Please don't hate me...

Let me preface with a few of the reasons I started writing a blog in 2011.

1. I graduated with a degree in journalism. My job doesn't have me writing much, except emails, and that doesn't count. I wanted to keep my writing skills sharp. 
2. In 2011, I knew a little bit about web design and content management, but not much. I wanted to challenge myself to do more with that.
3. I love design and photography. But again, I don't get to do much of that at my current job. I wanted to give myself an outlet to keep pursuing the things I like to create.
4. Technology is changing faster than my brain works. I created my first blog, Ramble (which turned into mrsblogbacktome after I got married), to give myself an excuse to keep up with the latest and greatest on the Internets.

This leads me the topic for today. In about one week, I will be moving blogs again. I believe that this will be a more permanent spot, as I will be purchasing a domain name.

I want to address a couple of fears I have about doing this, and then explain why I'm doing this.

My main fear is that I'll loose some of you. Moving domains twice is a lot. I hope that I won't loose any readers, because as always, my main goal is to share my struggles and victories with each of you in hopes to be a sort of web-friend encourager to you. I don't want my moving around to different sites to turn anyone off from being encouraged or supported.

The other fear I have is that I'm not good enough. I'll be moving from a pretty user-friendly template from Google's "Blogger" hosting site, to a pretty in-depth hosting site. I'll actually be spending my "splurge" money on the domain name and the host site. In my mind, I keep telling myself that it's silly to do that; I don't have enough readers to maintain anything like this. I'm also nervous about all of the web design and content management that goes into it, because it's a lot heftier than what Blogger requires me to do. But, with that comes a lot more creative freedom.

So here's the WHY:

• I miss being mrsblogbacktome. I loved how fluid everything was with that site. From Twitter to Pinterest, everything was "branded" the same, if you will. Since I work in public relations and advertising, branding is a pretty big thing in my book.
• I really love Heavy & Lite and the idea behind it. I love that it's biblically grounded in scripture of giving everything over to Christ, since that's what I struggle with most often. 
• I love the phases of life that I've gone through in each blog. With mrsblogbacktome, there's my initial blog posts that were so scattered and crazy. Then there was the engagement phase of life that I walked through with Jason. Then we got married and I walked through those first months of marriage on that blog. With Heave & Lite, we've completed our first year of marriage, bought a house, and are trying to get a grasp on this whole adult-life thing. 
• The new site will allow me to combine the two blogs so that I have access to everything in one place.
• There is so much room to grow at this new site. 
• Everything is accessible and in one place. I already mentioned that I can combine mrsblogbacktome and Heavy & Lite. Also, I can add recipes, folders, Etsy orders, and my portfolio if I choose to. For Heavy & Lite, I was using an external recipe index builder, which is fine, but it's A LOT of work to add just one recipe. This site allows me to have as many as I want and it hosts the index within the site.
• The new host site gets rid of a lot of clutter.

I know a lot of this is just mumbo-jumbo and you probably don't care that much. But for those of you who are sitting there going, "Girl, you gotta get it together!" I wanted to explain myself.

So starting next Monday, October 7th, I will be launching mrsblogbacktome.com. 

I haven't decided if I'm going to keep posting on Heavy & Lite until then, or if I'm just going to save up and have a full first week on the new blog, but I'll keep you posted either way (pun intended).

Last but not least, I want to just shout THANK YOU to all of you who read this little ole thing. I really didn't think anyone would ever read my blog, and with mrsblogbacktome and Heavy & Lite combined, I've had over 13,000 views. I pray that the Lord works through each word that I type. Thank you for sticking with me, and I promise I won't do this to you again (at least for a while).

And here's a little preview of what you'll see Monday:

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Ya Heard It Here First

So, this video is pretty awesome (maybe stop it about 10 seconds early...sorry for the last part)...

So here for a little "Throwback Thursday", is my post from mrsblogbacktome on June 18, 2013:

#phenomenon

To answer the question all of you are simultaneously asking right now, yes, yes you do pronounce the "#" in this title...and it's pronounced "hashtag".

This is an ode to the love/hate relationship that we all have with this ambiguous symbol we've come to know as the "hashtag".

