02.14.11
Spoiled Surprise
So…. I managed to really spoil my valentine’s surprise for Travis this year, and it’s too funny not to share.
I gave him one of those tied fleece blankets.
I can’t say that the tied fleece blanket is really my thing, but he had one that an old girlfriend had made for him that he really liked… but for obvious reasons no longer used. It was also baseball themed, but I of course wanted to kick it up a notch and make it better, so I went for the Red Sox fleece fabric on one side, and the new double side soft fuzzy fleece on the other in red.
I ordered the fabric online and waited for it to arrive. It came on Friday afternoon when Travis was home over lunch, and once he went back to work, I knew I had to take my opportunity to get it made before he got back home. Now any other day, I would have had 4 hours, but he gets off earlier on Fridays so I only had 2 1/2 hours to complete it.
It had occurred to me that there might be some lint involved, but I figured I could just clean up after myself, and he wouldn’t be the wiser that I had spent my afternoon making something for him. I moved the furniture around to make room in our living room, since I needed quite a bit of space. I spread the fabric out on the floor and began cutting the strips to tie. It didn’t take long to realize that the red fuzzy fabric was creating all kinds of lint when I cut it, I would have to vacuum… which might seem a bit weird since he himself had just vacuumed recently, and leave it to Travis to be super observant at the exact wrong times… never fail, it always happens. To sell the “I decided to vacuum” story, I knew I’d also need to do some other good cleaning of the downstairs. He IMed and asked what I was up to, I took my opportunity and IMed him back and told him I was cleaning… problem solved.
I kept cutting. I finished cutting and started tying the knots. The directions I read suggested to tie every other piece, and then flip it over and tie the rest, so that’s how I started. The tying of the knots however only produced more red lint. I was getting it all over me… more to clean and time was going quickly.
After making the first round of knots, my back was killing me, and I could not take working on the floor any longer, I had to move to our big chair to finish the job. I knew it would be more to clean, but my back just couldn’t take it, and I thought I was making decent time, and would have more than 30 minutes to clean up before Travis got home. So needless to say the chair and throw pillows got a lovely dusting of red lint too.
Finally I got the blanket done, and stashed it away. Then I started trying to clean up. I figured I’d clean myself first with a lint roller. I started rolling, and went through A LOT of sticky sheets…. I just kept finding more and more lint and kept rolling, it was even in my hair. I finally decided to move on to something else, and gave up on getting myself clean. I’d have to come up with a reason why I changed clothes, because once again, Travis would of course be observant at the wrong time and noticed I’d changed. I created a “I spilled my soda on myself” story in my mind, and started on the chair. That was going smoothly, but I was still going through A LOT of the sticky sheets, and then I realized that I could use the vacuum on the chair, so I moved to the vacuum… I was starting to get nervous that I wasn’t going to get done in time….
I clicked on the vacuum, and started working on the floor first, but by this time, I was in a hurry, and I was only vacuuming the specific areas that were covered, and here’s where I went wrong. I did not pick up the random things that were laying around first, such as my socks, and sure enough I managed to get too close and suck one up into the vacuum. It got stuck, and in trying to get it unstuck, or maybe even just the initial shock of a sock in the vacuum… the belt broke.
I had hardly started vacuuming, there was still a giant rectangle shape of red lint all over the carpet, I was still mostly covered, and so was the chair. It was a this point that I knew I had been beat by the red lint. There wasn’t much I could do about it now without a working vacuum, he would know I had been making something, and by the rectangle on the carpet, he’d have a pretty good idea of what that was. I so wish I had pictures of it. We (ok so it was Travis) have since replaced the belt and cleaned up the rest of the lint, although I kid you not, I just noticed some on a picture on the wall… that stuff was everywhere.
The good news is that we still had a good valentine’s day. (we celebrated yesterday)
01.27.11
Working at Home
This has become my office.
I got up this morning, got a bowl of cereal and started working here. The tray really isn’t part of said office… it’s just a nice wedding gift that someone dropped off the other day, and well we haven’t moved it yet, and I discovered that it comes in useful to put that bowl of cereal on when I’m finished with it, so it may just stay.
Now this office is not for lack of a home office… I have one of those all set up. See.
It’s just that lately I’ve been way more productive in my big chair than actually at my desk.
I’m adjusting to this working from home thing. 
In all seriousness though it is an adjustment, more of one than I thought it would be. It definitely has it’s perks, like not getting out of my pj’s until 2:30 in the afternoon like I did today, but it also has it’s challenges. It can be hard to focus at home, when there is so much else around me that needs to be done too.
I’ve been reading a bit on the internet, some tips about working from home, and I ran across one… and well, why don’t you just tell me what you think of it. The suggestion was to set a timer for 15 minutes, and work for 15 minutes and when the timer goes off, take a break. … I don’t know about you, but I would get very little done that way. I’ll just stick to my focusing chair for now, and not getting out of my pj’s til 2:30.
