Back with a Book, Baby!

I'm back! Do you even remember me?  Ha-ha, I hope so - I know it's been SO long, and I really am sorry about that gap, but I hope that my announcement excuses me just a teency bit.. So, some exciting news, it looks like.... I wrote a book?!?!  Just about a year ago, just as I was hanging up my hammer for the season, I was approached by Interweave (an awesome craft media company) with their idea of me writing a how-to book on string art.  I was so flattered, honored... and REALLY intimidated! I'd never written a book, but they reassured me they'd walk me through it, so I said yes...  And here she is, the finished product, over a years worth of many peoples hard work;  DIY String Art by Jesse Dresbach:

What do you think? It really didn't feel real until I was editing the preview of the book... and then it really hit home when I had the physical copy in my hands.  I'm really proud, I learned a TON, and I couldn't have done it without the help of so many people at Interweave, especially my fantastic editor Stefanie... she was in charge of taking my giant pile of directions & patterns and transforming them into a beautiful book that actually makes sense.  And man, she nailed it.. (pun intended, ha!)  So before I get into a few preview shots of what's been my last year, here's an amazon link to the book for those who have been asking about it:

It's also available on the Interweave website, as well as many booksellers & other fun retailers out there.  Keep an eye out! I appreciate everyone's support (and major patience!) on this journey.

So there are 24 designs in the book, and I did almost all brand new ones. I had to keep a few of the classics that people have asked about how to do (Retro Sea Snail and Retro Crescent Moon have been  MAJOR pattern requests!).  Take a look at a few faves:

The geometric fox was a new one, and instantly a favorite.. so fun to make!  This book project totally reinvigorated my string art love, allowing me to get really creative and branch out.   In the book you get all the patterns of course, and tons ( I mean TONS) of directions & support.  All nicely laid out into sections:

Here's a peak of the table of contents listing the projects:

And for wonderful book eye-candy time, here are few of my favorites from the book:

You can see some of the harder to explain-with-words projects get a little step-by-step picture action like our friend Ginkgo up here.  But once you get the hang of it, I'm confident you can tackle all these projects... and you'll be a pro in no time! :)

Well that's what's been going on in my life, hope you all have been busy with fun projects & gearing up for summer! I'm happy to get a lot of my free-time back, and I definitely look forward to posting again.  As I've mentioned before it might not be as regularly (see my gripe-fest at the end of this post) - but it will definitely be more than every 18 months! Whoah, time really flew there...

For the in-between snippets you can find my social media links below, & a huge HUGE thank you, for hanging in there with me.

xoxo,

Jesse

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Life Update: Rubin the Maine Coon

I've been a little checked out lately, on the blog as well as in my mind.  It's taken a while to actually sit down and write this post. I debated whether or not I should, but they say talking about it helps.  Last weekend, (May 5) our youngest cat, Rubin, was hit by a car in front of our home.  You never expect these types of tragedies, of course, so it's needless to say this shocked us all to the core.  I could not believe it, it felt completely surreal.  In an instant, he was taken from us - by one speeding car.

We were hanging out on our deck, Rubin was coming and going as he always does, when it started to get a little late. We wondered where he was, and then Ralph saw him down at the bottom of our driveway.  I flew down, hoping he was in some deep sleep, but we knew.  He was dead, hit by a car.  Our street isn't necessarily busy, and Rubin had a deep fear of the road.  When a car would approach a few houses down, he'd sprint back up to the house.  Even if you were holding him, he'd climb out of your arms and run to safety. If anything we were more afraid of other animals than we were the road.

Rubin was an amazing cat.  He was the most social, loving, and affectionate cat I've known.  He behaved like a dog, and was social like a person.  He was extremely happy, carefree, and absolutely loved the outdoors, water, and playing "alarm clock".  He was a part of our little family, and he will never be forgotten.  We were with him for two amazing years, and while I wish it was 22 years before we had to say goodbye, I'm grateful nonetheless.  Rubin was a Maine Coon, and showed us both a whole different side to cats that we never knew about. So I'm very thankful.

