Tender Mercies

I'm getting a little crafty. And I like it. Never have I considered myself the crafty type, but I have found that with a little inspiration from the internet and a lot more free time, cute projects have resulted. Over the past month I have been attempting to make our new apartment feel a little more "like home." The first step was to give the windows in the master bedroom a little bit of love. After searching Pinterest for ideas, I came across this pattern and I think I like the results: I love that they go from floor to ceiling, thus giving our room a bigger feel. I also love sleeping in a completely dark room. I am pretty picky about this and sleeping with a face mask is just not my favorite method of drifting off into dreamland. After I got our drapes done, I decided the wall space above our headboard really needed some love. Trying to stay within the budget of birthday month from my in-laws, I had to stay simple. When Marshall and I went window shopping one

Did you all have a good Valentine's Day?  We had a great day together, even though we spent $0 on each other. Which is exactly how I like it, most especially due to our current financial situation; it was just perfect. Instead of flowers or chocolates, we gave each other our time.  The highlight of the day was going on a 45 minute bike ride! It was a sunny 30 degrees, so we took advantage of that and really had a great time. That's one perk of living here--the winters aren't constant. It has been nearly six months since we have ridden together and I sure missed it. When we returned home, I put my kitchen nerdiness to work and whipped up some heart shaped roasted beets and sweet potatoes with homemade herbed halibut yogurt dip. It really was delicious! Before we headed out for the night, I went into the bathroom to get ready. When I walked in, the room smelled of lavender, and there were candles lit. Marshall had prepped it for me so that I would be able to

For the past couple of days I have seen a handful of people link to and share the article, How I Saved My Marriage , by Richard Paul Evans on social media. While I normally ignore shared articles, I chose to read it because well, my dad emailed it to me. (Here I am 25 years old and still listening to my dad...) The author describes for us his marriage of 30+ years, from the time when they used to fight constantly and built "emotional fortresses" around their hearts, to the turn-around point where they were both happy and "craved" the company of the other. How did this happen? Service and love. Evans explains how he realized one night when he was at his lowest point that he couldn't change his wife, he could only change himself. And so it began, this mentality of  service to his wife. For the first month he would begin each day by asking her, "How can I make your day better?" At first she was startled and didn't really know how to respond, but