Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What's on my mind Wednesday

1 - Tornados - my heart breaks for the people who have been affected by the destructive weather this year. I cannot even imagine how their lives are changing in just a few seconds. A lose of a home, vehicle, job, family members, maybe even what seems like your whole town. I'm sending big big prayers up for these families.

2 - John F Kennedy - so I mentioned on Friday that I had been reading "The Kennedy Detail." Well I finished it last night. O my, I've had a lot of emotions with this book. I think it was a great book and it helped me to really put in to perspective how security was done back in that time period. This book is written by the secret service agents who protected JFK and "failed." It was a good book and I would recommend.

So JFK was assassinated nearly 50 years ago and it was 20 years before I was born and it has affected me deeply this past week. I'm starting to think I may be paranoid. I mean it has really had me scared! I've had trouble falling asleep. I know my husband thinks I'm a whacko! But I'm going to continue on with my reading/research - I'm now starting "The Echo from Dealey Plaza." This book is also written by a secret service agent who opposes the information in "The Kennedy Detail." I'm only a couple of chapters in but I find it very intriguing. There are still so many questions. I think that's why I find it so scary. I mean the same thing happens to me when I watch "48 Hours Mystery" - I go to bed scared. The mystery part of stuff just scares me to death! Am I alone in this?

Once I finish "The Echo from Dealey Plaza" I'm going to read "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters." And then "Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK"

Alright, well those are the things that are dominating my thoughts on this Wednesday. We're getting closer to Friday! Hope you have a good one!

~Amber

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

HOO Are You?

I ran across a cute little blog hop "Hoo Are You" so I'm linking up!

NightOwlCrafting




1. What is your favorite thing cooked on the bbq? I would say chicken!

2. How do you celebrate Memorial Day? I don't have a very good answer for this - usually just hanging out with my husband. Maybe we need to start a new tradition? Especially since we were a military fam.

3. Do you like your handwriting? It depends on if I'm trying to be neat. My signature is worse than a doctor's. I don't even know if you could identify what letters my first and last name start with. BUT if I'm trying to be neat I think it's ok.

4. Do you still have your tonsils? Sure do!

5. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Yes! I'm very anal about my shoes and how tight they are. I tie them repeatedly at the gym. OCD, much? So there's no way I could take them off leaving them tied and be ok with how they felt when I slipped my foot back in! I like 'em tight!

~Amber

Sunday, May 22, 2011

I sewed something!!

The good news is I finished my ipad design and finished sewing her but the bad news - well she's a about a half-inch too short. :( Learning experience, right? I even measured for her to be a little bit on the large size but I'll have to try again.

Here she is:



I don't envision her as a loser though. I believe she will come in handy for some great purpose. Maybe an electronics case. Say you're at the lake or the pool and you put your phone and a point and shoot camera and a couple accessories and call it a day. Or I think she may hold a couple of diapers and maybe some wipes. Or maybe the smaller Kindle or Nook. Or maybe you want to use her to hold a book. She's still a cool kind of chic wristlet to me.

I made the "ipad case" with a wristlet type strap because well, I'm clumsy and I figured it may me nice to provide a little extra protection against drops. You see you'll place your wrist through the strap and then grab ahold of your very expensive ipad. =) I will make one at the correct size soon.

And then there's my finished quilt top. She's come a long ways and she's got a ways to go before she becomes a completed quilt. Yep, I like taking things slow it seems.

Here she is, a "friendship star" design:



Thank you to my husband for holding her up for me!

And finally my beautiful lantana flowers getting ready to burst out with color and my Lucky Ducky puppy!



Hope you're having a great Sunday!

"Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others." JFK

Friday, May 20, 2011

Fill in the Blank Friday

I'm joining Lauren @ the little things we do for fill in the blank Friday! My friend Heather @ Some Kind Of Wonderful links up every week and I love learning more about her this way - check out her blog.

1. People always tell me I look like - hmmm I'm not sure. I just look like me ya know. ;P

2. Friends don't let friends cry alone!

3. A sunny day is perfect for opening up the blinds and letting the sun shine in! I work from home so I love sunny days!

4. My favorite accessory is my beautiful wedding ring of course!


5. If I could afford it I would go on a vacation overseas! There are many places I would like to visit. North Africa, China, Italy - o the possibilities in my mind are endless.