I'm sure to some it's easy to think "It's just a cat" or that I'm being dramatic, but I  know many of you also understand that these animals we share our lives with become so close to our hearts, that losing them is extremely painful. 

So hug your animals a little tighter, appreciate them, spoil the hell out of them and do whatever you can to keep them safe.  They are all so special.

Rest in peace little guy, we love you and miss you so much.

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Corned Beef and Cabbage

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Almost... it's this weekend (already!?) and I have been looking forward to one of my favorite dishes for about 6 months now... Corned Beef & Cabbage.  I know, you can get it year round - but something about the wait makes it that much more delicious.  Growing up my mom would make this every year, and now that I'm all growed-up, I'm carrying on the tradition.  We've tried it several different ways, traditional, crock pot, extreme crock pot (it cooked for like, 12 hours...serious)  and it's always delicious. This year, I think I'm going to try a recipe I saw on the food network website, it looks super easy, and has a different take on the cabbage. She takes it out and saute's it with butter and onions, which sounds amazing.

Link to the recipe: Corned Beef & Cabbage

You like? I agree... one modification though, I'm going to cheat a little and have the crock pot do some of the cooking here.  Then, when it's time to add the vegetables, I can either let the crock pot work on them for about an hour or transfer everything to a pot if I'm low on time.  Either way, that cabbage is getting sauteed!

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Backyard Adventure

I haven't had a chance to show much of the yard yet, mainly because it's huge and it gets dark around 4-5, so my picture taking window is pretty slim! Ah.. still adjusting to mountain life.  The other day however, we did decide to take a break from unpacking and just climb the hill behind our house.  We have no idea how far back the property line is, but we're pretty sure it's the whole hillside.  So Ralph and I threw on some boots, and set out to conquer the beast.. here was our first view, and we were only beginning the climb:

We were already higher than the house! This "hill" is deceptively steep... but we had a goal: the top!

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The First Night....

We made a goal earlier last week, to be sleeping in the new house by this last Saturday.  Well we met that goal, and just in time too.  As we were unpacking the mattress, it started to sprinkle again - which was the beginning of the third, and largest storm we've been facing out here in the west.  Seems like Ben Lomond wanted to give us a wild welcome, and really let the rain pour down.  Record breaking rain, or so I hear.  We learned about the haunting sounds of a sump pump going off and on under the house, and what to do when your septic alarm starts going off. Yea - I know - septic alarm?!  For two people who have never dealt with a septic, this was exactly what a nightmare of mine sounds & looks like.  I was pretty stressed, but had to remember to stay calm, and that things could be worse.  A lot worse. Here's what we woke up to (I can't believe I even slept!)

Wild stuff! This is just one area too.  But you know, now that the rain has stopped, things have dried up a little, and the septic is being repaired - I have to reflect and think that it's your attitude that will get you through things.  So on that note, rather than feeling overwhelmed I'm going to be positive. For example, we learned:

• Our roof is not leaking into the house.
• Under the house is fairly dry. 
• The house did not float away.
• What to do when the septic alarm starts screaming at midnight.
• We have a lot of water to do some "fun" french drains with. 

Hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend, we are happy to be in the house, and ready to start tackling these projects. The internet is about to be transferred, so I may disappear for a minute, but I promise to be back soon with a more exciting post than water down a hill.  Have a good one!

Let's keep in touch: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter & Email. 

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Kitchen Table Makeover Ideas

So the other day I was showing you a table tutorial, and I mentioned the dilemma with our current table.  Well I've been going crazy thinking of a few ways to customize it, (or build a new one if all else fails!) to match our style which is more modern, colorful & bright.  I just can't say no to bright colors, so if we can't put bright on the walls (house is a little dark for that...) then you know we'll have some bright fun pieces.  Take a look at the table, check out that hutch while you're in there:

 

psst...you can kind of see our wall samples there, I think we have a winner! Three walls in the lighter one, and one accent in the darker. 

