phl -> atl

Recently a good friend of mine departed the Philadelphia area to start life anew with his beautiful fiancé in Atlanta. As sad as I am when friends leave the area, it is always exciting knowing that they are literally embarking on a new phase of life. I always wanted the balls to pick up and move. I mean... I'm only an hour away from home home, but it's not like I moved to an area that's easier to get to by plane then by driving. How cool would it be one day to be like I'M SELLING EVERYTHING I HAVE AND MOVING TO A DAKOTA OR IDAHO BECAUSE WHY NOT.

Anywho, I wanted to give them a going away present. I failed miserably getting it to them on time. The thing was... I couldn't figure out what the f*** to do. He sent me some photos of things that they liked. Which I guess I pretty much ignored in the end. Sorry about that John.... just realized that.

I was like, if I were them, what would I want to remind me of home? That it's not too far away? So here's what I came up with: A painting that you could flip.

I started with blocks of color, which I haven't done in years. Truth is, my hands aren't as steady as they use to be, so some lines are wobbly. <--- that could be symbolic, like "just as these lines aren't straight, neither is the road in life... HA!

Then I decided to paint the skylines of Philadelphia and Atlanta. The area in between was a little harder. I originally wanted to put a couple walking hand-in-hand to both skylines, but there wasn't enough space. So I decided to paint a PHL-> and an ATL->. One day, if they're back in Philadelphia, they can always remember the home they made in a new city. I'm happy with the way it came out, and I'm hoping that it reminds my good friends that no matter how far, home isn't that far.

NOW I JUST HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET IT TO THEM.

San Fran to Portland to Seattle.

I went on the most fantastic journey ever. One that I always dreamed of, and finally got to. Camping and driving from San Fransisco all the way up to Seattle! Of course, with a couple hotel stops along the way. Hey, you try camping in a major city. Everyone would think we were part of an occupy protest or something.

The entire trip was such a positive uplifting experience. It put so many things into perspective. Not only how small I really am in the grand scheme of things, but how important other things are, and how amazing things can be. I found almost everything absolutely inspirational, which was the main reason I started this blog in the first place. I wish I could detail every moment of my journey, but I would be typing forever.

So I figured I highlight some things and describe them as best as I could.
First, some pictures to butter you up.

The eerie contrast of seeing the advection fog rolling over San Fransisco and the bay from a distance, and actually being in the fog. We hiked along the Land End trail, and experienced complete California sunshine as we overlooked (what was) the Golden Gate bridge, even though it was hidden from our view by the heavy fog. We knew it was there, from the blaring fog horns. In contrast, while we were driving and hiking along Stinson Beach, the fog was so heavy that it literally clung to you, chilling you to the bone. You would never be able to tell the brightness of the colors that surrounded you, because the fog dilutes the sun so much that everything comes off as having a gray tint.

Seeing and hearing the ferocity of the Pacific Ocean slamming on the cliffs along the coast of California was unreal. It put the Atlantic Ocean to shame.

To hear absolutely nothing. You don't realize how silent nothing is, until you're standing deep in the woods, surrounded by towering Redwoods that absorb every sound of the outside world.

To hear a coyote barking its' way around the campsite you're staying at.

Seeing Mount St. Helens as a small hazy peak from 70 miles away, and then watching it grow before our eyes into the 8,300+ ft. behemoth of a volcano it actually is. As we climbed higher and higher and twisted through slide-repaired roads (99 was still closed because of snow!) the volcano would magically appear in front of us, larger each time. And every single time, I exclaimed "Hooooooollllyyyy shiiiiiiiiitt".

Being behind a waterfall in the middle of July, and being FREEZING cold. The sounds is deafening, and the feeling was unbelievable.

The experience of utter confusion, then wonder, then complete happiness as the boyfriend I love so much asked me to marry him. The range of emotions I felt was like nothing I ever felt. And I'm glad I got to experience it. I wasn't expecting him to ask me that, so I'm pretty sure I muttered a "are you serious" and a "FO REAL?" at some point. But of course I said yes. Well, actually I said SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURE! Then I said yes when he asked "is that a yes?" 

Best Vacation Ever.

6 years.

I've been at my job for six years today. SIX. YEARS. Say whaaaaaaaaaaa...?

It's not a total shock. I think. Maybe it is. I've been expecting this day to come for awhile... but not really expecting. Confused yet? I am. To commemorate this lackluster momentous day, I posted a little blurb on FB stating: "I made it to 6 years at this same job. Exciting, yet very depressing at the same time." My cousin replied: "either way you look at it, it's an accomplishment in and of itself. now, go buy yourself a present. xo" (Believe me, I'll be buying myself a present in the form of an ice cream sandwich after the gym tonight. Again, exiting and yet very depressing.)

And a former teacher-slash-wise woman-slash-mentor of the ages said this: "Try going to the American Craft Council Show in Baltimore the end of February. Talk to some of the artists. They are making a living doing what you love. Tick tock!! Life is short. Start to show your work in a gallery. Isaac would be proud."

Touché, touché, touché. Kick in the pants received, and greatly appreciated. I immediately booked a hotel room, purchased a three day pass to the event, and requested a 1/2 day of work that Friday. I'll have my business cards by then, my Etsy site up and running, and plenty of samples to bring with me. I think it's high-time I start taking bigger risks to achieve my goals.  Let's do this.

if at first you don't succeed, take a nap. then try again.

First off, I'd like to explain my cryptic brain rant that I said I would update 'tomorrow'. Unfortunately, tomorrow is now 6 days from tomorrow.  Wait... 6 days from then.  From the last post.  This post isn't clearing anything up so far. Let's try again.

FAIL

Last Wednesday night I decided to start tiling the back splash in our kitchen.  My goal was just to do the tiling behind our now non-existent stove. It took me about 3 hours to do it, but I did get it done.  Not as successfully as I'd like to, though.  All in all, about 43 tiles fell off the wall due to, A: bad tiling advice and B: bad mortar application.  After feeling sorry for myself and developing a migraine, I struck back.  I used my Dremmel tool to grind out the dried mortar and I hand applied the missing tiles to the wall.  Lou and I got an additional 8 square feet done tonight. I can't wait to get our project done, and to cook something on our new stove!

SUCCESS

I also got ALL ALL of the squares done for the quilt!  That's right.  I finished all 224 squares... THEY'RE ALL DONE.  I finished sewing the last of the squares on Friday night, and I just trimmed them all up last night.  I'm really excited that I accomplished this much so far.  Now, I'm ready to start sewing the rows and columns.  Pretty soon, it will start looking like a real quilt!  It's going to be such a fun winter project!

4 new wine bags, 224 squares!

A friend of mine (and also my former landlord) ((and also the nicest landlord I've ever had)) asked me if I could make her some wine bags for the holiday season coming up!  I'm really proud that I started cutting them out and sewing them together on Friday night.  I'm hoping that I can complete them tomorrow, and maybe bring them to her sometime this weekend.  

The reason why I was trying to get all of these things done before the weekend, was because I traveled down Washington DC!  It was a lot of fun.  We had great weather, we saw a ton of things around town (both by foot and by bike!) and ate amazing food.  I wish I had more time to browse around the museums and national monuments. I feel like I just was beginning to scratch the surface of the city, then all of the sudden it's time to leave and board the train going back home! I picked up a new book as well, and I'm hoping that I can incorporate some of it's philosophy into future blog posts!  

Well, that's an awfully long post, so I'll end it at this. You can do anything you put your mind to.  Especially when you have coffee.