A New Beginning

This blog is a secret. I love that!! My own little corner of the world where I can gather and express and experiment and record. After maintaining a personal blog on and off for a few years, I've just been really uncomfortable with the idea of writing for others to read. I found myself doing activities or taking certain pictures just so I could put them up on the blog. So bizarre. I want to live life and to authentically love my friends and family and not have to think about how I could stage it for a cool blog post. I want to write my true thoughts without wondering "what if so-and-so sees this? what will she think?" I hope this blog will be my safe spot. I mean, sure, this is the internet so how private can it really be? But I'm not keeping state secrets here, I'm just trying to be as honest and authentic as possible, and for me that means taking away the pressure of knowing that people are watching.

I've also decided to rename my blog. It's just my name now. Nothing fancy. But it's fancy to me, you see, because it's my married name. One of my most important roles in life is being Paul's wife, so it's important to me that I am identified as so – Mariel Schmitt! I've brought over all my old posts, but this is my first in this new place. I think I'm gonna like it here. I hope it'll be something special that I'll look back on for years to come to remember these days, these moments and seasons.

And in all, and over all, I want this to be a place where God is glorified and I am completely submitted to Him. Oh that I would be contributing to Kingdom work! That my heart and my days would be filled with Jesus. And that I would worship Him with the gifts that He gives.

To Blog or Not To Blog

Obviously I've had some commitment issues with my blog this month. Woopsidaisy.

Honestly, I feel like there's this nagging battle going on inside of me in regards to blogging. Who am I? Am I a blogger? Why do I do it? Am I just trying to get people to like me? Sometimes other people's blogs make me feel like my life is not pretty/fun/exciting/trendy enough. Do I even like blogs? It is fun to look back on the last couple years and remember certain days/events/stages. So maybe it's cool. etc etc etc...

But, apparently my mom and Janell are waiting for me to post again (see previous post comments), and today felt like something blog worthy, so here I am.

I've mentioned before that ever since our move to Arizona, I'm working from home. Well the first couple months Paul was job hunting, so he was mostly around the house with me. Now it's not like we were hanging out or even interacting much of the day, but just having him here I think kept me a little closer to keeping my marbles. But now he's off at work everyday, and you guys, today I lost them. My marbles that is.

Every day I take an hour lunch break, usually at weird times like 10:30-11:30 or 11-12 because my employer is in Illinois and currently 2 hours ahead. Since Paul's been off at work, I have been having some fun during lunch either working on wedding invitations or doing some craft around the house like painting a frame and so forth and so on.

But today, something came over me. And I decided to do a craft. On myself. Yes, a craft on myself.  You see, I haven't had my haircut since before our wedding (eh hem, read, last August). And I do this to myself. I wait 6-9 months between haircuts and I get so antsy that I call Carrie (she cut my hair in IL) and I'd be all like "I need to get an appointment THIS WEEK" as if I hadn't procrastinated long enough. She's a sweetheart and would get me in and my hair would get cut. But I live here now. And I don't know anyone to cut my hair. I don't even know anyone to ask who should cut my hair. So today, when the bewitching lunch hour rolled around, I thought,"huh, I know who can cut my hair, me!"

This is getting long, you can scroll down to the pictures if you want.

Anyways, thankfully I wasn't brave enough to cut all my hair, but I had remembered that my mom had made a fleeting comment the other week about how she had liked when I had bangs. And so I thought, "Self. We shall give ourselves bangs today!" I didn't even ask anyone. I didn't ask a friend. I didn't ask Paul. I hardly asked myself. I just watched a video on YouTube, pulled Paul's trimming kit out of the closet, and hacked away.

Now the thing about cutting your bangs that is hard,  is that the very nature of you not yet having bangs makes it really impossible to see anything. So there I stood in the bathroom, not seeing anything, holding a huge long portion of my hair over my eyes and began to cut.

And then I saw.

"Oh my gosh." I said aloud although no one is around (hence why there was no one to stop me from cutting my own hair).

And so now I have bangs. Do I like them? Not particularly. But thankfully, I have no friends here, I work from home, and mostly visit with my parents on the weekends (50% of whom were the sole inspiration for cutting them in the first place). So, I'm sorry cashier at the grocery store or lady I sit next to at church, about my awkward, not quite even, slightly too short, one chunk too far to the left bangs.

And Paul, thank you for loving me no matter what my hair looks like. I love you too, babe. (he has yet to see my bangs, let alone even hear about their existence..oy).

Without further ado, my first public 2012 bang appearance and my range of emotions to go with them (I think they look better when my hair is up).

Tomorrow at lunch, I think I will go for a walk.

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

This morning I went to Starbucks before work. I used some of my credit card rewards points for a Starbucks gift card so it's outside of our budget! Hubby doesn't like frivolous spending (which to him, $4 coffees are....and I suppose I probably agree) so he's happy and so am I!

I digress...

I ordered one of these beauties

and I told my Barista that I wanted it less sweet so she put in half the pumps and wah lah! It was amazing! I don't think I've really utilized the wonder of customizing my own drink, but I pay the big bucks, so why shouldn't I get it exactly how I like it!? Ahhhh... America.

