10 Years

This past weekend, Eric and I were blessed to celebrate our 10 YEAR wedding anniversary!  Ignoring the fact that we looked like babies at our wedding, and that I can hardly believe it's already been 10 years, I am so grateful for Eric and this life that we have together.

Eric arranged for my parents to take our kids for a few days so we could have some time to celebrate.  (see, reason #142 why he's a keeper!)  We stayed at our summer place and enjoyed doing all the things around town that we don't normally get to do with kids in tow.  And yes, that even including taking a nap one afternoon, rebellious, I know.

first thing when we dropped the kids off, we went and had pedicures.  

Yes, Eric had his first pedicure (and he liked it!)

Then it was off to dinner to cheers to our alone time

 lots of scooter riding + making sure we were at the beach to catch the sunset

afternoon front porch-sitting

happy hour at home with our favorite wine saved from our Napa vacation last Fall

dinner out

one more evening at the beach

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it was so nice to have some time to reconnect,
I can't wait until we can do it again!

Mother's Day

(Here's the post I had planned for Mother's Day,
see my unplanned post here)my & my girl, love her!
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This Mother's Day was extra special as I was celebrating not only being a mumma to my Claire,
but also to a new addition to our family that we're expecting in November! We couldn't be happier to be adding to our family, and are thoroughly enjoying watching a three year old wrap her brain around pregnancy and childbirth (her questions and observations are hilarious!)
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Here are my thoughts on this pregnancy so far :

1. I've been nauseous and tired and many days feel like I have the toughest boss on Earth because I'm pretty certain the three year old doesn't care that mumma feels like junk. Thankfully, I'm 14 weeks now and can see the light at the end of the early-pregnancy tunnel coming.

2. Being newly pregnant during Easter candy season was bad. Very very bad.

3. I've seriously considered writing "take nap" on my daily to do list to guarantee myself the satisfaction of crossing off at least one item every day.

4. We've heard the baby's heartbeat two times now, by far the best sound on Earth.
I love this little one already!

Mother's Day : Unplanned Post

Claire & her Great-Grandma, May 2011

I had a Mother's Day post planned for today, but our day didn't start out exactly as planned. Our phone rang at 7:15 in the morning, and it was my mom calling to let us know that my Grandma had passed away during the night. Her passing wasn't totally unexpected, but hearing the news still hits hard.
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We left for church at 8:00 which didn't leave a whole lot of time for the news to sink in right away. At the end of our church service today, we sang the song Solid Rock and the lyrics seemed so appropriate. I can only imagine the amazing Mother's Day my Grandma had, standing before the throne and finally meeting her creator.
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Happy Mother's Day, Grandma!

Solid Rock
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My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
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On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
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When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
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His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
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When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Taking a Leap

Since starting Cora Anne in November, 2008, I've had several requests to participate in craft shows. I've toyed with the idea, but ultimately have turned each one down.

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Last year, I seriously considered having a booth at the Etsy West Michigan day at the Fulton Street Artisan's Market. I think I was as far as filling out the application, and then I never sent it in. I went on the day and saw what a great time the vendors were having and really got upset with myself for not allowing myself to be a part of it.
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This January, I was in preliminary talks to participate in an awesome new wedding show here in Grand Rapids. Yet again, I backed out. I had major regrets about this at the time, and still do now.
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I think my biggest issue each time is that I've lacked the confidence to just do it. Fears of setting up a booth and having no one stop by, or preparing a whole load of inventory only to have not a single item sell.
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After talking it over with Eric who did a great job of talking some sense into me, and getting my mom on board to hang out with me on the day of, I'm very excited to share that I will have a booth of my own at the St. Patrick's Craft Fair in Grand Haven on August 21!
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I've been extra busy already getting inventory ready, and have about a million ideas for displays swirling around in my head. Starting tomorrow I'll share items I've been working on, but for now, I'll leave you with a little sneak peak!

One Year Ago Today...

we were wrapping up our vacation here...after enjoying beaches like this...and watching lots of these...and drinking lots of these (for me)...and these (for Eric)...and spending an entire vacation alone with my favorite person...best.vacation.ever

Love...

this post.this magazine.

arrived in my mailbox this week.

isn't it pretty???

can't wait to read it.

him.

he's a stud.
and I love everything he designs.

and Eric is okay with me referring to him as my boyfriend.my new Arbonne.
I get so excited about washing my face.

and it leaves my skin feeling great!this blog I just discovered.

so pretty.

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Enjoy!

One Word : Intentional

I love the idea of claiming one word to focus on for a year rather than writing specific New Year's resolutions.

(see here and here)

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Mine this year was easy to decide on: Intentional.

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Life is just going by way too quickly.

We've been married six and a half years already,

wow that's gone by fast!

Tonight we're going to a preschool open house for my baby girl,

how did that happen?

I've been a stay at home mom for 2.5 years already,

I can't believe its been that long.

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I want to slow down. I want to take it all in. I don't want to miss a thing because I was moving too fast and working too hard towards the next goal or item on the calendar.

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Here's a few items I'm going to try to be

more intentional about during 2010:But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
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James 1:25 (NIV)

My Week

My week looks a whole lot like this.

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I'm a nose-wiping, medicine-administering, cuddle-giving mumma this week. But hopefully very soon I'll have happy, healthy, crafty things to write about again!

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Until then, you can have a laugh about the fact that earlier today, when I got excited thinking Claire was coming over to give me a hug or to rest her head on my shoulder, all she was really trying to do was wipe her runny nose on my shirt.

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All part of my job I guess!

She is NOT my friend...

...but I'm trying to learn to like her.

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After years of having a gym membership (and actually using it, for the record!) I cancelled my membership at the end of October. I convinced myself that I could be just as dedicated working out at home as I was at the gym. Not to mention cancelling the membership saves me about $80/month.

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Lesson learned: I'm NOT as disciplined to work out at home as I thought.

Result: a two month break from working out.

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But now the lazy party is over. I've got to get back to work, and I've hired Jillian Michaels by way of her 30 Day Shred to help me get back on track.

Wish me luck!