i {heart} IKEA

ok i am so excited right now...first of all just let me say that Tim and i NEVER buy anything for our master bedroom. in all of the {almost} 10 years we have been married, it is a rarity that we buy anything for our room. we love decor and we have our whole house {even Haylee's room} all decked out. all rooms except ours. before our yard sale last Saturday we had this old, UGLY {i don't know what kind of style we had when we were young married teenagers...i think the style is called "cheap", lol}, partical board and faux marble beige {yeah, i know you are TRYING to imagine, it's hard, i know, ha ha!} dresser with matching night stands.

we were DONE and figured, when we move next it's NOT coming with us. :) so we actually sold it for $120! i was impressed it went for even that much. so now we are on the look out for new furniture. but of course we don't want to spend an arm and a leg - we needed night stands {or something that resembled night stands} for now, so we figured we'd go find something cheap at IKEA. i was thinking maybe sturdy plastic, right?

i was so impressed...i have been to IKEA before and i really like it because it's flippin' HUGE and everything is so inexpensive, yet modern and just down right NEAT. i like it a lot! it's kind of artsy and creative, some of the stuff i wouldn't have in my house because it can get really contemporary looking...but they have some pretty cool things at IKEA i must admit. we even found our next bedroom set! and....get this....it'll cost just under $1,000. :) i honestly don't want to spend more than that on OUR bedroom set. it's not like anyone comes into our room...i mean the decor and the furniture are just for us. i am impressed with the Hemmes collection simply because Haylee has this set in her room. she has the daybed - which we will be upgrading her to a full size bed {when we move } that'll look just like the one in the set below only white!

i was thinking...if Haylee can have this set in her room and it is still going strong {she's had it since she was 3 years old...and she's almost 7} - then it will work for us! ;) she's pretty rough on her furniture too, which is why we thought IKEA for her room. but it's VERY sturdy and durable. anyway we found the complete set and will gradually start buying pieces here and there until we complete our bedroom set. we purchased both night stands yesterday! next will be the bed frame, then the dresser and lastly the storage bench to go at the end of the bed. we are also going to buy a huge wooden framed mirror {which we couldn't believe was only $99!} to go atop the dresser. i just had to share this awesome news. :) i'm excited!

the storage bench:

the 8-drawer dresser:

the nightstand {we bought 2!}:

the bed {we will probably upgrade from a queen to a king on this too}:

other news than that - we made $565 at our yard sale! pretty neat! we are saving that money for our trip to Colorado and Vegas in September. :) i'm super excited to visit CO and get a good feel for the area. praying for good GOOD things to come out of that trip! and Vegas for our 10 year wedding anniversary! that is going to be fun! i can't remember the last time Tim and i went to Vegas by ourselves. should be a lot of fun.

photo news - i've been busy as you can see on facebook. ;) lots of clients and people are referring me now, so that's neat. i'm excited for my future endeavors in this area of life. i know God has big plans for me. i got my flash and bracket and LOVE it! i haven't had a chance to do a shoot yet, but i have two planned for Saturday and a friend's getting married on Sunday, so might get to use it there. excited!!!!

Haylee is having a great summer so far. this week and next she is hanging out with Grammy and the other kids that Grammy is watching {my nephews Tyler and Jacob and thier sister Lilly}. she has so much fun there, but is worn out when she gets home. Grammy must keep them busy! Grammy takes them all over the place and swimming in the community pool. that's fun for her, she loves it. she has lost another tooth - which makes tooth #7, and we're working on yanking out tooth #8! it's really loose and the other tooth is almost overlapped it, so i've been working on it for her {much to her disliking, but oh well, lol!}. she lost tooth #7 in Target yesterday! crazy! she is so excited for her 7th birthday party which will be August 22nd at our place. we're having a Spongebob Luau pool party. :)

well, going to get going - it's been awhile so i hope this holds over til my next entry! peace.

focus please.

it is so hard for me to focus today because there's a little package at home waiting for me that includes my Canon Flash Kit! ahhhh it's 1:37pm and i leave at 4pm today. i don't know how i'm going to do it. ;)

i've been waiting for this flash and bugging Tim {he finally caved, he loves me!} and now it's actually HERE. yipeeeeeeeeeee - it's like the day Tim took me to buy my camera, i'm just EXCITED as can be. i also got another book from my paper back swap, so that's thrilling also {albeit not as thrilling as getting my flash kit}.