At lunch today I started a DIY Christmas project for my sister-in-law. *Mary if you read this, skip to the next paragraph!! Unless you don't mind finding out one of your presents. Then I'm totally cool with that. Anyways, I'm crocheting her a scarf and it's really hard to make it straight. I'm wondering if it's just worth it to fork over the extra bucks for a beautiful, already made scarf. But maybe it's the thought that counts. I'm trying to hand make a lot of our Christmas presents this year (one of which I'll post later this week as part of my Pinterest Challenge!), and I'm hoping the others have a better start than this stinking scarf.

Tonight I'm planning to make dinner and I'm really scared. Remember my suppertime confessions with the chicken fiasco?! It has scarred me. I get butterflies in my stomach just looking at the kitchen. But on Monday night I pulled out my trusty ole crock pot and slow cooked us up some amaaaaazing beef stew, so I'd say about 28% of my confidence has returned. Anyways, I'm going to give this a whirl:

Yummm. Doesn't that look amazing?! It's straight from one of my favorite blogs, Summer Harms. She always has really great recipes and her pictures of her food are gorgeous.

Isn't blogging weird? I read blogs, and sometimes I feel like I'm friends with the people who write them. About a year ago I had a dream and some girl whose blog I follow was a character in my dream (not you, Summer Harms, just in case you by chance happen upon my blog). Isn't that creepy? I walked by her and she had no idea who I was but I knew all this stuff about her life. I think what weirded me out the most about the dream is that that situation could seriously happen in real life. Do I know too much about people I don't know?

Some new things are happening in my life. And they are secrets right now. Well one's more of a secret than the other, but I just really can't take having secrets. I want to TALK about it. I want to tell people and be outwardly excited! I must say though, it is fun to have a secret with Paul. We wink and whisper and pray and make plans that no one else knows about. But I'm ready to let these secrets out now. Paul says I should pray about these things instead of talking about them with other people so much. He's smart. I should. And I will. Sigh. But I still really wish I could tell you right now.

Crock the Pot

Yes, it's true that I haven't blogged in forever. And it's true that I tried to come back, and then didn't. And it's also true that I got married in between then and now, and yet this post is not going to be about my (wonderful amazing perfect-for-us) wedding. Because tonight, I am feeling inspired. And there's just something I have to get off my chest.  It's the Crock Pot.

Dear Crock Pot,

You are turning me into a respectable wife.

This morning I woke up 15 minutes early (ok fine, it was 8 minutes), stumbled sleepy-eyed into the kitchen, threw some stuff in you, and then continued on with my normal routine.

And then, this evening, I walked in the door of our little apartment and much to my surprise and joy, I was struck with the incredible, savory scent of our amazing dinner, all ready for us whenever we would like to eat it. Seriously, you just did all my cooking for me.

Loyally,
A new wife in training.

So what's in my pot you ask?  I have to admit, although I did a little internet searching, I kind of made this up. So here's what's for dinner:

3 lb sirloin tip (seared on all sides)
carrots cut up (thanks Paul - I told you I got up a little late, so I need some help from the super hot hubs!)
celery cut up (ditto the carrots)
tomatoes
almost 2 cups of water
onion soup mix
2 cloves of minced garlic
pepper - a few shakey shakes
basil
oregano
1 can condensed mushroom soup
1.5 lb red potatoes

I think that's it!  Although I was a little sleepy and "toss it in the pot" happy, so a few more things may have landed in there that I can't remember.  I am pretty sure you could get away with WAY less ingredients, and the most important elements are the searing, and the liquid to keep it moist.

Well, I'm off to do the dishes while I wait for PDS to come home!  Can't wait to enjoy this delicious meal I almost didn't cook!

maybe we can try again...

I didn't know if I could come back to the blog world.

After all, 4 months between posts is shamefully long. I pondered starting a whole new blog, but that seemed like a waste of time since I have so many wonderful memories recorded here. I thought that maybe my season of blogging is over, but I found myself day-dreaming about potential posts and missing my digest of updates from blog-friends. Starting over or quitting just weren't for me.

And so, I return to journey through the land, with my tail between my legs and humbly asking you to show me grace as I spew out excuses about my extremely busy schedule the last quarter, and finishing classes, and increasing my work hours, etc, etc.  As all dreamy-eyed hopeful new bloggers do, I vow to post the best updates, showcase the most beautiful pictures, make you laugh, make you cry, make you think and obviously never ever miss a day of blogging. ;)

Stay tuned for some exciting life recap posts!

Made a blog header and button for this cutie girl :)  What a fun weekend project!

project 320

My friend Kirra (can I call you "my friend," Kirra? Kirra and I only know each other from the blog world, but I kind of feel like she's like a friend, is that okay?!)...

Ok I'll start over. 

My friend Kirra posted on her blog that she would be participating in a giveaway to raise money for project320. She runs a darling online antique shop called Lovies and one of her treasures is part of an amazing spread of goodies that will be given away December 20th.  

