{decked out}

When my mom and sisters were visiting, they helped me sand down my deck. Talk about a labor of love. There are chores I don't think I'd ever accomplish if someone weren't around to encourage and help me. My mom bought all the supplies, showed me what to do, and left us with just a wee bit of staining to do and a bunch of pretty flowers to pot (since all of mine had lately died). Phillip and I finished the staining on Saturday and touched it up on Sunday and I not-so-patiently waited until this morning to move our furniture from the back porch to the front. My grandparent's neighbors recently sold their house and wanted to get rid of their staging furniture. I got all this gorgeous stuff for free! Yay! We currently have 3 dogs tearing up our back yard (2 of which we are watching on a semi-permanent hopefully temporary basis) so I needed to get that furniture away from their grubby sleeping bodies and boredom-induced pillow shredding sessions. I want to show you the flowers, too, but I haven't weeded my yard in a shameful number of weeks and it's not pretty. Also I just potted them yesterday and they're not great looking just yet. I cannot wait to drink my coffee out here in the mornings and read books in the shade of our giant pine trees! 

P.S. The stain is photographing weird, but it's actually incredibly pretty. We used Cabot's Australian Deck Oil in "Natural" and it is awesome so far. 

It feels great to finish a project now and then! Thanks Mom, Lydia, and Sophie! 

oh, hello again

I'm finally back to my normal life after an insanely busy couple of weeks. 

We rushed down to Albuquerque to attend a beautiful wedding and then rushed home so that I could grab my sleeping bag and head off on a mission trip with our youth group. We took a group of middle school kids into downtown Denver to paint houses, play with kids, work in food banks, and learn how to serve Christ while serving others. 

On Friday my mom (who had followed us back up to Denver the day before) picked me up from the mission trip and took me to a doctor's appointment. Then out to clean my grandma's house for a party. Then straight home to my house, where I hadn't been in a week, to stay with me! My mom, dad, and two younger sisters stayed through Wednesday morning. We had a boating party, went to a football game, shopped, sanded my deck, got facials, ate ice cream, and got together with loads of other relatives. 

It was really awesome. I am really tired. In fact, there are a ton of things I'm not even telling you. I'm too tired to even write them. 

But now I'm back. I just have to finish staining my deck, get back to the pregnancy center, and do 7 loads of laundry! 

Is it just me, or are summer's always the busiest?!

{4th}

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

I'm skipping out early and will be gone for a while. I'm starting the weekend with a 50th birthday bash/4th party for my uncle, then rushing off to a wedding, immediately followed by a mission trip with our youth group and a visit from my family! These next few weeks are crazy, yo! I can't wait!

I hope you have a safe, fun, relaxing and incredible weekend! 

{it was never random}

Today I have my first appointment with a fertility specialist. 

I'm nervous. 

But the first day of a new month seems to be a fitting time to begin a new stage in the journey.

It isn't random. It never was.

Wish me luck! 

For the love of {ships}

Nothing quite says "summer adventure" like ships!

Friday, again

It's Friday again, and I haven't had anything to say all week. I mean, I've had things to say. Small fragments of scattered thoughts that wouldn't come together into anything coherent. I'm in a blogging slump.

This morning I'm drinking coffee, FB chatting with my pretty Brie friend, and making pumpkin muffins for small group tonight. The weather has been miraculously below 100 for the last couple days, and it made me start to crave Fall. Thus the baking and the pumpkin.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw all about my fun weekend with Tiana and Diana. We went to a Farmer's market, had lunch at a tea house, shopped, cooked, ate, walked, talked, laughed hysterically, hiked, and had a generally fabulous time. I miss them already. 

Isn't she just the cutest Aunt?

Since they left, I've been slowly preparing for the next big adventure: 

My friend Emily is going to move in with us while she goes to the Denver Seminary to study Justice and Mission as she prepares to follow God's call to the people of Burma. I can't wait to finally live in the same country, state, and city (not to mention house)! She's coming on Wednesday, so I've been trying to get her room ready and my house a little bit tidy. 

That's all I have to say for now. I'm working on coming up with some more interesting posts. Until then....have a good weekend!

{4th}

Happy Independence Day, everyone! 

I hope it's downright AMERICAN!

Simple Summer Salads

I know a lot of people who say they don't want to spend good money on a salad when they go out to eat. They feel like it's something they could easily make themselves. While I totally understand the sentiment, I am all about ordering salads at certain restaurants. I love those really complicated salads with fancy cheeses, fruits, sugary-toasted nuts, and funky dressings. And frankly, I'm lazy about salads. All of my childhood, my mom insisted that we have salad every night with dinner. I helped cut up countless cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, etc for years and years. And I guess I learned to hate making salads. All that dicing and chopping, and they were not nearly as good as the restaurant kinds. So to me, buying salad is totally worth it. 

