good things come to those who wait

(photo by Emily Stevens)

I'm really disappointed. I had been sort of planning a little elopement getaway to New Orleans with Cade, but I've had to put the brakes on that indefinitely. The reason isn't cold feet, or money problems, or any of those usual reasons to postpone a wedding. It's because of stupid health insurance... I need my dad's health insurance to pay for all the expensive medicine I take, and the day I get married, I'm dropped from the plan. As of right now, the insurance my work offers for part time people isn't any good and won't cover my medicine anyway, and I can't get enough hours to be considered full time. So, my only option for right now is to just use my dad's insurance, which I am so grateful that I have. I was just really hoping to get married. I know it's only a piece of paper, and that nothing will change afterwards, because we already live together, and yadda yadda, but it did mean a lot to me, and I'm upset we have to put it off because of that reason. But someday, I'll get my own health insurance, and then we will.

But we're going to still go to New Orleans and enjoy ourselves anyway :) Perhaps in February, for our 5 year anniversary? I think so!

Clear Crick Cottage Jewelry

Hey everyone! I just wanted to take a minute to introduce you guys to a very good friend of mine, Ms. Sherilyn Koss. She has a great little etsy shop called Clear Crick Cottage, where she sells all handmade jewelry made out of all of the prettiest beads in the world.

Recently she made me a beautiful, completely custom made bracelet to wear for my engagement pictures (and my wedding... whenever that happens) and it is absolutely beautiful! This picture is of the bracelet she made for me:


I have some pictures of me wearing it, but I haven't gotten my engagement pictures back yet, so I will post those when I get them. But that picture was one of many that she sent me, showing me different arrangements of beads, colors and clasps. She will take tons of pictures to show you all of the work in progress, and nothing is final until the bracelet is exactly what you want. I wanted an elegant pearl bracelet that included my two favorite colors and a little heart charm. We ended up going with a circle clasp, but she put a heart charm on the bracelet just for me :) As a little added surprise she sent me a simple pearl bracelet that would go with just an every day outfit. I've worn this bracelet almost every single day since I got it because it's so cute and simple, and goes with everything. I get tons of compliments on it every time I wear it.



In addition to making custom jewelry, she also has some beautiful sets in her shop already. A lot of them have earrings, necklace and a bracelet together. I think one of these sets would be a perfect gift for any woman in your life! Here are a couple of her pieces that I am really liking:

You can find all 3 of these in her shop right now!

She has a 20% off coupon code available for the holidays for her blog followers. You can find her blog here.

If you're still doing some holiday gift shopping (or you haven't started at all like me... *cough cough*) go check out her shop! And get something for yourself, too! You deserve it!

i got a man to stick it out & make a home from a rented house

Does anyone know of a good way to find houses for rent? We're coming up on the end of our apartment lease and I am ready to pack up and get the heck out of here. I looked online for hours the other night, but I could only find 1 house in the area for rent, but I know I've seen tons around. Does that mean you just have to drive around and find them? Or is there a better way?

I can't stand our neighbors, and I couldn't bear the thought of living next to them for another year. Ughhhh. I am hoping we can find something in town (otherwise we'll be out in the middle of nowhere... which could be kinda nice, on second thought) and for cheaper than we currently have.

Any advice?