I Didn’t Even Have to Use My AK. I’d Have To Say It Was A Good Day…

I’ve been blessed with many many good days since I took a hiatus from this lovely blog. I’d like to say I’m sorry for neglecting you all, but honestly, I’m not. I’ve had some seriously good times this spring and summer, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Don’t believe that kind of fun is possible? Well, here are my last 5 1/2 months in photos, you can judge for yourself…

I finally got my new tattoo done. I designed this while my dad was going through chemo. 5 1/2 hours of work, and it’s not quite finished.

Had a delicious breakfast date….with the most delicious banana french toast, EVER.

Seriously, if you’re ever in San Diego you need to have this french toast at Perry’s Cafe. Trust me.

Dinner date that ended at my absolute favorite place for dessert….Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy  (San Diego). You have to try this place too if you’re ever in town.

Road tripped up to the Bay Area with my besties to see my little brother play LaCrosse in the Sonoma State Shootout. The Seattle Starz took the championship, and my brother even won his All Star game! He is an amazing person. I can’t say enough how proud I am of him. Can’t believe he’s only 14!

Since we were in the area…we swung by and saw the old Golden Gate for a bit.

It was pretty chilly out there by the Frisco Bay. Definitely should have brought sweatpants.

And since we were already that far north of home, we figured we’d spend a couple of days in Yosemite National Park. But not before passing by the windmill farms and taking a tour of the Jelly Belly factory.

Did you know that the blueberry Jelly Belly flavor was invented for President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981? True story.

Once we got to Yosemite, we did some hikin’ n swimmin’.  This place is seriously gorgeous. I wish this was what people thought of when they think of my beautiful state of California.

Takin’ a dip in the river was exactly what we needed after all that hiking. It was so relaxing and peaceful.

I flew out to Salt Lake City to meet up with my best friends. We really squeezed a lot of livin’ into that week and a half!

Rock climbing.

Dirtbiking.

Visited the Hogle Zoo. I’d never seen a Bald Eagle so close before, so beautiful.

Visited Cabela’s for the very first time. This place is so frickin’ cool if you love outdoorsy stuff, which I do. Guns, fishin’, campin, hikin, climbin’…it’s all here!!!

Visited Temple Square in Downtown Salt Lake. I’m not Mormon, but I think anyone can appreciate the beauty of this architecture.

We also did a little self tour of the state of Utah’s capital building.

Ta-dah!

I spent some time at the beach, skimmin’…trying to anyway.

Okay, I went to the beach a couple of times…

What can I say, I’m a California girl.

Even my pup likes the beach.

A lot.

Me and my friends spent a little time in Old Town San Diego to have the best Mexican breakfast around at Coyote Cantina (Chilaquiles with fresh handmade flour tortillas) aaaand did a little goofing around….

We are silly gooses.

I finally saw the Hoover Dam for the first time. What a sight! This new bridge they’ve built is impressive…and the heat out there was oppressive.

I moved out of my apartment….and after pitching a fit, I got my whole deposit back. Thank you.

Watched my Padres play his Astros at Petco Park.

Padres won.

I went to Big Bear and learned how to ski with my big sister and my little Chickin Nuggit. (That’s my niece’s nick name)

Took a day trip to Tijuana, Mexico with my mommy.

Couple of strawberry sodas, couple of beers…

And one of my all time favorite meals ever. Birria de Chivo. Basically a slow cooked dish made with goat. It sounds gross, and doesn’t look much more appetizing, but let me tell you, eating it makes my heart smile…especially with homemade corn tortillas and quesadillas.

Oh, and then there’s the paletas (Mexican popsicles)…those made our mouths smile too.

Speaking of hearts smiling, I got to see my other best friend tie the knot. It was a beautiful ceremony. I think this was the first time I actually cried at a wedding. I’m so happy for them both.

This is me and the newlyweds.

And me n my buddy Nick-o-Lah.

We celebrated my mommy’s birthday.

And I made some fabulous cupcakes for the occasion.

Thanks to my mommy, we got tickets to see Dwight Yoakam. We got a little crowd to do the electric slide with us when he played Faster than You. We had an amazing time!

