Cozy Saturday morning

Happy Weekend everyone! Aren't weekends great?? Well for the most part. My hubby is working all day today which makes it a little less great, but thats ok!

I just felt like commenting on how nice it is to get things accomplished and relax a little on Saturdays. I had a small to-do list this morning and was able to get everything accomplished (which is always a great feeling). Then I thought I would sit down and do some emailing and blogging along with a cup of my new Cinnamon Apple Spice tea! Now let me first say that I am not a huge tea drinker...give me coffee over tea any day! However, last night I got some new tea and decided to try it out today. It was remarkable! Typically I have to put some type of sweetner in my tea, but not this one! It was so tastey and sweet all on its own! Just sipping my tea while catching up on emails and such really made this morning feel cozy!

Hope you are able to relax this weekend! Its getting so busy with Christmas just a week away, but hopefully you can take some time out of your busy-ness and just enjoy this season!

Now, I'm off to help Mom get things ready at her house! Family will be arriving in just 6 short days and there is still much cleaning, decorating, baking, and gift wrapping to be done!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Blessings and Peace to you during this Christmas season!

Flowers...again

Remember last week's post with the flower hair clips?

Well ever since I did those , flowers have been on my brain! I have done a tiny bit of knitting in the past and decided to try to knit a little flower and see how it went! I was quite pleased!

I've been REALLY wanting a cute new hat to wear in this crazy, snowy weather we've been having lately, so I thought I might put my flower creation on a hat and see how it looked. I found this hat at Hobby Lobby, bought a pin to sew to the flower (so it will stay on the hat), a flower shaped wooden button, and a rhinestone. The completed project is super cute (in my opinion)! I absolutely adore it!

I think I will wear it today :)

snow, snow, and more snow!

That's what we're getting today!

When they called for 3"-6" today, I didn't believe them...oh me of little faith!

I needed to go to the post office to mail some things today, and this is what I saw when I went to get in the car!

Oh yeah, and I had to go to the AT&T store because I dropped my phone in the toilet and its not working. So I decided to brave the snow! :)

Not sure what's going on with the city of Charleston, but who would have thought
living downtown would be as dangerous as living out in the middle of nowhere!
They haven't cleared our street (as you can see)
or any of the streets downtown for that matter! Just driving to the mall (3 blocks away) was treacherous! I basically slid there! Just crazy!


I'm not really a fan of being stuck in my little apartment all day, all alone while Mike is at work! But I guess I'm going to try to make the most of it!
I have gotten some cleaning done...which is why my phone is now ruined! Guess the house will be super sparkly clean by the time this day is over!

Happy Snow Day!
And be careful on those awful roads if you live in Charleston!

Finals and free cupcakes!

Its finals week...so that means lots of studying and writing here in the Ervin Household...especially today! Tomorrow is my last day of finals and I have 2 papers to hand in and 2 exams to take!

Today I took a final and then Mike and I spent some time together! That sweet man of mine took me to Taylor Books and got me coffee so I could work on my two papers without the distractions of laundry, dishes piling up in the sink, the list goes on and on!

While we were there, we were pleasantly surprised by a FREE cupcake! This wasn't just any cupcake either...it was a vanilla cream cupcake and it was fabulous! The lady who makes them owns a business called For Goodness Cakes (cute name huh?). Taylors sells her cupcakes and she was there to do an interview with the local newspaper! After the photographer got a photo of her and all her yummy creations she gave one to each person in the shop!

It went great with my coffee!

Oh! Another interesting thing is that the lady who owns the business is a Christian! The cupcake was delicious, but I also know that it was a providential blessing from my Jesus! He used that sweet lady to brighten up my evening as I sat there staring at the computer screen for hours!

Thank you, Lord, for little surprises that help make writing papers more enjoyable :)

Flower Hair Clips

I got this idea from a hair clip I saw in a friend's daughter's hair the other night! I thought it was so cute that I would try it out for myself.

They are made of felt and attached to a small metal hair clip.


I really wanted some rhine stones for the center of the flower, but didn't have any on hand, so I just used a bead in the middle. The rhine stone would make it more sparkley and fun, but this will do for now!

Thinking about putting the larger purple flower onto a head band...but haven't had the opportunity yet! I'll post pics once I do!

And, as with all the little crafties you see on here, these cute little things are in my shop!

Good-byes

Last night we said "good-bye" to some very special friends who just happen to be members off our family! We have spent roughly the last year with them both in Uganda and here in the States, so saying good-bye seems so strange!

The Mc's are heading back to Uganda at the end of this month and last night was our last chance to see them. It was strange and hard to say good-bye, but we are hoping to make a trip to Uganda in August.

We are praying for you McFarland family and we love you! Can't wait to see you again in August!

Love,

Mike and Rachel

Sugared Nuts and Biscotti

Today officially marks the beginning of Christmas baking in my little home!

We are having our traditional Call Family Cookie party in about a week, but there were some things I need/wanted to try out today!

The first thing...

Cinnamon-Sugared Mixed Nuts

I've never made this recipe before, but I had been wanting to! And boy are they tastey...not to mention EASY! You can find the recipe here.

And they look so cute all wrapped up for giving! :)

On to Cappucino Biscotti-another new (and easy) recipe!

This is the first time I've made biscotti, so I'm hoping it tastes as good as it looks!

This is obviously the pre-chocolate stage :)

Dawn Treader

It's finally here!

Mike and I are super excited that today is finally Friday December 10, 2010! We've only been talking about this day for months!

C.S. Lewis' Chronicle of Naria: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes out in theaters today!

