i give- entry into the ugliest sofa contest

ok, i give. there is an ugliest sofa contest on Pink and Polka Dot and i think i have been avoiding entering. you know when you are going through your clothes and there is that ONE sweater that you wore forever? it was so stylish in it's day, but now it is just faded with lit balls all over it and completely out of style? but you just can't bring yourself to get rid of it? that's how i feel about this sofa. except i never knew it when it was actually in style. but i can assure you it WAS. and i still have an attachment to it.

for those of you who don't know, my husband and i live in what was formerly his grandparent's house. they took most of the things they wanted to their new home and left us with some of the basics too. for example, this couch. it was actually a huge blessing b/c if not for this little beauty we would be sitting on the very cushiony carpet (with hardwoods underneath;) and so i'm attached. AND, this couch is still very comfy.

we just had a yard sale this past weekend and thought we might see how much we could sell the little buddy for. uhh... that didn't go over so well.

seriously $50! come on people.....

So we decided to bring it right back into our newly painted living room:) so here i am- this is my submission into the ugliest couch contest. i feel bad for saying that, like the couch can see what i am typing or something.

you've been good to us little buddy.

forever young... or something like that.

Sometimes i am shocked when i am reminded of my age. someone might ask or a hear another has a birthday coming up and it leads me to think of my age... the shock is not because i think i am old although i did have issues with year 25 (i'm 27 now), but more because when i think of someone in their mid to late twenties, i think.... adult. Really? Adult? Me? i literally still feel like i am in high school and as it turns out i don't think this will change very much. i say this because as i have talked to others, some older than i and some younger, they all say the same thing. they still feel very young. no matter how old they are. the most amazing realization to me right now is the fact that i am old enough to have children. NO, i'm not pregnant! just saying... it is crazy to think that i am not too young for it. in fact, my best friend who is my very same age, and i am talkin' born on the exact same day, has 2 little ones and is quite the super mom. this is all a bit strange to me.

that leads me to the reason for this post. birthday parties. because we are adult and all, we happen to be going to more and more kid's birthday parties. and we are not the ones getting treat bags! :( just recently, matt and i went to Nick's 5 year old birthday party and it was a blast. i was asked to take a few shots to document the party so here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

the police car was fun:) the siren? not so much.

big kids

Happy birthday to one of the cutest 5 year olds i know!

overwhelmed... but please come to our yard sale!

The YARD SALE is THIS Saturday, May 22nd!

We will be out there putting things out at 6am and officially opening by 7, but you can come earlier if you like:) For the past couple of weeks, it seems all we have done is work on getting prepared for this sale! I am so tired and overwhelmed but will be so happy when all that crap (yep, i said it) is out of my house! pheeww...

I know i promised i would post pictures of what we would be selling.... i'm gonna be honest, it's not going to happen. Sorry:( i should have take some pictures before we started piling everything into our dining room. The pile is getting close to the ceiling and definitely busting out into our kitchen and hall by now.

So PLEASE COME and make all this hard work worth if for us and the Moores! I promise you will find some treasures:)

If you would like to know our address, just leave a comment and will get in touch with you. I don't think i will post it for all to see. yikes!

Wedding Recap- The Bachelorette Party!

I have been meaning to write a wedding day recap for some of my closest friends that are overseas. Emails have been promised and not delivered- yet. But instead of writing a blanket email, i thought i would just share a recap on the blog since i know those girls read it. (you know who you are;) And i thought it might be fun for all of you to know just what went on leading to the wedding day and on the day-of, most assuredly the funniest (i know this is not a word), most exciting and most overwhelming day of my life...

The Night Before the Wedding: Bachelorette Party...
i had this dream or idea of having a girls night out almost like you see in the movies. but without the stripper bar and jello shots. really i just wanted to go dancing with my girls. for us to just circle around one another and have a good time! we ended up at a local bar/club downtown but when we got there we noticed that a band was approaching the stage.... and they did not look like they would be singing the Usher/Chris Brown style dance music we were looking for, since they were all dressed in black with spikes coming from... well, places.

