My Booth

This past weekend, I participated in an outdoor craft fair. We literally set up in the parking lot...see the car parked in the stall next to me?

I picked the spot that led right into the store, Heartstrings. I thought it created a pretty good flow.

A few took the space on the sidewalk/'courtyard' area in front of the store.

Here's my cute table of painted pine cones.

I had a Christmas Side.

And a Fall side. 

I had most of them in sets of 6, although I have since started making more individual ones and have turned them into ornaments.

 I sold this spunky one to a cool chick from Oregon.

Here are some of the dried flowers I mentioned in my last post. I got the two big ones from the nursery and the rest is actually sage brush from our back yard. And isn't my orange pitcher the coolest! My mama gave that to me for my birthday last month.

 And here's the rest of it. The owner was super helpful. Not only did she let me borrow her table and grid panels, but she also helped me set it up.

And here are my best sellers. Since I list these on etsy, I have pictures of most of them. So I printed up my favorite picture of each and made little tags for them. I used diaper pins to fasten them to the legwarmers and keep the pair together. I was so excited to sell my first one of the day, that I forgot to ask for the pin back. =( That was sad and so was that fact that they took home my very favorite pair. Anyone remember which pair is my very favorite? Well, even if you don't remember, you can probably guess. The rainbow striped ones of course! They sold first, then I sold the black sparkly ones, and then the grey/black/red and white pair.

The weather was totally cooperative. There was sunshine and no wind. At exactly the time we started packing up, the slightest little wind started to pick up. Perfect timing. So it turned out to be a pretty decent day.

Weekend in Arkansas

We spent the weekend in Arkansas visiting Nick's mom. Her boyfriend has horses and a four wheeler so we had fun playing with both. I hadn't been on a four wheeler since I was a kid. I had Nick take it easy so it was a fun, exciting ride (instead of a scary, tense ride). He was encouraging me to drive, but I declined. Of course, I didn't mind posing for a picture :)



We fed and petted the Horses. We didn't end up riding them because one of them was refusing to saddle up. That suited me just fine.




Saturday we drove to Mountain View, Arkansas.

We checked out the stores, had a catfish and hush puppy dinner and then enjoyed the different jam sessions. Some call it pickin' while other's call it a hoedown. Either way, it was a fun time listening to live music under the full moon in the beautiful fall weather.

We're headin' out today. We haven't decided yet, but we're thinking about staying in Oklahoma City tonight leaving only a short drive to Wichita tomorrow.


happy travels!

jessie b

hello strangers

I have been caught up with life lately and living without internet for the most part. As a friend of mine teasingly pointed out, I have been "squatting" in my own house for the last 3 weeks. It sure shows you (well, me) how much we really need in life. A plate, a cup, one set of silverware, a pan, an air mattress, a few outfits and travel-sized bathroom necessities.

I have been hard at work finding new renters for my house and checking off home projects. For fun, I have been riding my bike and garage saling (usually both at the same time) and the garage sales keep coming here in Kansas. The weather is so lovely that I want to linger awhile longer. The weather and the birth of a special little boy are the only things keeping me from heading back to Tahoe now, because I have renters!! Yay! On to the next project. Right? Right!

Wednesday, I will be officially homeless..... again. But that's a good thing really. The baby should be here any time now, but realistically probably the last weekend of the month or the first week of November. Nick is wanting to take a quick trip to Arkansas to visit his mama for a few days (probably start heading that way on Wednesday or Thursday). Next week, we'll come back to Wichita and enjoy time with friends and family and hopefully I'll be busy shipping off all my handmade goodies to their lucky new owners.

I am almost done taking all the product photos. Next, I need to figure out how I'm going to ship them safely and for the best deal. I'm a little concerned the shipping costs might detour buyers. details. details. On to more fun. I gave one of my rooms a much needed face lift and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. That post is coming soon! And outtakes from today's photo shoot would be fun to post too.

For now, pictures of my cute friends will have to suffice you.

the expecting parents... my good friends Gretchen and Dave
(taken at my favorite bar in Wichita, listening to one of my favorite bands of all time)

my rad friend Holly covered in silly string.

