Stocking Stuffer Ideas for the Adventurer

Happy Wednesday All! 

We are back on the road, after a few more curve balls, and headed towards southern Kentucky! I can't believe there are only 19 days left until Christmas! In the holiday spirit I figured this Currently edition should be Christmas themed; so, here is how we are currently celebrating this December... 

{Lighting} My Mimi’s old ceramic Christmas tree! We are having a throwback Christmas this year, mostly because we only had room for about 4 decorations. Since we had no space for storing many ornaments, we decided that our RV Christmas tree would be one with sentimental value, that didn't take up much space! Once we get set up for at least more than a 2 day stretch in one place, it will go in between the recliners, right in the big back window. 

{Spending} Money on stocking stuffers for each other! We are only doing stockings this year (this new adventure is gift enough). For the most part they will be filled with the essentials; coffee, gloves, cozy socks… but I am going to try to grab him a few fun items for all our upcoming adventurers. Any adventures in your life?! Here are some of my favorite finds: 

For Her

Hiking Fanny Pack- I LOVE my fanny pack! It drives Babe crazy (hence, why it's not on his list), but it is so convenient and I much prefer having the weight on my hips than my shoulders! 

WineARoo- We love taking wine on-the-go! Adventure picnics or to the movies, foldable wine pouches are amazing! 

On-the-Go Phone Charger- I need this in my life! My poor little phone is on it's last leg and the charge doesn't last long. We have a bulky, portable charger, but need something smaller. Every adventurer needs a small portable phone charger. 

Adventure Fuel Mug- Because every good adventure starts with a warm cup of coffee! 

For Him 

Wallet Survival Tool- I got him one a few years ago and somewhere in the wallet switches that have happened he lost it! These little things are great for on-the-go adventure needs! 

LifeStraw- We have been wanting one of these for the longest time; we would love to taste water fresh from the mountain streams! 

Sipping Stones- Because Babe likes what I call his "man-beverage" after a long day of hiking! 

FloatPro: GoPro Wrist Strap- We have been using this old lanyard as a GoPro wrist strap and just try to make sure it's super secure before doing any crazy cliff jumps; it would be so nice to have one that we know would float to the surface should it ever slip loose! 

{Choosing} Where we want to spend Christmas! Since we hit the road for full-time RV life right after Thanksgiving, and had originally planned to be working in West Virginia (more on that soon), we knew we wouldn't be making it back to Orlando for Christmas. Since we won't be in West Virginia it leaves so many possibilities for where we should spend Christmas Day. A huge part of me is sad not to be in Orlando, but there is a part of me that's excited for our first Christmas just the two of us and to maybe even have a cold Christmas for once; should I dare say white Christmas?! Here's to hoping!! Best towns for Christmas experiences... and go! 

{Sending} Postcards! We have made promises to send postcards from each state we visit. So we are getting all our postcards ready to go, along with Christmas wishes to friends and family. 

{Singing} As much Christmas music as possible! This will be the first time these Florida natives have ever had a white Christmas (hopefully), so we are taking full advantage of it.  We're feeling super cozy this year and singing along to every winter weathered Christmas song that comes on the radio. With all the crazy changes that have happened in our first week on the road our theme song has become "to face UNAFRAID the plans that we've made, walking in a winter wonderland." 

And that's our December currently! What's going on in your world currently?

Got your own Christmas theme song for this year?!

5 Things I Have Loved Lately

Because it is Sunday and I would fully like my day of rest I am hiding out in the computer room before church so that I do not have to go help with "Project Never-Ending Shed" as I have so termed it.

5 Things I Have Loved Lately

1.) I watched this through a link someone posted on FB and I loved every minute. I loved Johnny's humble humility. I loved how he didn't even seem to understand why they would want to raise the price of the teepee. I love that he cared about the people he was selling to. I love that he carded for the farmer, the hard working men and women who help keep food on our tables. Worth the watch.

2.) This is outstanding! Working in Children's Ministry, or with kids in any capacity, we sometimes wonder if the kiddos are even listening at all, but they are. They so very much are! Just listen to her tell the story of Jonah. I used to think that God would sound like Morgan Freeman, but now I wonder if He will sound like the voice of this little girl when she is telling Jonah what God has to say. "My love is great, it is greater than my anger and it is for all my creatures."