Visited the San Diego Wild Animal Park…or I guess they’re calling it the Safari Park now. Either way, I’ve never seen such awesome views of lions, ever. We even got to see a cheetah do the 100 yard dash up close.

I finally got some really old film developed. This one was from Halloween a couple of years ago. Incidentally, I was a little concerned about developing this roll because I don’t remember a good chunk of that night…

Oh yeah…we moved to Texas.

I’ll probably write a little more about this particular event a bit later. For now, let’s just say it’s humid.

One thing I don’t have pictures of is my 10 year high school reunion. We made it back to California for that a week and a half ago, and it went much better than I was expecting. So that was good. Again, more on this later.

Last but not least….I’ve done some work for the next Makin’ It Monday. Here’s a sneak peak!!

I’ve been taking life one day at a time, trying my best to take advantage of every opportunity sent my way. I have to say, I’m fortunate for my friends, without them, most of these trips may not have been possible. I am also fortunate to have a hunger for adventure. Sure there are every day responsibilities to tend to. The bills need to be paid, the housework and laundry needs to be done, the pup must be fed, sure. But why did I spend so much time waiting around for the right time to take trips and little adventures? Why could I not see that tomorrow isn’t a better day to put a smile on my face? The answer is: I didn’t make it a priority. I wished for happiness and adventure and spontaneity, but did nothing about it…like it was just going to fall into my lap. Silly goose. If you want something, get after it! You get one life, that’s it. There’s no do-overs or rewind buttons. If you’re unhappy, then change something because you are the only thing standing between the life you live, and the life you want to live.

I didn’t write this post to brag about all the cool stuff that I got to do this past spring and summer. I’m writing this post to inspire you. There is a little bit of extraordinary in our every day lives, it’s a matter of how you look at it. I am writing this post to point out to you, my wonderful readers that a lot of living can be done without being a millionaire. Sure, it requires a bit more creativity and imagination…maybe even a bit of compromising. But it can be done. So stop sitting at home, blaming the fact that there’s too much laundry to do, or the dishes are dirty or the baby needs a bath to be able to go have a picnic or something. Just start living. It’s as simple as that.

PS If you’re the kind of person that can only be pleased with a first class flight to Paris and staying in a ritzy hotel, this post isn’t going to help you, sorry, Charlie.

MAKIN’ IT MONDAYS (Issue 1, Part 3)

Welcome back!! I’m so happy that you all made it back! Now we continue on our journey of self discovery and emotional growth. Wait, that’s not right….

Okay, I’ve got my head on straight now. Carpentry is what we’re working on today, right? Ooooooookay, let’s get on with it, shall we?

Above you can see that I purchased my supplies. Originally, I was going to build with oak. Boy, that would have been a mistake. Not only is it on the expensive side, but it’s also pretty much twice as heavy as pine…so pine it is!

Original plans also included square dimensions. The window measured 44″ x 17″. So I was going to make the coffee table 44″ x 44″. Luckily, my best friend talked me off of that ledge. I settled on 44″ x 34″. Thank goodness, because this sucker is heavy enough as it is.

So having had some sense talked into my silly head, I set forth to conquer my fear of using a saw. Don’t ask me why, but using power tools has always made me nervous. But regardless, I’m gonna get over it so I can finish this project. With some basic instruction on how to properly use the saws and nail gun, I went full steam ahead….

So here you can see that the wood is cut and the basic construction has begun. I’m thrilled to report that all my limbs and digits are intact. No humans or animals were harmed in the construction of this piece of furniture. I’m sure my mother appreciates that too. Love you momma!

Because of the weight of the coffee table itself and the stress it will undoubtedly endure in the coming years, it was prudent to reinforce wherever possible.

The whole thing was looking pretty plain. To me, it was lacking a little...je ne sais quoi, as the French say. So to punch it up a bit,  I added a pretty bit of decorative border around the top and the bottom.

Here’s the main table, all constructed. I placed the window and lid on temporarily to give you wonderful people a better idea of the direction this project is headed.

Now, below you’ll see glimpses of the almost finished table.

I’m so excited to show you!!

