On the road less traveled...

Photo Love.

When I was home for father's day, my dad showed me some of the old slides he scanned into pictures.  this was my favorite.  What a find!  My mom and me...apparently there were parachuters in the sky...

[Circa 1982]

Another Quick Mini

I wanted to put together a few more pictures for my grandma, and so I threw together a quick 4x6 mini album.  Covered chipboard for the covers, did a little decorating, and then started printing out some 4x6 photos.  She likes to have pictures near her, and will regularly pick up photos that are there and go through them.  So that's my hope for this little album.

 

 

I put a couple of dividers in the mini, one for my house...

 

["Mein Haus" is My Home]

 

[If I wanted an introduction to a series of photos, or needed rom for explanation, I cropped the photo a little and mounted it on the yellow.  But I also just punched photos and put them in.]

  

[Brookyln Bridge during my NY trip this last March.  Oh yeah, I need to post the rest of those photos!!]

 

[Left photo is my mom and I before we went to Phantom of the Opera for her 60th birthday last August; Right photo is my brother and I at Thanksgiving last year]

My plan is that I can send her photos (that will have the book-ring hole punched in it) on a more regular basis and she can just keep adding them to this.  Loved this format to put something quick together.  More family members are going to get books like this!

14 miles.

A few days ago we were driving through Junction City when Dave saw a sign on the junction of Hwy 99 and Hwy 36 that said "52 mile yard sale."  I had to wait till the end of the week to see if I could pull of taking the morning off, and then called Casey to make a plan.  So apparently this is an annual (this year was the 4th) yard sale that stretches from Junction City/ Cheshire all the way out to the coast in Florence.  52 miles worth.  any we only made it to mile 14!

 

My car has hauled all sorts of things...especially when Casey and I get together to hit yard sales...or she hits them all on her own and I follow up for the haul! :)  Last year we went to the Coburg Antique Fair and managed to fit a big table and a very cool chair alng with some other smaller pieces into the car.  As of yesterday, my car got nicknamed the "junkster". 

There were some fun finds along the way.  Including a stop at the firestation for hot dogs and cinnamon buns!

And by probably about Mile 9, my car was full.

 

The problem is that at Mile 14, I found an very cool trunk, and a organizer that I'm going to use up in the scraproom, Casey found a cool panel window....and there was no more room!!  We pulled everything out a couple of times and tried to puzzle it all together.  It didn't work.  We reached a new point....in all the junking and hauling we've done...this is the first time that my car looked like this:

 

[Yes...that is a trunk being tied to the top of my car!!]

 

[And so at 14 miles, we had to be done and turn around and head back home!]

 

[Yeah, that shock is about right.  Really??  A trunk on the roof?!]

I meant to take a photo of all the loot together, but forgot to do it right away, and then it got stashed in the garage...and I can't move that trunk back out by myself.  So that will have to wait.

We had a great time, and are already plotting for next year!  Yes, we only made it 14 of the 52 miles.  But I figure you don't win a marathon the first time...right? Next year, we need to remember to bring a collapsable crate for the first part of the day to keep the little stuff from sliding all over the back of the car.  We're bringing a cooler with snacks and cold water.  We are starting much earlier in the morning, and we're driving out to Florence and going to backtrack back into town.

Dave offered to entertain Marcus while us girls were out hunting.   When we came back, the boys had planted an m&m tree in the back yard that Marcus was busy watering.  That m&m tree is right behind the incredibly AWESOME deck that Dave has been busily working on.

 

[we've changed the design, oh about 20 times since we first started talking about how to build the deck.  And an additional 10 times since we actually started construction!  He is SO good about going with the creative changes!]

 

[It is coming together SO beautifully.  This may be the most custom built deck in greater Eugene!!]

Quick scrapbooking, take 2

Back in, oh, February (?!) I finished a scrapbook of all the Christmas pictures from Germany this last year.  I was so proud of myself that I'd be able to quickly send that out to my grandma...within just weeks of having been there.  Yeah...too bad that the scrapbook sat on my coffee table since then.  This last week I have FINALLY gotten around to packing up the boxes to send to her and to my uncle.  and I finished a similar scrapbook in teh 2-up 4x6 album style.

