I can't even handle it.

Ed and I get in the same fight every morning, and it looks like the above. Basically, he wants his doggy bone, and I want him to bark for it. I see nothing wrong with this.

Thankfulness

This past week, I celebrated my 29th bday. I am filled with so much hope and peace for this next year. I can't explain when it happened, or even how it happened, but I have finally come to a place of peace in my life. With so much upheaval over the past couple of years, it is so wonderful to just sit and rest in God's presence without the cloud of doom hanging over my head. I've had to make some pretty tough decisions, all in an effort to arrive at the place I am today.

I am so, so thankful for where I am at now. I live in a location that is good for my heart. The sand and the ocean are equally calming and inspiring, my friends are encouraging and challenging, my job is secure and uses my talents, my church is a place of rest. I know the rough years were there to change me into the woman God wants me to be, but it sure wasn't easy to deal with. I don't understand it, but I'm trying to learn from it.

I got a tattoo back in July, and am constantly reminded (at times surprised) by it. (side note... it was the most ridiculous kind of elective pain to go through. I don't understand how/ why people would get more than one tat. ever.) It signifies, to me, hope and the promises of God to his people. The reference, Deuteronomy 31:8, is so applicable to me: "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

To quote Hope Floats: "... when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will... "

More of the tender, mushy heart.

To my dismay, the tenderheartedness is still in existence. I cried at a wedding this weekend. If you put me at a good friend's wedding, in the midst of a military homecoming, or around Ed and his cuteness, I will cry.

I attended a good friend's wedding this past weekend, and it was so lovely. She turned 30 this year, and spent her birthday solo in wine country- just because she felt like it. In many ways, she's an inspiration to me. She lives a happy, fulfilled life... still one with hurts and pain and grief and even despair, at times. And yet, after all her years of singleness, she remained joyful. Joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Actually, let me quote a couple verses from Romans 12: ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

She embodies all of these charges. She delights herself in the Lord, and she was rewarded with the best gift. Her love and gratitude for the man God provided for her is and was so evident on her wedding day. I've never seen such a happy, excited, hopeful bride than her. She literally bounced along the entire night, so blissful, so... explosive. Explosive in the idea that maybe your heart is so big and full and happy that you might just... burst. And yet, it wasn't one of those loves that makes you painfully aware of your own self and makes you want to vomit; it delights to envelop you into their love, their hope, their joy.

With Jesus as the entire center of their world and being(s), it seems appalling to even think they had anything to do with their love story. Their love story was crafted, managed, and molded by Jesus and Jesus alone.

It was such a delight to share in their joy.

Oh- they had a balloon animal-maker at the cocktail hour.

And I got to create the centerpieces.

HURRICANE MADNESSSSSS

So I figured with Hurricane Irene making her way up the East Coast, I'd do what any other Norfolkian would do and stay home to challenge the storm. That is, until I got a text Friday morning from my brother offering his house up as a safe haven. Knowing full well of his ulterior motives of wanting to see Ed, I quickly jumped on the chance to go visit- the offer does not come along every day. I rushed home after putting plastic tarps over my computer keyboard to stave off the UTTER DESTRUCTION that would inevitably ensue, packed up the puppy and headed North(ish). Northwest. Whatever. The usual 3.5 hour drive took about 6 hours. No problem. I've got my dog (who looked like this most of the trip), and a book on tape (Decision Points by George W. Bush, which is super-interesting so far, btw).

Brotherbear lives adjacent to the Marine Barracks in the Capitol Hill area of DC, and a distant memory of mine includes going to the Marine Barracks on Friday nights to watch the dapper marines march. I used to get escorted in on the arm of a delightful young soldier; now I awkwardly walk by the (still delightful) young soldiers, but feel much more intimidated by their presence (say awkwardly, slightly funny things, and then walk quickly away). (One day, I hope to woo my husband with my awkwardness. Jury's still out on that one.) All that to say- parking was nonexistent. And in this case, you MOST DEFINITELY do not want to park on the other side of the bridge. No, for reals. Not even a joke this time. I parked the car on the other side, got out for 15 seconds, got back in, and proceeded to drive around for another 15 minutes looking for a place to stop my car.

I woke up the next morning, and completed something that has been on my to-do list for the past 15 or so years (that's three times in two sentences I've used the number "15". I recognize that.); I went running on the Mall. No, not in the mall. On the mall. The national grassy-lawned mall. Mission accomplished with a 3.5ish mile run. I celebrated by having a cupcake. (See below.) And because I'm so cool (nerd.), I named the picture file "hurricupcakes". I'm so stinkin clever I can't even stand myself sometimes.

And then the hurrycane was nonexistent after that. Rather, I shouldn't say nonexistent- I should say... uneventful. This is Sunday morning on the streets:

EXCEPT FOR THIS UTTER DEVASTATION!!! I arrived back home to this sad, sad scene. This patio set is certainly causing some grief in my life. Ideas of what to replace the glass with, or how to go about replacing it?  AHHHHH.

That's all.

Done!!

It's always good to listen to my Mother's advice. She's so smart. Her idea to fixing this blasted chair problem was to "go wander around Home Depot." So I did. I had some ideas in mind of how to fix the chair-bottom-falling-out-and-making-people-fall problem I had last weekend. One friend suggested some type of tubing regularly used in screen doors, another (new blogfriend- woot woot!) suggested against wooden dowels, and doubling up on the cording, and Dad suggested superglue. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised he didn't suggest duct tape. Dad fixes a lot of things with duct tape, namely windshield wipers.

