Bathroom Inspiration

Wow, it has been quite awhile since I wrote a post and I feel like so much has happened in our lives. Josh has been spending a lot of time on our house and started a new job. I've been spending a lot of time trying to adjust to that crazy corporate work-life balance. And though I like my job a lot, I feel I'm working/driving a lot and I miss those lazy afternoons in college. It's something that I'm starting to figure out... I think... and I've been enjoying getting back into the swing of getting things accomplished at home and also working really hard at my job. I'm learning how to prioritize my time and making sure I focus on things that are truly worth spending my time on. Unfortunately that does mean less time for Netflix, reading, journaling and other things I find relaxing. But I'm slowly starting to realize that spending hours of my time off work watching shows and scrolling through Instagram really isn't the best use of my time. It's relaxing, for sure, and there is definitely a time where I think that relaxing and watching an episode of one show is okay. But I'm coming to the realization that relaxing for me really starts when my relationship with my husband is healthy, when my home is clean and when I meet with friends and read God's word. This means that I have less time to watch Netflix because I'm hanging drywall and cleaning up sawdust, doing laundry and dishes, getting coffee (tea for me) with friends and spending a good amount of time with Jesus. As an introvert my natural inclination is that those things are not classified as relaxing but guys, watching Netflix is SO much more relaxing when Josh is happy, my home is clean and my heart is encouraged. It's totally balanced, and I think that's what makes it so much better.

BUT ANYWAY.

This post was supposed to be about our bathroom and the cheerful place it will soon be. Our plan for the bathroom is to make it bigger and more open without encroaching too much on the kitchen, and to make it more updated and less fishy, literally. We've already done so much thanks to my in-laws who helped Josh tile the floors and the shower. Josh has already installed the new cabinet, tub and toilet. We're keeping the vanity that came with the house and the new sink/countertop combo arrived a couple days ago.

Before 

We'd already started destroying walls in the bathroom when I realized we hadn't taken any pictures yet. We had to rip everything out, the floor, ceiling, walls, all of the plumbing. You can already see some of the torn out wall in the picture. And the first picture is of the space that we gained by tearing out a built in cabinet. 

Inspiration 

When I was creating our wedding registry I asked Josh what color he wanted the bathroom walls to be and he said yellow. I didn't really have a preference but I love that he picked such a cheerful color for the bathroom. So I put on our registry that we would need gray accessories for the bathroom. I think the yellow and gray combination will be pretty! 

We're going with a Behr paint color for the walls called Pale Honey and it drys really nicely on the wall. I think it's the perfect shade of yellow!

The shower will have subway tile which I think is so classic and simple. I've always dreamed of having a bathroom with subway tile. We'll also add in black hardware like the picture below. 

The vanity will be getting a fresh coat of gray paint as well as the tall linen cabinet we're installing. And it will also get a clean white countertop that will pair nicely with the white tile on the floor and in the shower. 

Let us know what you think and check out our progress on the bathroom here.

I'll be blogging soon about our kitchen and living room plans and some day you'll see updates on the bedroom and bathroom projects. Stay tuned!

Adventure: Dallas (and Waco)

This blog is a little delayed from the actual fun but we had such a great trip to Dallas for our anniversary earlier this month. I thought I would share a little bit about our trip and some fun pictures too! You can also check out our vlog, we took a lot more video than pictures.

Friday 
Travel day 1 was fun, Dallas is only around 6 hours from home so it wasn't too bad of drive for us. Of course we didn't start the day off on time (my bad), we left an hour after we said we would. LOL. But road tripping is always fun, you get to see new places and I think that our country is just so beautiful! We had some lunch in Oklahoma on the way down at good ole McDonald's (don't judge) and had a funny interaction with the guy behind us in line who said we got out of the car really fast?

We hit a little bit of traffic when we got to Dallas but thanks to Waze, our favorite road trip GPS, we got through it pretty quickly and made it to our hotel.

We stayed at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre and we thought it was really nice! We booked our room through Hotels.com and got a pretty sweet deal: our room, free parking in the hotel garage and breakfast vouchers. We felt pretty fancy with our king bed and sit down fancy breakfasts. The first thing we did after throwing our stuff in our room was swim in the outdoor pool!

