The Joys of the Mitten State

 You are probably asking yourself why I posted this picture......did you notice that I'm wearing a wool sock???  And yes....that's a warm cup of coffee.  The weather decided to take a dip back into cold weather which means that my feet get cold and thus.....warm socks are needed.  Everyone knows how much I love the cold weather, but I'll be honest, I was starting to enjoy the springy temps and not having to wear socks with my shoes :)  Needless to say...I want the sun to return and my wool socks to be put away for a couple months.

Enough of the complaining since we all know that Michigan weather is temperamental at times.  Easter is just around the corner and I'm super excited to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior and Lord.  We will be in Portage for most of the weekend visiting my family and hopefully seeing David's family as well.  This holiday is more that just one day......it is the celebration of the gospel that reflects the hope and joy of Christ that I strive to faithfully believe everyday.

My last post was full of photos and this one will include some photos as well.  After receiving our tax return and using most to pay off some credit card debt, we decided to save a little for something fun.  We decided to get place to put our coffee station.  My heart was set on a dresser, but David and I compromised with this:

Its a really cute table that I distressed and painted cream.  It turned out better than I could have imagined.  We also got baskets to put underneath that stores all my mugs, coffee supplies, and tea things (yeah I know.....I have way too much coffee/tea things).  Our other purchase was a little shelf for our plants:

This I also distressed and painted cream.  I love that my little plants are able to get more sun and grow.  They are all growing now!!!!!  The tomato plant is my favorite and just started to sprout a cute little spud.......I love growth.  We ended up getting both of these at an antique store in Lansing for only $30!  We were on cloud nine.  Sure they needed a little love, but what's more fun than making things your own.

David and I have loved thriftiness and antiquing since we first got married.  It is seriously one of our favorite things to do together.  I love being able to use things that someone else has used.....it makes me feel like our stuff has character and a story.  I also love being green and using things that no one else wants.  It makes me think twice about buying anything new.  Sure there are things that I like new like appliances and things like sheets......but furniture is so much more fun to me used. 

Making things is probably one of most favorite things to do by myself.  My husband is so generous in letting his crazy crafty wife try out new ideas.  It has become so cathartic for me.  Lately I have done one project that I stole from a blog I love called "Lovely Little Things."  You should check it out under my blogs....its JJ Heller's blog which you all know I love and adore.  Anyways she had this idea to put letters above your sink and use craft paper or fabric to cover the letters.  She used the word "Wash" but I decided to use "Joy" instead.  Here is the finished project:

Isn't it cute?!?  I love doing the dishes now :)  We also got a dish drainer.  Since we use the "envelope system"......I'm going to blog about this next time......I was able to use my money for households plus BB&B (Bed Bath and Beyond) coupons to get one really cheap.  Here it is:

The kitchen has become my new favorite place since I updated a couple things to make it feel new again.  I'm really starting to enjoy our cute little humble abode :) 

That's all for now.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.....my husband is still sleeping.  Too bad sleeping in for me is like 8am.  Oh well...the joys of getting older I suppose.