November catchup

Hello!! So, going from unemployed/ working in my pajamas from home to standing for 8 hours 5 days in a row is exhausting. I absolutely love my new job, being around fabric all day and hear about all these fun and crafty projects. I'm sure customers get tired of us asking "So, what are you making with this?" but, at least for me, I honestly want to know. My feet are getting used to being used everyday and my hip is getting tough against me using it to balance as I reach across the cutting counter to make the final snips to some fabric (it was hand sized at the worst).

Besides work, though, what craftiness have I been up to? First up, I learned how to make a latte! Okay, so that's not really crafty but I'm pretty proud of it. You want real craftiness, oh okay. If you insist - I finished my Tolkien swap package:

Map of Middle Earth coffee mug with routes from each of the books

Lembas bread leaf wrap as a coffee cozy to hold some red dragon tea and some chai tea mix

Arwen quote cross stitch and a hobbit hole necklace

I made myself an incredibly unflattering sweater but, my goodness, it feels like wearing a blanket and that is totally okay with me. Please excuse my funky face, I was feeling uncertain with my work but honestly, it was a yard of fabric that I sewed up the sides and cut out a neck hole. Then, since it was longer than I would've liked, I chopped off a few inches at the bottom and turned them into kimono style sleeves and sewed them on. 30ish minutes of work and I have my favorite day-off outfit:

Let's see, I also bought a crazy amount of fabric for Christmas gifts. Well, the fabric isn't the gift, what I'm going to make it all into will be. I'm super excited to get started on it but I have 2 more swaps to finish off. I probably won't be able to show too many progress photos of the christmas gift stuff since I'm pretty sure the majority of you readers are those that the presents are going to.

Oh! And yesterday, though technically not crafty, I finally got a chance to go on a real grocery shopping trip, completely cleaned the entire apartment, tried out a new dinner recipe, and prepped 4 overnight oatmeals for each J and I (because we are definitely not morning people). Here's a few photos from yesterday:

Our bathroom really isn't this crooked, its just because I had to shoot this photo in panorama so it added a curve to it. I added another Mermaid to the wall from the Mermaid swap (switched out the frame she came in for a shadow box and put a layer of shells in the bottom) and hung fresh new towels. Also, look at how nicely the plants are thriving since this is the only room the cats aren't allowed into.





Our coffee cart is one of my favorite parts of our home. It used to be split with the top shelf devoted to coffee and tea and the bottom shelf devoted to alcohol. We were running out of room for our coffee cups and we had finally decided to bring J's college years espresso machine home so I moved to the alcohol to a cupboard and made this cart coffee and tea only. The cart is from Ikea way back when I first got an apartment and I stained it a darker color to better match both my tastes and the rest of my furniture. The wine cork board was an old window from the house I grew up in filled with wine corks collected from McMenamins Edgefield (don't worry, I did not drink all that wine). I'd eventually like to add a few more wall hangings (Like a Janeway quote about "coffee in that nebula" and a chart about different ways to prepare your coffee).









And, as I mentioned earlier, we ended the night with prepping some overnight oatmeal. We each chose 4 we wanted to try out, you can find lots of fun recipes on Pinterest (or google, obviously). J went with pumpkin pie (pictured), peanut butter and jelly, latte, and . I went for cocoa butter nut, butter nut bread, latte, and cinnamon apple. I ate the cocoa butter nut one this morning and it was pretty tasty:


 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup greek yogurt, 1tsp cocoa powder, 1/2 banana, and 1/2tbsp chopped walnuts. Mix it all together and put it in the fridge. Bam! It really doesn't take that long and you could make it hot in the morning but I hate mornings so being able to roll out of bed and just grab some breakfast is pretty fantastic for me. Plus, making lattes takes up my usual breakfast making time and I really like me some fancy coffee in the morning.




In non-crafty news, I'm caught up on Supernatural (actually watching the most recent episode right now). I had to return a few books to the library due to not being able to renew them. I made it through about 1/3 of Armada (and loved it!) so I'm hoping to find it today during our library visit (when a book is recently released or a bestseller, they can't be reserved ahead of time or renewed). I also started reading Felicia Day's book last night and I'm loving it too. Its pretty hilarious that her writing is so similar to her acting/ speaking that I can read it in her voice. If you don't know who she is, you need to look her up, watch a few episodes of The Guild, and fall in love with her as I have.

 I'm working on a schedule for myself so I can stay on track with all my goals while also managing an inconsistent work schedule. I know I fell behind after the first but I'm back on the horse and excited to move forward. That's all from me for now. As always, you can follow me on Instagram @trekkiechick29 or Pinterest @TrekkerChick29 or Twitter @AimeXAime and check out my etsy shop. Until next time my most wonderful readers, live long, get crafty, and prosper!

