Anthro Inspired: Bottled Garden Stakes

Hello!  I am linking up with From Mrs. To Mama for her March DIY link up today.

From time to time I torture myself and peruse Anthropologie's website.  Yesterday I saw these adorable garden stakes and immediately was INSPIRED.  They looked simple, sweet, and perfectly SPRING so I set out to DIY them in my own way. 

STEP ONE: I cleaned up an old wine bottle.

STEP TWO: Sullivan and I scoured our yard for a long branch.  Yay for neighbors with large trees!

STEP THREE:  I found some floral wire that I had never found a use for and twisted them around the bottle, securing them to the branch.

STEP FOUR:  I used a little hand shovel to dig a small hole in the grass and wedged the stick in the ground.

STEP FIVE:  Plucked some pretty stems in the yard to display in the vase.

That's it!


Here is what my version looks like.

Pretty cute, right?

I want to get some jute twine to cover the wires but this works for now.  The whole project took me a few minutes and cost next to nothing.  I can't wait to make a few more!  It instantly added a touch of Spring to our little patio.

~Megan

Our Love Story

Today I'm linking up with Becky from frommrstomama to share a little bit of our love story.

November 2009

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Since April 2003, so almost 9 years! Wowza!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met at a college swim meet in November 2002.  I was a freshman and he was a senior at a different university.  My friend knew him and introduced us.  The three of us went out to dinner at a noodle place and I stayed in touch with him through AOL instant messenger.  We made it through four years of long-distance love, between four different states (IL,AZ, CA, WV).  And the rest is history as they say.  

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

It will be three years July 18th.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?  If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

Our wedding took place in the morning on the beach in our FAVORITE spot, Newport Beach, California.  About forty-five people came. It was total perfection.

Click here to see more pictures :)

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

We mostly use the normal one's like honey, love, hon, babe, amor.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

Hmm...I love he gets excited and interested in things that I am passionate about.  Whether it is a craft project, or photography he is right there cheering me on.  Another thing I loved about him from the very beginning was his intelligence.  He is excelling in dental school, and that is so attractive to me.  Plus he does math in his head so he is a great shopping companion, especially when sales are involved(which is the only time I go shopping...haha!).  I also love that he makes me feel safe and secure.  When I am near him I feel like everything is going to be ok as long as we're together.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

He woke me up to propose on the morning of my birthday at 4am.  I do remember smelling a cake being made but I just thought he was baking a b-day cake.  So he walked in the room and asked me to to marry him and he was holding the cake in one hand and the ring in the other.  

"proposal cake" April 18th, 2007

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

He LOVES to cook so for Valentine's day in the past he has cooked a great meal, lit some candles, and popped open a bottle of wine.  We do have an October baby after-all ;)

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Definitely a sunset dinner on the beach!  The beach wins most of the time.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

I want to go to Fiji or Seychelles so BAD!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Our little family of three will probably go out to dinner and then we'll go home and I'll make some dessert and then we'll see what happens next.  Pretty laid back but still awesome none the less.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

He got me a IPAD!  I told him that it is a combo birthday and Valentine's day present.  Sooo spoiled.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

I think that listening is very important.  It is so easy to get distracted but if you make an effort to connect with your partner daily and let them share the things on their mind it shows you truly value each other and keeps you on the same page.

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

 This picture shows love, hope, and excitement.  Family and love go hand in hand.

Thanks for reading a little of our story.

~Megan

Valentine's DIY: Craft of the month

 I'm linking up with Becky at From Mrs. To Mama today to show you guys a couple little Valentine's decorations I put together.

We say "my love" all the time in our house so I thought a little banner with that on it would be fitting.  I had everything on hand to make this.  

This one is easy.  You only need four things to make it:

-embroidery hoop

-target $1 dish towel

-small peice of ribbon

-decorative pin

Thanks for stopping by!

~Megan

The Decision to Stay Home

Today I am linking up with Melissa at I Pick Pretty on how we decided that I would be a stay at home mom.  So here it goes.

Back in 2010 after Arty(husband) received his master's degree we found out that he was accepted into dental school in West Virginia.  At the time we were living in Arizona.  We had been talking about having babies for a while but we decided that when he got into any dental school it would be the green light to start trying.  I got pregnant in February, on just our second month of trying for real.  I know how blessed we are!

So at the time I was working as a property manager for single family homes(and had been for a couple years) but in April I lost my job.  So there we were, I was suddenly unemployed and my husband had just finished school and was preparing for a move across the country to start school in August.  We barely scraped by that summer, barely.  Needless to say things worked out.

We both knew that I would definitely not make as much money as a property manager in West Virginia.  Even if the salary was the same, I'm not sure that I could imagine having anyone else watch Sullivan daily.  When I was in college taking classes I had a hard time committing to a specific degree because I couldn't decide what I wanted to "be".  I always knew I wanted to be a mom.  There was never any doubt in my mind about that.