Sorry about the mess! Like I mentioned before, we're moving! Actually, it's been pretty clean. We've been packing up a truck of boxes, bringing them over, and unpacking.... surprisingly seamless so far.  Anyway, love this table - we just want to do something to it to make it more our own.  That hutch will definitely be getting the deep turquoise, almost peacock treatment.  Probably with a fun fabric background and some new knobs, but the table is undecided.  Maybe something like this old favorite I did a few years ago:

Striped Table Tutorial

Or this glass triangle paint job I featured a while back:

Painted Glass Tabletop

I'm imaging joining the two techniques, and having a pattern of triangles over the top with the wood grain showing through the edges. We'll see. We're going a new direction with the colors of our kitchen, leaning towards a teal, turquoise, orange, white sort of thing going on... sort of like this, but with teals and whites the more dominant color.

Actually the peaches in the bowl are the perfect example!  What's new in your home, any painting adventures on the horizon now that winter will be locking us indoors? Thanks for stoppin' by friends!

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Building a Couch

Whoah, what a weekend!  Thanksgiving was delicious, we celebrated my Mom's birthday on Saturday (Happy Birthday Mom!) - and Ralph and I battled the beast that is IKEA, on a Sunday! We may not have really thought that decision through, but we were fogged by the excitement of buying our first brand new couch. It's a big step!

Meet Karlstad! I love love love this green.  We both really wanted an "L" couch, and this living room is big enough to hold one.  But wow - getting this thing home was a real test of our patience.  IKEA has that special something that gets you to come into the store, only to find yourself trying to quickly get out.

We had a return to do (mistake #1), we pulled number "02" and they were on 70...  45 minutes later we were in, and starving! Surprise, guess what? It was a special eat-for-free day, and the lines were cra-aa-azy.  We'd already come that far, so we hopped in with the rest of 'em and loaded up on the (FREE!) meatballs, chicken tenders, and whatever else Sweden could throw at us.  Then it was on to pick out a couch!

Actually, the couch was already a 100% yes, so no in-store decisions necessary.  I gotta say, the rest was pretty easy and straightforward.  An IKEA worker was actually available, friendly and wrote our order up. We paid, and then went to furniture pick up where - oh that's right - what DOES a couches box look like? It looks like a pallet of 5 enormous boxes that they slap on a tiny baby cart and say "Have a nice day".  I am kicking myself for not taking a picture, it was hilarious.  Maybe it was the shock, but really, what was I expecting? Some flat packed miracle I could toss in the back seat? Yes, of course.  It was both funny and frightening in reality, and we got it into the truck with surprisingly few snags.  A  nervous ride home, and it was time to BUILD ourselves a couch..

It was 26 pieces in all, a lot of bolts, and a LOT of slipcover.  But it was easy! How often can you say that about IKEA assembly? I was shocked. Best couch ever, and it's soooo cozy. We sprang for a rug though, totally not in our plan or our budget, but I don't see my self getting to make this T-shirt rag rug that I want anytime soon.  (It would be SO worth it though...!)

 

Source: replayground.blogspot.com via Jesse on Pinterest

That one is great, but won't realistically get done for another 5 years. So, we had our eye on one just as shaggy, as we wanted a really cozy rug - and IKEA had plenty.  I haven't figured out how we'll be vacuuming this high pile beauty, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it... for now I can't get my toes out of this thing, I think the dark looks great with the green:

In other news, we are still slowly but surely brightening up that kitchen (from this post).  We added some under cabinet lights, that make an amazing difference in the work space:

I got excited and installed them, even though I haven't cleaned up all the wires yet, but what a difference! If you look closely you can see the 4 color samples on the right wall there, none of which we went with. Ha! SO glad we got samples..  Please forgive the quality of my pictures lately, all our things are between two houses so I'm usually only armed with the phone's camera - which is surprisingly good..

Hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and weekend with the family & friends, here's to a new week!

