The Anniversary Series: How We Met

This Saturday, Adam and I are celebrating our first year of marriage! I thought it would be fun to do some personal posts this week so all my readers can get to know me a little better. The series will include how we met, the proposal, our wedding day, and our honeymoon. 

As an incoming freshman at Central Michigan University, I couldn't wait to get my dorm assignments to see where I was living. Within hours after receiving my letter, I logged on to Facebook and had a friend request from a random guy. After stalking his profile, I noticed he was also living in my dorm. My friend and I looked through his pictures, and while she instantly thought he was cute, I remember saying to her "he's alright I guess." 

Fast forward to the start of school, tuns out the random guy, Adam Muszynski, lived right across the hall from me. Our paths didn't cross much at first and it definitely wasn't love at first sight. He was the crazy partier who smoked and drank way too much, and I was the quiet studious girl who had a boyfriend. I got straight A's and he was on academic probation.

Second semester, I broke up with my boyfriend and started meeting more people in the dorms. At first, Adam and I hung out in groups, and gradually spent more and more time alone together, or as alone as you can be when you each have three roommates. He helped me get through my traumatic break up and had a lot of patience while he waited for me to become ready for a new relationship. 

Of course, I never imagined dating him, he was way too crazy for me and I had made up my mind that it would never work. It wasn't until I convinced him to watch Sweet Home Alabama with me an we started jokingly planning our wedding (which by the way turned out nothing like it). We started spending every free moment together, and I remember being sooo incredibly nervous to kiss him. 

Summer was quickly approaching, and we decided it wasn't worth it to start a relationship living so far away. 

Well, it was only a matter of weeks before  I made my first trip to Madison Height to visit him. After spending the weekend together, I decided there was no sense in  letting such a great thing pass me by. I ended up asking him to be my boyfriend, and the rest is history. 

I was immediately confident in what we had, and while I was trying to be practical, I really could see myself marrying him. We were never jealous, always trusted each other, made each other laugh, and rarely had anything escalate into an argument. 

While on paper it seemed like we were an odd match, we were able to find a great balance. I calmed him down a bit and encouraged him to focus a bit more on his studies, and he encouraged me to let loose once in a while and taught me that getting straight A's was not the most important thing in the world. 

Through our relationship, I learned a great deal of lessons about love and about life. It's funny how things works out though. The guys I thought was "alright I guess" turned in to my husband!

How did you meet your husband/fiance? I would love to hear about it!

How We Met

The Proposal

The Wedding

The Honeymoon

DIY Dog Food Canister

Tired of storing your dog food in the giant floppy bag? Tired of making a mess as you fill your dog's food bowl? Tired of walking all the way down to the basement to get said food? Well, I've found a way to avoid the mess and the stairs by making a cute tin to store Lucy's food in!

All you need is a large popcorn tin, some spray paint, and vinyl letters. After spray painting the old popcorn tin, I created a paw print design, as well as the letters and let my Cricut do all the work.

Not only was this project extremely easy, but we are done dealing with large floppy bags of food on a regular basis, AND Lucy's food is stored in a fun tin! We can leave it on the counter, or easily store in the cupboard, and it even matches our kitchen! 

UPDATE: I was in Marshalls yesterday and came across these. I just saved myself $17!

Have I convinced any of you to make one?

Living Room Inspiration

I am currently in the process of adding some fun colors to our living room. We painted our living room this past winter, and had not done a thing to it since. I recently made the Burlap Heart Wall Decor and painted it navy blue, deciding it would look great with wall color. 

Then, I came across some great fabric last week at Hobby Lobby, got my 40% off coupons, and purchased several yards of fabric.

I first used the fabric to makeover a bench, and now I am finding other fun ways to incorporate the color scheme into our living room. Keep coming back to see the progress! 

Living Room: Bench Makeover

Adam's grandma has recently moved out of her home and throughout the moving process, Adam and I accumulated a lot of her "stuff". She had three benches in her basement that I immediately decided I needed. It turns out that Adam's grandpa built these benches. Pretty neat, huh? 

These benches were in major need of a makeover. After sanding, staining, and recovering one of them, it has found it's home under the large living room window. I just couldn't wait to show off the final project!

