Navigating the Storm

Last week a friend of mine and I went to the park and took the pups for a long walk while we chatted and caught up on each others lives.  This girl friend is someone I've known for the last few years, our husband's have known each other their whole Army career, we were at each others weddings, and so far we have PCSed to the same places.  Even though I've known her for three years, I realized I didn't really know her very much at all.  As we got to know each other, I realized just how much we have in common and all the interests we share.  Thank you Lord for showing me the quality friend I had right under my nose!

Home Is Where the Army Sends Us

Home is where the Army sends us.  Or at least that is the way I am supposed to feel as an Army wife.  We moved in October from our life in Texas where we had spent the last three and a half years building friendships, connections, and careers.  Our small town of Temple, Texas was our first hometown as a couple.  We got engaged there.  We got married there.  We adopted Delilah there.  I graduated with my bachelor's degree there.  We found our first church home as a couple there.  We bought our first house there.  We made our life there.

I know, I know, I know.  My husband is an officer in the United States Army.  What was I thinking making a life somewhere?  But I did, and my heart broke to drive away from that small town.

5 Best Christmas Gifts for the Pup

Since our family is only a family of 3 (Aaron, myself, and Delilah the Dog), I am creating a gift list for her....OF COURSE!  She is actually incredibly excited to be blogged about.  She is laying under my desk loving every second of our "Momma/Baby" time together.

Anyway...we try not to spoil our little girl too much at the holidays for a few reasons.  First, being that she is the only grandchild (human or otherwise) on either side of our family, she does get more than a little spoiled by our family.  Secondly, she is our baby.  She gets spoiled 365 days of the year so I don't feel overly obligated to get her a lot of Christmas presents.

This year I helped Delilah write a letter to Santa (my mother in law) which included her Christmas list.  Below are the things that were both Momma and puppy approved.

 

25 Christmas Gifts for the Women in Your Life (part 2)

Never fear!  Part 2 of my 25 Christmas Gifts for the Women in Your Life is finally here!  If you missed numbers 25-10 check out part 1.  Keep scrolling for numbers 1-9 on the list!

25 Christmas Gifts for the Men in Your Life (part 2)

As promised, the second part to 25 Christmas Gifts for the Men in Your Life is here!  The top 10 gifts are listed below.  For the first 15, check out part 1.

25 Christmas Gifts for the Men in Your Life (part 1)

Ok to go along with my Gift List for Women, this year I am also doing a gift list for men, and coming later this week, one for the pups in your life.  Now, I don't claim to be an expert on what men want for the holidays, but thankfully I have a trusty husband to help me navigate that issue.  These presents have been husband approved.  Disclaimer: he is 27 and we don't have kids so I'm not sure if he perspective is different than the man you're buying for or not.

25 Christmas Gifts for the Women in Your Life (Part 1)

Last year I made a Holiday Season Gift Guide with the 10 best gifts for women.  However, I published it on December 18th.  My husband, the sweet procrastinator that he is was very grateful for the list for ideas, but pointed out that some of those ideas take more time than he had left until Christmas.  So this year I am getting a jump on it!  I know its not even Thanksgiving yet, but my goal this year is to have all our presents at least picked out, if not ordered, by December 1st so I can just enjoy the holiday season with my family.

Speaking of family, my mother-in-law should be given some credit for this post as my in laws have requested Christmas lists for each of us (Aaron, myself, and Delilah the Dog).  So I have decided to create gift lists for each category: husband, wife, pup.  We don't have kiddos yet so sorry, I have no insight for that demographic :/

Quality Time with God Psalm 63:1-5

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on January 11, 2015***

I am back after a short hiatus from the blog due to holiday travels and then being sidelined with the flu for the better part of two weeks.  I am excited to be starting yet another new posting series: Verse of the Week.  As I have mentioned in the past, I teach a wonderful group of high school girls (seniors only on Sundays and a mix of juniors and seniors on Wednesdays) from my church.  Right now I am prepping my lesson for this week and it is on quality time with God.  I am very excited about this lesson for a couple reasons:

-First, it is an amazing topic and what better way to start off the new year than with a fresh outlook and plan to spend better quality time with our Lord and Savior!