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Wild Wedding Weekend

Hi Everyone! We are back! I don't know if I mentioned it, since I had so much to do to get ready - but last weekend we had not one but two weddings!  I haven't been to a wedding in years, so the fact that these both landed on the same weekend was a crazy coincidence.  Luckily we were able to make it to both, and celebrated the marriage of two couples, and great friends.  Saturday's wedding was in Sacramento (about 2.5 hour drive from us), and we had the foresight to go a day early.  I am SO happy we did that, we ended up sitting in about 4.5 hours worth of traffic, and if I had to rush to a wedding after that?  I don't think I would have stayed up as late as I did! Wedding #2 was closer to home, in Aptos, which is normally a fairly foggy place year round.  Luckily, it was a gorgeous 85 degree afternoon.  Perfect for an outdoor wedding. It was beach themed, and we were surrounded by beautiful Monterey Cypress trees on a lush green golf course. They chose a fantastic location and they did an amazing job creating this wedding. Congratulations Meghan & Adam!

I snapped a few photos throughout the trip to share, here was our hotel room in Sacramento:

Very modern - I love that so many hotels are going the studio-apartment route...

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Catching up & Moving on...

Sorry for not posting yesterday! Last weekend was full of activities, and with so much going on with this house hunt I took Monday to play catch up.  Luckily I have some spare time on my hands this week to get myself (and the house!) back in order.  We tried our hand at making Sushi rolls on Saturday night - it was great! It was a lot easier than I expected it to be, and uses way less ingredients inside than I realized.  We bought so much food to fill them up with, it's leftover city. It's no wonder Sushi restaurants are popping up everywhere, they must be making a killing!  It was the perfect group activity too, we had about 8-9 people rolling up all kinds of different things, worked out really nicely.  This was great practice too. I was a total bad blogger and didn't take pictures (boo!) However, here are a few pictures Morgan took, I'll share more when I get'em.

 So, remember way back when I told you about our soon to be house? Well, it totally fell through. Bombed.  And after a 6 month wait, ouch! I never got to show a picture, I was trying to wait until it all went through, and everything was happy and wonderful - that day didn't come, but I figure I should show you anyway:

During our inspection process we learned that the house was needing some major repairs.  Not the kind of repairs that you think is just "a little elbow grease" and some camp-like living conditions for a while  (we would have been more than fine with that).  But, the kind of repairs that weren't going to be a DIY'ers playground, but more of a give-all-your-money-and-then-some to a professional to fix type of repairs.  This stuff was a total foreign language.  I was bummed for a minute, but with so many houses on the market and it being such a good time to buy, we knew we'd find something else, however long it would take.

And then after a few other tries, we did!

Now, to be clear, nothing is set in absolute stone yet, but we've made it past the inspection and we are both very excited.  Things are looking pretty good, it needs some work, but in our price range, & in this area, they all do. So it's a matter of finding a place that has problems you feel comfortable fixing. Like I said, she's not ours yet, but things are going the right direction this far.  My fingers are crossed that everything finishes up well, too! Here she is:

Cute! A little house in the redwoods.  I've always thought living in the redwoods would be awesome, and having higher temperatures will be a big change for us!  The main living area is upstairs, with a guest suite downstairs (wow, fancy!).  No garage, but it has a covered area for working, that we may convert into a workshop.  Behind those redwoods there is a large deck off the kitchen.  Oh wait, here it is:

I love that deck, and that window! A lot of people were saying "Oh you could get rid of that window, expand the wall, and have more counters" That's one idea... but I'm pretty sure that big guy is here to stay. We love it. Here's the kitchen:

I'm really excited about this kitchen.  I love that the Dining room is in here, in one big open hang out area. They say people at parties always gather around the kitchen, and we all know it's true - now I have somewhere to put them, to work! Haha.  Living room:

Large and in charge! Arranging the furniture in that room will be a challenge, but there's nothing I love more than an interior design challenge.  That cage thing there is actually a brand new spiral staircase that goes to the bedroom & bath downstairs. 