Wifi is a luxury these days. I have been driving all over to find it. Wow, there are so many places that have wifi now. I'm at one of the old trusty coffee shops now and hope the pumpkin spice latte turned 'decaf' coffee (you know, it gets cold before you drink it so I had them warm it up by adding a lil' coffee) doesn't keep me up. I'm not used to drinking coffee so it makes me jittery. Well, the wifi time is tickin away. tootles for now.

jessie b.

catch up

im gonna play a little catch up on photos. i snatched these from nick's camera. most if not all were taken by him. alright. here are a few more pics from nyc.

parking is a BE- ach!

reading "the ugly duckling"

so many parks. i cant remember which one this is. one of the few pics of us together (that we didnt take)

...............................................................................................................................................

the road to our house/barn... more hot air balloons

goofin' around! what i do best

copy cat! he he

on a bike ride (same as the one above) around this pretty (and private) lake. probably my favorite "trail" out here, but we can't likely go back. :(

these two are from one of his many bike rides alone

this was a monumental day for me. not such a good pic but it's a reminder of what i can accomplish. we were on one of the many trails at Bent Creek, this one we had taken only once before. see, i typically don't take too many risks. period. ive been taking more risks lately in life, sometimes still in baby steps. i typically dont jump curbs even when it leaves me hopping off my bike in the middle of the street. but.... on this day, everything just lined up. i was flying down the trail behind nick (as i usually do follow him, maybe less pressure. not sure). i had just shortly before rode over (and through) a half eroded log that lay across the road. nothing too impressive, or anything i hadnt done before. but it was kind of a building up to this next step. so i was having a good time, mastered (ha ha) the "half log", had some speed built up coming down the decline, see another log (full/solid this time), think "am i gonna try it", see nick clear it, see 2 bikes heading towards us on the other side.... have only a sec to decide... do i brake really fast, jump off my bike and pull it over the log while (since the trails are narrow) the others wait and watch me... or ... do i go for it and try to clear the log, hoping i dont really make a fool of my self and get hurt in the process with this lovely audience. well, nick stopped to get over for the other bikers and is now also half watching me (he probably didnt think i was going to do it) but I DID! i came flying down, hopped over the log, caught a little air, felt the rush, realized i better keep control of the bike on the landing, hollard "shit!" and landed perfectly! very exciting. ... (if you look closely, i already had some small bruises on my shin where the petal got me in the air, but i got my foot back on it before landing, thank goodness). ill take the bruises! it was worth it!

so i frowned upon picture taking during this endeavor, but since its so far away... its ok. this was taken a couple weeks ago on our 2nd backpacking trip. we didnt realize the river we had to cross was soooo high. i pulled my pant legs up as high as i could, but unfortunately my arse still got wet. (and then it rained the rest of the trip. fun times)

good pic. taken before trying the 'aweful'...strong martini and being shut down on our card game. according to the bartender, it is illegal to play cards in an establishment that sells liquor. weird! i did a little researching and was unable to find any proof of such a law. (we continue to play cards in other bars.)

havin' fun

belaying in my nifty new helmet. safety first :)

Back Packing in the Pisgah National Forest

I went back packing for the very first time this weekend. It was beautiful. There are still lots of fall colors and the weather was perfect. I am still kicking myself for not remembering to put my memory card back into my camera (was still in my computer from my nyc post), so :( no pictures. I made sure to stop and look up and around, taking it all in so I can hopefully remember.

Friday, we went to a second chance gear shop and got some appropriate light weight clothing and a map. Then to Rei for my first back pack, thermorest, some dehydrated food, etc. Picking a back pack took forever. We were there 3 hrs! I ended up with a mens pack because it fit the best and the womens version was out of stock.