01.20.11
Etsy: Special Delivery Project
I just read about this, and am so excited to participate. I wanted to share it with others. Essentially, Etsy is collecting Valentine’s Cards (Homemade or Vintage) to be delivered to elderly New Yorkers along with a meal through Citymeals-on-Wheels. You can read more about the project here.
When my grandfather passed away several years ago, it was just before Valentine’s Day… a few days later we received a Valentine’s card in the mail from him. It was a really special moment, and this seems like the prefect project to participate in, to honor his memory and that moment.
Anyone else going to participate?
01.19.11
WordPress as CMS
I wrote this for the Honeystreet facebook page yesterday, and thought I’d share some of it here too.
WordPress has become our Content Managment System (CMS) of choice at Honeystreet over the past few years for websites. We’ve built several sites for WordPress, including:
www.wellsforlife.org
www.trainingtowers.comWhy do we love WordPress? (and why should you consider it if you are looking at starting or revamping a site)
1) It’s super versatile. …
2) It’s widely used and available. …
3) It’s fool proof. …
4) Utilizes a database to house content…. what this means, in short, is that for the most part you can edit content in one place, even if the information is used multiple times on the site. …
So there you have it…. WordPress all the way. Let us know if we can help you out in setting up or revamping a site with wordpress, or feel free to post any questions about WordPress as a CMS in the comments, and we’ll try to draw from our mad WordPress skillz to answer them for you.
For the full explanation of each point, go read the whole thing here.
01.18.11
Calendars
I love calendars… this is evident by the fact that I have 3 calendars within my site at my desk… Now it’s not cause I really need to know the date or my schedule, I just love the artistic value of them.
One of these calendars is from Snow & Graham. I love their stuff.
This is the calendar that I have… I love the elegance and simplicity of it.
This is another calendar that I get every year because I L-O-V-E the way it looks.
And this calendar is mostly functional, although I still like the way it looks. We have little post-its slightly smaller than the boxes that we write ideas on and stick to the day we want to post about it on facebook for Honeystreet…. I’ve kind of been a slacker about that lately…. but I’m going to do better. If you haven’t already, give us a “like” on fb (here)…. and while you are at it, “like” For India Photography, and North Studio as well .
01.17.11
Discount!
I wanted to let any readers I may have left, in on a little secret…. I set up a coupon code for both of my etsy shops. You can get 20% off for the next month, by entering the code 20POFF.
Enjoy!
North Studio
For India Photography
Here are sneak peaks of what’s in the shops:
North Studio
For India Photography
01.14.11
I love stationary
I had this idea oh…. a year ago, to make some mini, hand drawn stationary. … and well I’ve finally made some, and have it listed on etsy! Go check out my shop. Here are a few of the listings. Oh, and you can like “North Studio” on facebook too!
It’s turned into a really theraputic project… I work so much in the digital design world, that it’s really nice to be able to create something tangible… I also love just starting a design and seeing where it goes… sometimes it grows into something good, and sometimes it gets tossed. It’s like I can just escape for a few minutes, since these don’t take too long to make, and see where I go.
A Fresh Year
wow, 2010 has been a year. Gonna run down the major things here:
Started talking to a guy named Travis
Went to India
Long distance dated the same guy named Travis
Got engaged, to who do you know…. Travis
Planned a wedding
Crappy situation I’m not going into detail about
GOT MARRIED!!!! (and honeymooned in St. Thomas)
More crap, I’m not going to go into detail about, coupled with friends going through crap
Wedded Bliss
My niece Maya was born!!! You can read more about her story at www.mayawinnifred.com – she is our family’s miracle baby, and has turned our world upside down.
Christmas
I didn’t know that it was possible to experience such extremes of joy and heartache in one year. Here is an excerpt from a note I posted to facebook in December (which by the way, feel free to friend me on fb if we aren’t already … I’m going to be writing about less personal things on here, so if you want to keep up with me personally, facebook is going to be the only option for now)
“I want to take a moment and acknowledge God’s timing in bringing Travis into my life… This year has been one of the greatest years of my life, and at the same time one of the most difficult – it’s crazy how all of the amazing moments get mixed in with the heart wrenching ones sometimes … I have said a few times, that I never needed a husband like I have lately, and Travis is a Rock Star. I love him so much, and he is so much of what I need… This isn’t really how I imagined my first Christmas Season being married unfolding, I had big dreams of joy and tradition, and romance, and those certainly aren’t absent, they are just all jumbled in together with the hope and the heartache, and the crazy schedule. And even though it’s not how I pictured it, I am grateful… I am grateful that I have a husband for the warm fuzzy moments and for the heartbreaking ones, someone that laughs with me, but also hurts with me, and loves Maya as much as I do. It’s totally crazy to think that even a year ago, I didn’t know he existed, and now I can’t imagine living life without him. God really is good.”
