Friday Freebies...On a Saturday, Again!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Can you believe that it's almost June?! Holy sha-moly. I can't. May has gone by SO fast. Like, it feels like it was JUST the first of May and we were all like, Woohoo! Spring is here! Well, now SUMMER is almost here! WHOA MAN. Anywho, since it's almost June, here's a free printable calendar with all sorts of important dates on it, like National Fudge Day and National Doughnut Day. Very important. You can print it out right here! Now, I'm going outside to enjoying this beautiful day! Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Gallery Wall :: Summer Love

I'm addicted to artwork. I have so many pieces collected from places I've traveled, antique stores, a lovely collection from a dear friend (here's one of her watercolors -- I absolutely love it), and things that have caught my eye on websites like Etsy and Society6. Most of them are currently packed up in the basement, just waiting until I finally have the wall space so I can frame and hang them! One of these days.

Society6, Etsy, and Minted are a few of my absolute favorite places to look online for artwork (here's my favorite zebra print from Etsy). I love browsing through and imagining collections. Since summer has been on my mind lately, here's a grouping I put together! I started with oranges as my base (I'm kind of obsessed with orange lately. Not sure why, it's never really been a particular favorite of mine, but now I can't get enough of it!) and then added accents of turquoise/blues/greens. Feels kind of summery, no?

From left to right:

tangerine / pineapple / summer heat / pattern / float

Monday Things

1. Happy Memorial Day, everyone!! Thank you to all who have served and are serving our country -- "land of the free because of the brave." I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend! And -- here's a little history on the origins of Memorial Day.

2. Apologies for the long absence, yet again! Sheesh! This past week, I was awfully sick with a cold and an ear infection -- not pretty. On top of that, I started another new job. It's going to be a busy summer! Yesterday was my first day assisting with delivering/setting up floral arrangements for the new job. One of our tasks included setting up a chuppah -- on the beach. On the super, duper windy beach.

Oh. My. Goodness. Pretty much everything was working against us. The beach slopes downward, so the chuppah is kind of slanted (okay, not just kind of slanted...really slanted!). The wind was INCREDIBLE down on the beach. Those posts are unwieldy enough trying to move around under regular conditions. Try moving them around when it's super-duper ultra windy! Some of the posts weren't fitting where they were supposed to, etc, etc. It was a challenge. But we did it! Good thing we didn't need to put a canopy on top. That would have definitely been in the ocean in about .2 seconds. After running around delivering boutineers, corsages, and floral arrangements (and assembling that beast of a chuppah), I was exhausted and ready to just veg out. My plan once I got home was to make dinner and watch a chick flick. (I do love chick flicks. The cheesier, the better). Which brings me to...

3. The Ugly Truth is a terrible, terrible movie. I think I saw the movie in an article like, "Top Ten Chick Flick Movies" or something similar. So when I was mentally running through chick-flicks, figuring out what I wanted to watch, I was like, "Oh yeah, I remember I kinda wanted to see that movie." I mean, I loved 27 Dresses (one of my all-time favorite chick-flicks) and it has Gerard Butler. Yeah, the premise seemed kind of dumb, but a lot of chick-flick movies don't really have the most impressive premise. So, I decided, why not? Seems like a good vegging-out movie. ACK -- so terrible!! First off, WHERE IS GERARD BUTLER'S ACCENT??! WHERE. IS. THE. ACCENT. The movie had pretty much lost me right then and there when I realized Gerard Butler didn't have his lovely Scottish accent.

WHERE'S YOUR ACCENT, GERARD?!?!

Secondly, Gerard Butler's character Mike is SUCH A JERK. How does Katherine Heigl's character Abby fall for such a crass meanie? I mean, I get the whole opposites attract thing. But, seriously? He has no redeeming qualities. Yes, he did turn down the offer from CBS so that he could stick around for his nephew and be a "father figure," so that's good and all, but seriously. And okay, I (sort of) understand Abby's warming up to him after that conversation about CBS, his nephew, and Mike's chain of messed-up relationships. But then -- THEN -- after the elevator scene and Mike returns to Abby's hotel room but Colin answers the door and Abby tries going after Mike, he's such a JERK! Again! Completely undoes the very little that he did in the previous scene. You totally screwed up and missed your chance, dude. And don't even get me started on the hot-air balloon scene. So. Much. Wrong. Mike tells Abby he loves her, BUT also calls her a psycho in the same sentence. ?!?! Then, Abby launches into a diatribe about not being a psycho. Mike tells her he loves her again. Abby continues her diatribe. It's pretty cringe-worthy, watching that scene unfold. When Abby FINALLY addresses Mike's statement about loving her and asks why, his response: "Beats the [crapola] [<-- my word, not Mike's] out of me, but I am." Oh, how romantic. A real keeper, that one. </rant>

Ah, okay. I feel much better now! And I need to watch a good chick-flick ASAP!

Friday Freebies :: 3

Today's free printable is scripture from the book of Ruth -- another goodie! It's part of the main scripture from this past Sunday's sermon. Which was a very good sermon on elements of strong relationships, by the way. I definitely recommend watching it or reading it, which you can do right here! The whole sermon series on the elements of relationships has been excellent (you should totally check out all the sermons if you can!). Anyway, the book of Ruth is such a good story too. The love and dedication Ruth had for Naomi, and vice versa, is really amazing. And heartening. And inspiring!