6. The cure for boredom is the internet on my ipad - I may actually need a cure for this addiction.


7. I am currently "in like" with learning more about the Kennedy family and JFK in general. I watched The Kennedys on TV and have been fascinated with finding out more ever since. Course I know the TV version isn't necessarily true. I'm currently reading "The Kennedy Detail" - it's a great book writen by the secret service agents that were protecting Kennedy during his presidency up until his assassination.


Happy Friday! Any plans for the weekend? We're having a yardsale tomorrow and then who knows what but I'm sure it will be a great weekend. It is going to be sunny all weekend and after a rainy week that's great news!!

~Amber

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What's on my mind Wednesday

I don't remember where I saw this prompt at but I'm going to try it out. =)

What's on my mind:

- I need to sew something. Seriously, I've had like a block here. I've been working on a new ipad case design for a couple of weeks and just have not felt the motivation to finish it.
- My quilt top is finished and I'm ready to share it with you but we have had very little sun here and so I've been waiting on better light to take a picture in. Looks like the rain may be finally clearing out today. yay!
- I'm doing really well in my workout program "The New Rules of Lifting for Women." I'm on my 11th week of lifting heavy and I REALLY like it.
- I've been feeling overwhelmed lately. We've been really busy on the weekends and I was having some trouble focusing at work during the week so I've pulled back from the internet some and have been trying to concentrate on getting back on track.
- I love that Spring is here. All the beautiful colors and new growth are inspiring! And I love the delicious fruits and vegetables this time of year. I <3 strawberries!!! - I'm going to try to blog a little more regular now. =)





via


How you're having a great hump day!

~Amber

Sunday, May 15, 2011

spring is here...and it's beautiful

I'm going to make this an almost wordless post. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I've been a bit under the weather - hoping I cheer up soon.








God is my strong fortress; and he makes my way perfect.
2 Samuel 22:33

Hope you're having a great Sunday!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

10 years ago....a reflection

Thomas and I have been together for 10 years today. Squeel! This isn't something we celebrate but when I was watching TV this morning and they mentioned cinco de mayo the wheels started turning in my head and I realized what today was!

This is what I believe to be the first ever picture of us. Wow – I can’t believe I’m sharing this. We were so young. My how we have changed!



During the first couple of years of our relationship it was on again/off again. It wasn’t what I would call smooth. But we were in high school the first year and Thomas was gone at the end of the summer after we graduated.





He went to bootcamp, then school, then California from where he deployed to Iraq almost immediately. Things have been “on again” since shortly after he completed his school in the military. We did not get married until he was a little over halfway done with his military commitment so we had a long-distance relationship for a while.




Once we were married I moved to California. In fact today is also the date we made it to California. Actually, it was late on the 4th but the 5th was when I woke up in California and really saw it. That was 6 years ago. California was a lot of fun. We met a lot of people, made a lot of friends. I love that sites like facebook allow you to stay in contact so easily with friends so far away! I worked while in California and survived a deployment there by myself. I actually enjoyed the time alone – I surely missed my husband but that was the first time in my life that I lived alone and since I knew it would come to an end I enjoyed it. I was a homebody. Boots was the only child we had at the time and we just hung out whenever I wasn’t at work.



We moved back to NC from California in 2007. We had built a house during the last few months we were in California. We were able to move in our house just a couple of months after we returned to NC. This was a time of transition. Obviously the move was a big deal, purchasing our first home, finding jobs, etc. We both began working within one month of moving back here. That was such a blessing because we really needed jobs.

The biggest thing that happened for us in our relationship occurred just a couple of weeks after we returned to NC in 2007. Thomas and I were both saved by the grace of God when we were younger but we knew we weren’t putting God first in our lives. Not by a long shot. We weren’t doing anything bad but were weren’t honoring God either. That sort of existence felt lonely and meaningless. We had talked about going to church in California but I was afraid of how many churches there were and how different they all were. I didn’t have the drive to weed through it all to find anything so I didn’t try. This is something I regret big time! Upon returning, we began going to the church Thomas had grown up in. We attended for nearly two years before we decided it was time to move on. There wasn’t anything to get involved in and we were ready to serve.