Yea, everything looks pretty fabulous and apparently there are even more gifts that have been donated on top of what this picture shows!

All you have to do is go here, read the directions to enter, and donate $10 to the project320. It's for a great cause - project320 builds wells to provide fresh, clean water for communities in Africa and 100% of the donations go directly to this organization. I told Kirra that this is a great opportunity for me to remember people in this world who are living right now that have problems and situations that make my "life problems" seem puny. I mean really, when have I ever worried about having access to clean water? 

Cold Hands Warm Hearts Swap!

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I participated in much love, illy and sandyalamode's glove swap this season and I just received the dearest package from my swap partner, Ayumi from You and Me World! Over the last few weeks, Ayumi and I have gotten to visit each others blogs and send a few notes back and forth. She was so sweet to me when my Pops passed away over Thanksgiving, and I just feel like I have been blessed to make a new lovely friend!  Please go check out her blog as soon as you finish reading this because she is an incredible photographer and definitely an inspiration to me!

So. All that being said, imagine my delight when I came home to this:

 I ran into the house and grabbed my camera so I could get some pictures of the goodies. I was supposed to be getting ready for PDS to come pick me up... but I got so distracted by these darling treasures!...

Ayumi not only sent me the namesake gloves (a gorgeous pair of ivory glove/mittons from J Crew!) but also the most perfect shade of pink nail polish and loose leaf tea and honey to make Masala Chai! The honey she chose is called "Yume" which is adorable because she said that is a nickname her close friends call her by - so thoughtful!

Thank you SO MUCH Ayumi! I just loved all my treats and I have been showing them off to everyone around me!  I officially no longer have Cold Hands... but I definitely have a Warm Heart :)

Haul-iday Book Giveaway!

I am saaawamped with work right now, but that's okay because I really enjoy what I am learning :) However, I did manage to take a little break today in order to participate in this great book giveaway from Chronicle Books. All you have to do is make a list on your blog of your choice of books up to $500 or comment on a blogger's post who already has (eh hem... like mine!) and you could win the books! Yay! So comment away and if I win, you might too!

So my book choices are:

1. 642 Things to Draw
2. Village Walks: Tuscany By Martha Fay
3. City Walks: Rome By Martha Fay Maps by Bart Wright
4. The Smart Traveler's Passport By Erik Torkells and the Readers of Budget Travel Magazine
5. Knitting Pretty By Kris Percival Photographs by France Ruffenach

6. Denyse Schmidt Quilts By Denyse Schmidt with Bethany Lyttle Photographs by Susie Cushner

7. Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing Projects and illustrations by Lotta Jansdotter Photographs by Meiko Arquillos

8. Paper + Craft By Minhee and Truman Cho With Randi Brookman Harris Photographs by Johnny Miller

9. Creative, Inc. By Meg Mateo Ilasco and Joy Deangdeelert Cho10.

10. The New Color Book

11. The Handy Household Helper

12. The Little Guide to Vintage Shopping By Melody Fortier

13. Penny Saving Household Helper By Rebecca DiLiberto

14. Let's Bring Back By Lesley M. M. Blume Illustrations by Grady McFerrin

15. Fast Breads By Elinor Klivans Photographs by Susie Cushner

16. Lobel's Meat Bible By Stanley, Evan, Mark, and David Lobel with Mary Goodbody and David Whiteman Photographs by Lucy Schaeffer

17. One Line a Day: A Five Year Memory Book

18. Craft, Inc. By Meg Mateo Ilasco

19. Handmade Weddings By Sabrina Moyle, Eunice Moyle, and Shana Faust Photographs by Joseph De Leo

20. Silhouette Art By Vana Chupp

21. Little Book of Letterpress By Charlotte Rivers Foreword by Yee-Haw Industries

22. Business Cards 3 By Michael Dorrian and Liz Farrelly

23. 1000 Fonts Edited by Bob Gordon Text by Graham Davis, Robin Dodd, and Keith Martin

Thanks to oh hello friend for the heads up on this giveaway!

Cold Hands Warm Hearts

Perhaps you noticed the new little button on the side of my blog promoting a swap I am participating in hosted by sandyalamode and muchlove,illy (two blogs I recently started following). Now, this swap holds a special place in my heart because I have particularly cold hands. In fact, my hands are so cold that my mother used to cup them in her hand, shake her head and solemnly say,

"Mariel, your hands are so cold, no one will ever love you."

I kid you not. My own mother said this to me as a direct result of my hand temperature. So, while I am hoping this won't come true (that is, the 'no one will ever love me' part), I have decided that it is quite appropriate for me to participate in this blogger swap! And, being that it is my first. swap. ever., I am super pumped! You should definitely head over to Sandy's blog and check it out for yourself!

My super sweet friend Courtney is doing a giveaway over on her awesome home renovations blog! Check out the beautiful makeover she and her husband are doing on their house they purchased last year - you will be amazed! Plus, you could win a set of my stationery that she is giving away to one lucky winner!  So hurry over to: