"Just flies right on by..."

Summer is ZOOMING by a lot quicker than usual. Unfortunately, I believe the saying is true that time flies when you're having fun. We've been BUSY this summer! Between camping, summer basketball, church, family time and keeping up with a one year old, it seems like yesterday I was taking spring finals! We are well into the center of our summer and still have much to look forward to..just praying it all slows down a bit! This weekend we are going to NOLA with my fam to audition for Family Feud! So excited! Next weekend we'll be going to Florida with Matt's fam for our annual vaca. Another youth trip at the end of July, my bf's baby shower and my birthday is in August! Not to mention all of the time I get to spend with my best friend who just moved back home! Anyhoo, I can't sleep so I thought I'd blog!
God has been doing some big things in my life/heart lately and I'd like to share a little. First, he healed my aching back last week during the first night of youth camp. The warmth of His healing power spread down my back as I sat in worship service and the speaker called it out, along with someone else's ankle who was healed as well. And I think more then anything God's reason for doing that for me wasn't to take my back pain away but to remind me that He is still just as close to me as He ever was or ever will be. That no distance has come between us despite my dry seasons and the changes that have taken place. His comfort was so evident in that moment and I could tangibly feel Him holding me. He's just so faithful. He also gave me more understanding and patience regarding things that I've felt so lost with. He never fails me. Ever. And I have encounters with Him like these and others to look back on in times I need Him most to remind me of His goodness and grace in my life. He's also healing other areas as well and restoring things that were damaged. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you!

I hope you are encouraged by my little testimonies today!
And I hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as we have been enjoying ours!


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Random Thoughts

1. My TOM shoes fit me better when I had swollen preggo feet. #bummer
2. I'm not so sure anymore that having an incredibly massive wardrobe is worth the unorganized mess that overflows out of my shoebox sized closet. :(
3. My back is in major need of a massage. #stress
4. I wish this one decision in my life was easier to make.
5. Some people have really disappointed me.
6. The expectations I put on those people who have disappointed me were not unrealistic nor unreasonable... That's the worst part.
7. I love my family so much.
8. I wish it were easier for me to fall asleep at night.
9. I wish I could sleep better once I finally do fall asleep every night.
10. I sound like a pregnant woman.
11. Facebook annoys me 75% of the time.. Even after I greatly minimized my friends list several months ago... Who should I delete next? That's the question.
12. It blows my mind how easily I forget stuff. I used to could remember everything!
13. In about 5 years from now it will be interesting to see how things work out.. Just like it is now to see how things have worked out over the past five years.
14. I'm ready for Melissa to move back home already. #countingdownthedays
15. Loyal friends are hard to find. Hang onto them when you can! #fortunecookiemoment
16. I know what I'm worth.
17. So glad my sister is home! About freakin time!
18. Hudson is the best I could've ever asked for.
19. I should be asleep but i want to make it to 20.
20. I made it...
Thank you God for blessing me so much. No words could express your love and faithfulness. You are constant and never-changing, just what we need in a world that changes everyday! I love you. I miss you. I need you. I want more. Help me prioritize. Help me organize. Help me be the woman, wife, mother, daughter, leader, friend, student you have called me to be. I just want to please you!

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My Rose!

When I see a rose I think of my Nanny. She passed away of cancer on Valentine's Day 2009, two months after I got married. We didn't find out she had cancer until 2 weeks before the wedding. She loved roses. Roses and the beach... And most of all her grandchildren.
Spring was her favorite season. Everything that has anything to do with spring reminds me of her. She'd be SO proud of my rose bush. The blooms are BEAUTIFUL this year and if she were here she'd love them and I'd share them with her.
I may even take some to her grave sight. Man, I miss her. There are so many times as a mother/wife when I wish she were here to give me guidance. She was everything to me.
Before I start a ball fest I better wrap it up. I dedicate this post to my Nanny, who in herself was a rose! A beautiful rose just like the ones in my back yard! :)












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Cruisin' It

We are so excited about our cruise next weekend with my family! We are going to Cozumel and will be there for Matt's birthday! We've only been on one cruise and that was for our honeymoon! We had a blast! And now we are excited to experience it with my family! Our ship is called Carnival Elation. Here are some fun pics I found online!
(bare with me, I took these pics with my phone)












We can't wait!!! It's gonna be a BLAST!!!

