Happy Anniversary!

To the One and Only.

:-) I love you, Jeremy! Happy #3!

wedding 1

wedding 2

honeymoon - Orcas Island

#1! (happy and vintage)

#2! (sick and pregnant)

And here's to many more!!! (49+ to be exact)

fun vintage finds - 5/16/11 edition

It's GARAGE SALE season!! Thrifters, rejoice! The number of Saturday sales in my neighborhood increase exponentially every week. Now, I just need to get out there and hunt!

Here are some finds from the last week. If you missed my other 25-cent gem, click here.

Did any other of you thrifters find treasures over the weekend?

two sets of 3 plates. odd. :-)

a few finds. candelabra on the right will be painted. I'm thinking glossy white.

Mom, what do you think abt these plates for your kitchen shelves?

totally vintage. i think my gramma had dishes like this.

china pedestal 

white vintage stud earrings

isn't this magazine rack amazing!?

it's in such great condition and it's staying just like it is.

a 25-cent gem

I love deals. And, to be honest, I am fairly shy. So working up the courage to stop at garage sales is a challenge for me. (Yes, I know, make fun of me if you will.) But, this week, I found some great buys, one of which was a 25-cent 1940s cabinet record player! The outside is in bad shape, but potential is in the eye of the beholder.

I got it home and asked Jeremy how much he thought I paid for it. He said, "I hope FREE!" Well, 25-cents is almost free.We haven't seen if it works (I highly doubt it) but the player arm still has its needle. Sweet!

Stay tuned for its transformation! I'm so excited about this one. What color do you think I should paint it???

wood paneling finish peeling off

peeling

I've already peeled the whole top off!

back ruined from water damage

front view

front also damaged by water

the inside actually looks fairly decent!

so cool.

inside cabinet

our Garden 2011

As of yesterday, my garden is planted. (Last year's was kind of a bust because I was too sick to enjoy it.)

Thanks to my in-laws and my parents for the seeds, plants, pole-bean creation and help. I decided I wanted to finish up my garden before I was left to do it alone (with a baby) and despite the very warm weather, everyone was game. Woo hoo! Let it grow!

I love watching things grow, the curled beans sprout into leafy goodness, little strawberries maturing into sweet delights. Plus, "shopping" in your backyard - can't beat that! I can't wait to teach my girl in the next few years... it's educational, sustainable and just plain fun.

tomatoes.

sweet peppers!

george's pole bean creation

garlic and a little jalapeno

parsley

cute little flower basket - don't you love the curly cue? I do!

strawberries.

a scarf

I made this scarf for my MIL's birthday. Unfortunately, the pictures do not 1) give it justice and 2) don't capture the real color.

Next time, I'll really try to get better pictures AND step-by-step pictures. But, I snatched the tutorial anyway from a great crafting blog. For the real tutorial, go to MADE.

(Love that site thanks to my friend and fellow sewing machine lover, Sharla, who introduced us just a few short weeks ago. I didn't know what I was missing! If you haven't been there, go check it out!)

Instead of turning and sewing all of the seams, I decided to just scallop the edges with my machine and trim the excess off. It probably would've been easier had I just turned the edges because with my gargantuan fabric scissors, the edging took HOURS. But, in the end, it turned out lovely.

(Note to self: next time, buy edging scissors. It'd be worth it.)

I finished it up with some elastic thread - also a new love! - and sent it off.

Woo hoo! What should I make next? One of these?

The Royal Wedding (?)

Could someone clue me in ... why all the American fuss over Britain's royal wedding?

Photo Credit here

I mean, yeah, I'm interested in her secret dress. (But I'm not getting up at 4 a.m. for that - I'll be able to find it almost everywhere and anywhere after I get a good night's sleep.) They make a cute couple. I'm glad he found a seemingly sweet small town girl. But that's just about it.

Can someone help me out here? What's the deal with all of the buzz?

(for an interesting perspective of all the money being spent, click HERE).

fun vintage finds - Easter edition!

Such sweet little dresses to be found. I really am surprised how many little dresses I've snagged at the Salvation Army here in town. Aren't they sweet?

size 3-6 mos - bloomers included!

sweet strawberry detailing

pinstriped pinafore dress - size 1

love it!

this time, last year.

this time last year I was sick.

i got down to 115 lbs
i spent 9 days in the hospital

my mom had to "celebrate" her birthday in the hospital with me
i missed a best friend's birthday party
i felt HORRIBLE

i had to walk around with an IV pole for a couple of months
i was a mess and our tiny was only 2.6cm big!

but, thanks to God's grace, look at us now!

I am unendingly thankful.

Featured Follower Fridays - 4/15/11 edition

 Every Friday I'm doing "Featured Follower Friday". Now, if you aren't technically a follower ...  no problem! Anyone is welcome. Share a part of your story, write about yourself, be creative, crazy, silly, poetic, whatever - and if you have a blog, be sure to link it too! Then other people can "meet" you, connect to your blog, or just find out something interesting! Wanna participate? I'd LOVE to feature you!

Today's featured follower is Brendan Blowers, former missionary kid to Haiti amongst other things. We were both Naz MKs, graduated from the same class, and helped each other through a tough year and a half. I'm so glad to be featuring a like-minded-with-history friend! 