That's not to say that I still don't feel like I want to contribute and help us financially.  I love taking pictures and I am exploring that possibility.  I may get my real estate license up and running here sometime so that I can help people buy homes, which is my favorite part of the real estate business.  I also love making things and sewing so that is another place for me to grow.   I am trying to figure out ways to use the things I am passionate about as a way to provide a little extra money for us because if I am being honest things are tight in the money department.  And that's ok, I know things could be so much worse.  Like the time I was 21 and lived by the beach in California and was out of money and on the "donut diet" where all you eat is a donut for each meal.  I also did the "big lunch diet" where you eat the biggest lunch you can find for the cheapest amount of money and that's it, I always picked nachos.  That's a story for another day :).  Right now we have everything we need, a great townhouse, cars that work, yummy food in the fridge, and so on.  We are on a student budget with a family of three but we make it work.  I like to think that this experience will make us all around better people.  In fact, I know it will.

~Megan

Hello, this is me.

This is reality ladies.  

Here we are, Sully and I playing on the floor with pots and a silicone spatula with toys littering the floor in the background.

If you walked in the front door today I would welcome you with bare-feet and messy hair.  You would see piles of folded laundry that needs to be hauled up the stairs and dishes that need loaded in the dishwasher.  Since becoming a momma I'm OK with those things taking longer to get done.

This is me having one of the best days of my life, and I will hopefully do it all over again tomorrow.

~Megan

Blogs I adore

I am linking up with Kelly over at Kelly's Korner today to bring you a few of my favorite blogs.  I follow hundreds of blogs so narrowing down to a few favs is difficult but I'll do my best.  Since I am a new mom it seems that all of my most loved blogs revolve around babies too.

Project: Baby  Kristin is absolutely hilarious.  I have laughed while reading her blog probably more than any other.  She is a new mama to a beautiful baby girl and it truly is a joy to hear her perspective on things. I think she should write a book because she is that entertaining.   And to top it off she is stunning, seriously.  Go check this one out.

Dear Baby  Melissa has such a way with words.  Her writing is beautiful and she describes her family and life with such emotion.  I'm pretty sure I cried during the birth story of her daughter Everly.  I can't say enough about this one.   I am sure most of you already follow her but if not I highly recommend this blog!  

Enjoying the Small Things  Kelle takes the MOST beautiful pictures of her little girls and of her fun and interesting life.  Plus, she is such an inspirational and talented writer.  My words don't do this one justice at all.  I can't say enough good things about it!

Stealing Baby Kisses   Ashley has an adorable baby boy close to my little Sullivan's age and it seems like we go through similar things.  I love her blog and I think we could be friends in real life.  She's totally honest and real and I love that about her!

I know I am forgetting some of my favorites but my little guy is begging for some play time right now so I'll leave you with these four.  Enjoy!

~Megan

Show Us Your Life-How I stay my version of organized

I decided that the linky going on a Kelly's Korner sounded like an interesting topic about staying organized.

I am no organizational expert.  However, the way I stay the most organized is by following in the wake of my husband and picking up after him (mostly his habit of dropping yesterdays clothes in a pile somewhere).  I clean more on the weekdays because he's in dental school all day and can't wreck any progress I may have made on the organizational front.  That's not to say that he doesn't help me out cleaning and putting stuff away because he has kind of adopted cleaning the kitchen and loading and unloading the dishes each night. 

 I also like finding recipes and shopping for each meal.  I made a cute recipe binder with page protectors and the cheap packs of file folders from the Target dollar section.

~Megan

Joining up for I SPY: Around the Home

I am joining up with Ashley from Little Miss Momma today for her fun Linky party.

Morning cup o' joe.

Vase full of thread I scored at Goodwill for $3.  Love the colors!

Canvas in Sullivan's room...thanks mom!

Babies first Rainbows.  Saving them until he can wear them :)

Craft room table with projects in the works.

Sewing table.

Sully's tugboat.

Bath letters.

Tray full of stuff in the bathroom.  NEED to organize.

Photo of the baby in our room.

Our bed.

Starfish paintings I did.  

Easter bucket I forgot outside in the rain.

Husbands books.

Our wonderful espresso machine.

Little love bug playing.

~Megan

Embrace the Camera 2.3.11

Good Morning Everyone. 

I love embrace the camera because it encourages us moms to jump into pictures with our little ones.  Sometime we need the reminder because its so easy to only take pictures of our babies and I think its important to get pictures of us with our kids as they grow up.

Sully and I took some pictures today...there were some challenges (ie. crying) but we overcame those.  I hope you enjoy these.  My sweet little man is 14.5 weeks old.  

~Megan