and we're off!

vacation! it couldn't have come at a better time. with hubby set to student teach in the fall {full time hours. zero dollars.} we are both planning on working a 2nd job this summer. the impending financial situation and long hours apart have us a little stressed out so we are so excited to get away. our trip actually starts with a few days apart. i'm on a plane right now headed for SNAP! Creativity At Your Fingertips, a handmade blogging & biz conference in salt lake city.  {sitting next to the world's worst airplane sleeper. i've been knocked into 6+ times and he's floppin all over the place!} i'm so excited to hug these girls and meet new friends! i was going to link to my post about meeting wonderful people at creative estates last year but i was a super deadbeat and didn't write one. that will NOT happen this year. 

while i head to utah, hubby is flying home to the bay area where i will join him on sunday. he'll be going to giants games, riding his bike all over the bay area and catching up with some friends. after the conference i fly to california and we spend a few days there in which i will be hanging out with this guy as much as possible. 

dear ezekiel, please stop growing when aunt jacqui & uncle b aren't around to see it. thanks!

also eating a lot of frozen yogurt. 

also we're going to alcatraz! hooray!! that's the one touristy thing i've always wanted to do when we visit b's family but it hasn't worked out until now. we're doing the night tour which is supposed to be extra fabulous and probably kinda scary. and awesome. 

{source}

then b & i are driving up to sisters oregon for the wedding of this dear friend.

yeah we're weirdos. and that's why we love each other.

b & i are so excited to have some time by ourselves and to take a day or two to drive up to oregon. hooray random road trip adventures & hotels paid for by the inlaws. i'm also so grateful for the opportunity to be involved in this wedding, and cannot wait to stand up and read the Word of God at this blessed ceremony. plus the bachelorette party, pedicures, rehearsal dinner & getting to hug these two are all reasons to be very excited! 

i'll be tweeting and facebooking up a storm while i'm gone. and probably filling your instagram feed with pictures of the fun. follow along here, here and here! 

insta-friday: down & back again

soo this is actually a little over a week. from the weekend of palm sunday until now. i've been down to chicagoland twice in the past week. two weeks ago i went down for a baby shower for one of my oldest friends. 

friends since elementary school. congratulations crystal jean! we missed you heather!

whenever i'm home i make sure to eat all the food we don't have up here in the woods. lets be honest, that's anything besides mcdonalds or subway so my options are endless. 

from the top: enchiladas, frozen yogurt, midnight run to spunky dunkers,
 tj's amazing almonds, pad thai, and breakfast for dinner (that one was local)

in between trips to civilization i got a lot done in the studio this week- from organizing to new projects to some unrestricted creative fun (hooray!)

Someone recently passed along a big box of vintage costume jewelry and I've spent much of the week clipping and sorting and playing around giving all these pieces new life. i love that each piece is unique and one of a kind. yep...those mean the same thing. 

Another one of these is in progress. I'll blog about it when it's all done!

New skirt & scarf! Second attempt at the maxi. Should have used this fabric the first time. Instead I was silly & used my nice stuff from my Mood Fabrics groupon...and it doesn't quite fit. Boo.

Changing up some of the hoops on the wall. The "create" and the stitched doodle are being carried over from the old grouping because I love them and they were a lot of work, but everything else is fresh & new!

Finally getting the pegboard up and functional. When we moved into this house we weren't sure how long we'd be here so I never really organized. After a year & a half I decided my sanity was worth it even if I have to pack things up in a month!

also in the last week- baseball returned! hooray! baseball is really my first love. long before i met my own baseball player i loved the game. i was ryne sandberg for halloween when i was 4. my dad taught me to keep score and took me to cubs games. they break my heart every year but i can't live without them. stupid cubs. also there are the magic pants. right hannah? 

I don't need to be at the game to keep score! This was at my desk while listening to the radio!

