Busy Busy + DIY

I've been super busy this week getting ready for the next chapter of my life. I have been doing some design work, packing, sewing projects, and more. Thought I'd share an easy DIY for fixing holes in clothing. I received these blue pants in a big free bag of random things. I was happy to find that they fit me and are super cute and comfy. They did however have a rip in the crotch area so I busted out my trusty sewing kit and went to town.

A before picture showing the rip.

mended rip

Then I tried them on to take this picture and noticed a hole in one of the legs. It was big enough to put my finger through so I went about fixin' it a different way.

I cut a small piece of scrap fabric to be a patch for the hole. The fabric was fairly thin so I folded it in half to make it 2 ply thick. The patch was just a little bigger than the hole itself. I placed the patch on the inside of the pant leg and did a quick simple stitch around it once to hold it in place. I'm not familiar with stitch names, but from what I found on fiber-images.com, I think it's called a basting stitch.

Then I went around the whole hole a couple times with lots of overlapping stitches (aka 'overhand' stitches) until I was satisfied with that. Then I did the same thing again around the outer edge of the patch to slow down the fraying.

I'm leaving Tahoe today and heading to Camp Augusta tonight. Goodbye Tahoe, see ya later!

Sproom

Sproom is the title of my latest painting. I used Takashi Iwasaki's painting Youkihigeh as inspiration and a guide.

*click on picture for source

Experimenting with new styles is fun. There are many layers to this one because it started out just brown and red. A few things from the first layer that are still visible are the moose, some brown and red mountains at the top, the mushroom, and the big red tepee on the left side (the top is visible plus the grass below it). I then found random scraps of paper and paper bags and pasted them on. I have a bucket of toys that I use for stamping . I picked out a star and used it. Finally, I found my inspiration painting and completed the piece.

my Next Adventure...

I have been working on my next adventure. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Nick is spending July in Kansas where as I want to stay out west. We had to give a 30 day notice to our landlords and I just had faith that my plans would all work out. I offered to volunteer at a summer camp, but even volunteers are taken through an extensive application processes. I went through 2 rounds of questions via email and then was going to have 2 phone interviews, however camp is in session and they are pressed for time. Instead of having a 3 hour conversation over the phone, they invited me to spend the day at camp. So Thursday morning I drove out there and spent about 24 hrs meeting the staff and campers, participating in clinics and games, and experiencing camp life. I found out yesterday that they discussed it as a group and have decided to welcome me into their community! I feel loved =)

So now we are packing up the apartment here in Tahoe and putting most of it in storage. I have to decide what few things I'm taking to camp and finish up some projects in the next 3 days. Wednesday, we will drive to camp. Nick will start heading to Kansas on Thursday and I'll start my new role as a HERO. Yep, that's my title.

source

You might remember the post I did about Camp Augusta a couple months ago. We attended a wedding there. If you want to know more about the place and community I will be spending the next month with, check out their site. It has so much good information.

I have committed to stay at camp until July 30th. My days will start around 7am and literally go until bedtime. I will be working about 16 hour days with half of Saturday off and half of Sunday off (= about 23 hrs total) if I'm lucky. I will have little to no free time so realistically, I'll probably only be able to manage 1 post per week. There are so many aspects of camp that are conducive to Wild Wednesdays and the Sunday Special blog posts... I'll at least try and take lots of pictures that might get posted after I leave camp. Eek!! I'm so excited!

Media Monday - Father's Day Edition

In honor of Father's Day, I have created a playlist with one of my dad's favorite bands... the Eagles.

the Sunday Special - Smoothie x2

this might not be very 'special' cuz i usually have one a few times a week, but i made an especially good smoothie today.

makings for my Blackberry Pineapple Orange Strawberry Smoothie

*1 cup pineapple juice
*1/4 cup or so orange juice
* handful of frozen blackberries
* handful of fresh strawberries
*1 cup orange sherbert


so so yummy!!! and the color was such a deep beautiful purple


I also made a new flavor yesterday. It was the first time i used Watermelon. I used blueberry pomegranat juice, frozen strawberries, watermelon and juice, fat free plain yogurt, flax seed and bee pollen. it was good but more like juice instead of a thick smoothie (due to the 'water'melon I'm sure). I even took some with me to the hot tub :)

Fun week

This week we had a couple friends visit us. We had fun hanging out with them and introducing them to Craps. We live in Nevada so yes, most out-of-towners request to hit the casinos...and yes, we have a favorite. We stayed up way passed our bedtime and slept in a little later than usual. Nick made us all breakfast. He was so happy with how the banana pancakes turned out last weekend that he made them again but with chocolate chips this time. After our guests hit the road, we went to Carson City. Nick usually goes by himself. He works and kite boards down there. I was glad he let me tag along this time. We hung out in this funky coffee shop called Comma Coffee.



