Life is an Adventure, that's for sure!

Here's a peak into my life....I'd love to hear about yours!

Lily is so curious ALL the time. She sticks her nose in EVERY-THING! Our walk was no exception....I love the water sploshes on her nose. The sign of a good walk! I'm also so grateful to the Lord for providing me with a home that is in walkable distance of a school and school walk/field!

Oh relationships. I'm so blessed to be dating Mr. M.C. Long story short, last night he got me a red cactus. Not typical but he had a point that my floral care is limited (although I think I'm doing better!). He wanted it to take it back but I said presents are not to be taken back! I asked him to take a picture and seeing again as to how he just feels so passionately about pictures (please pick up on the sarcasm here), this is what I got....the angle and lighting is kinda cool! I like to caption this pic: SillyReed....

Success!

So the bluebbery/lemon cake that I posted about previously was a success! I don't think I've ever made such a complicated cake but it was definitely doable! I ate a whole bunch along the way as I always do...a perk of baking right???!!! I did not add the lemon extract to the icing and I ran out of powdered sugar so I substituted regular sugar. Reed and I agreed that move was ok as the sugar wasn't grainy enough that you would be put off by it. It must have been a hit because Reed's not a big fruit and fruit in cake person but he had quite his share!

Infamous blueberries in colander pic:

Ready to bake! (this was a little tricky because I had to pull one out and leave the other two in and cook it way beyond the suggested time, also still need to invest in cooling racks so I just used plates)

Ah happiness. Happiness comes in many forms. The candle does make some happy. This candle was given to my roommate as a teacher present I think. I just love the packaging. For some, happiness is in the form of a slice of cake. I'm one of those 'some'. What makes you happy? That's just one of my happy things....I like to think happy things are joys from the Lord! In fact, happiness stems from joy in the Lord-the source of all good things!

PS Kitchen decor is credit to the roommate and her momma! Pretty blues, greys, black.

Here's One More!

Ok so I just can't resist posting this! Meg Pitts took some pics for Reed and I when we went to visit. Because we are so quirky and he doesn't love pictures, we only got one good one but it IS a good one! Meg is awesome, feel free to check out her artsy site here!

Also, my pinterest attempt for this week might be a little late but we went blueberry picking so I plan to make a blueberry lemon cake recipe I found there buutttt since I'm a single gal I realized I have not purchased cake pans yet. So I'll have to do that before I make it and pick up a few other ingredients. I'm coming to realize that the longer I am single, the more I'll have for when/if I get married so we'll get to spend money on other things! Blessings in disguise, no?!

Oh did I mention I went to my first drive through Car Wash....again the whole single girl thing-I took my mom! Give a girl a break now, I'd never been before and didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised and they even had a free vacuum (do you ever have trouble spelling that word?)! Yes, since I took my mom she wanted to take my picture. Oh mom! I did get a pretty cool picture though. Word to the wise, they do kind of make you feel claustrophobic!

Puppy Post....Long Time Coming, I know!

So Lily is kind of already in her terrible two's but she's not even two! We have a make shift gate which is awesome to keep her in the kitchen but alas, she has discovered how to use her nose and open it! We find ourselves coming downstairs to a big pup! Still working on a solution to that one!

She's VERY smart! Hence the two pics below. No, I did not put the blanket on her. She did that herself and she obviously really wanted whatever was on top of the crate; caught her in action!

In other news, she has a major shedding problem. I don't know if it is because of her breed or what. She is a mix of supposedly Labrador, Retriever, and Shepherd. I am hoping to get a shedding brush to see if that will help. Do you have any ideas? Found this article and seems helpful. I will definitely ask the vet about the types of brush and her skin. She's a rescue so she may have skin issues a lot. Just takes time and research I suppose. The nice shedding brushes (the Furminator) seem expensive so may need to be a Christmas present. Anybody used them before? Says it is to reduce shedding up to 90%! There are some video reviews online and seems pretty good.

Mom always knows best and she recommends daily brushing so I'll have to work on that. I've almost got the daily walking down since she's a very active and energetic pup but I'm always learning!

I've also got to work on figuring out how to get Lily socialized on walks. She loves people SO much that she often pulls on the leash or jumps and for certain dogs, growls. She is my protective buddy, but I'd still like to work on training a bit more! 

Finished! The legacy remains. Praise the Lord for lives well lived!

So I've had some summer projects! Lately they have involved recovering or fixing up chairs! I recovered my chair for school and touched up the paint but the big-deal one this summer was fixing up a chair from my Great Grandma's House!

I went up to Virginia to help my parents sort through the estate of my late Great Grandparents. They were special and precious people! I remember them watching pastors on tv and the fake green grass. You know the one I'm talking about, the artificial turf that was big back in the day!

My mom and I get much of our love for crafts from her! She also had an amazing talent of storing things! Boxes and boxes galore of all kinds of ribbons and papers and more! Every nook and cranny had a little something. She still had perfumes and lipstick on the dresser! What a lady! Great Grandpa was a truck driver and Great Grandma never really drove so Great Grandpa would take her to the store once a week or so and she would get her craft materials then!

I was blessed to receive a mirror tray that I fixed up as well (well my parents helped! I'm still learning!)! We also discovered their only daughter's wedding dress and shoes.

It was a beautiful little home and my Great Grandpa didn't touch Great Grandma's things after she passed. Like my parents said, it seemed as if the two just ran to the store and never came back. I love seeing the Bible verses around the kitchen-that's a legacy!

My mom tells me this chair was Great Grandma's visiting chair! When guests would come, they would sit in the chair and talk. Oh what joys in the conversations we can share with others! I am learning more and more that God loves friendship. There's a reason he put people in our lives! So with this chair, if and when I get a new home, it shall have to become my 'Visiting Chair' and perhaps bless others as I'm sure they were blessed when they came to visit my Great Grandparents!