We did get to go to a game while we were in Chicago. It's been a really long time since my whole family went to a game and it was wonderful. Sure they lost (the bullpen melted down, surprise, surprise) but a day at Wrigley with my love & my family really is perfect- especially when it's 60 & sunny! I've been to games at Wrigley in April in the snow. Or horrible freezing rain.

We love baseball!

we went to the easter service at willow. it feels huge to me now for the first time in a long time. since i grew up at this church as was in a small group with the same people for almost 10 years it never felt big. now that i've moved away and work at a church of 120 people and they've built a new auditorium, this just feels huge! it is always a blessing to be back though, the easter service was a beautiful mix of music, spoken word and artistic moments that conveyed the message of the Gospel so clearly!

Easter Sunday at my home church. Yep, it's big!

after church we had our usual april birthday celebration with my family. my nana's birthday is the 18th, my dad's is the 17th and papa's was the 6th so every year we do all the april birthdays plus easter as one big celebration!

Happy Birthday Dad Man! I found him that vintage Quaker Whiskey bottle to use when he teaches Quaker University at work (he's a chemical engineer for Quaker Oats!)

again i'll leave you with the weekly picture of the pup. 

since we don't have kids she gets her picture taken a lot. a lot, a lot. 

found a happy spot in the sun!

as usual, i'm linking up over here with jeannett!

instaFriday: hello february!

oh look, here i am, back on my blog. shocking i know. it's been a rough couple weeks around here and i've struggled to keep up with everything so if you're waiting on something from me, i'm sorry and i'm almost there! 

my grandpa passed away last saturday. he lived a long, full life and died peacefully at home at the age of 88. when he was diagnosed with lung cancer this last year he decided not to undergo any treatment and faced the cancer head on. we don't often see my dad's side of the family so the funeral was a sweet chance to be with family. my dad shared memories of grandpa at the funeral and was able to life the spirits of everyone there. the day was long and hard, but everything went as well as it possibly could have. 

the funeral was 4 1/2 hours away downstate so brandon and i left early, early wednesday morning to be there by 10:00 am. honestly, i slept for the first few hours while b drove, but i woke up to a beautiful sunny day. 

wisconsin farmland

can i live on a farm? please?

since we were already down in civilization we made a few stops on the way back (hello target!) and did a little shopping. while we were at joann's i found some happy fleece remnants and decided to make a few new tug-of-war toys for the pup. i made a few when she was a puppy and they're just shredded balls of fleece now. she still tries to play fetch with them, but they're kinda gross. hello cute replacements! 

"uhhh mom, you made me look over there, but there's nothing there"

sunset in the woods

i'm trying to be more intentional about telling brandon the things i appreciate about him. he does so much around the house and i don't always notice or acknowledge it. i am so thankful that he brings in wood for the furnace and makes the coffee every morning and does the dishes when i cook- all while working on his masters. so enter the tiny mailbox of loooove. i found this beauty in the $1 section at target and now it lives in our kitchen. if the flag is up that means there's a little token of love inside!

you've got mail!

i'm always on the hunt for vintage jewelry that can be turned into something else. turns lots of giant, hideous clip on earrings make beautiful cocktail rings. 

my current favorite cocktail ring!

 i'm in a valentines-y kind of mood lately so i've had my valentine's day mugs on rotation. this one is my very favorite. a little bit sassy, just like me! 

today is also my wonderful father in law's birthday. not that you read this, but happy birthday bob! you are a blessing to me and so many others!

i'm linking up over here with jeannett!

InstaFriday: week 3

 agh! it's been over a month! no excuses...let's just jump right in to the pictures!