A little personal history.

I was born in 1989. So that means that this, #, has been known to me as the "number sign" and the "pound key" before anyone that I knew began calling it a "hashtag". I use it when I call to check my balance on a store gift card ("Please enter the 450 digit number and then press the pound key"). I used to use it when I numbered things in school, or let's be honest, when I passed a note in class. I use it each and every day to get into my apartment. Some even still call it the "tick-tack-toe game board" (I don't actually know if that's a thing, but if it's not, it should be). I certainly cannot wrap my mind around how one little tiny symbol can have so many meanings and evoke so many emotions.

I, for one, am considering just making "hashtag" the universal name for this, "#". From now on, if you're coming to see me or the mister, you may call me and I'll tell you to dial "hashtag, one, two, three, four" to get into our neighborhood (Note: All of these numbers have been changed for privacy, but actually, that probably is someone's gate code).

Now that we're all on the same page here and we're all calling this, "#", a "hashtag", let me tell you a little story about my first hashtag. It's quite sentimental. Seriously, get your tissues ready people.

I reluctantly joined the Twittersphere in January of 2011. I was the person behind all of the Children's Homes social media, therefore I figured I should probably step up my game and create a Twitter account of my own. But, that's not the beginning of my hashtagging history. It actually took me almost 20 tweets to reach my first hashtag. And what was this memorable hashtag? Well, I didn't actually remember, so earlier today I scrolled back through my 2,171 tweets and found out that it was this...(drumroll please): #bittersweet.

It actually is kind of sentimental, even though I said that being 100% sarcastic earlier.

Also, don't let that tweet fool you...I still buy school supplies. Every semester I choose a class from the list at Walmart and I buy myself a little something special. This year, I was a first grader in Mrs. Darnell's class. Just kidding, I totally made all of that up. Not a bad idea though...I may have created a new tradition.

When I began my planning for this post, I was going to give you the actual history and origin of the hashtag. Buuuuuut... then I decided that would be super borning and no one actually cares. Instead, I'm going to give you some life lessons for your hashtags to live by.

Here we go. Buckle up.

Jessica's Life Lessons for your Hashtags to Live By:

1. Keep your hashtags witty and/or relevant. Don't hashtag just for hashtagging's sake. If you're tweeting about a show you're watching and a not-so-subtle hashtag pops up in the corner of the screen, use it. But don't say, something like "I'm watching The Bachelorette tonight and bachelor #3 is lookin' fine #youlookawesomebachelor3pleasemarryme." Don't do that. Just make your hashtag "thebachelorette". It's obvious and relevant. And also, don't tweet about how fine the bachelors on that show are. Their egos are already way too big.

2. You don't have to hashtag everything in sight. If you're tweeting or instagramming a photo (yes, I just made "instagramming" a verb), don't hashtag everything that the light touches (and yes, that's a Lion King reference). If you're tweeting a pic from a Braves game, seriously, don't hashtag every detail. #braves #baseball #summernight #jumbotron #chickfila #cow #chop #thisishowwechop #hotdog #chair #dugout #cleats #bat - NOT NESSEARY. For the love of all that is good in the social media universe, please don't do that!! You think I'm joking, but I have seen people do it before.

Exhibit A(wful):

I sincerely apologize if any of these hashtags are offensive.
I don't know what some of them mean, and with a Bob Marley quote...well...you just never know.

Exhibit B(ewildering):

Everyone's dream pets: a cat and a ferret. I
promise they'll love you like a puppy would.

3. Limit your hastags to about two, maybe three per post. Think of two really strong, relevant, or witty hashtags. Stick with those. Quality > Quantity my friend.
4. Don't string more than a few words together in a single hashtag. Don't think that you can try to sneak around rule number three by stringing 10 words together.If I have to take a screenshot of your tweet or Instagram photo, go to my Camera Roll, then zoom in, all in order to read your hashtag, it's too long. Break it up. You'll be better for it.

