365 Project: Week 40 - Happy Halloween!!

This week I enjoyed spending a daytime date on Monday exploring Indianapolis, spending cold mornings inside and warm afternoons outside, and finishing an entire book in one week! (I know get what all the hype over 'Wicked' is all about!)   I didn't have to work very many days this week, so I had a very relaxing week full of reading and Bella-walking :)

Tonight I'm super excited to pass out candy to all the kidlets in the neighborhood! We've never lived in a place that had any trick-or-treaters, so this will be the first year I don't have to eat all the candy all by myself! (Although I've all but overdosed on candy corn this week... I think I will be glad to not see it again for another year!) Justin has been at a work conference in Wichita all weekend and is missing out on Halloween at home so it seems the kids will have nothing to fear at our house! :) (he's usually the one that scares children and makes them cry and such... I just enjoy handing them candy and seeing all their cute costumes!)

Happy Halloween!! Send all your TWIX (& M&M's) my way!  Here's a little Halloween cheer for you:

365 Project: Week 39 - Catch-up Week!

It seems I've gotten a little backlogged with my posts, so I guess this is a 2-for-1 week! For individual photo comments, see them on my Flickr page!

Happy Halloween!

365 Project: Week 38 - A Trip to the Mountains!

Don't forget to visit my Flickr page to read individual captions for each photo!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting my good friend, Liz, in Denver, CO for a long weekend! I've never seen the mountains before, so this was an extra-awesome trip! Liz humored me by driving me around to all the 'must see' places around Denver and Colorado Springs and my trip to the mountains was complete with:
• A bike tour of downtown Denver (where I was almost flattened by a city bus...YIKES!)
• A train Ride through the mountains
• A trip to the pumpkin patch - and pumpkin carving! (A true Amanda/Liz tradition)
• Afternoon walks with Oliver
• Breakfast at a good 'ol family resturant
• An 'O.C.' comeback marathon :)

Definitely a full 3 days of awesomeness! The weather was GORGEOUS the entire time I was there, which I was so grateful for!  Check out some extra photos from my trip below!

365 Project: Week 37 - Beautiful Days and a Very Special Birthday!

What a great week! The weather was so gorgeous - Bella got 2, sometimes 3 walks every day, I was out doing some sports shoots in the afternoons (which is really enjoyable when the weather is this nice!), we hung out at Happy Hollow park (which is beautiful any time of year- but especially in the fall!) and we took a drive down to Rockville, IN where there are more hills and trees, which means even MORE fall goodness! :)

I made a delicious batch of applesauce on Tuesday thanks to my brother, Josh and his girlfriend, Katie for the great crock-pot tip! It was super easy, it turned out so great and my freezer is stacked to get me through the winter! (Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmm!)

One of the most exciting things this week is that I started AND finished a crochet project in only 2 days! I found this video on YouTube (It is a SUPER easy pattern and the video is really easy to follow, which was helpful for someone like me who took on WAY too complicated of a pattern last year and got so frustrated I ditched the project altogether) I was REALLY impressed with the way it turned out - and it fits me perfectly! (which is nothing short of a small miracle compared to last year's attempt) I was so pumped about the success I had that I also crocheted a flower and added that too - yay for a project finally coming together! This could be the start of a beautiful relationship with crochet :)

It was also BELLA'S 2nd BIRTHDAY on Monday! It's hard to believe we've only had her for 2 years, seeing how much she's grown and how hopelessly in love we are with her :) We celebrated by giving her a extra-thick peanut butter sandwich 'cake' 

She LOVES peanut butter sandwiches... look at that longing in her eyes when we were holding it up for her :)

Just to put things in perspective, here's a picture of Bella on her very first walk ever in early December 2009, when we first brought her home:

How was she EVER this tiny?! :)

And here she is now - Supersized:

I hope your week is off to a good start - I'm off to Denver on Friday to see my very good friend, Liz - I'm excited to bring back photos of the mountains!

365 Project: Week 36 - Fall is in the Air!

Remember to check out my Flickr page for captions to the photos - I don't always have time to explain them all here!