-Second, my fantastic husband bought me the most wonderful journalling Bible for Christmas...he definitely saw my Christmas List.  I have been itching to really break it in since I opened it.  The other day I even flipped through every page of one of my other Bibles and transferred all my notes and underlines to the new one!  I'm a little crazy...I know!

Anyway, the lesson for this week is over Psalm 63:1-5 which reads:

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.  So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips. (ESV)

Holiday Season Gift Guide: 10 Best Gifts for Women

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 18, 2014***

With only a week until Christmas it is officially "crunch time" for those last minute holiday shoppers!  This is usually the category I fall into each year, but this year, as I mentioned in my Christmas Present Craziness post, I started early and I'm just about done.  That means that nearly all of the presents that Aaron and I are giving as a couple are done.  Thankfully, the only person that Aaron is responsible for shopping for on his own is me.  I don't want this to sound like he has been slacking off and not doing any Christmas shopping.  I don't know.  However, I do know that he works long hours and he has not yet wrapped anything for me.  In an effort to help him out, and any other husbands, boyfriends, fiances, etc out there, I am creating this gift guide of things I would like and some of the best gifts I've gotten in the past.

Guys:  Please note that these gifts are things that I like, so I would like to think most girls would be happy with them.  However, I am not every girl on the planet.  Please use your best judgement when shopping for your significant other or friend because you know them, I do not.  That being said, this should give you at least an idea of where to start.

To start off my Christmas list I am heading to my pinterest boards.  Some of my wish list is made up of tangible gifts, some are single events, and others are on-going experiences.  These gift ideas are in no particular order and will not necessarily work for every couple.

1. 12 Pre-Planned Date Ideas (Photo and concept from Babble):

This gift is pretty self explanatory.  It is a year's worth of pre-planned dates.  I think the draw for me is that these aren't promises of dates, they are already thought out so when date night comes around we aren't staring at each other thinking "I wish we had a plan" because he will have already planned it.  Bonus points to the man who sets dates for things or allocates money for the dates ahead of time.  Some of these dates listed below may not work for every couple, but it is a good start.  This gift is perfect because you can start fresh in the new year!  It could even be a great reoccurring gift.  Maybe each year you and your spouse can trade off who does the planning?

Champion or Chumpion?

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 15, 2014***

As a child I was an incredibly active individual, almost without even realizing it.  I swam on a year round travel team from a young age and practiced a minimum of 6 days/week and as many as 10 practices/week when I was involved in both competitive swimming and water polo.  When you are a kid you aren't worrying about counting calories in vs. calories out, or how many steps you've taken in a day.  I wasn't the skinniest of all my friends, but I was fit, active, healthy, and could eat ice cream without worrying.  Ahhh bliss!  Although it wasn't bliss, because silly high school me, and early college me, thought I was fat!

Summer after my HS senior year...about to eat ice cream

Refinishing of an Antique Farm Table and Bench

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 14, 2014***

A few months back Aaron and I had a garage sale and coincidentally our across the street neighbors were having a garage sale as well!  It was awesome because two sales on the same street really draws in the shoppers!  After Aaron and I wrapped up our sale we picked up a few furniture pieces from our neighbor's sale for me to update over the following months.  I found a farm table with a bench and a matching dresser and nightstand set.

I decided to start my refinishing with the farm table and bench seat.  The table had years of gunk and grime on it as well as some areas that were missing chunks.  In order to get it started out on the right foot I decided to clean my table and bench with TSP and then once they were dry I sanded them down.

The bench after the TSP cleaning.

Christmas Present Craziness

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 13, 2014***

This year, thanks to one of my over-achieving friends, I started shopping for Christmas presents in October.  When I say this friend is an over-achiever, I mean she called me October 1st and explained that she had either bought, or had figured out what to buy, everyone for Christmas, but was struggling with one last tiny stocking stuffer.  I, on the other hand, hadn't even begun to think about who would get what.  That sent me into a panic and I started to think through who I needed to buy presents for and make a mental list.