And now, here is to 2011… I know it will hold it’s own heartaches, but I’m holding on to the little miracles, like Maya still being with us… and I’m looking forward to embracing some fresh starts that I hadn’t necessarily planned for myself, but I’m pretty sure are going to be great, or at least a learning experience if nothing else.
05.10.10
How I Knew He Was “The ONE”
Ok, we’ve all heard the, “I just knew” line when asking someone how they knew they found the person they were going to marry, and if you’re single, you’ve probably spent some time wondering what in the world that could mean. So I’m going to try to put it into words here. I’m sure it might be different for everyone, so if you are married I’d love to hear your feedback on if your experience was similar.
Now Travis and I “knew” pretty early on. I’m sure that not everyone knows as early as we did, and in some ways, knowing that early freaked us out a little.
This is what it boiled down to for me:
First things first, I had a list of what I was looking for, everyone does whether they admit it or not. My list was not written down by any means, just some things I knew I had to have. Here are some of the major ones:
- Loves God and loves people. Travis does this better than anyone I know.
- Has a heart and life mission for ministry. I knew based on how God has captured me, and wired me that I had to have this in someone. (Amos 3:3 - Can two people walk together, without agreeing on the direction?) This didn’t necessarily mean full-time vocational ministry, but it did mean intentionally living a life that’s about serving and ministering. Travis lives and breathes this, it is his heartbeat in so many ways, and he does it with authenticity. He’s not so concerned about what his “job” is, although right now it is ministry, he’s concerned about living a life that matters.
- A great question I’d ask myself is, if I had a child that grew up to be like ______ (the person I was dating) would I be okay with it? A big YES on this one – I’d love it. Essentially this boils down to good character.
- Shared sense of humor
- Similar ways of handling money
- Could fight fairly, and wasn’t opposed to the idea of counseling should our marriage or one of us ever need it.
- Spiritual Leader
I’m sure that’s not it, but those are the big ones.
Obviously Travis had these things, but that’s not how I knew. In reality checking off the list only gets us so far, and quite honestly finding someone who meets the things on our list is in some ways the easy part. For me how I “knew”, had a lot more to do with how comfortable I was in the relationship and with Travis, and I think they have to do with a confidence in how I knew he felt about me. It was things like this:
- I could/can easily tell him anything I was thinking/feeling/wanting/needing, etc. etc. It wasn’t effort at all. I never had to gear myself up to talk to him about something difficult, even the difficult conversations happened naturally.
- I’ve really never wondered how he felt about me, never felt the need to have a DTR, cause he always made it so obvious. He was the first one to want to tell people about me and our relationship. I don’t sit around and think, oh I wish he would do xyz (bring me flowers, give me a card, cuddle, or whatever) for me, then I’d feel good about things. He did all those things, and didn’t leave me wanting, and I know that if there ever is something I want from him, I just have to ask, and he’ll do it gladly.
- There was a sense I had/have that I couldn’t possibly screw things up. That it would take something completely out of character for me to make him question things, stop or slow down the relationship. There was no fear on my part of being too needy with him, and I think that’s a two way street. It comes from me being grounded in Christ, knowing and putting my hope in God as the one who meets my needs, and not having unrealistic expectations of Travis. Travis in turn isn’t overwhelmed with an “I can’t possibly be enough” feeling, and therefore is ready and able to be God’s way of meeting my emotional needs when I have them, even when I’m being overly sensitive or emotional. At the same time, Travis isn’t afraid of loving in a sacrificial way – I mean come on, the boy gave up his iPhone for me! Now that is L-O-V-E!
- I can and do accept Travis for who he is right now and I know he does the same for me. I don’t need him or have expectations of him changing. I think this is a big part of the “knowing”. Finding someone that you are genuinely that comfortable with. Even with the other guys I dated, there was kind of always that one thing, that I’d think, I would really need for this to change for things to work out.
Now, I’m not saying either one of us is perfect, we are both definitely not! There are things about the other that frustrate us at times, we’ve had fights, and I’m sure we’ll have more, but we are both comfortable with who the other person is, and what they struggle with. For me it wasn’t about finding someone with no struggles, it was about finding someone who could admit to the imperfections they did have, and was actively pursuing Christ, and sanctification, and willing to grow and change as Christ lead them. I also accept him for who he is right now, not who I want him to be, or think he will be.
Again, I realize this looks different for everybody. And I don’t think that “knowing” like this happens for everyone as quickly as it has happened for Travis and I. These are just my own thoughts and experiences for what it’s worth to anyone else.
05.04.10
32 and finally engaged!
