I’ve moved

Adios! I have officially moved over to my permanent blog home. Please feel free to stop by frequently:

www.wrappedinamap.com/blog

ENJOY!

No posting…

Well, it’s because I’m moving blogs… again. I know. This should be the last time. I finally figured out how to encompass everything I want in one space… for now. 🙂

Surprisingly I’ve had a few people ask me why I’m not posting. That means people are reading it and that makes me really happy. I’m not posting anymore simply because I’m not moving posts from this one to the new one like I did last time. I’m starting fresh. With a lot of things.

I have a ton to post right now and life is changing in some really amazing ways. I can’t wait to fill you in on those changes… on a blog that is waaaay better than this one.

So hang in there with me. I will deliver. It may be another month. But I promise the blog isn’t being neglected. Just expanding. 🙂 Happy Spring.

Well hey there.

Getting tired of looking at those pins?

Yea…. me too.

Soon. SOOOOOOON.

I will give you something pretty to look at.

I promise.

Then I will trust you to tell your friends. 🙂

Because I will need your help.

Because they do. 🙂

Pins.

I don’t feel like writing.

So you get a preview picture.

Of pins. And my grandmother’s soap dish… that holds them.

Proof that good work is in progress. 😉

In the Winter

A woman much older and wiser than me once said, “It’s alright to say you don’t like something. Look at it and say you don’t like it. Then give it up.”

Sometimes it isn’t what you make it. Sometimes it is what it is.

And sometimes what it is, is not what you would prefer. Not only is it not what you would prefer, but it sucks and you don’t like it. Sometimes it is painful and uncomfortable, confusing and difficult. Sometimes winter comes in the form of something other that the seasonal weather outside in January. Looking outside in to the frigid, gray (it has been sunless in Kentucky for days) sky resembles what you feel inside your soul. Trying to remember or convince yourself that spring will come inside your heart, when things grow abundant and the sun warms you is easier said than done.

Remembering that this season of your life is not permanent is much like what I just mentioned. Spring and summer seem to be distant illusions. You make a decision that you think is the right one, only to seriously question it later. Someone else makes a decision that affects your life and you have no control over the immediate outcome, which hurts. You end up looking something in the face that you never dreamed you would have to look at again. You taste defeat and pick yourself up again, only to be smacked back down at your next attempt. You still try.

You visit and people do not make time to see you. You realize that people do not visit, even when they are adamant about it to your face. Your friends start dating, get married, have a child and stop calling, then they stop emailing. And you want to believe that each one will be different, but it rarely is. You go to another shower for someone who you doubt would return the favor for you if you were getting married. Then you decide want a refund for every bridesmaid dress you ever agreed to buy… all eight. Then you realize that you don’t call people back sometimes… and you forget to email people back and you feel bad. But you quit trying. And you quit initiating because you are tired of being rejected. Then you remember that you have rejected people and what it might feel like to them. You realize that there are far fewer people than you thought who are willing to walk with you through the darkness, because its ugly. But there are a few willing to put up with you when you don’t want to fake a smile.

You realize that much of what you do for others is overlooked, but you still do it. You do what you have to in the moment even though it hits an agitating nerve and makes you more inpatient with people than you want to be. You then realize that you have been treated unequally and you become angry, even when you try not to be.

You catch yourself glancing at a guy who you know would be fun to date but you know you would be “settling” and you seriously think about dating him anyway. You watch a friendship slip away and then die in front of you while having coffee. Then you mourn the loss of that friendship because you shared part of life with that person, and you miss them. They know you. And for the sake of your heart, you wish not so deeply. You cry after you watch that friend drive away, knowing that something has changed and will not return. You look up and feel a little angry because you are too human to understand a divine plan.

Then you get sick over Christmas… and you spend it alone with a temperature of 102. There is no more wind in your sails. And you cry. And say there is no hope left. And you want to give up. Then you decide to give up.

Then somethings shifts.

The winter is barren and freezing in an oddly beautiful way. Hope is found in the moments when, with every beat of my heart, hope seems to have faded away. It is sometimes found in “giving up.” The silent cry that escapes from the weak beats that whimper, “I’m just going to give up,” is the same cry that says, “I need You.” As a follower of Christ, the problem with giving up is the gentle but firm, whispering response that says, “Your heart is not your own. ‘Give up’ fighting Me. Settling has not ever been an option for you, and it still isn’t now. I see that you are tired. But I AM still here with you in the winter.”

Sometimes He shatters our dreams for His own. He shatters our dreams and sometimes our human brains and hearts can’t understand why or we are too small to see His bigger plan. We want to see through the snow, but don’t have the ability. We shut our eyes tight and we know spring will come….

But right now… it is winter. “And I don’t like it.”  🙂

Today…

I went to Nashville. Briefly, but it was fun.

I went in search of something pretty.

I found them.

And there is it. I bought myself a pretty little present.

From here.

MMMmmmmmm……

Hello pretty little ladies. 🙂 Welcome to my new furniture project. Coming soon. To an office near me. It isn’t much, but they sparkle 🙂

By the time I checked out I was tapping my friend on the back telling her to walk faster out of the store so I didn’t buy everything that I can’t afford.

Dear Anthropologie, thank you for being fabulous.