Saturday we drove to the spot (the Fish Hatchery in the Pisgah National Forest) where we parked and started our hike...oh probably about 1:30pm. It was originally suppose to rain, but not a sprinkle in sight... just the bluest sky you've ever seen. All the colors yellow, orange, red, green, over the blue sky background was just so beautiful. Maybe around 5 we found a really neat spot to camp. (We didn't bring a watch, phone etc so the rest of the trip we were just guessing on time.) It was right next to a stream and had an established fire ring. I LOVE camp fires. I love building them. I love the stoking/maintaining them, I love the warmth, and even love the smell of them. Ok, a little ahead of myself. After we found our spot we stashed our packs there and decided to do a little more exploring. We found a larger camping area not too far from us that had a father and son there. They invited us to stay, but we choose to be secluded instead. Their spot was really pretty, though, the trees were really tall and some spots opened up, letting in the sunshine. There were some big bolders and it all butted up against Cedar Rock Mountain (a very round, bare rock surface). Well, we had ample time to gather wood, pick a tree for the bear bag, set up the tent, build a fire, eat are pretty tasty dehydrated meal (vege lasagna) and cornbread, plus dehydrated dessert (berry cobbler), and enjoy the sounds of the crackling fire and running spring before bed. Sleeping. hmmm well. Not so bad. I slept in a mummy bag for the first time. A tad claustrophobic at first. I was warm though. (even though I had a dream I was in Alaska). Then there was the mental trip of "not falling off my raft (thermorest)" as I slept. Needless to say, I was up and out of the tent when the sun came up.

Sunday morning, we resurrected the fire, ate breakfast, packed up, and hung out til the fire died. We thought it was about 11:30 when we headed out. We went out a different way we came. I prefer loops. It's always more fun to see something new the whole way through the hike. We finished on a popular downhill mountain biking trail that criss crossed over rivers making it muddy and rutted in parts. We also got to see some amazing waterfalls. On most of them, we dropped our packs and climbed down to see them. Got our feet wet and all. This was the first one we saw. This one was nice, but I can't find a good, let alone fall, picture of it. And this last one was fun because we climbed down the mossy rocks you see here on the right. Then we jumped our way over to the rock here on the left.

Be sure to check out the links if you are itchin' for some pics. (if you click on the "amazing waterfalls" first, then all the links should work.)
Here is a view of Looking Glass Rock from a lookout we passed on our way to the Fish Hatchery. This is a view from the south side of Cedar Rock Mountain. Both of these were taken just over a week ago so the colors are pretty similar to now. This guy has some nice pictures.

Me after returning home from my first back packing trip. Nick said I was a real trooper :)

New York City

A week in New York City. Arrived on Tuesday afternoon and left the following Monday morning. Here's what happened between that time and the pictures to prove it.

Tues we arrived in NYC in mid afternoon and checked into our hotel in Herald Square (right by the Empire State Building). It was one of the few sunny days (tho still needed a hood/hat after dark) and we didn't want to waste any time. So out we went, walking to Chelsea to check out some art galleries. There are so many there, we barely scratched the surface.

Our first hotel room. Black chandelier ... nice touch.

Our bathroom in the first hotel we stayed in.

my favorite artist/artwork I found in NYC. (and Now I can't even remember his name)

Central Park

We stopped to eat at the Boat House express cafe. It was good and reasonably priced. And I had my first Black and White (cookie for those unfamiliar). I regretfully did not take a picture of it. (or the slice (pizza) we got later that night leaving Time Square.) We also road over to the Guggenheim Museum and saw lots of Kandinsky. No cameras were allowed.

some hungry raccoons. (no WE did not feed them)

The bikes we rented from some individuals hanging out at the entrance to Central Park. I was hesitant, but we did it anyway. It all worked out fine.

Riding Bikes in Central Park after Dark

We walked through Time Square



And we saw the Naked Cowboy. You'll have to forgive me for rotating my camera. If you have a laptop, Great! If you rotate your computer and set it on its side, it'll be perfect.

Walking back to our hotel we happened to pass through Korean town, and Nick suggested a Korean Karaoke Bar. So in a Korean Karaoke Bar on the 4th floor in the Korean Neighborhood of New York City, Nick sang his FIRST karaoke. I sang with him so we had to find something we both knew most of the words to. We sang "My Girl".

view from our hotel. Ground Zero. 24 hr construction wk.

Raining in little Italy

a huge Michael Jackson made out of broken records and some cds (shiny part of his glasses). it was, hmmm $9000 or so, and sold. It's sitting on the floor. You can see the tiny tag on the right.

A painting in SoHo

Cafe Reggio in Greenwich Village. So quaint and cozy. We ate ravioli and carrot cake. both delicious. and some lavender tea. they claim to have brought the first cappuccino machine to America and we sat at a table next to it, and among other antique paintings and furniture. We just stumbled across this place. We were walking around hungry and it looked good and prices were reasonable. It was a great choice.

band from a random bar we found in Greenwich Village

Graffiti near the beginning of the Brooklyn Bridge on the NYC side

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

the cars below us

view of the Manhattan Bridge from the Brooklyn Bridge

the streets of Brooklyn

Inside a vintage/thrift store in Brooklyn. Don't think she was for sale, but I love this mannequin.