My husband was easy.  He had been telling me since June that he wanted an Xbox One, and because I am a fabulous wife, I had been at Best Buy weekly looking at their circulars waiting for a good deal.  By mid October, Aaron and I had a "come to Jesus" talk about video game systems.  At the time we were the proud owners of an Xbox 360 and a WiiU, not to mention countless games and a handheld gaming console.  I told him if he really wanted an Xbox One, we needed to cut back to 2 game systems and use the money we got from selling current systems to help pay for the new one.  As an unemployed wife and full time student I just don't have $500 laying around to pick up the latest and greatest game system without some extra cash.  Aaron agreed to sell the WiiU, some games, and the handheld system to GameStop to the tune of $290!!!!  Then one November day I was in Best Buy and saw that the weekly circular had a misprint so I pounced!  The Xbox One bundle that Aaron wanted was normally $500, but they also sold a smaller, but similar bundle for $400.  Both bundles were supposed to be $50 off of their normal price making them $450 and $350 respectively.  But here comes the kicker, the larger bundle that Aaron wanted had been misprinted and listed for the price of the smaller bundle making it $349.99!!!  So with our $290 cash from GameStop, and the $100 gift card to Best Buy that Aaron had been saving since his birthday, we were able to buy the larger Xbox One bundle and still have money left over!

Remington Styling Wand

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 11, 2014***

As a child with stick straight hair my mom would curl my hair for special occasions.  She used a variety of tactics all which worked pretty well for a young girl.  It didn't seem to matter which one she used, although I think foam overnight rollers were her favorite, I always looked like Shirley Temple.  When you're young, Shirley Temple-like hair is adorable.  However, as I entered high school and college I wanted to stray from that look for obvious reasons.

I have always had moderately thick hair so thicker foam rollers didn't solve the problem, because my hair was just too heavy to maintain the curl.  I then branched out into the world of curling irons.  My first curling iron was actually one I swiped from my mom before I left for college.  I probably should have thought about what I was taking before stealing it.  It is a 1/2 inch barreled curling iron from my mom's college days.  MAJOR FAIL!  Not only would the small barrel continue the Shirley look, but something that old would probably not be my best bet.  Stupid me, but hey, I was 18 and wanted to avoid buying a curling iron with my own money.  I should have known that if my mom wasn't missing it, I could have done better.  Oh well.  That old curling iron is still in my bathroom nearly 7 years later and it's still got some life left.  I don't frequently use it because it is small, but I have used it maybe every other month, so that isn't too bad.  

Over the last 2-3 years I have been noticing something incredibly aggravating about my hair.  It seems that no matter how much hair spray, gel, product, or hours curling it ALWAYS falls to practically straight hair within 90 minutes of curling!  One year I spent two hours curling my hair for Easter church service just to have it be perfectly straight before I even left the house...cue rage.  

This last spring I was in Maryland for my bridal shower and having given up on curled hair had planned to attend with my regular, boring, straight hair.  However, one of my girlfriends that was getting reading with me, was curling her hair with a strange looking curling iron.  Once she finished her hair she asked me if I wanted her to do mine.  I warned her that it would be a lot of effort for nothing.  She said that her hair was the same way and told me she would try it, and worse case scenario she would encase my hair in a mound of hairspray.

About 20 minutes later I looked in the mirror to see wonderfully curly hair...sans hairspray!  I had intended to spray my hair to hold the curl maybe long enough to get to the shower, but in the hustle and bustle of 8 girls getting ready it slipped my mind.  I drove off to the shower where my mom complimented my hair and it hit me that I had forgotten to spray it.  At this point it was too late and I would just have to deal with curls that would fall throughout the party.  Here I am with my friend Hannah, who curled my hair, after the shower and the curls are still obviously in tact even through several hours of hugs, I might add.

Cregars Do Christmas: Part 2

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 10, 2014***

Earlier this week I posted part 1 of this mini series with all of our outdoor decorations and I am loving showing off our Christmas decorations!  Today I am excited to share our indoor holiday spirit.  If my husband is the one who goes overboard on the christmas lights, then I am sure he would say I am the one who goes overboard on the indoor décor.

Cregars Do Christmas: Part 1

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 9, 2014***

I am a bit late with the update on our Christmas Décor since it went up the last weekend in November.  However, it seems like our holiday spirit is overflowing and each day we add something new!  Today we are going to talk about the outdoor Christmas decorations and then a follow up post will share the indoor Christmas decorations later this week.  If you ever want to test your marriage, or see if you should marry someone, I highly recommend putting up Christmas lights with your partner.  If you can survive that, you can survive anything!  Its a good thing my husband is so handsome, because we certainly had more than a couple disagreements!  Love you, honey!

