Friday, August 30, 2013

Old Windows

Sarah and I moved into our townhouse way back in June but it wasn't until this week that I felt like I was fully unpacked and organized. All summer I had given myself the deadline of the first day of classes to hang everything on the walls and have some sort of organization so that I had minimal distractions (ie: reasons to procrastinate) come time for real work. Finally the house looks finished!

I am very thankful for my roommate Sarah who let me indulge a little bit when it came to decorating... I kind of have this obsession with old windows! I have four old windows that I have collected over the past few years and this is the first time I was able to find a home for each one! Two of the windows are in our common living area and the other two windows occupy walls in my bedroom. The ironic part of this whole decorative scheme is that the one real window in my bedroom that looks out over the backyard is almost always covered by its curtain!

Not an awesome picture with glares and what not but I do love this window... the flower pot is full of flower- dry-erase markers!





 What do you think? Are all of my old windows in one small house just too much?

XOXO,
Lauren


Thursday, August 29, 2013

My Everyday Cure for the Common Self-Wallowing


Sooo I was really excited to start classes today (nerd alert)! I read all of the 8 million emails sent by professors over the last month, printed out and hole punched all of my syllabi, deep cleaned my room, organized my desk, ironed my skirt, woke up early and showered, ate a decent breakfast and set off for my first day of 3rd/4th year! That was at 9:30 am. By the time I got home at 4:30 I was exhausted and, as Avery helped me define, I was pretty grumpy. I blamed the weather, the back-to-back meetings, and the overwhelming feeling of already being behind on assignments the first day of class. To top it all off, I totally forgot to take a back to school picture with Bo and Sarah this morning and, I’m not going to lie, that made me sad!

After half a bag of popcorn, a wardrobe change, hot tomato soup, and a good old-fashioned quiet time, my head has been cleared of the self-wallowing fog I was in earlier. I had been planning to write on the blog for about two weeks now, and this is the first time since then that I have successfully typed lucid sentences. The amazing thing about God’s timing is that the topic I had chosen to write about two weeks ago, applies more to me today than it did at the time I chose it…

Psalm 32

3When I kept silent,

my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

4For day and night

your hand was heavy on me;

my strength was sapped

as in the heat of summer.

5Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess

my transgressions to the Lord.”

And you forgave

the guilt of my sin.

6Therefore let all the faithful pray to you

while you may be found;

surely the rising of the mighty waters

will not reach them.

7You are my hiding place;

you will protect me from trouble

and surround me with songs of deliverance.

I stumbled upon this Psalm during a quiet time I had while on vacation in the mountains. My favorite part about the place we stayed was how quiet our surroundings were. When it was foggy outside and you couldn’t see the neighboring houses, it was as if our house was the only civilization on the whole mountain. In the silent beauty of my environment I was struck by how loud my own thoughts were inside of my head. I was feeling guilty about something and yet it took lots of time to flush out exactly what was the source. Finding this Psalm, I understood that I could constantly feel weighted with guilt with my human sinful nature but that confessing to God lifts the burden of guilt. The Lord wants to protect us from the grief of sin, but we first have to acknowledge the fact that the root of our guilt/frustration/anger is sin that poisons everything around it, including our moods!

I used this train of thought today as my grumpy self trudged around the house. After changing into comfortable clothes, I took a deep breath, sunk down on my bed and prayed. I was first rambling and making excuses as to why I was cranky, but soon enough I was confessing my anxieties and my lack of faith that was weighing me down. I wouldn’t say I was ready to be a social butterfly even after this little quiet time but I was definitely in a much more enjoyable state of mind.

Enough about me, I would love to hear if there are any other passages that you run to during times of turmoil and maybe guilt! Also, since school is starting and I will need some way to justify procrastinating on homework, I will hopefully be posting more consistently! I am thankful for the few people that read this blog!


XOXO,
Lauren


Thursday, August 1, 2013

Quickie Paint Job

Even though Sarah and I moved into our sweet little townhouse over a month and a half ago, we are still knocking things off of our to-do list to make it feel a little more homey before classes start! 

Like the chair that I recovered earlier, this table has been painted and loved by many, though it is not quite as antique as the rocking chair. The top of the table is a painted metal, great for quick clean-ups, so my family has fondly referred to it as our craft table. My mom was the last to paint this table so that my sister D-2 (second in the order... I am fondly known as D-1) could use the table in her room as a desk. The problem my mom encountered was that the table was too short so, being the brilliant woman that she is, she added a little height with the sports balls that can be seen in these pictures. Genius! And well executed!  






Just a little stretch between sets.
Unfortunately, Sarah and I were not going for the sports themed kitchen eating area, or I would have gladly kept the table as is. 



Instead we went with a simple and neutral "Classic Key Lime." The color is such a light shade of green that it is basically white, unless compared to a true white, so the contrast between the top of the table and the legs was just enough! I sanded just a little bit and I only had to do two layers of paint to get the color I was looking for!


DONE! So quickly too!

Such a quick and easy project that pulls our house together just a little bit more!
XOXO,
Lauren