Don’t get too sad…there’s still more to see. Next week I’ll be unveiling the whole enchilada!! The  suspense is killing me!!

MAKIN’ IT MONDAYS (Issue No. 1, Part 2)

It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for the next installment of Makin’ It Mondays!! Please, please, contain your excitement.

I know this second part of Issue No. 1 has been a long time coming, please forgive the tardiness. (my little brother says I can’t be on time for anything to save my dang life…but what can I say?)

These are some better photos of the progress I made in my first installment. If you’d like to refresh your memory of this project, you can click here. In this photo, you can see that the window is in fact pink and yellow…not red and yellow

Okay, so I didn’t quite get the old stain off completely…but like my dad used to say, it’s good enough for government work.

Now, here are the supplies I’m using for the next step. The most important of these, aside from the stain, of course, is the gloves. If you’re anything like me, you’ll get stain on your skin, regardless of any protection you may use…but gloves will save you from a good portion of it. To illustrate the importance of gloves, let me paint a picture for you with a little story time…

Not too long ago, I had a neighbor who found an old coffee table from about the 1970s. She bought it for something silly like $5, thinking, “oh hey, I’ll just stain this thing to match the rest of my furniture and everything will be peaches and cream”. Well, bless her heart, she went out and bought a can of stain and some rags. Later that day, she came knocking on my door, covered halfway up her forearms with ebony stain. She was in tears because she didn’t know that she was supposed to wear gloves. She had tried soap and even rubbing alcohol, all to no avail. Being the good neighbor girl that I am, I did my very best to resist the “well, sweetie, the can says stain…what did you think it was going to do to your skin” reflex. You might appreciate how difficult this was for a smart ass like me, if you knew me personally, but unfortunately, you don’t. So let’s just say, it was the most difficult thing I did that week…considering I was a corrections officer in a men’s facility at the time, that’s saying a lot. Anyway, I grabbed a huge bag of cotton balls and every ounce of nail polish remover I owned (which is more than you might imagine…I like nail polish…a lot. As a matter of fact, I’ve been banned from buying anymore. A situation not unlike my sticker addiction). As she did her best to scrub up, I had her show me the project she was working on. It was at this moment that I realized that this story has two lessons to be learned: 1. always protect your hands/skin when working with stain and 2. when staining wood that has already been finished (meaning it’s already stained and/or laquered) always sand it well before applying new stain. You see, all of the stain that my well-meaning neighbor applied to her coffee table just kind of pooled unevenly on top of the varnish that it came with, as opposed to soaking into the wood. Tsk, tsk. What a shame.

So now, boys and girls, we should all understand that we should always wear gloves when working with stain and always sand before applying said stain. Now, moving on…

 Be sure to grab one of those stirry stick thingies. Stain usually sits on the shelf for a long time and settles so it needs to be stirred very well before using it.

Yes, This is a sock. Trust me on this. Don’t waste your money on a fancy sponge.

Oh, I’d like to point out that I am, in fact, wearing gloves under this sock. (And yes, I did still manage to get stain on myself. I’m just professional like that.)

Here are a couple photos of the frame after the first coat of stain.

Sure, the stain looked nice, I decided the look I was going for was something a little more broken in. What to do, what to do…

BREAK OUT THE WOOD CARVING TOOLS!!

So, you can see here, I had quite a bit of fun scraping and gouging. I’ll admit, it doesn’t look great here, but have faith my young padawans. It will look much better when I re-stain it.

 See? What did I tell you? Much better.

So now I have the window complete. Next step will be to draw up plans for the rest of the coffee table, find supplies, and start assembly. I’d like to mention again, that I’m no carpenter. Just an average girl who has no experience with saws or really any other power tools aside from a drill. Luckily my besties have the tools, I just need to learn to use them. Should be simple, right? Well, stay tuned for part  3 next week where you’ll see how well…or badly the power tool session goes. Wish me luck!!

MAKIN’ IT MONDAYS (Issue No. 1, Part 1)

Yes Genius, it is Wednesday. I’m aware. But I’m so excited about this project, that I just can’t wait. I am dedicating Mondays to makin’ stuff. To give you an idea of what I mean, I’m giving you a sneak peak to my new tradition to hold you over ’til tomorrow when I post this week’s Wreck…

I am so happy…I want to shout it from the top of a mountain. On second thought, maybe I’ll just stand on my bed instead. Seems less dangerous that way.

