Aviation egg hunt & Happy Easter!

It's not everyday you get to hunt for eggs among historic aircraft! Such a fun hunt. Happy Easter friends, hope has risen today.

Three things I wish someone told me

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These three thoughts have been bouncing around in my head for a long time. Simply they are my life experiences I've encountered along the way; lessons full of hardship, wisdom, and hope. So if you've yet to tread the ground of these life-altering nuggets then this post is truly for you. Your welcome.

The first thing I wish someone warned me about was how hard marriage is, was and will most likely continue. Marriage is not for the faint hearted or the lazy I might add. Oh how hollywood has misled us but of course they can't possibly capture the daily ins and outs of marriage in a 2 hour film. It's really not like you meet, insert romantic montage, get married, the end. That's such a centimeter of the whole picture. Its more like you meet, fall in love, get married, then get surprised at how different you are from each other. However herein lies the hidden beauty. All that head-butting sharpens each other, at least it can if your willing to let it. The secret to marriage is selflessness, surrender, and forgiveness. I do none of those perfect but in 10 years have absolutely improved. The feelings of love will wax and wane, but love is a verb; a choice. Choose it everyday.

{"He must increase, but I must decrease" John 3:30}

Second on my little list is the vast depth and width of difficulties parenting can present. There are a couple doozies in this category for me. No one informed me that babies actually don't sleep. (our sleep story here)That whole adage, "sleeping like a baby" needs to be removed from the American culture. It never occurred to me I would have to teach my babies to sleep so they wouldn't wake every 45 minutes to eat, thank you first child. The other piece to the child puzzle has been navigating discipline. I'm not good at it. In fact, I feel good at most things I do except for parenting! Once again this is the perfect set up for complete and utter dependence on God. If I didn't feel so inept at parenting I would be on my merry way and nary a prayer would be uttered. So everyday I"m all, "Help me Jesus" in varying tones of desperation and pray they thrive.
{"Don't you see children are God's best gift, the fruit of the womb His generous legacy." Ps 127:3}

Last but not least is loss. This is where the frog enters my throat. Losing my Dad six years ago was a blow like no other. Grief is something I've come to know well. As in I wore it. I didn't fight it because I desired healing in my inner most parts and the only way is through those trenches. As Americans we run from pain because well, its painful. But even though my heart isn't exactly the same it has healed and in a healthy way. Shortly after I lost him many of my dearest friends fell into the same loss and I was able to minister to them. But my advice is grieve, let the tears roll and take as long as you need. Grief is a season and it will come to an end and when it does hope will return and healing can begin. I promise.
{"The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Ps 34:18}

Ok, I feel much better. I hope and pray this is helpful to someone on their journey!

I change my mind, I'll take a lounge!

The patio idea I originally posted over here is great in terms of a typical outside dining space. But we kinda live outside and I'm getting old, which means I need a comfortable seat! I think this outdoor couch via ikea is just the ticket; so I'm trading the dining table for a couch! Will post live pictures soon!

It doesn't get more "Spring" than this! {Our spring pictures!}

This was like walking onto the poppy field scene in the "Wizard of Oz" so so spectacular! These are the flower fields in Carlsbad, California and for a color lover like me, a complete dream come true!

Boaz's "Buzz lightyear" room

To say my two year old loves toy story would be a gross understatement at this time! I try and veer from overly themed rooms just because they grow out of the phase so quickly, but when I saw this rocket canopy on land of nod, I had to come up with a whole room centered around that piece!

canopy, rug, hexagon bookshelves, hanging rockets-land of nod, vintage space posters

Friday Favorites

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This bike kinda sums me up right now! Feeling worn (a bit old!), there's a bell indicating there's still some toot in my horn, and the flowers.....the flowers offer hope of new life. 

In other news, this past week we had tinker bell and the pirate fairy movie on repeat. They are cleverly lining up the tinker bell stories to the Peter Pan world, which I find fascinating! Anyway, its a great story with a great lesson on mercy. Check it out!

Along with everyone else in the world I am beyond obsessed with frozen- it caught my heart at a very fragile time and hit me in the best way. Check out kristen bell singing all three anna voices, she's such a talent. My other favorites from the week:

The ultimate grilled cheese.

This style quiz was fun!

I need to start drinking my coffee with two hands.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Wallpapering using wrapping paper

We've landed an awesome base house in San Diego, the Lord's grace to us truly. There's basketball courts, sidewalks galore and parks on every corner-dream come true for this season of our life. It's really been answered prayer, I was one lonely girl out in the country.

I'm sure this will surprise no one, but I've already contact papered my kitchen and changed out the light fixtures. (which we will have to hang back once we leave!) Next up on my to-do list is the downstairs powder room. I love when you go into bathroom and your surprised in a good way...wallpaper, cool mirrors, artwork-delightful. While I'm not going to wallpaper, it occurred to me I could possible use pretty wrapping paper and get that same wowzer impact. After all its teeny tiny in there so it shouldn't take too long and be cost effective. Here are my top two favorite options:

wrapping paper via rifle paper co.

Here's the handy tutorial from someone whose done it with great success!

A whole meal around goat cheese

I have a serious love for goat cheese, it just gets me. A cheese that is creamy, tart, and smooth. Heavenly. Here's two goat cheese recipes that have me drooling.

