family vacation

a few weeks ago the hubs and I were blessed to take a vacation to northern california with the family.  the vacation was fabulous!  to take time away, get to some cooler weather (wow, has idaho been hot this summer), and spend time with people we love was even more than we had hoped for.  |disclaimer: be prepared for A LOT of photos|

we started off the vacation in fort bragg... such a cute coastal town.  I LOVE,  LOVE the coast so this was it for me!  great company, great food, and fun adventures!

a stop a anderson valley brewery on our way to mendecino/fort bragg

the botanical garden | I love succulents!

sea kayaking, so great

birthday afternoon snacks and cribbage.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT!

we then spent a day in sonoma traveling from mendecino to walnut creek for our next stop.

then a day in the beautiful city by the bay.  have I ever mentioned that san francisco is my favorite city?  we visited the california academy of sciences museum, the japanese tea garden, a little shopping and some street vendors, the ferry building and market, and ate dinner at scoma's

 

 

 

 

and a final day in napa coming home with just scott.  spending time with him fully relaxed is pretty great.  he makes me smile.

cute, quaint, new fave

 

 

 

life lately

wow, summer is in full swing AND I LOVE IT!  how about some time to catch up?  though summer is here and it seems as though the days should be longer I have had so much to do.  which has been a wonderful blessing.

school ended mid may and it was a bitter-sweet beginning of summer.  the last week of school I accepted a new position at a school in boise.  I am so excited!  however, it was so hard to say goodbye to my school in caldwell and the students, families, and coworkers I have shared the past two years with.  I cherish those years, the relationships, and the growth I experienced there.  I have not wanted to talk about it much because it truly is bitter-sweet.  I know that I am supposed to be in boise at this time though.  I have been feeling a calling toward the city where I live for the past year.  God has really put the city on my heart, specifically the neighborhoods and areas of town that we frequent a lot -- I know that I will be used as a vessel for His work in this city.  and of course, I am thrilled to be closer to home as well :)

enjoying a concert at the botanical gardens from the foothills above.  

I love summers in boise!

shortly after the school year ended the hubs and I drove to southern utah to spend an extended weekend backpacking with the hubs' family in Zion National Park.  Oh my goodness!  zion is truly the most beautiful place I have ever been.  I loved every minute of it.  we backpacked for two days of the trip and camped in campgrounds for the remaining 3 days.  photos do not do the landscape justice.  we also did a day trip through the narrows... hiking up the virgin river... which was the most amazing hike of my life.  I would love to go back again some day.

my beautiful cousin was married at the end of june.  she is one of my very best friends and as dear to me as a sister.  I spent part of the week before the wedding in mccall with her preparing the final details.  I cherished the hours ironing linens and gluing stationary together.  we have been close our entire lives, but specifically the past twelve years or so have been so important for me.  she was my go to person to share exciting news with, she challenged me and pushed me to do things I wouldn't normally because I'm too planned out, she knew I would marry Scott before I did, she encourages me every day, and I cannot be more thrilled for her and her new hubby.  he is an amazing man that loves her well.  the time before the wedding was special for me because she moved to chicago the week after the wedding.  I will miss our daily conversations, but know great things will happen for them and cannot wait to see it!  I guess I'll just have to go visit chicago... and see my brother while I'm at it too!

so beautiful!

my summer job has been the best one I've had yet..  I have been teaching sewing lessons to some school aged girls and it has been a blast.  I am keeping busy and yet have plenty of time for other adventures as well.

speaking of adventures... I have a new office, which means more projects!  I will document them as they happen and post away.  also, I'm traveling to san francisco on vacation with the hubs' family at the end of the month which I am so ready for!

as I've promised time and time again... I'll be posting more... SOON.

meet bruno

a few weeks ago... in a moment of great joy for me... we got a puppy!  I have been wanting one for months and months, but the hubs hasn't been into it.  don't ask me how it happened because I'm not quite sure... but it did!

so here he is, our boston terrior, bruno!

he's much more active than sophie and I didn't fully realize how much work puppies are.  but we're workin' it out... and he's helping me have something to do throughout the summer.  I just love the little guy!

happy belated

sometimes the calendar moves more quickly than my schedule can handle.  may was a perfect example of this.  now, quite a few weeks after mother's day I have finally finished making the gift I had in mind for my mother-in-law.  hopefully this fun apron will make its way to summer barbeques soon.

  linking up here

homemade gifts :: personalized pilsners

the husband drew my older brother's name for our homemade gift exchange.  the biggest challenge for the hubs and me is to make something that the gift receiver will not only enjoy, but use.  so for my brother this can be really challenging.  after multiple ideas we came up with something that the hubs thought the brother would really enjoy.  personalized pilsner glasses.

the project started with a few simple supplies: 

a set of pilsner glasses from IKEA, etching cream, and left over shelf liner.

then we needed an image to make into a stencil and etch on to the glass.  so, the "H" from the family business and his last name was a perfect image to use.  husband printed multiple sizes of the "H" on to cardstock, he decided on the perfect size for the size of the glass.

the image was then traced on to some shelf liner that I had left over to make an adhesive stencil, the stencil was then cut out with a razor blade.  an individual stencil was needed for each glass in order to be sure that it stuck strongly enough to leave a crisp edge to the image.  this was the most time consuming and difficult step of the process, both the cutting and placing of the image took patience and attention to detail. 

the etching cream was used according to package directions --brushed on in one direction and let to sit around 10 minutes before rinsing off. rinsing it off.

the final product was great... a nice sharp "H"... we were happy with how appropriate they were for a guy, not at all crafty and girly.  my brother loved them too!

the gift was accompanied much like the wine stopper gift.  we added my brother's favorite, a 6 pack of bud light and a bottle of clamato to make his own "red beer". 

homemade gifts :: wine stoppers

each year my family draws names between my siblings, parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  we draw names and then give home made gifts.  this is the third year we've done it.  the gifts are getting harder to make because we have made them for a few years now and we try not to copy each other.  this year's gifts, in my opinion, were the best yet.  I drew my cousin, Stacia's name, and the husband drew my brother's (his gift to follow).

I made Stacia wine stoppers.

here are the supplies: 3 decorative drawer pulls from hobby lobby, corks, gorilla glue epoxy, a decorative box, and paper "fluff" to fill the decorative box.

first I took the drawer pulls and corks and decided a good height for the corks to be.  I could have left the corks exactly how I purchased them, but I thought they came too far out of the bottle.  I measured and cut three corks down to the size I desired using a hack saw.  husband then drilled a hole in to the middle of the cork for the drawer pull to go through.

he also made the hole slightly larger on the bottom so we could counter set the nut into it.

then all pieces were put together.  (for two of the stoppers I had to buy a decorative "washer" from home depot to finish off the cork so that it looked right against the glass pull)  I put the epoxy on to the top of the cork, and inside the hole of the cork, and screwed the cork onto the pull.

after the epoxy dried the husband cut off the remainder of the pull, the bolt part of it, with a hack saw.  he then used a grinder to make it smooth.  the final step was to add some epoxy to the base where the nut and bolt were showing to make sure it was completely smooth and secure.

the finished product:

she loved them!  and so did I.  I want to make a set for myself now too!  I also added a bottle of champagne to the gift (her favorite), but these given with a bottle of wine would be a perfect hostess gift, housewarming gift, or a gift for any other occasion -- they can be completely customized for the person in mind and they are more personal than any other stoppers I've seen in stores.