four years

the length of a presidency term...

the time between olympics...

february 29th...

total solar eclipse...

...all things that occur every four years. and now philip have been through all those things together, married. that's right. four year anniversary today, peeps - august 30th. it's hard to believe that four years ago we were getting married on this day. yes. four isn't that much time in the scope of eternity, but a lot has happened in those four years. and i am so grateful for it.

i'm so grateful that i met Nikki Dooley in 4th grade and that friendship grew in high school so much that i was a bridesmaid in her wedding in november of 2006 and met philip there.

then that i was placed to do Young Life in Virginia Beach and very soon after fell in love with philip.

and 5ish crazy months later he asked me to marry him. one of the craziest things i've ever done. besides kayaking to girl scout island...but that's another story for another time.

and seven crazy months later we got married. sorry, mom. i know that was quick.

and now we're here. four years later. 

thanks for being my boo, philip. i love you and could not have asked for a better teammate in life. thank for who you are and how you call who i really am out of me.

food for thought.

some food for thought on this monday morning. 

this makes me happy. 

hope your monday is off to a great start. 

jude and i are going to the laundry mat, library and post office. 

xo. 

new shop + new items

If you haven't seen on instagr.am, I just have a new item hot off the presses that I am really excited about. I have been starting to expand to more than just button jewelry and have really enjoyed sewing lately.

This item, I also enjoy because it is personally helpful to me to have a wristlet for my keys. I always find myself shoving my keys in my pockets because I am holding groceries or a baby or something else. Having the wristlet keychain, has been a big help me.

So there's my shameless plug. And here's the cute keychains with four adorable options!

find them here on my site + soon at b.original in virginia

In other exciting news, One Delightful Button is in our first Massachusetts shop. We are still in Virginia Beach in B. Original and a few last things still in Kitsch in Norfolk. Plum is a new adorable consignment shop in Beverly that opened this summer. Pictured is the outside of the shop. I was initially drawn to the awesome logo. It does not look like a typical consignment shop - it is stunning. 

If you are local, please check out Plum Consignment. So cute.

Anyways...it's Saturday morning. The boys are sleeping (thank you Lord!) and I have business work to do this weekend, so back to my coffee and my projects.

xo.

feeling sentimental.

we've been out of virginia beach for over two months now, but we have only been in hamilton for three weeks. i am starting to like it here. and i sense that i will like it here. it has been fun exploring and just driving places just for the heck of it. because its all new and i like that. i like that i am not sick of driving the same roads over and over again. and it's gorgeous here. 

but today while i was scanning through some instagram pictures of friends, i saw one of virginia beach. of the beach. and i felt sad. not that i spent a ton of time on the actual beach. maybe went there 50x or less. when you are afraid of birds there are lots of reasons not to go to the beach. but it still made me sad. technology has made it easier to forget how far i am from everything i know well. skyping...talking on the phone...facebook...texting...i don't feel that far from people. but seeing a picture of the familiar beach at sunset just made me ache a little bit.

so many significant things happened there. philip and i met in virginia beach, technically we met at our friends' wedding, but we started dating in vb.

this is not an engagement photo. we were just doing some stupid pose philip suggested. 

then we got engaged in sandbridge...

photographer: peter j casey

we got married.

wedding was in blacksburg, but you get the idea

and moved into our first apartment together.

we bought a house there and turned it into a much more beautiful house (in my opinion).

and we got to finally lead young life together at princess anne. and it was so fun and good. 

we got lucy girl. and had our first serious snow in virginia beach. 

we got pregnant with jude. we had friends that loved us and were excited with us. 

the night before he was born

campaigner kids threw a baby shower for us

we had jude there.

first time home. in front of our house.

we got to love a lot of high school kids and share our house and lives with them.

philip's small group guys at the hospital

our dear friend, cindy

there were hard times, and there are also a lot of very sweet memories. and this is a new chapter. i am thankful for these last five years. virginia is just a place. and places are only so important. but people are  so important. i am thankful that 1 corinthians 9:23 is true. "i do all this for the sake of the gospel, that i may share in its blessings." we got to "grow up" in virginia beach together and share our lives and the gospel with kids in virginia beach, but we were blessed in return.

flashback

july 2009 | outside the saranac captains table

july 2012 |  same place

have we changed?

