Still

Hello to anybody who still comes around these parts. Blogging has really taken the back seat this summer. While I do have a lot of fun projects planned, I have been in such an anti-project, anti-house funk.

It could be subconscious efforts to kill my perfection issues. Or that I've embraced some new escapes. Or that I am tired of not having "fun" things and who wants to buy more paint when there's a solo canoe on the wish list?

But it's most like a combination of all those things. This summer I have been enjoying life at a slower pace. Going with the flow. Trying not to care about things that don't really matter. Like the damn garden I spent hours upon HOURS cleaning up this spring. Yeah, gardening is fun and all, but sometime in June I realized how much it stressed me out, how much time I wasted to just watch things whither away, how much I resented the backyard by the end of the day. And really....what's the point of that?

I have come to the conclusion that it's never what is done, but always what's not done. Rather than exhausting my energy on trying to look find the positive, I have chosen to pick up and move to things that don't require me to actively look for it all the time.

I have to say- Since taking this new approach to the ins and outs of my day to day, it seems as if I'm the only person I know who doesn't feel like summer "flew by". I've been setting a lot of time aside for myself. I've sat in the coffee shop for hours on end more than a couple times, just to people watch and write letters, wondering how I never found the time to do that before and answering with "oh yeah. because i'm always gardening. painting. doing and re-doing just to re-do once more. running errands for various house projects. stressing. wasting."

So anyway, yes, I will return soon, once the weather cools. I've been doing lots of hiking and canoeing this summer. Hoping to do my first solo trip down the Wisconsin River within the next couple weeks. Of course I'll give you the full report once I do. See you soon.

Still Here

Hey friends! I'm still alive...don't ask me where my time has been going, because I can't really tell ya. I haven't felt busy, but I've been taking it easy and enjoying the summer at a slower pace.

I know people keep saying "Oh my gosh, it's already August?!", but for some reason, I'm not feeling the "summer's almost over" emotions that most seem to be. 

Anyway, nothing fun to share right now...except for this sweet outdoor space that was bookmarked the minute I saw it.

Camping this weekend. See you next week. :)

Block Printing

We're in the wallows of summer and I have to say that it's probably the best summer I've had in quite awhile. I cut down from 5 days to 4 days at my job, and I can't tell you how much it's improved my general mood. Don't get me wrong, I do love my job, but I also enjoy having 3 days to scatter the other things that bring me happiness. By the way, this shirt makes me smile and I get compliments on it every time I wear it. Just in case you wanted to know that. $10 Target Halloween score last fall!

Anyway, after ditching my studio for over half a year, I finally found the pull to bring me back. I generally reserve making art for the winter, as Wisconsin winters are quite long (but fun if you can get outside and enjoy it) but I've been feeling the groove lately, so off I went.

This is an older design, but it was still fun to be printing again. I like the rush of printmaking; I think it's one of the most beautiful forms of art, and although I generally only dabble in small designs, it still does the trick for me. I often think about doing more "art" with printmaking, like actual images with multiple colors, but I don't think it's quite right for me. I'll leave that to the people who are already great at it. ;)

I also found a few minutes to sit down and draw a few new designs. Admittedly, this has always been the hardest part for me. But then I found a super secret magic trick. Markers. Why didn't I ever think of that? I mean, it only makes sense. Why draw with pencils or pens that only provide the thinnest of lines when you can play on the same field as the finished blocks, with big, thick, bold lines? 


Anyway. The photo above were my first pattern drawings in like...2 or 3 years. They'll get better. For now I'm testing the waters I suppose. I do like the circle one on the bottom, though. It's probably going to be the next design I carve. It will be about 2.5" wide and I'll use it for coat racks and mixed media. Hoping to carve and print over the next week. We'll see.

Wisconsin River

Joe and I returned home from a beautiful trip on the Wisconsin River this afternoon. Everything about it was perfect. Here are a few photos from our 48 hour adventure.

This is the island we stopped at for lunch. The Wisconsin River is a wide and sandy stretch, dappled with islands big and small. It eventually feeds into the Mississippi River.

The canoe we paddled is a Nova Craft Pal, which I borrowed from work. I'm lucky enough to have a job that offers incentives like this; it's pretty cool to have free access to boats. I'm hoping to buy a solo canoe soon, though.

After paddling for a couple hours, we decided to find an island to rest on for the remainder of the night. The one we found was pretty cool. We were hidden from all 2 of the people who passed us...we pretty much had the river to ourselves.

Camping has become so much more enjoyable since we started buying good gear. We have an MSR Mutha Hubba HP tent, a Sierra Designs Diamond Spring 15 and a Thermarest NeoAir.

