First things first, my name is Victoria Anderson. My friends and family call me Torrie. I am so glad that you have found my blog! Let me tell you about myself...
This year (2010), has been one of the most memorable years of my life so far. My new year started off with a 4-day conference, called Passion, where tens of thousands of 18-25 year olds worshipped God. Shortly after I returned home, I found myself geocaching, at a rather quick speed, in downtown Yorktown with Stephen, my boyfriend (at the time). It was not unusual that we were geocaching because it is our favorite past time. What was unusual was how Stephen was behaving, unrelaxed and in a hurry. It all made sense when I opened our new found treasure and looked at Stephen with excitement, to find that he was down on one knee asking me to be his wife! Talk about a good find! To end my already amazing winter break, we drove to Minnesota with his sister, niece and nephew. I have always wanted to ice skate on a frozen lake and see more than 6 inches of snow in my lifetime and I did!
Stephen graduated from Virginia Military Institute May of 2009 and thankfully was home during my Senior year of college. It was great having my fiance's (at the time) support to get through my Senior Thesis, innumerable papers and endless nights of studying (oh! and beginning the wedding planning process!). I graduated from Christopher Newport University with my B.A. in Communication Studies in May. As soon as my feet hit the floor after walking across the stage to accept my diploma, my new title became Wedding Planner and it was a full-time job let me tell you.
From May until September, my life consisted of everything wedding; every girl's dream, right?! It was more than the traditional wedding festivities that made it an unforgettable experience though. It was the trying times that I was put up against and the beauty that I saw; Christ's love being poured out for me. Our engagement was not a piece of cake, I learned so much about myself. I learned how sinful of a person I am. I learned how prideful I can be. I learned that I needed my God more than every before. The reason I said, in the beginning, that this year has been the most memorable year of my life is because God has made himself known to me in more ways than ever before. On September 18th, I married my best friend! That day was everything I had ever envisioned it to be. We honeymooned in Riviera Maya, Mexico and now reside in Chesapeake, Virginia. My husband (finally), works for Ferguson Enterprise and I am endlessly looking for a job. Life is tough, right? The good news is that I have a God whom I can trust in with my life and know that He has a plan for me that is perfect and in His timing He will reveal it to me, so until then I wait...
The first month of being a wife (while my husband was at work) consisted of me organizing (okay that never ends...I confess, I am an organizing fanatic!), rearranging furniture, hanging pictures, more than one visit to Bed Bath & Beyond a week, meal planning, and applying to jobs. To be honest, I have gotten a little bored from time to time. I decided about a year ago that I was going to start a blog that captured the many different ideas that I come up with and others that inspire me. So this is the lead up to the blog...
Part 1: For a couple of years now, I have been reading "Mom Magazines." For all of you readers who have not heard of "All You" magazine, you must (1) Stop reading. (2) Drive to the nearest grocery store. (3) Purchase "All You" magazine and be amazed. I mean really, this magazine is incredible. They have recipes, fashion advice, decorating ideas, holiday-themed party planning and COUPONS! Did I mention that it's only $2.49?! Every article, picture, craft idea that I wanted to duplicate or that inspired me, I would cut out of the magazine and tape into a spiral notebook. My current dilemma is, what do I do with this spiral notebook? Share it with friends maybe?! ;)
Part 2: Last Christmas I started getting a feel for the creative side within me. My college roommate and I tried to be really creative with our Christmas gifts. I ended up making three aprons, one for each of the women in my family and a pretty awesome picture frame collage for Stephen. I went to a lot of different thrift stores to gather materials - it made gift giving during Christmas so much more fun!
Part 3: Wedding planning opened up a whole new world to me. Being crafty and going for the Do-It-Yourself look was my vision for our wedding. I wanted to have my hands in every little detail. So this part took me from the envisioning ideas to actually making, creating and producing these ideas and using them! It was pretty neat to see all of the different ideas come together on the wedding day!
Part 4: My education and wedding planning is behind me. Now, I have free time to finally put some thought into starting this thing! YAY!