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Weekend Fun

Headed to Little Rock for the weekend with some friends of ours for a wedding. Looking forward to it, just TONS to do before leaving!
Got a haircut and manicure and realized how nice it felt to be pampered! I should make it happen more often! Every mom deserves that kind of time to theirselves!
Well, off i go! Laundry, packing and lots of love from my baby boy before we leave him with the inlaws for the weekend!
Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!

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A Big Thank You

I'd like to thank everyone who came to the Patriot Arts and Crafts Festival today to show your support! It was a success and I had a lot of fun!

For any of you interested in custom orders:

I can do any size you like.
11x14 is $20
12x16 is $25
16x20 $35
These are just a few of the more popular sizes. We can discuss prices further with other sizes as needed.

I can customize your piece to match any decor and I can add lettering as well.

All of my custom work is made specifically to your liking and requests.

Here is an example. This piece was made to display a little girl's art work on her bedroom wall.



Call or email to discuss your customized piece today!

Here are some pics of my table today!

Final Preview

Here is the final preview for what you will find at my table this Saturday at the Patriot Arts and Crafts Show.

This is one of several journals to be sold on Saturday! Hope you enjoy!

Front Cover



Inside Front Cover & Bookmark



Inside Front Cover


Back Cover



Please come out to West Ridge Middle School this Saturday from 8-5 to see me and all of the rest spring inspired things I have made for you!

Another Sneak Peak

Busy, busy getting ready for the Patriot Art Show this weekend at West Ridge Middle School!
Here are a few things to be looking forward to at my table!










Hope to see you THIS Saturday between 8am-5pm at the Patriot Art Show at West Ridge Middle School!

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I've been up to something!

Getting ready for the Patriot Art Show next weekend at West Ridge Middle School! Here is a sneak peak!







You'll have to come see me to check out the rest of my goodies!

PATRIOT ART SHOW
WEST RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL
SATURDAY MARCH 26th
8am-5pm

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They're here!!!!

FINALLY!!! My new business cards have arrived in the mail today! I'm so excited to have them in my hands!


And this gets me even more excited about selling my creations at the Patriot Spring Festival next Saturday March 26th from 8-5 at West Ridge Middle School! I hope you can make it there! Be sure to stop by my table to pick up something 'spring inspired' to take home with you!

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Party Time

This week has been insanely busy! I have probably only sat on my couch three times all week for the sake of doing nothing. It's been nonstop!
Getting ready for Hudson's birthday party has helped me not be so sad about him turning one! But if I think about it too much I'll cry.. And by too much I mean longer then 15 seconds! I'll probably cry at the party when we sing to him. I'm such an emotional momma.
Today I saw 4 people I hardly EVER see! My sister and her fiance, and 2 of my very best friends! Days like this pretty much never happen. It was so lovely. And tomorrow will be lovely too! So glad they are all here!
Our house is the cutest in preparation for Hudson's party. There are monkeys and palm trees everywhere! I CANT WAIT to post pics! I've been planning on this for a couple of months now. It's finally here! So bitter sweet for mommy!
I put Hudson's birthday hat on him to try it out and it looks like he likes it enough to wear it! Woohoo! If I could only get him to wear an adorable little ball cap!
Anyway, here's a pre-party pic!



Enjoy your weekend! I know we will!

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My Favorite

I thought I'd share the most favorite drawing I've done so far in my drawing class. The lesson for this assignment was finding a vantage point. Where everything points to that one spot on your paper. It was a little difficult at first but once I found out where it was, it was easy sailing from there. I normally don't like to draw but this class is challenging me and bringing out a side in me that I didn't know existed! Hopefully, this drawing will make the art board like my other drawings! Enjoy!






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I'm Planning!

So excited to be planning a vacation for Matt and I to go on together in May. This will be our Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts to one another.
We are going to Houston, TX. The Dodgers will be playing the Astros! I love planning things! Especially vacations! And I've only been to Houston a few times so I'm excited to research all there is to do there. We also considered staying in Galveston, about 45 minutes away and just driving in for the game. Either way, I can't wait! It'll be great quality time for the two of us! Plus, it'll be another trip for me to scrapbook! Woohooo!


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Surprise!