TX House: Backyard Overhaul

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on December 3, 2014***

I realize it has been about six months since I finished our backyard, but as y'all know life happened and it slipped my mind.  So let's take a quick look back at what the yard looked like when we bought it.

The previous owners had 5 randomly placed trees in the yard so our first step was to rip them out (the Oregonian in me cried a little) and filled the spots with grass seeds.  We then worked on creating a 3 foot deep flower bed along on the back fence.  Here is what the yard looked like once we removed the trees and created the flower bed. Our grass looked a little sad, but look at all of the room that is available now that the trees are gone!  We have played many games of corn hole and badminton in the yard with the new space.

The EASIEST Homemade Pizza EVER!

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on November 26, 2014***

Making pizza from scratch is something that we do every couple weeks at the Cregar House.  I used to be so overwhelmed by the idea of making pizza from nothing, but this summer I found the greatest recipe in the Daniel Plan Cookbook and I have altered it a little to best fit our family.

Thanksgiving Weekend...aka The Official Start of Christmas

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on November 24, 2014***

It is Monday, yet again!  The worst day of the week.  However, in a week that only lasts 2 days, it could be much worse.  I am so excited to have a wonderful LONG five day weekend with my hubby that includes friends flying in, wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, and the OFFICIAL START TO THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!

The Value of Friendship

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on November 20, 2014***

When you are a child it is easy to make friends.  You have no fear of being socially rejected, you have a group of 20 peers around you for most of your day, and most kids have built in friends with siblings.  I sat down with my junior and senior girls (I teach a youth group for our church) a couple weeks back and chatted with them about what it means to be a good friend.  I was surprised by their maturity and wisdom.  I am constantly learning from these beautiful young women and I hope they learn as much from me as I do them.

Busy Life = Happy Life?

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on October 29, 2014***

I feel like I am constantly apologizing for my tardiness when it relates to the blog.  However, I am going to be done apologizing.  It is just going to have to be like this for now....until I graduate probably.  I have dreams of having this blissful post college life where I have time to write blog posts multiple times a week.  I realize this is probably a pipe dream, because we will be moving, setting up a new house, I will be finding work (UGH), and I will be just as busy as I am now.  Although as Ted from How I Met Your Mother would say: That's a problem for Future Me to deal with.  For now, I will just keep on writing as often as I can and learn to be happy with what I've got.

Today's post is more of a continuous stream of consciousness, rather than a carefully thought out entry detailing my current state of life.  It hit me the other day, that for someone who is not yet a contributing member of society with a career oriented purpose in life, I am busier than expected.  Before 11:30 am Monday I had gone to the gym, forgotten I had a doctor's appointment only to remember and rush out the door, gotten coffee (probably the reason I could be remotely productive), watered the flowers for the first time in Lord knows how long, prepped dinner for my husband to finish later, mentally prepared myself for class, washed a couple loads of laundry, and realized it has been too long since I last posted on my blog.  PHEW!  I know for some people that seems like next to nothing.  I am sure my husband accomplishes more than that before 9 am, but when you start your day at 8:15 am that is a lot to do in 3 hours.

DIY Pillow Cases From an Old Sheet

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on September 13, 2014***

Today is our first chilly (sub 80) day in Texas.  In fact this morning we woke up to 59 degree air PLUS wind.  Whoever says seasons don't exist in Texas is wrong, they just come all in 1 week.  Anyway, today has been spent inside, whether we were at the store getting some fall decorations for the house (more on that later), or at home lounging.  Since I was not planning on venturing out much more today I decided to do a little pinning.  Pinterest is a girl's favorite pastime!  So in the process of pinning the afternoon away I found some basic sewing patterns.  I haven't broken out my sewing machine since I hemmed my laundry room curtains (seen here) so I decided to search through the patterns to find something I could handle with only the little bit of fabric I have on hand.  I settled on this pattern from Crazy Little Projects.  It is a simple envelope pillow, which makes me feel great that it doesn't have a zipper.  I also simplified it by not adding an additional fabric as an accent.

TX House: Completed Laundry Room with Added Storage!