The sun finally sank into the horizon and we were able to enjoy a fire while listening to the ripples of the river nearby. I was beat and felt pretty jacked up, so I only lasted until about 10 PM or so. Or maybe it was like 9:30...

Now it's morning, which is my favorite time of day, especially when camping. Time to make coffee and oatmeal! I have an MSR WindPro stove and MSR Quick 2 System, which make this task a breeze.

Once we were packed, we snapped a quick photo and got back on the river. The sun was shining and it was supposed to get hot, so we headed out to find our next site. It was Friday and I thought it may be harder to find an island later in the evening, so getting out early was nice.

After paddling for a bit, we found our next island by about 2:00. We had a huge beach to ourselves, which was perfect for playing frisbee. By now the sky was becoming overcast with slate blues and pewter greys, which is my favorite.

It started to rain around 8:00. I'm a big fan of rainy weather because it stimulates the senses of sound, touch, smell and sight. I wish more people could appreciate rainy days. Rain coats help a LOT. Anyway, on went the rain fly and we built a fire. You can see another fire on a neighboring island, too.

We enjoyed our fire in the rain for an hour or so and eventually retired to the tent for the evening. Next on my purchase list is a tarp so we can extend our time in the rain and sun and wind.

We didn't take any photos the next day other than this one. My camera batteries were dying and I didn't feel like changing them and I was out of space on my memory card, as usual. But now we were home from our quick adventure and already planning our next one.

Once we were unpacked, I took a shower and a 3 hour long nap. Then we headed out to the Old Feed Mill to celebrate 8 years of being together. It was a great few days. Today is supposed to be in the mid 90s and I have a garden to water, so I better get going. Oh, and it's National Ice Cream Day, so I have to go to town and buy some. Ice cream is one of those things that I have recently allowed back into my life, along with peanut butter and ketchup. Oh man. Anyway, back to ice cream- our favorite non-local brand is Breyer's. What's yours?

DIY Fire Pit

Photo post! So as you may know, I've been working on the fire pit on and off for quite some time now. Before that was the major garden overhaul. The main reason behind all the work on the fire pit (lately) was because I had an article to write for Houzz, and I needed a finished fire pit before I could submit it. It was published today, so I have officially decided that the rest of the summer will be for hanging out and having fun. Not that I don't consider house projects to be fulfilling and fun. I mean, that's why I do them. But I need to be camping and canoeing and just hanging out.

Last summer was a wash between being sick for so long and the other various sad and bad things that happened and as a result, I don't even remember it being summer last year. So I think it's time that I stop going going going on house stuff and just hang out for a bit. I'm banning myself from feeling like I NEEEEED to finish things for at least a week. I know, that's kind of short...maybe I'll try for 2 weeks. We're going to kick it off with a trip down the Wisconsin River for a few days. Photos to come. For now, here are a few fire pit shots from beginning to end. Check out the full story here. *PS: I am absolutely elated and in super high spirits after reading all the lovely feedback over at Houzz. Thank you SO much, Houzz readers! :) :) :)

Weekend

Over the last couple of days, I spent a large portion of my time working on the area that surrounds our fire pit. I bought these flowers to put somewhere in that general vicinity about a week and a half ago and still haven't planted them. All because I haven't decided where to put them yet. I need to just pick a spot and move on already. I mean really, if I end up hating it, I can just move them.

Yesterday I transplanted a lot of flowers and laid more mulch and did some other little things here and there. It will be a much welcomed feeling when I'm finally happy, or at least content, with that area but we'll see when that happens. Looking at this photo that I snapped today does make me happy and helps me to remember that I need to appreciate all that I've done rather than dwell on what I feel like I still "need" to do.

Sometime this afternoon I opened my mailbox and found the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living resting inside and it made me cringe a little. I think I should probably void this publication from my life because I'm pretty sure it only fuels my struggles with perfectionism. I wish so badly that there was a switch I could turn off and just be fine with things rather than spending countless hours trying to get to the point where I'm okay with something. That would be the coolest thing ever. Or maybe the second coolest thing ever. But either way, I'd love it.

House Paint

In my last post, I mentioned that Joe and I did a bunch of fun things over the weekend. I don't know how much fun most people consider painting the outside of their house to be, but it definitely increased my mood, and that's coming from somebody who doesn't even like to paint.

