Sunday morning reflections…

Our alarm didn’t go off this morning, so we slept right through the 8:30 church service. So, here I am  reading 1 Peter at my favorite coffee shop, Blue Mug, KT Tunstall playing in the background. I thought I’d share a wee photo :)

So the 10th was our 6 months of being married! I won’t call it quite an annivesary…maybe just because we’re too busy to go all out and celebrate. But we kissed and cuddled and watched a movie, and went to bed, and cuddled. That in it self is celebrating. I love my husband…he truly is my partner, my buddy, my love, my best friend, my team mate. I know that all sounds cheesy, but we are going through life together, saving together, struggling together, laughing together, tired together, what’s his is mine and what’s mine is his. It doesn’t matter how hard or how easy life is…I have Tyler and the Lord. I love my life. I wanted to put a picture up that was recently taken of us, but it’s on my old computer that won’t charge, therefore, won’t turn on, meaning, I can’t get to it.

My best friend is getting married here in a couple weeks and I’m so terribly excited. We have our days requested off…I can’t wait to get ready with her, share laughs and tears, and see her walk down the isle. Kaylyn, I can’t wait!

I also get to see my lovely pregnant friend and hopefully get to feel little Miss Baby Stubblefield move around :)

With that…Tyler and I are looking to move after our lease is up.  We’re looking at some houses for rent in historic Escondido…so darn cute! We are looking for a place with a bathtub (ours has a weird texture, and I can’t take a bath because I’m just grossed out by it), a garage or more storage for all the music stuff, allows us to have a little pup pup (we are dying to have one), and doesn’t have abnormally high kitchen cabinets. Don’t get me wrong…we love our place right now…it’s a great first  place. But we aren’t totally in love with the neighborhood and we really want a puppy. Haha. But that’ll all be in a about 6 months.

Well, I’m gonna read a little more. I hope you all have a lovely Sunday. So many great things are coming in the next couple weeks I can hardly contain myself! Love love love!

I am a sewing machine!

Not like the actual machine…but like the saying. Anyway…yesterday I cranked out the sewing machine from the closet. I haven’t sewn in a while but i’ve been feeling very creative lately. I painted some frames for father’s day which I forgot to take pictures of before I mailed them out…

And a couple days ago…I was on the Anthro website and was drooling over this pillow. It’s entirely too expensive, and although I have some giftcards I could use to buy it, I decided I’d try and create it myself. Well…I didn’t get AS detailed as the original, but now I understand why they charge so much. So much work! I’m pretty satisfied with it for now. Here is my new pillow…

And I figured while I was already sewing, I should make another pillow for my bed…

So there are some pillows. I got burned out…so I’m going to start another type of project. It’s going to consist of a frame, pretty paper, thread, pretty fabric, and some yarn. We’ll see how it turns out. 

Apart from projects and creativity…things are going really well. I started my pilates class  on Monday and went this morning too. I’m already sore, it’s ridiculous. I love getting an early start to my day. I get to go again on Friday.

Tyler and I are doing well…he is still working at Guitar Center but he got a second job at Papa John’s right next to my work. Although it seems as if he’s crazy for working so much…he got the second job to actually have MORE time. Now, doesn’t work Monday through Thursday to work solely on writing music and studying music programming, and works 10am-10pm (Guitar Center first, then delivers pizzas), Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It’s temporary but I love that he works right next door. I was on my break, sitting outside, the other day while he was working next door. I was wondering I would get to catch him walking out for a delivery so I could give him kiss…and I see him walk out with pizza in hand…peaking inside my store to check on me. He didn’t see me sitting right outside in front of both of our stores. I called out his name and told him how cute he was. I guess he always looks in my store when he walks by :)

We have an opportunity in August to lead worship at a church on a regular basis. We’re praying a lot about this. It’s not for sure yet on our part. We really want to do it, but we don’t want to make such a commitment in haste.

Anyway…I haven’t been a good blogger…but it seems we are all a little busy lately. It’s so easy to forget the important things in life when you’re constantly doing something…like blogging what the Lord has done and is doing in my life. My hope today is that I’m so focused on the Lord, that I may see everything He wants to reveal to me and not miss a thing. It’s a beautiful day.

P.S. I like cottage cheese now.

my patio garden.

Welcome to my new patio garden…

I’m currently growing tomatoes, sweet basil, and cilantro!

Oh and I made little button name tags for them…

I can’t wait for the tomatoes to start growing! ONE of my dreams is to have a house with a garden…this will have to do for now.

Have a beautiful week!

…something I just finished.

Some of those poses were very difficult! (Especially the “D”s!)

that fuzzy feeling…and “speaking-of(s)”

Ever get that fuzzy warm feeling? Of course you do! For me it happens on those perfect overcast days, effortlessly waking up before my alarm clock, birds chirping, the cool air filling the room…snuggling with Tyler. I also love getting up before him, having a peaceful morning knowing he’s sound asleep.

