...And I Burned a Bag of Chocolate

Last week was suuuuper crazy, Mid-term of clinical, In-service presentation, and headed to the beach with my middle seester for the weekend!

So, I wanted to make a sweet to serve at my in-service because that's what most people do, I decided to try chocolate dipped Oreos.

In hindsight, I had too much going on... I was an emotional basket case because I was nervous and...

...I burned the chocolate. Trust me, due to my emotions running high, it was quite possibly my most traumatic kitchen fail yet.

Add "to master chocolate dipped Oreos" to the bucket list, because I love Oreos and how cute are these for pretty much every single occasion???

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Someday... :)

Just Looking for Something New :)

I have put high-lights in my hair twice in my life, once professionally and once via boxed mix.

Neither went well.

Perhaps its this awful hint of gray that haunts me daily or just wanting to mix it up a little bit, but I've been wanting to try something new...

From here, here, here, and here

And then I come back to, I love how brunettes who stay brunettes look, like Katie Holmes or Courtney Cox, always look great with beautiful dark hair, why mess with something not broken (a little boring, but not broken).

From here, here, here, and here

I can't decide, it would be fun to try, but a pretty pricey & time consuming for just dabbling if it does or doesn't work out...

Things are quickly stacking up against the coloring, but I'll still dream for a little bit :)

Maybe I'll stick to tri training and shoe shopping :P

All in His Perfect Timing...

I often struggle with the idea that I can't do everything.  This past break it hit me that I can't be super crafty and super mom and super cute and a hardcore athlete and an accomplished professional.  And it disappointed me.

It all started with making my own boxwood.  I had an urn I picked up at a thrift store and thought a nice big boxwood ball would look awesome on it.  It does, and I am pretty proud of my project, but it took me countless hours to complete.  By the end, I had sworn off crafting all together (still somewhat in effect).  As I sat there gluing little pieces of greenery to a styrofoam ball, burning my fingers, and cursing my 'great idea', I thought about the importance of my time, God's time.

Cute, right??

Pinterest doesn't help, but even without it, I still have dreams and unfortunately the more I do, live, and see, the more I realize all of those dreams don't really line up with each other.  I want to be an excellent Physical Therapist someday, unfortunately that doesn't go hand in hand with being a stay at home mom, homeschooling our kids, or even my goal of completing a full Ironman race.  On top of all of that, I feel like the Lord has put those with special needs on my heart, how does that fit in?  

I guess I should have titled this post "I'm growing up." Failure for lack of trying has never been an option.  I have always lived with a shoot for the stars mentality and if  its not meant to happen, the Lord will close doors and re-direct paths. Its so strange now to reign myself in and admit that if I spread myself too thin, I will not be able to be excellent in any area, and mediocrity is just not good enough.

I know there will be chapters, so I have not completely written any one thing off, and continue to pray I get to by some miracle do everything.  I just continue to realize & be reminded that I need to stop and listen for the Lord's timing rather than just plowing ahead, because if I try to do things my way exhaustion, burn-out, & mediocrity will be the result.

All because of a boxwood... which I am super proud of and will devote an entire post to eventually :)

The Simplicity of Placing a Tray on a Table

My husband and I are both pretty simple, neither of us love the frou frou nor need the glam.  However, when push comes to shove, his impression of simple is in fact much simpler than mine.

That being said, when decorating I try to combine his need for simplicity with my need for creating a welcoming home.  I am always trying to simplify our little space with the hopes that it is still an inviting and calm space.

I like the look of setting & decorating a tray on a table because it seems to make all of the cute decor that I love look organized and contained.  So here is what I have going on right now:

(dirty dog bed and all!)

And here are some of my inspiration/favorites from Pinterest:

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Happy Monday!