Furniture Frenzy!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic with the Geigers!  Road Rules, the summer mission trip for middle school students, came and went like a blur during the second week in June.  When I got back, the next week I went with Jonnie on his business trip to Stone Mountain, which was hilarious because that's where we are both from (so I got to spend some good time with my mom and dad!).  In between, we somehow managed to shoot three weddings for The Guestbox (the wedding video business I work for on the side, check it out) and get a couple of those videos edited.  Whew!

Also somehow in the midst of those couple weeks I thought it would be fun and stress-relieving to add in a couple of furniture projects... not sure about my logic on that one but it was nice to take my mind of some of the busyness (by making myself more busy?).  Nonetheless I have two more furniture projects complete to share that I am just thrilled about!

The first one is an entertainment unit we found on Craigslist for $50.  I forgot to take the before picture before I took the doors off the thing... so picture this with doors:

You can't really see, but the top is pretty scratched up and the little side cabinets are actually CD racks on rollers on the inside.  We were able to remove the racks and the tracks for them and voila!  Extra cabinet space.

I wanted to do a cheery color to go in my living room which has lots of browns in addition to some teal and burnt orange.  I went with Behr "Gulf Winds" which is a match for Annie Sloan "Provence."  Again I used Mallory's technique of adding baking soda to the paint to give it the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint feel.

I've found that the trial size of the Behr paint is enough for one of the projects which is awesome because that is cheap!   The only material cost of these projects now that I've bought paintbrushes, wax, cheesecloth, etc is for the paint (less than $3) and a new sanding block (less than $4), so the total for the project supplies is about $7!  Not too shabby!

Here's how it turned out after painting, sanding, distressing, waxing, and spray painting the knobs in the hammered metal paint:

Cute!  So we bring it inside, set it in our living room and realize... the TV that we want to put on it has to easily weigh several hundred pounds.  The thing is mammoth.  I mean unliftable.  So Jonnie called over our good friend Matt and together they somehow managed to lift the thing onto its new home!

So there she is in the corner, supporting the weight of the heaviest TV on the planet.  If you look closely you can see our antenna to the left (that's right folks, antenna).  I have board games in the skinny cabinets and all of our router stuff in the glass cabinet part (as well as our printer which had no home before now).  I wish I had a before picture of the TV on a coffee table with the mess of wires and madness beneath it.  This is muuuch better!  But I have GOT to do something to cover the plug next to the fireplace!!!  I have been racking my brain to think of something.  A basket?  A treasure chest?  A plant?  A margarita machine?

More pictures to come of the other project!

Furniture Refinishing - Take One!

My friend Mallory is really crafty and inspired me to try my hand at furniture refinishing!  So last weekend I ventured out into the world of Craigslist and stumbled upon a buffet for $25.  When I contacted the seller, she said it was "all wood" and "antique."  Sounds great right?  So Jonnie and I hopped in the truck and headed over to Smyrna to pick up our first Craigslist purchase.  I have to admit we both were a little skeptical and hoping we were not going to be kidnapped, but we did indeed survive our encounter.

This is what it looked like from the Craigslist picture:

When we got there, she had taken out all the drawers for "easy moving."  After inspecting it, we realized it was definitely not real wood... and the back of the thing was a piece of cardboard stapled on.  Although it wasn't what I had in mind, I decided it would be a good "starter piece" and we hauled it to the truck.  It wasn't until then that we discovered... half of the drawers didn't fit into their homes.  Nowww we see why she had them taken out...

Because I am incredibly impatient and couldn't wait for Mallory's help and advice, I went ahead and googled "refinishing furniture" and decided to paint it black, since my dining room table is black.  I went to Home Depot, got all my supplies, sanded the buffet, primed it, painted it, painted it again... and hated it.  Darn my impatience!  Here's what it looked like:

It wasn't SO bad, but it was just boring.  And the imperfections were really obvious.  At this point I had Mallory over to rescue me.  Apparently she had a method of painting that involved no pre-sanding, no priming, little dry time, and awesome results.  Hmm.  Should have waited!  But we decided the black would look cool under the new color (Behr Cathedral - a match for Annie Sloan Aubusson Blue).  So she helped me and it turned out super cute!  Here is the finished product:

So that's it!  I'll post more details about the painting process if it's successful with my next project.  I think it turned out cute and adds a fun pop of color to my black dining room!

Maybe I'll be crafty after all!

I'm back!

After a staggering two year break from blogging (where DOES the time go?!), I got inspired and now I'm baaaack!  I just completed my first DIY home improvement project, and I decided that the blogosphere is in need of just one more person blogging about that type of thing.  I'd also like to share awesome recipes as I discover them as well as musings from our hectic yet ridiculously blessed life.

Jonnie and I have now been married for two and a half years!  Again, where does the time go??  It is really fun to read the last posts on this blog and remember what it was like during that first year of marriage.  I'd love to share on this blog the lessons we've learned and continue to learn as we grow with each other.  But more on that later!