#donotstringabunchofwordstogetheritisnoteffectiveipromiseyouthatmuchistrue

5. Don't speak in hashtags. It's really just tacky. Unless you're transcribing what someone else said, or maybe quoting something someone said, don't say the word "hashtag" followed by a phrase, even it if is witty and/or relevant. People will look at you strange, and no one wants that. If I had it my way, we'd all carry around Pinterest-y chalkboards and anytime we thought of a hashtag that we wanted to verbally share, we'd just write it out, hold it up, and move on. Just promise me that you won't be like Kasey from the Bachelorette when he got out of the limo. If you're not sure what I'm talking about...go watch it (first episode of this season). You'll cringe. It's rough. Poor guy. No one told him the rules.

So there they are...the rules of this hashtag phenomenon...or at least my rules. As in any high stakes competition, remember to play by the rules and keep it classy. That's all I've got for today, friends.

(Note: This blog post was brought to you by way too much caffine)

 

Our Crestwood Cottage: A First-Time-Homebuyer Story

I'm writing this post today because two months ago, I had NO idea what all it would take to be living in our home. Technically, Jason and I were supposed to start looking at houses TODAY.

Jason and I are both hard-core researchers. We research everything before we buy, go, and do anything! Since this whole house thing kind of snuck up on us, we didn't have sufficient time to research and we really just had to walk through it step-by-step.

After we renewed our lease on our apartment last January, we made the decision that we would begin house hunting after our one year anniversary (September 22nd). Once we planned our trip to Seattle, we decided that the day we got back, we'd begin our search. Little did we know, God had another plan.

For all of you out there who are considering buying a home in the future, whether it's the near future, or the distant future, I hope that this post gives you a glimpse into what it may be like. Obviously, everyone's situation is different, so please keep that in mind. But at the same time, I know that I would have loved to read someone's account of buying their first home before I walked through this myself.

Since I'm addicted to HGTV, I thought that we'd have to be pre-approved for financing before we even started looking. I think that's the biggest thing I've been surprised about...because we weren't. I actually saw the listing for our house on a website I frequently looked at. I checked out the pictures, and I loved the price. It was in one of the areas that I knew Jason and I wanted to live in, so I forwarded him the website. He loved it too.

The next day was Jason's birthday, July 24th. It was a Wednesday. Jason wanted to go eat at a restaurant that is out in Trussville, so we did. On the way home, he suggested that we drive by the house that I'd sent him. So we did. We loved the location, loved the outside "in real life", and loved that the FOR SALE sign still said, "Coming Soon". We thought it gave us some time.

Back up a few weeks.

Jason and I were driving home from Publix one Sunday afternoon, and saw an OPEN HOUSE sign in Homewood. We thought it'd be fun to walk through one of the cute little bungalow houses and just see what it's like. So we did. The house was WAY too small for us and WAY too expensive, but the realtor was just right (there's my Goldilocks reference for the week). As I was looking around the house, Jason began talking with him. They just seemed to click. We got his card, and decided in the car that when the time came for us to begin our home search, we'd call him.

So, after driving by our house on Jason's birthday, I emailed Scott, the realtor, to see if we could see the inside of the house. Friday after work, Jason and I met at my office and drove over to "the house" for the first time.

We loved it. It was a great price, great size, and great location. It was everything we'd be looking for in a couple of months...but we weren't at that point in time yet. Standing in the living room of the house, I asked Scott what the next steps would be if we really wanted this house. He explained, and then we left. That night, Jason and I decided that we needed to see a few more houses in the area so that we could compare sizes, price, etc.

We also spent the evening in that area...we ate at the restaurants around, went to the bank around the house, and spent time at a friend's house in the area. We pretended that we lived there, which made our decision to proceed much easier.

The next morning, I went to work on this house stuff like it was my job. Scott emailed me the name of a few mortgage brokers, and he set up showings at a few other house for us. By Saturday night, we were pre-approved, we'd looked at 4 additional houses, we'd gone back our house, and we ended the evening sitting in Scott's office writing up our offer.

The next few days were nail-biters.

We didn't hear back from the seller until Monday. They didn't want to come down much on the price, and they wanted us to pay closing. Boo. We countered. They countered. We countered. They countered with 3 choices that basically gave them the same bottom line, but allowed us to decide if we wanted to pay more for the house over 30 years, or pay closing costs upfront. We chose not to pay closing costs upfront. Our mortgage broker told us that for every $1,000 in the sale price, it's around $7 added to our monthly payment. Good to know.