(these actually span more than a week)

i was doing laundry & the lid of the detergent jar slid off into my nose.
wasn't broken but it hurt like the dickens.
and i had this nice bruise!

just a little visitor in our backyard. usually they're in a group of four or more. 

the tower of embroidery floss. we bought it just like this from a little old lady at a garage sale.
organized by DMC number!

 last week a few unfortunate things happened
1. faerie fest was rained out by a giant storm that blew up right in the middle of the parade. there were screaming little girls in fairy costumes & much mayhem. highly unfortunate & probably turned a lot of little girls of to faeries...for life! (fairy? faerie? what's the difference?)
2. as i was packing all my soaking wet stuff up and standing in the rain, another vendor backed into my parked car. luckily she had insurance, because she managed to do $2800 in damage!
3. my phone decided to freak out & needed to be factory reset. mostly fine because it was backed up but i lost all the pictures i had taken since my last back up- the pictures of the faeries and of my smashed up car.
4. i had to drive said car, with it's mirror duct taped on (all classy like) down to illinois to help my grandma move out of her house. i love that house. i've always loved that house and i wanted it to be mine one day. but since papa died last year it's been too much for her. her new apartment in the spiffy little retirement complex will be great for her. (and i've decided i want to move into a place like that asap, but that's a post for another day). my trip home was wonderful, but very bittersweet.

209 beverly road.
i've spent every Christmas Eve of my life in this house.
many summer days.
countless sleepovers where it was too hot to sleep because my grandparents kept the house at 82 degrees.
it has a laundry shoot and an intercom system.
neil armstrong once sat on the couch discussing flight plans with papa.
(we now own that couch. kinda awesome)
there were hatboxes with fantastic old hats in the upstairs bedroom & toys that belonged to my mom in the basement.

it was so strange to see everything empty!
this is the "den" where we sat on the blue leather "davenport" and watched tv.
there were two tv's- a big one so nana could watch her old movies or painting shows (bob ross anyone?) and a little one for papa to have sports or news on all the time.
in that back corner was the stereo and all of papa's music collection. everything from 45's to CDs.

here's the living room.
the Christmas tree was always in the corner near that window. every year after Christmas Eve dinner we sat on the floor, cheeks red from the crazy high temperatures in the house, and opened gifts one by one. but only after all the dishes were done! papa made us wait until every dinner dish was finished before we could open even one gift! by the time i was a teenager we convinced him to start presents right after dinner if we all helped with the dishes.
nana took all her naps on that gold couch and after she woke up we played countless games of "tiles"
(rummikub to the rest of the world) 

at nana's new apartment i found pictures on the fridge i had never seen before, including this one and a few too embarrassing to post in public! she must have unearthed a box of old photos while packing! 

nana has this on her dresser in her new apartment. aren't they the cutest?
he was a pilot & she was a stewardess. 

one of the beautiful lakes on my drive back up from illinois. i really do love where we live.
even if i miss target. a lot.

this past weekend some of my best friends came up for the weekend.
we started things out by going to the white stag for dinner.
they basically only serve steak & baked potatoes. it's amazing.
this baby here is described in the menu as one pound of pleasure.and it was.

we rented a boat from the resort brandon works at and spent all day saturday out on the water! the lakes are all connected, we live on the largest inland chain of lakes in the world (who knew?!) and we were blessed with a beautiful day to explore them!
we ate, we drank, we swam, we tanned (okay i burned a little).
 all in all a wonderful day with wonderful friends!

just some of the vintage sheet goodness i found on my hunt the other day. one wonderful thing about the woods is that vintage is plentiful & nobody really cares that it's old! 

speaking of vintage...our goodwill just bags up the jewelry & sells it for $3 a bag.
this was my most recent score. total $9!
there was some other stuff in the bag but it was too hideous to photograph & will likely go straight back to goodwill with my next donation!

some of the animal themed gift for our new niece or nephew. (and also a fuzzy dog elbow. or knee?)  looks like that little one is making an early arrival so i'm crocheting like crazy!

linked:

saturday snapshot

well it looks like i've been a bad blogger this week since my last post is also a saturday snapshot. fail. fear not i have much fun planned for you this week. so for now i'm linking up to kim's saturday snapshot party! on to the snapshot!