Thankfully one of the bouncers noticed that Heather was from Wake Forest and pointed out that it was his hometown. So she went to him with her sweet self and explained our situation as well as our expectations for this cheesy bachelorette party. (yes, we wanted to be "those girls"). So he was nice enough to take us to a club on the next level and got us in for FREE. It's great to know people. Well, we didn't really know him but you know what i mean.

So here we are in a swanky club.. I mean SWANKY. You had to pay $300 just to sit in the nice cushioned area off to the side... We were happy to stay on the dance floor. Even when we weren't dancing. I also think it is important to point out that we were the only ones on the dance floor since it was only about 10:30pm. It's ok, it only added to our "those girls" status. We talked and danced and had a fun... I finally got the courage enough to go and actually request a song. I thought it wouldn't be a problem since we were the only ones dancing anyway. So of course i requested "YEAH" by Usher. This song was the defining pop song of our college years in the mid-2000's and i knew it would get even Sarah and Leah dancing. It did. We had so much fun and just laughed and laughed! From then on, the DJ played song after song that was popular during those years. As Amber pointed out, they were definitely just humoring us until the real clubbers got there. We were officially "those girls" and i loved it.

The guys (Matt and entourage) were just across the way going night-bowling and so we all arrived together and were planning to leave together. Had to have our boys close by! So i guess when they saw we were not in the first place they asked around and found out that the "crazy" bachelorette party was upstairs. Before we knew it, they all showed up on the dance floor! They stay around and danced with us for about 5 or 10 min and it was such a good end to the night! I know you are not suppose to dance with your fiancée the night before the wedding and at your bachelorette party at that, but it was the BEST memory i could have had:)

honeymoon! turks and caicos islands

I have been putting off this blog post b/c i have had the hardest time picking what pics to share from our honeymoon. Not because there is an abundance of great ones though. Mostly because most of the pics consist of matt and i holding out the camera and taking pictures of ourselves in front of..... the ocean, the pool, our room, a resturant, etc, etc, etc... Doesn't get more exciting than that;) But after many requests- here is the honeymoon post. Part I of it. Part 2 will be the story of Captain Bill's Outback Adventure- a crazy fun boat tour we took that deserves it's own post. We had an AMAZING time together:) So as i have done before, i will share some of our adventures through the pics. Hope you enjoy!

Here is the view from our balcony:) We got upgraded to an oceanfront room when we arrived and it was awesome! We only had it for the first 3 days b/c it was not available for the entire week but we were hoping it would become available as we week went on. It didn't. I'll share more about that later;)

the beach! the water was SO blue and it was amazing! We also got to take a miniature sail boat out on our own after a quick lesson from one of the guys at our resort. It seemed pretty simple until we got out there on our own! There was one point where we could not get the boat turned around for the life of us... this was a very stressful situation which led to our first almost argument as a married couple. But matt got in the water turned the boat around, and saved the day as usual. :)

me eating one of our homemade turkey&cheese sandwiches on the beach. we were trying to keep our lunches cheap since the restaurants for dinner were so wonderfully fancy but very expensive.

On our way out one night. love this shot:)

the pool! we got in a habit of getting up and going to the beach through lunchtime and then heading to the pool in the afternoon. then we would go back to our room for a nap! We also tried to do some sort of activity every day- we biked, snorkeled, did the crazy sail boat thing, got massages... and of course Captian Bill's Outback Adventure!

a couple of shots from one of those fancy restaurants:) We would usually split a meal b/c just one entree was around $50. I know! but it was enough for both of us and sooo yummy!!

We went to this cool ice cream shop after dinner one night and they had all kinds of fun stuff to play with!

