This week has been a long one. Not many exciting things happened. I've been fighting allergies and that whiplash of warm and cold weather always kicks my butt so that pretty much sums up how I've felt the past few days. However, it is Friday and that is something worth celebrating. I'm ready for this weekend and spending time with some people that I love. Here are a few little things that have made me smile lately.... 



the excitement I felt when I explained an important scene from Game of Thrones to Peter because he is a smart dude… then realizing that he just fell asleep and that’s why he asked what was going on. rats!  //  having a sweet friend tell me how much she loves this little space of mine. I didn’t even realize she read my blog so I felt extremely proud and joyful when she gave me that sweet comment. Thank you for reading, friend.  //  that little twinge of spastic happiness I feel when I walk around the house sometimes… its odd the moments that make me think, “man… I’m a wife in this home and I freakin love it!” which always makes me do a little skippyhoppy thing.  //  we finally decided on the picture for our Christmas/Wedding Thank You cards (my awesome idea by the way) and I can hardly wait to send them out!!!! After writing around 140 thank you notes of course. Fun stuff.  // walking back to work after meeting my mom for a lunch date and noticing all of the beautiful leaves up above.

and another birthday with some surprises!

Once again, we enjoyed another Birthday celebration at the Eliya home but this time it was for my cousin Meghan and we were able to pull off a couple surprises. Surprises are one of my most favorite things {surprising people and being surprised} so I had a complete blast! This is how everything went down... we had set everything up for me and Peter to cook dinner for Meghan, her mom & my mom but we also invited Katie and Jocie over to surprise the Birthday gal. Katie came before dinner and Jocie came during dinner, it was like BAM & wait for it, BAM! Double surprise making the night full of excitement. Yes, I may be exagerating a little bit but seeing Meghan’s face light up with the two surprise guests made my heart so happy. I’m so thankful for this new friendship that I have found this year and I’m also very thankful that she has connected with my sweet friends too. It is a true blessing to see friendships form between people you love. It makes me smile.

^^^ when you don't have birthday candles you substitute with a yummy smelling candle. 

^^^ so glad this handsome guy was around for some girl time!

Meghan, I am so glad that we were able to celebrate your Birthday with you 

& I can’t wait to see what this new year has in store. xoxo

ps. Mom, I know you were here but I sadly have no proof of it. please forgive me. :-)

a not so surprise Birthday Dinner....

Like I mentioned last week we welcomed some family and friends into our home for a little birthday fun and on Monday we celebrated my grandmother’s birthday. Even if we couldn't pull off the surprise we were hoping for we still had a a great time while we ate way too many tacos. I realized that the obsession with Mexican food is definitely hereditary because any kind of chip, salsa, taco, nacho etc is our weakness.  And apparently asking too many questions is my grandmothers weakness… that woman can’t stand surprises.

It was a fun night with family and I’m so happy we could have everyone over

.....especially those sweet kiddos!! I can't get enough of those smiles! 

that time we had a Halloween party.

Our first party was a great one, even if it took me waaaaay too long to blog about it. Halloween was a perfect way to invite a lot of friends over to enjoy some food, left over drinks from our wedding and our unfurnished formal living room turned dance floor. I had a lot of fun decorating the house for the first time and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I have ever decorated for Halloween. I really loved throwing in some scary details in our every day style and putting some spider webs on everything. 

^^^ my big bad wolf!

^^^ the cutest Mary Poppins and chimney sweap I've ever seen.

^^^ Mom was the evil queen. She did an awesome job on her makeup!!

^^^ the dj and his sidekick.

It was a fun night... don't let the delay in blog post fool you!

thanks to our friends who came... we love you! 

welcome.

Twice this week we have had family over for dinner. The first was for my grandmother’s birthday and the second was for my cousin’s birthday so yes, a lot of Birthday fun was had in the Eliya house. With that being said it has been a busy week. Cleaning, preparing, cooking, entertaining and loving every second of it.

I honestly can’t think of a better way to use our home. I absolutely love it when it is filled with family and friends and memories are made. That is what a home is for. To be loved in and crammed so full of fun that you end up saying three goodbyes because your guests start to leave several times before they actually make their way out the front door. And then I’m left with that moment that I love most of all. That moment when I am closing the front door with a smile on my face because the walls that surround me day and night are filled with a little bit more love than before we opened them. That welcome mat is more than true. We really do enjoy welcoming our loved ones into our home. 

Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes



Master Bedroom Re-Do // Part Two

Like I said yesterday, we didn't have much to do to the actual room but there was plenty of work for the furniture. We also were super blessed with all the furniture being given to us which made us so happy. The only money spent in our Master was on the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and the new lamps/vanity mirror. When we first saw the house I fell in love with the beautiful vanity in one of the girls bedrooms so when we put an offer on the house we asked for that also. Once again, we were blessed when they said yes! 

This was the before furniture except for the vanity was painted red.... 

and after a lot of painting, waxing and sweating I am happy to share the below photos.

^^^ the paint color was ASCP Paris Grey and the ASCP clear wax.

^^^ new necklace from my sweet mom. It says Mrs. cause I'm a Mrs. and all...

^^^ my necklace from the wedding day and some special jewelry that Peter has given me.