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on September 10, 2014***

Sorry it has been over 3 weeks since my last post.  School started back and is going well so far and my parents were in town visiting us for 10 days so many projects happened and not much blogging.  Most of the work was done in my laundry room which I can now happily say is done.  But wait?  Didn't I just post a laundry room blog entry?  I did not too long ago but now it is 100% complete!  To look at the previous post click here.  I am going to apologize in advance for the lack of photos in this post.  My dad did most, ok probably all, the work for these projects so I forgot to take photos as things were happening.

Back to School: Senior Style

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on August 25, 2014***

Today is the day!  The day I have been waiting to come for nearly 7 years.  Today is the day I begin my "senior year" of college!  I have just this Fall and Spring left in my undergraduate degree before I graduate in May, assuming everything goes according to plan with credits.  I plan on taking 15 credit hours both semesters and powering through to that blissful day when I walk across the stage.

Yesterday my husband and were talking about growing up and how I will be turning 25 about six weeks after I graduate (better late than never).  I had made a comment about being a "kid" for one more year because I am still in college, but then it hit me that at 24 I am into adulthood.  I am not sitting on the edge anymore.  I am an adult, and even though I am still in college, I need to be proud to be in the adult phase of life.  What does all of that really mean?  Well, it means that even though I don't have class until 11 am (not by choice but necessity), I still got up this morning at 6 am to start my day with my husband, go to the gym, come home to write my blog, cook breakfast instead of skipping it, have my quiet time, and get ready for my day.  Today (and every Monday) will be a long one.  I have class from 11 am until 9 pm so it is important for me to use my morning hours to the fullest because by the time I get home around 10 pm I am going to be so wiped out that I won't have time for blogging, quiet prayer time, or anything before my head hits the pillow.

"Give it to God"

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on August 19, 2014***

For those of you who grew up in the Christian faith or have spent any time around it, you have probably heard the phrase "give it to God," or something similar at least a handful of times.  These four words can make my skin tighten in an instant and make my blood boil.  It's silly, I know, but it happens.  I did not grow up with an active prayer life, and am still struggling with prayer as an adult (more on that some other time).  As a human being, especially one in the first 4 years of my faith, I constantly struggle with the idea that I cannot handle everything myself.  I pride myself on being a very strong and independent woman so to hear the words "give it to God" implies that I can't handle something.  That is one HARD pill to swallow.  Lots of times I find myself being so angry with God for whatever situation I am in that I actively do everything EXCEPT give my problems over to him.

Silver Painted Desk with Pops of Tiffany's Blue

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on August 18, 2014***

Good morning world!  It may be Monday morning, but I am in a GGGGGGGREAT (Tony the Tiger anyone?) mood this morning.  Why?  Because today I get to share my new desk...and I am writing this as I sit at my new desk.  BONUS!

To be completely honest, I had zero intention of getting a new desk.  Prior to last night I had a simple Ikea table top that worked well as a workspace for school and would eventually be easy to repurpose (when I FINALLY graduate) and it would make a great crafting table.  However, my wonderful husband was out for a walk with our pup one morning before work and he came back to shake me awake and show me a picture of this desk on the street in our neighborhood just a couple blocks from our house.  The best part?  On the desk was a sign that said my favorite word...FREE.  At this point I didn't really care what the desk looked like, as long as it was not home to a family of black widows (it wasn't don't worry), I wanted the desk.  So last Wednesday morning we took Heidi (my Highlander) and drove over to pick it up.  This is what she looked like.

TX House: Laundry Room Update

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on August 13, 2014***

The laundry room was the first room my wonderful husband let me touch when we first bought the house.  As a reminder, here is what our laundry room looked like when the house was purchased.  It was your basic, beige laundry room with a nice wooden shelf.

Aaron had originally said that we needed to wait 6 months after buying the house before painting anything.  All that changed one day when he opened the door and accidentally dented the wall behind the door with the doorknob.  I patched the dent so it was even with the rest of the wall but since my plaster was white and our wall was beige I took it as an invitation to paint the room.  While Aaron was at work I headed to our local Home Depot store and picked out some paint I liked.  In hindsight I probably should have asked him what color he liked since it was his house (not mine) and he had only lived there for less than a month.  However, I figured if I was going to fix it I would pick the color as long as it wasn't overly girly.

