a prayer blog...

Today's post may be a little bit more personal than my normal post, and I will be honest, I think I am being far more honest and vulnerable on here than I have to anyone in a long time.  Some things have been on my mind lately and I feel that I keep seeing signs that lead me to writing this very post. 

I don't want to bother other people with my prayer requests. 
There I said it.

I often wonder if other people feel the same as I do sometimes.  Growing up I was taught to be prayerful, faithful, and true to God and all will be well.  I constantly surrounded myself with others that have the same morals and values and I have always had that one person that was my prayer buddy.  And when I had prayer requests or praises, I always shared them with others.  But as life has gotten busier and the hours in the day just seem to not be enough,  I have found myself not being diligent in confiding in my accountability partner. And not because I don't trust her or feel that I can go to her, but more because life has gotten me so bogged down sometimes almost all the time.  That at the end of the day I just don't want to bother other people with things sometimes.  And just as of yesterday, I realized that that's not being fair.  It's not fair to me, to my prayer buddy, to God, and to those around me. 

So I sat there for a while last night...in the stillness of the night (that's a song right?) and thought this isn't right.  I realized that I need that person in my life every day.  No questions asked.  And that instant, I made the decision to be honest, and to make it a point to let you all know that I have been doing this.

I also want this be an open invitation for those who may feel the same way I do, to let me know how I can be praying for them.  I encourage my friends in the blog world to email me (lindseycleveland@gmail.com) with a  prayer request.  This is my promise to you that I will pray for you. 

I hope this post finds you well....and I promise to have a not-so-serious post next time.  Enjoy your Friday, the weekend is almost here :)

just a little invitation fun

I spent the last few weeks working on an invitation for a friend.  She is celebrating her daughter's 1st birthday and wanted the invitation to be girly but still keeping it chic.  I had a lot of fun making this invitation and I hope little Emmy has a wonderful 1st birthday!  (I removed some of the personal info)

2011 Resolutions?

"Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle." - Eric Zorn

And because this statement is indeed very true in most people's cases....I just don't make them. However, I do make goals. This year Nick and I made a (verbal) list of goals in which we wanted to accomplish:

1. Legally change my name over to Gray. This involes 3 steps. Step 1: Obtain a certified copy of the marriage license. Check! Step 2: Go to the Social Security Office to obtain your new card. Almost Check! Step 3: Sit and wait and wait and wait at the DMV to change your driver's license....and take a new picture. Check after the beginning of Feb! Made my appointment so we could try to avoid the long wait line to do this.
2. Sign up for joint checking at the bank. Because Nick belongs to a Credit Union, this process may be longer than most. We have to go out to Pasadena and because of my work schedule this may be easier said than done. But alas, it will get done.
3. Save money to go back to Hawaii. and buy a new car....and buy a house. I believe these items on this list will be one of those "New Years Goals" for 2012 and maybe even 2013 but hopefully we can check one of those items off the list right?

A couple of my goals that I have made for myself are:

1. Make more time to relax and just go with the flow...Due to my Type A, OCD personality that I have, I find myself over-stressing about just about everything. This year is the year that I will just learn to go. with. the. flow.
2. Continue to work my miles up and train to run a little faster.
3. Do more D.I.Y projects around the house (post will be coming soon of the recent updates around the house)
4. and four....probably the biggest goal on my list...build my side business and create more brand awareness. I already have told some lovely ladies that are engaged or will soon be getting engaged to come to me with any invitation ideas/designs that I could possibly help them out with.

Over the past weekend I found myself having more conversations like #4 on my list than ever. I spoke with 2 friends of mine about their upcoming wedding and the planning process. I got so excited about helping them or as some may call it, giving them un-solicited advice that I was beaming with excitement. It was hard to translate their confused look on their face but I am almost pretty sure that they were just overwhelmed with the daunting tasks of a D.I.Y wedding. I can totally relate to this by the way, because it is just that, daunting. But overall, it is fun and I tell anyone and everyone...if I was ok with giving my weekends up I would trade my sales job in for a wedding planner position. But I am just not ok with doing that. So instead I help my friends out when they need me. And not to mention, I help design their invitations. :)

Last but not least, I do need to say this, I got my first job (assignment) since I decided to make this a public announcement and currently I am designing a friends, daughters first birthday invitation. Can you say, hot pink fun girly chic inspirations? I am having a blast doing it and can't wait to post it when it's completed.

