DAY 9 - PICTURE OF YOUR BEST FRIEND

Chad is my best friend. I was thinking about our wedding today and all the exciting stuff that will be going on and how much of it he won't be involved because he's the groom. I can't tell him about my dress because he wants it to be a surprise but it drives me crazy sometimes to not be able to tell him! The bridal shower and bachelorette party are obviously not for him to attend, and that's okay and the way it is, he'll hear about some of it all later. But I started thinking about the rehearsal and dinner the night before and having to say goodnight to him and not see him until it's wedding time! Right now it feels weird to me that I'm gonna wake up and be running around getting hair and make up done and everything else -- I'm sure on the day of I'll be so busy that I won't notice too much - but right now it makes me sad that it's not something he'll be around for, how foreign it will be getting ready and not be talking to him about how happy/nervous/exciting I am. I'll just have to think about how lucky I am to get a best friend for life.

DAY 8 - PLACE YOU'VE TRAVELED TO

I've been to Aruba twice. Once in 2007 with my parents and brother and then again in 2008 with my family and Chad. Both times were a blast. There is a lot to do there and it's easy to get around on your own in a rental car. The first year we stayed at a hotel on the beach and the second year rented a house with it's own pool.


There's a nice side to the island, where the hotels and beaches are, and a rocky side where you don't go swimming, but there's amazing waves that crash along the shore. There are a few little pools that water washes into, but the day we went it was too windy.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Chad. We took a trip on a pirate ship to do some snorkeling. Between the sites they take you to see (a couple different reefs and a shipwreck) you get lots of yummy drinks : )

We spent New Year's on the beach watching fireworks.

Both trips we did some windsurfing -- wish we'd done more, but it wasn't for everybody.

DAY 7 - BULLET YOUR WHOLE DAY

- Woke up
- Watched Weeds & Design Star from last night with Chad
- Took dress for wedding to get altered
- Trip to the store
- Late Breakfast
- Talked on the phone
- Tried starting a new project
- Paid bills
- Bought something online
- Stared at wedding to-do list
- Pinterest
- Snack
- Got ready for work
- More pinterest
- Checked the mail
- Worked at preschool
- Came home
- Made chocolate chips cookies for Chad
- Cleaned the bathroom
- Watched Remember Me
- Made sure Chad was up for work
- More tv
- Bedtime

DAY 6 - PICTURE OF SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY

Finished spaces. This one is done by Dan Vickery - a winner from HGTV's Design Star. I love it.

I enjoy decorating and really planning out the look I want. Luckily, Chad's style is similar, and if he doesn't have an opinion on a certain space I'm free to do what I please. For the most part it all stays in my head and I get so excited when I come across something that just fits perfectly. I will be so thrilled when we get into our first house to be able to thoughtfully plan and PAINT each room.

Until then I will come and work on your house anytime!

DAY 5 - A SONG TO MATCH YOUR MOOD

I don't know that the words are the best match to my mood, but every time it comes on the radio I crank it up and am happy that it's summer time!

DAY 4 - A YOUTUBE VIDEO

I realized when thinking about a video to post that I've seen a good deal of videos on youtube. It was hard to choose! So here's a few other favorites if you care to visit them.

-- Numa Numa
-- Flashmob on Weeds
-- The Landlord
-- Chaccaron Maccaron
-- Drunk History

What are your favorite videos?

DAY 3 - EXPLAIN HOW YOU GOT ONE OF YOUR SCARS

I have two scars. One is from having my appendix taken out a few years ago and that was probably like most other appendix stories -- you hurt, you see the doctor, you have emergency surgery before it bursts, stay a night or two at the hospital and then get to go home and do nothing for a week. I did have another doctor later tell me that it's a very nice scar and that whoever did it did a good job -- kind of random.

My second scar is actually older, I got it when I was a kid. I don't really even remember what grade I was in .... 4th or 5th maybe?

I was at the lake with my family and some friends that came along and were leaving from somebody's place after a visit. I was driving the boat and as we left the prop on the motor got caught up in a rope anchoring the end of the dock in place. The wheel started spinning around. My dad had recently made some modifications to the boat and there was some changes done on the wheel that hadn't been smoothed down yet. As it spun around something came around and cut my right forearm.

I didn't even know anything happened. In the midst of all that was going on I moved somewhere out of the way for the dads to figure out how to get untangled. Someone else finally saw my arm and asked what happened. Between 2 - 3 inches had been cleanly sliced open - deeply, I could see how thick my skin really was.

In most situations this is where you head to the doctor to get all fixed up, but that doesn't always happen in Alaska. We'd pretty much just gotten to the lake and the effort it takes to pack back up and get back to town includes a boat ride on the river and a drive. On top of that, I hate needles, so I did not want to go get stitches. My mom is a nurse so we went back to the cabin and she used steri-strips to put me back together -- obviously cleaning it and all that.