DIY Fabric Monogram Wreath

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on August 12, 2014***

Today's project is something I've been wanting to do for a while but wasn't sure how to do it or what color to do.  I finally pulled the trigger and picked a color for my wreath and dove in!  I was happy to find that it was much easier than I had anticipated.  I always love when things turn out well and were simple to do.

First you'll need to gather your supplies.  For this I used an 18 inch Wire Wreath, "C" Monogram Letter for our last name, Krazy Glue, scissors, and some pipe-cleaners.  All of this was purchased at Michaels, which I learned you can use a Hobby Lobby coupon at if Michaels does not have their usual 40% off going.  YAY for deals!  I grew up on Michael's so I prefer to shop there but will go to Hobby Lobby if I am in a pinch and Michael's doesn't have it.  I really wish we also had an A.C. Moore because that store is AMAZING, but I digress.

From Old to New in UNDER $30!

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on August 11, 2014***

Hey y'all!  Recently I've been on a DIY, HGTV, Pinterest kick and have been itching to do something productive with my time off from school.  I decided to try my hand at refinishing some furniture and I think it turned out fabulous for my first time.  The best part is it was done quickly and inexpensively!

For about three years now Aaron has had this end table that some friends of his parents were kind enough to give him for free when he graduated college and was starting out on his own.  What young guy with very little money doesn't like FREE?!?!?  He was very fortunate that they decided to give him quite a few items as they were updating their home and had no more need for them.  This table has been tucked into the corner and been the only end table in Aaron's various apartment living rooms since he came to own it.  When I first moved to Texas in the summer of 2012 I begged him to let me refinish it but he wasn't so sure...after all we were both on the broke side and would not be able to replace it if it were ruined in my attempt to improve it.  So we waited patiently.

I'm BAAACCCCCCKKKKKKKK

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on August 10, 2014***

Never fear, I am here.  Sorry to have basically fallen off the face of the earth in the last 6 weeks.  I was finishing up my 12 credit summer school session (YUCK!) and then was on a blissful 12 day vacation with my hubby and his family to Myrtle Beach, SC (YAY!).

We got up early to go watch the sunrise on the second to last morning :)

Of course we got back a couple weeks ago but I had to catch up on life from being gone so long.  Anyway, this week on the blog will be a couple different posts so stay tuned for those.  

Hubby rockin' the tank and the aviators on the way home.

So on the way to Myrtle Beach we made the drive in 3 days.  The first day we went from our home in Temple, Texas down to Houston, over through Louisiana (which by the way has the WORST DRIVERS EVER), into Mississippi and down to Aaron's aunt and uncle's house in Ocean Springs, MS.  We stayed the night there with them and had a blast catching up with family.

Growing Up or Growing Old?

***Originally posted to cregarstyle on July 1, 2014***

Well....I have a feeling that this is going to be more of a ramble than a conscious flow.  It's official, yesterday was my birthday and I am 24 wonderful years old.  Or is it years young?  As my husband says "you're almost old".  I like to remind him that I will always be younger than him.

As my "special day" went on I realized something.  This was my first truly adult birthday.  Some could argue that I have one more year of youth (I'm still in college and will graduate next May!).  But to them I say, when your birthday falls on a Monday and you spend the morning mowing the lawn and the afternoon working on math homework instead of spending the day hanging out with friends and laying by the pool, you're celebrating an "adult birthday,"

Summer + School = Death

***Originally posted to cregarstyle on June 21, 2014***

It's official.  I hate summer school.  To be completely fair, I don't think there is a person out there who enjoys summer school, but I am just about burned out on my educational pathway at the moment.  For those of you who don't personally know me, let me bring you up to speed on my wonderful 7 year educational journey.

I graduated HS in June of 2008 and was just as eager as any other graduate to head off to college and have some freedom.  I had lived my entire life in Portland, Oregon and was beyond excited to start a new life in Towson, Maryland some 3000 miles away from home.  I loved every second of it.  I went to Towson University as a Nursing major even though my heart was really in Athletic Training.  After the first semester of loving college, but hating school, I changed my major to Athletic Training.  However that was a 4 year degree from the time you start the program (which only starts every fall), which meant I would be on the 5 year plan to a Bachelor's degree. OH THE HUMANITY!  If I had only known that it would really take me 7 years to graduate instead of the 5 I would have just done it.

