Today marks a year

August is here! Can hardly believe it! "Summer" has come and is almost gone {for Will at least.} He has his summer school night class final this Thursday {please say a prayer for him if you think about it} and then starts his second year of law school in a couple of weeks. Wow, where has the time gone?

Speaking of time, we have now lived in Jackson for a whole year! We moved here last summer {July 29th to be exact} and I cannot believe it has been a year. As some of you may know, I had a hard transition coming from the small college town of Starkville to the big, "metro" city of Jackson. I think it was more post-college that was so hard and getting used to the newness of everything, but that's a different story. I'm so thankful to God for His continual pouring of blessings on Will and me, and how He has caused me to grow and love where I am now.

Today marks a whole year of me working at my still beloved Anthro! I've come a long way from starting off part-time. I honestly thought that it would only be a part-time job when we moved to Jackson and that I would find a full-time job at a hospital or some kind of advertising firm where I could use my marketing degree. However, the Lord had other plans in mind for me. {Still continuing to learn that His plans are greater than my plans.} I'm so thankful to do what I love--selling and working with people. I cannot tell you how many people I have met and connections I've made just through work alone--not to mention, how many people I see at my job. In fact, I've seen people that I haven't seen in months or even years and it is so fun to just catch up on life!

Even though we've been in Jackson only a year, there's already some updates I want to make on our duplex. Yes, we are renting and we will probably continue to rent until Will gets out of school, but I still want to make it a livable and enjoyable place! Decorating and updating are always on my mind. In fact, I am always getting ideas off of my latest social network obsession: pintrest. If you don't have one, get one. Yes, it's just another distraction, but it is a fun way to get decorating ideas, recipe ideas, etc. Seeing all of these decorating websites and ideas, I have been inspired to learn how to sew!

With that idea in mind, my mom is going to teach me how to make throw pillows, and we are also going to make new window valances for the kitchen.

I am also planning on recovering our dining room and kitchen chairs with some of this fabric, and I CAN'T WAIT! The fabric on our chairs right now has been on my to-do list to change ever since we moved to Jackson, but I just haven't gotten around to it. We are finally getting around to it! I will be sure to post a before and after picture once we are finished.

Back in one of my older blog posts, I mentioned Will working on a project for me in our den. I just realized that I never posted a picture of what he did. So, here it is! Below is the before picture. {Unfortunately, the only before picture I took was at Christmas time, so please note that the white reindeer did not sit on the piano for 9 months of us living here!}

Before

After

Will made those two shelves for me so that I had more room to display decor. I think he did a pretty good job! The four green brackets that the wooden boards are sitting on are from Anthro, and Will found the wood at his dad's shop. All he did was measure the wall space and bracket length, cut the wood to those measurements, sand it, and put a natural gloss on it. Then he just placed it on top of the brackets. Ta-da-there are our two new shelves! I made it sound so easy, and I ain't no wood-worker, but according to Will, it was that easy to make.

Have any of you been working on any home projects or do you have any ideas for home projects? I'm always so interested an open to any kind of decorating ideas--so please share if you any! Have a wonderful week!