26

Today is my Birthday!!! Woohoo! Happy 26th Birthday to me.  

Am I really 26 though??? I still look like 18 or so I'm told all the time. 

Well let's just show you me throughout the years? Would that be ok if we took a look back on memory lane?

Aw, it's a baby Toaster. It looks like I'm snapping (hehe, I do that a lot).

My sister "reading" to me.  It's important to start them early reading!  Our baby will go to the library with me at an early age! :)

Ok, ignore the angry face, I honestly do love snow and always have. My parents have one of my dad pulling me on the sled around this age too!

And I've also always loved the water.  Oh and that's my wonderful grandpa! I miss him terribly!

My cousin Michelle's wedding back in 1996 (I think).  I got to be the "ring bearer" 

My first dance recital ever, yup, I was 8.  I had glasses since I was 3.  They're so terrible hahah!

Sea World with my neighbor Christine, back when I was in middle school, now we're both expecting little ones! How time flies!

My freshman year of high school, going to a dance banquet. Yes, I had long hair, dad decided I wasn't allowed to cut it. 

Lunch with Santa for German club with my extended family.

My younger sister and I at our semi-formal my junior year (17)

Me with my grandpa before my junior prom just a few months before he passed on.  Boy do I miss him.

A dance competition my junior year as well! 

Prom Senior year My mom, Me, My friend Steph, and her mom

My junior year of college (I think) can't really remember with my roommates at a friend's wedding

Junior year of college with my roommates!

Senior year of college

More senior year fun 

I can't remember if this was senior year, or the year after I graduated.  

Easter with my sisters on either side of me, my great-grandma, and my grandma

(Photo courtesy my mom-in-love)

Aaron and I for our 2 year dating anniversary (June 09)

Hey I found one picture from the day we got engaged! Woohoo!

And us now! I'd have to say we've grown up a little bit right???

Well I hope you've enjoyed this trip into the life of Toaster!

Before you go, 

Wait, don't leave yet,

I have something special for you,

Click on here to go to the shop :)

Hope you have a fantastic Sunday!

It's beginning to look a lot

like Christmas. . . 

at least inside the shop!

Ok, must stop singing before hubby hears me! 

Chestnuts roasting

I mean hello everyone!

If you haven't taken a peak at the shop lately, you're missing out on some great little accessories for the winter season that is approaching.

YAY Happy clap! 

(Oh wait, people not for our church don't understand that, oh, well) 

Double Happy Clap!

Anyway, here are some of the new beauties in the shop!

Mommy and Me Poinsetti 

Perfect for a mom and her little girl!

Have yourself a Rosie Christmas

(cover your ears Sky) 

See what I did there, Rosettes, Rosie hehehe 

The Sassy Headband

A bold statement

So that's what's new in the shop lately.  I'm hoping to add a few more items before Christmas comes.  

I'm also working on some homemade gifts this year.  My nephews' gifts are complete!  Woohoo!

Still many more gifts to go! 

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By the way, this weekend is going to be QUITE busy!  I'm so excited.  My birthday is on Sunday but I pretty much get to celebrate all weekend.

Tonight I get to hang out with my wonderful mom-in-love and sister-in-love (I think) for my birthday. 

(I got to hang out with my MIL Wednesday too and went to the beach and took some pictures.)

 Look how pretty!

Yeah I live like 30 minutes from this beauty! So beautiful!

Then on Saturday morning I get to visit some friends for a birthday breakfast!

These girls as a matter of fact:

Then I get to visit with my parents for lunch:

I think this is the only picture I have of my mom with a genuine smile, thanks Brandon!

Then it's time for our first baby shower!!!! SO EXCITED!

Then hubby has a surprised birthday thing for me Saturday night.  

Then Sunday is actually my birthday! =P YAY!

What does your weekend look like?  Busy like mine?

Guest Posting: Tara Dara Made It Etsy Spotlight

Hey everyone, Tara, of Tara Dara Made It is spotlighting my shop on her blog today. 

Why don't you go over and take a peak???

She has her own shop with super cute things too! 

Oh and there may even be a discount code ;)

Did you see the new items for Christmas?  There will be more coming soon also!

The Lynette

The Emily

The Poinsettia

And my personal favorite:

The Poppy

Goals

Everyone has them.  Some people are better at executing their goals than I am.  I have many goals in my head but causing myself to actually accomplish them has been a bit of a different story.

Goal #1 

Being a better housewife

For me this has been very difficult.  I've never been one who particularly enjoys cleaning.  Ok, I've never really enjoyed it.  Usually I would much rather find something else that needs done.  I'm praying that God will help me to be a better housewife now so that when baby comes, I won't be so overwhelmed.  That means I have 3 months.  What are some of your tips to getting cleaning/organization done?  