i posted a couple months ago about missing my sweet papa. this wednesday would have been his 90th birthday so i've been thinking about him a lot. this picture was taken at my house probably 22 years ago. we were celebrating my little sister's birthday and i felt the need to bury papa under a pile of toys. he was such a good sport and i look so proud of myself! he was really the best grandpa a girl could ask for, when i was 5 and when i was 25.
love you papa & i miss you everyday!

head on over to yellow songbird to see all the other saturday snapshots & have a great weekend!

saturday snapshot

hi all! i'm linking up today with kim's saturday snapshot party over at yellow songbird! such a fun way to dig through old photos! 

in all the craziness the past couple weeks i didn't acknowledge two important events! march 5th was our little fuzz monster's second birthday and march 9th was the four year anniversary of the day brandon asked me to marry him. i'm writing up the story for this week {better late than never?} but here's a snapshot from that night. 

it was pretty late at night but we went back to my parents house and woke them up. they already knew it was coming but were so excited to hear the story they came downstairs in their pajamas. i love that my dad snapped this shot of my mom hugging the two of us after i showed her the ring! 

missing him

sorry i've been mia this week. it's been a year and i'm not handling things as well as i expected. i have so much to say about papa and about what we were all going through this time last year, but i can't seem to get any of it out right now. so instead here's the video i created for papa's wake. it's a little on the long side. only watch it if you feel like hearing some great oldies and seeing adorable photos of my sweet papa {plus a few of little jacqui. i'm the first grandbaby to show up on the scene!} 



papa from craftee mcgee on Vimeo.

i miss you papa and love you dearly.

Christmas past

so i'm dreadfully late with this post but it means that i'm almost caught up on everything that happened after we moved! Christmas this year was a whirlwind. we left the woods on a wednesday night after work & drove 6 hours down to chicago. maddie loves the car but has to be buckled in the backseat on long trips, otherwise she tries to sit in the lap of who ever is driving. our 55 pound lab definitely fancies herself a lapdog!

thursday i took full advantage of actually having stores around and did some shopping. some serious stocking up happened at joann's, michaels and hobby lobby! our macbook went in to get fixed and we visited my nana. that night i caught up with my best friends from high school and we sent brandon & another hubby on a man date. we had a wonderful evening together catching up over dinner and coffee; we even gave the boys enough time to see two movies. there was also some late night settlers fun with lynn & jon. we love us some settlers of catan!

friday (Christmas eve) i spent all day at my nana's house helping her get ready to host dinnner. we have spent Christmas eve at her house every year, my whole life, but this was the first year we were without this sweet man. 

{yep that's me & a stuffed cow. circa 1987?}

papa had been battling cancer for 5 years but was with us and "healthy" last year at Christmas. shortly after Christmas he contracted shingles. that was the beginning of the end and the months that followed were unimaginably difficult for all of us. he passed away on february 20. i'll be writing more about nana & papa and those few months soon but none of us were looking forward to celebrating this Christmas without him. there would be no one to cook the horrible oyster dish for, no one to force us to do every dish before presents were opened, no one to buy jam for, no one to take pictures as every gift was opened.we survived it. miss you papa & love you always!

at my parents house we spent a lot of time {as we always do} snuggled up watching old movies. my parents' dog, sadie, is not a big fan of maddie. they were forced to spend a weekend together when maddie was young and had no manners. their relationship has been rocky ever since! brandon seems to be able to mend their relationship- we call him the dog whisperer!

