Sunday, November 11, 2012

Pinterest Craft Day Prep

Vickie and I met up today and we are READY for Pinterest Craft Day!

Thanks to Vickie (she has LOTS of glassware), we are all going to make tiered serving platers which are great during the Holiday's for serving platters, center pieces and they can be given as gifts.

Here are some pictures of what we'll be making. The best part about this project is everyone can make something that fits their needs:


 Above are some platters Vickie has made. 

 More of Vickie's platters 



Below are some examples of what you can make and samples of the glassware we'll be bringing: 
You can use them as serving platters or decorate them for Christmas and use it as a center piece. 
We will also be bringing some Christmas decorations for everyone to use.


 There are all kinds of arrangements you can make. 
Above is an arrangement that would be fun for candies and decorations!
We are looking forward to Pinterest Craft Day! 
See ya soon! 

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

VHS Homecoming 2012


No, no one invited me to the 2012 Homecoming Dance, however, I was asked to be a guest speaker at the Vale High School Homecoming assembly. 



First of all, I am honored to be here and when I heard your homecoming theme was Super Heroes, my first thought was GENIUS! Then when I was asked to be a guest speaker at your homecoming assembly, I was speechless and honored to be thought of.

My first thought was, “what makes a super hero a SUPERHERO?” There are all kinds of heroes, but SUPER heroes are defined by a unique and different quality. Superman had superhuman abilities that made him different, Spiderman realized at a young age he could climb walls and shoot spider webs from his wrists.

Then I got to thinking about myself, and my differences. I certainly AM different. Thinking back to my high school days when I was 6’2”, uncoordinated and as skinny as a beanpole, I was REALLY different.

I got teased and made-fun of because of my awkward-abnormal height. I was called every name in the book, some were good nicknames, others, not so much. But my parents always told me “you are always going to be tall, so stand up straight and be proud of your height.”

We are all different, and those differences are what make the world go round. Think about it, if we were all the same, we would live in a boring, beige world.

I want you to think about what makes you different? Don’t hide it, master it; like Superheroes do and use it to your advantage. If I had tried to hide my height by shrugging my shoulders and not standing up straight, it wouldn’t have helped me any; it would NOT have taken my height away. So I did what Superheroes do; I learned to take advantage of my difference “my height” and used it to my advantage; I played sports.

I played Volleyball and Basketball here at Vale High School, and I am proud to a Vale Viking Alumni. I was recruited all over the nation and I signed with Oregon State University and received a full-ride scholarship to play basketball there.

During my collegiate years, there were lots of ups and downs and highs and lows. I have a ton of memories with my teammates and we traveled all over the nation playing ball. But what I want to tell you about today is a story that sticks out in my mind whenever I think back on my college experience.

Between my Junior and Senior year at Oregon State, we went through a coaching change. Our current coach was fired and OSU hired LaVonda Wagner, who was an assistant coach from Duke University. If you know anything about basketball, then you know that Duke University is a BIG BASKETBALL school, and we knew we were going to get a great coach with high expectations.

When our new coach joined us, it was spring of my junior year, which was our off-season. Our new coach told us, “We might not be the best team in the country, but we can certainly be the most in-shape team in the country.” So guess what we did? We ran, and ran, and ran, and worked on defense and ran and ran and ran some more. We all joked around that we were now a track team rather than a basketball team, but we were all so excited and happy about our new coach, we did whatever she asked of us.

That spring, Coach had our trainer take us to a local high school where we ran a mile and our trainer logged our times. Little did we know Coach Wagner was tracking our times for a baseline. She then set what our TIME should be the following fall. We each were assigned a personalized mile-time that we needed to achieve the following semester during pre-season.

Now, let me backtrack, when Coach Wager got to OSU, she “trimmed the fat.” She cut all of our walk-on players and made things really difficult so the weaker players quit. When I was assigned the SECOND fastest mile time on our team as the tallest and biggest post player on our team, my perception was that Coach Wagner wanted me to fail. She set my time at a 6 minute and 15 second mile. To give you a reference point, our FASTEST team member, our point-guard, was given a mile time of 5 minutes and 45 seconds. I was SHOCKED that I was only given 30 seconds more than the FASTEST person on our team, and thought I was being set up to fail, so what did I do? I told myself “I was going to do it and prove everyone wrong.”