After swimming we met up with my cousins and Aunt at Whiskey Cake Kitchen & Bar in Plano. Josh and I both had their Chicken and Cheese melt which was a chicken sandwich with pesto, avocado, bacon, lettuce and tomato, it was SO good guys. And the restaurant had great decor too which was really fun, it was loud place, you could tell other people were enjoying their conversations and dinners just as much as we were. We really should have taken a family picture but we didn't....

Saturday 

We started Saturday off with an awesome breakfast buffet in our hotel, bacon, eggs, potatoes, and banana bread, anything that our hearts desired. Then we headed to Waco. Since we have been renovating our house we thought it would be fun to visit Magnolia Market, the store created by Chip and Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper. Waco is about a two hour drive from Dallas and I'm glad we made the time to go. The store was fun but we enjoyed the atmosphere more than the shopping. It was clear that they had designed to be a place where people could just come to relax. We didn't buy anything we just had a good time and ate some food found at the food trucks. I know that some people are like, how could you go and not buy anything?! We frankly didn't see anything that we NEEDED, but the creative and interesting designs gave us some ideas of things that we can make and incorporate into our new home. 

It was super hot in Waco we were melting by the time we decided to leave. We drove around the town for a little bit and saw the campus of Baylor University and even stopped by some other shops that are featured on Fixer Upper. It was a cute town and it's crazy that I almost decided to go to school there.

After Waco we made the drive back to Dallas and decided we were going to check out a church's Saturday evening service. There are a couple of churches that Josh and I like to follow online and learn from because they have great teaching Pastors and seem like churches that have a great vision of discipleship and sharing the gospel. So we knew that our weekend would be filled with making some visits and experiencing what we already believe to be awesome in person. The church we tried, key word tried, to visit on Saturday was The Village Church and we tried to go to their original campus in Flower Mound (a suburb of Dallas). So on our way back from Waco we saw a pretty wicked thunderstorm ahead of us, there was a lot of lightning and rain but we were far enough behind we weren't really in it too bad. When we got to the church all the lights were off and we were 30 minutes early and we thought maybe that's their thing....then we heard an announcement that the power was out and they wouldn't be able to get it turned back on for the 5 pm service. Everyone promptly left the building and we thought it was funny watching all the people arrive at church and then find out the news that they couldn't get the power back on. We think the storm must've been pretty wicked and knocked their power out.

We were kind of bummed because we couldn't stay for their later service as we already had plans but we redeemed the situation by having some yummy dinner at Chipotle which is a delicacy to our small town pallets. And then we headed for another worship service in Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas. This service was put on by Watermark Community Church  and it was such a great night of song and prayer for Dallas and to thank God for what he is doing in their community. It was fun to be a part of. After a long day we were ready for bed and headed back to our hotel excited for Sunday morning.

Sunday - 1st Wedding Anniversary 

Our day was very sweet. I'm so thankful that we decided to go to Dallas to celebrate because we left so encouraged about what God is doing there and full of belief that he can do the same things where we live too. We started Sunday off by visiting a fun little donut shop called Glazed Donut Works. I've decided that eating donuts on our anniversary is going to be a tradition since we also ate donuts on our six month wedding anniversary. Then we went to church at Watermark, it was just as good as we thought it would be and we were so encouraged by the culture of their church. It was evident that they truly want to do things with excellence in order to share truth effectively. A lot of thought and effort go into how they life together as a church each week, and I'm not talking about just on Sundays.

After church we went to the Bishop Arts District and had lunch at Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. It was super yummy and the atmosphere was great too!

He is the cutest in these glasses! <3

Such a cute little place! The neighborhood of Bishop Arts was cute too but it was a little to artsy for us, lol, we didn't stay as long as I thought we would. Josh wasn't too mad about it because we had enough time to go to The Village Church again and this time the power was on, lol. We really enjoyed both churches that we visited. The services were simple and focused on the Gospel which left us feeling really encouraged. It was clear that the mission of these churches was focused and focused on good things, sharing the Gospel and making disciples. The aren't big churches because they tried to be, they are big because faithfulness and focus on the Gospel brings people who see that you have something real to offer. God is using these two churches, just like he is using churches all over the world to bring people to himself and that is a beautiful thing to see. 

