An extremely low-key birthday note to my husband

Sam's a low-key birthday kind of guy.

Here's how the conversation went:

"What do you want to do for your birthday?"
"Nothing really. Go to school, go to work, come home."
"Birthday party?"
"No."
"Surprise birthday party?"
"No."
"Birthday banner?"
"No."
"Birthday cake?"
"No."


I guess Sam's mature and grown up, or something (must look into that), so our day will be fairly low-key. But nothing's stopping me from writing a birthday note across our bathroom mirror in dry erase marker (as often happens here in the lovenest), or taking him out to dinner tonight. I even talked him into some milkshakes as an acceptable no-cake compromise. And presents, whether he likes them or not! Because no birthday should be without presents.


So here's to the talented, focused, hard-working, playful and loving man I first fell in love with a few years ago. It's so great to be a team with him. A lot has changed with him this last semester (this blog is my story, not his, so I haven't said anything, but I would like to share it someday), and I'm really proud of him. He's so much more satisfied with his career and purpose now, and it's a great, comforting feeling in our everyday routines.

P.S. You know those instagram magnets I made? Sam recently informed me that literally 50% of the pictures of him are him wearing a swimsuit. To which I replied "yes sir. you know."

P.P.S. This is as good a time as any to mention I'm officially rehired for my same spot next year! I'm a intern this year, so that doesn't happen often. I'm so excited to be in my same grade, same school next year. It's the dream team, and I'm feeling incredibly blessed.

Happy birthday Sam!

our cabin getaway

Fact: I'm on spring break, and Sam isn't. This is a problem because (fact:) I'm so impatient, and want everyone to party with me when I'm partying, work with me when I'm working. The compromise: we couldn't get away to St. George or any other equally warm destination, but Sam was able to spare a few hours from Monday night to Tuesday morning.

We spent the night at my favorite cabin in Hobble Creek. It's beautiful, and I have so many memories spending summers there. When we pulled in, a raggedy yearling was staring at us, and he hung out near the cabin the whole night and into the next morning.

Sam built a fire, we had dinner, and we cuddled in a mountain of blankets known as the original lovenest. The next morning it was rainy (yesssss), so we stayed in bed and listened to the sound of the rain on the roof for a few seconds minutes hours. When it stopped, we ventured outside (with a hat on to not get wet - what kind of Oregonian am I?), smelled that after-rain smell and looked for our deer.

And then, wham-bam, we got Sam back to campus in time for his afternoon classes.


Gushy but semi-important side note: On the first of April 2011, Sam got down on one knee on that unusually warm evening and engaged me. On the first of April 2013, he put on his power tie and got hired for a job that he's excited about. Our night at the cabin was a double celebration. I'm proud of that crazy guy who closes his eyes during pictures and builds awesome fires.

What's your ideal getaway?

Hawaii would be nice, but we sure loved the cabin .

views of our lovenest

As sad as it is to take down Christmas decorations for another year, it's a good opportunity to revamp and reorganize. Yesterday morning after Sam and I packed up the lights and wreaths, we added a few new decorations and re-hung some old favorites. Somehow our living room feels larger and more fresh without a tree in the corner and Christmas decorations everywhere. 

Our lovenest is little and almost everything is secondhand, but it's our first home together and we've grown quite fond of it.

Happy Sunday.

The Power of Work

Working together as a couple has a lot of power. When two people work together, they grow closer together, practice teamwork and problem-solving, and learn how to complement each other's personalities. The result is a product or experience that is unique and meaningful to just the two of you.

When my best friend/sister got married, her and her husband worked together to create a lamp from scratch. He did the electrical wiring, and she assembled shards of a mirror to reflect the bulb's light {I wish I had a picture to show off their creativity! It was really awesome.}

While Sam and I probably don't have the creativity to start completely from scratch, we do want to make something together this summer. I'm looking for ideas for something to hang above the headboard in our bedroom.

Here's what I've been playing around with:

canvas

paper 

dream catcher

block letters

melted crayon art above our bed? would that be too... young?

repurposed shutters

Your opinions? Ideas? Have you created something cool?

Regardless of what we choose, it will be fun to make memories together and produce something beautiful for the lovenest. I love working on projects with the Mister.

P.S. We're also building a rocket together. Way cool, right? More details to come!