this week is going by so fast already! i finally finished editing a big family photo shoot i did, not last weekend but the weekend before last {whew}. now i have the mother/daughter shoot and the wedding i did with Lavay to edit. lots of editing, it takes a lot of time i tell ya! especially since i am somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to that. but it's fun. we are also tagging and finding loads of things to sell at the biggest yard sale in Orange County...which happens to be our neighborhood - this weekend on Saturday! we have 4 families selling in our yard alone! we're going to make so much money! at least we better. ;) this yard sell is seriously like none other i have ever been to {and trust that i've been to my share of yard sales...my mom used to drag me around to them every Saturday...but i loved it.}. people sell food and there's music and the cops come and close off streets. it's a big deal, seriously.

ok well...i better go now since i'm at work. :))) focus Melissa...focus!

everyone has an opinion.

sometimes i hate that everyone has an opinion about what you do in life and HOW you do it. i think it agravates me most when people don't know the whole situation. i mean, they aren't required to know...it's YOUR business, right? your life, your business. sometimes people need to let it go.

it's nobody that reads my blog, but i get tired of people just assuming that Haylee is going to be an only child. darn it people, i'm only 29. granted i'll be 30 in six months. but i've made a promise to myself (and to Tim) that if it doesn't happen by the time i am 35, then Haylee will be an only child. i don't feel like i need to run that by everyone though. it's just how i feel. i know i'm blogging this now...but i just get frustrated. why does there have to be a specific TIME between each child? no, we aren't trying to have another child right now - but we are waiting for the right time for us, as parents. we have plans and if we bring another life into this world we want to make sure we are capable of giving it {he/she} everything it needs.

if you know Haylee's personality then you know at any age she will make one AWESOME big sister. and i honestly don't think she will be jealous {well maybe a little at first} but i have all inentions on getting her involved in every aspect of this potential child's life. it's not like we're going to neglect her whenever a new baby arrives. it's not like she will be lacking love or attention. she is a very caring, sharing and giving child in all aspects. God knew what He was doing when He blessed us with Haylee. :)

anyway i probably didn't need to explain myself or my personal journey - BUT yes, there IS another twinkle in our eyes to have another. but as for the timing of it all...only time will tell.

1 Cor 7:17b {the Message Bible}

"Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there."

wow - what a great verse! i am going through the book of Corinthians in my personal study right now and journaling. and i just knew that this verse was for me. a few other people in my life crossed my mind too, with the situations going on in their lives. i know this verse was written in regard to marriage and being single - but it can be applied to all aspects of life as well.

so many times i live for the future - i get my mind set on one futuristic event that is going to happen and i lose sight of what's happening in my NOW. right now. where i am right now - that is where i am meant to be. sometimes it's hard to understand because we aren't in a "good" place right now. people aren't treating us right, tears are being shed, people are sick, people are dying...why am i right HERE right now? we all go through these times though. that's when we are to be strong for each other. you are where you are {physically and mentally/emotionally} because you have a purpose to be there.

i look back at my life and i can see {hind sight} why certain things happened the way they did. some very bad things happened and some really hard times happened, but i understand NOW why they had to happen. why i was living where i was living and why this situation happened to me when it did. i didn't see it THEN, but i see it now. you never know who's life you are meant to touch. maybe you are supposed to introduce a person {soul mate?} to someone else and that's the only reason you are there. maybe God put you there to comfort someone in a time of need. maybe you are there to learn something. maybe it's a little bit of everything. you just don't know.

so - be happy where you are. be happy and obedient to God even if it hurts because one day you will understand WHY. one day you will know. one day it'll all be clear as to why. just believe.

my church ROCKS!

this week is super vacation bible sensation {or vacation bible school} for Haylee at our church and i just KNOW she is going to have the time of her life! our church goes all out - we have the best, most dedicated leaders there to help point our kids in the right direction. it's amazing. i just know that she's going to get SO much out of it!

i remember bible school as a kid - i went to a bunch of different ones too! i remember one in particular, i don't think it was even MY church, i think i went with a friend to her's and i learned the books of the New Testament in song. to this day i can still sing that song and it's usually what i do when i am flipping through the NT to find a book! LOL! i also remember craft time and making bookmarks and cool things to bring home. i remember memorizing bible verses and getting rewarded. i loved VBS. i wish i could go with Haylee to hers! ;)

this year the theme is "The Rock Band" focusing on Jesus is our ROCK. i love the verse that goes with this theme: Matthew 7:25. it's SOOOO true and it's exactly where i want my little girl to be this week. :)

yeah! the best hubby ever!