What am I shouting? Well,  I fell in love…with a piece of furniture. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m nuts, I know this (and so should you by now). But seriously, I fell hard for a antique-looking trunk/coffee table. I found it on Anthropologie’s website, and for any of you that have ever gawked at browsed their store, you know how dangerous that can be. Gorgeous wares, but ridiculous prices. Needless to say, I didn’t spend a grand for a coffee table. But the love is still there. I can’t get the idea out of my head. So what do I do? I concoct a crazy plan to build one myself.

I’d like to preface this project by saying three words: I’m no carpenter.

That being said, you may be wondering why you’re looking at photos of an old beat up window. What does a window have anything to do with making a trunk to use as a coffee table?

I’m so happy you asked! You see, what had happened was I went to a store called Architectural Salvage here in my ‘hood (San Diego). The plan was to attempt to find some reclaimed/vintage lumber that I could use to build this dream of mine. Although I would have loved to dismantle some of the wooden gates and doors to use for the trunk, it would have been prohibitively expensive ($300+ for a door).

The beauty of my brain, especially in places like Architectural Salvage, is that I don’t just see things for what they are. I see things for their potential. I see what I could create with seemingly random items.  As I continued my adventure, I came across piles of old leaded windows. In a stroke of genius (or insanity, I haven’t quite decided), I decided that I would use one of these windows as the lid of my new trunk.

After about an hour of combing the store, I settled on this little gem. Yeah, she’s a little worn. A little neglected, sure. Nothing a little TLC couldn’t take care of. Since purchasing this piece, I’ve cleaned the glass, I’ve also scraped the paint off the frame and sanded both sides down to bare wood.

I noticed that while the window frame itself is nice and sturdy, the glass part is a bit weak. Since this is a vintage piece, the glass is pieced together with lead. (as opposed to the glass being one solid piece with leading added for decoration) With the rowdy people I tend to have in my home, not to mention the total clutz I am, I decided that if this window was going to serve as part of the lid, it needed reinforcement. After some research, I found a product that would give me the strength without covering up that beautiful glass. I’ll be using clear polyester casting resin. If you’re interested, you can check it out online on the Blick Art Supply website.

Now that I have a general idea of where this project is headed, I proceeded with the design. The outside of the trunk will be stained to match the rest of my furniture, while all the inside parts will be painted with color enamel.

I taped off the window and painted the side of the frame that will face the inside. While I toyed with the idea of painting the entire trunk, I ultimately decided against it. Paint can crack and scratch. And with the wear this trunk is gonna get, I don’t see paint lasting too long. But since I’m crazy for color (among other things) I didn’t want to scrap the idea altogether. I decided to compromise. I thought it would be an interesting touch to have the color inside instead. Problem solved.

After finishing the frame, my little brother had the idea of painting the lead. While I wasn’t thrilled at the idea of having to tape all of the glass, I decided, go big or go home. So I’m giving it a shot…of color. Pink to be exact. (Forgive me for the photo, it definitely looks red here, but I assure you, it is not. Not that I have anything against red. My couch is solid red…and more red would just be silly.)

I will be applying a couple more coats of pink to the lead, then I’ll be staining the other side along with the edges. Once this is all dry, I’ll be able to work on reinforcing the glass with the casting resin I mentioned earlier.

Stay tuned, there’s a lot more to this project, and I intend to show you every step of my adventure!

As a side note, it’s worth mentioning that while I was sanding the frame, I tried using those fancy sanding blocks that Home Depot carries. They look a lot like a sponge; they’re kind of squishy but it has a gritty coating. I really wanted to like this product. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for this project. I think that there was just too much “give” because of its squishyness to really get the job done. So I returned to the Depot and purchased good old-fashioned sandpaper. Before I left, I headed to the lumber department and found a little piece of scrapped 2×4 to use as a sanding block. I stapled the paper to the block and it worked beautifully, with much less effort. My hands thanked me.