Halfway through out trip, we had to move to a "beach view" room b/c the beach fronts were all booked up. Just a piece of advice- if you are going to get an upgrade, get it on the back end of your trip... It is no fun to be downgraded!

On our one week anniversary, which was also our last night we went out on the beach and watched the sunset.

Then, we went to a really nice resturant that we had heard wonderful things about. It was right on the beach and only lit with candles. The menus lit up when you opened them and it was so cool. I just knew there was a famous person at this place! We just couldn't see them b/c of the darkness.

Like i said, we went to some fancy places. Mainly because those were the only kind of restaurants avalaible but i didn't mind it! At almost every restaurant we ate at we would get some sort of " compliments of the chef" appetizer. Our last night we got cauliflower soup and a chip. The soup was great but a chip!? One chip? We found that hilarious! The pic on the left is what i ordered. Presentation was always so important!

Our honeymoon was such an amazing time! the best part? Just being together of course:) Stay tuned for part II!

transition in style

For Matt and I, this past weekend was spent painting... I woke up Saturday morning and immediately put on the paint clothes... we took a brief break for a birthday party (will post that soon) and then it was right back to painting when we got back home. Thanks to my mama for helping out! And so because of the painting and the constant moving of furniture from one place to another, our house constantly feels like a disaster. Every time i mention this to Matt he kindly reminds me that we are in transition and our house won't look like this forever. thankfully. I just keep thinking about all the newlywed stories we have been told about living conditions and working with what you have. I guess it is sorta nice to join the ranks:)

This is one of my favorite examples of working with what you have.

This book shelf was built by my friend Amber's husband the week they got married. It was my favorite piece of "furniture" in their little florida bungalow. They had to eventually retire the piece b/c of it's lack of stability, but it still inspires me to transition in style. Love it:)

Proof of Life

Watching Tom and Jerry

for a explanation of this series, click here.

more music nostalgia

Since i last posted about my South Lebanon nostalgia, i have continued to think about how music brings about feelings in me like no other. Some people are taken back though smell or taste or pictures... music is what gets me.

When I was living in Lebanon, towards the end of my time there matt and i started communicating more regularly. And i felt as if things were starting to become more. I kept getting on to Matt about not sending me any packages (packages are everything when you live overseas) and so he eventually decided to take the hint and send me a little something. The main gift was a burned cd. I was a little nervous when i got the cd b/c i am pretty picky about my music and so and i didn't want to cd to interrupt things between matt and i before they got started. It so didn't, only added to what i knew was stirring:) The cd was wonderful and there was one song on it that i absolutely loved. "When you com back down" by Nickel Creek. And so to this day, that song reminds me of how mine and Matt's relationship began. When i listen to it, it takes me right back to wondering how things would go, the questions and the butterflies....

Anyone else out there like me when it comes to music?? What songs take you back?

mantle aspirations...

Did you see these detail shots on The Schultzes Blog from our wedding??

If you haven't already noticed, the top left shot with all the buttons actually has our wedding rings in it too. i love it! and so... if we ever get out living room in order i would love to get that wrapped on a canvas to hang above our mantle. artsy yet personal.

thoughts?

Life in South Lebanon and Alli Rogers

Yesterday, i went through a period of major nostalgia. Let me set the scene... i was just up from a sunday afternoon nap. i had told myself all week that i would use sunday afternoon to clean the bathroom and so as i sat on the couch deciding what to do, as much as i tried to ignore it, the bathroom was calling out....

