{that awkward moment...}

... when someone asks you for the fifth time that day "when are you going to have kids?" and you just want to scream.

please tell me it isn't only me that gets really tired of hearing that question? what is it with people? just because i am young and happily married does not mean i want to jump on the bandwagon and pop out three babies in three years.

first of all, poop scares me. vomit makes me shudder. and slobber? umm gag. i often think that i am not cut out to be a mom. unless God sends me a kid that comes vomit-proof, potty trained and with its final set of teeth that is. then i could maybe handle it.

emphasis on the maybe.

and let's not even mention things like the economy, over population, our meager income and the state of the world in general.

one other reason that i don't really want to have a baby is because i have tons of kids to love on and spoil that come free of poop-slash-vomit-slash-slobber issues. and i love these babies just as much as i could ever love my own so i want to brag on them a bit.



rebel and sadie. my fur babies. my snuggle muffins. my fun, sassy and loving babies that i can stick outside when i get tired of them talking barking. can't exactly do that with a kid.



my perfect precious nephew thomas. as far as i am concerned this baby is as much mine as it is my brother's. well love wise. i mean i love him so much and would do pretty much anything for him. i think i get a glimpse of feeling a mother's love when i hold him but it doesn't leave me with an "empty arms" feeling longing for more.

oh yeah and let me mention this. he is one month and a couple weeks old and the kid is eating rice cereal out of a spoon. for realz. he is a beast. so proud.



my godson noah. this child is nothing short of a miracle considering all his momma went through to get him here. i cannot believe that he will be two years old this year.



his sister molly. one of the tiniest buttercup babies i have ever seen.



my pseudo-nephew grayson. this is him splashing and having fun at the waterpark for his first birthday a few weeks ago. this kid is full of personality and so much fun to be around!



this is jake and ben (jake on the left, ben on the right). chris worked with their mother when he lived in shreveport and her husband was deployed. he dropped them off and picked them up from school, spent many weekends babysitting them and eventually became a seriously big part of their lives. we are proud to know that their parents have entrusted their care to use should anything happen to them.

and finally the group of kiddos that i probably have the most impact on...



these are the girls in our youth group.



these are the boys. (i know they look like hollister models don't they!)

God has blessed my life beyond belief by allowing me to work with these young people. seeing them grow up (we get them in the sixth grade thru their graduation) and start to ask really hard questions about their spirituality, make mature decisions and really form their spiritual lives is a miracle. i have so much love in my heart for these kids i think it could burst. i am more than a little proud of them as well. their spiritual lives grew by leaps and bounds over the summer and i have seen some of them display such acts of courage and love that i was embarrassed to be called one of their leaders. they should certainly be leading me. if you ever get an opportunity to volunteer with young people don't hesitate. you will be blessed, i promise!

see? i have kids! i have love for children! i spoil babies! i would just prefer to send them to their parents after all of their indulgences have been met. *wink*

so i think the next time i am asked "when i am going to have babies" i think i am going to say...

i have more kids than i know how to love properly. when God sees me fit to be a mother to one of my own, i'm pretty sure He can take care of that. until then i will let my heart grow and fill up with love for the ones i have.

does anyone else share this feeling with me??

{ikea list!}

here in just a few short days (three to be specific and you bet your behind i'm counting them down!) i will be making a road trip to see my aunt kay in georgia! this little trip seems to be becoming an annual thing because my sister-in-law and i made this little excursion last year on labor day as well!

one of the many highlights of the mini-vacay is a trip to IKEA.

the other one is chowing down at the varsity but that deserves an entire post all to itself! :)

in order to keep my wallet in check i went ahead and made a little list of things i need-slash-want from IKEA while i am there. some of these are just dream items because i honestly have nowhere to put them and some are definitely making the trip home with me. let's get down to bidness then, shall we?



1. kajsa - i have been wanting some new curtains for my guest room. these have a great breezy feel but the circles add an interesting texture. these are a "yes, definitely coming home with me" item!

2. sockerart - this will become a lovely vase for some fake flowers on my dining room table and will be used year round. another must.