We found ourselves at our current church two years ago and we became involved in the youth ministry almost immediately. My life has changed tremendously since getting involved in the church. And our marriage has grown greatly. Life has meaning! =) I’m just so blessed to have such an amazing man to share in my journey and share in his journey and grow together with. As a recent message at our church described we are RICH!



I’m so happy to look back on how far we have come and know that it’s getting better all of the time! I can say there has been a lot more “on again” than off. =)

~Amber

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

beautiful asheville

For our anniversary we traveled to beautiful Asheville, NC. It took us around 2 1/2 hours to get there - not long at all and we were traveling with our popup camper. I know romantic, right?

We purchased a used popup camper from a coworker last August. We are new to the camping world. We thought it only made sense to use the camper for the first time of the season and save some money by not staying in an expensive hotel at the same time. Plus as my coworker would say, "We know who has been sleeping in our bed." and I say, "I know the sheets are clean because I'm the one who washed them and put them on the bed." =)

The camper is nothing fancy but she does the job (I've noticed that I think everything is a she - I wonder if this is indicative of something about me. Hmm, I'm not sure).

Here SHE is. This is the only picture I have of her - I took it at a weird angle as to not get any of the campers around her (yes they were invading her space) in the picture. =)


Upon arrival on Friday evening, we went to eat at Pack's Tavern. It was delish!


It was cold and windy on Friday evening so we didn't hang around much but I did find a friend to take a picture with. I will say sharing pictures of myself will probably be a rarity. I just do not like being in pictures but maybe sharing these will be freeing for me!


Saturday morning we set out to drive around and explore some. We found this cute little waterfall in the Montreat area.




Then we went exploring in downtown Asheville. We had planned to go to The Biltmore House but it didn't work out - no big deal, we have been before.

We stumbled along The Thomas Wolfe House memorial. This was so interesting and it only costs $1 to tour. I mean I think it worked out not getting to go to The Biltmore House in terms of the money! We had a tour guide who was very articulate and shared a wealth of knowledge with us. I really didn't know much about Thomas Wolfe at all but upon leaving the house I purchased his first book, "Look Homeward, Angel." I can't wait to read it! Here are a few pictures. I loved that we were allowed to take pictures inside the house. You can't do that at Biltmore either!






Here are a couple of pictures around the campground. There was a beautiful stream running through it and of course some wildlife.




And here we are on our anniversary.


Have you ever been to Asheville?

~Amber

Sunday, May 1, 2011

hey friends

I've been overwhelmingly busy the last few days.

The weekend before last we began Spring cleaning. O don't you just love those words. :( We did get quite a bit done but there is much left. This will be something I will be working on next weekend. Which is also my birthday weekend! =)

Last weekend was our anniversary/Easter. We went to Asheville on Friday and came home on Sunday. It was a great trip - I will share pics very soon!

Which leads me to the fact that we purchased a new camera for our anniversary. This is half the reason I haven't blogged. We don't have the cord yet to load pics on our Mac. But I will be getting it very soon and will be sharing lots of pictures. We purchased a Nikon D3100. I believe that is what it is without looking. =)

This weekend we have done some yard work and planted some pretty new flowers. I love Spring - it is such a pretty time of year! Will share pics of this soon too!

I did watch the royal wedding. Loved both of her dresses!

Today we had to do some cleaning and maintenance on our popup camper - more on this later too and now my husband is working on loads of school work for this last week of school. I can't wait for it to be over with. Plus he starts a new job tomorrow - which is great news! Poor guy - his mind must be going a mile a minute!

And my dad was admitted to the hospital this morning. He has pneumonia. Please say a prayer for him - he is not in the best of health and he does not have a spleen which makes fighting this kind of infection more difficult. Will be leaving to go visit him shortly.

Alright, that's it in a nutshell. I'm sorry for all of the teasing - just wanted to say, "The blogging world hasn't seen the last of me." I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted!

Hope you are all doing very well and please keep my dad in your prayers!

~Amber