Songs & Shelves!

Happy Sunday! 

Today really was a beautiful day, both inside and outside. Nobody's really sure what the midwest wants to do when it comes to weather, but today provided some much needed sunshine and chirpy birds to make up for the mini blizzard that rolled through yesterday.  

Our day began with worship, which, if I'm being honest, I could use every day. I took some time specifically today to give thanks for the praise and worship team that "adopted" me with open arms and has welcomed me as now a core member in our growth as a team. As with any ministry that truly speaks to the individual, I am so overwhelmed by just how at home I feel with them, each week as we support each other and lead our growing church plant in worship. 

And it's fun, too ;) 

silly rehearsal times

( But serious, when we need to be....)

lost in worship with this incredible, incredible team
photo cred: my awesome husband ♥

 And after church, I was feeling happy, and sunshiney, and flowy [the latter based on the hair I so. desperately. need. to cut...]. Either way, today really was a day of mental and bodily rejuvenation, and I was happy to soak it in.

happy :)

"SUNDAY IS A DAY OF REST!" is what I swear I heard in my ear every hour as Rob and I dove into a project we've [I've] been talking about for weeks. I've been chronicling in recent posts the growing collection of pretty spines [aka books] and wimsy little Funkos that have begun piling atop the mantle in our living. For fear that I'd come home one day to find the shelf broken off the wall - which Rob has assured me is quite unlikely to happen, I decided that in addition to the book nook I've been scheming for the upstairs room, there would be a bookshelf to accompany it.

And that birthed today's project: #StokesShelfie.
I gave it a hashtag because I'm that person, who will forever reference this and all book-related projects in my home with hashtag vernacular. Or maybe worse. #WHOKNOWS.
Rest in peace, pound sign. 

ANYWAY:

before [& yes, those are 2 separate shots, 2 separate angles]

I'll skip the boring part where Rob and I marched back and forth across Home Depot for 45 minutes debating on the best and most cost-efficient material for this. We eventually settled on primered boards, which meant no pre-painting on our end. WOO!

frame!

From there, it was Rob and his table saw, and me with a drill and chair because I'm too short for just about everything.

sectioned :)

 And then the fun part:

....aaaaand ONE. 

 And two, and three, and four......

And then FINALLY:  

done! done done done. 

Rob went back to the garage to continue hounding away at the motor he's been working on, and I took to re-homing a portion of my new shelf's inhabitants. It's late and I'm tired, so the rest will have to wait for another day.

It's still pretty awesome - I couldn't have done this without my super awesome husband's help; I am in LOVE with this [and him, duh].

#shelfie!

Phewww.
Gooood night, blogbots!

xo | cms

Dogs & Paint

Youuuuuu guyyyyysss.

I walked into church today, and aside from the greeter outside on the sidewalk, the very first welcome we received was from this girl: 

[this picture was after the service, though ;)]

Ya'll. My church has a DOG now, who attends regularly. I would've known this three weeks ago probably, but our annual stint of weekend travel for the holidays has kept us out of our home church for far too long. Somewhere in the middle of our absence, this sweet girl starting attending with her human, and I hear she's going to be a regular. Her name is Sadie, and she is a therapy dog [not to be confused with service dog], and she will sit with you until you are smiling, because that is her day job. And I need a dog like this to sit at my desk and stare at me all day long Monday through Friday until I am doing nothing but smiling, petting said dog and avoiding real life responsibilities.

Is that too much to ask?! ;) 

Seriously. The sun has been MIA pretty much this entire year so far, with the exception maybe of like one or two days, and we've been feeling the effects of this no-sun spell. Everything outside feels like it's the same color, and finding motivation to be productive doesn't come as easily as it usually does when there's nice vitamin D streaming through the house. 

So sunny little Sadie was my much-needed pick-me-up today, and gave me a little extra boost on top of Pastor Chad's message, to go home and do the painting we didn't do yesterday. 

Yes, painting. Our living room. We thought we'd wait at least a year to paint the thing [ok, so it wasn't planned, but we were a little busy last year...]. 

before 

Literally, white walls everywhere in this house. We've determined some of the previous colors, usually by accident; the last paint jobs are still hanging out in patches underneath the outlet and lightswitch covers, and in the tippy toppy corners of the room where the Kilz didn't reach. 

and paiiiinting... and paaaainting.. 

I'll get the finished pictures up once this room is said and done, but hey, progress is progress, right? :D

It's enough for tonight though; tomorrow starts the work day and the work week, and back to it we'll go. G'Nite! 

xo | cms