I love the fabric so much! In fact, it inspired the color scheme for the whole living room. 

Since this bench turned out so good, I am planning to redo another for our bedroom!

Tutorial to come soon!

On another note, I have a few sewing projects that I can't wait to dive into. I have sewn a total of once in my life, with my mom's help of course. I stole the sewing machine out of my parent's basement thinking it would be a piece of cake to take a go at it on my own. Boy, was I wrong! Last night, I tried to get some of the sewing done and it took my so long threading the bobbin, upper threading, and lower threading that I ran out of time to actually sew. The good news is that the sewing machine is all set up and ready to go for tomorrow when I decide to tackle my projects again.

Personalized Mailbox

I have been dreaming of a personalized mailbox for as long as we have owned our house. Thanks to our birthday money and a Lowe's gift card, I am so excited to say that we finally have one! I realize this is probably the most random thing to spend birthday money on, but I could.not.wait. to get rid of our old, rusting, paint-chipped mailbox and post. Now as I pull in to the driveway, I can't help but get a smile on my face as I see my brand new mailbox! It's the little things...

After designing the look with Cricut Craft Room, this project was SO simple. I cut out my design on vinyl with my Cricut and transferred it to the mailbox. 

Adam got to do the dirty work of putting it all together and getting the post in the ground.

SO excited with how it turned out, and now I'm ready to receive some fun mail (hint, hint)! 

I just wish I would have made this a year ago. It would have made a fun card box at the wedding.

Does anyone else care what their mailbox looks like? 

Am I, once again, proving myself to be crazy?

On another note, I am exploding with fun arts and crafts ideas! And I think I finally decided on a color scheme for my living room. I only have two weeks before school starts up again, which means I need to become a project busy bee. There should be some fun stuff posted soon-ish.

Five on Friday! #1

Today I am linking up with the girls for Five on Friday for the first time! This week, I am loving: 

ONE: Friday nights with nothing to do. Curling up with a good book and a glass (or three) of wine. This is the second Friday night in a row that hubby has had to work, so I'm making the most of it!

TWO: The Michigan weather lately! The days have been warm and sunny, while the nights are cool enough to light candles throughout the house. It makes me just a little bit excited for fall, although I am not quite ready to give up on summer.

THREE: My fresh flowers have been going strong for a whole week! I love walking through the kitchen and seeing them on the table. Makes me wish I had planted my own flower garden, but oh well.... there's always next year right?

FOUR: The Bachelorette season finale is on Monday on I am pretty excited to see who Des ends up with! I haven't been the most committed fan this season, but I'm still excited to see how everything goes down. I personally was a fan of Brooks and was sad to see him leave last week. I'm hoping for a reunion...?

FIVE: 5 on Friday! I feel like this is a really fun link up party! I plan to join in every week in hopes to make some new friends! So, let me know if you happen to stop by and I will be sure to do the same in return!

Happy Weekend!

On The Nightstand: Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio

In 2011, Sarah Jio burst onto the fiction scene with two sensational novels-- and The Bungalow. With Blackberry Winter--taking its title from a late-season, cold-weather phenomenon--Jio continues her rich exploration of the ways personal connections can transcend the boundaries of time. 

Seattle, 1933. Single mother Vera Ray kisses her three-year-old son, Daniel, goodnight and departs to work the night-shift at a local hotel. She emerges to discover that a May-Day snow has blanketed the city, and that her son has vanished. Outside, she finds his beloved teddy bear lying face-down on an icy street, the snow covering up any trace of his tracks, or the perpetrator's.
Seattle, 2010. Seattle Herald reporter Claire Aldridge, assigned to cover the May 1 "blackberry winter" storm and its twin, learns of the unsolved abduction and vows to unearth the truth. In the process, she finds that she and Vera may be linked in unexpected ways... ---GoodReads

This was a real page-turner. In fact, I read the last 200 or so pages in one day! I could not help myself, I ignored everything else going on in the world and just read, read, read. This was the perfect mix of love story and mystery which really made the story unique. There are so many unknowns at the beginning of the story that you can't help continue to discover all the truths. Another book that I would highly recommend!

Happy Reading!