Anyway, I wandered around the HD for a bit, all the while trying to look like I knew what I was looking for. I shy away from talking to store associates, especially when at Home Improvement stores. It generally takes me some name dropping to get them to realize I'm not an idiot girl that's never been in there before. And by name dropping, I mean saying words like "crescent wrench", "double-threaded screw", and a phrase like "well, when I was using my power sander the other day..." or "the jigsaw didn't have quite the cut depth I needed..." Anyway. I found myself in the trusty rope and tie-down aisle, and saw the nylon ropes. Hesitant of the ropes, since I had such issues with them the last three times, I spent some time debating, but finally decided on this big, bad mamma jamma.

I sewed only one at first, to make sure it would work. I played this game before, where I sewed multiple pieces, only to realize my efforts were in vain. Lo and behold, Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!! Like a charm. Only problemo this time? I wasn't getting a good stitch next to the cording. I quit for the night, partially defeated, partially jubilant.

A quick internet search the next day made me realize I was just using the wrong tools. It's amazing how easy something can be when using the right tools!! Duh, I needed to use the Zipper foot. See pictures below, and how that allows me to get right up next to the cord for a good, successful stitch.

I busted three out after I figured the correct technique, and BOOM goes the dynamite. I'm done. Ish. (I need to fix the first attempt, and do some touch-up painting to the pink chair.) This project made me want to punch myself in the face. But I'm done. And it will be so nice once the temp drops below 100, and these crazy beetle-things disappear. I can't wait to use my new/old patio set.

Ed put in some hard work, too. Ok, not really. I just really love taking pictures of him. And you should love looking at pictures of him. :)

*k

Workywork

This is from a project that my company just completed. So good.

The Neverending Project

I started this redo project a few weeks ago (okay, maybe a couple of months is more accurate), and it seems to want to continue for the rest of eternity. Some friends of mine were paring down their crowded backyard, and offered up a patio set. Not one to turn down a project (or free fun things), I accepted the gift(s). One patio table with a glass top, and four fabric-backed chairs.

It seemed easy enough: Repaint said furniture, purchase and sew new fabric backs and seats. The painting was the easy part. I just lightly sanded the surfaces, to make sure the paint would stick. And spray paint and I continued our love affair.

The sewing, however, is another story. I got super-lucky with the fabric. It was on the "remnant/ sale" table in the verrry back of the store, and found this outdoor fabric. Originally something like $26 a yard, I got it for $6 a yard.

I originally purchased cording that would be sewn into the edges of the back and bottom panels, then slid into channels that would be screwed on to the chairs and secured in place. After finishing all my sewing, I went outside to grab one of the channel pieces, and BUSSST. The cording was wayyy too small and immediately slipped out of place. Back to the store for round two.

Round two, with larger cording, was an immediate bust as well. Third time's the charm, right? I sewed in the largest cording Joann's had (1mm, I think?), and reassembled the chairs. VIOLA! I even tested them out. Perfecto!!

Cue the arrival of friends and dudes, who apparently weigh more than I do. (I am certainly not complaining about the fact that I weigh less than dudes.) Also cue the immediate bust of the chairs. AGAIN. But seriously. Look how cute this is? I grabbed the beach umbrella, planted some succulents in the mason jars, and instant party!

I'm at a loss as to how I should fix this?! Does anyone have ideas? I've thought of rubber tubing (the kind that is used for screen doors), or wooden dowels. Suggestions?

I need help.

Omg. Omgomgomg

Yesterday was BY FAR the worst eharmony day ever. EVER. But at the same time that all this was happening, I was able to find the humor in it.

So the day started out with Bossman Hambone being a silly old sillyface. Or, as the Bakers say, a stupid old stupidhead.

Move on to match #1- recent, fast-moving kind of guy. He replied very quickly, and soon requested to "chat". So he sent an eharmony email that asked if I would like to gchat or facebook chat. Immediately after that, he closed the match. Ergo, chatting was instantly not an option for him. Mmmkay.

Match #2. Also a fast-mover. In response to my question "Tell me 5 random things about yourself", he thought it was most important for me to know that he is a) very conscious about his weight and b) that he is slightly OCD and hates getting dirty. Perfect.
There were two other silly things that happened, but to protect the innocents, I will refrain from mentioning them.

Then early this morning, I received this match:

The most influential person in my life has been:

There are a few. This may sound kinda corny but Bob Ross was one. He inspired me to be an artist. I love painting and I love art in general and I owe most of that to him.

Really. Bob Ross is the most influential person in your life? How in the world could you leave out John Tesh? Or Richard Simmons? Or Sally Jesse Raphael?
Oh wow. And just in case you were wondering, today will be the last day of eharmony for me. I just can't take it anymore. We're breaking up.

On another note, I'm toying with the idea of writing a book detailing my life thus far, which would involve my stories (book on singleness, patience, waiting on God) that lead up to now. I'm looking for titles for said book and taking suggestions. Here are a few that I've thought of/ received so far:

1. Really? Really.
2. Eharmony and other sh*t.
3. This makes my stomach hurt.
4. Keep calm and have a cupcake

Any ideas?