Mother's Day.

Mama.  

I love you.  

You're my best friend, my counselor, my role model, my hero, my security a lot of times, my confidante, walking buddy, my guidance in a ton of situations, my teacher.

You're the only person I can tell everything to.  You're the one I can share my little thoughts and dreams and fantasies with.  You're the one who encourages and takes a genuine interest in all the things I love and am passionate about, and that means the world to me.  

You're never too busy to talk, never too occupied or carried away in life's obligations to listen to what I have to say, or what's going on with me at the moment, or to take a look at one of Luke's Lego creations.  :)

You're a hard worker, and efficient, and that's something I'm definitely going to need to learn from you--as well as how to not put oneself first, but to serve others.  You spend every. single. day. doing that, and half the time I don't pause to think about it or to be thankful, but you're amazing.  

You taught me to never leave anyone out.  You taught me to people watch.  You taught me to never talk badly about anyone  You taught me to use my head.  You taught me to love kids.  You taught me to encourage people.  You taught me to be my best.  You taught me to be myself.  You taught me to not put others or myself down.  You taught me to be honest.  You taught me that real friends will respect my convictions.  You taught me what I need to look for in my future husband.  You taught me that Jesus is the most important thing. 

Thank you for talking to me as a mature young person, and never treating me as a little kid.  It's made a huge difference in my life.  Thank you for sharing music with me.  Thank you for quoting movies with me.  Thank you for teaching me.  Thank you for being so wise and for sharing that wisdom with me--but giving me the freedom and training to think and to observe and reason and to make my own decisions.  Thank you for being a superhero nerd with me.  :)  

Thank you for being who you are--strong, loving, wise, and really, just the best.  I love you to the moon and back!  :)

Love,

Joy :)

My Mama's Birthday.

Today is my really lovely mama's birthday.  :)

Such a hot young chick.

Mama, I love you like crazy cakes.

You are the best person I know.  You're my best friend.  You're the person God uses to guide me.  You're the person that understands and encourages me the most.  I can tell you anything.  You're the best mama, the best teacher, the best friend.  I love you to the moon and back!

I'm so glad that you're my mama.  God really knew what He was doing, because I wouldn't be where I am right now if it weren't for you.  I wouldn't be the person I am.

I'm glad I got my pretty brown eyes from you.  :)  

And I hope that today is the best birthday so far, and that the birthdays after this will keep being able to top it.  ;)  

I love you!  8!

Love,

Joy :)

Pinned It, Made It! Monday ~ Sharpie Nail Designs

Hi, everyone!  :)  It's been a little while since I've participated in Pinned It, Made It! Monday, but I wanted to share this nail design trick!  :)  It's so neat.....


Pinned It, Made It! Monday is a linky party hosted by mama on her blog, Country Girl at Home, so that bloggers could share what they're pinning and making and to encourage us to actually try out what we pin.  :)  Click on the button above to go to my mama's blog and see what she and others are pinning and making, or to join the party yourself!
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So, I saw this pin on Pinterest and thought it was a great idea, but at first I wasn't sure if it was really a good idea.  I mean, really?  Using a sharpie on your nail?

Via Pinterest

But after a while, I decided to try it.  I was on the look out for gold sharpies at Walmart, and they finally showed up.  I bought a two-pack of gold sharpies and a bottle of rubbing alcohol and tried it on Wednesday night.  I pained my nails red and then used the gold sharpie to make polka dots.

Via my Instagram

Here's my verdict:

I think it will work really well if you make sure the nail polish you're using under the sharpie is completely dry.  I guess mine was still a little sticky and it messed it up a bit.  But overall, it worked out well.  And they're right; before you put the top coat on, you can use rubbing alcohol to get the sharpie off.  And once you're ready to take all of it off, it comes off pretty easily with nail polish remover (though you might have to use some rubbing alcohol then, too).  

Now I'm wondering if any sharpie will work well on nails the way this one did.  It couldn't just be the gold sharpie, could it?  Hmmm....

God bless you guys and have a great week!  :)

Joy :)

Pinned It, Made It! Monday ~ Easy-Peasy Polka Dot Nails

Good morning, everyone!  :)  It's been a long time since I've participated in Pinned It, Made It! Monday, a linky party hosted by my mama over at her blog, Country Girl at Home.  I'm glad to be participating again!  :)  Pinned It, Made It! Monday encourages bloggers to share what they've been pinning and making via Pinterest!  :)


In the past year or so, I've started doing more with my nails.  And as I've tried to tackle some of the more difficult patterns and such, I've had a hard time figuring out how to easily make polka dots!  I haven't been able to find a dotting tool, toothpicks don't work very well, and while the point of a pen dipped in nail polish works somewhat, it still just didn't work that well for me.   And then the other day I was scrolling through Pinterest and I saw this picture!

Source

Genius, right?  Why didn't I ever think of that?  The little round part at the end of a bobbi pin is perfect for making polka dots!

So I sat down and tried it out.....

.....and it worked really well!  I love red, so I did a red-and-white color combo.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  :)  It's hard for me to paint the polka dots on the right hand since I am right-handed, though.  :)

That's all for today, folks!  :)  
God bless you and have a great day, Joy :)