#iliveinthewoods

i live in the woods. 

for real. i live waaaaaay the heck up here. practically canada. 

{not really. practically the upper peninsula of michigan. or practically lake superior.
 i wish it was practically canada!} 

we moved up here from the suburbs of chicago and to say life is different in the woods would be an understatement!
in so many ways life up here is a wonderful change of pace.
i get to live where people come on vacation!
we are surrounded on all sides by lakes.
we can leave our doors unlocked- people leave their cars running at the grocery store.
winters, while long, are full of outdoor activities.
vintage abounds up here! no seriously...everything is old & no one cares. jackpot!

clockwise from top left: i do love that hodag, sunset from a pontoon boat, our pup's first swim of the year, and the morning we woke up to 20 inches of snow!

other parts of living up here are...odd.

that giant monster i'm kissing up there? that's a hodag. he'll be getting his own post soon, but just as an intro- he went from being a mythical beast invented by a hunter to the high school mascot and unofficial mascot of the northwoods. our old hodag is even making its tv debut on an episode of scooby doo in august! 

taxidermists outnumber coffee shops.

nothing is open past 5...except the bars.

kids ride to school on snowmobiles. 

we have bonfires on frozen lakes.

my husband carries his chainsaw in the back of his jeep- and actually uses it. 

walmart is 40 minutes away. target is an hour and 40 minutes. 

so is a mall. unless you consider a bank, coffee shop & verizon store a mall {our town does}

clockwise from top left: all bundled up for the pond hockey tournament, a vintage find ($2!), hubby taking care of a random tree, and the newest taxidermist in town. 

so, welcome to #iliveinthewoods! 

a new series that will give a peek into my quirky wonderful life in the middle of nowhere!

instaFriday

what a week it has been!

last weekend i went to my first northwoods ski show.
we dog sat for maddie's boyfriend bear. 

 we said goodbye to dear friends and prayed them off to utah on monday. 

i made yet another maxi skirt. this one is stripey!
i ate a delicious and terrible for me dinner of bundles of joy on tuesday.

i have a secret project in the works. clues are below & all will be revealed tomorrow!

i scored some sweet vintage finds this week including a 60s sewing table & machine on wednesday.
i've been trying to soak up every minute of summer in between my two jobs. 

i finished a set of custom order ADORABLE baby booties for one happy grandma on thursday.

{yes i definitely do custom orders- email me for info!}

brandon and i were blessed with a last minute sunset boat ride last night to round out date night!

 i love where we live and i love where he works. 

i'll be linking up over here with jeannett and her beautiful new baby boy!

hello oregon!

this is the way to road trip! taking a 9 hour drive and breaking it up over two days is restful and fun! we left the bay area a little after noon yesterday and drove up to weed, ca. yep weed. 

we stayed in this super exciting &  classy comfort inn. 

i dubbed this the blogging chair. it was the least sketchy chair in the room.

on the way up we stopped in dunsmuir and ate dinner at the dunsmuir brewery works. what a great find! good food and great beer (says hubby- my two sips were tasty!) 

after dinner we  the crazy little Curiosity Shop where i bought vintage jewelry and buttons. it was the strangest collection of stuff i've seen in one store in a long time and more than a little sketchy but i got lots of buttons & bead & vintage earrings for $6!

Dunsmuir Brewery Works. Beer for him, root beer for me!

we finished up the drive today with a quick four hours up to sisters. we got to catch up with old friends over great coffee and meet new friends over great beer (and fish & chips!)

Three Creeks Brewing, Sisters, OR

i am so excited to be here this weekend for robyn and tex's wedding. robyn is such a blessing in my life and has been since the moment we met. to see her with tex makes my heart smile; God has blessed her with a wonderful man and i am so honored to be a part of the ceremony that will join them as husband and wife! i'll be back after the weekend with pictures from alcatraz, more snap recap and fun stories of this beautiful wedding weekend & our last little getaway before the summer of chaos begins. 

did i mention the hotel upgraded us to a jacuzzi/fireplace suite?! the perfect little surprise to end our time away just the two of us!

love these girls. LOVE!

just be you!

SNAP! has come and gone.

i'm not quite back to real life since we've continued our trip out west.

we've had some time with b's family, i've gotten to squeeze our adorable nephew, 

we visited alcatraz (picture heavy post coming soon)

and now we're headed north for a dear friend's wedding. 

through all of this excitement i've been processing what i learned at SNAP. 

i'll do a few detailed posts later this week or next week when i get home but

i just want to share a few of the things swirling in my head. 

the theme of the conference was 

Just Be You

necklace generously given to all the attendees by the wonderful amy cornwell

i have had to just stop there and think.

just be you is wonderful. 

we are all unique.

gifted & talented in different ways. 

no matter how many craft bloggers and shop owners are out there

we are each

different.

beautiful.

unique.

there is no need to compare ourselves to other, bigger shops or bloggers.

there's no need to try to be something we're not.

just be you.

here's the thing.

i've had a hard time lately figuring out how to be me.

there was a time, 

before the depression 

that i knew exactly who i was and it was easy.

easy to live as i was created to live.

i spent a time living in a thick darkness

where i hardly knew who i was or what i was doing.  

the depression has lifted {most days} but a fog lingers.

a fog that keeps me from seeing exactly just who i am

and getting back to who i was. 

so the thing swirling around in my head right now is

just be you! 

but how? 

wow, so that got heavier than expected. 

let's end on a happy note!

SNAP! was a wonderful time,

a refreshing weekend away from a life that is draining,

full of people who understand me.

i ate delicious food.

i collected all the bacon from the people who didn't like it. more for me!

i was inspired to grow. 

i stayed up late and laughed til i cried with these beautiful ladies. 

how's that for a quick little post? 

more later about all i learned and the beautiful ladies i spent time with!

also...i took about 4 pictures with my real camera so 

if you were at SNAP! pleaaaase go upload your pictures

to the flickr group! sharing is caring!