SO. i thought. i will check my blog quickly and see if anyone has commented on the wedding pics post. this was mainly an effort to avoid the bathroom, but it turned out that there was in fact a comment, and so i proceeded to read. check out this post to read it.... i loved the comment b/c it was from my friend kendra and it was as if i could hear her talking to me and getting excited about wedding pics. kendra is SUCH a special friend and i wish all the time that we could see more of each other. when i was living in South Lebanon- small town life for sure- kendra was my best friend. i did so much with her and her hubbie and her friendship was just so enjoyable. and accountable.

back to the bathroom... i had to do it. i began to scroll through my itunes for the perfect bathroom cleanin' music. for some reason i was reminded of Alli Rogers and began to play her cd. Immediately all the memories came flooding back... See, this was the cd i listened to endlessly while living in South Lebanon. And so as i was spraying and scrubbing, it was seriously hard to hold back the tears. The quiet life, arabic, the time with kendra, the home visits, even the struggle living alone.... i felt it all. Music does that to you.

there is one song on the album called Tanzania. i love it. and relate so much right now.

here are the lyrics:

It’s eight hours later in Tanzania.
When Jen lays down
Mary’s just opening her eyes.
Her child’s feet land on the ground
and dirt scatters,
And she feels left out in the open,
always left out in the open.
She says, “son, wear my shoes to school today”.
He turns and smiles and walks away,
and she thinks to herself…

Someday I will wake
where the earth is clean and safe.
My children have a place to play,
not here in Tanzania.
And someday I will live
in a house that’s built by
hands that hold the world.

It’s eight hours earlier in Chattanooga.
Mary sits down and Jen’s just put the coffee on.
Katie Couric is talking news and fashion,
and Jen feels pushed into a corner,
always pushed into a corner, she says
“Baby I know what girls at school are like”.
And her daughter rides off on her bike,
and Jen thinks to herself…

Someday I will wake
where my children get a break,
And there are chances that they’ll take,
not here in Chattanooga.
Someday I will live
in a house that’s built by
hands that hold the world.

Well it’s hard to be mother,
and it’s hard to be a woman,
and it’s hard to live in Africa sometimes.
It’s hard to be mother,
and it’s hard to be a woman,
and it’s hard to live in America sometimes.

But someday I will wake
in a body that won’t break,
On ground that doesn’t shake, not here.
And someday I will live
in a house that’s built by
hands that hold the world.

Tanzania... South Lebanon.... America.... it's just nice to know that someday we'll live in a house that's built by hands that hold the world.

Wedding Pics!!!

I'm so excited to share that some of our wedding pics were just posted on The Schultzes Blog!! Check them out and let me know what you think!

www.lovetheschultzes.com/blog

Check out the LOVE AFFAIR BLOG and enter to win a Kelly Moore Bag & a seat to their upcoming workshop in Dallas!

www.loveaffairworkshop.com

Yard Sale Treasures:)

Yard sale season is upon us! My friends Natalie, Rachel and I went out looking for treasures this past saturday and i found a few. Since we are in the process of decorating and getting our house in order, it was hard not to buy more but i tried to use some restraint for my husband's sake:)

I found this window with a mirror already behind it. I was planning to do this project with a window so it saved me some time! Now, I'm just trying to decide whether to paint it or not...

I also found 6 of these blue Mason Jars. Not sure where they will go yet but i couldn't pass up the blue because they are super hard to find...

We actually found this distressed coffee table at the Habitat for Humanity Restore where they had some vendors set up. This little beauty is completely hand-made and i love it!

I know you are loving our 70's couch in the mirror. If you want a piece of that thing, make sure to come to our yard sale May 22nd!

Anyone else out there finding any yard sale treasures??

Happy Birthday to my love!

Today is Matt's birthday:)! B/c birthdays are super special in my family, i wanted to try to live up to that for Matt's birthday this year. I wanted Matt to feel special his entire birth-week. If you are unsure about what a birth-week is, check out my birthday post last year.

So every day this past week (last Tues through today), at a random time in the day, i gave matt some sort of birthday gift:) Some days it was a small as his favorite mint, a DIY bathroom re-model book, shoes or his BIG gift- GUITAR HERO!! See, Matt is not a gift person at all, he just never wants anything and is content with whatever he has. This is a great quality in normal circumstances, but makes him very hard to buy for. I always want to give him a gift that he will really love as well as something completely unexpected. Guitar Hero was JUST THAT. He had no clue that I was getting it or even that he really wanted it. But every time we go to Matt's brother's house he always wants to play... and as we are leaving i feel like i am pulling a child out the door with the constant, "one more game....". We celebrated his birthday at my mom's last night so i went ahead gave him his big gift. Needless to say, he loved it.

