About

Who am I?

Welcome, my name is Aurie and I am a mother to 5 crazy, wonderfully amazing kids and wife to a super hot husband.

I grew up in Alaska (with a 4 year stint in Texas) but my heart is split between Alaska and Alabama. They are both home to me.

I am a Southern girl through and through even though I only lived here a few years. My grandparents live here and I spent most of my summers and winter holidays at their houses. I say y’all without a second thought and people often tell me they can hear a hint of an accent when I talk. The South is my home!

I love country music and classic rock and I can’t help but dance and sing along when the music moves me (my second son tells me to stop singing/dancing ALL THE TIME.) Hey, groove is in the heart, right?!!!

I can’t stand to wear socks and will wear sandals even in 3 feet of snow. I hate to be cold but love Fall weather and big comfy sweaters. I love to curl up on the couch in a blanket and am an expert cuddler.

I have a son with Autism and I live everyday battling a kidney disease and more recently am learning to live with Graves Disease as well.

I strive to find the beauty and the joy in every day. As a stay at home mom to 5 kids sometimes my life feels very repetitive and sometimes very stressful. Years ago I decided that life was about finding the joy in everything I do. It makes life so much more fun when you can find the joy in each and every moment. It’s not always easy but it is possible.

I once read a story about a couple who went on a long road trip. They got home from their trip late at night and were too tired to unload their car, so they decided that it could wait until the morning. When they awoke the next day they had a very unpleasant surprise, their car had been stolen. Everything was in their car, DVD player, cds, family pictures, clothes, movies, toys, and many other things that would be missed. After staring at the spot where their car was supposed to be for about 2-3 minutes the husband broke out into hysterical laughter, he laughed so hard his sides hurt. The wife looked at him in disbelief, “What is wrong with you? We have just lost so many things, do you realize what this is going to do to us?” Her husband stopped laughing and looked at his wife, he took a deep breath, got very serious and responded, “No matter what we do, nothing will change what happened. We can however control how we react to it. We can be happy and laugh at this now, because we will years down the road anyway, or we can be upset and bitter and dwell on the bad, either way our car is still gone, and to tell you the truth, I’d rather be happy.” (go here to read my post about this)

 I have always thought about that story and tried to make it my life’s motto. “Choose to be Happy, no matter what.” I can’t say I’m always successful or that I always remember to choose happiness but I definitely am trying. I have come to realize that choosing happiness and finding joy are the same thing. I choose to be happy by seeing what brings me joy and seeking after that joy continually.

-Some of the things that bring me joy-

My husband always makes me laugh and puts a smile on my face. He is my biggest cheerleader and is always encouraging me to pursue my dreams and do what I love.

He thanks me all the time for making our house a home and for working so hard to create a space that our family loves.

I couldn’t do anything that I do, without him.

My Children make every moment worth it.

They make me laugh, wipe my tears, encourage me, make me feel so special, help me around the house and make my life incredibly full.

They each have their own unique personalities that shine through in such fascinating ways. I love being their mom and getting to know them.

Everything that I do, I do for them and my husband.

They are what really brings joy into my life.

I love to decorate and see my  decorating or crafting visions come to life in my home. I lay in bed at night putting together room ideas and craft plans. I dream about decorating and pretty much spend my life decorating the world around me. If we are staying in a hotel, I think about how I would decorate the hotel. It’s just part of who I am.

I become giddy when I find a good deal and thoroughly enjoy bringing an “old, retired” piece back to life and giving it a new home. I feel in heaven walking through flea markets, thrift stores, and antique shops. I don’t think I could ever explain how much my heart races and my breath catches when I walk into one of these places. I feel so much anxiety worrying that I might overlook some magical thrifty find that could be made GREAT!

I am an avid Alabama Football fan. I bleed Crimson and White and yell Roll tide with pride. During the fall our family eats, sleeps, lives and breathes college football. Any given Saturday from Sept- Jan you can find us sitting in front of the TV cheering like crazy.