This is how my morning started. After peacefully getting ready and eating one of the chocolate chip muffins that my neighbor brought us last night, I packed my bag with this laptop, my bible, my devotional book (At the Master’s Feet by Charles Spurgeon…you should give it a try, it’s so edifying!), I got into my finally clean car (I got it detailed last week! First time in like 3 years, yeah it was so gross.) and headed to the nearby Starbucks.

As I was driving, I was just reflecting on what a beautiful morning I was having, then I had to decide what I was going to drink. Working at a coffee place…you don’t really have a favorite drink anymore. Almost every drink becomes a favorite for a period of time…really, 4 years of favorite drinks, it becomes difficult to choose. So I picked my most nostalgic fuzzy feeling drink: Caffé Mocha.

Caffé Mocha…ahhhh. Those were the days that Tyler and I were attending Citrus College together. We would alternate every other day who would pick who up, who would pack lunches, and right before school (if we weren’t running late) we would stop by Starbucks and both get matching mochas :) We would part our ways to our classes, but we would still be sipping on our mochas. :) I really loved those times.

…I had a beautiful drive, listening to KWAVE. Now I’m here with the two sweetest boys watching Beauty and the Beast. (they wanted to watch it.) I love this movie though, too :)

Speaking of movies…Tyler and I went to go see Up in 3D. It’s that new Pixar movie. It was soooo cute! I definitely recommend going to see it. Well, we probably wouldn’t have gone if we didn’t have free movie tickets (they’re so expensive these days) but if you’re going to see a movie, see that one. The best part is, the theater was packed and there were only like 5 kids! That goes to show Pixar isn’t only for kids. Anyway…

I’m really looking forward to my day today. Ty and I are going to go grocery shopping when I get home later (I love when he goes with me), then later I’m going to watch him play hockey. He’s so good at it! And speaking of sports/hobbies…

I’ve really been wanting to get into my own kind of getaway activity. After a lot of thinking, I’m going to enroll in ballet at the nearby community college in the fall. I just want to do something different and ballet is very different from anything I have ever done. I’ve always thought it was such a beautiful and graceful dance. So I’m going for it! I wanted to do it in the summer, but they don’t offer it. I couldn’t wait to get into something, so I’m going to take a pilates class starting June 22nd. $25 for 6 weeks, twice a week! Seriously, such a great deal. There’s a pilates/yoga studio in downtown Escondido that’s like $120 for 4 weeks. I’m pretty excited about that :)

Well it’s time to make lunch for the little munchkins. If you read all of this, thanks for reading…I kind of trailed off from one thing to the next…but hey, that’s what’s going on :)

love,
steph kunze

(by the way, I’m officially a Kunze. A couple weeks ago I went through all the paper work with social security and the dmv and the bank and everything else! What a process but it’s done!)

loves and don’t loves

1 Love taking care of my hubby when he’s sick.
2 Don’t love being sick
3 Love having a nice clean home
4 Don’t love folding the sheet that wraps around your mattress (you know what I mean, how do you fold those anyway!? They don’t even have CORNERS!!!)
5 Love Trader Joe’s Pomegranate and Blueberries Cereal (new discovery, you’ve gotta try it!)
6 Don’t love…can’t think of anything…next line.
7 Love the mornings when I tell Tyler, “Okay babe, gotta get ready for work!” Then 10 minutes later, “Okay honey, you really gotta get ready for work.” (like this morning)
8 Don’t love bills
9 Love being excited for my best friend’s bridal shower next Saturday!
10 Don’t love waiting for it.
11 Love my potted flowers
12 Don’t love that they die so quickly! (I swear I water them daily. Must be the sun.)
13 Love that I got money to shop for my b-day
14 Don’t love that I can’t find any clothes I like. (Fashion is weird right now…pirate girls, boho AGAIN, dirty-short-skanky-80’s-ripped stuff? Not my style.) I’ll find something.
15 Love the zoo! We got passes for my b-day.
16 Don’t love…
17 Love picking out cards and writing them off to those who are dear to me
18 Don’t love…

Well, all in all, the loves far outweigh the don’t loves in life. The one really though that bugs me the most is #4. Anyone know how to do it the right way? My mom is excellent at it, I should ask her.

Have a lovely day. Sorry for my lack of blogs…I don’t think anyone really reads this. But if you do, here’s a post!

Hello.

Happy Sunday evening…

Well, I haven’t written anything for a while mainly because my life is so very packed with…well, life! I’ve been working, hanging out with my huzz, playing music, decorating…oh, and cleaning (which seems never-ending?). Sweet and simple.

My little camera, though, is gonna poop-out on me any day now. It struggles to turn on, then to switch back and forth to camera/play mode, and now when it actually snaps a little picture, it makes a sad little noise. Some days it works, some days it takes a vacation. And because it pains my little camera to take pictures (and it pains me too)…I may be a little uninspired to post without a picture. But today…it worked. It struggled, but it worked!

