doing a few things well...

hey friends.

this probably won't come as a surprise to you...

but i am going to be taking an undetermined-in-length

break from blogging.

i am still trying to figure out how to make my schedule

work for me in the transition of joining young life staff

as well as having another job and responsibilities going on...

not to mention so many people in this beautiful town of kc

that i love and want to spend time with.

and i want to be a person that does a few things well.

versus giving a half-effort to many things.

so goodbye for now, and thanks for reading!

he said YES!

a couple years ago, i had the opportunity to say YES

to a pretty important question.

a question that put a ring on my finger that day,

and came with this commitment that's kind of a big deal,

called "marriage"...better or worse, richer or poorer,

you know what i'm talking about.

but.

since i'm not a very selfish person (insert laughter here),

i didn't want be the only one in our relationship

that gets to answer YES to a big-deal question.

so yesterday...to celebrate my 25th birthday,

ruffin said YES to a question that's been lingering between

us for quite some time, that question being:

can we puh-leeeasssse get a dog?

so, we are on the hunt!

if you know of a sweet and cuddly poodle mix

that's looking for a home in the kc area,

let us know!

i.am.so.EXCITED!

summer bounty

friends.

how could i have known when i chose the title for this here blog over a year ago,

that crazy would be a good way to describe our lives even beyond

quitting our jobs and moving overseas?

i may not do laundry by hand anymore (is that the hallelujah chorus i hear?),

and i might not encounter random parades regularly on my walk home from the subway,

heck, i might not even use the subway, but my own car most days.

but

crazy busy, crazy fun, crazy frustrating, crazy exciting, crazy new and fresh...

those are all good descriptors of life just about now.

i've started up my 2.5ish jobs and am loving it.

ruffin starts grad school tomorrow.

we move into our very own apartment in 2.5 weeks.

and this weekend i went to the farmer's market with some friends

and in an effort to prepare for this upcoming move,

and having my own kitchen again--

i decided to put up some of summer's bounty.

yep, i tried canning again!

some squash & zucchini to have in the freezer

and some roasted red peppers (my favorite!) that aren't pictured

and i turned some ugly (but cheaper!) heirloom tomatoes into...

some tomato sauce for pasta & pizza

and some roasted tomatoes (with shallots & garlic), halved and canned.

i'm going to love myself in december, right?

anyone else: ever try canning or preserving food for later on?

bailey/thornton/ham/wolfe/morgan fam!

what a mouthful! we had such a fun week at the lovely ocean isle

with ruffin's huge, awesome fam.

(click to enlarge)

we got to spend lots of time with our sweet nephews,

who are getting so big!

like, not even babies anymore big.

growing up...how rude.

the whole bailey/thornton/ham/wolfe/morgan fam!

(well, sadly we were missing a few...but it's most of the gang!)

all eleven of ruff's immediate fam.

(math isn't my strong suit, but that is actually right--

there are two identical boys growing in liz's belly!)

great, relaxing, fun week. i got decent at bananagrams and just

had so much fun getting to kick back with ruff's fam.

also: we got to go to matthew's first birthday party on saturday!

it was so much fun, and he was a fan of his first taste of cake (well...mostly icing).

even though i am so happy to be living in kansas city,

it is incredibly hard to say goodbye to such amazing family and friends

that we have in north carolina.

my personal solution to this problem is to have

kansas trade places with south carolina.

who's with me?

{ocean isle beach}

dear blog,
hello old friend.
it's been a while since i've written.
but, i just wanted to let you know:
i'm still here.
"here" has just been a relative term lately.
most recently, it has meant the lovely ocean isle beach.

yes, all my kansas friends: go ahead and hate me.
because i've spent the last 7 days soaking in the sun
off the beautiful north carolina coast.

ocean isle is a pretty special place, a gathering spot for
ruffin's family since before he was even born.

more pictures to come from our week,
but i'll leave you with a throwback of ruffin at the ripe
age of two at ocean isle with his momma.

cute little stinker, isn't he?

dream job.

friends!

remember way back when in december, when i told you about

interviewing with young life?

well.

7 months and some change later, i have some news.

i got the job!

i am thrilled beyond belief to be officially official, and will be starting

on august 1st, though we leave for camp with olathe kids this saturday!

so much excitement.

more later--but thanks for all your support and awesomeness!

diy jewelry organizer

i've got something to share today: my first completed pinterest project!

i get a lot of inspiration from pinterest, as i've said before,

but this is the very first time the inspiration lead to action.

and i'm pretty excited about it!

here's the pin i saw and fell in love with:

fellow blogger aunt peaches created this beauty (and the link has an awesome

how-to which i followed), and i LOVED the idea.

i'm one of those girls that loves organization, and was using a fishing

tackle box kind of thing for my jewelry. it didn't take long for it to be a

disorganized mess and i had to untie knots in my necklaces anytime

i wanted to actually wear them. not so fun.

but! with the help of pinterest + the aforementioned blog, i made this baby:

and i'm on a cute + functional high right now.

for anyone interested: i found an old plastic garage sale sign,

covered it in burlap, and used a stencil to paint the charcoal gray chevrons.

i then framed it in a large picture frame i had painted light blue,

and added drapery hooks (found mine for about $2 / 10 at joanne fabrics)

for the necklaces, and a metal mesh pencil bin locker organizer

(random? $3 at target in the office section) for bracelets + earrings.

you should try one for yourself!