Life in our world....

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, but we've been quite busy around the Armstrong household. Last weekend we went to Andalusia for a night (mainly so I could get a haircut) but also to visit with Tootsie and Pop in Andalusia before football season starts. They come to us for AU home games, so it's always a long stretch of time in the fall that we don't get to Andalusia for a while.

We arrived back in Auburn, and I was determined to get in some quality time at the pool before heading back to work on Wednesday of last week. So pretty much every morning Turner and I slept late (a favorite activity for both of us), and then enjoyed the sun and water at our neighborhood pool. Then while she napped I tried to finish up all of my "to-do-list" projects...and I can honestly say I think I got it all done! Exciting!

My biggest summer project was decorating our guest room, which is located right off the kitchen in our home. When we designed this house, we designed it with our bedroom, Turner's bedroom, and the office on one side, and the guest room on the other side. We love this orientation, however it is very visible when guests are here so I definitely wanted to like this space. And although I loved the fact that we have a king size bed in there now, I hated the comforter and pretty much how the entire room looked. So, with some summer workshop money I purchased a new comforter off Ebay (I LOVE IT), some paint from Sherwin Williams, and some fabric for headboard...and it went from this:

Please note, I had dumped the drawers from the dressed onto the bed by the time I took the picture. Also, the carpet is not green, that's the drop cloth! :)

...to this!!!

If you look closely, you'll notice that the room changed dramatically due to the addition of a custom made headboard on the bed. Can I just brag on my Dad? He is awesome. I talked to him about this about a month ago and asked him if we could get it done before the wedding shower at my house on August 8th (last night)...he of course assured me we could. When we got to Andalusia last weekend the headboard was built. They came to Auburn this weekend and we finished attaching the fabric and bolting it in Friday night. I. LOVE. IT. Totally changed the room - totally what I wanted. I have been teased before for constantly saying, "My Daddy can do it..." But it's the truth. In my eyes he can do ANYTHING. Thanks Daddy - love you.

I did ask Mark if it was ok for me to paint his grandmother's dresser, and I want to say that he was gracious in allowing me to take on another big painting project after I pretty much ruined the last thing I tried to do. I got some advice from Seth and listened intently to the nice man at Sherwin Williams, and am very happy with how this project turned out. Still haven't purchased new pulls for it yet, but will do that soon. The dresser before:

...and the finished project!!

A lot of my wanting to re-do this room centered around a wedding shower we had here last night for our friend Star. I really wanted this room to be something I loved and would be proud to have people see - and it definitely was! Mark and I loved entertaining in our new home, the flow of traffic, the conversation areas, etc. It was exactly what we designed and hoped it would be! It was also great to visit with old friends, especially those we haven't seen in many years! Let me also thank both of my parents for their help in pulling this shower off - Dad worked like crazy with Mark in the yard all day Saturday, Mom helped entertain Turner so I could cook then she helped prepare food, mop floors, etc. while Turner napped. My parents make my life SO much easier. And my husband is the best. I couldn't list all the things he did on this blog, but he definitely washed dishes for over an hour straight Saturday night - I didn't touch one. He's amazing. Here's a pic of my sweet hubby getting a kiss from his favorite little girl.

Tomorrow is a big day...another school year begins - number 9 for me which is still hard to believe. Admittedly, I had the hardest and least enjoyable year of my teaching career last year. I am hoping like crazy that this year will be different. It has to be. I have a new goal - to focus on memorizing one scripture verse a week for this entire school year. Based on my slight lack of enthusiasm as we've approached this school year, here's my verse for this week from the New Living Translation - Colossians 3:17. " And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus..."