Mod Podge once again

This was a really quick little project but it was a lot of fun. I found a vase at Goodwill for 99 cents and Mod Podged yarn around the outside. I bought some cute silk flowers from the craft store and made my own little decorative vase. What do you think? Since I bought a silk flower bouquet the project cost me a whole four dollars. And, I bought the flowers in a bouquet, so I'm using the leftover flowers to make hair accessories too. Yay for cheap crafts!

Behold...

It is FINISHED! Ander and I finally finished our dresser that we bought from DI! We bought this bad boy three years ago with the intention of refurbishing it somehow, but never started on it until we moved here. We just put the finishing touches on it this morning. I'm so proud!

My good friend and talented artist, Amber, taught me how to decoupage the sheet music onto the drawer fronts. Sorry about the flash reflection, but this is what the drawers look like.

It was so much fun decoupaging those drawers and I've now become obsessed with Mod Podge. It was 6 bucks at Wal-Mart and you can completely transform anything with it. I'm currently keeping up with the blog modpodgerocks.blogspot.com for ideas. Some people are just so daggum creative it makes me angry. I have noticed that when I'm looking at other people's ideas I begin to form my own, so I guess my creativity just needs a little bit of exercise.

Ah, sweet release

I have been released from my calling as Ward Chorister of the Anderson Mill Ward. I am now back down to only one calling, Primary Chorister, and I feel pretty good about it. I must admit, I am pretty relieved to be released. This last Sunday was my last day leading the ward. I did it for over a year and really enjoyed it for the most part... unless the Music Chair decided to have us all sing really awkward hymns nobody knew, or the substitute for the organist couldn't play the hymns to save his life. Those things did happen occasionally. Overall I really enjoyed that calling. And it taught me discipline because I was the chorister during the entire year of 9am church and I had to be there 10 minutes earlier than anyone else. Oh but it will be nice to just stay seated next to my better half all during Sacrament Meeting. Hizzah! I was told that I wasn't going anywhere as far as Primary was concerned for a looooooong time, though. Straight from the Bishopric's mouths. But that's alright, I don't have anywhere else I'd rather be.

Out of the loop

It seems that all of my friends around me are getting pregnant and I'm beginning to feel the pressure. Two of my friends just had new babies a couple months ago, another one of my friends just had a new baby three weeks ago, and just tonight two more of my friends announced that they were pregnant as well! *sigh* I'll tell you all right now folks... IT'S NOT HAPPENING. Not yet at least. Nope, I still don't feel ready to have a tiny tot. It isn't because I don't ever want to have kids, I just don't feel that this is the time for us to get pregnant. Ander tells me that he honestly doesn't care when we have kids, and just tonight after the big announcement of our friends he told me he felt more ready to have babies when we first got married than he does now! Me? I've never felt like it was time. Ever. I'm so happy for all of my friends, and their babies are darling, it's just not my time yet. I love kids. I feel like I'm good with kids. I hold babies all the time! I'm just 23 and I've only been married for three years and I still want to wait. Being Mormon is an even bigger pressure sometimes because of all the girls starting bigger families pretty young. It's just not my style and it never has been. You may say: "Oh but Susie, you never really feel ready... it's just something you have go for" No. I believe I'll never fully feel ready, but I also believe that there is a point and time that I will reach in my life where I will find out I am pregnant and not fall on the floor and cry for three days. In all honesty, I kind of have two kids already: a husband who I am constantly having to feed and a puppy that I am constantly cleaning up after. And for me right now, that's really all I can handle.

Over the moon

Ander and I don't really go out to eat much, it's expensive and we rarely ever have a night together when Ander doesn't work, but the other day we decided to stop by a little place before Ander went into work to grab a bite. Folks... hands down, THE BEST BURGER AND FRIES I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE.

Welcome to Moonie's Burger House!

We had driven by this place many, many times and always thought to ourselves that we wanted to check it out. The burgers themselves are about $5 and a combo with fries and a drink is a whopping $8, but we each got a burger and shared a side of fries and it suited us just fine. I don't think I've ever felt so stuffed in my life. The minute our mouths touched our food we were in heaven. What did Ander call it... oh yes, a burgasm.

If you don't mind country music being piped in through every corner of the room, Texas lone stars everywhere and a crew made up of a bunch of twenty-something kids, this is the place for you! I'm telling you, best burger and fries we've ever had.

Birthdays: the more you have, the longer you live

I've been reflecting all morning on this, the day of my birth. I turned 23 today, and I don't feel any different, but it's just crazy thinking back on those 23 years of my life. My life, if I do say so myself, has been a pretty good one.