I LOVE getting mail! Hudson and I like to check the mail together! Today we had one single envelope in our mailbox..(the mailbox that is all wobbly because my sister backed into it with her car right after we moved in! Ha!)
You know what else I love?? My friends! My friends who live far away. My friends who sent us mail this week. What a pleasant surprise! We miss them, too!







"The best kind of prize is a SURPRISE!"
Can anyone guess what movie this is from?

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On with Tomorrow, please!

Today was a weird day for me. A weird day leaning toward the negative side of life unfortunately.
I'm not going to go into much detail. I feel I just need to let a few things out of my system after such a day as this...
Let's see. How do I begin...
I hate the feeling of letting someone down who you know had higher expectations of you. There's this one person in this season of my life who I think alot of. I look up to this person and hope that they think highly of me as a person, an artist. Today I feel like, I know, that I didn't meet their expectations of me. I hate that feeling. I wish I could have a do-over. Unfortunately I cannot. I only have the opportunity to try to prove myself to them once again. And this is one of those instances where me trying to prove myself in deemed appropriate.
If that weren't enough, I experienced something today that I've never experienced before. I sat in a chair I've never sat in before and had a conversation I've never had before.. And quite frankly thought I'd never have. And I'll do it again next week too! Same time, same place, same person! It marks the beginning of something I hope will be beneficial from here on out!
It's just something I'm not used to.. Something.. Well, weird!
UUGGHHH! THEN, my car broke down today:( that's never fun. Something about the water pump... I'm really praying that it isn't expensive to be fixed!
The worst part of the day, believe it or not, wasn't my car breaking down. The worst part of my day was coming to a realization that I wish I could get away with avoiding. However, I cannot. It will only cause more issues. I have to be a big girl and deal with it. It's one of those things you ABSOLUTELY DREAD doing but know that in the end you'll be so happy you did because it will be completely worth it. I have some praying to do, some self analyzing to do, and some healing that needs to take place! It's another one of those spiritual growth instances that God likes to sneak up on you with! Ouch!

Well, to leave with a more positive note: I know that tomorrow is a new day and God's mercies are new every morning! Thank goodness! If it weren't for that promise, days like this would be alot harder to get through!


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New Business Blog

laceyherring.blogspot.com

Go check it out and follow!!!
Great way to keep up with my work, find out what events I'll be at and what I am currently working on!

Thanks!

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I'm NOT Pregnant

Every now and then I'll move into a position or my stomach will do something funny that makes me feel like I'm pregnant again.. Like there's a baby rolling around in there! Now, our (me and my hubby) five year plan does NOT include baby #2 for ATLEAST another year and a half. And i have 100% assurance we wont have another uh-oh (even tho we know Hudson was for sure a part of Gods perfect plan and timing) thanks to my awesome bc, Mirena. But lately my low-temp baby fever has turned into a little more. First and foremost, I'm sure the reason has a little something to do with the fact that two of my very dear friends just announced their new pregnancy a couple weeks ago as well as another friend of mine who announced it this week, another friend had her baby last week and then another told me they were trying again! Whoa! Am I forgetting anybody?? I also took a short look at some newborn pics the other day and it about killed me! And I think another HUGE factor playing a role here is that Hudson Wade will be 1 year old in about 2 weeks.... And that's definitely killing me more then the newborn pics I saw. In fact, it's slowing breaking my heart as the day draws closer. Moms, how do I deal with this heartache?! I've tried focussing on the party.. Monkey themed party! And that's helped some. But it still is just breaking my heart AND causing big time baby fever that I definitely do not need for another couples years! Maybe when the party is over and these new pregnancies aren't so new anymore it will go away a little. I certainly don't want to forget to enjoy Hudson at this age while wishing he were younger or wishing for another baby!!! He's mommy's sweet boy! And no matter how old he gets, or how many younger brothers and sisters he ends up with, he will always be MINE! My sweet Hudson Wade... And that's what matters most!



