Day 19: My Five Favorite

Blogs and why they are my favorite.
{So hard to choooooose!!!}

1. Young House Love

Been following these guys since 2008! I remember when they were This Young House! I followed John and Sherry through their amazing makeovers on the cheap, her pregnancy with Clara, and now through the purchase of their third house. (That's loyalty, folks.)

I love them because they're just like you and me. They're the people next door; the couple standing next to you in line at the store. They're down-to-earth, make great choices, and have their stuff together. You can follow along in their writing while smiling, laughing, or relating to them. And Sherry loves hip-hops musics like my husband and I! (woop woop!)

I'm sure they're on the top of everyone's list!

2. Apartment Therapy

Only because I first discovered them back in 2007 when I realized my passion in life was interior design! These days they don't have much content (in my opinion) and have to compete with Pinterest and other blogs... but I flock to them because they host the best reader-submitted contests. Smallest coolest apartment/home contest, color contests, the Homies, and contests for children's rooms too!

Even though I've never purchased an Apartment Therapy book, I have always wanted their Eight-Step Home Cure book. Those eight steps were like a Bible to me when I was living in a bedroom in my mother's home, which is a story for another time. : )

3. Making It Lovely

Oh, the lovely and talented Nicole Balch! I've been following her around Chicago-Land since I first discovered her purple living room on flickr. She was running her stationary business, Pink Loves Brown, then. I must be fiercely loyal to blogs {or people?} because I, too, followed Nicole through both of her pregnancies! I remember when Nicole and her husband purchased their house and moved out of their apartment.

4. 6th Street Design School

A.KA. Kirsten Krason Interiors. Love this girl! I've been following along for a few years now and recently she's been amping up the activity because of her recent decision to take on less design clients and blog more! She opened my eyes up to what I call "real design." Real Design is like designer stuff you see in House Beautiful magazine or in lonny magazine. Expensive, but gorgeous with only-open-to-the-trade fabrics, beautiful home staging with real budgets, and using designer pieces in her own home is what I like most about her. And her Feature Fridays! I flock every Friday morning to see what gorgeous home she has chosen!
(I also love how she sweetly named her new daughter 'Jane.' It's so classic!)

5. The Cavendar Diary

The Cavendar Boys. Love 'em! I recently stumbled upon them sometime last Fall and haven't stopped reading since! I was researching a Martha Stewart paint color when I happened upon their world of Navajo blankets, rustic home solutions, vintage collections, Western History, and amazing style. They're so awesome that if you were to comment on their blog, they will actually say something back! (And I say a collective "they" because both Jamie and James write on the blog.)

When I'm following along in their blog I am so enamored by the wealth of knowledge and style they ooze. Their pictures all have the same tone/feeling and it's almost as if they've teleported me from breezy, blue Charleston with our beaches and flip-flops to Dallas, Texas.... where the steaks are huge, the boots are leather, the plants are prickly, and the colors are red, black, and tan. Ahhhhhhh.

Maybe it's their amazing step-by-step tutorials. Or their taste in fabrics and clothing. Or maybe it's their charming lifestyle {I think they're super cute together with Harley, their dog.}

Or it could be that it's nice to get away from Charleston and pretend I'm somewhere else, and that, to me, is what makes these daily journals so wonderful. These aren't just my most "favorite" blogs, but also bloggers I strive to be like everyday in my life. People that I would be so completely honored to actually meet in real life! And I respect them and their opinions!

After years of following someone's life, you begin to absorb them into your own, even when you live hundreds of miles away and they don't even know you exist.

{I have seriously had dreams where I'm hanging out with Young House Love. Really. And we're just talking about ranch houses or something. That's why you shouldn't catch up on posts right before bed!}

So that's that, folks, because apparently I have much to say about my most admired and favorite people that write blogs!

: )

Day 14

What makes me happy? 

Here are ten things:

Coffee

Good Music

My children's artwork

Notes from my husband

Smiling Faces

A full night's rest

Encouragement

Shopping

Painting

Taking photographs

{And Dancing and Sparkly Things too!}

via

May the Thirteenth

Is Issue a Public Apology Day!
I've been following along with Jenni in her Blog Every Day in May Challenge.
I have always wanted to be a blogger, but I allowed Fear and Doubt to stamp my ambitions.

So here I am, doing my best, learning the tools of the trade, and putting myself to the test!

