When Life Gives You Lemons...

You eat them.
Ok, that's actually what my little brother does.  Not me.  Lemons are gross, except when paired with loads of sugar.

Really though. 

One thing that having a young married women's small group (long name, I know) has taught me:
Life does not go as planned.  For anybody.  Hardly ever.  Meaning, I'm not the only one.

We've been going through different women in the Bible, and this week, we came to Mary (Jesus' mother - yes, there is more than one Mary in the Bible).
Each week, I've challenged the girls to put themselves in the shoes of the woman we're studying.  Well, this week was crazy.  Talk about an "interruption" to the life she had planned.  She almost lost the husband she was about to marry, and she became pregnant, sans the baby-making.  It's kind of more than an interruption.  It's a lemon.  A big, fat, yellow one.

The thing that blew us all away about Mary was:
She found moments to treasure in her heart, even when her life did not go as planned.  She chose to make the interruption a treasure.  She chose to love the lemon.

When life gives me lemons, I'm going to see the beauty of the lemon.  I'm going to thank God for the lemon.  I'm going to treat the lemon as if it was such a pleasant surprise, and I can't imagine life without it.

Thank God for lemons (but for Mary and Jesus, mostly).

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Sunrise, Sunset

Dear [not-so-little] Brothers,

I'm so proud of both of you.  One for your smiles, the other for your strength.  

I can't believe you are becoming such amazing young men!  I used to say that I never wanted a sister because I loved being the only girl, but I know that it's only because I wouldn't have wanted to share you two.

It's so amazing how quickly life keeps passing us by.

I can't wait to watch what happens next.

Love you,

Sarah Ann

Easy Peasy

My mother taught me to be practical.  However, I am not nearly as crafty as her.  I mean, she can even smock.  I don't know how to sew a straight line.

Well, with my mother's practical spirit paired with my mostly un-craftiness, I set out to decorate our fairly new townhouse for as cheap as possible.  Mostly, that just meant that we were sparse and that some of the cuter touches are just going to have to wait.

I did make two little wall things that are so so easy (after our trip to Ikea, of course, because all cool decorating ideas come from Ikea).

Presenting....

Easy Peasy Wall Art!

I am so proud.  I know you all are so much more crafty, but I'm just so excited to have made something!

All it took were some on-sale fabric & two canvasses with a lip on the back, like this:

I didn't even have to be that much of a perfectionist about the back because nobody sees it:

I'd take more lovely (and EASY, please) ideas if you have them!

Anywhere But Here

Today, instead of work and paper writing, I'd like to be here:

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With this guy:

Since I'm stuck in my real life today, I'll make the best of it by donning one of these:

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And, maybe, I'll rope that cute guy into going here this afternoon while I write my much-procrastinated paper:

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However, if I make that wonderful hubby of mine go somewhere, he will probably make me listen to Christmas music, which I don't count as ok until post-Thanksgiving.  He's so cute though, that I'll probably let him get away with it.

Linking up today to Carissa's Miscellany Monday!  Three cheers for randomness and dreaming!

More Brown & Little Things

2 resolutions I have decided to make in my life-simplifying:

1.  Eat more brown.
You know, brown rice, brown pasta, brown bread.  Even as I'm typing this, I think, yuck!  I have a hugely terrible aversion to wheat anything.  Blame my mom for not making me eat it as a kid.  Either way, I am trying so hard to implement this into my cooking.  I've found that wheat pasta goes better with red sauce and brown rice does better when paired with something (like black beans).
I don't know if I will ever truly get over really grainy bread, though.  I hate it.  I try to convince my gag reflex that it is so much better than sourdough, but there's not much to be done there.

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2.  Let the little things be, well, little things.
I have a tendency to over-complicate little tasks, and they quickly become stresses.  For example, cooking can just be throwing something edible together rather than making everything from scratch every single night.  And when I clean, it's ok to not get the baseboards every time.  The toilets and the sinks are good goals.  I need to learn how to take a chill pill (just one of many sayings from my loving father... added to this is "I don't give a rat's mustache!"  Thank you, dad.).
Oh, and evidently, some smart person is really selling chill pills.

Please, nobody get this for me for Christmas.  Or ever.  I promise, this would not make me chill.