And had some yummy drinks. Mine had carrot juice, orange juice, umm... banana I think, and some other healthy stuff.

He had an orange cream Italian soda.

This place has a fun and creative atmosphere, perfect for sketching...which is what I spent my 3 hours doing. After that, the winds seemed to be picking up so we headed to the lake, but no one else was there kite boarding. Unfortunately, his big kite is a little too much for me to handle just yet. Hopefully I can figure out how to conquer it so he doesn't have to miss out on another chance go. He was disappointed, but we decided to make the most of our little trip to the valley by checking out a new place for happy hour. And then.... we when to the movies, yay! I love the movies. We brought in a huge bag of M&Ms (the pretzel kind... have you had them before? It was my first time trying them. They were good, but I still love me some peanut butter ones.) I also decided to just carry my huge Nalgene bottle in because I don't eat sugary stuff without water (or milk) and wasn't about to BUY water. I am happy to report that no one said a word to me about it. hah! Oh, we saw "Killers". It was alright. Nick fell asleep during part of it. Any who, we drove back up the mountain around 9 and it was still twilight out. It lake was so pretty and so were the tree silhouettes on the mountains.

It's been a pretty good week... and we still have the weekend. woohoo!

Tuesday Travels

I went to Yosemite National Park for the first time this past weekend. We left Wednesday night and camped just outside the park. I set my phone alarm to wake up at 4:45am and headed into the park. About 2 hours later we reached the valley.



We stood in line at Camp 4 (the only open walk-in campground this time of year) and were lucky enough to get a camping spot there. We didn't even set up the tent before heading out on our first hike.

top of Yosemite Falls

Then Friday we went on another hike to the top of Nevada Falls and around to Vernal Falls.

Nevada Fall

This cute tree looked like it had garland strung on it.

The staircase next to Vernal Fall

The Mist Trail was a little more than misty.

Saturday morning we had a bear come through our camp. While others were yelling and chasing it out of the camp, me and a few others were running after them trying to get a good picture. Unfortunately, this is what I ended up with.

My nephew (aka Tow Mater) lost these two teeth (they were naturally fused together).


On the way out of the park, we saw these interesting 3 wheelers.

Media Monday - Jack Johnson

Yosemite was great! I'll share more pictures soon...hopefully tomorrow.

For today's Media Monday, I chose a musician that reminds me of camping back in Kansas with my friends. He has so many good songs so I might revisit him in the future, but today... just one really fitting tune.




Yep, we ate Banana Pancakes while camping in Yosemite! and they were goooood :)

the Sunday Special - Cheerios Marshmallow bars

Although I'm at Yosemite National Park right now, I prepared this camping inspired Sunday Special. We bought a bag of these HUGE campfire marshmallows that are about the size of 4 large marshmallows put together. They got a little stuck together because we left the majority of them in the car on Memorial Weekend while we were backpacking. So with some of those leftover marshmallows, I made Cereal Bars to take camping this weekend.

Instead of Rice Krispies, I used Cheerios this time.
I searched for Cheerios Marshmallow bars and found a few variations.
This is the recipe I used.


In addition, I also sprinkled a little Ovaltine in the mix as well (although not enough to taste it).
Chocolate chips or M&Ms would be a tasty addition, too.



and of course I had to eat, I mean test one to make sure they were good :)

Tuesday Travels' TIPs & TRICKs

I have received a few questions about hiking and a request to post about camping. So here goes...Part 1.

Do I go hiking often? Of course this depends on your definition of 'often'. I have been going hiking maybe once a week since the weather has gotten nice. Hiking up steep snowy mountains to beat cabin fever, get some exercise, and just plain be outside enjoying the view and fresh air.

A little tired after a 1500 ft vertical hike in the snow. We summited just before sunset. Even though we didn't bring our snowboards or even sleds, that didn't stop us from sledding down on our backsides. Sooo fun!

Hiking up the hill near our house to sit in the hot tub. Hiking to the beach to fly the kite. Hiking to a new remote spot on the lake to avoid hurting people while my bf is still learning to kite board (and to hang out with friends).

from this past Sunday

Hiking to a good camping spot. And then this weekend, I am going to Yosemite National Park for the first time. We were planning to hike up half-dome (a 14-16 mile round trip), but it is not open yet due to the late spring snow. We will, however, be hiking to waterfalls and such so I will share the pictures with you next week.

here are some of my other hiking trips from the past year. in Arkansas. in the Outer Banks. at Linville Gorge in North Carolina. Pisgah National Forest (my first backpacking trip). Mills Creek backpacking trip (among other things) in North Carolina. Morro Bay in California. along the Yuba River in California.