I Heart My Tape Dispenser

I wanted you guys to have something to look at while all of my other projects are under way. And it may be a little bit before I can preview the current ones, so I’m giving you a treat from the past. 🙂

Like I said in the last post, sometimes it’s good to finish something small. This tape dispenser used to sit on the desk in my grandmother’s house. When I took it home with me I could envision it in its new fun color. Special, yeah?

A little sanding, some primer, and a few coats of patient spray painting later and wa-la!

I added a new pad to the bottom to clean it up and keep it from sliding. It was a fun short project that turned out great. 🙂

Tip: If you are going to change or mess with something old, always check to make sure you aren’t ruining something that is worth money. I made sure I wasn’t scrapping off the paint of an antique Scott dispenser before I started. ALWAYS CHECK. 🙂

Hope and John

I’m so glad that Hope and John agreed to let me practice some photography on them this fall. For my first time directing a couple during a shoot I could not have asked for two more fun people to work with or a more perfect fall day. They were very light hearted and willing to be patient with me while I figured out when to say, “Ok, I need you to make out but don’t be gross.” 🙂

Start Small

We have a tendency to give credit to the grand. You don’t often get praise for something really small. But there is something to be said for the smaller things in life.

I catch myself aspiring to be one of those people who seems to have their world in perfect order. I can remember starting things and not finishing them for one reason or another. In the past I would dream up a project or an idea and dive head first in to it, only to find myself tired when it didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to. I have seen this in multiple areas of my life on occasion. For a while I developed the habit of starting projects that were very rarely finished. My “go big or go home” crafting attitude was often thwarted by boredom that would set in after the project became to extensive to keep me interested. See below for an example.

Big thumbs down for this guy. The black bookshelf was a lofty dream. I spent hours stripping paint from this sucker and sanding it down with every intention of turning it into something beautiful. HOURS. Where is it now? I couldn’t tell you. I tore it to pieces and left it on the side of the road when I moved from this house where the picture was taken. It was too much. It wasn’t the first large project I tried. I have been successful with others and there will be more.

But there is something to be said for starting something small that is attainable. Just like when you finish a BIG project, you are rewarded at the end of the smaller project and reminded that you are capable of the bigger things.

BEFORE.

After.

There were several fun colors under the odd lime green color it used to be. It made for some fun surprises during the distressing process.

White over lime green. Distressed. Finished.

This foot stool used to sit in the hall bathroom of my Memaw’s house. One of my favorite things about bath time at Memaw’s house was playing with the really pretty decorations in her bathroom. She would sit on this stool while rinsing my hair. It’s one of few a sweet memories that are held by items that I have found while going through her things in our basement.

It looks really cute in these pictures. In all actuality I’m using it to climb into my ridiculously high bed that I have to jump in to otherwise. A step up makes it easier. 🙂

I learned a while back that there is a huge amount of satisfaction found when you can see something through, even when it’s really small.

This applies to pretty much EVERYTHING. DIY projects, photography, sewing projects, journaling, blogging, LIFE. In years past I learned this lesson in my writing. If you start a small  journal, you are more likely to finish it. If you are frustrated because you aren’t finishing something that you really want to do, back up a little, give it a rest, pick it back up exactly where you left off and do something small with it. Set smaller goals that you can accomplish. You’ll be really surprised what you are capable of when you chip away at something instead of stopping out of frustration when you feel its to big.

Start small. 🙂

Mini Rocket Ship

I. AM. BACK.

And a crazy couple of weeks it has been. For those of you who are “frequent fliers” to the blog, I’m going to go ahead and tell you that I will rarely apologize for a period of absence. I have been writing in some form or fashion for years now and my writing habits follow me. I write when I want and I don’t really feel bad when I don’t. I pick right back up where I left off and if I need to fill in the gap I will. Otherwise just assume that I was being lazy. What’s that you say? You need an update? Oh. Ok.

I took the GRE. It sucked. I may have to take it again which literally makes me want to vomit. Business speed bump number one happened. See below. I randomly got a full-time job that I didn’t really even apply for. And after 10 years… I still don’t really like the holidays, glad its over. On we go.

Let’s talk for a minute about starting a mini-business, shall we? Let’s talk about how when you say you are starting a business, and you have all of the good intentions in the world, inevitably there are kinks to work out and speed bumps to slow you down. I have been reassured of this by books and people who have gone before me. I am learning to PRESS THROUGH. UGGGGGGG!

The day that I woke up and jumped from my bed (and by jumped I literally mean that my mattress is to high for my bed frame and I jumped…I’ve also fallen out once but we’ll save that for another day) with enthusiasm and motivation, my sewing machine broke. Without a sewing machine, I have no business right now. Sad. Day. For. Me.

Now when I say that it broke, I mean…. REST IN PEACE MAW’S SEWING MACHINE. Grrrrrrrr. My poor grandmother would be so sad that her sewing machine is dead and gone. I took it to two different repair shops and to my despair was told by both places that it would be too expensive to fix and that I needed to buy another one to save myself money in the long run. So after research and raiding my savings account, I have a beautiful new machine. Maw would be proud. And she also wouldn’t know how to use it!

This thing is like a small rocket ship. It threads itself… no joke. It tells me how to do things on the touch screen. The instruction manual is 200 pages. Maw’s was 19 pages total. It reads a memory card from a computer and it embroiders. Can you hear the little sewing angles singing? I could when I turned it on and it lit up like a space shuttle!!!!

Fun things are coming to an etsy store near you. ☺ Stay tuned.