Sunday evening we played mini golf and arcade games at Adventure Landing and we had a blast laughing and enjoying each other's company. Our short trip to Dallas was so refreshing and exactly what we needed to start another year of marriage on a good note and with an energy that this year we will love and serve Jesus together, that we will share the Gospel together, that we will encourage each other and pray for each other and that we will pursue biblical community with other believers. These things aren't always easy but we're asking God to teach us and to lead us as we walk into another year. We don't know what is in store but we can trust that God is faithful and that he works everything for his glory and our good.  

Bedroom Inspiration

So if you haven't been following along with the new vlog that my husband and I started you totally should, you can check it out here. But if you have been following along you know that we bought a house a few weeks ago and are renovating the whole thing. The first room we will be working on is our master bedroom. It's a necessary room to complete first just so we can feel a little more organized and have a place to retreat from the chaos. And it is one of the easier rooms to complete in our new home that is requiring a lot of work to make it feel like home. The plan for our bedroom is to make the opening to the closet wider, refinish the hardwood floors and paint the walls and trim.

Before 

Our Inspiration

We got this comforter as a wedding gift and it will be the colorful piece of the room. 

We like the pattern of this door but we'll probably use a black track and paint the door white like we will do with the rest of the doors in the house and the trim. 

 We've decided to paint the room this color gray. It is Behr Silverstone paint and we really like that it's right in between light and dark gray. Gray will go well with our purple comforter.

This is all inspiration but our room might not end up looking exactly like this but it's always good to have ideas to help you plan for the end result! Let us know what you think in the comments and if you have any other ideas! We're so excited to continue working on our room Tuesday evening! If you want to watch all the videos from our bedroom renovation click here.

Combo March and April Bullet Journal Spreads

Hi there! I totally missed posting a Bullet Journal post in March. So I'm determined to start April on a strong note and get a post up that covers March and April. It's a new season of my bullet journal and I'm excited to share some new spread ideas that I've started to try.

March
I participated in the Plan with Me Challenge on Instagram again in March but didn't complete as many of the days because March got busy really quickly and Instagram posts don't make the top of the list compared to homework! So here are some memories from February and my attempt at a St. Patty's wreath. My four leaf clovers could definitely use some help. It was a fun idea though!

I used my standard monthly spread for March. I like this spread and it's really effective at helping me plan for the month and I use it each week for scheduling events, deadlines, and goals. It brings me joy to fill in those monthly goal boxes. Josh and I have been kicking butt on finding our house and we looked at homes in March, made an offer on a house and had it accepted, and even got the inspections completed. Two of those goals we thought would not be completed until April. Hopefully by the end of May the house will officially be ours and I'll be able to share all of our remodeling adventures on this blog.

I was also hoping to interview for jobs in March but unfortunately I haven't heard from many places that I've applied to. I'm hoping April tells a different story as I plan on contacting companies and applying in person at local banks. If you know of places that are hiring, please let me know!

In March, Josh and I made a commitment to each other and the Lord to devote more time to reading His word together and individually. It was fun to look back on the month of March and see scripture in the pages of my Bullet Journal. Devoting Daily to the Lord is an important discipline for growing in faith and Josh and I have seen the positive effect that it has had on our relationship. I'm a work in progress and I'm asking God to help me develop spiritual discipline so that I can know Him more. 

March also means MARCH MADNESS and I'm so proud of my Jayhawks. They might not have had the most successful tournament results this year but you really can't be upset when your favorite team makes it to the Elite Eight, has a Hall of Fame coach, and a player who wins the Naismith Trophy for Player of the Year. All this to say, Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Also I'm really good at drawing the Big 12 logo....and let's just not address my bubble letter skills...

I also stuck with my weekly spread with a little bit of a change, I took out the water intake tracker because I forgot to use it most days and didn't feel it was an accurate tracking method. 

April
So March was great, but I'm so dang proud of the spreads I've been making for April!! And so excited to share them in this post. I learned how to do simple calligraphy with a regular pen from a girl on Instagram (@hollandavenue) and I've been trying to work on developing that skill so I hope you enjoy the tiny change in my handwriting. Here's some March memories. I started reading Isaiah in March and utilizing the She Reads Truth reading plan. I get an email every day that includes passages to read and a short devotional. I also am in the downward slope of college which got more exciting the day I got my cap and gown.