 

[I disassembled the spiral 2-up album to custom cover it with the paper of my choice.]

And here's a few pictures from the inside.  A quick way to wrap up LOTS of pictures!!

 

[The standard theme was the certainly celery paper and this particular stamp.  Super easy, super fast.]

 

Two days of blogging in a row.  Can I get in another tomorrow?? :)

Sunday Mornings.

It has been far too long since the last post!  On Monday I thought I was going to try to post every day to catch up.  And seeing as it’s Thursday, that obviously didn’t really work out for me!  So I’m going to try for the next few days to post more regularly…here’s hoping!

 

I’ve decided that I really like Sunday mornings.  For the last few months, my Sunday mornings have been very kick-back.  They have been sit-down breakfast mornings.  Put in a good CD mornings.  The kind of morning that you wish wouldn’t end.  “The kind of morning that, at a perfect pace, transform into a Sunday activity.  Since I bought my house, Sunday activities often involve a home improvement project of some sort.  And that has been very true of the last few weeks. We have been working on painting, and landscaping, and how we’ve turned to creating a back yard.

 

[Sunday morning breakfast.  My mom’s pancake/ crepe recipe with berries and whip cream.]

 

What I love about this photo is that it perfectly depicts my perfect Sunday morning.  You see the kick back and relax, but also the home depot reciept and the deck screws that play right into the rest of the day. 

 

Later on Sunday morning, Noah called and asked if I wanted to join him and George on the self-guided Symphony in the Garden tour.  George and Noah picked me up and we went on our way.  There were some fun garden ideas to maybe try to incorporate in my yard at some time in the future.

 

[Noah and George in a very cool english garden]

 

[love the pots stacked up]

 

 

[cool red chair backed into a corner on the patio]

 

[How awesome is this lily patch?  Too bad I'm terribly allergic to them.]

 

 

[I love the alium flower.  I planted some this last year, but they didn't come up quite this huge.  This was was larger then a softball...and gorgeous!]

 

Afterwards, Dave and I got to work on the deck in the backyard...

 

 

[Back of the house December 17, 2007]

 

 

[The back of the house on June 6, 2009.]

 

The paint job is done on the siding on the back side of the house.  I have to paint the trim still, but it's looking pretty good, huh?

 

 

[The back of the house on June 14, 2009.]

 

I can't wait to post more pictures as we progress.  This is going to look SO great!  Dave is making this as custom of a deck as possible.  and it's going to be awesome!

 

Crafty Summer Day

I have lots to catch up on.  LOTS going on and some fun pictures to share...but today, this comes first:

 

Yeah for spending some time with some crafty girls!

Curb Appeal

For a couple of days I managed to make some progress on the house...and then the Oregon spring rain kicked in.  So there are still a few rows of siding, right along the top that have yet to be painted.  I got started on the back, and the sides are a project still waiting.  I just need a couple more sunny days!

[The front of the house...the dogwood in full bloom.  Sprinkler flags are still up, so that I don't lose the sunken-in sprinkler heads again!]

[My beautiful brown door!!  And the new lamp installed.  The garage lamp looks the same.  The concrete patio still needs to be powerwashed and then stained with a concrete stain.]

[Casey gave me a bunch of bulbs right after I moved in, in early 2008.  I managed to plant them last fall....and this is what came up!  Love it!]

World Trade Center

I am momentarily fighting with my printer for it to print mosaic designs for a new project.  No details yet...we'll see how well it works!  :) And no, the painting is not done.  But the weather has been kind of cold and somewhat rainy...and you can't paint in that!  So I needed soemthng to do in the garage! 

So while I'm waiting for the printer to finally cooperate and print, I thought I'd post a few more pictures from New York.

 

[The former site of the twin towers of the World Trade Center]

 

[A church just across the street that was spared in the attack.  This was turned into a place where volunteers could seek shelter, food and rest as they worked through the rubble of the towers.]

 

[Inside the church were many of the things that were sent to New York from across the country, or left behind on the chainlink fence surrounding the site by friends, families, and strangers.]

