5:55 challenge update + kitchen sneak peek

my copycat anthro mug :)

Last week, I challenged myself to get up before 5:55 a.m. every day for the next week. So far, I've gotten up early every day since Saturday!  :D

Warm blankets, a mug of coffee, and my Bible call my name every morning. {I think the smell of coffee brewing makes it so much easier to get out of bed. :)}

Yesterday I work up as soon as the alarm when off, at 6:30. My sweet husband set the alarm for me and accidentally hit the wrong button. I was still up early, but not as early as I had challenged myself to be.  But in reality, I was still up earlier than usual. :)

As I woke up and realized I was 35 minutes late, I immediately thought I needed to add another day to my week so I could meet my own challenge, hahah! Isn't that silly {and a little legalistic}? :P Oh, goodness. Early is still good. The time doesn't matter. :)

I have so enjoyed my early quiet times with the Lord, even when I didn't get to sleep late on the weekends! I explained over here that I often have more scheduled on the weekends than I do in the weekdays, which is why I was excited to get up early on Saturday and Sunday too. I normally miss my long devo times on the weekends.

While I enjoy getting up early and all that, I freely and happily admit that you guys were my motivation to get up when I was really tired on Sunday morning. Something about public accountability drives me to do what I need to do anyway. So if you really want to get up early, post about it on Facebook or something. heehee. :)

October is such a great month for me to get up early anyway. I love every day of it. :)

This month, we have 4 family birthdays happening within 10 days. We are going to try to make every day special, and I'm really excited about my birthday happening on the 17th, too. :) My birthday week starts this weekend, and ends with a party next weekend {which I know nothing about- my hubs is planning it all!}. Eeek, I'm excited! :D

Because we are slightly crazy {or not slightly}, we decided to paint the kitchen before the party. It started with a simple, let's see what's behind the patched hole in our 70's paneling:

and before we knew it, the kitchen started looking like this:

Ah, this is exciting stuff around here! We certainly won't get a full kitchen remodel done before the party, but I've been waiting 2.5 years to paint my favorite room in the house, so I'm thrilled with the progress. 1895 antique/modern kitchen, here we come! :D

Here are a few of my inspiration photos:

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What do you think? Do these look like "old" kitchens to you? :) 

And if you have open shelves in your kitchen like these, will you tell me what you think about them? Do you still love them? Or do they make you work more? :) I'd love to know!!