husband and you being in a large white bed so early in the morning that birds are hear outside the window.

I was so tired though because the night before we had stayed out pretty late with mom and dad seward...playing tennis. (more to come on that) and I had a starbucks drink that was NOT decaf. I rolled around in bed for hours for it. So needless to say I was overjoyed when Isabelle went back to sleep once Nate left for work. She got up about an hour later...but an hour is still an hour.

So tennis last night. Now I have played tennis about three times in my life (including last night) it was such a blast. Why is there something so satisfying about smashing a tennis ball. It makes such a lovely noise. The only humiliating thing was that at the court directly next to us were a pair of guys who I swear were auditioning for Wimbledon.(however you spell that high end tennis match thingy) And far far too often we had to crawl over to their court to retrieve one of our pathetically wailed out of court balls. Finally, after about an hour of them being there they decided to move to a court farther away...mumbling something about how the light was better down there....right guys! Anyhow it was such a blast!!!! I love tennis, even if I have no idea what it means to play well and that the only way I use the term love while on the court is to talk to Nate.

The rest of today was nice. I had a lovely lunch with Nate and Isabelle at Egg Harbor...really the best! And decided while out that I wanted new headbands. I think women in headbands always look trendy or artsy or somewhere lovely in between....and besides the fact that I no longer shower everyday and far too often pull my hair back...a headband was a great option. I decided (since Isabelle was down for a nap) to try to make my own. About 6 headbands later I was thrilled with at least half of them. How is that for being domestic. Now keep in mind they are nothing to brag about....but yeah I wore one in public!

After the headbands I went for a nice long walk (cause the weather was perfection today) with Isabelle and talked on the phone with Rachel Cuthbert. I love that girl and am convinced that when she and her husband are out here for Jessica's wedding I will convince them to move down the road. It would be wonderful!

I poked around looking at other people's blogs and daydreaming that I actually knew how to do stuff on a computer and that I could turn my blog into something amazing...but the reality set in when I could only change the color of my homepage. Green....green with envy of other people's blogs. But have no fear...my husband is a computer genius and I might just have him teach me a thing or two.

Anyhow..we ended the night with Qdoba (vegetarian burrito for me...NOT because I am a vegetarian...I would die....but because I LOVE guca!!) we watched a murder mystery, returned stuff to the library...got starbucks (decaf) and went for a walk outside. It was lovely. I love my little family!

High Point: Discovering that I can indeed make headbands and fiddle de dee with sewing patterns I can teach myself (though it would be something to brag about if I ever could get through a whole sewing pattern....THAT will be the day)
Low Point: Having to get up 5 times last night because Isabelle kept waking up. Who knows why....must have been the caffeine her mama gave her;)

My art studio

So I was going on a walk the other day and passed this house that had stuff on the curb. I am shameless about taking things from people's curb...it is the most wonderful thing finding something for free that you love!! My house is full of things I have found at the curb. Well, on this day I saw this long white topped, cabinet sort of thing. That night...Nate and my dad went and picked it up and brought it to our downstairs. So today, with Isabelle on my hip I re-arranged our downstairs. It looks like an art studio and from now on I just might refer to it as that:) It is perfection and makes me love my life and Nate all the more for having it. (Nate because he sweetly agreed that it was perfect...though I think if he were a bachelor the thought of owning it would have never crossed his mind)

Anyhow-with the new art studio I was inspired and added a few more things to my esty site.

abbyclark.etsy.com

Hope you like the stuff...and honestly I want everyone who is reading this to create their own etsy shop....everyone of you is created and talented and I know I would LOVE to see what you create!

Loves to you all
High Point: The realization that my basement now looks like a dream art studio:)
Low Point: Cramps...after over a year without them having them back makes me recall why I hate them....makes one want to be pregnant again!