I would love to have a craft room this organized, however don't have the space or the money to buy the supplies it would take to do this.  So for now, I'll stick with my egg cartons, baby food jars, and other assorted ways of keeping things sorted. 

Source: None via Julie on Pinterest

Goal #2
Cook More Meals
It's not that I don't cook meals, it's just that I'd like to cook more often for my husband. Especially since he's going to be trying to work 2-3 jobs here soon.  He is way more of the cook.  I'm a gotta follow the recipe exactly kinda girl, but he's really not.  However, I am getting much much better in this area.  Do you have any fun, relatively easy recipes you'd like to share with me?
We love some cheeseburger soup and have had it recently. Yum!

Goal #3

Make and freeze meals
This sort of piggy-backs off of the last one.  In case you didn't know, we are expecting a little one come January.  I've heard that you don't generally have the energy to cook the first couple of weeks home.  So I'd love to have some meals prepared ahead of time that I can just take out of the freezer and throw in the oven or in a pot on the stove.  Any ideas?

Goal #4
Participate in a real craft show
I have been wanting to do this for a while, however being pregnant I has had it's fair share of challenges in this regard.  One is that many craft shows that cost $$$ to participate and right now we just don't have it.  The other is that many craft shows are both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is church for us and I hate to miss a service.  So that's been a challenge with wanting to go them. Also most of the craft shows have been on weekends where I already have something going on (baby showers as of late).  I would have loved to have participated in some over the summer, but was so nauseous that was just NOT happening.  
Hopefully after baby is a little older, I can find a craft show that's going on that I can participate in.  Until then, I'll keep looking at ideas on Pinterest of ways to display my items :).
I would love to do something like this to display purses, aprons, other items I create.  

Source: craftshowdesigns.blogspot.com via Melinda on Pinterest

So what are some of the goals that you have?  Have you had a hard time keeping your goals.  Please tell me I'm not alone on this one.

Also if you use the code: CleaningUp in the shop you will get FREE Shipping until October 25th.  Pass the word on please!  Trying to get out some old inventory to add some new! :)

On This Day 2 Years Ago and a Surprise ;)

My husband, was only my boyfriend, and he was very sick.  Poor guy!  He had a fun filled day planned for us and he felt like he was run over by a dumptruck.  (One of the ways I know he loves me, he still went through with our day).  

A few weeks prior to this day, Aaron had called me to ask if this weekend was open because it was the last weekend to go to Panama Rocks and he had wanted to take me there for a while now. I said yes, and yes again, and 3 more times.  He is NOT usually someone who plans things out.  He's more of an on the fly type person.  So I knew something was up.  I wondered if he had planned on proposing when he took me to Panama Rocks.  I talked about it later that day to my employer and then kinda let it go for a while. 

A few weeks later, the weekend of October 17-18th came, and my poor Aaron was so sick.  He could barely get off the couch.  I asked him if we had still planned on going on Sunday.  He said, "I don't know if we should go I'm pretty sick."  His mom overhearing it said, "WAAAAAHHHHAT??????? Not go???"  Yup, that pretty much sealed the deal for me and I thought for sure he was proposing.  So I was pretty sad when he said we wouldn't go (although I thought maybe he was just trying to throw me off as well.)  

So the next morning we got up and got ready for church.  He came down the stairs, and I could see the outline of the box in his pocket.  Panama Rocks is a beautiful place for hiking, and he was afraid of losing the ring so he kept it in his pocket.  I was having a terribly hard time waiting for him to propose.  I had wanted to marry him even before we started dating (maybe I'm crazy, or maybe it was just one of those God things). 

We went to church, had a quick lunch at Arby's, visited a friend for a little (I forget why we had to go that day but for some reason we did).  The whole time I watched the clock, I knew that the place closed at 5 and didn't let you enter after 4.  Oh and it was about an hour away.  So at 2 o'clock I was near pacing.  HAHAHA

So we finally got to Panama Rocks and it was BEAUTIFUL!  Do any of you know about my love for snow??? No??? Well I love it.  Like a lot.  When I wake up on my birthday and there is snow on the ground I sing Happy Birthday to Me!  The day before, it had snowed, not a lot but just a dusting.  PERFECTION!  We took some pictures of the entrance area, went and bought our tickets, looked at the map and then started hiking.  Aaron was super sweet in helping me get over my fears.  Some of the places I was too afraid to climb down.  (I didn't grow up in the country like he did).  He would grab my waist to help gently guide me down.  Too sweet.  