3. ung drill - this is definitely a dream item. i love it's curvy ornate frame but it is a little too similar to a mirror i already own (see here) that belonged to my grandma. so i think i will stick with what i have but use this one for inspiration. glossy spray paint might be in my future. hmmm.

4. lill - these are definitely going in the basket. i want them in my bedroom and my living room (which will make for three sets total) but they are only $4.99 so definitely in the budget.

5. hosto - i have been searching for a watering can since i redid my front porch back in april. so yeah, i hear it takes most people five months to settle on one. for sures coming home with me.

6. gislev - this is a dream item, but only because i don't know if it will fit in the car for the ride home. if it does, you betchya i'm bringing it home. if not, oh well. hopefully on another trip!

7. crassula - i need some greenery in my life and i don't own a single succulent. is this a succulent? does anyone know? anyways, regardless of its species-slash-type i love it. if they have some i will be purchasing three or four.

8. ribba - young house love. do you really need any more inspiration?

9. ikea stockholm blad - these are the color inspiration for my living room. i love the shades of green and pops of red and teal. such a fun color palette. these, along with the lill sheers from above, will be framing my living room windows!

10. bjuron - to hold my three or four crassula plants (see above)

11. kardemumma - i want these to hold trinkets around the house and possibly to use as some small vases on a kitchen tablescape for the winter?

12. pjas - this wasn't anywhere near the list but when i ran across it on IKEA's website it made it to the list. duh. woven, footed basket in a great neutral color. five please. all over the house. thanks.

13. borrby - i already have one of these but it looks pretty lonesome and dumb all by itself. i am going to get another large one and maybe a small one to use in vignettes.



so that is the list. i have no idea what i will actually come home with because you never really know what IKEA will have in stock that day. but you can bet that i will have a full report when i get back home!

what is on your dream IKEA list? spill the beans!

{my favorite color - inspiration thursday}

sidewalks are oppressive. at least that is what my husband says. he says that he feels oppressed when a sidewalk is present because he feels forced to walk on it. you don't catch my husband on many sidewalks.

i know. what the heck do oppressive sidewalks have to do with my favorite color?

picking one color out of so many available is oppressive. i love color. i want to fill my life with color. color is my f r a n d. it makes me smile and cheers me up. :)

so my favorite color is rainbow!

which you can obviously tell by my pinterest board.



linking up to:

{let's be friends, mkay?}

i'll just start by being totally honest.

i love people. i like to meet people. i like to know people. people make my whole little world go round!

do you read my blog?
{assuming you just read that i have to conclude that you are presently eyeballing my post here}

then i consider you part of that group of people i just outlined above! i want to meet you! i want to get to know you. i want to visit your blog and read about you and cultivate a friendship with you.

one of my many desires in life is to be a part of a community of like-minded people.


i consider my church one of those communities...

{hi james & cynthia, scott & heather and dan & emily!}

as well as my close circle of friends.

{hi nina, rhiann, liz and ashley!}

but i want to create a community of people to support one another in this vast world of blogging that can make anyone feel completely minute.


source

so let's us all be friends, mmmkay? tell me who you are, where you are from, where you live and where you blog. i want to come and see what you are all about! i feel like i only know a small handful of the small handful of readers i have and i want to change that. but i can't do that unless you let me know you are out there!

i want to support you and lift you up and spread the word about what you have done, what you are doing and what your big plans are for the future! don't have a blog? that is ok too! send me an email and just ask me a question! anything {well - almost anything} and i will do my best to answer you and ask you a question in return!

the art of friendship and relationships has been hugely altered by the social media-ization of our society. (that is not a proper term but i think it should be!) i am "friends" on facebook with people i probably wouldn't recognize on the street if they came up and hugged me. let's be honest - it would kind of totally creep me out. jason barton of the christian band 33miles and stephanie abrahms from the weather channel tweeted me once and i bet my husband would tell you i refer to them as my bffs. i consider bloggers my friends even though i have never met them and never really spent any time commenting on their blog or getting to know them.

oh except for megan who i met last night which was really exciting. hi megan!
{ps i made her a sign - check it out here!}

while i am reasonably sure i cannot alter how society views friendships i know i can change my view of friendship. i want to call you a friend! so leave me a comment and tell me where to find you on the internet so i can come visit you! let's be friends, mmkay??

ps: thank you all so so much for your kind words on my last post! it is so good to hear your fears justified and have people push you to be your best! you ladies rock my face off!