Just as I was signing the revised contract and sending it back to Scott, we heard there was another offer on our house. The seller wanted our best offer - and we were so afraid we were about to get into a bidding war. After some prayer and discussion, we decided to stick with our original offer that was being written up in the revised contract. We felt like it was a little on the weird side that we'd already agreed on the terms and they came back with a 'best offer' type thing. I know it's pretty common, but it just didn't sit right with me.

The next day, Scott called to say that they accepted our offer and it was ours. The seller did add something to the contract though. She added that she would not fix anything if there was something wrong with it upon inspection. Great...

We had 10 days to get an inspection done. We hired a really eclectic inspector known as Inspector Dave to do our inspection. He was really thorough, and thankfully the house had no big problems. Whew, that was a relief. We went ahead and set the closing date for Sept. 3rd at 4 p.m. Since we knew our closing date, we went ahead and scheduled everything to be turned on and connected the next day.

Over the course of the next three weeks, I sent tons of paperwork to our mortgage broker. Lots of signing, lots of sending. The crazy thing is, over the course of all that paperwork, all the phone calls, and all of the emails, we never met our mortgage broker in person. Technology fascinates me.

Then came the appraisal. Our house appraised at the selling value, but it was exactly our price. I kind of freaked out about that a bit, because we thought we were getting a great price. Turns out, many times, appraisers do that. They just put what the selling price is as long as it's worth that. They don't really look at the actual value unless it's way under the selling price.

More paperwork. More signing. More sending.

As I mentioned previously, we were scheduled to close on September 3rd, which was the day after Labor Day. Well, the Friday before Labor Day, we received a call that our closing was going to be pushed to September 5th. Not a big deal, right? WRONG. Since we'd planned for three weeks for closing to be on the 3rd, we'd scheduled movers, bakers, and candlestick makers cable people, and internet people all to come on September 4th. As it turns out...we would not own the place that day, so I had to call, before a holiday weekend, and reschedule EVERYTHING! It felt like a nightmare.

Later we found out that getting your closing date pushed is somewhat normal, and honestly, it ended up a little better this way.

So, Thursday, September 5th, Jason and I arrived at the closing attorney's office to buy our house. I brought basically every piece of paperwork I'd ever signed in my 24 years of life, plus my passport, marriage license, birth certificate, and social security card, but all we needed was a certified check. Leave it to me to be overly OVERLY prepared. We had our check made out a little higher than it needed to be, just in case. At the end of the closing, the attorney gave us the difference back, and another check for something we'd overpaid on previously. I know this is highly uncommon, but we ended up walking away from the closing with a lot more money in our pockets than we expected. Praise God...He really does take care of us...even in the tiniest things.

After closing, Jason and I drove straight to our NEW HOME, sat on the porch, and had our friend come over and take some pictures of us in front of the SOLD sign.

The process was easy in the beginning, hard in the middle, and then wonderful at the end. But isn't that the way most good things are? We know that God has placed us in our home for a purpose, and we intended to live in it well, for His glory.

A Three-Things Wife

Lysa TerKeurst is seriously one of my favorite people ever. I only know her through her books, but I think that we'd be friends if we met. I've quoted her multiple times from her book Made to Crave, but today, I'm going to pull an excerpt from on of her latest books, Unglued.

I seriously think every woman, man, boy, and girl should read Unglued. For women, it's so helpful in identifying how you handle frustration, anger, conflict, etc., and for men, it helps you understand all that we're going through in that great big brain of ours!

In honor of being a wife for almost a full 365 days, I wanted to post this story Lysa writes about in Unglued. I can totally relate to wanting to be an overachieving wife who can do EVERYTHING for her husband, while also being a well-rounded, put-together, Christian woman in every other aspect of life. For me, it just doesn't happen. What Lysa says here comforts me in knowing that I'm not the only woman who don't got it all together all the time most of the time, but it also gives such a practical way to deal with this.