Now mind you, this was my perception of what my new Coach wanted. This was my personal negative-self-talk. No one told me I couldn’t do it, no one told me they wanted me to fail, this was just my own negativity getting to me. So all summer, I trained as hard as I could with my team. I ran and ran and every time we ran, I kept that “what seemed to be impossible” mile time in my mind.

Then the day came; we all had to run the mile for the first time.
Once the fall semester had started, we, as a team, went to a local high school track every Wednesday morning at 6am, and we would go to this track every Wednesday morning at 6am until EVERYONE made their time. Once you personally made your time, you didn’t have to run anymore, however you still had to be there to support your team members.

So the first day, I ran my hardest, I told myself to put it all out there and ran my heart out. I kept up with my FAST point guard the first 3 laps, I am not sure how I stayed with her, but I did. I told myself not to listen to my body, but to listen to my mind… KEEP RUNNING or rather, sprinting. I thought my legs were going to fall off and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. The final lap I fell a little behind my point guard, but I figured I was fine, since I had a whole 30 seconds more than she. As I was approaching the finish line, I wasn’t thinking about anything, except, 6:15. I needed to run the mile in 6 minutes and 15 seconds; I came in at 6:14. I made it! By ONE second, but I made it!

Looking back on my college basketball experience, I don’t remember the score of any certain game. I don’t remember my personal best game, or our teams exact record of each year. What I do remember is achieving what I to be the impossible. I remember over-coming my fears and the hard work I put in to accomplish my goal, or rather the goal that was set for me.

When I graduated, Coach Wagner took me and my fellow senior teammates out to dinner. I told this story to her, letting her know I thought she wanted me to fail, hence the CRAZY goal of a 6:15 mile for a 6’2” post player. She could not believe that was my perception. She laughed and said, “I never wanted you to fail, I set that time because I knew you could do it.”

So my point is, only YOU can encourage or discourage yourself from making your goals. You can overcome what you perceive to be the impossible, and the feeling you’ll get when you do overcome it is something no one can take away from you.

I may not remember any other personal stats, or my team’s win-loss records, and so on, however, I will never forget the stat of 6 minute and 14 second mile time. The reason I will never forget that is because I worked so hard to get there, I accomplished it, and I worked hard with my team to do so.

When you are facing a situation that seems to be impossible, remember that challenges bring opportunities to prove yourself and to better yourself. Step up to the plate and work hard, because accomplishments do not come easy in life. Everything worthwhile in life is hard work.

Thomas Edison once said:
“If we did all the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves.”

Thanks for asking me to speak here today. I hope you have a wonderful homecoming weekend and GO VIKINGS!!!!



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Bridget & Josh Are Engaged!

One of my very best friends, Bridget is ENGAGED! 


Josh West planned out a very exciting engagement for Bridget. He had planned ahead and contacted many of Bridget's friends and told us if we wanted to help celebrate there would be a surprise engagement party for her on Aug 26th in Portland. Of course, mom and I made the trip!

Josh proposed on the water front in downtown Portland and we were all waiting at the restaurant for her second surprise! She thought they were headed to dinner, just the two of them. She was shocked when she walked in the door and about 14 of her closest friends were there to help her celebrate!

Josh picked out (with Bridget's help) this beautiful ring! It is so pretty and it fits Bridget's beautiful personality so well.

 The SHOCK of seeing all of her friends is written all over her face! 
 And we cried! Josh did a great job pulling off the surprise! 
And we cried a little bit more cause we are so happy for Bridget! 


Bridget deserves this happiness more than anyone! She is one of the kindest, nicest, and giving people I know. I couldn't be happier for her and Josh and I can't wait to help them celebrate their life ahead.

Bridget, I love you so much!
Josh, I love you because Bridget loves you!










She was on cloud 9 with her future husband!

She and Josh couldn't stop smiling! 




And of course, more celebratory drinks at the hotel! 
And laughs and happiness! 

I love you Bridget! 