But lately I've been making super simple salads for almost every meal. Well, not for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner. I think I may have found the trick to making them quick, easy, and absolutely delicious! So I thought I'd share some of my favorite salad combos with ya'll, in case you need some summer salad inspiration. 

Here was our dinner last night:

Phillip had a big bowl of romaine hearts, cheddar cheese, grilled chicken, and Ranch dressing.

I had romaine hearts, a peach, slivered almonds, grilled chicken, and a bit of Italian dressing. 

Mine looks way bigger because it was in a much smaller bowl.

I've been coating chicken thighs in barbecue sauce and grilling them. Sometimes the grilled thighs go into salads as a main course, and other times I'm really inspired and make actual sides and a full meal. I try to always grill extras and then cut up the cold leftover thighs in lunch salads during the week. 

I almost always use organic romaine hearts, because they come pre-washed, are delicious and nutritious, and are super easy to just cut up into a bowl for a really fast salad. But you should use whatever lettuce mix floats your boat.

Plain romaine hearts get pretty boring alone, which is where just a few special extras come in and make some surprisingly yummy meals.

For lunch I've been adding slices of mozzarella cheese sticks and chopped green apple. I toss in a bit of Ranch and it's a whole different flavor from my peach-chicken-almond-Italian salad.

I've also added blueberries, baby carrots, strawberries, lemon juice, turkey, you name it. Almost any fresh ingredient I have lying around the house has been thrown into my salad this summer. Every day is a new combination. I should invest in a romaine-hearts company, I'm buying so much of it. And I'm lucky I have such an easy-going husband. He likes salad, too!

What is your favorite salad? Do you have any quick, light meal ideas for summer?

{more water}

I've been making an effort to drink more water lately. I've always been absolutely terrible about drinking enough, I must be constantly wandering around in a daze of dehydration and not even know it.  But I've been playing soccer three times a week in the hot, hot sun, and so hydration has been on my mind. I really like the idea of adding flowers and berries to my ice cubes to jazz it up. I think I'd definitely drink more if it looked like this. 

Have a good weekend!

Summer trend {blue+white+gold}

                                                                                             Source: fuckyeahnailart.tumblr.com via Daniella on Pinterest

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                                                                                                            Source: etsy.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                                            Source: joannagoddard.blogspot.com via Daniella on Pinterest

Happy Tuesday!

Lately I've been obsessed with blue, white, and gold outfits. It seems like every day I am wearing the same combination, whether it's navy and white stripes, gold shoes with a white dress and cobalt accessories, or a white t and navy shorts. In fact, I'm now really starting to need a navy or cobalt sweater to wear (because it's summer, and I have to take a sweater everywhere to survive the AC!). I also need some gold hoop earrings I think ;)

Occasionally I worry that I'm stuck in a rut, but on the other hand, color coordination makes it really easy to get dressed in the morning, and will make it even easier to pack! Besides, this combo is so fresh and cool! 

What color combos are you crushing on this summer? 

Happy {birthday} Weekend!

This weekend marks my 25th birthday.

I'm now solidly in my mid-twenties, and I want to meet them head-on: 

dangerously, nobly, lightly, frolicsome-ly, improbably, beautifully, and afraid of nothing. 

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! 

Don't be afraid to stretch your wings!

Thursday's Child: Tree House

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                                                                           Source: independent.co.uk via Daniella on Pinterest

When I was a little girl, my daddy built me a tree house. I guess technically it was for all of us, but I feel like I played there far more than any of my siblings. It certainly wasn't anything fancy, but in my imagination it always transformed itself into a dreamy castle in the air, a perfect hideaway, completely defensible against the outside world. We built "furniture" for it and dressed up it with swooping fabric and huge bouquets of wildflowers.It was a perfect summer haven for imagination and girlish dreams. 

Apparently the tree house is not longer standing, because it got too old and sappy and rotten and had to come down. But I keep telling my dad to build it back, because I'm definitely going to be bringing my kids over to play, and we're going to want a tree house to play in!

dreamy, summery

                                                                             Source: 500px.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                   Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                               Source: thekitchn.com via Daniella on Pinterest

Have a dreamy, summery, lemonade and sunhat-y weekend! 

happy monday

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I hope you all had an absolutely scrumptious weekend! I just adore being home among all my sisters and girlfriends again! I'll be keeping busy all week with teas and coffee dates and girlish heart to hearts, and I hope you do the same! 

Happy Monday!

happy {practically perfect} weekend

                                                                     Source: paper-source.com via Daniella on Pinterest

                                                                                            Source: wishpot.com via Daniella on Pinterest

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 Don't forget to enjoy these carefree summer days while they last!

I hope your weekend is practically perfect in every way!