Friendship and a Guest Room Transformation

Hi!  I'm Ashley at Woodard Gang (soon to be a new name!)  

I'm excited and a bit nervous to be posting on Tracey's wonderful blog!

You see...I've gone back and forth with blogging for a long time, 

until recently when Tracey has encouraged me to just do it!  Little

did I know I would be asked to guest post for her...nothing like

jumping right in!! 

So I hope you enjoy a little story about how we met and 

then my Guest Room Transformation that Tracey & I did together.

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About a year ago, I met Tracey in the mall at the store, A Children's Place.

I was wearing a Lisa Leonard necklace, which got us to talking about

blogs.  Come to find out, we had a lot in common!  We both had blogs,

we both lived basically in the same town and most importantly, both were

believers.  Now tell me that isn't a God thing!  I don't believe it was just a 

random thing, a coincidence, or luck at all...I believe God knew we were

supposed to meet that day, in that store and what followed was the 

beginning of a new friendship that has been such a blessing to me...and what

a fun story to tell!   

One of the things Tracey and I have been working on is getting my guest

room looking pretty...and the timing was perfect as my sister will be staying

in it tomorrow!  I had one piece of furniture that needed some repurposing

MAJOR LOVE!

The picture quality is terrible (my Nikon is on the fritz), but here is the before...

And here is the step by step process of what we did...

Primed with Kilz and painted it a Cottage White by Behr.

Then we sanded randomly all over to give it a distressed look.

This part was all Tracey!  She used the foam brush and black, brown and gray paint to make it even appear more aged and rustic.  It's a lot like glazing, but it gives more of an appearance of worn wood instead of an all over aged look like glazing does.  After watching for a while, I decided to give it a whirl...I learned you really can't mess up and when you do, you can just wipe off and start over.  

That's my kind of mess!

We went out searching for just the right knobs.
Wondering what in the world this rope has to do with it?!

Tracey came up with the idea of making "rope" handles!

LOVE.IT!!!  All you do is make knots on the inside to secure

the rope and I quickly learned that Tracey is the "master knot maker"!

I don't have a good picture, but the two knobs you will see

are just cheapo wood knobs that were covered in burlap

fabric that I had laying around...CUTE!

And here she is all done and beautified!  The baskets were $9.99 each

at TJ Maxx, the plant from our local farmer's market and the fabulous

glass jar...just $12.99 at TJ Maxx (sense a theme?)

 This is a view from the door...the hutch is just to your left in the corner.  

YES...I put BABY in the corner!  I couldn't resist!!

IN.LOVE.WITH.THE.LAMPS!

Great find at yet again...TJ Maxx!

A few things still yet to do...

A custom headboard, drapes and a throw for the end of the bed!

I'll be sure to blog about those hopefully soon!  Thanks for reading and as Tracey would say...

Love and Transformations!

Ashley 

Guest Post...Lissa from Humble Pie

Please Welcome Lissa from Humble Pie

I know you'll enjoy her as much as I do!

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I feel so blessed today because Tracey gave me the honor of guest posting for her. I don't know if many of you know me so I just thought I share a little bit about me with you. I've always loved to keep a tidy home. I've lived on my own now for almost 20 years and I never tire of caring for my home. It's not always perfect but it's almost always tidy. I have two adorable girls who are 7 and almost 10 (gasp)! I LOVE being their mama! I'm married to a fabulous man who I almost lost 2 years ago (but that's a whole other story) and I'm very, very happy. It hasn't always been this way for me and so I just am appreciating this new found zest for life!


The 2 top pictures are of my kitchen/ eating area. That's where I love to spend my time. I blog from the bar or sitting at the table. When people come to our home they never leave the kitchen. I LOVE to feed people and then linger at the table sipping coffee after dinner while laughing and sharing stories. Family dinners are a big priority in our home so I spend many afternoons cooking and anticipating the return of my husband and girls.





I LOVE coffee! I put it on a timer so that it's already ready when I get out of bed in the morning. I especially enjoy having coffee with a girlfriend.


I also really enjoy gardening. I plant lots and lots of herbs. I love them and enjoy cooking with herbs right out of my garden. We had an unusually cold winter this year so I lost most of my herbs and will have to replant in the spring.


I enjoy a sparkly clean home! I use a lot of white in my home but in my new found zest for life have also found myself being attracted to color! Especially orange and ocean blue.





My newest love is cooking and I've been trying new things in the kitchen. Recently I baked my first whole chicken and was ready to throw a party when it turned out! I also bake and all of my recipes are gluten free. I love encouraging ladies to get cooking because I didn't grow up with a mom who liked to cook so this is all new to me. I figure if I can do it then anyone can!


Well that's just a little bit about me. Thank you so much Tracey for allowing me a little space on your adorable blog!


Have a fabulous day!

A Treasure to Seek.

