ONE YEAR

One year ago today, a super cute, long haired, Jesus loving, musician took me on a date to Pagliacci’s. Following dinner we drove to Clover Point and he said 5 little words.. Will you be my girlfriend? We were both nervous as heck, knowing nothing of relationships but we took a leap of faith which has led to the best year of our lives.

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart) -e.e.cummings

I love you James Peter Liira.

xoxo,

s.s.♥.

✝=♥

✝=♥ was written across the sky in sunny australia.

My prayer today is that it will be written across your heart.

⁶ When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. ⁷ Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. ⁸ But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

-Romans 5:6-8 NLT

Thank you for the cross.

xo,

s.s.♥.

DEAR DIARY #015

So I have this theory… well it’s not really a theory, it’s just a fact of life..according to me (ok, it’s totally a theory) ….are you ready for it? 

…promise not to yell at me?

…pinky swear?

Ok, my theory is… All girls are crazy and all boys are jerks. 

Some girls are a teeny bit crazy (you totally would never know) and some boys are just a tiny bit jerks (you’d know a little bit) and then there are the extreme cases (which we don’t really need to talk about it).

And when it comes to relationships, you just need to find out how much jerk you can handle and boys need to find out how much crazy they can handle.

(fyi i have no backing research on this theory, just my own personal experience)

I totally admit that I am crazy. Not like crazy-crazy. Just a wee bit crazy. And sometimes just a wee bit more than wee bit. 

Which brings me to Wedding Planning. Sometimes I can be a bit OCD…but I can’t help it, my brain is made this way! It’s true, I took the strengths finder test and my top 5 strengths were

1. Activator (makes things happen!)

2. Postivity

3. Relator

4. Strategic

5. Communication

(ps. i totally recommend buying the strengths finder book. it’s worth your money! and it’s freaky-deaky how one test can tell you crazy stuff about yourself!!)

So anyways..I’m in the shower and all of a sudden I’m like my stagette is going to be this day, and we’re going to do this and this and this! or I would love to get a photo in that field by that forest..or some other tiny detail will be in my mind and I’ll have to write it in my wedding book…

Oh, the wedding book…

Yes, I am one of those organized brides-to-be with a wedding book…which brings me to another part of my craziness….

So I was totally going to buy one of those bride planning books, but I’m on a budget and thought, I could totally make my own. (diy coming soon). I wanted my own sweet cover and my drawings are horrendous (any one of my draw something friends can testify to that) so I asked my amazing maid of honour, Rachel to design it. The funny thing is, I knew exactly what I wanted on the cover and we had Facebook conversations about it and then I realized it’s the cover for a flipping notebook (lols).

But Rachel is the most amazing person ever, and would never judge me (ok maybe a little bit but she loves me so!)

Here she be…

isn’t that the cutest thing you ever did see!!?!?!?!?!?!?! 

So the past couples week we got a few wedding details in place…

☑ Reception booked

☑ Photographers booked (AMERIS check them out!!! I am so excited to be working with these fine folk)

☑ Dress

☑ Started Gift Registry

☑ A bunch of other stuff

Yeah, so basically, thought I’d let you know that I’m a teensy bit crazy (just a wee bit, don’t worry, I talk to Jesus about it and He seems ok with it) but hey, if God gave you Activator skills, you better use them ;) 

(Don’t worry, I won’t go all bridezilla on ya, Jesus is still my #1 and I’m still passionate about serving Him!!)

hope you have an amazing monday!

xoxo,

s.s.♥.

DIY: CHALKBOARD WALL

Oh, hey, hey!

This lovely DIY project was pioneered by the one and only, RACHEL STUART. She’s pretty much the coolest person you’ll ever meet.

My fiancé (eeeeeeeeeee!!!) and I have talked about having a huge chalkboard wall in our future home together. We want to make it a giant dream board/scripture wall. Hopefully we’ll find a place that will allow us to paint a wall black…(fingers crossed) But until then, I’ll just go over to Rachel’s and draw a little something something on the wall. (I drew a flag in the Robot’s hand last week!)

So it’s pretty easy to make one of these…

1. Start by prepping the wall.

2. Start rolling away the chalkboard paint. (Benjamin Moore Tips)      

3. Allow to fully dry.

4. Start drawing away! How cute are Rachel’s drawings??

Enjoy!!!

xoxo,

s.s.♥.

ENGAGED...(THE STORY)

Oh hey…I’M ENGAGED!!!!! was the text I sent some of my close friends on Tuesday night at 10:30pm. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! was the common response.

I can’t stop smiling. I can’t stop staring down at my left hand…the sparkling diamond reflects what’s happening in my heart..it’s SPARKLING. I get to marry the most amazing man on the planet. I get to marry the man I’ve been praying about my whole life. I get to marry James. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yesterday I couldn’t stop talking about it. Every excuse I could take about talking about my engagement, I took. Some people at Our Place must think I’m one crazy girl.

So you’ve probably come here for the story….

Tuesday was a crazy day. I spent the afternoon landscaping in the hail/rain with our City Youth City Reach team (teens who gave up their spring break to serve Victoria). I was wearing my yankees ball cap, lulu leggings, hunters and a chambray. City Reach ended that evening at 8pm and James & I had plans to visit with his good friends Roy & Lisa. I was so exhausted that I almost called James to cancel our plans..but thankfully I didn’t!

So I arrived at his house around 8:30. We had some tea and some chats before heading out to Roy & Lisa’s. Now Roy & Lisa live on this sweet property in West Saanich. There’s an old barn at the top of the property with a room with a half pipe. When we arrived there James mentioned that he thought he left his rain jacket in the barn the last time he was there. So we started to walk in the barn..I saw lights on in the half pipe room and my heart just about stopped. When we got inside my heart started sparkling to the max. There were Christmas lights and candles everywhere, a table set up with two chairs, hundreds of paper cranes hanging from the ceiling (on Valentines Day James surprised me with 5 notes with 5 paper cranes all over the city) & I LOVE YOU lettering on the wall. (The room was flipping gorgeous, it had taken him all afternoon to set it uo!) In front of the table he had set up a mic stand, amp, pedals & guitar. He had me sit down and started strumming & singing. It was magical. I couldn’t stop smiling. He even remixed a very special/hilarious song. After he sang, he dropped down on one knee in front of me, opened a little brown box and said some seriously, sweet words followed with..WILL YOU MARRY ME? I responded..YES!!!!

Best day of my life (besides meeting Jesus)!!!! I am the luckiest girl alive. GOD IS SO GOOD!!!

So the journey begins…FYI I now will begin to post heaps of wedding crafts/decor/fun/etc…!

thank you, thank you, thank you to all our amazing friends & family who have sent their congratulations, support & love!! We love you so much!!!

sincerely one ecstatic bride to be,

s.s.♥.