So why the name? Awe of Small. Have you ever looked at something and it just struck you in a different way than before? Did it take on new meaning? There are so many things in our daily life that we just simply overlook. It is not a bad thing, but it is pretty awesome when you begin to notice the small things in life or those things that seem ordinary. For example, last week when I was grocery shopping I ran across a pomegranate display. It is pomegranate season again! If no one was around, I might have yelled out a "Yippee!" I absolutely love pomegranates. Mmm...on top of yogurt or french vanilla ice cream. Oh! My new favorite is putting them in oatmeal! You have to try it. When I got the pomegranates home, I immediately cut one open and was taken back by the beautiful color. I wish I would have taken a picture. Can I just tell you that my creative engines started to rev up just by looking at a pomegranate?! And my first thought, wedding...(ha!). In all seriousness though, I was in awe of how this fruit was beautifully made. We are surrounded by many things that are beautiful. Unfortunately, when our feet hit the floor in the morning we are on a mission (at least I am) and I miss out on the small things in life. This blog is a place for me to share with you the small things that I find in my own life and how I am going to use them in a creative way to give glory to God. I am constantly in awe of how big He is and how He can handle all of my problems, let alone every else in the world. I am recently more and more in awe of other things he has created (like pomegranates) and how we can use them for enjoyment and to bless others. I hope you find my crafts, decorating, gift, and event and party planning ideas to be inspiring.
Luke 5:25-26, "And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today.""
Love,
Torrie Anderson
Part 1: For a couple of years now, I have been reading "Mom Magazines." For all of you readers who have not heard of "All You" magazine, you must (1) Stop reading. (2) Drive to the nearest grocery store. (3) Purchase "All You" magazine and be amazed. I mean really, this magazine is incredible. They have recipes, fashion advice, decorating ideas, holiday-themed party planning and COUPONS! Did I mention that it's only $2.49?! Every article, picture, craft idea that I wanted to duplicate or that inspired me, I would cut out of the magazine and tape into a spiral notebook. My current dilemma is, what do I do with this spiral notebook? Share it with friends maybe?! ;)
Part 2: Last Christmas I started getting a feel for the creative side within me. My college roommate and I tried to be really creative with our Christmas gifts. I ended up making three aprons, one for each of the women in my family and a pretty awesome picture frame collage for Stephen. I went to a lot of different thrift stores to gather materials - it made gift giving during Christmas so much more fun!
Part 3: Wedding planning opened up a whole new world to me. Being crafty and going for the Do-It-Yourself look was my vision for our wedding. I wanted to have my hands in every little detail. So this part took me from the envisioning ideas to actually making, creating and producing these ideas and using them! It was pretty neat to see all of the different ideas come together on the wedding day!
Part 4: My education and wedding planning is behind me. Now, I have free time to finally put some thought into starting this thing! YAY!
So why the name? Awe of Small. Have you ever looked at something and it just struck you in a different way than before? Did it take on new meaning? There are so many things in our daily life that we just simply overlook. It is not a bad thing, but it is pretty awesome when you begin to notice the small things in life or those things that seem ordinary. For example, last week when I was grocery shopping I ran across a pomegranate display. It is pomegranate season again! If no one was around, I might have yelled out a "Yippee!" I absolutely love pomegranates. Mmm...on top of yogurt or french vanilla ice cream. Oh! My new favorite is putting them in oatmeal! You have to try it. When I got the pomegranates home, I immediately cut one open and was taken back by the beautiful color. I wish I would have taken a picture. Can I just tell you that my creative engines started to rev up just by looking at a pomegranate?! And my first thought, wedding...(ha!). In all seriousness though, I was in awe of how this fruit was beautifully made. We are surrounded by many things that are beautiful. Unfortunately, when our feet hit the floor in the morning we are on a mission (at least I am) and I miss out on the small things in life. This blog is a place for me to share with you the small things that I find in my own life and how I am going to use them in a creative way to give glory to God. I am constantly in awe of how big He is and how He can handle all of my problems, let alone every else in the world. I am recently more and more in awe of other things he has created (like pomegranates) and how we can use them for enjoyment and to bless others. I hope you find my crafts, decorating, gift, and event and party planning ideas to be inspiring.
Luke 5:25-26, "And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today.""
Love,
Torrie Anderson