 

on Christmas morning my parents, sister, b & i gathered around the fire to open presents. every year we start by reading Luke 2 {which is wonderful} then my mom makes us sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and Hark the Herald Angels  before we are released to the presents!{not so wonderful- no one in my family can sing. at all.}stockings come first and are usually filled with chocolate and at least one Christmas ornament. i failed to take pictures of most of these festivities. partly because i was still sleepy & partly because we were dressed in all sorts of weird Christmas morning pajama ensembles :) 

the gift giving is not big or extravagant at our house, never has been, but the gifts we do give are very thoughtful. this year b and i both did the handmade thing. here he is modeling one of the hats i made him! {which i have since stolen & claimed for myself. great wife i know!} he works outside in the frigid weather every day so now he has a few new wool blends hats to keep him warm AND stylish!

look what my sweet hubby made me!!! this is from a tree that he actually cut down. then sliced up. and made into an awesome sign! he used the router/sign making machine at honeyrock. love, love, love. you'll be seeing it again soon in the tour of my studio!

it wasn't all handmade this year- my parents went to ireland and sweden for their 30th anniversary and brought back a few fantastic gifts! i received a new and gorgeous claddagh ring to replace the old silver one i've worn every day since high school. brandon got this schnazzy rugby jersey! doesn't it go well with his northwoods pajama pants? :) 

 

 and just in case you thought we forgot the pup on Christmas here she is enjoying her new bear, stanley. i found him in a box of my old stuffed animals and since i couldn't' remember where he came from {so he probably wasn't significant!} i passed him along to her! this picture is taken after she devoured the bone my parents gave her. lucky & spoiled little fuzz monster!

we stayed in illinois another day then flew to california on the 26th in preparation for our trip to maui on the 28th!!

a recap, part 2: the move and beyond

so moving day arrived and we weren't quite ready! turns out we acquired a lot of stuff in the past 2 years and we needed a bigger truck. {this is what happens when parents call & request you remove all your belongings from their attic!} brandon spent a frantic few hours packing and repacking and creating space out of nothing and i decided what we could part with. i made a pile on the curb that included some furniture along with random stuff from the house. i went back inside to clean for a few minutes, and when i came out i discovered that my stuff in the pile on the curb had been replaced with hubby's fishing pole, golf clubs and baseball bat bag. unacceptable! sweet hubby was trying to save my junk by giving up his things. i made a few phone calls and found someone to come fetch the important things and store them until we could bring them home! after the madness of packing up our little house ended we were off!

usually when we drive maddie gets buckled into the backseat {otherwise she tries to ride in my lap} but on this trip every inch of the car was full. my little fuzz was such a trooper! she made it six hours in this tiny space! 

we arrived safely in wisconsin and were greeted by a whole group of people ready to help us move in. it was such a blessing to have help right away and they had also stocked our pantry and fridge! yet another sign of God's provision throughout this move! we began unpacking and settling in to our new rental house. it took maddie over a week to feel comfortable here. for the first few days she wouldn't sit or lay down or look out the window- she just followed me everywhere i went! eventually she got comfortable and realized that there were all kinds of exciting things to see if she looked out the window! 

maddie has just spotted a deer in the yard!

brandon's parents sent a half a semi-load of stuff to us. it included most of the toys hubby owned as a child, lots of toilet paper & paper towels, a giant case of shaving cream, a box of baking supplies {really the shipment could have been its own post but the camera was m.i.a. at the time!} and this beauty of a table! sorry for the ick photo- we have bad light after about 3 pm.  this dining room table seats 8 without any leaves {there are 3!} and used to sit in hubby's grandparents house. i love that it was theirs and i love that it's huge! 

the table arrived just in time because we hosted our first thanksgiving! my parents and sister {and sadie} came up for the weekend. it was wonderful to have visitors and only mildly stressful to cook thanksgiving dinner for the first time. we all survived the weekend and still loved each other in the end! 

included on the menu was this cranberry apple pie that i found on bake at 350. it really was as delicious as bridget promised it would be!

the weather turned cold. really cold. and i had the constant urge {still do} to create something warm with yarn. one of those projects was this tiny hat for a friend's baby. it's so rewarding to start with some yarn and end with something someone can wear! more crochet projects coming soon!

part ii was longer than expected so i'll finish with part iii {december} tomorrow!