We made the jaunt out to Home Depot on Sunday morning to look for paint. Joe yanked a small piece of siding off the back of the house for comparison sake. The idea wasn't to change the color of the house, but to make the painted wooden area off the front of the house match the siding on the rest of the house. The wood was always a little bit more lavender-blue while the rest was more of a sky blue with slightly green undertones. When Joe pulled the siding off, we realized that the reason it was different wasn't because of a bad color match, which was always the assumption I had, but because the siding had actually been painted at one time, and the wood was not. The wood was still the color of the original siding! Oy...

So anyway, while I was at Home Depot, I started grabbing swatches to try to get somewhat close to the siding color. I just wanted to paint the entire front up to the corners where the difference wouldn't be noticeable. First I picked up Martha Stewart paint swatches...of course...but didn't find anything close. Then I went through some Glidden, but nothing still. Another brand was next, and I found one that would work if it had to...and then off to the wall of Behr swatches, where I found an *exact* match. So basically, I found the same color that they used when they painted. The color is called "Harmonious".

So far we've only gotten one coat on, and haven't even touched the siding yet. We plan to do the back as well. A lot of the siding is faded and it drives me nuts! We spent a couple hours scrubbing the exterior and that alone made it look 5 times better, but paint is still necessary. More front of house photos to come. I'm sloowwllllly trucking away at the adhesive left on the cement of the deck, which is a project I started last summer. I think I'm about 90% finished, which means that I only have like 2 hours to go! Yay. ;)

HEMNES Bookcase

Hey friends! I hope you are all enjoying your holiday weekend! Joe and I have been lucky enough to get 3 days off together, which is quite a rarity 'round these parts. We've been kicking ass on the house project list and it confirms that I do indeed have to find a weekend-less work schedule at some point in my life if I want to continue to have fun AND get house stuff done.

We kicked the weekend off with a super fast trip to MN to visit a friend and go to a baseball game. Of course, we can't make a trip to the Twin Cities without a stop at IKEA. I had a long list of things that I'd been saving for, but then I made a $200 mistake a couple weeks ago and there went over half of my budget. Ah well, such is life. But we did come home with one item from IKEA...

A HEMNES bookcase, in grey brown. I must say that I'm really super excited about it. And contrary to the popular "IKEA is such a pain in the ass to assemble!" nonsense I always hear, it was actually quite easy. It probably took about an hour, which included the various interruptions from the cats (side note: Clem is about to find a new home outside if he doesn't stop being such a dick head.)

 

































Pay no attention to the lack of shelf styling thus far- I just kind of threw the books and decorations on half ass-edly and stepped back to breath a sigh of relief- there are no more book piles in every corner of the house! I have been trying not to collect books since we didn't have anywhere to put them, so we don't really have very many, but now we can start the gathering process. Yay!

We did a whole bunch of other stuff this weekend, although you'll have to wait a bit for the stories as we're preparing for some friends who will be arriving shortly. Joe's smoking pork shoulder on the gill and I just made potato salad- yum! Hope you all had a great wknd!

Front Yard

So it's finally happening...after talking about it for almost 2 years, our front yard remodel is in progress. We haven't really done much of anything with the front since moving in (don't worry...it tends to fit in with the rest of the street......). As much as it's always bugged me, there's only so much time and ambition provided by each day. But the day has arrived.

When we drove by the house while we were house hunting, I think I said something like "No way. Never." and kept driving. Not only was I anti-ranch house, but I was also anti-old person looking-house. 


A few days later, I was sitting in our apartment and had just opened my third or fourth beer a rich bottle of wine. I slid over to the internet and looked up the MLS listing again. I realized that the place had a lot of potential and that it was a really sweet deal. Any work it needed was purely cosmetic, and I use the term "need" quite loosely here. I think I even used the line "it's a really great family house" when I was trying to convince myself, which is funny since we haven't really felt the urge since moving in...


So anyway, with that preface, I bring you the front of the house:

Not terrible, right? No, not terrible at all. I think it's because you don't see the garage in this photo- I think the garage really pulls the "old lady" feel in and ties it all together.

First thing on the to do list was to rip out the "outdoor" carpet, which we did last fall. Since I don't have any project money right now, I thought that it was a good time to carry on with the agenda: remove bushes and remove railings. And all it cost me was 1 Ibuprofen at the end of the day.