All images via.

Linking up here and here.

Lately in the Lovenest

I made a garland

a banner

a decoration out of toilet paper tubes

{tutorial}

a clothesline on my fridge

and a headboard.

{tutorial} 

There's something so comforting about rainy days like today.

just the perfect crooked tree in the corner

Oh but I love our first little Christmas tree. It has just the right amount of crookedness and burned out lights.

Can you even get over that awkward high school prom smile? We're making memories here, that's the important thing, and I do not discriminate against memories. Although you probably should be glad I didn't post the video.

Don't worry, bloggers. This will not be the last time you see this banner. Just you wait for our Christmas card. 

P.S. Did I mention I'm giving away some amazing things? You only have 48 more hours to enter!

Feature Thursday: the lovenest

this is our lovenest.

or, at least, little snapshots of it, taken at 2am with the flower mode on my canon.

the lovenest was named long ago, way before sam engaged me, when we found ourselves in a huge heap of piled blankets. sam said that was our lovenest, and the name's stuck ever since.

so welcome! stay a while. look around. and most of all, come visit in real life. we'll give you a real tour, and most likely something yummy to eat as well.

fall leaves outside our door

homemade banner

we love love. don't you?

we also have a keyboard

a homemade headboard

and three square mirrors in our hallway.

Not to mention our vintage {euphemism} bathroom wallpaper

these cheery flowers

and this watercolor of us {which we won in a giveaway via no two fish and corina's corner}.

i love our lovenest. it's fun, playing house for real. we're not allowed to paint our white-grey walls, so it's a game finding cute, cheap ways to cover the white-greyishness of it all.

what would you like to see in feature thursday posts? know of a great blog, small business, or link that should be promoted? what are your favorite feature thursdays to read?


sweet dreams, 


B

Mr. Macadoodle and the debatable necessity of pants

On this particular Saturday afternoon, I find myself in the kitchen, dancing to ridiculously girlish songs and cooking dinner at the same time. I shan't say a word about what I'm wearing so as to uphold My Public Image, lest future employers or Cecil Himself read this blog. But let me just say this - are pants really necessary at a time like this? My old roommates know all about that.


So here I am simmering and swaying and possibly sans pants in the kitchen. Husband is shaking his head and threatening You Don't Want to Know if I don't put on a BYU shirt in the next X minutes. To him I say "hellloooooooo, I'm simmering here!"


This afternoon is a time of deep introspection as well. The object of my introspection is Mr. Macadoodle. Mr. Macadoodle was named three seconds ago when I decided he needed a name if he were going to be a worthy post on my blog.


You see, Mr. Macadoodle is a bag of popcorn. He lived and loved and snacked with us for four whole days before we found him a better home.

Mr. M,

You were delicious. 

Please don't be mad at our separation.

It was made with nothing but the best of intentions and a lack of storage space.

May your kernels live to get stuck in the molars of many a generation.

And while I have you here, what is your opinion on wearing pants?

Sincerely,

Still Picking Kernels Out

Creativity

After the first hectic week of school, I figured out the theme for this semester:

creativity.

I get to be really creative this semester.


School is a lot of work, and work is a lot of work, and marriage is a lot of work. I get to be creative in making each of those work together.


My classes (which are awesome, by the way. I am so passionate about education, and I love my classes) require a lot of creativity. Every project is a creative exercise. That's why they all take so long. No mindless regurgitation involved.


Sam and I are on campus from 7:30am-5:00pm at least. Every day. Then, we drag ourselves home, scrounge up a meal that doesn't take too long to cook (inevitably I'm ravenous), then do homework, and collapse in bed, wishing we had time to do a million things. It's not bad, though. We get to be creative to make things work, and I like the challenge of figuring things out. 


P.S. Look what I did this week {I'm really proud of this}:

I took a plain picture frame, some fabric, and red spray paint,

I sprayed the frame red, stuck some magnets on the back, and tacked the fabric to the cardboard (actually, I used elmer's glue and masking tape. We don't own anything more professional)


Put it all together, et voila! A whiteboard!

I'm overly proud of this thing.


And now that I'm diving into this broke, in-school housewife thing.... what are your favorite DIY craft ideas? Things you have in your home (or wish you did)? Creative decorations?