We stayed at the lake for the rest of the time and I have a fun scar. It doesn't really bother me that it's there. It's really smooth and flat - if you ran your finger across it you wouldn't be able to tell it's there. Sometimes it's a conversation started when someone notices it. I like to make stuff up about what happened - "knife fight" - but end up telling the actual story too.

DAY 2 - MEANING BEHIND YOUR BLOG NAME

Originally I wanted to come up with a name to put on the things I sold and using the word design seemed like a good choice because it didn't put a specific label on the products I made or might want to make. It made it really easy to have different collections of things. And then Sarah Christine because that's my first and middle name.

As far as using this as my blog name I wanted to be able to use blogger as a portfolio, but for the kind of website I really wanted I eventually broke down and bought sarahchristinedesign.com and learned a little bit more than I already knew about designing my own site. It's still a learning process.

So now it's more of a place to share works in progress for SCD, things that inspire me to be creative, a place to organize my projects ... all other elements of design. So I just kept the name for my blog as well instead of changing it to something more personal. Plus I'm just lazy about coming up with anything else that fits just right.

DAY 1 - PICTURE + 15 FACTS

Eeekk, why am I not in bed? I am so out of whack with working in the afternoons and not having so many morning commitments .... plus Chad's days off have been during the week so I'm very turned around. Gonna throw wedding excitement in there too. I'm so anxious to be in Montana and get married, get back and move and be in a routine. Does that mean I'm ready for fall?! Oh man.... maybe I am? I still need to get a tan though....


1 - I grew up in Alaska and lived in Montana and now live in Texas. I really don't like snow so this is probably the place for me.

2 - I'm from Alaska and don't eat fish ... or a lot of other things that most people would like.

3 - I can't wait to be a mom (no I'm not pregnant. . I just really want my own kids). I heard a song yesterday that went "she's got car seats with no kids" ... yeah, that's pretty much me

4 - I think I have 2 speeds .... sloth mode and energizer bunny. This morning I woke up and got a lot of stuff done in a shorter amount of time than usual and then the next 2 or 3 hours hardly did a thing ... got stuck in turtle gear. I hate not being able to finish something when I start it, so I had all kinds of time to sew today but because I knew it wasn't long enough to finish the projects I wanted to work on I psyched myself out and didn't do anything :S

5 - I watch a lot of tv. Thank goodness for DVR.

6 - I don't have an appendix anymore ... or my wisdom teeth.

7 - I love to take baths.

8 - I enjoy re-purposing stuff.

9 - Someday I will have a house with an amazing kitchen and bathrooms. My heart is set on glass tile.

10 - I'm a loud typer. Chad just told me I'm keeping him up : S I'm also a very fast typer, so I better finish this up!

11 - When I read a book I can't do anything else until I finish it. Who cares about eating dinner?

12 - I like sour things.

13 - It's possible that I could be addicted to amazing fabric and have a really hard time resisting buying a yard just to have some.

14 - I like shopping by myself, during the week, when I know everyone else is at work.

15 - I'm probably gonna write more posts for this challenge and then just schedule them to post on the appropriate days. I'm torn on if that defeats the purpose of the 3o day challenge or if it's more to get you posting and writing about things you might not typically think of.

30 DAY CHALLENGE

So ... jumping on the blog challenge band wagon! Here's my own version based on a few others I found out there. Ready, go!

1 – Picture of you and 15 facts about yourself

2 – Meaning behind your blog name

3 – Explain how you got one of your scars

4 – A YouTube video

5 – Song to match your mood

6 – Picture of something that makes you happy

7 – Bullet your whole day

8 – Place you’ve traveled to

9 – Picture of your best friend

10 – Something afraid of

11 – Favorite TV shows

12 – Something you don’t leave the house without

13 – Goals

14 – A picture of you last year, how have you changed?

15 – Your Pets

16 – Dream house

17 – Something you’re looking forward to

18 – Favorite place to eat

19 – Something you miss

20 – Nicknames

21 – ALLTIME favorite picture of yourself, why?

22 – What’s in your purse?

23 – Something you’ve learned

24 – Put your Ipod on shuffle, what are the first 10 songs?

25 – Your dream wedding

26 – Photo of town you grew up in and town you live in now

27 – Something that stresses you out

28 – 3 wishes

29 – Your zodiac sign and if you think it matches your personality

30 – Picture of yourself today and 5 good things that happened to you since you started this challenge

AUNT ANNIE'S PRETZEL KIT

One of the girls I babysit for had a school fundraiser awhile back and I got this pretzel kit. Recently made it and they were delicious! Next time from scratch?