Also, to go along with Ruth 1:16, here is Chris Tomlin's I Will Follow. The lyrics are inspired from this passage (at least I'm guessing they are. I could be totally making that up, but the main chorus is very similar to Ruth 1:16). It's one of my (many) favorite songs. The lyrics are incredibly powerful and hold a lot of weight. They're easy words to say, but not necessarily so easy to do. Quite often, we feel like it's all up to us to figure everything out and to pave our own path. But, as Tomlin sings, "All your ways are good, all your ways are sure. I will trust in you alone." A good reminder that we don't have to worry and figure everything out, just as long as we trust (although I still do that a lot. One of the many things I need to work on!)

BUT, back to the original point of this post -- the printable of Ruth 1:16! You can go right here to print it out!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Walking the Rail Trail

Today, my walking route took me by a couple of ponds. I love the ocean, but I also love ponds. I love the fresh smell of the water mixed with the smell of the pines. I love the way the water sounds as the small waves break against the shore.

It's so lovely and peaceful.

There are plenty of lovely trees along the rail trail. Which also means I walked through way more winter moth caterpillar webs than I cared for (one is too many, in my opinion).

Darn those winter moth caterpillars. They're absolutely EVERYWHERE now. They're crawling in my car, and I'm pretty sure I've picked at least four of them off of me today. And one on my sneaker. They're like glitter, only far less pretty. And much more destructive. What eats winter moths caterpillars? We need some caterpillar predators around here, STAT!

ANYWAY. There was lots of gorgeousness going on to negate the grossness of the caterpillars. (How many times can I say -- er, type -- "caterpillar" in this post?!)

Isn't that such a cute little house on the far right? I love the red front door. And it has an adorable little balcony.

And then there's this house that's right across from it. It's been under construction for quite a while, but it's looking pretty done now! Love the screened in porch on the side.

And it has a sweet chimney. Gorgeous stonework!

The one thing I don't understand is the small landing underneath the window on the far right and the slider next to the window. Was it a door initially? And whoever was building the house (or having it built for them), was like, "Oh, I'd rather have a window there. But leave the landing. Oh, and the slider." And having a slider for an exterior door like that would be kind of odd. I mean, how do you lock it? Granted, there aren't any bands of hooligans running around (none that I know of anyway), but still. I would want a locking exterior door.

Anyway. Besides the strange landing and slider, I approve.

Hope everyone's having a beautiful Thursday!

Monday Things

I know, it's been pretty quiet around here lately! Last week was a busy week between my brother and sister-in-law visiting, starting a new job, and starting to move in my brother and sister-in-law into their new apartment. And, the weather is finally coming around. In fact, it's pretty much like summer already. Spring basically doesn't exist anymore. It's winter, maybe like a couple of days of fake-out spring, and then, BAM! Summer. That's all right though -- I'm not complaining! I've been able to get in more walks with the beautiful weather.

This house is along one of my favorite walking routes. This house is probably the reason why it is one of my favorite walking routes. It's just so cool. It has an AMAZING view of the bay (which is like right behind the house). There's a walkway/hallway with glass walls that connects the main house to another part of the house. How perfect would that be for a dining area?

You can kind of see it a little better in this picture. Anyway, that would have a FANTASTIC view of the bay.

It's just SO. COOL. There are no words that can possibly describe the amount of cool-ness this house has. The outside is so fabulous -- I'm dying to see the inside! I remember years ago -- probably back in high school, or maybe right after I started college -- my mom and I LOVED this historic home back in the town I grew up in. We would walk by, gaze, and sigh at the gorgeousness of this beautiful Victorian. One day when we were walking by, the owner was outside working in the garden and noticed us admiring her house. We struck up a conversation, and the owner graciously offered us a tour of her home! The inside was just as stunning as the outside -- incredible original hardwood floors, trim, casings, and a gorgeous kitchen that was modern, yet still payed homage to the historic style of the house. Not only was the house beautiful, but it had a very interesting history as well! On the tour of her home, the owner showed us a trapdoor in one of the small closets. The original owners of the house were a part of the underground railroad and hid runaway slaves in their house. History + design = a whole bunch of amazingness.

ANYWAY. Back to the modern house. Every time I've walked by this house, no one has been there. It's clearly just a weekend/summer home, which is sad because I would totally want to live in that house year-round. But, a couple of weeks ago when I was walking my favorite route and went by, there was actually someone there!! I almost, ALMOST, told the person how much I admired the house in hopes that I would get a tour of the inside, but I chickened out. Maybe one of these days!

The beautiful weather also means furniture projects! Oh, how I love to work on old pieces and breathe some new life into them!

These chairs are one project I've been working on. I found them at a thrift store for $5 each. Score.

This coffee table is another project I've been working on. It's almost done. So. Very. Close! Painting it has been a pain because of the angles and rounded surfaces on the legs. Every time I think I'm done with all of the touch-up, I find another spot that I've missed! But, it's getting there! There will be pictures of the finished products soon, promise!! (That is, if I ever finish them! Ha!)

So that's some of what's been happening around here! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and here's to a great week!

Friday Freebies (On a Saturday!) :: 2

The sun is shining, the sky is a bright blue, and it's finally not freezing out! Hurrah!! I've spent the day outdoors weeding so far. Weeding is a pretty satisfying job, in my book anyway. The stone path to the front door was just riddled with dandelions and other weeds -- they needed to go! When you pull up a weed and the majority of its root system comes up too -- it's like YES!!! So satisfying. Anyway, now the walkway is pretty much weed-free (for now). And it's time for me to get back out there and get back to work!!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! And here's this week's free printable -- one of my favorite Bible verses. It's a good reminder, in both good times and the bad. He's got your back! You can print it out right here. I'm also going to leave you with one of my favorite worship songs right now -- Greater by MercyMe. Such a catchy and uplifting song with a wonderful message -- love it. Now, go out and enjoy the sunshine!