I have never actually read the books (I know...shame on me!), but

this one happens to be Michael's favorite of all the Narnia books (so I think he may

be more pumped than I am for tonight)!

As we anticipated the premier of the movie, we started reading the book together, but didn't make it very far! I think I am going to spend a little while reading it today so I can

have some type of clue to what's going on in the movie! Its a nice day for reading by the fire...

Zoe thinks it a nice day for napping by the fire!

Isn't she precious? We just love her! ;)

The anticipation is building and our long wait will be over in a few short hours!

Letters of Love Store

I wanted to inform all of you blog readers out there that I just set up a little store where you can purchase the crafty items I have been posting as of late! Since I'm not working these days, I figured I could try to help with the income by just putting these things out there for anyone who may be interested! :)

It is still kind of in the works, but feel free to check it out!

My Little Store

Reusable Snack Bags

I have been wanting to make these little guys for a long time now! I think I even posted that I was going to make them back in October or November and never got around to it...until today!

I don't know if you are like me or not, but I use ziploc snack bags all the time! Mike and I both usually pack our lunches so they get used there. Whenever we go somewhere and Zoe (our dog) tags along, I put some treats or her food for the day in a plastic ziploc bag. The uses for those things are endless and I tend to use them a whole lot! That sure isn't very GREEN of me! Or economical since once they are used I have to throw them away and eventually the box is empty and I have to go buy more!

So, when I saw these reusable snack bags I decided to give them a try! They were pretty easy to make, but don't look too closely...these were my first attempt so they aren't perfect! :) For someone who is a beginner they didn't take me that long to make either! I am excited to try them out...although I don't know if Mike will carry these particular ones in his lunch since they are pretty girly looking ;)

Also, these little bags are 100% machine washable and you aren't required to use them for food! As I was looking at them I came up with about 30 different things I could use them for including travel makeup bags, storing jewlery, etc! Use your imagination!

Christmas Cookies

Every year when I was growing up my mom would host a Christmas Cookie Party! Sometimes it would include aunts and cousins, sometimes friends, and sometimes just Mom, Bekah, and me! Talk about a fun time! We have so many fun and crazy memories from those cookie parties! I think maybe that is why I simply love baking around the holidays!

Some of our staples were sugar cookie cut outs with homemade icing (a favorite of mine I must admit...so much fun to decorate!), peanut butter kiss cookies (Mom's all-time fav!), plain peanut butter cookies (for Dad who doesn't like chocolate...crazy I know, but he doesn't), fudge, Chex Mix, and sometimes hard candy. Most of the things we make have recipes that have been in the family since before I was born! We have occasionally added some other goodies like chocolate covered pretzels and puppy chow, but we seem to always stick with the basics!

This isn't a picture of our cookies, I just found this one online because we haven't had our baking day yet! :)

As Mike and I begin new traditions for our growing family, I want to keep the Christmas baking alive with the traditional things we make, but also add some new things in there too!

I would love to hear what some of YOUR family's Christmas baking traditions and recipes are!

'Tis the Season!

We FINALLY got our Christmas tree up last night!

I am not typically the type of person who get super excited about Christmas before Thanksgiving even rolls around, but this year I have been that person! I think it is because last year our Christmas was really overshadowed by leaving for Uganda (we left Dec. 28) and it didn't really feel like Christmas for us!

Anyway...we got the tree up! And the best part was that while we were putting it up it began snowing! Snow in our city at this time is not typical, but its been flurrying for days which excites me to no end!

I am definitely in the Christmas Spirit now! Can't wait to do some baking in the next few weeks!

Our completely decorated tree! I was honestly worried that we didn't have enough ornaments, but we had more than I thought for only having had 2 Christmases together!

Sorry the picture is a bit dark, but I feel like it helps capture the coziness of our little apartment! I love it!

other crafties

I cannot take full credit for this idea...I must give some credit to my mom who saw it elsewhere. I simply took the idea and did something with it!

It only took me a few minutes to put these together, and they still need some tweaking because the magnets I used aren't really strong enough to hold anything, but they look awfully cute decorating my refridgerator!

--Just a side note--

any of the handmade crafts on my blog are available for you to purchase, so feel free to send me an email if anything strikes your fancy :)

Final Product

I wanted to share my final product from the "Letters of Love" post I made a few weeks ago. I was finally able to print out my photos and hang them in Baby's room!

I am quite satisfied with how it turned out! I think it will go great with the rest of the decor in the room (once we get it all put together).

refreshment from the body

The past few days have been stressful and hectic for our little family. While Michael seemed to be the one really dealing with all the pressure, I was there with him helping him deal with all that was coming at him.

Needless to say, we have both been completely drained! Mentally, physically, emotionally, etc! There were several times (daily almost) that one or both of us cried because of the amount of energy it was taking to deal with everything going on in life (family, work, school, etc) at this particular moment! This week has not been easy!

Last night, however, God truly provided refreshment for us through His church!

Our church only has Wednesday night meetings on the 1st Wednesday of the month (which happened to be yesterday). We went around 5:30 for dinner and stayed through the 7:00 Ministry Update until around 9:45.

As we were walking to our car Mike asked, "So how do you feel?" My answer was that I felt totally and completely refreshed, like I had just been rained on. It was an amazing sense that I cannot really ever remember having before. God's people were so uplifting, even though they really had no idea what we were facing and how much we needed encouragement. God knew and He provided that through the body!

Praise Him!

December 1

Happy December 1st everyone! The transition to the last month of 2010 was marked by the first snow of this season!

I don't know about you, but I just love to watch the snow fall...it makes everything feel so cozy (as long as you are inside that is)!

Hope you all enjoy this day that the Lord has made!