This week, it really started to feel like fall, and was pretty dreary most of the days. I've been enjoying the chill in the air and the changing colors and cozy nights - fall really is the coziest season ever! This week was topped off by a quick little trip to Wisconsin to see my brother and sisters - Thanksgiving was just too far away!  I've been pretty busy at work, but in the next few weeks, things should slow down significantly - and I'm REALLY looking forward to a short trip to Denver in 10 days!! Woo Hoo!! 

I hope you're enjoying all that fall has to offer - have you visited the pumpkin patch/apple orchard yet?!

The sista's at the Pumpkin Patch!

All the sibs loving us a warm bonfire on a chilly night!

365 Project: Week 35 - A Week on the Go!

This past week, I worked and traveled quite a bit, so all of my photos this week were taken via my Samsung phone! (I've taken photos with my phone in the past, but never a whole week!)    **How is it Thursday already?! This week is flying by!)


To sum it up, 
1. Schools in Indiana delay school due to 'fog' ... (wienies!),
2. My car had about $900 worth of work done on it, which landed me in a new Ford Fusion for 3 days (somehow in the craziness over those 3 days, I failed to get a photo of it - AND the tons of equipment that was strategically placed inside it!) *sigh*...
3. Stuffed Green Peppers = greatest meal EVER!
4. We enjoyed plenty of cuddle time in front of the fire reading and relaxing on Sunday before we went over to our new 'football friends'' house to watch the Packers stomp on the Bears! Yay! (Thank goodness they're doing so well - we're a minority here in Chicago/Indianapolis territory!)
5. Who's loving fall? We are!!

365 Project: Week 34 - Tall things, Short things, and... Robots!

Remember to click on the photos in my Flickr photostream for individual comments!

This week, I did a lot of traveling from school to school for work, so many of my photos were taken on the road. I got to drive by the wind farms numerous times and even got to eat some school lunch! 

This weekend, Justin and I hit up some rummage sales and stumbled across Brookston's 'Apple and Popcorn Festival' on Saturday, where we were lucky enough to catch the Brookston beauty pageant/talent show, which was adorable! It was a gorgeous fall day to be out and about! On Sunday, we stopped by the 'Art on the Wabash' art fair, where we stumbled across 'Kitchen Robots', charming little robots created by a local artist who takes recycled/repurposed/thrifted pieces of metal and creates characters out of them - I fell in love with each and every one! 

 Click here to see some of the pieces she's already sold on Etsy. *Swoon!*

It's been feeling much more like fall around here... have you been crafting anything 'seasonal?' More importantly, have you checked out Sons of Anarchy, yet?! Episode 2 was just as good as the first!

Inspired Wednesday: Mandalas!!!

I haven't done an 'Inspired Wednesday' in a while, but when Leah, a former student of mine (one of the most amazing 7th graders ever...seriously awesome girl that I miss like crazy!) let me in on a little Eau Claire, WI news today, I HAD to share my excitement!

In 7th grade art, (which is what I taught in Wisconsin for 2 years before making the move to Indiana) I taught a fantastic unit about Mandalas, which are a Buddhist art form practiced by Tibetan monks as a form of meditation aimed at bringing peace and understanding to those who experience it. The 7th graders created their own mandalas with colored pencil based on a theme of their choosing, something that was special and important and told something about who they were. (I even created mandalas along with them every semester I taught it - it was so much fun! See below for my examples :) 

Can you guess the 'theme' and personal significance of each of my examples? :)

So... on with the story. There are some traveling monks that are IN EAU CLAIRE THIS WEEK demonstrating a real 'sand mandala' live at UW-Eau Claire!! Of COURSE this would be the year I'm not in Eau Claire to witness it ... I've been longing to see a real one being created since I started teaching this unit! I would have LOVED to take my students to this demonstration - hopefully some of them go on their own - they too were fascinated with the traditional process. Click HERE for more information about the monks in Eau Claire and check out the video on that site to see how laborious and time-consuming this process is. Here's a little time-lapse video from a presentation that was done at Dartmouth University in January:

To sum it up: Monks spend about a week laboriously creating a circular design (mandala) out of loose sand (or crushed marble) on a table top and at the end of the week perform a ceremony and sweep up the sand, destroying the entire mandala design. It is meant to show the circle of life, everything is born, lives and then dies. How amazing!! If you ever get the chance, GO SEE THIS!! (hint, hint... anyone near Eau Claire!!)