I finally got some wedding pictures developed to put in some frames I’ve been saving. Today I put together this wall collage in our hallway. So i’d like to share it! Oh, and that’s me in the mirror…not a weird picture of my head.

So yeah, that’s that. I’ve been very inspired to make time out of my busy schedule to make our place our home. I have a few projects lined up. Lately, I think I enjoy shopping for my home than for clothes. It’s true.

Anyway, tomorrow is Tyler’s 24th birthday. We’re going to head up to Chino Hills after a nice breakfast in Carlsbad to celebrate with our friends and family. It was fun picking out a card under the “husband birthday” category. I found the perfect one.

I hope you have a beautiful week. Keep focused on the Lord and He will reveal the beauty to you!

today [day off]

Wake up.

Stretch in bed and make a funny noise to make Tyler smile.

Ask him if he had any dreams. (he did…that we were outside somewhere, and the black smoke from Lost came to us and I fell in a hole and got up and told him I felt like smoking a cigarette and wanted a Jack Daniels. Hmm…)

Get up.                                                                                                                                                                          
Clean some dishes from last night’s dinner. (there’s always some to do in the morning)                      
Start the day off with two homemade iced lattes. (love our espresso machine)                                      
Make banana pancakes and cereal for myself–banana pancakes, corn beef and hash, and a sliced pear for Ty.

Read Ezekiel 2. (this is where I’m at in my day)

Go to the gym.

Get some photos printed and hung up.

A little house cleaning.
 

Finally screw those Anthro knobs in the dresser.

Write a card to a friend.

Then I might have some extra time to do more wonderful things…but if not, then…

Go to the studio to sing our last song for the EP.

 

I love these days off. So relaxing…
I hope you all have a beautiful day whatever you are doing!

*The spacing is so weird on this post…it’s not letting me control it, oh well.

Our Easter

I didn’t get to celebrate with my family this year because I had to work. I’ve been so busy I had forgotten to request it off. It was a bummer…Tyler had to work aswell. But I accepted it and was so refreshed with the fact that Jesus WAS resurrected and I remembered how beautiful this ‘holiday’ was…regardless if I was eating a huge feast or not. So work wasn’t so bad after all. :)

So I got home at 8, ready to wrap up my day with a shower and a movie with my hunny, and I walked into this!
Tyler cooked for me!!! The table was beautifully set with some adorable white ranunculus, red wine, and shrimp cocktail. You know he cooked when there is shrimp cocktail and steak.So we enjoyed this dinner…he really did a such a great job and I was totally swept off my feet. He then made some banana splits that were spectacular…and this is us after dinner. (Still in my work clothes…blah)

Oh, and this is what we see every time we eat at the table. Our friend got this for us…

So that was our humble little Easter. I finally took a shower and we cuddled up on the couch and watched Australia. It was a really good movie. 

Today we got to sleep in and we’re meeting with Pete to show him our last song for the EP. Hopefully he likes it and we can get it recorded and be finished with the cd!

I hope you all had a great Easter…can’t wait to read what you all did!

“and blah blah blah…” (do you know people who finish their sentences like that?)

So we beat last months electricity bill! $35.02. What do you pay? I’m just curious…maybe we can try to see who can be the lowest for next month ;) 

Thats my exciting news for today…

Now with some thoughts. Tyler and I really really really want to have a puppy. A few reasons why we can’t (well the main reason) is because our landlords say “ABSOLUTELY NO PETS.” The other reasons are probably all financial. Our landlords really like us though. They always tell us how they hope we stay here  f o r e v e r. They probably don’t realize we have a dream of actually owning a home someday…anywayyyyyyyy. We think by the time our lease is up in December, we’ll be super ready to have a dog, but at the same time, we wouldn’t mind staying here longer because we’re still getting situated and what’s moving all over again when we are just getting situated? (unless we find a super rad place that we couldn’t resist.) SO, we will bribe our landlords at that point (because they’ll see how awesome we really are by paying our rent on time every month and  see how we haven’t trashed the place along with writing sweet e-mails to them) and tell them we really would love to stay if we could have a pet. If they say no, we’ll have to find some people that would understand our situation. Simple as that. 

In the meantime, I’ve been thinking alot about volunteering at the animal shelter next to our house. I’m not sure though about reading to animals in a monotone voice. (If you read the link, you’ll know what i’m talking about. But hey, if I have to, i’ll do it, what the heck, it’ll give me some time to catch up on some reading.)  They’d work around my schedule, and I could walk and help take care of some orphan dogs. So I’m going to catch the next orientation and get some more details. I mean how could you not want to hang around with this puppy?I think this could be an awesome thing and it’s really close by.

So those are my thoughts…

And I got to talk to my best friend on the phone today. That was the highlight of my day. Can’t wait for our dinner party on the 25th!