3.)Walking through The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp. It is an advent devotional and yes, advent maybe over, but isn't every moment really a moment of advent. Always leading up, always preparing our hearts for Jesus. I love it for many reasons, but I won't lie in saying that one of the biggest appeals is that is is perfect for a non-morning person like me. I am not an early riser. I fight that morning struggle of "stay-in-bed, hit-snooze-just-one-more-time" vs "get-up, don't-rush, have-some-quiet-God-time." The Greatest Gift has short enough clips though I don't feel like I have to rush through my morning devotion. I can still pour over the words while I eat breakfast, fill my soul and have some quiet moments to reflect on it all.

4.) Writing Day!! These sweet ladies and I have been meeting up every couple weeks for about an hour or so to chat about writing, life and our blogs. This past week we had our first ever, full Writing Day. It was some many bits of wonderful!! Melissa led it for us with schedules, prompts and sweet destinations for a change of scenery. I ended the day feeling refreshed and excited for this happenings on this space for 2015! I can not wait for our next one.

5.) The shed is almost finished!!! Praise the Lord, do a dance and thank the hands that completed it. Because we had done a Thanksgiving cruise as opposed to our New Year's cruise this year Babe thought it would be a great time to fix the shed and replace all the wood that has been water damaged since we bought our house. "Three days," he said! "Won't take too long," he said! Lies! He was mostly lying to himself, but that 3 day project has turned into a 1+ week project! While it has been wonderful having Papa (his dad) here with us and hearing the two of them banter like old men do, I just want to go to Disney! After painting boards the color of sand for two days I think I am entitled to some magic and color in my life!! I just wanted to eat from Holidays Around the World and hear the sweet story of Jesus at the Candlelight Processional. But alas, I will wait until next year and be thankful for pretty new shed walls and hard-working men and a finished product! Though now Babe says the shed looks better than the house. Good thing he thought it so smart to buy enough paint for the house as well. Oh, the joys!

Linking up today with Christina and the lovely ladies from

All Domesticated Like, Just Read My Walls!

My post title has domestic in it... call the presses and alert the news!

I don't know where it came from but this last week had found me with a 'crafty, clothe-my-naked-walls' hair in my rear end. Considering it has been two and half years since we moved in and two and half years since I so much as placed an item on a shelf to look somewhat decorative you should probably not expect too many of these posts.  This mood may have come about because my dear friend Kalee was in town visiting from her new home in Birmingham. She is so good at all that 'planny, arrangey' type stuff and some of it may have rubbed off while she was here. Whatever the reason, since I have been in said mood lately I will share with you my fond little corner! My walls are so happy not to be naked anymore. Come and read them for yourself!!

I finally made the book wreath that I had found the idea for here.  Check Christina out if you want to know how to make it because, well, my step-by-step process talk would give you a whole lotta nothing! I could barely figure out how to roll the cones the right way. It took a handful of tries before Wally (who was helping me) finally figured it out and then a bazillion how-tos for me to finally catch on.  This is what finally began to commence after that tutorial.

It all started with a few ripped out pages. This part was the hardest thing for me to do! You do not rip books around this girl!!  Books are like babies, they need to be treated gently. I can get all kinds of be-nice-to-that-book crazy, but I felt that given the cover and the amount of love this book had seen it was time to be recommissioned for a higher purpose.

And that is when the pile began to grow...

and grow... (plus you can't beat some time with my main man Tim McGraw and the ever wonderful Sandra Bullock)

And grow! Until it was this glorious pile of Harry Potter happiness just waiting to be put together to adorn my wall.  It was actually pretty neat seeing the book piled up on my table like that, with the pages spread out and the cover atop them all.

And then all of those cone pages became this. It took the first movie (The Blind Side) to cone everything and then the second (Bedtime Stories) to get everything glued down properly.  I used a 12 inch wreath instead of 16 because I wasn't sure the book had enough pages to fill the bigger one up. 

Then the next day, in all the remaining crafty steam of the day before, I finally decided to display wedding photos.  And this was born!

I was so happy with myself for these little projects that I did a little jig (or two)! Babe has only been hinting for me to clothe our walls for what seems like years now (maybe because it actually has been).

I also figured I would share with you a lovely sandwich Babe and I ate when we went to dinner at a friends parents one evening. I now dub this sandwich the "Mr. Beaver" in honor of our sweet host (though he did get the idea from a sandwich shop somewhere in St. Pete)!

It is sandwich consisting of grilled tuna steaks, egg salad (made by a sweet friend I call Beave) and avocado. Considering I am not a huge fish eater (though I do love meatier fish such as tuna) and I do not typically like egg salad, I would say anyone should try this sandwich.  You will love it! It is so yummy! I loved each and every last morsel of it.  So, so very delicious!

Now that you have made it through my rant of domesticated, craftiness how has your summer kick-off been? 

Any sandwich ideas you love that I could try out this summer?