I've been blessed to have a mother who loves me dearly and gave me the best childhood. Who brought me up with music and taught me how to be strong and use my talents.

I have a wonderful, wise father who never loses his cool, who is hilarious, and who taught me to remember I'm a daughter of God and that I am worth everything.

I also have a smart, beautiful sister who can draw and write better than anyone else I know and who is a walking thesaurus. She is so smart and witty and we do nothing but laugh. Coldplay songs will never be the same between us.

And then there's my brother who introduced me to Donkey Kong, Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. All my video gaming skills I owe to him. He is a wonderful storyteller, and has charisma coming out the wazoo. He is infectious. He also taught me that there is life after Harry Potter books.

And last, but certainly not least, my adorable husband who has given me the best 3 years of my life. He's the reason I am who I am today, pushing me, teaching me, tolerating me, but most of all, loving me. He literally is my better half. I don't know what I would do without him.

A shoutout to all of my fantastic friends here in the Austin area that have made me love this place more than ever. The Barlows, the Harrisons, the Walshes, the Lowrys, the Riches, and the Hartleys. I love you all more than you'll ever know.

I don't mean to sound cheesy or anything, but I do feel blessed and extremely thankful to be alive today. I have a lot to be happy about. And I've decided to make a list of 10 things you don't know about me in celebration of my birthday:

1. I have never broken a bone or had a sprain of any kind

2. I've almost died twice

3. I have to go through every radio station on my dial before I choose one to listen to

4. I am a nazi laundry folder (seriously folks, Ander is not allowed to touch the laundry)

5. I love McDonald's chicken McNuggets

6. I could eat potato chips and cottage cheese for the rest of my life and be happy

7. I am a stomach sleeper

8. I don't ever remember my dreams

9. I cannot stand seafood

10. I have never seen Grease, The Sound of Music, Casablanca, or Gone With the Wind

Ander and I are going to dinner this evening, and then we'll be off to go and see Disney's The Princess and the Frog. Sounds like a good birthday to me! Plus, I'll be having a party with all my fabulous friends this weekend. Can it get any better? I submit that it CANNOT!

Adios to Anderson Mill apartments

FINALLY! THE MOVE! We were so excited to get out of the old and into the new when we moved. Our first apartment was okay, but moved into it in such a hurry because we had just moved here and it was the best we could find. Once we had time to actually look for something better, we found it. And it's ours.

First off, I packed all of our belongings up in color coded boxes for the move. I didn't want my dishes ending up in the bedroom, so (thanks to my friend Kelly's idea) I put little colored stickers on the boxes and put a piece of paper corresponding to the colors on each door of the new place. This made it incredibly easy for the people who came and helped us to know where to put their boxes.

This brings me to the people that came and helped us. We "began" the move at 9am... and we were completely moved into our new place by 10am. I counted all the people who came to help us from our wonderful ward, and there were 27 people in all that came to lend a hand. I was completely overwhelmed by love for all of these people that came to help, it really meant so much to me that they all donated a Saturday morning to us in our time of need. It was the smoothest move I've ever experienced in my life, and I owe it all to the fantastic people of our ward! It. was. amazing.

So GOODBYE to apartment number 122 in the Anderson Mill apartments. We were extremely glad to get out of there.

Hello number 1413!

I absolutely love our new place, I get excited every time I walk through the front door. I've taken some pictures, but they don't do the apartment justice. But you'll get the idea:

Family room with patio door.

Dining area and office nook. (Yes, built in computer desk!!! Hallelujah!)

Kitchen (with a puppy) What I love about his kitchen (other than all the cabinet space) is the fact that it's open! The kitchen at our old apartment was tiny and all closed in. Very stuffy. I can breath in the kitchen while I'm cooking.

We found a REALLY nice washer and dryer set for $140 on Craigslist.com. This is attached to the kitchen. Large capacity and everything, I freaking love doing laundry in my own home. Laundromats scare me.

Bathroom. Taking a picture of the bathroom is awkward, because no matter where I stand, it makes the place look tiny. I'm standing where the toilet is. It really is a nice sized bathroom. And we even have a linen closet in there! Now that's what I call good storage. :)

The same goes for the bedrooms. No matter where I stand, they look tiny, but they are MUCH bigger than our old place, (but they do need a little bit of cleaning, hence, no pics.)

I feel SO much more at home here than I did back at our old place. It's a little farther away from Ander's work, but it's the same distance from mine as our other apartment was, so no problems there. What a good move. Good form, I say.