2011

Well, it is here. 2011. Where did 2010 go? I bet everyone is thinking the same thing right about now. We decided to keep it low key this year and to hang with a few friends. Our only plan was to walk down to dinner and have Sangria and then see where the night took us! It was fun!!

It is now January, my last post was sometime before Christmas.....sorry. Nick had reminded me that I hadn't posted anything for a few weeks and I promised him, I would write after the new year. So here I am, posting. My first post for 2011.

To be honest, I haven't really felt the posting bug lately...and I don't want to just post anything just for the sake of filling the page up. So on my way into work this morning I was thinking of all the goals that I set for last year.....some of those that I accomplished...which can be found here and here. Some of the goals that I set for 2011 can be found here. And most importantly, I became an auntie, a wife :), and a Godmother. 2010 was a big year to put it buntly.....but I believe 2011 will be even bigger.

I am making it a point to focus on starting my invitation suite business. I do think that starting do work on the side will be beneficial for Nick and I as we start to think about making our family a little bigger (this won't be for a few years by the way, 2 dogs is already enough for our small house). But, the idea of me working from home within the next few years is very appealing to the two of us.

Another big event for 2011 is that Nick will be going to Paramedic School in April. He will be taking on a 6 month program and will become a Paramedic Fire Fighter once it's all done in November! Most programs last a full year, which some of you may already know, that it demands pretty much ALL of your time to study, go to class, do the clinicals....It can take a lot of out of you to say the least.....we both feel that this 6 month program will be best for us and we are both very excited for this!! Though, it will be a trying 6 months, I have no doubt that it will only strengthen our marriage and God has exciting plans for us! I am very proud of Nick, during the years that I have known him, he has always been proactive to take more classes to strengthen his knowledge and career. I admire him so much, especially that he is one of the few people that I know that does something that he really is down right passionate about.

With all that said, I have no doubt that 2011 will bring us many opportunities and I am excited to see what God has planned for us!!

Christmas at the Grays!

How beautiful is the image above?? It's from none other, than Martha Stewart. What I would do to make this, which I may have to for next year. This year is very exciting! With all things new, this Christmas is no different. It will be our first Christmas as the Grays :). Every year, I get excited around Thanksgiving...knowing that in very short time, it will be Christmas time which means in the Cleveland household, that Lindsey goes crazy with the decorations! Well this year, I get to decorate our house....and we already started. Our Christmas lights went

up the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

This is our house...We decided to go old school style this year, and bought the multi colored bulbs. I adore my garland over the door.

Last year I went out and got in on the After Christmas sales and bought some ornaments, a tree skirt, some beautiful vases, and other miscellaneous Christmas decorations and my plan for this year is to do the same. Although, we did manage to spend $50 on ornaments at Crate & Barrel this weekend (had a gift card, score!)

I want to go crazy now and buy everything in sight, that just isn't the smart thing for me to do. So I plan to decorate the house with what I purchased last year and this year. Then on the 26th it's Game Time! I am going to hit up all the sales for next year's decorations. So next year, will be my coming out year for the Grays...we go big or go home. What stores will I hit up?

Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Pier 1, and World Market!

I love this look for a table that will sit underneath the window, just behind our couch. Most people would use this as a center piece on their dining table, but, we have a smaller round table and I am currently in the process of finding a table for underneath the TV....right now, we have this table:

that we purchased from Pottery Barn outlet a long time ago that is underneath the TV. I want to buy a TV console and then move the other table back to the window. This look can be used all year round which is what I like to do with pretty much all my decorations, I just change the overall look up a bit by adding garland around it. Some other examples of the look that I am going for are below...all of which come from my fav store....Pottery Barn!

What to do while I have to be conservative with my money this year? Dream of the endless possibilities of decorating! By the way, super disappointment....we don't have a fire place. BOOOOO.....how on Earth will I hang our stockings?! I have thought of this since we moved in....I think I have a plan. In the mean time, isn't this picture below just so cute? I love the old rustic feel. I am trying to decide between this or the more classic look which is right below the other picture. Oh how I love Pottery Barn.