The fun has just begun! Bridget and Josh are planning a destination wedding in Jamaica, June 2013!
I wouldn't miss Bridget's wedding for the world, so we are getting our passports lined out and getting ready for the big trip! Is it June 2013 yet? WE CAN'T WAIT! 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Personalized Vase Tutorial

A few months ago I received a facebook message from one of my best girlfriends boyfriend. Josh was letting me know he was going to propose to Bridget on Aug 24th in Portland and that he was also planning a surprise engagement party with her closest friends to follow. He wanted to let my mom and I know in case we could make it. I was so excited for Bridget, I immediately emailed and called my mom and we decided we were not going to miss it for the world!

As Aug 24th was approaching we were thinking about an engagement gift for her. I wanted it to be something special because she is so special to me.

I looked on Pinterest and wedding websites for ideas and decided I was going to make something for her. During my searches I found this vase and was inspired. I was thinking about my options and how I could make it. During my brainstorming I emailed my super-craft-cousin, Tiffany. If you spend a few minutes on her blog you'll understand why I reached out to her for ideas. Between her ideas and mine, I had a plan!

Here is how it went!
I went to Michaels Craft Warehouse (with my coupons of course) and bought a square glass vase and bright/fun scrapbook paper.

I created a word document on my computer with what I wanted the vase to say and planned the vase layout in my mind and printed! Advice, be certain you have the word document set to the paper size (scrapbook paper is larger than printer paper DUH and your margins are set as small as possible). 

I had all my supplies and was ready to start cutting and gluing. 

 I wanted the bottom to be the black and white floral print paper, so I started with that.
I kind of wrapped it like it was wrapping paper, however I cut the excess 
paper away so it wouldn't be thick. 
I used Mog Podge glue. This is a water-proof craft glue. 


Next I used the Mog Podge to glue on the turquoise paper. This was the paper I printed on. 
I was very careful to not get glue on the ink as I was worried it might smear it. 


Then I added a black stripe at the top, and a black stripe over the seam between the floral and the turquoise. I was done gluing the paper to the vase. 


Now the tricky part, how to make it water proof!??
Well, I used wood shellac. I brushed it on in thin coats (2-3 coats) and made sure it was dry
before applying another coat. I think it did the trick. I need to follow up with 
Bridget and ask if it is waterproof!!  



When we arrived in Portland, our first stop was a flower shop to fill the vase! 
We were very happy with how it turned out! 
We were staying at the same hotel as Bridget and Josh so it was to be delivered to their room after left for the part so she had another surprise waiting for her after her exciting night. 

More to come on the proposal and engagement party! 

A few things I learned and would change if making this again (which I am sure I will). 
I would make my word document be a little different, I repeated the same saying, so they would wrap around the vase. However, I didn't adjust their staring point, so all of the Josh & Bridget are lined up. I would also find a smaller vase so there are fewer seams. I have 2 seams in the back of the vase rather than just one because the vase was larger than my paper. 
If you make one and have additional suggestions, let me know! 




Monday, May 28, 2012

New Patio! Bring on SUMMER!

This winter we had a lot of rain and mud, combine that with a 90lbs puppy and you get LOTS of dead grass. We decided we needed to get a sidewalk to Wyatt's kennel (on the other side of our garage). One thing lead to another we needed a new patio all together. 

Below is our OLD patio, with the sprinkle pipes removed, as we were getting ready for the patio guys to come! 



The DURING.... thank goodness for the equipment! 
That was a LOUD day! Sorry neighbors. 
The guys were at our house on a Saturday from 7am-10pm 
doing the removal and prep for the new. 


The following Saturday they came and poured! 
Jordan helped out and ran a wheel-barrow, one and a half trucks of cement later, it was poured. 
I was, of course, a great manager and drink supplier! 

 This weekend we got the grass seed planted around the edges and more of the finish work done. 
We are ready to ENJOY our patio! 
Bring on the summer! 
We also are thankful for our patio set we received as a wedding gift! 
As you can tell, we planned the patio with the furniture in mind :) 

And my flowers are planted and I love the color they add! 
 Last but not least, Wyatt has a sidewalk to his kennel, well it's more for US than Wyatt! 

Needless to say, we LOVE our patio!!!!!!!!!! 
We just need our grass to grow (might be tough with a 90lbs puppy)! 