And here is an example of the best wreath I've created so far. I just think these two pages are so pretty and honestly can't believe that I made them. I had an art teacher in first grade basically tell me I sucked at art and I've believed that for so long about my self. I'm not the best but I'd say I've definitely improved. Ugh, it's so pretty it hurts!! I love looking at it! My mom suggested that I make prints of these wreaths, who would be interested in having a monthly wreath if I could figure out how to make one digitally? I think they would make great artwork! 

 I stuck with the same monthly spread and felt completely overwhelmed when I realized that April is going to be the busiest month of my life. So many projects and end of school things to do!!

And here's where the changes begin. I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach April 1st because it was a Saturday and I didn't want to make a whole weekly spread for one day but it also bugged me to include it in the next week. So I decided to use daily and weekly spreads for the month of April!

On the daily spread I'm including a to do list, a chore of the day, events for that day and a time tracker.

On the weekly spread I decided to include events for the week, a running to do list for the week, chores to complete and my usual habit tracker. So far I'm loving the way that April is organized!

On Saturday I didn't really enjoy how the time tracker was utilized so I revamped it a bit for Sunday. On the left of the time tracker is how I hope to utilize my time, on the right is how it actually played out. I also thought including a scripture on daily pages would be a cute idea to fill space. I also revamped my meal planning, we haven't been eating too healthy lately so I'm trying to plan out meals and snacks so that I'm not eating everything in the house or only cereal for dinner when life gets busy.

Let me know what you think about the new setup and I hope that it keeps me even more organized. Bullet journaling is really helping me improve my study habits and organization skills and I'm loving it. Thanks for enjoying it with me!

Reflections After Six Months of Marriage

Photo by Ben Rosett

Josh and I have been together now for almost two and a half years. When I think about what life with him was like back then I just giggle and I struggle to wipe a goofy smile off my face. We were so young and shy, I think most of the time we were hiding our true selves from each other in hopes that we would convince the other we were like-able before our weirdness was uncovered. We thought we were so different and struggled to find things that we have in common.We literally had a physical list we would add to called "Things Josh and Katy Don't Agree On". But now after six months of living with him and being his wife and after two and a half years of getting to know him more; I can't imagine doing life with anyone more similar to me.

The next six months for us are going to be crazy and so much fun with a healthy dose of stress mixed in. Heck, the next three months are probably going to contain most of that crazy, stressful fun. But honestly I wouldn't want to do all of it with anyone else. There are just a few things on my mind that I would like to share after six months of marriage.

Marriage has been a Confidence Boost
My husband boosts my confidence on a daily basis. I wake up every morning to someone who rolls over and says "your face just shines in the morning". Well thank you, love, I know for a fact I have stinky morning breath and boogers in my eyes. But every morning it's like he missed my face while I was sleeping and it feels so good. My love language has never been words of affirmation but last year was a struggle with self worth and confidence, now my heart just eats up the compliments. So maybe that has changed. Josh has handled that change with such grace and he's good at giving me encouragement. Ladies, wait for a guy that loves you the way you need to be loved and work on becoming a woman who loves other people biblically and in a way that encourages them.

I've also been able to pursue a lot of goals that in the past I would've worried other people would think were stupid. Josh reminds me that I am enough just the way I am, that I can be myself and that other people's opinions of things I find enjoyable don't matter. I'm also thankful because Josh doesn't let me stay the way that I am, he also encourages me to improve my skills and calls me out when I'm doing the wrong thing or making bad decisions. He loves me where I am but doesn't let me stay there. In this way, Josh loves me a lot like God does.