We've since moved out of apartment life and into a rental home!  Still one bathroom... but we mastered the art of sharing in our one bed/one bath apartment the first two years of marriage.  But now we have so much more space, actual ROOMS as opposed to the combination kitchen, dining room, living room, laundry room we previously had.  We used to joke that it was like that place out west where you can stand in one spot and be in 4 states at once.   We are loving our house, and since we decided we just might stay here another couple years, I'm getting into decorating frugally and do-it-yourselfy.  It is laughable that I think I have time for these projects - I am currently a full-time youth director and also doing a part-time video shooting and editing for my unbelievably talented friend and wedding business mogul (that's right).  But I have found that these home improvement projects are really fun, soothing, and something to take my mind off of stresses such as the 42 middle school students I am taking on a 6 day road trip this weekend... more on that later as well.

So here goes nothing... back in the blog world!  Let's keep it up this time.  I'll share pictures of my first project that I just completed soon!

Storage Snafu

Picture this scene: Living room of one bedroom apartment. Two bikes. Set of golf clubs. Box of golf balls. Bag of baseball bats. Bag of tennis rackets. Treadmill. Ok, so I made that last one up, but that would have fit right in to our living-room-fastly-becoming-fitness-arena.

Now, this scene crept upon me slowly. May and June are wildly busy for me with youth mission trips, so I have been out of town a lot in the past month. Before I left, the bikes appeared in our apartment. These bikes were going to be on the porch before I got back from my first trip, or so I was told. But alas, upon my return, not only were there two bikes, but that is when the golf clubs appeared. No big deal, I'm going out of town again in three days, I thought. So I left for the next trip, and when I returned - the small apartment living room/fitness club had been born.

I love that my husband is athletic. I love that no matter what sport he picks up, he dominates. Seriously, I pray that our children get his athletic ability (and my radiant beauty and supreme intelligence of course).

We recently started the process of beginning to look at starting to think about maybe possibly buying a home. It's a ways in the future, but we're starting to look and see what we like, what we don't like, what we need, etc. Must have on the list: plenty of storage. I can't wait until we can live in a place where all of our stuff, including his sports equipment, can live happily ever after in its very own space (maybe even a garage, dream big!). Until then, he has successfully removed everything from the living room, and we can't believe how spacious it now feels. Like a brand new place. The question remains... where in the world did he hide it all? Still a mystery to me, but at least the living room is clear :)

Long time, no blog!

Please accept my most sincere apologies for falling of the blog wagon... I'm pretty sure that starting a fabulous blog and then not writing a on it for five months is the cardinal sin of the blog world... so please, forgive me.

Newlywed life has continued for us to prove to be the roller coaster we were foretold it would be. Lots of adjustment, lots of growing up, lots of need for grace, and lots of laughs.

Here are the top ten things you missed in the busyness of these last few (blogless, my apologies again) months...

1. We joined an eight week couple's Bible study for newlyweds, and it was awesome. It was so good for our marriage to be in the Word together and to make some new friends who can relate to where we are in life. Good times!

2. My mom underwent 6 weeks of radiation with chemotherapy. She is a champion and kicked that cancer where the sun don't shine (quite literally...). After a scan this week, her doctor told her that the cancer is gone and everything is back to normal. Praise God!

3. Jonnie got a new job. It is a more challenging job and a better fit to his outgoing personality, and it is just fifteen minutes down the road from where we live - so it was a great change! Not to mention that his first day on the job was at a conference in Las Vegas... not too shabby! So, he's been learning how to navigate his new world of sales these past couple of months and is doing a great job!

4. I got a "promotion" as well. My job currently consists primarily of directing a program for 5th and 6th grade kids, and beginning in the fall I will be venturing into Junior High world as the new Middle School Director. After a year of working at the church, I still love love love love my job. Couldn't design a more dream job for me than this!

5. I've gotten pretty good at this cooking biz, I'm just sayin. I still burn baked goods... but I swear it's my oven.

6. We had a minor emergency that resulted in a trip to Urgent Care and a couple stitches for Jonnie. We arrived at church one Sunday morning, and upon exiting the truck, Jonnie shut (and locked!) the car door on his hand. Ouch!

7. I went on a mission trip to Honduras with juniors and seniors in high school over Spring Break. Despite my prissy, high maintenance personality, I actually adored the trip and look forward to going back. Only problem... scorpions. A couple of our team members got scorped, forcing me to sleep with one eye open and my hand gripped to the flashlight all night... but besides that, it was awesome.

8. We joined a gym. And we're pretty much in love with it. He's hooked on racquetball and the fact that there is a hot tub in the locker room with a flat screen TV playing non-stop ESPN. I, on the other hand, am newly obsessed with Zumba workout classes. It's an hour of straight up clubbin' dancing that doubles as a cardio workout. Now that's my kind of exercise!