After a yummy dinner cooked by my mom, present opening and banana pudding for dessert (Matt's fave), we watched to show "Minute to Win it". Has anyone seen that show? We love it!

Here is a wonderful shot of my sister trying to get a cookie from her forehead to her mouth only using her facial muscles... haha!

Handmade love- Sutton Spring Collectives

If you met my friend Sarah at the wedding, i'm sure it didn't take you long to figure out how creative she is. Particularly when it comes to all things sewing. The last time I went to visit her she taught me to make a whole dress in a weekend. It was SO fun and i was SURE i wanted to start making clothes, start a business and end up on project runway. One of my "dreams". But of course i never really got to it when i got home and so all i have sown since is pillow covers:/.

I've be telling Sarah for MONTHS to start an Etsy shop and she is finally doing it! LUCKY for all of us:) See, her sister Martha is as good as she is and so the 2 of the together make, dun. dun dun...

Sutton Spring Collectives!

The Sutton Sping Collectives Etsy Shop is not open just yet but you can check out some of their work on their blog and start picking out your favorites! Show them some love while your at it:)

Amazing stuff...

Here is a pic of Sarah and I- I am wearing the apron she MADE for me. And she made Matt and manly one that matches the band in the middle.

LOVE IT:)

i'm a dreamer

I am such a dreamer. Every now and then it hits me (usually hard) that most of the things i have dreamed of in my adult life (and some from my childhood) have not actually happened. Mainly because it would be highly impossible for them all to happen in one life time. Some of my dreams even contradict themselves. Nonetheless, this never fails to lead me into one of those days where i am more down than up, don't do much talking, b/c i am constantly thinking about how my life would have turned out if i would have gone this direction or that...

Yesterday was one of those days and here are some of the dreams i recounted- i know some of them are laughable but dreams are suppose to be ridiculous sometimes....

being a corporate supersta'- a dynamic team leader or manager

working for the media in production or photography

winning 'so you think you can dance' (i said some were ridiculous)

being a professional violinist

teaching

working for a social needs group in america

being a mother to many

being a wedding photographer or planner

living overseas long term

working in NYC in the fashion industry

living in america long term

opening a store and/or etsy shop for distressed, shabby furniture and other decorative pieces that i re-do

The thing is, i am one of those 'Jack of all Trades, Master of None' type of people. I am good at a lot of things but not great or professional at anything. I also have a pretty short attention span so i get on "kicks" if you will... My day yesterday mainly had to do with not being a professional at something. I had this overwhelming desire to look back on my life and say, I worked as a teacher or in marketing or as a nurse before i had kids...

I'm not complaining, i have nothing to complain about- i love my life and where it is right now. I think no matter where i am, i will dream ridiculous dreams about he future and think about what the past could have been. Simply because i'm a dreamer.

Matt is SUCH a supporter of my dreams. He is not so much a dreamer but more into making dreams reality, which is so good for me. So, for one my my wedding gifts he got me this...

Now i just have to get out there and USE IT. :)

hitched for a month!

In light of our one month anniversary TODAY:) i thought i would come up with "the top ten reasons i love being married to matthew tucker"...

10- ok, i really do like having tucker as my last name.

9- matt gives me massages a lot and knows how to make my coffee just right.

8- matt is mr. fix-it and i am a decorative and artsy type which makes it fun re-do every room in our house (most of the time:)- we make a great team.

7- he let's me sleep in on saturdays guilt-free

6- he is wise with money but also generous. that makes me feel secure.

5- matt is the smartest person i know, and so committed.