{getting past the fear of me}

one of the biggest and scariest obstacles i have overcome in the last few months hasn't been a fear of roaches (actually haven't overcome that one yet) or being petrified of losing my father after the tragic loss of my mom or worrying from month to month how the bills are going to be paid.



the hardest wall i have been hitting over and over again is the fear of me. the fear of listening to my heart. the fear of declaring who i am. the fear of recognizing talent within myself.  the fear of being criticized or rejected for that talent. the fear of simply being me.



to begin with, i still haven't shared with most "in real life" people that i have a blog or that i am a "blogger". is it just me or does it seem those who don't blog look at you kind of funny when you do tell them you have a blog? and starting a blog is a really scary thing too. when i first started this one i was inspired by layla at the lettered cottage. and i still love her blog and read every post she or her husband kevin writes. but i was gauging my success against her success.



um. what the heck was i thinking? blogs are not overnight success stories (for the most part anyway). i thought i would write a post and people would flock to my newborn blog and love it into a bubble of success. i was wrong. after a pretty rocky few months of figuring out that followers do not mean blog happiness i realized that i had a handful of loyal followers and i was, and still am, very happy with that.



then i started realizing that i wasn't really happy with my job. i wasn't sure where this realization would take me but i knew i had to find something to make me happy outside of work since i am literally so miserable here. i also knew one of the goals in my three year plan was to open an etsy shop. so i found something that i, praise the Lord, love to do and did it.



then i realized that if i wanted to sell anything, i had to actually show them to people and talk about them.

i then reverted to my second grade self. what if they laugh at it. what if they call it stupid. what if someone says that they have seen much better ones somewhere else. what if. what if. what if.



so i started small and shared my signs with people i was very close to. basically people that i knew wouldn't say "aww that looks awesome!" even if it did look like a monkey's behind but that would be truly honest with me. and by george - they liked them. they wanted one. they told their friends.

the first one i made was for my sister-in-law's baby shower. people commented on it even without knowing that i made it. meaning that yes, i listened in and kept my ears perked for any mention of it and yes i am paranoid and was worried that if they knew i made it they would be polite and say it was nice and then roll their eyes when they turned away from me.

i started turning my "what if's" into "so what's".

i used what little bit of courage i gained from the feedback on that sign to actually make some more and open up a shop. i took a deep breath in front of my computer one night and clicked the "publish" button on etsy to list my first item.



and then i checked out for a few days. i published a blog on here telling you guys about the shop and the new items and then i let it go. i didn't tried really hard not to worry about what anyone else said.

so what if they laugh at it. so what if they call it stupid. so what if someone says that they have seen much better ones somewhere else. so what. so what. so what.



about a week later i logged back in to etsy. i knew from the experience i had with starting my blog that i would not be flooded with purchases immediately. i didn't expect for anyone to have even seen my shop by that time. so you can probably imagine the thrill i got when i saw that someone had added one of my signs to their favorites! someone who did not know me and who really liked what i made enough to add it to their favorites!

yes. yes! YES!

this was a big exciting deal for me! and then someone else added my shop to their favorites. and then the world stopped when i got an order. an actual order for a sign. someone liked my creations so much that they ordered one as a gift for someone they loved. i was so proud.



and yet - i was still not proud enough or confident enough to share this really exciting event with my "in real life" family and friends. or, in 21st century terms: facebook. that little booger called fear continued his dance in the back of my mind. and then it occurred to me...

if you can't be proud of your own work how can you expect others to be proud of it?

so i stomped on that voice in my head and squashed him. i updated my facbook status with something like "woo hoo! i just got my first etsy order! my inner cheerleader is saying 'go you!'" and then prayed that people wouldn't think i was bragging or showing off and they would know i was genuinely excited and also looking for positive support.