I really love it and I'm so happy with the outcome. Definitely have some more ideas in my head and once those are completed I will share more!! 

Master Bedroom Re-Do // Part One

We got super lucky with all of the rooms upstairs in our home since we didn't have any serious painting to do. Just the master bathroom and all the trim/doors which is a lot better than the work on the main floor. For the master bedroom I was so excited about the creamy blue color on the walls. It was honestly the perfect color for all the bedding we registered for and the furniture that was graciously given to us by family members. Here are some ideas that I had for our future master bedroom...

all photos were pulled from Pinterst

After we moved the furniture around and figured out the perfect set up I was so excited to start working in the room. It feels like so long ago now since we have been living in the house for almost two months. I'm so excited to share all of the DIY fun that I have done in this space so far.  

Glory

I was talking to a friend recently about the blog world. Mainly about sharing Christ within your writing and how you can sometimes compare yourself to others that share the same heart for Jesus and the Kingdom.

One of the things that I find really hard is to not judge myself. To not measure myself to others and the way they write about our Maker and their relationship with Him. I’ve had those moments where I think to myself, “I haven’t talked about Jesus enough this week… I need to write something about Him.” But in reality I don’t need to justify my heart in this space. I know my heart, and I know that He knows my heart.

I do talk to the Lord every day. Not for as long as I should or as often as I should but there are moments in my days when I have a quiet moment with Him.

In my car while I am driving. Sitting at my desk at work. While I’m cooking or cleaning at home. Laying in bed before I fall asleep. I talk to Him so why do I feel the need to talk ABOUT Him so openly?

At church a couple weeks ago the pastor said something like this:

"Our job isn't to work toward the Kingdom, we are called to work FOR the Kingdom."

It hit me hard because that is so true. We are working for His Kingdom because we are already a PART of the Kingdom. Right now, in this moment everything I do should be for His glory. Not my own. Not for the views on this blog. And not for my comparison to other bloggers that I admire. For HIM.

This quote by Mr. Chan dug in pretty deep also:

"To be brutally honest, it doesn't really matter what place you find yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory whether eating a sandwich on a lunch break, drinking coffee at 12:04am so you can stay awake to study, or watching your four month old take a nap." // Francis Chan

yes. that... that is what it is all about. His glory, 24/7. In my heart, in my head, at home, at work, in my car, on this blog. To glorify Him.

Some birthday love for my friend Katie!

Today is a great day!! Today is Katie’s Birthday! Since I've made a tradition of sharing 11 Things I love about my friends on their special day I thought I would end the year with Katie. My last “Sister from another mister” to turn a year older in 2013, hooray!

1. her laugh. I love her laugh a lot.

2. she is most definitely not a stupid sheep.

3. i look up to her because she is a really GOOD person and it can be hard to find good people in this world.

4. our many voxer conversations full of stupid voices and completely crazy stories.

5. how she has forgiven me for not really liking her at first. ;-) 

6. her mad dancing skills, especially to N’sync’s Bye Bye Bye.

7. the way we always email each other with prayer requests. There’s something super comforting to know that your friends have your back and can pray with you about something on your heart.

8. our common love for One Tree Hill and all the fun we had in Wilmington on our girls weekend trip.

9. how I have grown to love her family and husband a whole lot. They are pretty awesome and I’m thankful to be a part of their life!

10. our little spend the night party on my bachelorette weekend… no air mattresses for Katie!!!

11. that she will always be older than me... hehe!

I can’t help but think about the first time we went somewhere by ourselves for lunch and a movie on a Saturday afternoon. It was a complete accident since the rest of the group had to cancel at the last minute but we still showed up. It’s funny to think back on that lunch now and realize how awkward we were because we had never been anywhere like that before, just the two of us… sitting in Atlanta Bread Company eating lunch. That moment will always be special to me because I know it changed our friendship forever. Once the uncomfortable “ummm, what do I say” stuff wore off I realized how awesome Katie is and how much I wanted her to be my friend and not just the girl I would hang out with if we were in a group of friends. Now several years later she is one of my best friends and I can’t imagine her not being a big part of my life. You are wonderful Katie and I’m so thankful for that slightly awkward lunch so long ago. I love you, friend!

Home full of Joy!

I’m pretty excited about the month of November for several reasons {beautiful colorful leaves, first thanksgiving as a wife, scarves, sweaters & boots, oh my!) but one of the most exciting parts about this new month is the photo challenge on Instagram that I’m taking part in. It’s a little different than the usual random photo a day kind of thing since the photos you share are intended to point toward the JOY in your home. What better way to enjoy my first November in our new home together, right? Yes… that’s what I thought too.

This is the list of daily photos and all the details on the fun challenge.

Since day 1 is your favorite room in your house this was a no brainer but I have shared so much about our Dining Room before I didn’t want to do the normal kind of photos. This photo means so much to me and definitely makes this room even more special now. The morning of the BEST DAY EVER {aka, our wedding day} was spent in this space. Me and some of my favorite ladies laughed, talked, prayed, ate a delicious brunch, sipped on tasty mimosas all while I got to relax and have my hair done in this pretty blue room. It will forever make this room so special to me.

So, now you need to join in the fun and accept this joyful challenge for November.

Happy Friday Friends!!! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!