Brendan and I on one of the infamous hikes in Haiti. (2002)

Like most any aspect of life these days, I have been realizing how missionary life follows the pattern of becoming quickly reduced into a few oversimplifed concepts and easy phrases that we repeat to ourselves and others to ease the discomfort of actually having to keep our understanding of “missions” in a process that has to be constantly redefined and thought through. In a sense, our concept of missions itself is part of what God wants to redeem. It must go through a transformative process just like all other aspects of our life, so it doesn’t remain stagnant and rooted in our previous ways of thinking, before God showed us the light. Think, for example, of the initial impact a short-term missions trip has on people. That concentrated period of a few weeks introduces us to ideas, feelings, and realizations about what it means to share Jesus’ love in places and cultures we are unfamiliar with. Yet, that initial experience has to move beyond our initial intrigue and into something deeper that God wants for his worldwide church. It has to move back with us and become applicable where we live and work. Or, it has to continue to flame inside of us and push us into future cross-cultural service. There are no shortcuts in this process of redeeming our ideas of what missionary service entails, and our experiences with missions will have a direct impact on how our understanding is formed.

My idea of missions has been formed by my experiences as well. My Grampa lived and worked as a Bible translator in Papua New Guinea for 38 years, a history I know of mainly only through stories and an amazing visit to the places where he worked after I graduated college. (If you attend a Nazarene church there should be a missions book coming out about now that I wrote along with my grampa and dad about the trip back). I know about missions as a kid growing up in Haiti where our family moved as missionaries when I was eight. And now I’ve got my own taste of missionary experience in Costa Rica for the past couple years, where I presently serve with Mission Aviation Fellowship as a specialist in Learning Technologies.

One of the highlights of my mission experience here has been weekly involvement in a computer class in an immigrant shantytown on the outskirts of the capital city where I live. Over the past two years I’ve worked slowly and regularly with a few young guys from the slum to maintain the computers at two different learning labs located there, and their aptitude for learning and serving has been exciting to watch. People in their own community are now paying them to help fix their computers and load programs for them, and we’ve had a lot of fun experiences at summer camps. My training in computers, web design, and multimedia has helped give me an “excuse” to get into people’s homes to fix their computers while at the same time supporting seminaries and other Latin American training facilities on a professional level with the Christian training they provide. I’ve also been privy to participate in a couple of mission trips led by Costa Ricans to remote parts of their own country and other parts of the world (including back to Haiti!). That has been a great experience as well, and helped in the process I described above of shaping and redeeming my understanding of missions. For example, I am still humbled by the sacrifices I’ve seen people make to be a part of missions trips. I also am inspired by the dedication and urgency in their service. I see that I still have a lot to learn.

If you want to find out more about Mission Aviation Fellowship, they're a great missions organization that does relief flights in some of the most isolated parts of the world, set up communications links, and use recent technologies to help deliver biblical training (the distance training is the part I serve in). There are more adventures and stories on my blog, along with photo albums, videos, and  an interactive map if you want to check them out.

Mama said...

... "there'll be days like this."

"There'll be days like this," my Mama said.

Happy Monday! a.k.a. the randomest post ever.

I'm watching the Price is Right while my husband and little girl sleep upstairs.


My life is quite exciting, I know.

Actually, I really like game shows. I'm a nerd like that. But maybe I live vicariously through the people that win. Because, I never win anything. (Well, almost. Because last week, I actually won a blog giveaway from KCMamas! A gift certificate to Thirty-One! Waa-what?! I won? Yes, quite excited. I've even already placed my order. I'd not heard of Thirty-One before, but it's one of those home party business ventures. They have some pretty great items!)

I'm good with it! :-)

I'm still unemployed, but my husband is interested in a full-time position at the seminary he works at and will apply. Please pray that if it's the right move for us, it will happen!


A guy just spun the $1.00 on the wheel! And another guy just spun a $1.00. Now for the spin-off. 


For my 28th birthday, can I go to the Price is Right and win the Showcase Showdown?

Guy #1 going to the showdown. Guy #2 just won another $10,000.

Actually for my 28th birthday, I'd really like to do THIS. Random acts of kindness. but I can't really afford to do all of those myself. Maybe 27 other people would join me in celebrating my birthday and do one random act of kindness in my honor? Then we could all put together a list of creatively RAKs. What do you think?

She's not going to Bali.

(A video coming soon. Her newest trick!)

Hope your Monday is great and maybe a little less random than mine. :-)

Love,
Lisa

vintage stragglers

I have a few items I forgot to share. The camera is something I've always wanted and am composing a shelf display for our living room using it. However, I need a shelf! That is the problem. My mom walked into our house a few days after I got it and spotted it right away. You know when you see something very familiar that you haven't seen in decades? Yep, that's it! Ends up that her parents had one of those when she was little. She even showed me how to look through it from the top. In all of my high-tech glory, I couldn't figure that one out. So great.

And the baby boy romper. Isn't it cute? Makes me want a little boy! (Not really. Nope. 100% kidding. It is still cute though.)

Mint and white baby boy romper.

Little carousel detail.

backside.

Vintage display camera!

so great! LOVE it.