Monday, August 29, 2011

Abiding in the Word.

"But Jesus called them to him and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'"

Matthew 20:25-28

Well I am soaking up my last week as an official Georgian. Crazy to think that this time next week will be our LAST DAY in GA. Quite bittersweet I must say.

Happy week to you all!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Projects completed.

I'm happy to say that I've made some more progress on a few of my projects from my to-do list!

Here's the ruffled wreath I completed. It will be my fall decoration for our new place... possibly my one and only fall decoration. :)

Find the tutorial here.

Also, I finished up the pinwheel bib. I made two... very similar, but useful nonetheless.



Lastly, I made Lima Bean's pillow from Granny's toile fabric. Now LB will always have a way to think of Andrew's grandmother.


Forgive the quality of pictures. I took all of these on my phone.

Andrew is in Waco, TX right now. He arrived Wednesday evening and will be back on Sunday. When we spoke on the phone last night, he seemed very encouraged by all of the help/advice the operator was giving him. He told me he arrived at the store by 10 am and they didn't finish up meeting until 7 pm! It seems they had a lot to talk about. Today they are going to be discussing finances and taxes. Man does that sound boring fun. Is it bad that I'm glad it's Andrew in Texas and not me? What a man!

I hope you all are looking forward to the weekend. I certainly am!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Blissful morning.

I don't think the weather could be better in GA on this crisp Wednesday morning.


I'm soaking up the last bit of time I have here at home out on the patio - listening to the birds chirp, feeling the cool air on my skin, admiring the clear blue skies, and cringing as my dogs get filthy. Lovely.



Monday, August 22, 2011

Abiding in the Word.

"Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment."

Proverbs 12:19

On another note, Andrew is having a great time in FRL. He's over half way - 3 weeks down with 2 to go. He has to fly to Waco, TX this week for something called an Operator Coaching Visit. Basically he goes to an operator's store for some last minute guidance/training/mentoring/etc. from a successful operator. After his visit, he will only have one more week of classes, followed by his graduation (Sept. 2)! I'm very proud of his diligence and hard work. Of course he never complains and is always pleasant to talk to at the end of the day. I'm a pretty lucky gal!

During all of this, Andrew has been living in Peachtree City at the Dolce. Some of you might wonder what ~20 guys do with their time during the evenings after all the work for the day is done... well you play games and lose bets and have to shave your head. I'm pretty sure 5-6 wives are fuming at my husband right now. Let's just hope it grows back a little before graduation next week!! Here's Andrew with some of his buddies... and his masterpieces on top of all of their heads. :)


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Summer at the Fowler's.

For those of you who don't go to Grace Presbyterian Church, you wouldn't know that we've had a summer pastoral intern. And for those of you who don't know anything about the intern, then you wouldn't know that his name is Ross and we just happen to be flat mates (aka we both live upstairs at my parent's house).



We have enjoyed our time with Ross... so much so that I thought I'd share with you a few facts about him.



Random facts about Ross:
- Ross is actually his middle name; William is his first
- He's from Alabama (we still love him)
- He can survive on $20 a week in food
- He is very tidy... you wouldn't even know we had another resident in the house because he's so neat
- He goes to Westminster Seminary in Escondido, CA
- He plays the guitar and sings
- He is a great help with yard work
- He takes his own freshly brewed Starbucks coffee to Starbucks for his Tuesday morning meetings with our pastor and associate pastor
- He can create a picture perfect burger



- He is incredibly thoughtful and sincere
- He laughs at all of the Fowler's jokes (just being polite?)
- He reads really smart books just for fun
- He stashes dark chocolate and peanut butter M&M's in his drawer upstairs (but he shares them with me)
- He helps clear the table and clean the dishes every night after dinner
- He has an ever increasing line of books lined up on his chest of drawers
- He was on a trivia team of sorts in college (I forgot the name... BUT is was consider a varsity team, so it was totally legit)
- He has completed 2 of 4 years in seminary
- He gets more mail forwarded to our address than I do (and more packages from Amazon)
- He has officially become a part of the Fowler family

We have thoroughly enjoyed having Ross around all summer. It makes for delightful dinner conversations and lots of laughs. Plus, he doesn't mind having 4 (ok maybe just my two) rambunctious dogs running around the house all the time. He really does feel like a part of the family and we're gonna miss him!




Saturday, August 13, 2011

Abiding in the Word.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Ephesians 5:1-2



Friday, August 12, 2011

Projects.

Well I'm not finished with my projects. My goal was to be done by this weekend, but (as lazy as it might sound) even without a full-time job, I can't seem to finish my daily to-do lists.


Nevertheless, I thought I'd share with you some of the fun things I've done. 