4- he will be an amazing dad and looks forward to it. He also entertains my idea of having 5 or more children:)

3- he keeps me accountable to read the Bible in the mornings b/c he does it every single day.

2- matt does not ever want to plant our roots too deep. He always talk about the future as an open slate, and i truly believe he would go anywhere or do anything if He feels there is a need and the Lord is leading.

1- Matt is the best other half this girl could have ever asked for- if you know me, you know i am loud, talk too much, say things i don't mean sometimes, overly emotional, dramatic, high strung- he is the opposite of all of these things and teaches me so much daily. I couldn't think of anyone better to share my life with. :)

Here is a sneak peek of our wedding pics just posted on The Schultzes Blog:)

YARD SALE!!!

That's right folks! We're having another one. This time we are doing it in conjunction with Chuck and Ashley Moore so there will be LOTS of great finds. The date is either Sat. May 15th or the 22nd:)

Come support our fight against hoarding.

made a wedding blog!

one of my bridal portraits made a wedding blog! this is so exciting to me b/c i was constantly scouring wedding blogs when we were planning the wedding and always wondered what it would be like to be on one... well, wonder no more!

check the blog out here:)

Christmas in the Middle East

On Dec. 18th, Matt and I left America to spend Christmas with our friends- James, Blair and Roman at their home in the Middle East. My family was not too excited about me spending another Christmas in the Middle East but they were willing to give us up for J,B&R:) It was an amazing trip once we finally got there... if you would like to know more about why our trip was so delayed check out this post. After spending about 24hrs in Lebanon (I'll post about our time there next) we headed to their home with all bags (shockingly) except the one that was for J&B (with the Christmas presents!), with a promise that it would be sent as soon as it arrived in Lebanon. If you've ever lived in the Middle East you understand why i did not have a ton of faith in this promise. Insh'allah (If God wills) has a whole new meaning in the ME! Since people seem to like pictures better than words, i think i'll just post some and narrate.

So without further adieu...

First and foremost, we were able to meet this little guy- Roman Willis Weddington. Having a new born, Blair was definitely lacking sleep when we got there. I wanted to help as much as possible so we developed a little system where Blair would hand Roman off to me after his morning feeding around 7am. Depending on his schedule that day, we would nap together, play or just hang out. No matter what we were doing, i loved my time with this little man!

This was how Roman got around outdoors most of the time. Matt and I were always amazed at how Blair would wrap piece of cloth and tuck Roman right down in there. It looks so dang comfy. I definitely want one of those when i have a little one:)

Here is Matt and I in front of a traditional style gate. It is more appropriate for girls to cover their hair where we were, so i got to wear different scarves in different ways throughout the weeks. It was fun coming up with ways to make the scarf look stylish, but I'm sure it could get tiresome doing it all the time.

A shot from one of the rooftops in the Old City. Isn't the architecture amazing?? Who could have ever though a place smack-dab in the middle of the desert could be so beautiful...?

Spices, beans and rice for sale in the market.

Walking through the market. If you want to know what is in the side of that man's jaw, it is called Qat- it would take too long to explain what it is, just google it if you are interested.

We did our fair share of shopping in the market too. Looks like Matt found something really nice:)

Most of the time though, we just hung out and James and Blair's place and spent time together. The green in the back ground is the remnant of mine and Blair's tissue-paper-flower making. If you were at our wedding, you should know exactly what those are:)

A closer look. I love these things.

James and Blair's bag actually did come in as promised. And on Christmas night! We had such a good time exchanging gifts but the bag was mostly filled with things for the little man. Here is Blair getting excited about Roman's goodies the morning after Christmas:)

We decided the last night we were there, which happened to be New Years night, that we actually needed a pics of the 5 of us. :)

We were so tired that we actually rang in the New Year a few minutes early- haha! It was still such a fun night even though we are old.

One of my favorite pics:) James, you are hilarious.