Baby Steps in Taking a Hobby to the Next Level

So lately I've been thinking of how I can get back into the design world! I have a degree in Mass Communications, with an emphasis in Print Journalism and I am always so happy when I get the task to make a graduation invitation, church logo, or just scrapbooking my life. In an ideal world I would love to go back to school to get a certificate in graphic design or some sort of print production, more or less for a confidence boost. While this won't be happening anytime soon, I'll spend my time reading about techniques that I can one day incorporate into a design business and creating my own "practice projects" here and there.

I've been pondering what I would one day call my design business (I hate the word business as I in vision this more as a hobby I might get paid for), but here is what I've settled on:

my design name and authenticated stamp for work

title of my blog which will include prior work, design techniques, my inspiration and more

signature

What do you think? My husband Reid helped me make the final decision on name and font to use. While I still have a long ways to go, I'm glad I finally have a concept to roll with when the day comes that I bring this to life.

New Outdoor Adventures

While we couldn't venture very far from home this weekend, the great thing about Colorado is there are so many great places right out your back door! Sunday evening we headed to Ken Caryl Valley, about 15min from our house, to do some mountain biking in South Valley Park. I had so much fun and can't wait to go out again.

 

I'm excited for a day off this week to celebrate the 4th, however celebrations in Colorado will be a bit different this year thanks to the dry weather and wildfires. About 3/4 of the fireworks shows across the state have been cancelled :( We'll have to find somewhere close, or may just stay at home to avoid the chaos of people flocking to the few shows still around.

Happy Monday!!

Defining Our Style - Shabby Chic Farmhouse

Now that we are entering our mid to late 20s, my husband has wrapped up his graduate studies, and we have finally chosen where we want to settle down, it's time to start thinking about life not on a college budget.  We have spent the last few weeks trying to come up with the style we'd like to someday decorate our dream home with.

After much thought, it was very hard to describe the style we came up with. I think I finally settled on shabby chic farmhouse with a vintage, french flair. So the first room we have been pondering is our bedroom. Here are some inspirational pieces we'd like to incorporate...



We are going for the neutral color scheme of a farmhouse with antiqued furniture in a teal accent. For our headboard we'd love to use an old door, shutters or wood planks. I'm sure glad my husband loves this look because I think it is darling! Stay tuned to when we can finally make our dream a reality.

Mountain Adventures

Reid and I spent one last fun weekend in the mountains before he devotes majority of his time to studying for the bar which is now only one month away.....

We headed out early Saturday morning to tackle the Coast to Coast Traverse. This route took us to the top of two 13ers, first being the Atlantic Peak and then scrambling a ridge over to Pacific Peak.

Our traverse route from Atlantic (right) to Pacific (left)

 When we finally reached the Pacific summit, we realized there was no real good way to get down. So we found our best option and very carefully made our way down a rocky scramble.

Reid and I at the Pacific Peak summit

 Our hike out through the Mayflower Gulch was beautiful. If I were to guess what the Irish or Scottish countrysides looks like, I feel like it would resemble this gulch.

Mayflower Gulch on our Coast to Coast Traverse hike

After our hike, we drove up to Avon, CO where one of Reid's friends was having a birthday at a campsite. Although Reid does not prefer car camping, this was one of the best car camping sites you could ask for.

Jennings family photo at Moontower Campsite in Avon, CO

Settling In

Well we have been in Denver for about a month now and are LOVING IT!! There is so much to do, and we don't even have enough time to enjoy it all. Glad this will be our permanent home so we have plenty of time to get out and enjoy all CO has to offer.

Reid is spending most of his summer studying for the bar exam :( I thought law school was rough, but this bar studying is even worse. We can't wait until July 25th to be here. On a more positive note, he has interviewed for a job and we are crossing our fingers and toes and waiting for a response!

I finally got a new (more reliable) computer!! That means I can post more blogs and not wait a month or more in between. Can't wait to share our decorating thoughts, my new adventure with photography and everything else in between.

Moving On...

I can't believe how fast the past three years has flown by! This time last year we were making a trip to Spokane to find a place to live and now we are packing up our boxes and moving again; this time to Denver!!

For this particular moment in time I am a bit sad to leave Spokane. While Spokane is not an ideal place I'd like to raise a family, it was the first place where Reid and I lived together and began our lives as our own family. We also made a great group of friends here and I found a great gymnastics gym where I worked with some awesome people. They will all be missed, but I am ready to move on and begin the next chapter in our lives.

It has been hard, and at times frustrating watching your friends buy houses, start families, and be back at home where you are the most comfortable, but on the flip side I wouldn't change the experience we have had for anything. Moving 24hrs away from family and friends and living on a student budget has helped me grow as an individual and that is what I will take away from this chapter in my life. I'm excited for what is to come :)

This weekend we will be celebrating Reid graduating law school and next Monday it's packing up the truck and hitting the road. Congratulations Reid on making it through school and can't wait to put this moving process behind me.

Mountaineering

Reid is trying to get me into mountaineering because he wants it to be an experience we can enjoy together. Last  year we went to Mt Adams for my first summit attempt but were pushed off the mountain by bad weather. Last weekend we set out for attempt number two and ultimately in the end still came up short, but at least not becasue of weather this time.

We actually could not have asked for more perfect weather! The temperature was more than pleasant, the winds were calm, but there was still plenty of snow around. So much in fact that the trail was snowed in 7 miles out from the trailhead. Thankfully, we had a GPS with us and did some backcountry hiking to take a more direct route to the trailhead.

We had a friend along with us for the trip who wanted the experience of shooting pictures on a mountaineering trip. It was great to have him (and I'm sure he captured some amazing photos) but his heavy pack did slow us down a bit. We had to camp earlier than planned so we could still have some sunlight for dinner. We found the pefect camp spot and had a pretty spectacular sunset.

I have a major fear of heights, but did okay up until our camp spot. There was only one part of the hike up where I knew if I looked back behind me my legs would be jello! Knowing this about me, I did not sleep at all the night before the summit attempt just thinking in my mind what I was going to have to hike the next day, and on top of that hiking it in the dark. I tried to rest up as much as I could, but the 1:30am alarm went off and it was time to get up and hike some more. But things did not go to plan after I stepped outside the tent. I went back in forth in my mind, do I or don't I but in the end I let my fears get the best of me. It was not only my fear of heights that made my decision, but also the fact that we would be hiking in the dark, with gear I had never used and I also did not trust myself or the gear for what was to come. So we climbed back in, snuggled back in our sleeping bags and with my mind at ease, I finally was able to get some sleep.

The next day we woke up, made our breakfast, packed up camp and headed back down the mountain. Suprisingly, going down was a lot less scary that I had imagined it to be (another thought going through my mind on summit morning). On I strapped on my crampons because the snow had not softenend up yet and found a new best friend! This was one piece of gear I had never used before but they are awesome. My second best friend I made on the hike out was my ice axe. We stopped at a small slope and Reid taught me how to rescue myself should I slip and slide down the mountain. Not only was the training fun, but I now feel much more confident in my mountaineering skills.

All in all I felt comfortable with my decision and am ready to go back some day and try again. I really do hope to conquer my fear and summit a mountain!