Have you heard of Jones Design Company? I wish I could say it was my own company, but sadly it is not. I don't have much creativity running through my blood, so I have to steal it away like a mosquito on a GA's summer night (gross?). Jones Design Company is one of my favorite blogs to follow for some good 'ol DIY inspiration. Check her out. She's super cool.


Of her brilliant DIY projects, here are a few I've attempted to do myself. *Note: the words in black are links to the original tutorial. Click on the link to get the how-to.


Ruffle pillow:


One of our guest rooms will have black furniture in it with a white/gray duvet. I wanted to add some accent pillows so I decided to make a couple. On the tutorial, she lets the ruffles ravel. I preferred a cleaner look, so I closed the up the ruffles with a seam.







Hair Clips:


These are salon style hair clips covered with ribbon... simple idea but I would've never made the effort without a little tutorial. I just hope Lima Bean has hair! :)






Fabric and Satin Flowers:


Flowered beanies for Lima Beanie. I think Lima will wear the little pink one home from the hospital.




The other pillow I made and then embellished with fabric flowers.




Here's the complete set of pillows for the guest bedroom...




- Cloth wipes (not a Jones Design Co idea, but from my friend, Jessica, in Cheyenne):


I know, I know... Impractical and silly to some. Since I'm going to be at home most of the time, however, I thought I'd try my hand in a little "going green" practices. Plus, if I'm trying cloth diapers, why not throw wipes in the wash along with the diapers?




I still have four projects on deck. Three I've started but have yet to complete. Hopefully all four will be done before the end of August. Check out my to-do/am-doing list:


- A really cute banner for Lima Bean's room. Pictures will follow.





- I've almost finished this ruffle wreath. When we get out to Colorado, I'd like to have something to hang up on the door immediately so it feels a little more like home regardless of all the other chaos that will be going on around us (like having a baby). Here's hoping mine will look like this!






- Mom and Dad are letting me have the old rocker that we used when I was a baby (it walks and creaks so it's not that much of a treasure except for the memories) so I've begun a pillow to put on the rocker. Just envision vintage pink toile from Andrew's grandmother's fabric collection on a square pillow with ruffles all around the edges. As my mother-in-law advised: every room should include some sort of toile. I'm following her advice in Lima Bean's room.

- Last but not least, the project I haven't started but hope to do soon... the Pinwheel Bib from Lemon Tree Creations (another inspirational blog).

I just love this bib! Plus, it appears to be within my sewing abilities. :)




Well that's that! So if you were wondering what a preggo does with her down time... now you know.

On to more delicious (and possibly more interesting) things. I want to make this "Peach Cobbler for One (or two if you're nice)." YUM-O!




It's the weekend! Enjoy.Ok folks that's all for now. I hope this has inspired you and made you feel a wee bit crafty.




Thursday, August 11, 2011

Baby Shower #1.

Two Saturdays ago, a dear friend of mine I've known for more than half of my life gave me a simple and sweet baby shower with my girlfriends. It was just delightful.

We began at Mimi's Cafe for a delicious lunch. I had quiche with a mixed salad and fruit. Yum-O.



After our splendid lunch, we headed over to Sarah's for cake and presents.

The Fowler girls.




Not every present was for Lima Bean. It just so happens that I got a new purse from Mama! :)

The cute cookie cake that Sarah ordered.
The lovely host, Sarah.
Thank you Sarah for such a delightful day! I certainly felt very special (as did Lima... she told me later that night).



Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Days well spent.

So what does a hard working man do on his days off from FRL?

He helps his wife refinish a $3 beat up chair from Goodwill!

 Before sanding and painting. 
After sanding and painting.

And what does that same wife do during the week while the husband works so hard? Well different things (some of which I will post later, as I haven't gotten pics of the projects I've been working on)... yesterday was filled with fun times with Mom. We took a trip in to Atlanta to check out a fabric boutique of sorts called Whipstitch

LOVE the gray and turquoise prints. 

The fabrics I purchased for a particular project in the making.

Once we got home, homemade cinnamon raisin bread was made and then I worked on finishing up some cloth baby wipes I've been making. 

Mom is the bread making guru.


More of this later.

I'm almost finished with the projects I keep talking about. I'll post some pics of those by the end of the week!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Abiding in the Word.

"For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passion, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry."

1 Peter 4:3

For anyone who is wondering what exactly this "Abiding in the Word" is that I put on the blog each week, I follow the verses Tabletalk provides for memory that correlate with the week's lessons. This verse seems somewhat random, but for those who read Tabletalk, then you will find that it matches up with what we have been reading.  I highly encourage Tabletalk as a personal or family worship resource.

Happy week!