The Three-Things Wife

an excerpt from Unglued, by Lysa TerKeurst

When I first got married, I was desperate to be a “good wife” and determined to figure out how to do it well. So, I took note in my head of what a “good wife” does:

• She cooks meatloaf.
• She vacuums every day so there are lines in the carpet indicating its cleanliness.
• She sticks love notes in his briefcase.
• She buys and wears lingerie.
• She likes wearing lingerie and wears it a couple of times a week.
•  She gives him his space when he gets home.
• She hangs up the phone when he walks in the door.
• She learns facts about football and watches games with him.
•  She prays for him every day.

And the list grew and grew. 

Eventually the list in my head of what a good wife does so completely overwhelmed me that I cried. I felt inadequate. I started to shut down. I constantly felt unglued. 

I assumed the list in my head was in my husband’s head too. 

I grew bitter. And in a moment of complete exhaustion, I yelled, “Your expectations are ridiculous!” 

To which he replied, “What expectations?”

“The list … the list of hundreds of things I need to do to be a good wife,” I sobbed through the snot and the tears. 

His blank stare dumbfounded me. He had no such list. 

It was a perception. These were idle thoughts allowed to run rampant in my mind for so long I confused them with truth. The truth in 1 Corinthians 13 reminds me love is patient, kind, not proud, and keeps no record of wrongs. I had so broadened my scope of things to do that I had diminished my vision of simply loving my husband. 

Do less. Be more. Clear out the clutter of idle words. Find that white space. Honor God. 

If I would have been practicing regular Sabbaths, at which times I sought God on this issue, I suspect I could have saved myself years of coming unglued in my marriage. Years. Finally, I went to my husband. “Honey,” I said, feeling the entanglements of expectations loosening their grip on me, “I can’t do everything good wives seem to do. But I can do three things. So, tell me your top three things, and I will do those well.”

After all, I could spend a whole marriage doing a hundred things halfway with a bitter attitude and an overwhelmed spirit. Or, I could do three things wholeheartedly with a smile on my face and love in my heart.

His three things were simple: Be an emotionally and spiritually invested mom with our kids, take good care of your body and soul, and keep the house tidy. (Notice he said “tidy”— not perfectly clean.) That’s it.

He could care less about home-cooked meals. He is fine with me hiring someone else to vacuum the carpet. And he’s totally okay if I watch 48 Hours while he watches man-cub events on a different TV.

Now, he didn’t say anything about lingerie. But, he could argue that it is a subplot of my taking good care of my body. The problem is, I’m much more of a sweatpants kind of girl. Yes, Victoria has a little secret, and I haven’t a clue what it is.

But that’s a topic for another day entirely.

For today, I’ve narrowed my scope to three things, and this narrowing has broadened my vision for a great marriage.

I am a three-things wife. It’s simple. But simple is good. And, more importantly, I stopped sabotaging my marriage by stopping the idle thoughts.

How might this help you? How might this improve some of your relationships?

------------------------------------

To check out Lysa's blog, click here.
To check out the books she has written, click here.

Our Crestwood Cottage: A King's Headboard

Ever since I began reading Young House Love, I decided that I wanted to be more like them. Obviously I don't have nearly the talents or skills, but I figured I'd take it one project at a time. My first real DIY home project that I decided to do was a king size headboard. My plan was to follow their directions for upholstering a headboard exactly, to ensure there would be no errors.

Well, when I showed up at the art store, I was informed that the size frame I needed would either cost me about $90, or it did not exist. I opted out of that, and chose make a stop at Home Depot (which is less than a mile from our house...DANGEROUS) and buy some plywood.

My mom was really helpful in this. She's a pro I tell ya. We ended up buying an $8.00, 4'x8' piece of plywood and having them (Home Depot dudes) saw off the 2' or so that we didn't need. The plywood was about 1" thick, which is really all you need for this. We also bought 2 1"x3" boards that we had cut into 3, 4' pieces. These would serve as the legs for our headboard. We bought a pack of 1 1/4" wood screws to attach the legs to the plywood.

Previously, I'd picked out a fabric from a website that has great quality fabric for a very affordable price. I bought 3 yards, which was probably a little to much, but King beds are huge, so I wanted to be safe. I had also previously bought 3 yards of batting at Joann's Fabrics.

