New England Tour- 1st stop Boston

 Since our honeymoon, Andrew and I have been planning a trip touring New England. We both love the east coast- culture, food, seasons, history...what's not to love! So last month we had the HUGE blessing of being able to take this trip with the help of our family. We decided it was a good time as we have had lots to celebrate this year: 5 years of marriage, 5 years of seminary DONE and my 30th birthday this month. We had 8 days all to ourselves to travel and we used every minute to see all that we could see, eat and shop :). Our first stop was Boston and here are the pics and adventures we had there!

We got into town in the evening so our first priority was seeing the city and dinner.

We ate at Legal Seafood- so yummy and fresh! Also the best clam chowder we had the entire trip. 

They are so famous for their chowder that you can have it shipped to your house!

After dinner we walked around and found Georgetown Cupcakes whose owners have a show on TLC- we decided we had to go in and check it out only to find that night the store would be featured on TV! And to celebrate everyone who came in got a free cupcake- free dessert for us :) We got our free cupcakes and headed back to our room to watch the show. Super fun.

The next day we did a walking tour of the entire city despite the constant drizzle- I am now a believer that every American must do a walking tour of Boston's freedom trail to get a first hand experience of so much of our nation's history :)

Andrew was excited to find that a familiar preacher had a church in the heart of Boston

Boston Common- America's first public park

The Old State House- site of the Boston Massacre and the place where the Constitution was read for the first time to the people from the balcony

Then we stopped in Old South church where Whitefield preached and the meeting that sparked the Boston Tea Party was held here. Across the street was where Benjamin Franklin was born.

Faneuil Hall- Boston's meeting hall and market place with Boston's little cricket mascot on the top which I thought was so cute :)

The city's oldest cemetery where some founding father's are buried including Paul Revere

Revere's house

Then we took a long hike to the northern part of the city to see the USS Constitution and walked by the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill

We loved checking out the architecture along the way

That evening we went to Little Italy and waited to get in at The Daily Catch which only seats 20 at a time. Only 3 people run the show in this little place and the food was worth the wait! 

We sat with some locals who took our picture- all the tables are smooshed together so you get to know some new folks!

Andrew had the best scampi I have ever tasted

I was adventurous and had the fresh caught monkfish on top of the house-made black noodles colored from squid ink :) It was amazing

Across the street was Mike's Pastry where a line always forms as well for the best Cannoli

We decided to have our own Boston Tea Party

Some of my other fav pics from Boston

A memorial of Revere's ride thru town shouting " the British are coming"

Next up- Vermont!

While we were away

This month I have had the blessing and challenge of leaving my children (twice) with others to care for them while Andrew and I traveled and it gave me a new perspective in trusting the Lord.  It's funny what irrational fears came into my mind and I found it surprisingly hard to make those thoughts go away! It also gave me insight into my own soul and how I need to grow in Him. I often think that I can control things, but I can't, and that ultimately God is in charge and whatever he allows into my life will be for my good and His glory no matter what it is. 

While we were away only good things happened and my kids have made special memories and new friends...God is so good. All my silly fears were for nothing. But I was challenged this weekend to search my heart and question myself..." what if something happened?" Would I still trust the Lord and say He is good? I hope so! This is such a difficult time in our nation- financially, spiritually and politically and it can be a hard time to see what God is doing. But we must not fear or doubt, this is a time to trust and increase our faith. The world is watching our response as believers to the election, the hurricane and the stand we take on what God's Word says. 

We have been  studying the Kings and Chronicles in my women's Bible study and the message is simple- God desires our undivided hearts and complete faith and trust in Him. When faced with an intense battle, God told His people that He would go before them and the battle was already won. Instead of sending out the strongest men first, God wanted the worship leaders to lead the way, sounds crazy! But guess what? They obeyed and as they were singing God killed off every enemy that day before they even picked up a weapon to engage them. 

The song is simple and beautiful

2 Chronicles 20:21b "Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting"

I pray that as we face each day with every uncertainty there is that we would remember to thank the Lord that He goes before us and that His lovingkindness is everlasting! 

