Happy Birthday, my love.

Aaron, 

Today is your birthday. I am blessed to be here with you to experience another year of this crazy life. You are 28 today. I love you more now that you are 28 than I did when you were 27, 26, 25 and 24.

We went on our first date twelve days before your 25th birthday, at Blues on the Green. We sat in traffic, then on your camouflage sleeping bag, enjoying talking to each other more than listening to the music or the people watching around us. I can't remember exactly what we talked about, but oh if I knew then what I knew now. Twelve days later, we went bowling on your birthday. I am pretty sure I stopped and got you candy on the way there (foreshadowing to what was to come for the rest of our lives). I probably beat you at bowling. If I didn't, it's because I let you win.

So much has happened in those years. We fell in love, got engaged, got married, made each other laugh, made each other mad, got in arguments, went on vacations, made good decisions, and made mistakes. We have so much to look forward to in the years to come. You're my best friend and I am blessed and honored to spend every day with you. 

The way you laugh is contagious, the way you look at me makes me melt, your sweetness when you first wake up makes me want to cry with happiness.. you are just an amazing husband and there are not enough words to express how you've blessed me as your wife. 

I appreciate everything you do for me & us... the mornings that you wake up at the crack of dawn to go to work and don't get home from school until after 10, the weekends when all you want to do is relax but you're so determined that you focus on studies instead. The way you lead our city group faithfully every Tuesday with all of your heart and love people even though sometimes that takes work. The way you give several hours of your time each week to allow people to worship God through A/V at our church. 

All of that and being an attentive husband, a loving son, and a reliable friend takes a very Christ-centered man... and that is you, and that draws me nearer to Christ. 

I love you so much. I hope I helped to make your 27th year great, and that your 28th will be memorable as well. Happy Birthday, honey! 

Love, 

Sarah

Pillows from Napkins

Okay, this itty bitty sewing project is so much fun! Yesterday I made two pillows for $6.99 out of a set of four napkins I bought at Home Goods. My favorite part of the project was that it didn't require ANY cutting, which is my least favorite part of sewing- I am SO bad at it! I can't cut a straight line to save my life! I think these pillows turned out so cute, and for the price you can't beat it. Being napkins, the fabric is also of good quality, heavier than quilting cotton, and I'm planning to use them for outdoor pillows. I'm also planning to go back to Home Goods and buy a few more sets of napkins- they had some very, very cute bright prints coordinating with the one I chose.

Here they are, looking cute on our guest bed:

The napkins were 18x18, and I happened to have some old pillows that were about 17x17, so it worked out perfectly. I also added some stuffing to make them a little fuller. I sewed three sides with a straight stitch, wrong sides together, and then put the old pillow in, stuffed it, and sewed up the last side. Easy as that! Now, if you don't have old pillows, you can use just stuffing or a pillow form. But if you do, and they aren't the exact right size, you might have to cut a little bit. You could also do an envelope style back, if you make a smaller pillow, but you'd obviously have to do some cutting.

Another trick I like to use when making pillows- if you have unused pillows lying around but they're not the right size, you can cut into them and pull out the stuffing and use that. I do that a lot.

This project is for the most novice sewer and you can find cute napkins just about anywhere- I've noticed Target has some cute DwellStudio ones (like these) at some of their stores that are so great- and just keep your eye out for them at places like Home Goods, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, World Market, Crate and Barrel, etc! Total cost for me was only the cost of the napkins- $6.99.

Have fun- and be careful...buying napkins could become an addiction :)