Thankful, Grateful and Honest

{Via Lara Casey ; if you haven't read her blog, you should}

Well this weekend was crazy to say the least.  It all began on Thursday when Michael came home from work.  I was grumpy, frustrated and in an awful mood.  My mind was filled with fear, doubt and uncertainty.  A few thoughts I had were...

"What if no one likes our booth?  It is SO different than the others"

"What if we don't sell anything?  All of this time and money will be wasted" 

"I am not equipped to run the finances of this business;  all of these legal documents with my name make me a little nervous."

If you didn't notice, the common themes of my worrying stemmed from approval of others and finances.  The start of our booth was kind of on a whim, and this was the first time I really thought about failure.  What if I fail?  I soon realized that I was tying to do everything on my own, instead of relying on God and trusting in his goodness. 

That night I begged the Lord to remove my fears, and give me clear direction.  I desperately needed Him to let me know that I was in the right place.  Now I smile and laugh at how clear and direct God can be.  Friday morning my Etsy shop blew up.  I had over 20 glasses ordered in 2 days, and not to mention another 12 ordered yesterday.  The booth had HUGE sales over the weekend, and the table that I refinished sold.  While we were restocking the booth on Sunday we received tons of complements, and several inquiries for interior design consulting and furniture painting.  The cherry on top was that we will be getting a RETURN on our taxes!!!  I think God made it pretty clear that I am right where I need to be.  When doubts and fears begin to creep in (because in all honesty, they will) this will be a time that I remember.  

God is faithful, and I am so grateful and thankful that I get to do what I love everyday.  

With all that being said, our booth has a new set-up since so many things sold.  Here is a look at the space...   

{Bailey is excited about all of the new accessories}

{This old workbench would make an amazing kitchen island}

Our Booth

I mentioned in this post that we were getting a booth at the Antique Market of San Jose.  I am pretty sure everyone thought my "Exciting News" was that I was having a baby.  The funny thing is that when I titled the post the assumption everyone had never even crossed my mind.  So no baby yet, but I am super excited about this new venture.  I wanted to share some pictures of the booth.  Of course it is still in the works, and will take a little time to fill it completely, but its coming along.  

The space had these awful stripes and they were a high gloss finish with a gold undertone.  Definitely needed an update.

{before}

{before}

3 coats of paint later the stripes were finally covered up!  I went with BM Swiss Coffee for the walls and BM Sandy Hook Gray for the floors.  I absolutely love the way the colors came out.

{after paint}

 I used a natural fiber rug from World Market to define the space for the table and add some warmth.  I am planning to do a full post on the table and chairs this Friday.  I am SO happy with the way they turned out.  The lantern is one that we originally planned to use in our house, but it works perfectly in the space.  It needed to be rewired, so Michael and his dad worked their magic and now we have light.

So far it has been really fun, and it is a constant design project.  As things sell I am able to restyle the space, which is both good and bad because I could be up there every day changing things around.  :) If you are in the area I'd love for you to stop in and see our work.  

Why I love March 1st

Today is a special day to me for two reasons...
First, it is my sweet momma's birthday!  I am so blessed to have such an amazing mom who is truly my best friend and a great encourager.  The past two and a half years have been hectic and crazy(I think crazy might be an understatement) but I am so thankful for all the special times we have had together.  I think we have both learned the true meaning of relaxation and taking each day as it comes.  Mom, you are such a great role model, and I hope to be just like you when I grow up.  With four children, you have always been so selfless and I admire that so much.  I love you more than you know, and even though you are feeling yucky today I hope you know how grateful I am for you.

{I love this picture of my mom and I}

I am also grateful that 10 years ago my mom let me skip her birthday dinner to go with friends to the Monster Jam.  I was 14 years old, and had a crush on this super hot guy who happens to be my husband now.  It was that night that Michael "asked me out." (Im laughing right now thinking how old school that sounds.  Now people probably ask if they can make it Facebook official.)  So 10 YEARS AGO we started dating and boy am I glad I went to that Monster Jam.  It has been 10 years full of great memories, vacations, learning and growing together, and I know the next 10 are going to be even better.  I love you Michael Paul Kelly and I love doing life together.  A few old pictures...Ill pull some really old ones out, but none of those are on my computer. :)

{Freshman year of college}

{Exploring the castles in Germany during college}