I clear my head by reading books and traveling to far off worlds on adventures and falling in love with new characters. I often go through a “book depression” after I finish a book because I am mourning the loss of a friend. My husband laughs at me about that, I don’t think he will ever understand. Hahahaha! Does that make me a dork? If so I shall embrace my book dork status with arms wide open. I just find immense joy in opening up a good book and falling into a new adventure. I enjoy reading parenting books as well and love finding new ways to help me be the mom I want to be. I love to read about other moms experiences and feel like when we share wisdom with others we are making the world a little bit better. It does take a village to raise a child, a village of parents sharing their insight and knowledge with other eager to learn parents. We each have something to share whether we realize it or not and I love to soak up the knowledge from the powerful force of women around me.

I don’t love to cook but with a family full of gluten allergies I had to learn to like it and learn new, fun recipes. I now find joy in taking a gluten filled recipe and making it gluten free.

I love chocolate and all things that involve chocolate.

I find a ridiculous amount of joy in throwing my kids (or other people) parties and going all out, just so I can see their eyes light up with joy and excitment.

I find my strength in my Savior and can do all things through him because of his love for me. I would not be where I am today without his help and support in my life. He has carried me through so many health struggles and life trials and I owe everything to him. I am member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Why a blog?

As a teenager my parents would enlist me and my siblings to do “fix it” projects around our houses. My parents would buy HUD homes and my Dad would do most of the work to fix them up, and of course he would utilize me and my 3 siblings to accomplish some of the work. I grew up knowing a lot more about home repairs and renovations then most kids do. I learned some things about plumbing, electrical, dry wall, carpet installation, among other things, before I ever left home

I have always loved decorating and would spend countless hours decorating and redecorating my bedroom as a kid. We moved quite a few times when I was a teenager so I had lots of rooms to redecorate and my parents always joked that I had my room decorated before the last box was even unloaded off the truck. I will admit I was a bit anal about not touching my things and I LOVED to go to garage sales and find great deals. I spent countless Saturdays from about the age of 10 up going to garage sales around my neighborhood. I remember buying things for me and my family members and I would always haggle for a better price. I begged my mom to go to Value Village and Goodwill all the time and could spend countless hours scouting out good deals.

I loved to write all through school and found such passion in creating stories and making something out of nothing. I wanted to be a reporter or a journalist for most of my youth and spent as much time as I could writing. In Junior High and High School I won lots of awards for stories that I wrote. It was always a struggle for me though because I have dyslexia and eventually I gave up on a dream of writing because my spelling and grammar was not so great. It was very hard to give up on something I loved so much and something that brought me such great joy.

When my husband and I first got married he joined the military and I started this blog as a way to keep our family (who was very far away) up to date on our lives. I remembered very quickly how much I loved to write and I started to blog more and more. After a few years people started asking me for craft ideas or help with projects. I started hosting craft nights in my home and would help people with projects. I occasionally would write about my projects but wasn’t sure if I had anything worthwhile to say. Then people started inviting me to their home and asking me to help them decorate. I started getting so many requests for this that I decided it was time to do something about it. Whenever people would come into my home they would comment on my decor and tell me that I had a natural eye and talent for decorating. I had people telling me to blog about a project so they could do it too. I finally decided to step outside my bubble and start blogging more and putting myself out there for the world to see.

 I have people tell me often how much they admired my determination to live well and find joy in my trials despite all the health struggles I have. I find most of my strength through listening to and learning from others who have gone through whatever it is I am going through. I believe that God doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle (with his help) and that he places people in our lives to help us better “handle” our trials. I have never been shy about sharing my story about my health problems or being a mom to a child with Autism. I think we each learn from each other and can find strength in leaning on those around us.

This blog is a combination of all the things in my life (and yours) that bring joy. Its not just about decorating or home design, its about finding joy in every situation.

This blog is about all the beautiful, decorative, adventurous, food filled, trial ridden, breath taking, parenting, things that bring us joy.

This blog is about good food, great family, decorative gorgeousness, parenting pit falls and uplifting moments and everything in between.

This blog is about life, and life is to be enjoy not just endured.

Thank you for joining me on my journey. I can’t wait to share in all of the joy life brings, together!!!