Thank you to everyone that participated in the link-up! We had an awesome turn-out. Now gear up for this coming up Monday where we share Memorial Day & BBQ project! See you then!

I have crossed some things off the list since I last updated about wedding stuff. I got in contact with a DJ that we’ve always used for family parties back in the beginning of April. Because of everything going on though, I had to ask for a bit of an extension. My future mother-in-law and I sent in the proper payment and paperwork last week, and then I heard yesterday that we were officially booked for the wedding!

And almost a month ago, I booked three photographers. Yes, three. I first booked my absolute favorite photographers, Inspired & Enchanted Photography. I get them for five hours, two photographers, and a CD with all of my pictures and the rights to them along with an engagement session (which is being scheduled for July).

I then booked my third photographer, my cousin Briana. She wants to start her own photography business called Capture Everything. (She’s a senior in high school) So I’m giving her the chance to do some work for her portfolio. She will take pictures before the photographer gets there, and take over again once the photographers leave, since I only have them for 5 hours.

And of course, here is the wedding to-do list, which keeps shrinking and growing, and shrinking and growing…

The Wedding To Do List

While we are in-between realtors, I thought I’d let you guys in on our house wants and where we are looking. We still want to stay in Central Pennsylvania. (Sorry to everyone who wanted me to move to their state and/or country. Ashley, Ashley & Ashley… I will have to visit you guys instead one day!)

And here is the list we’ve been giving out to our realtors along with our pre-approval documentation, our contact information, and how/when it’s best to reach us.

What we are looking for…

• Within our price range
• Single Family: 1200+ sq. ft.
• Beds: 3 +
• Bath: 1.5 +
• Lot size: 10,000 + sq. ft. (looking for as much yard as possible)
• Heating: Prefer heat pump, central air, something efficient (NO oil / coal)
• Location: Within 15 miles of Travis’ work
• We prefer to not have anything in a development or at least not have a visible home in our backyard.
• We prefer rural to suburban areas.
• Pluses: garage / carport, large yard, finished basement

Now I have two questions for you!
1. How long did it take you to find your house?
2. What real estate agent problems did you have, if any?

During the past week and weekend, I couldn’t find anything that was worth buying. I even went to my favorite antique market, but it got rained out. I remember though an owl holder that I received from my future mother-in-law, that she picked up at a thrift shop for me. Travis is kind of upset that I decided to paint it, since he liked the wooden color, but this is something that I’ll use in my one day office/craft space, and I want color in that area.

I started off with a little primer on my little owl holder, and then I hit it with a royal blue spray paint that we already had on hand. The color reminded me of Little Miss Momma‘s house, which I adore. She does a lot of neutral walls, and furniture and then adds pops of yellows, blues, pinks and pales into her rooms, which is right up my alley.

Once the owl was dry I brought it in and set it on the shelf. It’s currently holding our envelopes and stamps, and paired with more blues and some green.

What did you find? Show it off below by linking up your find, and feel free to use the button below in your post to link back to DIY May-nia! And don’t forget to check out the other host’s projects: The HumberHome Project, Wit Wisdom & Food and Corner of Main.

Wit Wisdom & Food | The HumberHome Project | Corner of Main | Mailbox Journey

The Rules:
- No linking to shops, stores, giveaways or other link parties
- Must link directly to the specific post
- Link back to your link-up hosts
- Most importantly, have fun!

At the time, Ashley, Travis & I were the only ones who knew what was happening. During the beginning stages of this process, I was completely swamped and dealing with the loss of my grandmother, but Travis took the reigns in the pre-approval mortgage process and got the ball rolling. We gathered up all of our documents, figured out the amount we wanted to spend, and where we wanted to buy. On Wednesday, we had an appointment with our loan officer to see if we could get pre-approved.

Pre-approved: An evaluation of a potential borrower by a lender that determines whether the borrower qualifies for a loan from the lender, or the maximum amount that the lender would be willing to lend. The pre-approval process involves a thorough look into the income and expenses of the borrower, including a look at the borrower’s credit report and score.

We got fancy badges and all, and met with our loan officer. I was completely nervous the entire time, but the meeting went very smoothly. We had all the paperwork we needed, answered all of her questions, and she told us she see’s no problem in us obtaining a mortgage and that we could actually ask for even more, but we didn’t. We feel 100% comfortable for the amount we asked for. She said she would send our application to the underwriters, and we should receive an answer by Friday morning.

Yesterday we received this… our Pre-Approval letter!

Time to OFFICIALLY start house-hunting! Wish us luck!

I would definitely hang that beauty in my home.

I also want to give a big shout-out to everyone that participated during the Mother’s Day link-up! You guys are awesome. & just a reminder that on Monday we will be linking up our garage and/or thrift store finds.

See you then!