God does funny things.



i was totally shocked at the reaction i got on facebook! it was exactly what i needed to hear from people that i knew would be supportive if i just gave them a chance. it gave me another little push in the right direction. i'm still nowhere near over the fear that still throws his occasional party in the back of my mind but i have come a long way since i first started.

i have to mention that it has also been totally invaluable to have my husband's total support in this as well. he has helped me dig through piles of wood on the side of the road and sweated over a circular saw to help me cut bigger chunks of wood down to a workable size. he tells people about my signs that i would have never thought to mention it to. he even wrote in my anniversary card that he was excited to be helping me in this adventure. he is my biggest supporter.

(i think it helps that i have quit trying to paint every piece of furniture we own white and install new flooring on my own.)



anyways - all of that was to say this.

don't be afraid to get past the fear.

if fear is what is keeping you from being the best, most amazing you that you can ever possibly be then you have to find a way to get past it. find a group of close friends you can confide in that will support you and be honest with you. learn, learn, learn as much as possible about what you want to do. don't be afraid to mess up and start over. find what you love to do and don't be afraid to let it make you happy!

{call for september sponsors!}

in my honest and humble opinion the sponsor swap project went so well that i wanted to dip my toe in the "advertising" pond of blogging. although my blog is still very small, i have a heart for the handmade & blogging community and would love to help promote your blog or shop! i have two very affordable options for you to choose from:

these prices and perks go into effect on september 1. as of right now i only have one premium spot open for september but i would love to reserve your spot for the following months! don't forget, christmas shopping time is coming up before you know it! :)
 




i enjoy hosting giveaways as well and would love to talk to you about sponsoring one here at neathering our fest. you enjoy a giveaway as a perk with the premium ad, but if you would like to place a free sponsor swap ad, i would be happy to host your giveaway for $5.

Reserve Your Spot

Premium Ad $8.00 Giveaway Post $5.00

ps - for those already participating in the sponsor swap - your ads will remain up until august 31. if you would like to keep them there please email me and let me know because i will need a new size!

{blogging basics: six-digit hex color grab tutorial}

i'm back with another blogging basics tutorial. i hope you are able to use what i have learned from redesiging my blog to add some flare and personalization to your blog! :) 

today, as i promised, i have a tutorial for you on how to coordinate your colors from a picture to microsoft publisher or word. it is really simple and i bet you will finds lots of ways to use it! :) i used this method to coordinate the graphic elements i created for my blog (read about the redesign here) to the ones i purchased from etsy.

one



find a graphic that you want to pull a color from. here i am using a mini scalloped edge circle graphic from pugly pixel. i want to use a color from the picture to color my font so that they coordinate.

{ps pugly pixel is a great resource for blogging graphics, tips and tutorials! she offers free graphics downloads or for $5/month you can become a premium member and download even more graphics. if you buy graphics off etsy, you will more than likely pay $5 for one set of pictures so it is really a great deal!}

two



upload your picture into flikr and then open it up in picnik for editing.

{for a full tutorial on uploading pictures into flikr and opening them in picnik click here}

three



click on create and then frames. you can use the little "paint brush" that shows up to choose a color for your frame on the given color palette or you can roll over any portion of the picture and it will "grab" that color for you.

four



here we have a lovely mauve color pulled from the center of a rose. look over at the color palette. do you see that combination of six letters and numbers in the box? that is the six-digit hex color code

five



i decided on a soft green to use. so i made note of that six-digit hex color code. make sure you write it down. you will need it in a minute!

six



open up a new tab in your browser and go to color-hex. in the box in the right hand corner type in your six-digit hex color code and then click on "get color info"

this will give you a wealth of information about this color, like its RGB code (which is what we will be using in a moment), its coordinating (or triadic) colors, colors pertaining to a monochromatic palette, its complementary colors, css codes, background examples, font examples... the list is quite exhaustive. scroll down and look at all of the examples it gives you and this will help determine if you like the color in all the different elements and if it is going to be useful for what you need it for.