I'd like to start a glorious new week with Fresh Flowers! Yesterday was Mother's Day and I received the best flowers from my daughters! Even though the sun isn't shining, I decided to take some pictures. : )

And this is why everything in my life converges and works out perfectly. I was going to apologize for my photographs before I looked at today's topic!

We have fresh flowers on our dresser, in our bedroom, and also on our entry table. I wanted to apologize for my crooked photograph, crooked lampshade, and crooked house. Our house is over 62 years old and the floors are a bit wonky. I inherited that thirty year-old lamp from my Grandfather... so yes, the shade is wonky too.

But I'm not going to apologize. I love our weird house and that lamp has been with me since before my Grandfather passed away. I am only apologizing for my terrible photo-taking abilities and lack of natural lighting! : )

{Today also seems to be Use Lots of Capital Letters Day. Sorry 'bout that too.}

I Miss...

Having a Job. I know, I know, most women would kill to not have to work. I get to stay home and plan my day according to my children's needs! I can (almost) do anything I want! Right?!

Wrong. I am unhappy and constantly feel unfulfilled. I want to work and have a career. I am currently a part-time student at the local technical college earning my associate's degree. I want to graduate and find a secure job. I want to wear trousers and blouses and feel like I have a reason to wash my hair and paint my face every day. 

I want to hang out with other women and discuss topics that don't include my ex-husband or poop. I want to pretend I'm young and irresponsible and smoke cigarettes with no regard to lung and throat cancer. Eh, then again, maybe not.

I want to miss my home, my husband, my kids; I long to sink into my sofa at the end of the day.

I know I'll get there eventually and I am enjoying all the extra time I graciously get to spend with my little ones and my husband. {And I missed so much of my girls' life when I was working, so I am cherishing every moment of my children's lives now.} 

But when I do start working again... I know I'll miss staying home. : )

via

Something Embarrassing

HA! You're talking about an overly self-conscious, hypersensitive, neurotic person. Everything I say or do is embarrassing! My most embarrassing moments? When I'm over-analyzing events/words/conversations that have already taken place and I think about how lame I sounded. Or how I didn't convey my ideas well enough and looked dumb.

I need to do better...
Not only am I working on my anxieties, but I am working on my self-esteem.

{I'm embarrassed for anyone to know how ridiculous my social phobias are.}

And with that said, it is Friday! Time to let our hairs down and enjoy the spring breeze!

found at weheartit

A Moment in my Day

Day 9: It's after school, my rug rat is hanging out with the Big Sissies while one 

finishes homework and the other plays fun computer puzzle games. 

I love our Life.

A Small Piece

Of advice to anyone out there buying a home: investigate your neighbors' pets. Be nosy and find out what kind of pets they own.
Do they have three tomcats, whom will spray your entire yard, your automobiles, your children's toys, and your doormat, every day?
 Do they own ferocious pit bull terriers that will shake your own cats to death in from of you and your children one morning before school?

Seriously, though. If I had known our nice, older neighbors to the left had two terriers in their backyard, we wouldn't have chosen our home. We would have gone with our second choice! We lost two cats to them, and unfortunately so, nothing kills the merry high of home ownership faster than burying your beloved felines in your new garden.

 So always check out your neighbors' pets before you decide on a home! : )

 {Woohoo! Two posts in one day, can I do it? Can I finish the rest of the month?!?}

Every Day in May

And I'm already 7 days behind! This is the perfect opportunity to get myself in the habit (doesn't it take thirty days to form a habit?) of writing. And learn to leave behind the fear of imperfection and my social anxieties. It's time to take action and start living my life the way I want to!

Whew, I think my declarations came off way more enthusiastic than I intended. : )
{And I may or may not try to catch up with the first week that I missed... baby steps.}

Day 7: The thing(s) you're most afraid of.

I am afraid to speak the truth and tell people what's really on my mind. I am afraid to have a voice.

I am afraid that one day my ex-husband will eventually break me down.
{Except that I'm growing stronger every day and his power over me is weakening.}

That my children will not have fresh drinking water when they're my age. That my mom will die too young and I'll have to learn how it feels to really grieve. That I'll never overcome my social anxieties and be stuck in a vicious cycle of remorse and regret because of all the things I never did or said.

"Fear is such a weak emotion, that's why I despise it

We scared of almost everything, afraid to even tell the truth

So scared of what you think of me, I'm scared of even telling you..."

-Lupe Fiasco