9. I've been freakishly sick a lot lately. Mostly colds (at least two each month), but the latest joy was a vicious stomach bug. Jonnie stayed home from work to take care of me. You know you have a good husband when he puts his conference call on mute so he can sit and rub your back while you hug the toilet. Now that's support.

10. We're going to look at our first house tomorrow. It was built in 1860 and it's tiny and we can't move any time in the near future... but we are beginning to dream. :)

So there's the high speed catch up. I fully intend on keeping up to date from now on... this life's too crazy not to document!

Reflection Time...

So this marriage thing? Not a piece of cake.

Learning how to live together, share our finances, and spend all of our time together has had its ups and downs. We have shared many moments of fun and laughter, and we have certainly had our share of disagreements over these past couple months. I suppose that when you spend twenty three plus years living for yourself, it is not the easiest transition in the world to begin putting another person first.

There is a book called Sacred Marriage that poses the question: "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?"

In marriage we are harshly confronted with the reality of our own sinfulness. Our tendency to look out only for our own needs is met with the call to love, honor, and cherish our spouse. And I know that for me, that really brings all of my junk to the surface. Marriage has revealed to me how selfish, stubborn, and immature I can really be.

I believe fully that God designed marriage to be a reflection of His love. The commitment, the faithfulness, the laying down of your self for another person - all a beautiful picture of God's love for us. And we are purified to become more like Him when we allow marriage to change us and grow us, when we kick our selfish tendencies to the curb and remember our commitment to love our spouses more than we love ourselves.

Can I just confess how hard that is for me sometimes? I love being right (even when I'm wrong). I love doing my own thing and having my own stuff. I love being in control. But now that I'm married... do I love these things more than I love my husband?

Marriage makes us better. The benefits far outweigh the sacrifice. We are made stronger, as a team and as individuals. As the years go by, the good times and the bad will bring us closer together, and as we seek God in our marriage, we will be closer to Him as well.

He's definitely on the nice list

I wonder if all men are funny about gift giving, or if it's just my husband.

To give him credit, he courageously went where no man should ever go... Christmas shopping with an emotional woman on the Saturday morning before Christmas. My mom was diagnosed with cancer on Friday, and the news was still really fresh. So he, being the great husband he is, volunteered to stand beside me as I cried through the Snuggie aisle at Bed Bath and Beyond.

So, in classic man and woman form... the clash of shopping style ensued. I meandered through the aisles of TJ Maxx, not having anything in particular in mind, but hoping something would just "jump out at me" for someone on our list. As you probably know, this is against everything a man is. This blows their mind. Mom says if I keep taking him shopping with me, he'll end up one of those glazed-over men you find sitting on a bench in the mall. They could have been there for hours. Or days. All you know is that they are miserable and are fantasizing about being at home with a beer in hand watching ESPN. Wow, now THAT'S not stereotyping. But anyway, at one point in my perusing this conversation occurred...

"Natalie there's nothing here, can we leave?"
"I'm not done looking."
"This just isn't the place, we're not going to find anything here. Let's go."
"How do you know? We've only gone down two aisles."
"I just have a feeling. Let's go."

A feeling? About TJ Maxx? You can find some bargain-priced gems in that store, honey. You just don't KNOW.

This also fascinated me: Every time I paused in question over which size, what color, etc. etc. to get of a particular present... cue husband to whip out his cell phone. "Let's just call (insert giftee) and ask them which one they want." To which I (ever so sweetly) rip the phone out of his hand and reply, "You're ridiculous." You see, I believe ever so fervently in the element of surprise for Christmas. Sure, my dad knows that I am going to get him a pair of slippers every single year. Never fails. Default Daddy gift. But do I tell him that's what he's getting? Absolutely not. It's the principle of the thing.

After several hours of following me around... I got progressively more and more stressed and more and more emotional, so he won the Best Husband of the Year Award by volunteering to do the rest of the Christmas shopping himself.

Including... his own presents. Yes. Against all I just reported above.

So last night we decided to go ahead and celebrate our Christmas together before spending the holidays with family. Somehow still as excited as a kid on Christmas morning, he handed me a bag full of stuff that he had bought for his own stocking and raced out to put together my stocking. I opened the bag and guiltily stuffed his stocking with the items, feeling terrible for not choosing them myself, but so grateful he let me go home and spend time with my mom instead. He came back in, still way more excited than necessary, considering the fact that he had no Christmas surprises. As I began revealing gifts from my stocking, I quickly realized that his excitement was stemming not from presents for himself, but from sheer delight in watching me open my stocking and enjoy the gifts he had chosen for me.

This certainly is not the first Christmas I expected, but I certainly couldn't ask for a more supportive and wonderful husband. Even if he will never be invited shopping with me again. :)