My 26

Happy Birthday to....Me! (Tomorrow, that is).

I'm sort of not looking forward to turning 27. It's a large number. I was actually okay with being 26. I've crossed some sort of "One-third of life crisis" line...

Highlights of being 26: 

1. Moving to Colorado. Didn't think we'd even have the finances to do it and it happened. Our friends Bailey and Jessie (and daughter, Avery!) helped us move with our 8' x 10' trailer wrapped in a million feet of blue tarp. It was, affectionately, our Blue Burrito!

2. I got "chased" by a bear trying to do our first 14er. We didn't even attempt to hike and we put a hole in The Gerbil (the Corolla).

3. I completed my first sport lead climb outside at Jurassic Park near Lily Lake.

4. I can summarize 26: PATIENCE

I think I was being exposed to a lot of trials, financially, mentally, emotionally, etc...to just begin to understand the concept of Patience. I've barely scratched the surface. But when things began to hit the fan; when my work-day feels so unfulfilled and my friendships have been strained...my husband and that still quiet voice inside of me whispers the words: Be still. Calm.

5. I put in a decent season snowboarding, including my first black diamond run...!

And there is so much more, but this is just a taste of what 26 was like for me. A lot of what I felt during 26 I don't think I can even put into words. It was a hard year for me internally and I still feel that is true, but what I am hoping is that I find Peace amidst life's storms...!

Missing New Zealand

Glorious.

Busy Beaver: Spring Cleaning

Somehow, my day(s) off consist of me cleaning, cooking, baking, and organizing. One of today's tasks was something that was bothering me all winter -

Remember to wash your stemware!

It has made my small kitchen, pop again!

These wine glasses were scavenged and collected and put together as a wedding present from my sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law. They did a great job and we have pretty much every type of wine glass for any type of wine. It makes for a great story, too. B-)

Now, a bottle of wine to celebrate would be amazing!

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (15. Amber Necklace)

I've been meaning to post this project as well. I made earrings to match; sadly, they have disappeared where all good earrings go - to that mystical Land of Good Jewelry, Missing Dryer Sock, and Other Notions...My friend, Jen, and I shared beads one afternoon at her house. This necklace has bits and pieces from our afternoon together; it also has a few beads leftover from my wedding necklace and other memories of my mom and I making jewelry together (her Christmas present also has a similar theme to this amber-stone inspired necklace)!

I'm really diggin' mustard-colored beads with sea-glass accents...

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (14. A Little Bit of Perfect)

Collaboration. 

I cannot take 100% credit for this, as the idea and the gift was not my own. Steve had been waiting over a year to finally be able to create this project. The only thing I can take credit for is the clashing of creative minds to figure out how to make the mounting happen.

You see, my wedding present is a love letter. And with that letter came this photo - a picture of the sunset at Hot Water Beach, Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand (2009). We camped there. The photo hangs across from our bed as a reminder of some of the most amazing moments we've had as a couple (don't worry, I bawled when I read the love letter this past Christmas)!

Steve found inspiration in a photo that was adhered to "floating glass" at a Caribou Coffee shop. The glass was thick. Really thick. And we were drawn to it. He wanted to recreate that. Together, we found a really great glass company in town - Black's Glass. The price was VERY reasonable and they are very creative and knowledgeable people. We also found these clips to offset the glass from the wall and it gives it a finished look. We, ideally, wanted holes drilled in the glass and these stainless steel offsets would appear to float. If you ever need a hole drilled in glass - just know this - it was cost you more than the glass itself. And we needed four holes. So we nixed that idea.

Here is the final project:

This photo is a little piece of Heaven.

So, consider this project a 1/2 project, as Steve was the creative genius! 

This is another photo (at sunrise) of Hot Water Beach:

I wish I was there. . .

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (13. The Seaside Dresser: A Dresser from Hell)

This project was "completed" a LONG time ago; however, I couldn't get the courage to post it to my projects until I was certain that this was the status that we were planning on leaving it in. The dresser was a mega-awesome find at ReStore in Loveland ($20). We loved the clean lines and even the original handles looked pretty neat.

We looked past the color, which was a horrible pea-green stain that had been applied to the wood. It was spotty and it took a couple hours of sanding to get it to a workable state.

We had to glue just a small corner that was splitting on one of the drawers. We figured with all the knicks and scratches the best solution was to paint it white. 

Let's talk about the negative side of this project (sadly). 

1. Do NOT buy cheap white paint. Walmart is a horrible place to buy paint. Don't skimp.

2. It was a mistake to sand it down to bare wood. You should only have to do that if you are planning on staining it again. If your goal is to paint over it, lightly hand-sand the previous stain/paint to remove the shine, buy a can of Kilz, and go to town, 'ja brotha!

3. The previous "stain" bled through again and again. We got to about the 5th coat of white paint and gave up. It isn't sparkling white; our dresser has bands of a dull cream color that has bled through. We chock it up to "artistic disorder" because we didn't want to apply (yet another) coat of paint! Lesson learned!

The only thing left to do (once we acquire a drill) is attach our new hand-made handles.

The handles are from deadwood and we created little spacers for the handles (not shown). It would be challenging to attach everything together unless we pre-drill. And, so, we wait!

50 Projects: 52 Weeks (12. Pinwheel Classic Hat)

Wow. I've been quite absent from crafting lately. Wondering what's happened these past few weeks?

1. I was rear-ended about a month ago and got mild whiplash. 

2. The same Saturday, I got a rejection letter from a project engineering job I thought I had bagged. (But am grateful, in the end, that I didn't get it - they were miserable people!)

3. Steve and I are two ships passing in the night (he's been working 50-ish hours a week and doing Larimer County Search and Rescue training!)

4. I worked 14 out of 15 days and have been biking everywhere on my sweet ride. Results of my crazy life? I visited an Old Town Acupuncture to eliminate some achy knee problems and to relieve some of the pressure in my upper back and neck (it's where I carry my stress).

I just feel like I need to get back to my roots and I've swayed from simplicity. Today was a sleep-in day. A catch-up day. A time to re-center.

So...catching up. Here's a project I completed a week ago but haven't posted. I realized that I don't actually own many beanies of my own (despite all the ones I've made for others)! I wanted a simple and classic cap. My friend Elizabeth and I met up for a quick brunch one day and we found this stash of bulky Lopi  Icelandic yarn at, believe-it-or-not, an Arc Thrift Store. Wow. It's delish.

Need the pattern? You can find this pattern here.