faith, a whisk and mascara

I do believe it's been QUITE some time since I blogged...Oops. Being a new momma has occupied a little bit of time. Sweet Caroline was born September 25, 2013 at 9:44 pm after a little less than 4 hours (praise JESUS-He knew that's all I could handle!) of labor. Caroline was 6 pounds even, 19 3/4 inches long and completely beautiful. I'm still in awe looking back at that day. I worked that day until around 1:00, then headed to my doctor to see if I was anywhere near giving birth yet (considering I was already 5 days past my due date). According to my dr, I had't progressed any in FOUR WEEKS....I cried the entire drive home thinking I'd never ever have this baby. When I got home I felt so defeated. I decided I just was NOT going to cook dinner so I ordered a pizza and prayed my husband would be home in time to answer the door when it got to my house so I didn't have to get up. Pitiful. We started eating and about 2 bites in, my stomach started to hu

I realize it's been 7 months since my last post. Oops. I think the holidays got in the way.  First Thanksgiving rolled around, I did one crafty thing, ate and that was over...woo.  Isn't it precious? I made just a week or so before turkey day, so it didn't grace my door for long. Sad.  Of course, after Thanksgiving, everyone is in a mad rush to do Christmasy things. Shopping, crafting, wrapping, cooking, baking, socializing, etc. I tried really hard to cram it all in. Here is a small portion of our December:       It was actually a very nice Christmas season. We got lots of family and friend time. And I made some precious memories with my sweet niece and nephew. Of all the blessings that happened over this past Christmas, we had no idea we'd be blessed even more in January. That's right. God apparently sees us as fit parents. Our little nugget will be joining our family in September. We're excited and nervous all at the sa

Apparently, I'm not too hot at keeping a blog going. I've tried...it's just the last thing on my to-do list and half of that list never gets done anyway. What's been up with me? Life. Busy days and nights. The usual. I have LOVED my Pampered Chef business so far. The shows I've done have been so much fun. I've met all my goals and for the month of September, I was the top consultant in sales in my team. Yay! My family took their annual mountain trip the beginning of October. We went to beautiful Lake James. We stayed in one of the most gorgeous homes I've ever seen. I love the opportunity this trip gives us to grow closer. I have two cousins who live relatively close, but, our busy lives and hectic schedules prevent us from seeing each other as often as I'd like. Jacob is nearly driving and Ben is in middle school. They are both becoming amazing men and I am so thankful to have them in my family. Jacob's sense of humor keeps me guessing. I supp

I think God calls people to do so many different things. When I owned my cosmetic studio, I was blessed by my customers and in turn had the opportunity to share God's peace and comfort with several who came in my doors. I have some of my life's most precious memories because of a makeup store. Who would have thought?! I was able to encourage women, pray with them, listen to them and assure them I cared about them and would continue to pray for them. I didn't pray with or for every single person who came in my door. I didn't welcome customers with scripture. But, I did have a few opportunities to help some pretty broken women. God put them in my store on days I was slow, there were no other customers in the store, and we had all the time in the world to talk. They'd open their hearts and tell me some of their live's most trying moments. I don't claim that I have some magical power to open people's mouths. I just know that God put me there for them that da

Well, I feel like I've abandoned my little blog. Here I am to promise that good things are in the works. As soon as I've place the finishing touches on our partially redone bathroom, I plan to share that project here. I failed to take "before" photos. But our guest bathroom was icky before. Nearly five years in our home and we've just ignored it. When we bought our house, we moved in and quickly realized the previous owners had less than desirable taste in paint colors. EVERY room but one was painted in a high gloss ghastly oil based paint. Ew. We IMMEDIATELY painted our living room and kitchen. (Five years later and I'm ready to re paint those rooms--my ideas are brewing) Slowly but surely we started painting the rest of the house. The hallways were done first. Then we took our guest room from a lavender color (which wasn't too horrible) to a pretty sand color. Our HUGE project was our office. It was previously a nursery for what I'm assuming was a ba

I'm about to share with you the first recipe I ever created on my own. Several years ago I was feeling creative and this dish was the outcome. It's my favorite meal and it is the dish I make for the most special people in my life. It's an amazing date night meal and my hubby vouches for that! The night I made this most recently, I served roasted asparagus as a side. I had one bunch of asparagus, cut the tough ends off. Line a baking pan with foil or parchment paper. Arrange asparagus on the pan in a flat line. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and one minced garlic clove. Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes! Now for the pasta: Here's what you need: 2 garlic cloves, minced One Minced Shallot 1/4 Cup chopped Sundried Tomatoes (Buy sundried tomatoes packed in oil) 2 chicken breasts, cubed, 2-3 teaspoons crushed red pepper flake, small container heavy cream, whole grain linguine, dry white wine, 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 1