It's Aliiiive!

Day 8: Share your dream house.

I spent almost two years living in an apartment before Tim and I got married, and I was ready to get away from the crazy music and the upstairs neighbors' elephant feet. Here I am just over a year out of apartment life and loving our beautiful home. 

Can I just take a minute to tell you how awesome my husband is?! I'm seriously in awe of this man's talents.

He has redone our living room floor completely (redoing subfloor and everything...it was nuts.), 

pulled all the carpet,

redone the trim, 

painted pretty much any and everything that can be painted (some of it more than once!!), 

installed can lights in the living room (huge thanks to my brother-in-law Greg for helping with that one!), 

replaced/installed fans, 

made our lawn look fabulous, 

redone some of the concrete in our driveway, 

removed some of our concrete to repair a crack in our foundation, 

and so many more things that it doesn't seem fair to forget to mention. 

I have very little handy skills -- unless you count fetching tools. 

If that counts as being handy then I am AWESOME at home improvement. 

Tim sacrificed some space from his beautiful lawn for us to embark on a gardening adventure. I was pretty psyched because my thumb has gotten green tinges to it since my first year of teaching when every plant I was given perished under my care. We bought a small variety of seeds, got them going, and planted them in late May after all the frost (finally) stopped. 

Aaaaand most of the seedlings died. I was so bummed! After my state of denial ended, we bought some seedlings and found much, much more success. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I now present you with pictures of our rockin' garden!!! 

(AKA proof that not every living plant dies under my care.)

Celebrity Tomatoes

So many cherry tomatoes!

Cantaloupe is a-growin'.

Peppers

Basil - one of 2 surviving seedlings!

Cilantro's already almost done for the season.

Tim's corn...because why not.

Some sort of onion? It was actually already growing in the yard.

Bonus: our neighbors' grape vine has grown into our yard! 

We'll be rethinking our spacing next year...we have some jungle areas goin' in there! 

 Yup, we call this a success!!! 

Music Speaks to the Heart

Yup, you get a second helping today...and now I'm all caught up. :)

Day 3: Tell us how your blog got its name.

I don't know about you, but I tend to have a soundtrack to my life. Well, to the different phases of life. 

The Judds will always take me back to being little and helping Mom clean, riding in the car with Pops, or when I was rocking with my momma in the rocking chair because I couldn't sleep.

Outkast's "Hey Ya" is definitely sophomore year of college when we were brave enough to be leaders, crazy enough to dance like there was no tomorrow in front of many colleagues and professors, making our own fun when necessary, and comfortable enough to just be ourselves together.

Bon Jovi's "Halfway There" takes me back to the laughter and carefree feelings in car rides between Lincoln and Seward in the Tank, karaoke at CIT, a roadtrip to Denver, and an Alaskan wedding reception (accompanied by the most epic air guitar solo in the history of air guitar solos). 

"Savior Please" by Josh Wilson got me through the nerve-wracking night before my first official day as a kindergarten teacher with a class of 24 kindergarteners. 

"Here Come Those Eyes" by Chris Rice puts me back at the end of an aisle with my mom and dad at my sides, tripping over my dress on the way to meet my husband-to-be, laughing for joy and thanksgiving, proud to share this all with family and friends.

"What Does the Fox Say?" was the anthem of the entire first semester of this last year of school...until it was replaced by "Everything is Awesome" from The Lego Movie and then "Let It Go" from Frozen. All 3 songs went from annoying to endearing pretty fast.

I was a junior in college preparing to go to a new college 9 hours away from home. Being a homebody by nature, I was terrified of living so far away. I listened to "Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks to gear up for the adventures awaiting. It wasn't the voices or the music that got me: the lyrics defined the beginning of a new chapter. 

A young girl's dream no longer hollow

It takes the shape of a place out west

But what it holds for her she hasn't yet guessed

She needs wide open spaces

Room to make a big mistake

She needs new faces

She knows the high stakes

She knows the high stakes

Yes, I'd journey somewhere new. 

I'd be on my own with my family so far away. 

I would make my own choices.

I would make some mistakes. 

I'd grow to be wiser and stronger with each step. 

It would be tough, but it would be great. 

This blog became a place where I could share the moments that shaped me. I could wonder, marvel, hurt, explore, and just be here. 

We need to have adventures in life, and we need to embrace the good and the bad that come with our journey. It's risky to go out and try new things, but if we don't then we won't grow. The world is full of wonders, but we have to be willing to step out into the big, scary world to find them. 

I'm not done making messes yet. 

I'm not done growing yet. 

I'm not staying in my comfort zone.

I'm still venturing into all kinds of wide open spaces.

Throwback Thursday

Day 2: Selfie Time! A Favorite Photo of You

Technically I'm late posting...oops. So that makes it a Throwback Thursday and not just a selfie! 

[It took FOREVER to find this picture!]

This was my user picture for a long time on here, and it's the one that come to mind as soon as I read this prompt before jumping into the challenge. 

I love this picture because it reminds me of a lot of things. This was taken the day after I turned 23...and the day after I got my nose pierced. I was home for the summer, and I faced an upcoming school year of methods classes and student teaching before GRADUATION. Many, many adventures were coming my way, and I was feeling really optimistic about everything. I was so sure of myself because I knew I was ready for it after 4 years of working for this,

after 2 preschool jobs,

after years of babysitting experience, 

after being reminded so many times of how awesome kids are. 

This picture reminds me of when I was practically fearless. I'd get an idea, go with it, and I really didn't care what people thought. 

People don't expect a little Lutheran school teacher to have something as radical as a nose piercing. Sometimes I think that people don't believe anyone with piercings or tattoos or crazy hair colors or an occasional drink or a smoking habit or anything outside a stereotype can love Jesus as well as they can. This was a small, safe stand I took to try to break that mindset a little bit. 

I don't have a nose piercing anymore. I had to take it out last year for a surgery. I put it in a container for safekeeping at the hospital, but it wasn't in there anymore by the time I got home. I didn't stress out too much about it. I was sad, but I didn't put anything else in. I just would have taken it out for our wedding a few months later anyway.

I certainly didn't aim to preserve these things when I took this -- I just wanted to show it off -- but it's funny how we inadvertently attach memories to little things like selfies.