Each year, I stick with a theme of decorations. This year, Nick and I (really, I asked and he was like "sure!" he doesn't care too much but I wanted to make sure this was a team decision not just me) decided we would stick with multi color ornaments in jewel tones, white lights (A LOT!) on the tree and then around the house I would love to have the more creative feel...things that I can do myself. I just love the way this looks below...and look how easy it would be to make this?! I imagine this hanging from a window....this is also from Martha Stewart.

Another thing to do is our Christmas cards! However,this will just have to wait til next year. Which is a major bummer, seeing as I had envisioned what our Christmas cards would look like since he proposed.... Hh well, I guess that means that next year,

we will doing a really really good one!

I would love to hear everyone else's plans for decorating!

my latelies....

Lately I have...

• Registered for my next Half Marathon...and Nick is doing it with me :)


• Planned Nick's 29th Birthday....so excited! Will post details after the 18th.
  
• Figured out what our first Christmas will be like...Nick is working (booo) Christmas and the day after. So it's Christmas Eve for us!


• Downloaded just about 2,000 pictures from our wedding! So awesome and a little overwhelming as well. Trying to decide which ones I want to be printed is hard....I love all of them!


• Been thinking about how thankful I am for my family, friends, husband, home, a good job, and most importantly God.


• Become not only an Auntie, but a God Parent as well :) Tal and Michel asked Nick and I to be Kaydance's God Parents this past weekend. I balled.....of course, and Nick was overwhelmingly happy as well. Out of all the people in their lives they chose us.....we are both so honored and beyond thrilled. :) I love that little girl so much!


• And for the longest item on my lately list: I have mentioned a little bit here and hinted here that there is something that I really love doing and when the timing is right I will begin a new journey of my own. Not too many people know about it, actually only two people know that I want to do this, mainly because I always like to have everything thought completely through before I make an important decision. But after countless prayers, long runs, and discussions with the husband, I think I am ready to let a little bit more people in on our little plan.
  
  Over the years, I have developed this little creative bug into something that is now becoming more and more of a fun job if nothing else. What is this creative bug? Designing paper goods. To be more exact, designing invitations. I have a lot of fun with the unlimited ideas that come to mind when I am designing something and over the past couple of years I have been designing invites for friends and family and of course, for my wedding as well. At first this just started out as doing a favor for people, as they all know I went to school for marketing and graphic design kind of piggy-backs with it. However, the more and more I did it, the more and more I really loved it. People have asked me, why I don't do that for a living and though I wish I could, it really just isn't possible at this very moment as we just can't live off of 1 paycheck and a few little side jobs here and there.
  
  A few months back I made an action list of things that I need to start working on before this really goes "live" so to speak....Currently I am thinking of creative names to really brand this idea, and am leaning towards one in particular but haven't completely decided yet: little l designs.
  
  I am also in the works of building my own Etsy account and then will start developing a professional blog. So those are the building blocks of something that I eventually want to do as my full time job, like when we start to have kids and I need to be home more. But for now, it will be an extra side job that may provide a little extra cash as well. I thought I would post some of my most recent invitations that I have designed in the past year (I apologize that they are kind of small)...tell me what you think? Would love to hear your ideas!

Turn Your Mourning Into Dancing....

I can't stop thinking about Psalm 30 this morning....that I just had to write about it.

This week has been a very trying week to say the least but I have done my best to stay positive and to keep my head held high...I know we all have those moments, it just seems that my moment is lasting...a...very...long....time. It's one of those times, where I think my low's of the week outweigh the high's of the week; however, I will not write about them...I will only list my high's.

1. We got paid on Thursday, not Friday this week.
2. I didn't have bad traffic Thursday or Friday.
3. Lucy got another round of her shots and is looking fabulous.
4. It's Friday!
5. Lacy and I are hosting Courtney's bridal shower tomorrow!
6. Nick and I are both healthy.
7. I have a beautiful little niece that I get to see in just a short 2 weeks.
8. I got to run this morning even though, it was freezing!
9. I got a cuddle session with my little Killian this morning and I just love those moments.
10. Even though money has been tight, we have been able to pay our bills, pay our rent, and put food on the table and for that I feel blessed because I know it could be a lot worse.

I hope this blog finds you well, I know it's short but I think that it is good to remind one another to turn your mourning into dancing every once and while. Have a fabulous Friday and I promise I will blog about something fun soon!