Friday Favs: Week 2

Happy Friday!!!!  The drive home on Friday always seems extra long :(  What an evil way the world works sometimes!  But now I am happily home with my hubby getting ready for a lovely Halloween weekend and I wanted to share some of my favorites this week... so here goes :)

*My lovely friends.  This sounds cheesy, but this week they are at the top of my list.  Last night I had my weekly date night with Laura and Mina to watch Vampire Diaries and Grey's Anatomy, and they were exactly what I needed after a long day.  They are always so loving and inspiring, plus they make me laugh :)  And this morning I got to share an early morning breakfast with Michelle and Ashley.  There was no better way to start the day than over a delicious breakfast with two fantastic people!

*Our brand new "From the Calefs" stamp that I bought off of Pick Your Plum!  They had personalized stamps for sale a few weeks back and it came to under $13 for the stamp and shipping!  Heck yes to a good deal and the stamp is so cute.  I have been using the stamp this week on the back of thank you cards (yes I am STILL working on them... making them by hand is a lot of work).

*The Pinterest Challenge put on by Young House Love!  I am participating this week and will unveil what I decided to do next Wednesday :)  You should all participate too!  Pinterest is awesome.

*Speaking of Pinterest this is my favorite idea that I found this week.  It would fit anywhere in our house right now, but maybe in the future...

Hope everyone has a lovely Halloween weekend! BOO!

Mirror re-do

With my job I travel a lot and must get creative with ways to spend my lunch time in different towns.  One of my favorite places to go in Branson is TJMaxx.  They often have a better selection than the one in Springfield, and they have a really good clearance area.  This shopping trip I was looking to see if I could find some cute fall decor (which I found) and stumbled upon a fantastic mirror that I knew I had to have.  First the cute fall decorations just because I love them :)

And now on to the mirror.  It started its life like this:

I looked past its hot pink frame thanks to its $15 price tag and decided that I could make it function in our master bedroom.  I bought a can of primer and a can of sunshine yellow spray paint for the re-do.  The primer was a must with the frame being a very bright hot pink :)

I was so excited to get the mirror up and on the wall that I decided to paint it right after I got home, which meant that it was dark outside so sorry about the dark pictures to come ;)

It took about 4 coats of primer and 3 coats of color to cover the hot pink, but the finished project is amazing in my opinion :)

I was squealing with excitement when it went up on the wall!  Living in a rental presents that challenge of sterile, white walls that you can't do anything with.  I am always looking for fun ways to bring bright colors to our walls and this mirror definitely did it in our master bedroom :)  

See you tomorrow for a Friday Favorites post!

Friday Favs: The Beginning

Good morning!  In honor of one of my favorite blogs to read I decided I would start a "Friday Favs" routine and share some of the things that I am really loving in life this week :)


*In honor of this morning's workout with Samantha, I am loving spin class!  I should clarify.  I want to kill myself when I am in the class and on the bike, but after class I feel energized and focused.  After class I am fully ready to take on the last day of the week and head in to a nice, relaxing weekend :)

*I was in a doctor's office yesterday and saw a magazine with the word SEE boldly written across the top.  I had never seen it before and in my job I see a LOT of magazines while sitting in waiting rooms.  The full title of the magazine I found out is called Seeing The Everyday, and it is all about realizing that nothing in life is routine and we must work to see what is special in every day.  What a great concept!  The past few weeks have been a struggle work wise and I was getting bogged down by the feeling of being in a rut.  I get up, go to work, come home, run around the house, go to bed, and get up and do it all over again.  I am going to work on retraining myself to see the small wins at work, and live in joy at home as I build a home with my husband... even on the days when it feels like a routine.


*PUMPKIN!!!  To be honest I love pumpkin everything throughout fall, but this week with the cooler temperatures it has started to feel like fall and I want to carve pumpkins, eat pumpkin foods, and drink pumpkin flavored drinks :)  I really want to try this recipe for pumpkin croissants that I saw on pinterest.  They look delicious!

*Finally my favorite bible verse of the week Colossians3:23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all of your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward."


Our God is so good!  Have a lovely weekend!

Appreciation sparked through experiencing

I am here this afternoon to tell all of you that I appreciate my husband so much!  I appreciate him for the efforts he takes to make our house running smoothly, I appreciate him for how he loves me, and I really appreciate him for the effort he is putting in to school to provide for our family in the future.  After working in a job that I do not necessarily love I appreciate this effort even more because I know that part of the reason he is so dedicated to his studies is that he does not want me to be miserable in my job forever and the one providing for our family.

Cameron Calef thank you for all that you do and for working for our future.  I appreciate every ounce of work you put in to our family and I am so proud to be your wife.

Marriage Journal

Hello from Little Rock!  I am here for the week training, and I am missing home like crazy!  Tomorrow is our two month anniversary (yay!) and I would much rather be home than here for the occassion.  To up my spirits I thought I would write a post and share an amazing gift with all of you :)  Sound like a plan?

Cameron and I were blessed with amazing pre-marital counselors that not only helped us to talk through important issues that may arise in our marriage, but also want to be our friends and mentors through the years.  For my Springfield shower, Henrietta came and gave me two books; "The Power of Praying Wife" and "The Power of a Praying Husband".  Cameron and I are both currently reading them, and I promise to do a review when we finish.  In addition to the great books, she told me that her and Rick were looking for a marriage journal to give us but hadn't found the perfect one.  This is the point when I looked at her with a puzzled look and asked her to explain.

Her and Rick started a marriage journal later in their marriage, and really wished that they had had one from the beginning.  The journal serves as a way of documenting big events that take place during the course of your marriage.  She recommended making an entry every year on your anniversary and writing about events that took place during the last year, how you're growing closer to your spouse, and what things you are both excited for to take place in the next year.  She said there is nothing better than looking back over their previous entries and seeing just how much their marriage has endured. 

Cameron and I loved the idea, and set out to find the perfect journal to write our love story in :)  And we found the journal at Harry Potter World on our honeymoon (of course!).

A Hogwarts journal to document our marriage memories... it doesn't get much more perfect than that!

Our first entry was to write down our perspectives of our wedding day.  I wanted to get all of the memories down while they were still fresh in our minds :)

I am really excited to have a way to capture the journey that our marriage will take, and be able to look back and reflect on how far we have come as couple.  To anyone that is getting married or already is married I HIGHLY recommend investing in a marriage journal.  You won't regret having the ups and downs of your marriage documented to reflect and learn from :)

Welcome to my musings...

Hello all!  It has been almost three months since I last posted and that just won't do.  Welcome back and get ready for a transformation of the blog and what I write muse about.  When I started this blog I did want it to be an opportunity for me to share my wedding journing with people that could not be here in person for my crafting and planning, but I had always hoped to keep it up afterward and just share how things are going in our new home, the lessons I am learning as a Mrs., and other musings that I feel the need to share.  So... here is the blog with a new purpose and a new name but still the same girl behind the writing :)

We had a beautiful wedding!  After five short months of planning I had a wedding that I was not expecting, but that I truly cherish.  We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family that helped to make the day special and were there to celebrate with us as we embarked on the amazing journey of being husband and wife :)

It was a beautiful rainy day that filled my heart with joy and has given me so many wonderful memories :)

My future posts will probably contain more recaps of our wedding, the honeymoon, and what has been going on in our lives since the wedding, but for now the photos will have to do.