So that's the news folks, we've been going crazy around here.  Racing from this house to that, rushing to put in offers and waiting to hear yes or no, finally - we are in the running on this one. So far so good, wish us luck for the rest!  I'll miss our little beach house, we've had a lot of fun, and we got to practice playing house for a bit. But I've felt for a while that it's time for a change, and change is good, right?

What about all of you out there, anyone else in the home market right now? Buying... Selling.. or just browsing? It's quite a roller-coaster, and it's easy to get cold feet, but I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it...

Let's keep in touch: Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter & Email. 

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Kauai Update

Well, Kauai is absolutely fantastic.  I thought I would post a little more, but when they talk about "Hawaii Time" they aren't kidding - I adapted and therefore move much much slower here.  Everyone needs to put this place on their list, the higher on that list the better.  Pretty much everywhere you look is stunning, and almost always covered in tropical plants, flowers and birds.  Oh, and chickens & kittens.  Yep - chickens & kittens run this place, so many beaches we've gone to have had adorable stray cats (that won't come near us) and a guaranteed flock of chickens - cute! The weather is great, and only took me a day to get used to the humidity.  The wind howls through our room & is so refreshing,  I can't get enough.  Alright, let's get to the fun stuff, picture time! Here is the view from our room, I'm in heaven:

I don't ever want to leave, can you blame me? Here's the living room of our condo, and that couch & laptop is where I write from now.  What a rough life!

You may have noticed the chair on top of that table on the patio, haha - no, we didn't sit there! Ralph got me a GoPro for my birthday, and we've been having a LOT of fun with it. Time lapse are my favorite videos, and I've made quite a few this trip. I apparently cannot embed a video to save my life, so we'll have to do this link style, don't worry - they are all pretty short!

• Snorkeling in Queens Bath:  This was great, a slippery & muddy hike took us down to the rocks, where we came upon a huge pool naturally filled with warm water & fish from the surf.
• Ocean Time Lapse: This was the first day, just wanted to try the camera out and get some fun video goin.
• Sunrise, Day 1: This was our first sunrise, and you'll notice it speeds up a bit, I'm still learning the settings!
• Sunrise, Day 2: This one goes much faster, and has a different camera angle.

While those look like a sunset, it's actually the sunrise.  I'm amazed that we've been seeing the sunrise almost everyday - waking up between 5 & 6 a.m.! But, Hawaii is 3 hours behind California time, so that's like waking up between 8 & 9.  It's still really really weird. 

I love flowers, and just because we don't live in this condo doesn't mean we can't make it our own! I've been picking flowers everywhere we go and bringing them home, using cups as vases and filling corners with arrangements.  I wish we had Plumeria at home, they are so pretty & last a long time.  We drove up to Wailua Falls, which had a great lookout point over it - like I said, beauty everywhere you look. 

 

Above is Secret Beach, but seeing as how a good amount of people were going there, I don't think it's a secret anymore.  It is secluded, and in front of a lush green forest full of frogs & birds.  It feels like being on the set of Lost (which was filmed somewhere in Kauai...) or something.  Right after we hiked down to this beach, 3 coconuts came crashing down behind us - so Ralph,  Morgan & Aaron got to work:

Inside that huge husk is that coconut I'm holding up there.  It took them about a half an hour to get it out! And yes, we drank the coconut water.... how magical.  Ha! Well I'd better get today started, but I figured with waking up this early each day that I could squeeze in a post.  We'll be back on Monday, I should be posting  a few more time lapses on Youtube and pictures on facebook in the meantime.  Have a great Thursday, and if I don't post before then, a relaxing weekend too!

P.S. THE BEST book in the world to help you get around Kauai, is this one:

Seriously the best book.  It's written by locals and is very honest & specific.  Plus, it's full of quick references to find information fast. And the back cover is the 15 best beaches, so you can get out there QUICK.