48 DAYS ....

Okay .... it's time to start getting some stuff done! We've been checking on RSVPs, narrowing down song selections, finding Chad's ring, etc -- putting together all the last details we can here.

What I had in mind for my hair has finally materialized and I'm so happy to have that done, as well as making myself some earrings. I've got a bracelet idea in mind as well but it's gonna require some more tinkering. There's a couple different pieces I made to put in my hair and then made some smaller ones for any of the bridesmaids that want them.


So ready for this day to be here, to be in Montana, to see family and friends, to put complete trust in all the vendors we're working with to create our vision and enjoy the day with Chad!

12 ON THE 12TH: JUNE

I am an awful cheater when it comes to my 12 on the 12th. By the time I've realized the day it's already gone and I've missed my opportunity to photograph what I've done. Right now I am setting an alarm to go off the night of the 11th so I am ready.

We've had a busy day though, and here's my best shot at capturing it.

1 - Apartment shopping! We moved into the tiny apartment last September and will be moving into something bigger as soon as the lease is up. Texas apartments require a 60 day notice, so we started to check out what our options might be for Chad that are close to work and will give us some extra SPACE!

2 - Sonic happy hour : )

3 - It's not open on Sundays, but yesterday I experienced the craziness that is Sam Moon. It was a little overwhelming and since it's so busy on Saturdays they don't even allow strollers in the store. But I'm excited to go back some morning during the week.

4 - Loving out engagement pictures ....

5 - Car shopping! Long story short ... right now we only have one car, but hopefully not for long. With Chad starting his job this week we'll be able to go pick something out soon because juggling the van between us won't work well for long :S

6 - Laid by the pool today, it was great. We even went for a little swim.

7 - Making cosmetic bags (or whatever you wanna use them for). Have a few down at SOBO Fashion Lounge and a couple of them have sold already : )

8 - Diet, diet, diet. We're getting married in 2 months. Major cutting down on the carbs and more picking up some weights to tone these arms up!

9 - Happy Birthday to Chad!! He's the big 3-0 today!

10 - Hunger Games Series ..... I read the 3 books over a week and am waiting for more movie details to come out ...

11 - Craving MRPCo ....

12 - The 10 day forecast .... nothing less than 95!

SUMMA WHAT?!

Oh my, it's June! What the heck happened to May?

There's so much to do in the next 3 months ... this month ... this week.... today ... and I am taking a little break to catch up on some blogs I like to check in on and with my latest favorite thing - pinterest ; )

I found this on there today .... so I'm not really wasting my time, right? It's a fun place to keep track of all those little things you find online and want to remember. I think it could be a little addicting.

I was mildly productive today. Yesterday Chad got his new drivers license and I figured since I don't have plans this morning today I would go get mine. Except the lady told me that I had to register my vehicle at the same time, but first you have to take it to pass an inspection test and blah blah blah. So I found somewhere to take it and sat there for an hour while they checked it all out and replaced my back brake light that was out.

By the time I got home to retrieve all the other info I need to bring in to get set up here I didn't want to drive back to the DMV where there were already about 50 people waiting when the first opened. Will be super prepared tomorrow I suppose.

I've got a couple different to do lists going. One of course for the wedding. And since I made it I've started having nightmares about something not being done (bridesmaid not making it to town, flowers not ordered, no one ready and the wedding is about to start). It's mostly just smaller details now, we've got to come up with some fun favors, print some engagement photos, plan the rehearsal, etc. I can't believe it's just over 2 months away.

A friend of mine here is getting married in 2 weeks. This weekend is her bachelorette party. We're gonna spend some time at a lake house and I'm way excited to get some sun! We went and bought new swimsuits earlier this week. I'm ready for a Texas tan : )

Chad is finishing up his review in class and will be employed again June 13th! His birthday is the weekend before so I'm sure we'll be doing something to celebrate.

We've been doing a little house hunting, although we need to come up with a timeline for when we think we can go approach a bank about a home loan. There are some beautiful places here that are going to make the decision hard. I am ready to get out of the tiny apartment, but it's not super practical to move somewhere else for another 6 months if we'll be packing it up to move into our first house (fingers crossed!). It's a lot of fun to look though and we'll have a good idea of all the things we need/want when the time comes.

So, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my quiet morning (the apartment is a disaster, but that's getting ignored today too) before work and will start running around again tomorrow!

POPPY SHAPED LEMON COOKIES

Picked up the latest Martha Stewart in an airport along the way because it had super cute poppies on the cover. Inside I found this fun decorating idea. I made some sugar cookies over the weekend (minus a cookie cutter! will be buying one for next time!) and already made cookie icing to decorate. I think it dried a little too quick, so next time I better just make them like Martha did!