Catching up

We are home trying to catch up from our fabulous adventures we had 2 weeks ago, which I can't wait to share. But for now we are enjoying snuggling and playing with these cuties after being away from them for 8 days. We leave Friday for a church retreat & are really looking forward to time spent with our highschool staff. We feel so thankful during this season! Can you believe it's almost November?!

Cheap Home Updates

I LOVE being a stay at home mom and thank the Lord that I am able to be with my kids all day long, clean, attempt to organize and plan to have dinner on the table ( most nights, ha!) I know there are many women out there who have to work but would rather be home. It truly is a gift to be able to stay home and the most fulfilling job I have ever had. Sometimes people ask me if I get bored being home all day...ummm never! I fall into bed exhausted each night with a mile left on my to-do list, but I am so content. If you love being a wife and/or mom, you know what I am talking about. The work is never done and you are never "off the clock" if you are serving your family- whatever your family looks like.

 I also love looking for cheap ways to keep our house cozy and fun without spending any money, or very little. Since I don't bring in any money from the outside world :), I try to make the dollars stretch that my hard workin' man makes for us.

Recently I refinished some old frames that we had and an entry table ( that used to be Andrew's desk ) and am happy with the results despite my lack of experience. I'm not patient with projects, and am limited to nap time to get things finished, so my ways are definitely short cuts to these types of projects!

When we moved into our sweet rental home I was introduced to the beautiful and fun paint samples pictured above. You can get any good quality paint you want in a sample size from Home Depot (or your fav spot) for a few dollars and there is more than enough paint to complete a few large projects.

For these projects I used leftover paint we had from our move.

For the entry table I decided to make it two-toned- light gray on top and a vintage blue on the bottom. The original was a cherry finish that clashed with too many other different stained woods in the room.

To prep the table I did a very light sand on the top of the table, and that's it! I wanted the top to have a solid finish so I did two good coats of the gray. For the bottom/legs I just did one coat of the blue with a coarse brush allowing the brush strokes to show revealing the brown beneath a little to give it a less-than-perfect look. So easy.

Here we are drying

All done and back in the house in a couple hours!

I have had these big frames just sitting in the garage for years now and thought I should either get rid of them or give them a fresh look. I have decided lately not to get rid of any frames, because painting them is so easy to make them custom for any room.

For these I had a very pale gray/almost white sample that I love. It's a great color to brighten something up.

I also had two large prints- one from our engagement collecting dust and one family shot that needed homes, as well as an empty hallway. Now everyone is happy. I did these as the table was drying. I used the same "method" with the coarse brush and using only one coat to allow the brown beneath to show a little for a little shabby chic feel. 

For fall and winter, I have been wanting to warm up our dining space with some darker panels. I found a great deal on a fabric....shhhh ( shower curtain!) don't tell! I liked the print and the fabric is nice & heavy duty( not like a normal shower curtain) and would have cost me a bundle at the fabric store. So I cut the shower curtain in half, hemmed the unfinished side and hung it on my Ikea rod replacing the cream panels I had. Ikea has great prices on rods, panels and curtains if you are in the market! This took me less than 30 minutes from start to finish because I only had to hem one side of each panel vs. all the sides if I had made them from "scratch".

Bad night pic, but here it is

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

My friend Jenny let me borrow her collection of recipes and I found this little gem! I hope it's ok that I am sharing this here Jenny :)

These are so easy and yummy to have on hand for a quick sweet snack and you can add whatever you want. Perfect.

In my batches I substituted half of the peanut butter for some yummy chocolate almond butter from TJ's. It never hurts to add a little chocolate right?!

Peanut Butter Granola Bars


1/2 cup raw honey
2/3 cup all natural peanut butter ( or nut butter of your choice)
1 cup oats
2 cups rice cereal

any add ins: nuts, raisins, ground flax etc.

In a large pot melt the honey and peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Mix in the remaining ingredients and dump onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Coat hands with cooking spray and form into a rectangle. Place the cookie sheet in the fridge for 5 min to firm up the bar a bit. Cut the rectangle into individual bars and place back in fridge until hard. Store at room temperature in an air tight container.