5 months and here I am!

 Apparently, the foam shortage also left me with a shortage of words to share!  We now have taken delivery of the furniture we ordered back in April so I will give you a little sneak peek:

We are really excited to see another spot in the house coming together.  The rug was a local find, after looking online and at 5-6 six shops, we ended up circling back to the first stop! We are still looking for the perfect coffee table, have started planning a bit of additional cabinetry in the breakfast room, AND a whole house painting. My husband likes to get it all done in a snap. Yes, I am preaching patience to a man who lacks a bit of it.  I will praise him as he has been amazingly patient with my process!  Look for a better post with more details shortly.

I wish I could say that the Summer of 2021 was lacking the stress of Sumer 2020, but I can't.  I know most people seem to feel the same.  I could write a very long post on the stresses of this past summer (another thing that zapped my creative spirit.) I learned that I had to re-evaluate what and who I let into my inner circle, which is not something I expected to do at this point in life.  Overall, it came down to being the season of "knowing your circle."  It has not gone without a fair amount of wear and tear on my heart but life moves on.

The best I can share is my husband and I had some wonderful trips, which were great after the no travel of the months before!  I also have started developing what I should probably call dreams.  I realize that isn't very much information but they are in the baby steps and I hope to launch with all the fun and fanfare in the next few months formally.  If you are the praying kind, my new endeavor could use some positive support!

On to the next thing...It is September - officially FALL 2021!!! I love Fall and wish we had more of it (here in SC we still have 90 days!!!)  Either way, I am digging into Fall Fashions which means more than leggings and a sweatshirt ala' 2020!  I finally pulled out some Fall fashion this week and can't say enough how much I love the greens that have returned to the fashion palette this season.  

Thanks for coming back to read after all these months! I hope to keep in touch better in the future!

Keep an eye out for exciting things.

Who Knew?

 

Another shortage, the foam shortage, that is what!  Did you know there was a foam shortage?  Apparently, I missed this little nugget of 20/21 items to be scarce.  I suppose I was too busy hoarding ketchup packets.

Last weekend my sweet husband and I went on an exploratory (as in, we don’t know exactly what we want) furniture shopping trip.  Everywhere we went when we asked about sofas and upholstered pieces we were told that we had the choice to buy off the floor or if we ordered, it would be at least 30 weeks before delivery.  30 WEEKS, at LEAST? 

Well, that kind of put a kink in our plans.  Who knew… a foam shortage?  What is next in all this world gone mad? I wish it were paper straws.

New Steps, New Life...

 

2,557 days ago, exactly 7 years ago, I stepped out in faith and walked into a new life.  It would be wonderful to say I had a grand plan, direction, or purpose, but I did not.  Literally, I was walking blindly from the world’s and even my own perspective.  I  looked into the faces of my sons and said where do you want to live, and they chose to return to our previous town.  I had no where to live, no job …just a car full of stuff, 2 amazing boys, and a dog.  The only thing I knew is who we were spending the night with and where the boys were to report to school the next day.  It now, quite literally, seems insane.  But, like many things we think to be insane, God was at work.  Although I will never understand His tactics, I do trust His plan.  I know I have not always, I have doubted, I have denied, I have fought against, but ultimately it is all His plan and there is a peace in that.

Peace is something that does not come naturally to me.  I am an anxious person …a worrier, an over thinker, a mind racer, scenario creator, all dripping with a terribly wild imagination.  But, finally, there are things that I have peace about. Issues I never thought I would lay to rest because I did not understand them or didn’t know “why.”  Peace came when I realized it does not matter. I do not have to know “why” and there are things I will never understand.  God gets it – ALL.  He knows “why” and He understands.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

The Right Thing, just do it!

Do the right thing, even when you don’t want to. I have lived the consequences and repercussions of someone not doing the right thing. I have lived the consequences and repercussions of ME not doing the right things. It made me determined to do the right thing no matter what.

Our world seems a bit topsy turvy right now so I urge you to dig deep and be a safe space for others to be themselves. It is a rare person who can deal with the deeper, real person...most of the time we are most happy with the shiny, perfect seeming outside.

Love others even when they are unlovable. We all are unlovable at times and I hope that someone is there during those times...mercy and grace can save a life. Love them even when you don't agree with them.

Be available even when you are not. I know the reality of having no one...I try to see the needs in others.

Remember no matter what someone is facing, and even if it seems small and insignificant to you, it probably feels like the hardest thing ever to them, be there anyway. We are so quick to judge the pain of other as invalid or maybe we think they should “be over it by now.” Who are we to judge? Pain, fear, overwhelmedness can’t be assigned a box to fit neatly in; although our society has conditioned us to tuck it away and hide the less than perfect parts of our worlds.

Yes...these thoughts are very intimate to my experiences but if I can help even one person not hurt or hurt someone else or reach out, I am glad. No one should go through life battling these things alone. I guess it is my hope that somewhere, someone will pay it forward and be an angel among us to make the path easier for a soul that desperately needs it. Most of the time we don’t even realize the closest to us might need it most.

Carvana, the Good, the Bad and the Delightful

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I would share our Carvana buying exprience; and it was an experience! My sweet, but pretty particular and specific, husband has been considering buying a new car since before we started dating.  He has looked at various brands and models but just couldn't decide what he wanted, until he did.  When he did, he knew exactly what brand, model, color, specific engine, and options he wanted.  Little did he know when he made up his mind, he would be looking for an elusive needle in a haystack.  A friend of ours looked for the same car for over a year so I think we actually lucked up in that it only took a couple of months for us to find.  There are lots of the model he was looking for but not lots with the engine he wanted.  So this is where Carvana comes in. Carvana actually had the car he was looking for exactly, except in color, so after much debate he decided to go with the color they had (yeah!)