so i've been wanting a flash ever since the wedding i assisted with my friend Lavay. she let me borrow her's {which is a step above this one} and i LOVED it! this is the older model, but works JUST the same. and Tim bought it for me! not only am i getting the flash though...this kit comes with a flash bracket, cord, alkaline rechargable batters, the plug to recharge, batter cases and a difusser. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i could scream with excitement! i am in HEAVEN. :)

i am so super excited. my pictures are going to look so much better now too. i am coming into a lot of business lately, so WHAT a blessing this is. this kit is so much cheaper too than anywhere i have found. it is only $330! the flash ALONE usually costs that much. i cannot wait to get it. i will be using a lot. i already pretty much have a studio set up in our spare bedroom with the lights and the backdrops so now when my friends come over i can actually do photography indoors. i am going to say this is going to open a whole new branch of photography for me. yeah! i'm stoked. :)

changes.

it took me 10 minutes just to think of a title for this entry. a lot has happened in the past few days...few weeks really. a lot! a lot to think about, pray about and do. i'm so glad that God is in control because right now it feels like my head is about to pop off my head with as much thinking as i've been doing lately!

let's start with my 4th of July and we'll go from there. i woke up on the 4th sick to death! i couldn't breath {allergies/sinus}, ugh it was awful. Tim kept asking me if we wanted to call the party off, but there was NO way. :) i was looking forward to the family and some close friends coming over for awhile. we bought all the food and i know people were counting on us. i'm so happy we didn't call it off, i just was really drugged up {i took benedryl AND zyrtec...ha ha!}. i had a few people ask me if i was ok, but i was! i was tired by the end of the day and glad to see everyone looked like they enjoyed themselves. so my 4th was great regardless of my allergy attack!

oh - rewind to friday - Tim and i had the day off work and his Camry had been having tons of issues {don't buy a Camry, LOL} - with having to buy new tires all of the time and having to get the brakes fixed every year {hello money drainer!}. so we shopped around and went with what we know AND love....Nissan. :) we are now proud owners {yes, i said "we", because i'm the co-signer...and maybe if i ask nicely he'll let me drive it, hee hee} of a 2009 Nissan Xterra! black on black. Tim wheeled a deal and we got a dvd player too! it will be installed this week hopefully in the roof. Haylee is happy about that alone. ;) it's beautiful AND it's 4WD. which will be nice one day when we go up into the mountains and become mountain people. LOL. we love it and so far have taken drives just to drive for no reason.

now. onto some very sad news. but happy and i'm rejoicing in a way {but sadly}. my Papaw Meahan passed away last night. some of you may have seen my blog entry about him and how wonderful he was and that lung cancer came and went into remission and came back with a vengence a few months ago. well he couldn't breath any longer and he passed away to be with the Lord last night. my heart is hurting that i didn't and couldn't get to hug him ONE last time. but i feel a bit at ease knowing that he was a great Christian man and he had great faith. i talked to him on the phone a few weeks ago and it was weird, but it was awesome at the same time. we said our goodbyes. but not for long, i know i will see him one day. :)

ok well i'm going to get off here and do some much needed Bible reading. i started in 1 Corinthians last night, going to read it through. it's pretty interesting so far. good night!

happy 4th of July.

thanks to all of the men and women who serve and have served in the USA. i am so happy to call myself an American! i love the 4th of July because family gets together and even if you don't have family nearby, you have friends...so we gather and celebrate the most important thing to us....FREEDOM! have a great 4th of July and be safe!

choo choo.

it's time to get back on track. all the time i have to do this, lol. i'm so inconsistent at times! well i get caught up in the otherness. so i've stopped working out - i start and then something stops me. it's usually my non-motivated-ness-self, ha! so i have decided that during the summer months that Haylee and i are going to start walking after we get home at night {around 6pm}. we will also take the dog Miley because she doesn't really get out {annnnd it shows}. so for the past few days we've been taking walks! granted, we've only worked our way up to 1.5 miles, but hey, it's a start! and we ALL love it. Tim is usually at the gym, so it works out great. ;) choo choo, back on track!

next step is to wake up 15 mins early and read a chapter of a book in my Bible. a few weeks ago {months? it's been awhile} i zipped through the book of Romans. i'm not quite sure what book i want to tackle next, but i feel maybe the Corinthians? or maybe Phillipians {some of my very fav verses come from Phillipians}. still thinking, any suggestions? i love my Bible too...it's the dual Bible with NIV and The Message...which is the EASIEST translastion ever to read. i love it! :) thanks to my father-in-law for that one, he got it for me for Christmas, sweet!

i feel like these are the two biggest struggles, pretty much everything else just is routine for me. for some reason these two are either in or out of the routine on a daily basis. so sad! especially because they're the two MOST important things. i know i'm not alone on this though.

anyway...ok getting ready for bed now. tomorrow is the last day of the work week for me! yay! happy early weekend!!