"It's Autumn!" and I'm Feeling Crafty!

This week, I've been feeling very crafty! Justin was away working from Wednesday - Saturday, so when I wasn't working, I had lots of time to start a few projects! I finished up (or almost finished...) a laptop sleeve for my computer (via a tutorial I found here, started some really fun (and easy!) cloth rosettes to add to that laptop sleeve (and possibly a few t-shirts!)- tutorial here, AND some amazingly charming stuffed cloth pumpkins via Martha Stewart here! I'll be posting full photos of these projects next week, when they're 'finished-finished' but for now, teaser process photos is all I've got! Fall is definitely in the air! :) (Despite the fact that it was 90 degrees today and is supposed to be equally hot tomorrow - fall actually feels like July in Indiana right now!)

This was also a huge week because SONS OF ANARCHY: Season 4 has begun!! Justin and I have been pretty head-over-heels for this show ever since it first began, and this season is off to a great start! (I know it seems strange, but it really is an amazing and addicting show - if I were you, I would start at Season 1, you'll see what I mean :) Justin and I wore our 'Wisconsin chapter' shirts around town on Tuesday and got tons of comments! (Especially at JoAnn fabrics, of all places... :) Here's a little 'Season 4 teaser' for you - get excited! :)

I've also jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon this week (thanks, Janessa!) and I've become mildly obsessed... and spent WAY too many hours flipping through the billions of amazing ideas and project inspirations! :) Check out my pins by clicking the 'Follow me on Pinterest' link on the right!


Have a great week!

365 Project: Week 34 - Project Reveal!

 

Justin and I were able to spend quite a bit of time together this week/weekend and spent it exploring some new places and relaxing at home! We got to grill out numerous times to get as filled up on sweet corn as we can before the fall weather becomes too obvious to ignore. We got some 'new' furniture put in our house (more on that below) and spent some time with a couple of our new neighbors playing ping-pong and poker!

Over the long weekend, we took a drive down highway 52, just to see where it would lead. We found a whole lot of wind turbines, fields, and tiny towns with huge courthouses, accidentally making it all the way into Illinios! We found the birthplace of Dan Patch (in the random small town of Oxford... where they are REALLY proud of Dan Patch, judging by all the streets/buildings/watertowers/historical markers that bear his name), drove through quite possibly the largest Labor Day gathering place in the state of Indiana, and even stopped into a local tavern and chatted with a fellow who apparently has a photographic memory and knew more about Wisconsin (more specifically, Wisconsin high school sports mascots) than we did! It was a great way to spend a Friday evening!

On Saturday, Bella got to experience her first 'Great Lake' when we drove to Michigan City and trekked out through the sand dunes to the southern beach of Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful day to spend playing in the water and exploring a new town! For anyone that didn't know Bella when she was a young pup, she was TERRIFIED of water. She would gladly walk out into traffic before walking through a puddle... it was pathetic. Then one day, Justin threw her beloved ball into the river and off she went- she's been a swimmer/water eater ever since! 

Do you remember when I took this photo of Justin sawing our old table in half? It was a good quality table that we just couldn't figure what to do with in our new house. (At our old house, it was my 'work bench' in the garage) So much to Justin's delight, I asked him to cut it in half knowing that if my 'experimental project' didn't work out, we wouldn't be out anything, seeing as we were just going to get rid of the table anyway.

Justin has AMAZING sawing-straight-line skills! It was perfect!

The project is now finished and since it turned out really well, It's time to share it! 

One half of the table got a ORB paint job (inspired by Sherry from Young House Love's beloved spray paint color - which definitely lives up to the hype she gives it!) and now resides against a wall in our bedroom:

Voila! Instant accent table! The Oil-Rubbed-Bronze Metallic paint gives the table the perfect 'sheen'!