Monday, April 9, 2012

Wreaths with Mom!

After doing our Pinterest Craft Day (go to Tiffany's Blog and view MANY posts to see all of our projects on "Pinterest Craft Day") mom and I have still had the "crafting itch".

The week of spring break, everyone at work took a day or two off,
so I invited mom over for a day to craft and hang out.

This post on Pinterest had sparked my interest so we selected it to be our project for the day.

Mom brought a role of brown paper she just happened to have.

We bought styrofoam wreaths from Michael's Craft warehouse (with our 40% off coupons of course), I have a circle cutter in my scrapbooking supplies and we were ready to go!


First we figured out what size our circles should be for the size of wreath we purchased.
I think we cut about 5" circles.
See all of the scissors in the above picture with different scalloped finshes? Well we quickly figured out that cutting the edges scalloped was going to TAKE FOREVER (mom was able to cut 5 circles at a time with the circle cutter and I would have had to cut each circle one-by-one with the scallop finish).
As a a result, we decided to try burning the edges!
I was able to burn anywhere from 5-10 circles at a time.
Mom cut, while I burned!
Safety first, I burned on an old cookie tray!
Then we decided we better see what they look like before we got too many done!

Looks good! Keep going!

We used the ends of sponge brushes to wrap the circles around, place the hot glue, and stick to the wreath.
Careful.... if your hot glue gun is too hot, you have to hold it a lot longer than you do if your glue gun is at a medium temperature.

It is a very repetitive and time consuming process, but the end product is worth it!
Since, I have also added butterflies! They look great and they can easily be removed as I simply used Tacky Glue and figured if I want to use this wreath in the winter or another time of year, I can remove the butterflies and either leave the wreath plain or add something else!

I finished mom's wreath for her (we had everything cut, I just had to glue) and brought it to her this weekend when we enjoyed a nice Easter weekend with mom, dad and other family members.

We both LOVE our new wreaths!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Patio Table Transformation

Jordan and I have been talking about "re-doing" a patio table for a while now, well this weekend we did it! We removed the legs and I spray painted them black. Jordan got a piece of plywood from work and he cut it to size and did the sanding.

In the mean time, I bought to 2 stencils and was excited about the "finish work."




















We brought it inside once all the sanding was done so I could stencil in comfort. Once the stenciling was done, I painted the edges black and then took it outside and finished it with shellac. I am really excited about our new patio table that is bright, fun and springy! It will also be very functional when we pull the BBQ out of the garage this spring!



Monday, February 20, 2012

Canvas board with stickers

My last project for the day was painting a canvas and using stickers to write things!





















I am happy with how it turned out!
This was another Pinterest inspired project!


Wine bottles turned into chalk board vases

Another Pinterest inspired project.... wine bottles painted with chalk board paint!

For the black bottles we used chalk board spray paint, and for the red bottles we made our own chalk board paint! It worked! I think the chalk needs to be used a little though for it to work better. Brand new chalk is a little hard to use. But I am happy with the turn out!

New Necklace...Pinterest inspired

Check out the necklace I made!

I was inspired by Pinterest

Here is my version! I can't wait to wear it.



















I had so much fun, a girlfriend and I made them.



Tuesday, January 31, 2012

First Pinterest Inspired Project

Pinterest really taken a lot of my time,
however I am excited to say I have completed
ONE project inspired by Pinterest.

I LOVE my spring & summer flowers! When it comes to my flowers my husband says I love them more than I love him (not true, but this gives you an idea of my obsession with my flowers). On Pinterest, I think my GARDEN board is my largest board...
so completing a GARDEN project first is a given.

I went thrift store shopping a few weekends ago and
I had a list on my phone of what I was looking for.

It included but was not limited to:
Magazine Rack
Spice Rack
Cup/plate combo's
Old rake head
Old chair
Planter items
Desk/dresser for garden shelf.

You can see the following projects that inspired my list by viewing the following Pinterest items:
http://pinterest.com/pin/216313588321837698/
http://pinterest.com/pin/216313588321892099/
http://pinterest.com/pin/216313588321891995/
http://pinterest.com/pin/216313588321837625/
http://pinterest.com/pin/216313588321891980/

You get the idea, there was a project behind every item on my list.