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Leaving on a Jet Plane

By the time you read this, I will be gone. TO HAWAII!  Unless you're on the east coast, then "Good Morning!" - I'm probably stuck in some crazy security line as we speak.  It's worth it though..... I've been waiting for this trip for about 9 months.  It didn't seem real when we planned it since it was so far off!  We were lucky enough to figure out a direct flight from San Jose to Kauai, and should be arriving 5-ish hours after take off.  One of the many perks about flying to Hawaii (other than the obvious) is that you gain 3 hours.  So you arrive thinking it's mid afternoon, but no - surprise! It's still morning. Something unique about us flying on this particular day, is our plane takes off exactly 30 years after I was born! Spooky, right? Well, give or take like an hour. It's probably a sign that we should move there ASAP.

We don't really have a ton of things planned, I figure the most adventurous & relaxing way to go about this is to let ourselves go wherever the wind takes us.  We'll probably just decide the next days plan after dinner & drinks each night - yes!  One thing we did have to plan in advance was the luau, which I'm sure many travelers would view as cheesy & touristy - but I don't care! I'm excited, and we don't live there so, surprise! We're tourists.  I love a great meal and a good show, and it's not like I get to see this stuff all the time! We're going to the Smith's Family Garden Luau on Monday night (they pick us up, sweet!) and here's a little video snippet:

I hope that worked, I'm not a big video em-bedder. Anyway, I'm totally coming home with one of those big ol' hats. Ha! Well if you've never been to Hawaii, stay tuned - I'll update when I can, and throw some pictures on facebook. I've never been to Kauai so this is new to me too, but every person I've told about this trip that's been there has a million ideas - so I have plenty of reading on the plane!  (Thanks guys!) Some of the really mouth watering suggestions are Queen's Bath:

Photo Credit: Rachelleb

Secret beach:

The Botanical Garden:

Photo Credit

and the FOOD! 

I am so ready for this.  See that hot dog type thing? It's a puka dog. They sound awesome - a bun is hollowed out for a hot dog, and covered in some crazy tropical salsa.  The stacked sushi there is SPAM musubi, which is as it sounds.  Sushi made with Spam.  I just love me some salt.  

My batteries are charged, I've got five different pairs of board shorts, and my luggage is only half full so I can take home parts of this place with me. Have a fantastic weekend everyone, Aloha!

Follow our Hawaiian Shenanigans on Facebook, & Twitter

Oh yes I did say Shenanigans! 

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Retro Avocado

I just finished up another string art name plaque, but this one is a little different.  At the request of the new owner, she asked for the color "Retro Avocado" by Behr. I've never seen this color, and I loved it! I think it came out great.  Plus, I did something a little new and different this time, I edged each letter in a darker string. What do you think?

I'm getting quite the collection of custom orders completed, and I'm about to embark on another four (holy cow!) as soon as we get back from vacation.   Very exciting!  Here's the group:

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Giveaway Closing Soon!

It's the LAST day for the giveaway, it will be closing tonight at midnight (EST) and I'll be picking a winner in the morning! Exciting! If you haven't entered yet, you can do it in the widget below.  Be sure to share with friends!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
In other news...

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Arroyo Seco River Hike

I want to take a break here and fill you all in on what we did last weekend, and what you should do this weekend if you're in the area.  Down near Soledad & King City off 101, we went on one of the most amazing day hikes I've been on.  It was an excellent combination of hiking, swimming, and rock hopping. Talk about a core workout! This, was my first time on the Arroyo Seco river hike in beautiful California.  Now, I didn't bring a camera, phone, or anything that couldn't get wet - since there were many times we had to swim for quite a while, which meant a soaked backpack.  So I'm borrowing some photos from the wonderful internet, of the same hike. (Photo Credits at end of post) 

 Isn't is beautiful?

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San Francisco - Part 2

I've gathered up some more San Francisco pictures to share. I've been having so much fun with all the new photo editing capabilities in the new Picasa, I hope I don't get carried away! Collages. are. awesome.  Anyway, after we left Clear Lake last Thursday, we head down to San Francisco for the remainder of the trip. I love that city - correction, I love that city when I'm on foot.  Driving around there can be a real test on your patience, not to mention you  miss almost everything there is to see! Once we parked that car in the garage that's where we wanted to leave it for the next 3 days.  After settling into our home away from home, it was time to start exploring.  These Bromeliads caught my eye from about 40 feet away...