What do I pack? Well, if we are only going to be gone a few hours or less, I typically only bring water.
A camel bag is nice if you don't need to carry much else. A nalgene is good if you need to bring a bag (aka 'book' bag or day pack, basically a small pack) for carrying other things. Here in Tahoe I usually bring a stocking cap, a wind breaker, kleenex, a snack, and my camera. Depending on the time of year, the geographical location, and the time of day, other items may include: sunscreen (whoops, we forgot it this weekend), bug spray, sunglasses and/or a cap with a bill to keep the sun off your face, an mp3 player, a head lamp is essential if you're out after dark, and other items depending on the activities during the hike (such as a kite or beach towel). Different hikes call for different measures.

What do I not touch? Basically anything that might harm me. I didn't do much hiking growing up and I lived in the city so I never had exposure to poisonous plants... therefore I still wouldn't be able to identify poison ivy (which is found in Kansas where I grew up) if I saw it. I am lucky and tend to hike with my eagle-scout-of-a-boyfriend who has taught me to spot poison oak (which is found in California, etc.). I also avoid snakes of all kinds, spiders, and biting insects. Although no one 'touches' ticks or mosquitoes, they are something to be mindful of. It is smart to look yourself over or have a loved one look you over for ticks within 24hrs of your hike (or every 24 hrs while you are camping). If you have no experience with ticks and tick removal, I recommend checking out this site. If you are new to hiking or new to the area you are hiking in, I recommend to google the location for poisonous plants, animals, and other harmful elements (such as avalanches, etc).

I hope this gets you started hiking instead of scaring you away from it. Hiking is great exercise and it can take you to places that you could never see otherwise.

Media Monday - Zero 7

I tend to groove to a lot of different music depending on my mood and the activity at hand. In the car or hangin' outdoors, we tend to listen to Nick's mp3 player. I usually enjoy it, but lately I've started asking him, "who are we listening to?" and plan to share them with you here on Mondays.

Lately, we have been listening to Zero 7's album Yeah Ghost and I'm really enjoying it.




They are set to release a 2disc album called Record on June 28th that will be a compilation of their work from the last decade and some bonus remixes.

Who are you listening to these days? I am always in search of good music.

New Painting

Last week I was in a serious painting mood and worked on 3 different paintings. This is the second one I worked on. It turned out differently than I had intended (isn't that how it always turns out?). I was actually planning to do a little more to it, but when I got to this stage I looked at it and liked it enough to stop. What do you think? I figure I can make another one and complete it the way I was intending to with this one.

As most of you know, it was still snowing last week which is probably where the inspiration for this crept in. I'm titling this one "Brrr".

can you see the snow? it was snowing while i was taking these

btw, the blue tape is masking off the frame. i figure i'll remove it when i'm for sure 'done' with it. i plan to paint the frame white. it also has a dark piece of trim between the painting and the frame that was black and i did a dark blue wash over it.

it should look like this once the frame is painted.

I'll share the third painting soon. I am also working on another project that I'm excited about. I promise to share it with you once it's complete.

In other news, I have been contemplating what I am going to do next month. Nick is planning to head back to Kansas and I'm wanting to stay out west. I am going to meet up with some Indie Biz Girls in San Fransisco the last weekend in July to attend the Renegade Fair. (Attn: Indie Biz Girls. If you wanna meet up, let me know.) I have been trying to figure out what I am going to do the rest of the month. So far I have researched camping, WWOOF, and volunteering at summer camp. hmmm.... life's next adventure.

Tuesday Travels

I just returned home last night from a long weekend camping at Feather Falls. We hiked in on Friday night.

We got really lucky with the weather. Blue skies. Perfect temperatures.

the gang (minus me =) somebody has to take the pics, right?)

Feather Falls

Saturday morning. The stream flowing beside our campsite (looking right)

(looking left)

My tent. Getting the fire going to start making breakfast.

We ate so good on this trip. We made biscuits (in the dutch oven) and gravy with hash browns the first morning, pancakes and bacon the second morning, one of the meals we had lasagna with garlic bread, and brownies, and every night we toasted these HUGE marshmallows (I didn't take a pic though.)

A sunny spot that would have been fun to swim in IF the water was warm.

little hike to ...

a really great spot to sun bath on the rocks and dip our toes in water

lots of newts to be found

one of our friends brought this koolaid cup along and I just thought is was so cute

hanging out at the top of the water fall

a nice little walk on the trail. Nick and I stayed an extra night while the rest of the gang went home Sunday.

These little lizards were hanging out around our camp. They look like they are doing push-ups.

We learned to play mancala and made our own 'board' on a flat rock table (we also created) and used rocks we gathered. The lines were drawn with charcoal.

goodbye campsite. you were awesome!

On the hike out we stopped along the way to smell the flowers and enjoy the surroundings. These dark purple flowers had the strongest scent...mmmm it was nice.

Yep, and that's me after 4 days of living in the wilderness.

Happy Trails everyone!

ps. there are a few other photos on my flickr