Kale, spinach, and goat cheese pasta 

Milk Chocolate Fudge goat cheese ice cream

Turquoise stones

Ever feel like you've been lashed by a storm?! Yeah me too. In fact, the day I arrived to California. A storm in my life I never saw coming....

I intended merely to hit the reset button when I arrived to California, but God wanted a complete rebuild. Good news....when he rebuilds it's with precious gem stones. 

(image carlsbad flower fields!)

This mind-blowing home tour

On my quest for home inspiration as we set up our house in San diego, I've been perusing the oodles of home tours in blog land. This one stopped me in my tracks, wowsers!!

(from here)

San Diego home plans

Hello friends! I know its been forever! We are settling in and quickly falling in love with sunny San Diego.  San Diegans truly live outside so as I'm putting our base house together focusing on the outdoor patio space is a must ; here's my plan. (check instagram for other home progress snippets!)

Giveaway Winner and a little family update!

tree here

We are roughly half way across the country, Austin Texas to be exact and make our last leg to sunny San Diego tomorrow! I'm beyond excited to plant our feet in some warm sand and shed some winter layers. Prayers please that our base house will be ready for us before Christmas; its our Christmas prayer and would be a Christmas miracle. Although it wouldn't be the first time a miracle came on Christmas! (Hello baby Jesus) My little brain is swarming with crazy ideas on how to transform a basic military house into a stylish home on a small budget, my sleeves are already rolling up. Also, stay tuned for a full post on our 10 year vow renewal and our Christmas card pictures!
And now without further delay, the giveaway winner…we did it the old fashioned way and pulled a name out of a hat (way more fun for the kiddos!) and the winner is…….Joni!!!
Yippeee so excited! I'll be giving your name to the Shabby apple people and they will get that dress to you!! xoxox

P.s I was super inspired by this simple simple driftwood Christmas tree. We did a massive purging of our two story home as we prepare to move into a home half the size. I couldn't be more thrilled to downsize and purge, it was completely freeing. Stay tuned for my goal to live more simply with a lot less as we transition to San diego! Less is more!

Who needs a new dress?

What better way to get back to blogging than to kick it off with a gorgeous dress giveaway!! Shabby Apple contacted me offering this stunning dress, perfectly in time for Christmas parties! I've admired their vintage selection of dresses for quite a long time now, be sure to peruse their site for all their latest and greatest; I'm also eyeing this blouse and skirt too!

Now, to the giveaway details….you simply must like and follow them on Facebook and instagram and come back here and leave me a comment telling me you did that and you are entered. Short and sweet! Good Luck! Winner will be drawn next week!

We still do!

Its been forever, but all is well and I'm still here!! My photography business is full time at this point, so I haven't been able to update my personal blog here! So sorry and so sad. But we are about to get even crazier with the planning of our upcoming 10 year vow renewal and our big move to San Diego this Fall!! I should be back to my blogging self by then, phew!! Here's my latest inspiration board for renewing our vows!

Happy New Year and where's the reset button?

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Hi everyone! Happy 2013! Holy moly where did 2012 go? We kickstarted 2013 with the stomach flu and strep. So my first official week of the new year starts now, I hit the reset button because last week was just plain awful and we can pretend that never happened.

Now that we've moved on, I have big plans (naturally, who makes small plans anyway?). First big change coming will be to this blog. I"m going to combine this blog with my photography blog because having two just overwhelms me and I freeze and don't post on either! So simplification is the name of that game! Second change...my photography business name is Bow & Arrow Photography after my littles. Boaz is the Bow and Gideon who's name means warrior is the Arrow. So don't be scared when you click on my blog and find something totally different its still little ol me, trying to be simple and combine both blogs into one. It will still be Johns Journal plus one photography session a week, you guys are ok with that, right? Will you still be my friends? I still struggle with people pleasing, despite the new year! Ha! Love you guys and have missed you dearly, need to get back!

Other notable events coming up....my first photography workshop for photographers me. It wildly amuses me that people are asking my advice for taking pictures, but nonetheless it's happening and so I'm hosting a workshop and it will be just delightful for them and me, win win. Then our big second wedding comes this year, stand by for my renewing vow inspirations, beyond excited.

Lastly, this is our last year here in Northern Virginia, so my to-do list of must seen things needs to be made stat. oh bittersweetness.

Hope your new year was full of confetti and big resolutions!

xoxo

maria

I highly recommend going to a National Memorial and having other people take your pictures!

Wow, I've missed you guys! Its been crazy insane for me, but still loving every minute of my little photo biz! Wanted to share some of our pictures from our Christmas card including a few that didn't make the cut! I never hire a photographer to capture my two crazies....case in point picture number one! They just want to run around and be themselves and G had a meltdown right on que! As well as the tourists who were happy to snap some for me, win win!

Here's us at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C

I seriously love this so much. Bo drew quite a crowd and all he kept doing to entertain them was jump off the step! Stuntman.

Gideon was yelling, "Kiss, Kiss" while he capture this moment!

This is me walking to Gideon to show him where to point the camera, good times.

Look who flew by!

B just wanted to run, so I had to be more fun than running around and jumping off stairs so swinging him around was a good option!

Annnnnd these are my absolute favorites....ninja Gideon and all three of them running towards me. LOVE.

There's much I need to catch you up on....like were moving to San Diego! But promise to update more frequently in the new year! Merry Christmas from ours to yours! God bless!