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Gettin' Outta Dodge

Gettin' outta dodge! Isn't that the saying when you are leaving town? Who knows.  So, luckily a few friends and myself were able to get some time off of work, and threw together a last minute trip.  I mean, really last minute - we finalized plans last week!  We pretty much let the room availability be our guide, and it came together nicely.  What started as 1 or 2 short overnight trips, turned into a week long vacation. I couldn't have asked for anything better!  Destination: Clear Lake followed by San Francisco.

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Beach Towel Bookshelf

I thought today I would post a little bit about some of the things I've been working on lately.  I've been fortunate enough to have a good chunk of time off this July, and I'm going to put that time to good use. I hope!  I've got a long list of projects that need taclking and this is the perfect time.  Aside from all the string art orders lately (thrilled!) I've managed to set aside some furniture time. Which I didn't realize it as much before, is my favorite time.  It's relaxing, I get to take a break from orders, blogging, marketing etc. which can surprisingly eat up a huge chunk of time! So these first few projects I'm embarking on should serve as a real treat. Here's the latest:

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Sneak Peak: Color Wash

(Psst.....see the full tutorial here.)

I was lucky enough to have the day off yesterday, but lady luck decided to throw a wrench in my spokes. As I went out to the car to get the grocery shopping done bright & early, I noticed it was strange that my car didn't unlock when I hit the button.  Either I left it unlocked last night, or this is a very bad sign... sure enough, the door was open, and when I went to start the little guy, silence.  Dead battery!  Adding insult to injury was when I found out AAA's computer systems fouled up for the day, and there was no getting through.  Luckily the towing company was able to bill them, and they came right out (Thanks guys!). I didn't let this get to me, just rearranged my day a bit, which also meant the stores would be packed.  Plus I didn't' expect to go battery shopping yesterday, those things are pricy!  What's done is done, my baby has some new juice, and I was still home in time to keep working on the Armoire.

If you didn't know, I publish these tutorials called "School of Restoration" over at The Divine Minimalist once a month.  I have been meaning to tackle this armoire for a while:

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Indio & Mid Centry Modern

Recently we took a trip down to Indio, California.  Every time I told someone where we were going they'd say "India?!?" in total shock.  While India sounds really fun, it's hardly a 4 day weekend kind of trip! Indio is just outside of Palm Springs, and most people will probably know it for it's crazy music festival in April, called Coachella.  We went to escape the cold weather of Northern California, get some sunshine, swimming and bbq in. We had a blast!

One of my favorite things about visiting the Indio/Palm Springs area is all the amazing architecture you can find. It's a mid century modern paradise, and totally reignited my love for the period.  I think we're pretty much set that in our next house (more on THAT later!) we will go with a mega mid century modern theme - and you know I'll document the whole thing for you to watch!

So I combined my refound love with my newfound love (pinterest) and came up with a lovely board of ideas, that I'm sure will be three times as big when I'm through.  If you're on pinterest already, click here to head to the board and check it out, and you can follow me there too!  For those not yet on pinterest, here's a snapshot:

And for a little extra eye candy from Palm Springs, take a look at this gorgeous hotel we passed by:

I'm in love! I think it's Holiday Inn owned (surprising!) and it's called The Saguro hotel in Palm Springs.  Here's a link if you want to check more amazing photos.  That first photo was our first view of the place, and they've done something I always wondered why other cinder block hotels didn't do. Paint those patios in different colors and shades! So much better than a massive grey building. What I love most about this hotel is the clean modern lines without having to go entirely minimalist and colorless. Very bright, very fun, and still very simple! Color will definitely be included in our MCM decor in the next house. If I lived in Palm Springs I'd probably take it to this level, no joke here people!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend, enjoy!

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