My mom was in town and she kicks ass at all things house-to-do-related. Seriously. My parents burn us out sometimes! In a good way, though...they've always been weekend warriors. Anyway, after we spent about an hour and a half removing these stupid rocks and later realizing that they spanned the entire length of the bushes and that we were SO OVER rock removal, she convinced me that I should buy a tow strap (so i guess it cost more than 1 ibuprofen...) to yank the bushes out. The whole time I kept petting my transmission and telling it that everything would be okay. Kind of like the mom that tells her kid who just lost 2 teeth the night before picture day that he looks fine. Liar. Anyway, those bushes were pretty damn ferocious. But they finally came out and next we removed the jerry-rigged deck railings. And then we had this:

And a view from the front:

Aaahhhh, much better. I really dig the openness. Like, a lot. I'm sitting on my front porch for the third time ever right now. I no longer feel like I'm sitting on an apartment balcony. Or in a baby crib. Or in jail. Those railing spindle thingies were no fun.


So yeah, that's about it. We're going to get bigger columns, remove the shrubs in front of the brick on the right side of the house, add a step in the front, get a new bench and a new light fixture, some different house numbers and a few other things. Oh, and of course we're going to fix the yard, plant more trees and paint the porch. :) I can't wait!

Birdhouse Before & After

Hey friends! How are things? Everything is pretty good here. I haven't been up to too much and have been using most of my free time towards garden sorting. Yesterday Joe told me that I should enter a garden contest. I kind of laughed because I thought it was cute but knew that I am farrr far far from being at that level and explained to him that there are gardeners and then there are GARDENERS. I'm currently just a gardener, seeking to achieve GARDENER status by about 2013. I told him that, to me, the garden is still a huge mishmash and that it still doesn't feel like it's 100% mine. He hesitated for a minute and finally said "well. it's still a respectable garden." Aw. That made me smile.

Anyway, enough words because photos are more fun. When we moved in, there were about 7 birdhouses stationed around the yard, all filled to the brims with nests. They all seem to be painted white or beige and I'm not really digging it.

 

So last week I mixed up a batch of purple and proceeded to paint. Nope, not happening. Over the past few days,I've realized that I'm a cool on the inside and warm on the outside kind of person. And I mean with my house...not with myself. So out went the purple and in came the orange. Admittedly, it's not exactly the shade I was after, but it's pretty damn close so I will try to be okay with it.

I also sanded the base a little bit but didn't get too far with that because I'm not really sure what I want to do yet. Paint it? Keep sanding? Replace with something that's more proportionate to the birdhouse (skinnier)? I don't know. But for now, I'm considering it done and I'm moving onto the next thing. 

So that's about it for now. Have you done anything fun around your house recently? 

Garden Progress

I haven't been doing anything in my free time other than gardening, so I don't really have anything too fun to post.

I extended the log wall a little bit further yesterday and I'm pretty happy with it. No more unsightly shed/tools from the neighbor's side and we feel a little more hidden now.

So far we've purchased 5.25 yards of mulch and I'm hoping that does it. 

 

What else is new...hmm, not much. Oh yeah. I dropped my phone in the toilet (the phone that took me over a year to convince Joe I should have) and I have to use the money I've been saving for my upcoming IKEA trip on a new one now. I'm trying to be okay with this, but it's highly frustrating for me to have to spend the dollars I've been stashing away for so long on a new phone. Damn. 

Okay, off to work. Have a great weekend!

Terrarium

Today is day 3 of 3 days off in a row. I'm not particularly fond of having all of my days off in a row because I always end up feeling like "what the eff i just had 3 days off in a ROW and what do i have to show for it? nothing." Being a person with grand ideas and a slim amount of cash along with a short attention span do not go hand in hand.

And so this morning I dismissed the 3 projects that went to hell over the past 2 days and tried something small. A terrarium.

When I was at a friend's house yesterday I saw 2 charming terrariums that were filled with beautiful mosses. Thinking about my own moss garden intentions that never came to fruition, I realized that I could just do something small for now until I got all my ducks in a row for the outdoor moss garden.

So I grabbed the cork lidded jar that's been sitting on my kitchen table and layered it with pea gravel, soil, sand and moss. I searched for my little mushroom figurine that I bought a couple years ago but realized that I may have given it to the thrift store. That's twice in a week that I have looked for something only to realize I gave it away! That's okay, I'm over it.

So yes- and indoor moss garden. I think this will hold me over until my real moss garden happens next year. I might start another one with just a tiny piece of moss to watch it spread and grow.

So that's that. For now I'm going to go get a trailer of mulch so I can finish mulching the backyard gardens. Yeah- after 2 years of owning a utility trailer, we finally bought a hitch so we can use the dang thing. Sometimes I wish that I had a high paying job so I could get simple things without having to save my pennies for months and months...but then I realize that I can just wait for the cars to be paid off and I won't need that higher paying job. I only have to hang onto that thought for 2 more years and then we'll be golden. :)