Hi there!  I'm Tara from between you & me.
Tracey is away on a wonderful family Disney Cruise this week, and she asked me to guest post for her.
I knew that I wanted to share with you the history of our friendship and pictures from a recent get away
that we all took together to celebrate her 40th birthday.

Our family relationships and our friendships are such gifts to us from God.
He created us for relationship..with him and with others.
It's so important to learn how to do them right.
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"To love at all is to be vulnerable. 

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.

If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.

Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements.

Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.

But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.

It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."
— CS Lewis 

Tracey and I go all the way back to around nineteen ninety eight.

I'm only going to show you recent pictures because trust me...

you can't handle our hair from ninety eight.

We had moved to Wilmore, Kentucky so that my husband could get his master of divinity degree.

Tracey and her husband Tim were both getting their master of divinity degrees and their counseling degrees.

I was working full time at the seminary while my husband worked hard to graduate.

I was young and newly married and in need of some friends.

She was from Boston and I was from a rural town in North Georgia.

It was surely a match that could only be made in Heaven.

I've always had dear & true friends in each season of my life.

God has always provided exactly who I needed when I needed them.

He knew that I needed Tracey in that first year of Seminary.

Where I was weak, she seemed strong, and where I was strong, she seemed weak.

Our hearts connected and God began the sweetest journey of a friendship.

He allowed us to walk through the first years of marriage together~learning how to be married.

We walked through past hurts in friendships~teaching us how to do friendship in the most real way.

 Tracey & Tim graduated before we did, and they moved to Atlanta, Georgia, our home state.

When we gradated a year later and moved to Montgomery, Alabama, we finally reconnected.

We had our first son, Luke, and they came to visit us with their first child, also a son. 

The boys were only a few months apart.

We began the new journey of walking through being first time parents together.

We ended up connecting again in Atlanta when our boys were around eighteen months old.

A few years later, we moved to my hometown in North Georgia with our second child, Seth,

but around the same time, they left Atlanta to go back to Kentucky for Tim to work on his doctorate.

In that five and a half years that we lived in Georgia, they made another move back to Boston.

We were sure it just "wasn't in the cards" for us to do life together again.

To be honest, during that five year span, we really didn't keep in touch.

They were busy in ministry and began the process of adopting their daughter.

We were busy in ministry, enjoying living near my family and also in the process of adopting our daughter.

The next time we reconnected, they had moved from Boston to Orlando.

And, we found ourselves going to Orlando on a job interview for my husband.

It was so amazing to see our families together again.

They had two children and we had three.

We had both adopted our precious daughters that have become the sweetest of friends.

And, they were able to meet our middle son, Seth, for the first time.

We've spent the last two and half years doing life together again.

Ten years from the time we met, God ordained us to learn together and grow together again.

In a lot of ways we had to reacquaint ourselves.

A decade changed all of us.

We grew up.

Many days have been spent at the beach together.

More days have been spent in one or both of our homes.

...eating meals.

...talking the nitty gritty of our marriages.

...dreaming dreams for our homes.

...decorating and redecorating what we just decorated.

...listening to kids laugh and play.

..and if I'm honest, sometimes listening to those kids argue and cry and throw an occasional punch.

Next to marriage and children and family, friendship is one of God's greatest gifts to us.

If you give yourself away and dive in deep and get further than the surface, 

you can experience the power of what God intended for relationships to be.

It's not always easy.

Feelings get hurt.

Hard conversations sometimes have to be had.

Sometimes we expect too much.

Sometimes we give too little.

But, if you do the hard work and humble yourselves before one another and love deeply,

God uses those friendships to draw you closer to himself and to each other.

"What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it"

~CS Lewis

I hope you have dear friends in your life.

I hope you scratch way down deep, well below the surface, to seek the treasure of genuine friendship.

I pray you have the courage to give yourself away to those people in your life that are safe.

It's a truly vulnerable position.

It's sometimes scary.

You might get hurt.

But, how much better it is to take that risk over becoming unbreakable and impenetrable.

Dreams do come true!

We are leaving to go on this.

The Disney Dream.

We plan on doing a lot of this...

and dancing til midnight with this guy!

 Planning on eating this stack...and a whole lot more!

This week has seemed like 4 weeks....the waiting, excitement and anxiety makes for a loooong week for the kiddos and momma! Cousins get in tomorrow! So blessed to have my family.

My parents for going on this trip even though the cost of a Disney cruise could have paid for 4 cruises for them...how can they miss the fun! My brother and family who we have never gone on a cruise with...we are so excited to get to play all week together...just like when we were kids...well...he likes me better than he did when I was 5 and he was 10! I am excited to see each persons face light up when they see mickey...even my 6 foot 7 brother...you just can't help it when you see that mouse!

I wish you could all come!

No I really mean it!

Now THAT would be fun...a bloggers cruise...I'm on it...gonna plan it for next year!

Start saving now girls!

Don't forget to check out who is coming over to guest post while I am gone...a few of my very favorites!

Love and Disney Dreams,

Tracey

Light results!

#1

Thanks for all of the great advice and e-mails!