Let the Races Begin!

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on May 29, 2014***

On the night of my bachelorette party, surrounded by some of my closest girlfriends we made a pact.  A pact that I am sure will not hold up considering the state we were in when we made it, but that isn't relevant to the story.  We promised to train for and run the Disney Princess Half Marathon together next February.  Now this is a huge race in Disney World, but it was especially exciting because I live in Texas and my bridesmaids (and other wonderful girlfriends) are scattered across the country.  They live in Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington DC.  Obviously the training we are going to have to do apart, but the idea of meeting up again next February and running 13.1 miles together dressed outrageously like our favorite Disney Princesses sounded so wonderful.

Unfortunately, follow through isn't just a problem of mine, but seems to be a problem for my best girls as well.  Not to worry, I don't love them any less.  Plus, if you make a pact and you're not in your right mind I don't think it holds any validity.  However, I told my husband of the plan to run the half and he was all on board for me to do it, with or without my girls.  I love and hate this about him.  He is the most wonderfully supportive man, but if I had been looking for a way out of running, I wasn't going to find it with him.

TX House: Living Room Make Over

***Originally posted to cregarstyle on May 28, 2014***

As the largest room in our house, and the first thing you see when you walk in the front door, the living room has a huge impact on the flow of the house.  Remember the living room from the post about our house?  If not here is a refresher of what it looked like when we bought the house in May 2013.

Holy beige, Batman!  I mean beige carpet, beige walls, beige tile around the fireplace.  Remember that the furniture in the photos above is the previous owners.  We were fortunate enough to own a wonderful leather couch circa 1990 in the perfect color...beige!  After 6 months in the house I had lost my mind looking at the never ending stream of beige.  I spent at most a week thinking about colors for the open living spaces (living room, dining room, and kitchen).  I settled on one color for the kitchen/dining room since they share a wall and a second color for the living room.  Are you ready for the drastic change that paint can make????  

Our Texas House

***Originally posted to cregarstyle on May 27, 2014***

Well it is time to dive right into it.  I want to do a post about what our house looked like when we bought it just over a year ago so that when I do my other entries about the things we have changed you will have a good baseline.  I am not going to pretend to be one of those fantastic DIY bloggers with an amazing talent for making drastic changes that look professional on a minuscule budget by doing it all themselves.  That just isn't going to happen so I hope no ones hopes are going to be demolished by that.  What I can promise is that all the work will be done by me (or my husband and his friends if I can convince them to help....free beer and pizza usually works).  Its not that I have some mission to take over the world by doing it myself.  It's simply that we can't afford to pay anyone else to do it.  I am a full time student and am looking for part time work, but thats hard to find around a class schedule...but thats a whole long post in and of itself.  Aaron works for the Army and we do pretty well, and I feel very fortunate that he can provide for us so I can get my degree...but its not enough to fully renovate our home.  So DIY here we come :)

Our little home is 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, and has just shy of 1400 square feet.  It has wonderful 12 foot ceilings in the living room, kitchen, master suite, and one guest room.  I fell in love with the ceilings when we toured the house because it made the space feel much bigger than the 1400 sq ft that it is.  However, when it came to painting...those ceilings are the death of me.  Nothing like having to climb up on a tall ladder to paint an extra 2 feet of wall when you're afraid of heights (well more like afraid of falling off the ladder).

Anyway, lets dive into photos...remember these are from the listing so everything you see is from the old owners and they were in their 60's.

What Happens After "I Do"

***Originally posted to cregarstyle on May 24, 2014***

As a little girl your whole life is spent thinking about the magical day when your Prince Charming comes to whisk you off your feet and take you into "happily ever after."  Exactly 6 weeks ago my long term boyfriend (turned fiance) and I took the plunge into married life in front of our family and friends.  It was an incredible day spent with those who love us most.  

Photo from Brittany Morgan Photography

However, after months of build up, anticipation, planning, crash dieting, pulling my hair out, and prepping for the wedding the day was over in a flash.  We went on a "mini-moon" for 5 nights and spent some amazing time together.  But for the amount of anticipation and preparation that went into April 12th, not a whole lot went into prepping for April 13th-eternity.