I would like to say the process was seamless but it was not.  My husband put a contract on the car around the first of Septmber.  There was no financing invovled so you would think it would have been the smoothest, quickest purchase possible...well, nah.  Not to say that it was all bad and Carvana was holding up the process to insure every detail of the car was perfect before deliving it which was a GREAT thing.

The 2 worst hiccups with  the process was the day they actually brought the car and because we didn't have an insurance card  that specifically lised the new car (our insurance has a rider that covers new purchasse for 14 days) they took it back!!!! Now, remember there was no financing on this car so they had nothing to cover there and the insurance policy stated new purchases were covered.  Unfortuntally, no one mentioned this little nugget.  It was like getting up on Christmas Morning and there being the coolest bike ever by the Christmas tree and your eyes light up just in time for your parents to say, "Oh that is little Timmy's, from down the street, his parents are coming to pick it up to surprise him."  So, seeing them drive away pinched a little bit.

The second hiccup came almost a month after the initial contract and the day before the car was scheduled to be delivered for the 4th time. We decided to add the Carvanna Extended Warranty.  The problem was if we decided to add it the day before delivery,...the delivery would be delayed by another week.  Now THAT was frustrating.  Needless to say we did not invest in the Carvanna Extended Warranty.  Sooo....

We finally got the car.  My sweet man was extremely happy and Carvana left a very nice gift certificate to Target to apologize for all the delays.  The gentleman who delivered the car was extremely polite and professional and the car was everything we were looking for.  I still wish we could have gone and gotten it out of the giant vending maching!!!

Image not my own

So, my feeling on our Carvana experience is pretty much neutral...the delays were tedious (but I am glad they wanted everything perfect), the paperwork was more bothersome than it should have been on a cash purchase and not being able to add the warranty was very annoying. The truly redeeming quality that kept it from being a negative experience were the kind customer service personnel and getting a car that my man is in love with.

Would we buy from Carvana again?  I am not sure, as I am a big fan of shopping local; not to mention we should not need another car for quite a while!

NadineWest - My Experience

I have used Stitch Fix Fashion Subscription Service to spruce up my wardrobe and keep me on my toes and trying new things but now that there are so many new fashion subscription services I have decided to try a few others and see how they stack up.  First off, I have had a good experience with Stitch Fix but have wondered about some of these other services, so my first experiment was with Nadine West.  NadineWest positions itself as a budget alternative to the other subscription services so it was a no brainer…who does not like a deal?  It did come with a less expensive price as all 5 items in my shipment totaled only $130.00 which made it all the more intriguing.

 

The question is…what would $130 get you compared with my previous slightly more expensive experience?  Of course, first impressions are important, and I loved the hot pink package with the attractive NadineWest logo, so I was hopeful!  In my shipment I received a pair of workout pants (black with a white stipe down the side), a green mid sleeve blouse with gold zipper, a very summery short sleeved dress made of an oxford  material, a pair of “silver” earrings, and a bangle with pearl embellishment.

Although, I was less than impressed with their offerings than what I was accustom to from Stich Fix, I did keep 3 items: the workout pants (at $15.99 and you can always use another pair,) the earrings at $25.49 and bracelet for $12.99.  I am sucker for accessories, so the earrings and bracelet were an easy keep. The dress was a disappointment in that it is October, and it was a mid-summer dress, so it is not something that will boost my wardrobe now. The green blouse was just so-so. At $39.99, I think I could easily pick up something just like it at a big box store for less.   I was disappointed that none of the pieces could work with each other and seemed a bit random.

 

It was fun to try another subscription service and I have to put in a plug for the Nadine West customer service as I had an issue and they were amazing in resolving the issue.  I have already signed up to try another service because I am very curious about the cost/quality/styles of each using my years of Stitch Fix experience as my baseline.  NadineWest was not a total bust and if you want some inexpensive, one season tops and such it might be worth a try.  For  now, I am going to experiment with another service and will let you know how that goes.

Honeymoon...

 Have you ever wondered what the true meaning of Honeymoon is? Well, I am here to clarify it for you, along with Merriam-Webster Dictionary of course:

Definition of honeymoon 

1: a period of harmony immediately following marriage 2 : a period of unusual harmony especially following the establishment of a new relationship 3 : a trip or vacation taken by a newly married couple.

 I know you feel much better having a literal definition of honeymoon but I was actually thrilled to read it because if there is one thing I can say about my recent honeymoon...it  fit the definition absolutely perfect!

Of course, like everything else that had to do with our wedding, we were also planning a honeymoon in the time of Covid, which did present challenges that we turned into opportunities.  Originally, we had booked a trip out of the country but due to Passport Renewal delays, not to mention a little trepidation about leaving the country and possibly not being able to return if something spiked out of control made me a bit uneasy.  So, we moved to plan B, which came directly from my Pinterest Dream Vacations Board!  We chose a trip to Mackinac Island, which by the way...was perfect.

It gave us the wonderful feeling of having fallen off the grid but with luxury at every turn.  Even the weather was perfect with the warmest day hitting 80 degrees the first week in July.  We stayed at the most amazing, Mission Point Resort (please check out the photos as mine do not do it justice!), which met our every desire and, honestly, made us never want to leave.  There is absolutely too much about Mission Point to write about in this post but it was wonderful.

 After the crazy months leading up to this escape, Mackinac Island provide the perfect bubble to honeymoon.  It gave us time, just for us, to explore, play, relax, and just be us.  I could not have imagined a better beginning to my marriage to my best friend. It was all I could have dreamed and a sign of all the wonderful adventures to come!