I went on some of the sites you suggested and found some great lights!

Now help me CHOOSE from the great choices!

Either the above....

#2

this...one...

#3

or this one...for over my dinning room table.

I have a favorite but want to hear from you first!

#4

How about this...

#5

or this...

#6

or this...over my sink in the kitchen?

I also have an island that I did not picture yesterday where I will put the same as over the sink.

Again I have a favorite...but want your brilliant opinions first!

This I just LOVE...and have to FIND a place for.

Gonna find a place in my sons room for 2 of these!

 I Love them!

Finally...I found this and knew it was the one.

It's gonna go in my bedroom!

That nasty one in the Living room that is my nemesis...still no solutions!

Still VERY much in need of one...if a solution wakes you up at night...please let me know!

Thanks sooo much to

Rachel VanHook...we have the same taste in stuff!

Check out her new blog. I am totally buying one of her cuff bracelets...

and gonna feature her soon...be on the look out! Thanks Rachel for these suggestions...LOVE.

Thanks Lissa! I love Restoration Hardware too! If you SWOON...I will be standing next to you DROOLING...what a pair we would be in that store!

To Patti..who is such an intentional friend...thanks for your fb message!

I found a similar one for my bedroom!

To Tara...who always gives the best Decor advise a friend could ask for!

I love hearing from all of you!

Thanks friends!

Love and Light,

Tracey

Fixed on Fixtures...and an itch!

So the question is...can light fixtures make a significant impact in a room...

ahhh....yup I think so!

                                                                     I need your help.

I have struggled...and when I say struggle...

remind you I struggle to say struggle..

cause I know people who are really struggling...

so it seems odd to say struggle...but as shallow as it is...

I struggle.

I struggle with the dang light fixtures in this home.

They have been here for the 2 years we have lived here.

It is not that I can't replace them...I just cannot figure out to what I want to change them to.

I see pictures like those above...I think- I should...I could...and then I stop.

Then I go in and stare at the ceilings of lights at Lowe's and Home Depot...people ask..."Can I help you.."

Lord if they only knew.

"No I'm just looking (for the 100th time).."

See friends...s.t.r.u.g.g.l.e.v.i.l.l.e.

I need help.

I am a decision maker.

It is easy for me to decide...what to make for dinner, what to wear...to read...to do...

but dang girls these light fixtures have me stuck.

They are the hangnail to my toe,

the splinter to my finger,

the headache to my head,

the sty in my eye,

the itch in the middle of my back...

need I say more!

We have staring contests...me and the fixtures.

I stare at them and they stare right back.

Neither of us budging.

So here is what I need you to do for me.

Help me get the hangnail, headache, splinter, sty, itch out of my life.

Below I have posted the fixtures that need to be replaced...

Tell me with what...please...

This is in our family room.

The ceiling is low...so what do I do?

This is the WORST of them all.

Our living room.

It has to go...but it is not in the center of the room...ugh...what to do?

This is our dinning room.

Actually in this space I have too many ideas...what would you do?

Oh...and the wall you are looking at will be getting a new look soon. We are doing a plank white washed wall....sooon. So keep that in consideration.

Our Master...excuse the messy pillows...kiddos were wrestling.

Finally over our sink in the kitchen...?

O.K. I feel better just getting it our there.

I know one of you genius women will figure this out for me so I can rest.

Love and glaring,

tracey

Happy Birthday dear friend....

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Tara...Happy Birthday to you!

Today is Tara's bloggy birthday...she is one year old!

Tara introduced me to blogging.

She showed my this for the first time and I was hooked!

We recently had a conversation about blogging.

I have blogged on and off for the past year.

Not committed, love looking at blogs...but not sure if I like leaving comments,

and was not even interested in blogging each day.

I was in a blogger "funk".

I noticed that Tara when referring to a blog would use the persons first name...not their blog title.

I realized I had been approaching blogging from the wrong perspective.

These are people...not titles...not pictures of white kitchens...or living rooms...people...like me.

I know I was behind the curve (not so unusual)...

I found it strange honestly to be connected to someone I had never met in person.

Being a "people" person and a person who has worked my whole life listening to peoples most sacred stories and lives as a counselor...it seemed a strange forum to "connect" with people via a computer.

How wrong I was.

I have now...after that conversation...started approaching "people" on blogs.

I have enjoyed blogging so much more.

I am enjoying getting to know these friends...and love seeing the creative in so many people.

I just love getting lost (when I have time)...going from person to person.

You know when you have been on for an hour and find a whole bunch of new friends you did not even know existed...and you have know idea how you got there!

Love it!

Thank you Tara for introducing me to a whole bunch of new friends!

Happy birthday to my dear friend!

Head over to her place today and wish her happy birthday!

She has a great giveaway...the best I have seen in blog world...and I have seen them in person...amazing!

I was thinking that on your second birthday we would celebrate here instead...

Are you in?

Love and make a wish,

Tracey