I used an old Texas Pete hot sauce bottle that I had laying around for this project. (It’s totally normal to save random glass bottles in my world. Heck, Travis even knows better. He hovered this bottle of the trash can and asked if I wanted it. I said, “sure”, so he washed it out for me. :) He’s a keeper.)

My original plan was to dye the jar, like a blue mason jar is, that’s why I used the following products… PermEnamel which is meant for glass.

I went about dying the jar the wrong way. So instead, I just poured the Mediterranean Blue paint into the glass. By this time it was ten at night, so I covered as much of the bottle as I could by shaking it around to get the paint moving. I then poured some more paint in and let it even itself out and dry over night.

By morning, I had a nice surprise. The paint was perfectly even.

So before even getting ready for work, I stuck some pink flowers into the vase (I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Travis’ work, because of my Grandmother’s passing.) and had a quick little photo shoot.

I love this one more, than the one I tried last time. The bottle just has a great shape to it.

Check out the hosts for the Pinterest Challenge: Young House Love, Bower Power, Sparkle Meets Pop & Red Bird Blue.

Well, I contacted them back on March 29th and after many conversations, it was determined that I had to meet with the Park & Recreation board. Basically I had to get approval from them, and then they would pass it on to the Supervising board and they had the final say. So, on April 16th I agreed to come to the next board meeting to present my plans, which was being held on May 6th. Sometime after agreeing to come to the board meeting, we ended up finding two more parks, which both had two options for a ceremony space. Because of all of the options, I got a little frustrated. I might have even cried a little because of that frustration. There was no clear winner, they were all tied with each other, and they each had their own set of headaches that came along with them. I decided to give myself some time, and re-visit the parks again before the township meeting took place.

Little did I know that on April 22nd when my Grandma went to the emergency room that morning, that it was not going to be “just another emergency room visit“. Instead, we were told that the cancer spread everywhere and there was nothing they could do, but keep her comfortable. She was given weeks to months to live, but the doctor guesstimated that it would go quickly, and be more like two weeks. She made it six days. Since that emergency room visit, I have not had my head on straight. I did not visit those parks again. I did not even think about those parks. Three days after her funeral, and I was still not prepared, or even excited about going to this township meeting, like I was in the very beginning. I didn’t care if they said yes, or no. I didn’t care if I made a complete full of myself in-front of the board. I was numb.

But I went to the meeting last night, with a handout for the meeting that I made a few weeks ago, which outlined our requests:

• Use of stage for a wedding ceremony on May 31, 2014
• Rental of all pavilions within the park so it provides us with less of a crowd and ample
  parking for our guests.
• Permission to have two campers in the parking lot for the wedding party to get ready in.
  They will stay hooked up to the trucks all day, for easy pull-out after the wedding.
• Permission to use one golf cart in the park, which has insurance, for use in escorting
  elderly guests to the stage area.
• Would like to volunteer the week before the wedding. We would like to stain the stage
  and benches, mulch the flower beds, and plant flowers below the stage.
• The day of ceremony we will have chairs delivered and set-up at the stage area,
  and we will also have ceremony music played by a classical/acoustic guitar.

And you know what… the meeting went well. I didn’t burst out crying, I didn’t throw up. I knew exactly what to say and I was not nervous. I forced myself back into reality, and now I feel like I have my head on straight again. I miss my grandmother terribly, but I can’t let that affect me daily. She wouldn’t want me to sit around, being depressed and not accomplishing any of my goals or dreams. She’d want me to get out there and make things happen.

The board said it could be a few months before I hear a decision, but I’m hoping it happens soon, because I think this park is my favorite. I’m not sure how long I can wait for a decision, since the other two parks have processes of approval and deposits that need submitted, but I will keep you all updated on what happens. :)

As most of you know, I’ve been dealing with a lot lately. But that won’t stop me from DIY May-nia. Since I have barely been home, I decided to do something that ANYONE could do with limited funds and time. I took some painted flower pots that I already have from a previous project.

I did a quick coat of white over them, to act as a primer, and then I sanded them down to get rid of any bumps. I chose a purple and a blue for the pots and I planted succulents in them (rocks at the bottom, soil on top).

Before I planted my succulents, I added a little personal touch. We are going to be using the term, “May Love Grow” for our wedding decorations so I thought I’d add that little saying onto the flower pots.

So there you have it: something easy, inexpensive, and quick. You could even get your children involved. Now I just have to actually get these to my mother’s.

Wit Wisdom & Food | The HumberHome Project | Corner of Main | Mailbox Journey

Link up your Mother’s Day crafts below! & don’t forget, next Monday, the 13th, we are linking up our Garage and/or Thrift Store Finds! Are you in?

The Rules:
- No linking to shops, stores, giveaways or other link parties
- Must link directly to the specific post
- Link back to your link-up hosts
- Most importantly, have fun!