 

[There were a number of tables in the church like this- the pictures and letters that had been posted as people searched for missing victims]

 

[And this was a very small selection of the hundreds, thousands of law enforcement patches that were sent from all over the world.  We found Portland's patch (bottom right corner of photo) and Forest Grove and Salem as we looked...]

On a Whim...

Two Fridays ago I came home from work, mowed the front lawn, pulled a bunch of weeds and then decided to pressure wash the entry way to clean it up a bit.  And since I had the pressure washer out, I decided to pressure wash the front of the house, and the garage door.  And then the paint started to chip off.  I knew I wanted to paint the house eventually, but on Friday I decided I wanted to paint the house sooner than later.

So on Saturday, I went to visit my dear friends at the Home Depot...and I bought paint.  I picked a house color, and a trim color...and away I went!  I came home and started to paint the front entry.  Sunday was lost, as it was rainy and crappy weather.  But I continued to paint a couple of hours each day this week.  And it's looking so good!!

The Before:

  

[Picture from the original inspection done on the house]

And the "During":

  

[That lamp is going to get replaced, but I have to find one I like first.  And the ghetto paper in the windows is also going to be removed and the glass is going to get frosted.]

And with that I am headed to change into painting clothes...I have work to do!!

New York, New York!

Okay, so here are some more pictures of the trip to New York.  I was there for a couple of days for a domestic violence court training program, and then a few of us took an extra day and a half to explore the city!  A few months ago Drew, the DDA that took my place in Newport, mentioned a training in New York, and I managed to get an application in on time.  So Drew, a new Lincoln Co DDA named Melanie, and Sheryl, who was an DDA when I was there but is now a circuit court judge, got to go.  We stayed in the Sheraton New York, which was between Times Square and Central Park.  We were in the middle of everything!

 

[Sheraton New York, and Times Square]

We arrived early in the evening on Monday and quickly dropped our things off at the hotel and headed for a place to eat!  One of the judges from Lane County was already there, and she and her husband had found a great place for dinner so we joined them for a great homestyle Italian meal at Carmine's.

The next night we followed the recommendations of the hotel concierge and went to a pizza place off of Times Square.  Then we all went to the broadway musical Wicked on Tuesday night, which was awesome.  Great story line, awesome set work, great acting and singing.  Just all around a lot of fun.  Afterwards we heaed out to a bar not too far from our hotel for drinks and dessert.  And while I can't explain why, there wasn't much picture taking going on up till now. 

On Wednesday, after the training was over, we walked up to Central Park and made our way through this gigantic park in the middle of the city.  When you're in the middle of the park, you wouldn't think that there is this hustle and bustle still all around you.  I knew that Central Park wasn't small, but I never imagined that it was as big as it was!

 

 

[Skate parks and playgrounds interspersed throughout the park.]

 

[And a whole host of ball fields.]

 

 

 

[Loving Central Park!]

From there we started on a list of places we wanted to see.  We had taken out the map, and just started marking places and things we wanted to see, and grouped them together for what we could do on this night, and what we'd have to save for Thursday and Friday.

 

[Rockafeller Center]

 

[St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Incredible to find this gothic structure in right next to a modern sky scraper.]

And from there we went to the Grand Central Station.

 

And while this has nothing to do with New York...you should check out this youtube video of a scene in the Antwerp Central Station.  They could pull this off at Grand Central too. 

 

Next stop was the New York Public Library.  The very library where Carrie from Sex and the City planned her wedding.  And speaking on Sex and the City- my single New York celebrity siteing was Mr. Big (Chris Noth).  As Sheryl and I were walking back to the hotel on Thursday night across Times Square he walked right past me!  Of course I wasn't fast enough to pull out a camera...and besides that would be have been silly!

  

 

 

From there, Sheryl, Drew, and I went to the Empire State Building.  We went in, trying to decide if we wanted to go to the sky deck.  Since it was already dark, we decided that we'd rather come back the next day during the day time to get the view of the city.  We ended up doing other things over the next two days, and never made it back.  But that's okay...we took in the city from ground level!  And with that we found an Irish Pub to stop at for dinner and then headed back to the hotel.

On Thursday we continued our exploration of Manhattan, and then headed to Liberty and Ellis Islands.  More pictures to come...this post is already pretty picture heavy!