for use in publisher, write down the three numbers in the RGB code.

seven



go back to publisher (or word, whichever you might be using) highlight the text you want to change the color of and go to format (in the toolbar) > font > and color. from there choose "more colors" {ps the font came from kevin and amanda - for free!}

eight



click on the "custom" tab

nine



using the RGB code you copied from earlier, put these numbers in their coordinating box. as far as i know they will always in the order of red, green, blue. in this case the code was 201, 201, 130. so this color is 201 parts red, 201 parts green and 130 parts blue. then click on ok.

for as long as you have this session opened that you are working in the color will be available to use in your colors without having to input the color code every time. meaning that when you close publisher or word you will have to do this process again to get the same color.

ten



now you can see that the color of the font is now the color we chose from the picture! yay! pat yourself on the back!

eleven



if you go back to the color-hex picture above you will see several other available codes. if you want to use one of those instead you can click on the drop down box and choose the coordinating code type to input. you can also access pantone colors from here as well. so there you have it! although there are a lot of steps involved, it is really a simple process!
next up, i am designing a couple of headers to surprise my friends so i will be showing you how to do the same in microsoft publisher! :) anything else you want to know? is there an easier method for this that i don't know of without using photoshop?

weekend recap

i had another whirlwind weekend visiting my family in texas. this is the third weekend in a row that i have driven home to see them. the driving part gets monotonous but i am always so happy to walk through the door of my dad's house and feel like i am finally home.

friday night i went out with my friend rhiann and we had a couple of drinks at a bar called willy g's in longview with a few of her friends. we left there and met up with a couple other girlfriends and had some much needed quality back porch & talking time!



saturday morning i got some good snuggly time in with my nephew before laying out in the pool all day.



and saturday night me and two of my best friends went and got tattoos! this is number six for me and number two for each of them. and despite the experience i had under my belt compared my two girlfriends, i have to say that this one hurt and they both behaved so much better than i did. at one point i actually claimed that my foot was on fire. yeah. it was painful.



we all got our own version of a sweet, pretty bird on our foot.

now for a secret... this was weekend before last! shh! i am a week behind! :)

what did you do this weekend?

{the domain game}

happy monday friends!

i just wanted to give you guys a quick heads up that i have finally gone all "big girl blogger" and changed my domain from a blogspot to a dot com.

i feel so grown up now!

don't worry - everything should still direct to me whether you use the blogspot address {neatheringourfest.blogspot.com}or if you are like me and are too lazy can't remember to type the www {neatheringourfest.com} also comes to the new domain which is...

www.neatheringourfest.com

shoot me an email if you have any problems with it!

i will also be back to semi-regular blogging next week. i have enjoyed my time off so much that i have decided to really not pressure myself so much to blog every day. i want to be intentional about what i write so coming up with something every day may not be the best plan for really intentional, meaningful posts. but i do have a lot in store so be sure to come back! :)

{interesting statistics}

anyone ever look at their blogger stats?

i have google analytics installed on my blog but truth be told i think i have looked at it maybe twice? and i couldn't tell you what half the stuff on there means.

blogger now has a "stats" tab where you can see how many visits your page has had, what page they came from, like google, networked blogs or another blog, and where the reader is in the world.

it is really fascinating to know that six people in india have read my blog this week. really? can they even read it? inquiring minds want to know.

aside from these points of wonder, it also tells you what people searched for on google that brought them to your blog.



this is my list. according to this list, all i blog about here is pomeranians with teddy bear cuts. wow.

just some random thoughts for today. do you check your stats? anything funny ever come up? do you use your stats for anything?

{harry potter | the end of an era}

so... am i the only person who cried while watching the previews for the final harry potter?

it is indeed the end of an era. one that was more to me than a simple movie or obsession. i learned a lot from reading the harry potter series.

it was also something that brought my family closer together. my brother and i finally had something to agree upon instead of bicker about. mom and i had midnight dates to the bookstore to see all the people dressed up and have butterbeer floats. dad actually even stayed up past nine one evening to see the midnight premiere.

oh harry, ron & hermione, how i will miss you so.



via
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16