Creating a Reading Nook

The last few months have been... insane, beautiful, hectic, fantastic, and overall a huge adjustment into married life! I will post more about that later though once I get all our wedding pictures. Patience, young grasshoppers!

So we live on the second and third floors of a really old Victorian house which makes for some interesting spaces, especially on the top floor.  It was a bit overwhelming to know what to do with all these places at first, but after living in it, staring at it with the contemplative hand on chin, and a little bit of online inspiration, I tried to make a reading nook for us.

  It was a lot more simple than I first imagined.  I had the hope chest (which my dad actually made me, it is one of my most treasured items), and I just folded up a quilt and added throw pillows.  The globe lights I found at Target during Christmas time for about $6, and I cant wait to add more around the house as the chilly weather settles in!

And this is the little new addition to our family, Theo, who I think just found his new favorite spot.  If there's anything to do with perching and stalking birds out windows, he's game.

Before - you may remember this
from a previous post :)

After

This has officially become my new catching up on emails and editing photos spot, and I love it! Cal loves to use it as a place to study for his notary, which is coming up later this month.

What is your favorite space in your home to relax and get away?

With Love,

Cathy

Few More Days

So I wanted to drop in and update just a bit before it's full time wedding mania.  Like has been so wild the last few weeks, it's so hard to even recall all the little "emergencies" we've taken care of.  I am moving out this week, which seems to add a whole new level of it all.  I seriously love my MOH who has been doing ALL my laundry this week to help me pack... she seriously takes this title to the next level.

And you know with each new change comes a whole range of emotions, too.  In some ways, this day couldn't come soon enough, I feel like I have wanted to be married to Cal for ages now.  But then there's other things that freak me out... like how little kids may call me MRS. Craft and how I feel like my friendships may change in some ways.  But then sitting in our apartment on our couch talking to Cal makes me realize how much I NEED this in my life.  Generally, I'm just overall pumped.  I can't wait to get this wedding on!

Anyways, just stopping by... until next time!

With Love,
Cathy Huntington (... for 11 more days)

We Found our Home

So as many as you know, Cal recently moved into our apartment.  It was a fun yet stressful process deciding where we want to live for the next year.  Some places we loved, but it just fell through, and some places, well, we couldn't wait to get out of there, lol.  But we ended up finding a large house in Hilton with two other tenants, and we are on the second and third floor.  It's a fun quirky little place and it fits us perfectly.  I wanted to document this huge change in out lives, so here are some photographs on our first few days there.  I'll have to admit it's a little weird moving into a new place with big empty rooms and different smells, but it gets better with each new thing that's ours.

So I will try to upload some photos in color and not so.. dramatic, haha to show what it what it looks like :)  Still so hard to believe that it's ours!

With Love,

Wedding Tips: Invitations and Stationary

Hey there! So I have decided to post some wedding tips that I have learned along this journey of planning a very DIY wedding.  I may not spill all of my secrets until after the wedding but I figured to post some as I go so I don't forget all of them. And since I am right in the middle of ordering invitations and stationary items, I figured it would be good to talk about that.

Now I am designing my invitations, which is obviously a cheaper option, but if you are not comfortable with that, there are plenty of cheaper options. This site talks about some great free templates online, but there are also some downloadable templates on Etsy like this for low prices.  Once you have that all set, all you need is to find the best and cheapest place to print them.  Now my automatic place to look is at Vistaprint.com, which has been great for many things which I will talk more about later, but that really wasn't the best option.  Actually the best place I found which my sister-in-law actually showed me is www.printrunner.com.  This place is the bomb.com! They do all types of printing, postcards, stickers, and all types of sizes for great, fair prices!  And they are great to work with, my SIL said that apparently with  the template she uploaded some of the design would be cut off, and they contacted her as soon as they caught it.  BUT also by being in school I was able to contact my colleges' printing services and they are willing to do it for a very reasonable price also.  So, whichever way you choose to do it, think outside the box!  With doing it myself, it looks like I am able to have the invitations (including RSVP cards and envelopes) for less than 60 cents each! SO worth it to me :)

Oh so back to vistaprint- the best deal there for sure is the 250 business cards for free.  Need an insert to say where you are registered of the location of the reception?  Use a business card! They have some decent designs, and its the perfect size for someone to fit into their purse or wallet.  They also make adorable small stickers that you can custom design for putting on favors.  This place has literally been a life saver!