After we made it about halfway through, we had to take a break.  Aaron being sick, could no longer really breathe and needed to rest for a bit.  Only he was resting for a long time.  He was making small talk.  I can't really remember it.  I asked if he was ready to continue.  He said no, let's talk some more.  Ok, I can be patient.  Then while sitting there on that log, he says, something to this effect (I can't really remember exactly because I was far too excited), "Amanda, you know that my motto is 'It's always an adventure with Aaron Wood' and today has been no different.  We've climbed over a lot of obstacles so far and I know that there will be more, but with God's help I know we can get through it.  We've been climbing over rocks. Let me show you the most beautiful rock here.  *gets down on one knee*  Amanda, I love you so very much, will you marry me???"

*Swoon*  He forgot to put the ring on, so I was like "Yes, I love you please put the ring on! Please put the ring on!" *freaking out*

Then we took some photos as we both cried.

It was just so beautiful!  We finished walking through Panama Rocks both of us talking about our future.  When we got home we told Aaron's parents.  Called my parents, and then started calling everyone else. HAHAHA

And then we couldn't wait and put it on Facebook =P.  Since then we've gotten rid of Facebook but back then we were just so excited!

Unfortunately I can't find the photos from that day, but all the photos except the flower and ring were taken by Aaron's Mom.  She does wonderful photography.


And you're reward for making it this far:

Don't forget that 10% of all your orders go to Project Hope for the next two months.  Read more here. 

Please share with me your engagement stories or direct me to where I can read them.  I'd love to hear the stories!  Hopeless romantic here. 

Guest Posting: The Young Retiree

Today I'm posting over here for Elizabeth!  She's right now busy making the move from VA to CA.

Stop on over and check it out!

There may be a coupon code over there ;).

Project Hope

Hello Friends!!! I hope you are having a terrific Saturday!  

Recently, I started to follow Laura's blog, Splendor.  My heart broke as she told of her story of infant loss.  And then, she posted this: Project Hope.  This is a project that joins up with Threads of Love (a national program) that provides mothers with little care packages when they are going through infant loss.  Laura describes Project Hope this way, " Project Hope is meant to reach out to and minister to other moms in the moments of their greatest loss. "


At that time, I started praying.  I knew that I needed to help.  I've had friends that have been affected similarly recently and it's been breaking my heart.  So I have to help.  I've been praying about it for about a week.

So here's what I've decided.

10% of ALL Sales from Toaster's Transformations will go to Project Hope.

Please help me to get the word out!

My First Sale

I know that I posted about my first sale before but I haven't really posted in detail and when I saw that Nicole over at Three's 4 Me was having a link up, I had to join in!

Oh my first sale.  What a happy night that was.  I was sitting on my laptop, hubby was on the desktop and we were just talking, and then I saw someone had favorited an item of mine on Etsy.  So I did the usual, send a thank you for liking something I made bit, because I truly am thankful when people favorite my items, I also like to let people know that they can contact me with any questions they have.  Well, this person did.  She wanted this item, but she wanted a sea mist instead of pink blossom.  

OH, I forgot to mention, this was right after this clip had been featured on Casey Wiegand's blog.  If you don't follow her, you should. She's the SWEETEST EVER!

AARON!!! I think I MIGHT BE MAKING MY FIRST SALE.  I couldn't wait, I was so excited.  The very next morning I got up and made my custom order photograph.  

I set to work making her custom piece.  And got myself to the post office.    
This first sale, also led to my 3rd sale, as she came back to order another custom piece.  I was sooooo excited!!! I pray that God will continue to grow my business but in the meantime, I give Him thanks for the growth that I have seen!
OH and you can read her review on the testimonial page. 


Thanks for letting me share again my excitement about my first sale.  And remember, if you ever want a custom order, just let me know!

A birthday gift was my crafty day

I'm linking up with Laura, from 

For Saturday is Crafty day.  
This week I made a gift for my friend Liz who has a birthday tomorrow.  
Liz is a teacher and always dresses super cute and has super adorable jewelry.  So when thinking of what I could make for her.  I thought, well what about an interchangeable necklace so that she can wear it with different outfits. 
Here's what I came up with.  A silver chain with 9 different interchangeable pieces.  All of the pieces are on a hair clip so that they can be used in your hair or on the necklace. 

Pretty in Pink Plumeria

White as Snow Plumeria

Black Beauty Plumeria

Polka Dot Pazazz 

Vibrant Violet Plumeria

Vibrant Violet Blossom

Sea Mist Blossom

Sherbet Plumerias

Red Wine Mini Plumerias

Athough I made this gift with Liz in mind, after I made it, I thought hmmmm I wonder if this would be a good item to add to the shop?  I took some pictures of it this week so that I could get some feedback as to whether it would be something you would like to see in the shop. What do you think?  Should these make an appearance in the shop???
Also linking up with Jana for Glam Party Tuesday