We found a cozy spot in the Connecticut Muffin shop, ordered hot cocoa and chili, and found a spot on the upper level. Having a few hours together, we decided to go see "Where the Wild Things Are" on its opening day. We were over 20 mins late, but found the theater, finished our drinks, used the restroom, and climbed to the 9th floor to watch it. Well worth it. Great movie and what a neat experience. (the below pic was actually taken at the nyc public library a couple days later. I propped the camera up on a bean bag that I sat on a chair... in the kids section.)

Nick went back to the hotel to get ready for work and I was off on my own again.
Fridays from 4 to 8pm is free admission to MoMA. It was packed, but soooo worth it. If you go, the secret is... they keep all the good stuff on the top floors. I looked at a map just now and realized I didn't make it to the top. There are 6 floors (above ground) of Art, and I'm pretty sure I only made it to the 5th floor. I wasn't counting at the time. It's HUGE. I just kept going and on the last floor, I retraced my steps back to make sure I didn't miss any rooms, and sure enough I did. Awesome. loved it. If I ever go back, I'm gonna start at the top and work my way down.

Trees

detail showing the trees are made up of paper text and images

Jackson Pollock

I have a better appreciation for him after seeing his work in person. The best part is getting up close and seeing/imaging how the artists applied the paint. In some of Pollock's works you can see full hand prints.

Did I mention it was grey and rainy a lot of the trip? I decided not to alter/photoshop the pics for this post so the pictures might be even greyer than real life.

Statue of Liberty

proof "I" was there :)

Triborough Bridge/Robert F. Kennedy Bridge

I believe this bridge is 1 or 3 that makes of the Triborough Bridge. It sits to the West of the bridges pictured above it.

This is the point in the tour that we had to turn around and head back the way we came (due to high tide) instead of making a full circle around the city. We missed out on some more bridges and such, but I got a second chance to photograph monuments we had already passed by once. This time I was outside on the open deck and got better shots.

yGondola Next to the Queensboro Bridge

Queensboro Bridge

Williamsburg Bridge

Manhattan Bridge in front of the Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

A barge full of the results from the Cash for Clunkers project.

A Thai restaurant not far from our hotel in the financial district.

An old grave yard near Wall street and Broadway. I can still smell the roasted nuts from the street vendors.

We kept walking around and found the September 11th memorial. (no pics taken). Nick stayed at the hotel and napped before going to work. I headed out on my last day in NYC. First stop, the NYC Public Library.

The children's section. I really liked the drawings of the city that were in here so I took pics of the ones I visited.

a lion fountain

one of the many stairwells

the Rose Main Reading Room

These are the actual toys that inspired the Winnie the Pooh books. Displayed in the children's reading room, of course.

Grand Central Station (constellations painted on the ceiling)

Coincidentally, I arrived at St. Patrick's Cathedral just as Mass was starting, so I stayed for it.

It was dark when I left the cathedral. As I walked the city streets, I was drawn to the colors pouring out of a lighted gallery. To my surprise, it was open and I entered.

My last night in NYC. hmmm what have I not done yet? Let's see. My cousin suggested Dylan's Candy Bar. Googled their hours on my phone. Yay! open for 2 more hours.

Their interior stairs. Right after I took this, one of the workers advised me of their picture taking policies (have to have people in them). So this was the last one I took.

Spent way too much in that store, but it was all I bought while I was in the big apple. Does everyone know why it's called the BIG APPLE? While on my cruise, the tour guide informed us that it was because NYC use to be known for Sugar and Money...and An apple is the most sugary fruit. So hey, I spent a lot of $$ on sugar in New York City. fitting. (I decided to see if he was right. Wikipedia did not agree)

Took the subway for the last time back to the hotel, packed, and went to bed. We took a cab to the airport early the next morning.

And now we are back in North Carolina and plan to stay put til December. So time to enjoy a day of sunshine and the rest of our time here.

Happy adventuring to you all.