It really looks perfect in the room, since our bedside tables are also a black color and this wall really needed something (it's between our two bathroom doors, so anything bigger would be too big and in the way) I will eventually be adding more things to the table to add some 'height' but I didn't want to take a photo with an empty table, so for now it's a plant, some candles and a wedding photo :)

The other half got a good sanding job and a coat of the same Red Mahogany stain that I used for the dresser project in our guest bedroom and now resides underneath our wedding photo collage in the 'sitting room' area right when you walk in the front door. (To the right is the living room and down the hall to the left is the kitchen)

Again, I haven't yet figured out what to put on TOP of the table yet, but I couldn't wait to share :)

Both tables seem to fit perfectly in their surroundings and help to give some weight to these otherwise empty display walls. What do you think? We've been pretty inspired lately to just DO something with our extra not-really-good-for-anything furniture. It's helping us to fill in some empty areas of our house! 

How was your labor day weekend? I hope you enjoyed every minute of it- judging by the 50 degree weather outside today, fall isn't wasting any time!

365 Project: Week 33 - Fun, Family & Flowers!

This week, we became true Indianians (is that even a word?!) when we received our driver's licenses in the mail! It was another bitter-sweet moment, but fun to be 'official' I guess! 

Although I have still not hung many things on the walls in our house, I did create a fun framed piece - a cork-backed map of the United States with all the places Justin and I have visited together represented. Our hope is that this will encourage us to add more pins to the map (Nevada and Maine are next on our list!!) I shamelessly stole this idea from my most favorite site ever, YoungHouseLove  (if you haven't checked it out yet, DO!) They have posted MANY ways to make things for the home that are both sentimental AND relatively cheap! I found the idea for this map here.

Also, this weekend we were blessed with yet another family visit! The Hudsons rolled in late Thursday night and departed on Sunday afternoon. It was so nice to have them here to check out some of the more 'kid friendly' things that Lafayette/West Lafayette has to offer:
1. The (free!) Columbia Zoo and the park within it,
2. A sugar-high at McCord Candies in downtown Lafayette
3. Ice Cream at the Silver Dipper 
4. A trolley ride through downtown Lafayette and Purdue University (where we learned that Amelia Earhart used to live and go to school - who knew?!)
5. We even got our game on at Chuck E. Cheese! (Justin's been waiting!)
That, along with many walks with Bella, a soccer/killer ball-tag game with Justin, and a few episodes of 'Swamp People' made for one full and fun-packed weekend!

Also, Mikayla and I picked out a gorgeous Orchid flower to spice up the living room a bit, which means the challenge is ON for me to keep it alive (my sister seems to think I kill everything green, but NOT THIS TIME!)  **wish me luck...**

365 Project: Week 32

This week was very fulfilling as far as projects go - We finally got some plants put into the flower bed around the front and side of our house! Although they seem a little sparce now, we're hoping by the time spring rolls around next year, they will all be more full! Our ground here in our yard is nothing but sand and rock-hard clay (due to this being a newer sub-division and the overall lack of rain...), so planting anything is no easy task. We had to fill in around each plant with 'organic matter' :) and fill the bed itself with topsoil and we'll have to water like crazy for the next couple of months until it freezes (say a prayer that all the plants can tough out the winter!) Here are a few highlights from our day:

We also finally got our 'headboard alternative' hung up above our bed this week and although I really like it, it still seems to be missing something. I think it may be that the color of the fabric is close to the wall color, or maybe it's more narrow than I thought it would be... I'm not really sure. I think maybe I want to add an accent fabric somehow or maybe hang some sort of embellishments from the rod at the head of the bed. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share as I'll be pondering this for a while!


I was really happy with my quilt progress this week - I finished my first 'mini-quilt' (the top is shown above) I even got it 'quilted' later in the week, although haven't gotten any finished versions of that yet. I've been trying to devote a little time to it every day and learning all that I can - from my successes AND my mistakes! Now that I'm getting the hang of how it works, I'm excited to go bigger! Wish me luck!


The weather has been so beautiful this week! Justin and I even had an impromptu date at Whyte Horse Winery in Monticello where we sampled many different types of wine made from Indiana-native grapes! (The 'Black Beauty' wine was like heaven in a glass!!)

I hope your week has been great! I've been working quite a few long days this week, but we're having more family come to visit this weekend!   Cheers!