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Louisiana Scrapbookers Facebook Group

Today I created a Facebook group called Louisiana Scrapbookers for anyone in Northeast La or the surrounding areas who have a love for scrapbooking and/or own a Cricut! My goal is to find poeple who would be interested in organizing a Scrapbooking Retreat or a Cricut Swarm in our area! I have heard of poeple all of the nation who get together to have Cricut Swarms but I never can find any that are done in our area! The closest that I have found one has been in Dallas! Im sure there are small groups that meet together for scrapping but I want to have all these groups come together to form one big group and have a HUGE Scrapping Party or Cricut Swarm! BTW! If you have never heard of a Cricut Swarm it is where a group of poeple meet together and bring their Cricuts and SCRAP!! Some of them have guest designers and speakers who teach you about new things in the scrapbook world. Others just find a big room and go to town scrapbooking for hours! And others even have different activities like making something with your Cricut to "swap" with someone else at the swarm! They seem like so much fun and I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to have one in our area!!!!! So, with this Louisiana Scrapbookers group, hopefully we can all work together and make this happen SOON! Go check out my group and if you would be interested in joining please do so!

Scrapping Retreat

Well, I got a GYPSY for Christmas! And I have been having so much fun playing with it and designing new things for my creations! My sister got a Cricut and it is only one more reason for me to miss her being that she lives in NC and we cant "Cricut' together!

Hudson's first Christmas was, aside from BUSY, fabulous! HE LOVED his Mickey Mouse couch from 'Santa'! And we took Christmas pictures that turned out to be adorable! Soon enough I will post them all so you can see!

At the end of the month I am going to a Scrapbooking Retreat with two ladies that I go to church with who also have Cricuts! I am so excited because this will be my first scrapbook retreat! I plan on scrapping this past Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our Boston trip that we took back in Sept-Oct for Matt's heart surgery! I cant wait!!!!

So what do you think of my new layout? I wanted something artsy!

Happy Blogging Everyone! And Happy New Year!

Deeper then Usual!

So, I am being a bad girl and writing a new blog post BEFORE I get any of my studying/homework done.. it is finals week if that gives you an idea of just how bad I am being! I just think I need to get a few things off of my mind before I dive into what will be an entire afternoon, extending into the after hours, of schoolwork!

First of all, I am seriously missing my friends. Particularly two of them who live out of town, in different states (my sister is always at the top of the list!). When I say 'I am missing my friends', I am basically referring to the true friends that I have in my life that know and appreciate who I am more then most people I know..and unfortunately, they ALL live out of town, in different states. If you are reading this and get to see your bff on a weekly, even MONTHLY basis, I hope this gives you a deeper appreciation for that person in your life who you love and cherish and call your best friend! And it really stinks like skunk that I cant see them very often at all. But, I know God has a purpose for the distance.. such as making us grow closer and making me depend more on Him then on my friends. I just hate this process. I wish I could call them up and say I am coming over just for the heck of it. When things get heavy at home I wish they were here to lean on and confide in. But, once again, all of this goes back to trusting and leaning on God the way I want to with my friends. Even my sister lives far away.. further away then anyone! If only I had the money to see them more...thank goodness for holidays! Seriously. We got to catch up last week and I was able to spend quality time with most of the people that I miss alot. It was full of baby talk with one friend who is a new mommy as well.. and full of christmas cupcakes, shopping and a little more baby talk with a friend who is trying to conceive. One of them will make it back for christmas, THANK GOODNESS! On top of all that my sister and her fiance was here for about 3 1/2 days and we laughed and giggled like old times and I didn't realize how bad I needed to do that! Seeing my friends is like a fresh of breath air.. and then some!

Another thing on mind my lately (besides how much schoolwork I have ahead of me!) is my future career. My plan is to graduate with an Art Education degree and teach art somewhere. But, the more I think about it, the more I fall in love with the idea of going back to school after a few years of teaching to get my masters degree in Business. I would absolutely love to own my own business. I dream of owning a little boutique store full of artwork and crafts that I make! And I see myself driving to Dallas with a Tax ID and buying purses and jewelry to go along! Its really been something that has been on my mind and heart lately and I think I would absolutely love and adore owning a boutique store. I think its more practical for the area we live in then going into interior designing and decorating... which is some,thing else I know I would love to do. Of course, following my wonderful Jesus and the One who makes EVERYTHING possible in my life, things are always subject to change..as I have learned that from experience! But it is nice to dream and plan and hope and pray for something that I know would be so awesome because I would truly enjoy it!

Well, next time, I will post about the usual.. My crafting and ( FUN ) school projects and of course..HUDSON WADE & CHRISTMAS!!!!

Thanks for listening!

By the way, will you guys help me get more followers!? I think I desperately need them! Any ideas on what I could do myself to get more traffic here??? Let me know! I appreciate it!