10 months!

alright ya'll. this is a good 1/2 month late, but at least i haven't thrown in the towel all together. moving has been a little more stressful on me than i expected.

when we hit 11 months i am going to start getting really sentimental because we'll be close to the 1 year mark! but as for now, this little man is wild. he is super active. what a blessing and a workout. i spend my days chasing him around and wrestling with him as when i am holding him in public he almost always tries to wiggle out of my arms.

he isn't walking yet as our doctor had anticipated. he seems like he is constantly on the cusp of walking, but i am in no rush considering i am paranoid about him bumping his head.

he is chewing some foods. i haven't been too ambitious with trying new things because we haven't seen a pediatrician in months since we haven't found one here yet. but his favorites are applesauce, shredded cheese and bananas.

he loves to babble and raise his voice. i think he starting to wave at people. i am signing "more", "please", and "milk", but i am not sure if i am consistent enough for him to really pick up.

it's been a great 10 months.

giving

exciting announcement!

a lot of times i have hair-brain ideas that don't pan out. i hope this will not be one of them.

the next few months i am going to be featuring organizations/people to give to from a portion of one delightful button's sales.

stay tuned!

9 months (delayed post)

confession. i'm a total blog slacker...as if it is not obvious. that mostly does not bother me, however, i do want to make sure i photograph jude as he quickly grows into a little man. i took some photos for philip before we left virginia beach around 9 months. now that he is 10months i cannot remember a lot of specifics about what he was doing besides pulling up on things and crawling a bunch. babbling some. so instead here are a few more pictures of the cutie patootie.

on the go

sorry. just think it's hilarious when he does this face.  

contemplative little bebe

happy monday! we are sleepy after not sleeping very well last night. maybe another dunkin donuts kind of day.

our temporary home

Here is a little tour of our temporary home. I'm not sure how much I show personalize it considering we have no idea how long we will be here. The house is furnished, as I mentioned. I brought a few quilts to make it feel like our own. I think we think it is a good fit for us in this season of life and for a short while...

The entryway + kitchen...

I love the open shelves for cabinets in the kitchen. White cabinets are always my favorite. 

Check out these awesome old hardwood floors that run throughout the house.

The state of the living room is a bit sad currently. There is too much for the little mister to get into so we have barricaded the room with luggage and tables to avoid potential problems. It's makes my life a little easier, but it does not look cool. 

I have a little home office set up on the end of the living room. Nothing says welcome to our home like a sewing machine and a shelf full of crafts, right?

Philip and I's room. My bedspread...that is important to me feeling comfortable. 

The only bathroom. Haven't figured out how to really use the bear-foot claw tub. Looks cool, but is not really functional because there is no where to put our soap, etc when J takes a bath.

The little buddy bear's room. Maybe the best room in the house. Our quilt. His crib. Feels like home.  

Plus he likes it. 

Bye bye!

moving on

we have left sweet saranac & are officially in hamilton, ma. what a whirlwind. i'm so tired, but for some reason blogging is more appealing to me than reading mockingjay. (sorry all you hunger games fans!)

our new, temporary home seems to be a great fit for us. i'll post pictures soon. it is affordable, cozy, furnished, fairly baby-friendly. what more could a girl ask for? philip and i are in the market for baby gates though to keep the babe out of the fireplace and other places they aren't so good for a baby.

i have not completely set up my shop here, but we are open for business...

we are in olympic-mode now. philip loves the olympics and is not above watching things like women's skeet shooting simply because it's the olympics.

it's still summer, but it doesn't really feel like it because philip is starting his new job and i am still doing my full-time job as jude's mom.  good thing he has started to sleep through the night again because i was starting to lose my mind.

this has been a random update of sorts. thanks for reading. pictures of the house soon.