TIP: If you download their iPhone app, there's one coupon a week for 50% a regular priced item.

Just FYI...

Our materials, post sawing.

After our Home Depot shopping trip and after steaming my fabric, we were ready to go.

Probably the most unflattering way I could have done this. But honestly, I didn't know Jason was taking pictures.
Also, right after this, we realized that our backyard is really shady, so we moved back there. Then Mom and I got chiggers. Any tips on how to get those nasty things out of our yard?!?

My hardworking DIY team.

Some intense drilling.

I probably would do a few things differently if we were to do this again. But the process was not bad at all. In fact, my mom and I joked decided that we'd start making these and selling them out of our backyard. So...if you're in the market for a custom headboard...hit us up!

Here's the final product:

And I must say...it's quite comfortable to lean up against!

That's all for today! Seattle is calling our names...so check back with my review of our first trip to Seattle!

Our Crestwood Cottage: Cheerful Welcome - Front Door Makeover

When we moved in almost two weeks ago, we had a black front door with a storm door with bars on it. Very dark, not too pretty. Our porch is one of our favorite things about the house. So Saturday, while my parents were in town, we all 4 went to work on brightening up our front door.

Before:

Dad removed the storm door.
Jason and Mom sanded down the door.

Mom and I painted.

 

The outcome:

We will want to add a door knocker, wreath, and maybe our house number just to add some visual interest to the door. But overall, we LOVE the color and the way our front porch looks.

This was a really simple and inexpensive project with big results.

We bought Behr Ultra paint. It's an exterior semi-gloss with the primer mixed it. We chose from the Martha Stewart collection of colors, and they had to color match it. The color we chose is called "Lagoon". This paint cost about $18 for a quart, and we only used half of the quart. We bought a fine sanding block and sanded the door down first. Then Jason used an electric sander to go over everything to even it out. We used liquid sandpaper last because it makes the door a little "tacky" and it holds the paint on really well. Going from a black door to this bright color only needed two coats of paint!

Come and knock on our door... :)

Our Crestwood Cottage: Master Closet Makeover

When we moved into our house about 10 days ago, our closet was about four feet wide with two bars to hang clothes on and a shoe rack on the door. We didn't even attempt to put our clothes in there because we knew they would not all fit. The previous owner lived there alone, so her clothes probably fit fine - mine would have for sure. But, Jason and I wanted our new home to be 100% OURS, since our apartment was not that way (I lived there first). This meant we wanted both of our clothes in the master closet. I don't know why that was so important to us, but it was. So we did a little closet reno and it's almost complete!

Phase One: We hired someone to knock out the wall that served as the back of our closet and the side wall of a hall closet. Thankfully, we noticed the two closets were only connected by a nonessential wall when we were looking at the house. We had someone come and look at it before closing, and scheduled him to come knock out the wall only 3 days after we'd begun living there. I must say, the noises that I heard at first (I was the only one home when he got started) scared me to death!

One of the biggest things we've had to get used to about our house is the fact that it's OURS and we can do what we want to it! Since Jason and I have always been renters, that's a hard thing to get used to!

Getting a peek at our sub-floor was surreal.

Insulation falling from the ceiling.

Phase Two: No more insulation! Everything was sealed up nicely and ready for some paint!

Phase Three: Everything is painted to match the hallway and living area.

Phase Four: Shelves were hung and clothes were put in the closet. Originially, we were going to have the shelves hung professionally. But the decision came down to professionally hung shelves or a king size bed, and we chose the king size bed. My parents came in town this past weekend, and the four of us hung our shelves. It was actually pretty simple!

Phase Five: The floor still needs to be stained and some of the trip needs to be replaced. We also want to hang bottom shelves for pants, but we will have to wait until the floor is stained.

(come back to see pictures of the last phase)

Overall, this has been a pretty simple process. I'm very thankful we made the decision to do this project right away, because I don't think we would have ever done it otherwise. As of right now, I have no complaints about our house...but I'm almost positive that we would have both been complaining if we would have had to share that little closet that we had before.

The cost of this project was around $1,000. The shelving was about $250, and the labor and materials were around $750.