35 till 35 Day 10, 11 and 12

Hey everyone, I know, I know its my challenge and I am not keeping up, but we had a crazy bad and busy weekend, but I did catch up and here are my photos to prove it!!

Day 10, far away .....this is my view of the tv from computer room!

Day 11...something fun, what could be more fun than the Superbowl. We had a pregame potluck with chicken wings, bacon wrapped hotdogs, nachos, pizza casserole, and awesome pink punch and cookie dough cookie dip with cookies of course. But the highlight of the night was the Giants winning!!!!!

Day 12.....my shoes. Ok so I had to take the photo myself and my pants are in the way, but these are the shoes I have been wearing lately. They are a cute pair of black shoes, I know you cant tell they are black because they are dirty but the ground is covered in snow, sand and salt, I should have cleaned them up but I am trying to be real!!!

Sorry I got behind but I am now back on track and slowly getting closer to my big birthday!!! 35 isnt that big a deal but its my birthday and I always make a big deal of my own birthday. Hope you all had a blessed weekend and hope you came back tomorrow to see what I will eat!!

Blessings,
Heather

35 till 35 Day 9 Close Up!

Here is my day 9 photo...

Blessings,
Heather

Turning an Old Toybox into a Coffee Table!

When I was a child, my sister and I shared a toybox. My parents bought it for us when we were just little girls. It moved from house to house with us, it was our tickle trunk( gotta love Mr Dressup), it was our desk when we played school and we even made it into a sofa when we played house. We fought over it, Melanie even carved her name into the side to proclaim to everyone it was hers. It even made it through a fire! When we each moved out for some reason I got it, and somehow it became my coffee table. I forgot to take a before picture, but this was taken a few weeks before we redid the toybox, you can even see right under the handle where Mel wrote her name!

It is now used to hold blankets for those cold winter days when we want to snuggle on the couch. I recently asked Melanie for permission to sand it down and restain it so it would match our other furniture. Its probably 30 years old so it needed a new finish. Here are some pictures of the process:

After Carl had sanded it down

all prepared to stain

first coat of stain

not happy with the coverage so we ended up doing  a second coat

a couple days after the second coat

applying the semi gloss to give it shine and protection

the finished product after the handles were put back on

close up 

viola!  all done!

Now it looks new and matches our other furniture. Its so great having a piece if my childhood right in my livingroom. Some day I hope to give it to my niece, so she can hopefully pass it along to her children, next time my sister comes for a visit I am going to have her put her name on the inside cover along with mine and Sophie's.A strong piece of furniture with sentimental family history.

Blessings,
Heather

35 till 35 Day 8

Well here it is Day 8 is something you made.......

The only thing I make really well is food and I am sure you are sick of my foodie pics and I am not the craftiest person so I decided to share something else I made today....our bed!!!

Day 7 of my 35 till 35 Challenge and Real Marriage.

Here is my faceless portrait for my 35 till 35 Photo Challenge.

 I choose this because no one else has this tattoo, so it is distinctly mine. I went to the tattoo parlor with a couple friends, starting looking through the drawings of the tattoo artist and instantly this one spoke to me. I love the moon and stars and the vines and flowers made it so feminine. The tattoo artist was very excited I had picked that one because he had drawn it 12 years before that and no one had ever picked it, it was meant for me.


So yesterday I posted a link to a video by Jefferson Bethke entitled "Sex, Marriage and Fairytales" it was inspired but Bethke's pastor Mark Driscoll's new book and sermon series called "Real Marriage".  Now I havent read the book yet but Carl and I did watch the first of the sermon series the other night, it was entitled "New Marriage, Same Spouse" here is the link if your interested http://marshill.com/media/real-marriage/new-marriage-same-spouse In this book Driscoll and his wife Grace talk about everything from friendship in marriage to sex. The first sermon in the series was mostly an introduction and he shares their testimony and how through honesty and friendship and setting priorities in which God comes first they have been given a new marriage with the same spouse. They put an emphasizes on being completely honest with your spouse, laying it all out on the line to them about your past sins, so they know who they are marrying and if this isnt done how it can destroy your marriage later on. It lead to a great discussion between Carl and I after we finished watching it which made us both feel closer and stronger as a couple with a better understanding of who we each were and what we want from our marriage. I totally agree with Pastor Mark that the best marriages are based on a strong foundation of friendship and a strong willingness to put God and your spouse as your most important priorities in your life above work and  even your children!!!!! Carl and I are hoping through this series we grow even closer. If you get a chance check it through the link above and if you so let me know what you think!

Blessings,
Heather

Day 6 of the 35 till 35 Photo Challenge and a link to marriage video

Today is day 6 already of the 35 till 35 Photo Challenge and todays photo is suppose to be of technology so I took a pic of our computer desk, it was a great excuse to clean the desk up! I see my cell phone was still there...oh well it fits in with technology.

Tomorrow 's photo is faceless photo, cant wait to see how creative everyone gets!

I am also sharing a link with you to a great video by Jefferson Bethke on marriage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4OK9DmLpCY&list=UUc4yillQaNo6a-iG2PYbbrA&index=1&feature=plcp Carl and I started watching a sermon series by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church called Real Marriage and I will be sharing our experience with this tomorrow!

Blessings,
Heather

Day 5 of 35 till 35

Hi everyone, we are at day 5 already, that means I turn 35 in 30 days! Todays photo is suppose to be of something new. So I took a picture of my new rug. If you know me you know I am a huge fan of primitive decor. Last week I finally found a rug for my kitchen and I love it so here is a photo of it!

Cant wait to see what you all have thats new!!! See you tomorrow  with a photo of technology!

Blessings,
Heather