Marriage Isn't Perfect 
Somehow, even early on, Josh and I are one of those couples that people compliment. And trust me, I eat them up and I feel good about all of the admiration. However, I remember conversations with friends where it was like, please, don't compare your relationship to ours, we have problems too! Sometimes there is just too much pressure when people on the outside think your relationship is something to admire. We aren't perfect people, just last night we ended the day in tears and harsh words and silence. One problem I see with social media is that it's easy to make your life look perfect online. So just to be clear: Josh and I are flawed and therefore, our marriage is too. There are times when I look at him and think, wow, I can't imagine being married to anyone else and there are other times when I ask God if we made the right decision. There are elements of our relationship that have grown and matured, and other areas where we are down right falling apart. That's the thing about two sinners getting married, we suck at covenant relationships. And in a covenant relationship, I don't get to back away from Josh even if there are times when I want to. I'm supposed to uphold my promises even when he doesn't uphold his, and vice versa. It's a lot harder than it seemed when I was wearing a white dress and putting a ring on his finger.

Marriage is Good
But to end on a good note, even through tears, harsh words and silence, a lot of good lessons are learned. I've learned to not have unrealistic expectations for my husband. If I set him up too high on a pedestal, the only space I'm giving him to go is down. Sometimes I find myself making comparisons between our relationship and others. It isn't fair and is usually the source of those unrealistic expectations. But I've also learned that I have tell him what I need. I've learned that I'm not a good listener most of the time and I have to figure out how to make time for others. I've said this several times since I met Josh but I learn about love so acutely from loving him. He's like a mini research project where I learn about the rest of the world. Being married to him has only intensified all of those lessons, which are hard to learn but also good. Marriage teaches me how to interact with other people and ultimately teaches me how to be like Jesus.

I have this plan to write a reflection on our marriage at the end of each year we share together. I'm excited to see how we grow and change. Marriage is a great adventure and it is where I find out how loved I am by God through the love that Josh shows to me. When we submit to each other out of reverence for Christ, our marriage begins to reflect the grace and sacrifice that Jesus showed us when He loved us enough to die for our sins. One of my favorite quotes is from Matt Chandler's book, The Mingling of Souls, he writes "what we learn in the Song of Songs is that a marriage shaped according to this gospel of grace, forged over years of hard-earned trust and forgiveness, can be an unsafe place for sin but a very safe place for sinners. In a gospel-centered marriage, when two souls are mingled together with the Holy Spirit's leading, we find confirmation after confirmation that grace is true, that grace is real - that we can be really, truly, deeply known and at the same time really, truly, deeply loved." Marriage isn't necessarily "happily ever after" but it is a tool God is using to renew me and change my heart. 

Bullet Journal February Overview

I thought now would be a good time to make an update post about my bullet journal. I realized that making a post every week is a little bit of overkill. So unless I add anything super special that I'm excited about, I will only make a short post each month so that you can see any new things I have added.

I think it will be fun to make a memories page each month! We had a great first month of 2017, Josh got promoted to full time at his job, and we spent time with the staff from our church in Arkansas. It has been so fun getting to know the other staff member's families and making more connections so that we can really feel like Pittsburg is home. January also marked the beginning of my last semester of college and I'm happy I was able to end the month with all A's! I also started my first bullet journal and participated in the #planwithmechallenge on Instagram. 

I know my mom really likes these wreaths, I tried to make it a Valentine's theme but it kind of turned out more Christmasy. The little hearts are fun though and I like the bright green leaves with light pink berries. 

February has been a crazy busy month!! Oh my gosh, I have had so much going on. We've been doing well on our goals. We're still waiting to hear back from the bank about being pre-approved for a loan but we do have a few houses that we really like!

I've also started journaling a little bit about what I'm reading in scripture. I'm going through Proverbs on my own, which is taking forever because I'm not doing to well at reading consistently. I'm enjoying Proverbs because most of the things are conceptually easy to understand but really difficult to apply to life. Not gossiping is hard, and not starting quarrels is harder for me, and let's not even talk about not eating too many sweets...

My weekly spread still looks the same. This week while I was planning for next week I was feeling the grays and blues. I'm so thankful that next week is not look as crazy as last week! 

This is a fun new page I added! I told Josh I want to watch The Proposal soon because he's never seen it. So I thought, hmmmm, I need a movie page in my bullet journal to keep track of movies I need to watch! I like how this turned out, except for the crazy large "V", that's a little weird. 

That's it for February, but I will be sure to update you all in March! I'll be participating in the #planwithmechallenge again next month so I might have some new fun pages to share, we'll see!