So, what did I find while thrift shopping?
The following items: magazine rack, bowls, garbage, flower pots and a footstool.
My plan, turn everything into a planter!



I first started by priming all of the "planters" with 1-2-3 primer.
I wasn't sure if this was going to work because all of the items were different with different finishes. It seems to have worked, the true test will be this summer!

Then I went to the craft store and bought indoor/outdoor acrylic paint (best advice I could find on the interent) along with a spray on acrylic indoor/outdoor varnish.
Let the creativity begin!
My final product:
I turned the footstool into a little table where I will set some of my flower pots!

Finally, I also found an old wood ladder at one of the thrift stores.
I am planning on doing something like this with my bright summer flower pots!
Who knows, between now and summer, I might add to my pot collection!

http://pinterest.com/pin/216313588321931831/

Pinterest, you might be a time suck, however you have given me LOTS of inspiration!
More projects are in my future!

Monday, January 30, 2012

LA Trip to see Dan, Jan 2012

Mom, Dad and I had been talking about going to see Dan inLA for some time now (since he has been there for two and half years).
Southwest had a great sale on tickets this fall so we went for it!
















Our trip was full of fun and Dan did a great job lining out all kinds of activities for us!

The first night in LA we had dinner at the restaurant where Dan currently works, picture above.
We enjoyed great food, met lots of his friends/co-workers and were treated very well. We could tell they value Dan (and should) and that Dan has a second family at work.

We enjoyed the comfort of Dan's apartment and it reminded us of basketball weekends back in the day when everyone (who ever came any given weekend) would stay with Dan in Eugene or myself in Corvallis, it always makes for lots of laughter when the only time you're alone is in the restroom!
Dan's place was decorated very nice (we didn't expect anything less) had a nice pool and hot tub we also enjoyed.

Our first full day we spent 13 hours, yes, 13 HOURS at Disneyland! It was AMAZING!
Thanks mom and dad, for taking us to Disneyland as children and as adults... okay, just older children :)

We enjoyed the whole park! Here, we are outside the Tiki Room.















Dan and I, being the childish adults we are, got our faces painted!















We enjoyed, well most of us enjoyed, the roller coaster!




















The World of Color Light show was amazing!
After a VERY eventful day at Disneyland we crashed and burned!















The following night we enjoyed another night of dinner, drinks and great company at the restaurant Dan worked at when he first moved to LA.

Here, we again, met great people who love Dan, and should! He has a great group of friends!
















A day at the beach was a MUST! I mean, it was 70 degrees in January!
Yup, pretty sure a day at the beach was a given!




















Dan also signed us up for The Price is Right! After standing in line all day and be being moved as a group (like a slow day of moving cattle, we were the cattle) from one place to another, literally moving 30 yards at a time, we finally made it into the studio for The Price is Right! Our standing in line began around 10am and we left the studio around 6pm

We are so excited for Feb 16, 2012 as this is the day our episode airs! One of us was called down: "______ come on down!" You'll have to tune in on Feb 16th to watch, set your DVR, record it, or watch it on Hulu the day after!
































During our time in LA Dan also took us to the design stores were he shops, which were amazing! We got a good taste for his design work. As we walked into each shop the store owners and/or managers knew who he was and was very welcoming to his "brining in the family." We walked through furniture stores that had items ranging from $2,000-$50,000+. It was awesome! Fabric stores, wall paper stores, etc., it was a real experience for us and gave us a great glance at Dan's daily life!

I think what we all enjoyed the most was spending time together, laughing and having the memory of the entire trip!

We are also very happy that Dan is a great LA driver... our first drive (from the airport to his apartment) was a little shocking, but we knew we were in good hands! Good job Dan!

Thanks family for a GREAT trip that will never be forgotten!

Dan, you are amazing (which we knew) but you have done something I could never do (move to LA and be someone)! You are amazing and I can't wait to see what your future holds! You are going somewhere, and we have always known that, but after seeing you in your element and seeing the way the designers greet you as you walk in the room and how your co-workers at the bar/restaurant talk about you and treat you, I can't wait to see what comes next.... it's gonna be something big!

Here is to having a great family!