I’m engaged! FINALLY! At 32, I’ll be getting married. And let me just say, he, and all the potential our life holds together was/is worth the wait.
I wanted to share my story of how he actually proposed, but first before I do that, I want to say a few things: I know a lot of you have been coming to my blog, or found my blog because I’m single and I’ve written about being single off and on. Rest assured, I am not one of those women whose life is going to revolve around the wedding or my new roll as fiance or soon-to-be wife, although certainly that will come up now and then. I’ve spent a lot of years single, I understand that life stage intimately, and I still feel called to write for and hopefully encourage those who are single. After all, some of the people that have meant the most to me in my singleness have been my married friends, and I certainly hope to be that kind of married person as well. I also want to say for any of you singles reading this that I, more than anyone, know that I haven’t done anything to get myself to this point, I’m not any better, or more deserving than any of you who are still longing. I didn’t magically figure something out that made it all happen. I wish I could give you a formula or a genie in a bottle, but it just doesn’t work that way, as much as we’d like it to sometimes. Even being in it, there are things to this whole process that are still a mystery to me. I will say that I hope to share from my own experience the things I learned along the way. Some of the things that didn’t make sense to me then, but make a little more sense now. Things like – what in the world do people mean when they say they “just knew” or the fine line between a healthy love and affection and something less than, or at least what those things have looked like for me. I hope you stick around even though I’m no longer single, and I hope you are encouraged as much.
OK, now The Whole Story:
Like most people nowadays Travis and I had talked about getting married before the question was “officially” put on the table. So I knew it was coming, and I waited…. and waited a little more…. and waited a little more. Now Travis was trying to manage all of this. Get the ring, meet my family, try to communicate to me that he’s not putting me off, and at the same time keep it a surprise. In the week before he officially proposed I may have had an emotional “why aren’t we engaged already” moment. Travis told me to trust him, not to worry about it, and to stop putting pressure on it, from the standpoint of he was going as fast as he could, as (and I knew this) the ring was taking much longer than originally thought to get. And that is another story in itself.
Anyway, last Friday I headed up to IA to spend my birthday weekend with him. My birthday was on Saturday. When I arrived at his parent’s house, he had my birthday presents set out on the bed I sleep in there. The ones from him were not wrapped, but instead tied with ribbons that just so happened to be the colors we had discussed using for the wedding. I tried not to read anything into that specifically. One of the gifts was a yankee candle in the”wedding day” scent. Again, I tried not to read too much into it. I mean, I was working hard at not worrying and taking the pressure off, like he had requested.
He took me to dinner, and I got to pick where, so naturally, I picked Mexican. Nothing fancy or out of the ordinary for us. After dinner we went back to his parent’s house to watch a movie, but were unsuccessful at getting the code to work so we could watch it. We ended up just sitting around a little and at one point he said “What’s your birthday wish?” I ummed a little and said, “I don’t know” so he pressed again, and I responded “Well I do have one, but I’m not allowed to talk about it.” He smiled and laughed a little, and responded with “Well, if you wish on a shooting star maybe it will come true.” Once again, I brushed it off as him teasing a little and didn’t think much of it. We talked a little more about random things I’m sure, until I said, “I’m tired, I think I could totally fall asleep right now.” At this point Travis made a change in plans. He was originally planning to pop the question at 11:59, right before my birthday cause at one point he had promised me it would be before my birthday, but since I was so tired, he moved it up a little. We talked a little more, and then in a totally casual everyday kind of way, he suggested we go for a walk, cause it would just be silly to go to bed before 9 on a Friday, and maybe a walk will give us some energy. I agreed, it was a nice night, but a little cool, so we stopped by his place so I could get a jacket, and unbeknownst to me he could get the ring.
He took me to the church that his parents go to (He attends a different one in town). There was a big field next to the church that they usually keep mowed to a reasonable length. It was super dark in the field, and we could see the stars so clearly. We found a good spot to stand and look up. He told me he just saw a shooting star, so I responded with “where, where? I didn’t see it!” And he proceeded to explain to me how I could try and see one. He pointed out the big dipper, and the North Star – which was kind of cool cause his last name means “from the north.” I’m totally not catching on to any of this though. It just seems like a regular night with Travis to me. Next he reached his hand up like he was touching the sky, it was dark and I could barely see it. And he said, “Sometimes if you reach your hand up like this….” he pulled his hand down in front of him and said “you’ll catch a falling star” – in that exact moment, some lightning flashed off in the distance, and lit up the ring in his hand. I gasped, and he responded with “see, I told you it would happen before your birthday.” He then dropped to one knee in the wet grass, and asked me to marry him, and of course I said yes.
A few mintues later, he asked if I wanted to walk back to where it was light so I could see my ring. Of course I did. He did great with it – it’s perfect. Here is a picture.