Are there any other options that you explored! Would love to know!!

With Love,

Not My Strength

From my journal

 
So many moments of my life I focus on how to be a better woman - how to respond in a way that they know what I mean without seeming rude, how to be a better fiance, a better friend.  This is based on my shallow perception of what love is and trying my best to be that.  But that's the problem, I'm trying to do it all on my strength and my perception of love. And that can get depleted fast.  I can find myself getting easily frustrated with my life, my situation, anything that isn't completely going my way really.  But I am so so thankful for God's gentle reminders to love Him, and He will take care off the rest.  To stop thinking about it and just start living.  And loving. And to fight the good fight and keep pursuing Him.

Twenty Fourteen.

So I must admit that I am surprised that I haven't been blogging this much over Christmas.  I thought I would be full of little Christmas DIYs and gifts... but honestly I spiraled from my insane semester into a Downtown Abbey Coma.  And I'm ok with that.
Christmas was wonderful, had about a week full (I mean full) of seeing family and friends.  Cal and I got a bunch of appliances and things for the apartment which will help a ton for when he moves out. The new year has come and we are now in full time wedding planning mode: playing hard ball with vendors, meeting with the DJ, and figuring out which champagne glasses we really want to use.  With Cal and I pretty distracted with all that, it's pretty easy to forget to slow each down and be with each other... which is why we are doing all this, so we can be with each other forever!  So we've decided that and sit-down get-to-know-each-other date was in order. Pronto.
I love how Cal can remind me to slow down and enjoy life just by a simple smile, or giving long hugs right when I walk in the door.  And man could I use the reminders, too.  I am planning a wedding, my wedding with the man of my dreams, and I want to soak up every moment.  So although there may not be too many DIYs here in the near future (I pretty much have a DIY wedding on my hands here), I want to blog more.  To enjoy more.  To cherish more.
Bring it on 2014, you are gonna be the most exciting year of my life.

Ice-skating on New Years! ...goofiest picture ever.

With love,

Whatever you are

So I've been wanting to write for a while, but I wasn't quite sure how to put my thoughts into words... or at least good ones.  So for the past few weeks the weeks and the semester draws to a close, I am starting to feel the end of the semester blues.  I don't really know what to do with myself now without my head stuck in a book or in a project non-stop.  It's funny because the whole time I just wanted life to slow down.. funny how life works that way.  As I now face my last semester, I am faced with that terrifying reality that every graduate faces: doing what I want to do for the rest of my life (aka: finding a job). I know that the first job I get is not somewhere I have to stay for 30 years or anything, but it's just the thought of this huge change and transition in my life.

I feel like God has been growing and stretching me for some time now.  It was actually a big transition for me to go from dating to engaged, having the most intense semester of my life, and some highly emotional situations, but God has shown me His way through it all.  But I feel like I just finished that hurdle and I have another one right ahead.

Well I must say thank God for the scriptures (literally.. thank you, God) because they are such an encouragement, better than any pep-talk.  My facebook friend posted today Colossians 3:23-24 which states:

 "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."

 

 This is such a great reminder... I just have to worry about serving the Lord, and He will take care of the rest.  And He has proven it time and time again.  This also reminds me of the quote by Abraham Lincoln which states:

"Whatever you are, be a good one." 

 

It doesn't matter what I do, as long as I work hard and do it for the Lord.  Lemmetellya, change is hard.  But we have the Creator of the Universe to help us at any moment of any day.  I'm pretty sure you can get through anything with Him. Actually I'm 100% sure.

So I'm thankful for these little reminders and encouragements, they sure help me, and I just thought I would pass it along~

With Love,