Being an adult

Okay, so its Friday morning and I still haven't written anything on my sixth goal this week: Create something once a week. I did start 2 different projects but some things just take longer than others so at least one of those will probably pop up here next week. With that said, I got a lot done this week including driving 7+ hours of Tuesday for a lunch date with my Grandmother (at Mcmenamins northern most location; another stamp), waiting at DMV for 1.5hours (though it was so worth it in the end), and making a bunch of phone calls yesterday that I have been putting off for too long. That's right, I decided to be a sort-of adult this week and got things done:

Went to the DMV to change 2 different car titles, grocery shopping, took my ring to be cleaned, closed a bank account, added myself to another one, changed doctors and dentists (from our hometown ones to ones closer to where we live now), finished paying off a few things, dehydrated 3 full stacks of apples, bananas, and strawberries for school snacks, leveled my gnome warrior from 17 to 39, got the oil changed, signed myself up for blood donation next week, scheduled 2 dentist appointments and 1 hair cut appointment, made 2 jars of peanut butter, ordered food and medicine for my 4-legged children, and celebrated national yoga month by doing some yoga.

Did I mention I'm going camping today and I already prepped all the meals, packed the car, and cleaned the house, so all we have to do is make the fire and enjoy ourselves. Now you're asking: how would I have accomplished my creative goal? I tried a new recipe - Pear & chocolate chip muffins.

I like to make small muffins for those mornings when J doesn't wake up in enough time and I had this recipe from my mom that I just had to give a try. My mom is a wonderful baker and growing up we always had cookies or muffins or cake or something being made. Since J and I met in middle school, he knows my mom's desserts well and jokes that, though mom and I look like twins, she is a million times better in the kitchen than I am. I have improved over the years (when I first moved out I always overcooked chicken in the microwave and now its my go to meat when I'm feeling lazy).

As Yoda says, I didn't try the recipe, I did it! Its a fairly simple one so I thought I would share it here:

Pear & Chocolate Chip Muffins: yields 18 muffins

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Combine: 1 3/4c. flour, 1c sugar, 2tsp baking powder, 1/4tsp salt
3. Combine: 2 eggs, 1c sour cream (or greek yogurt), 1/4c melted butter, 1tsp vanilla
4. Mix the dry and wet combos together (when mixed, it will be doughy)
5. Add 1 1/2c chopped pears (or apples) and 1 c. mini chocolate chips to mixture
6. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, using all of mixture
7. Mix 1/4c chopped walnuts, 1/4c sugar, 1Tbsp soft butter
8. Sprinkle walnut mix on top of muffins
9. Bake 18-20 minutes

And there you have it, a delicious snack! I don't have any pictures of the process because it was just that simple that I believe in you. The only picture I did take was what you see to the right - this one is going camping with us for a on the road snack. This camping trip I will be checking off at least 3 different goals on my list: #1: Unplug and turn off for 24hours a month, #3: go camping 5 times, and #23: Read 10 books (I'll be finishing the first of A Song of Ice and Fire series; aka Game of Thrones). I can already see a few posts that will come out of this weekend trip so tune back in next week. Until then, live long, take time for yourself away from technology, and prosper!

Somewhere I've never been

For some of my 23 by 24 goals, I knew exactly how I would go about accomplishing them (such as goal #23: Read 10 books for pleasure - I have a long list of books to read so picking just 10 was cake). On the other hand, there were a few goals that I really just hoped to accomplish but wasn't sure how they would turn out in the end. Goal #13 was one of the latter - travel somewhere I've never been. After going on a once in a lifetime road trip with my family last summer, I learned that traveling, no matter how far, to see something new was so refreshing and life giving. No doubt this goal will always be on my yearly goal list.

Now, as it turned out, J and I planned a visit to his grandmother's house in Madras for last weekend. As I was looking for spots to maybe hike in the area I realized that Crater Lake was only a 2.5 hour drive south. Now, in my mind, seeing Crater Lake was as big of a deal as seeing the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore (both places we saw on our family road trip). I proposed the idea to J only to find out he had also never been to this top wonder of Oregon. The plan was made to leave early from his grandmother's house on Sunday morning, grab coffee on the way, take as much time as we wanted driving around the rim (we had our pup with us and none of the lake view trails allow dogs), and have a late lunch at Bend's Old St. Francis Mcmenamins hotel (I'll talk more about this later).

If you know me at all than you know that like actress Kristen Bell, anywhere below a 3 or above a 7 on my emotional scale, I'm probably crying. Since I could hardly contain my excitement, J let me drive on the way there. As we traveled the final 9 miles after the pay station, I had tears in my eyes with overwhelming excitement. I'm certain I am a smidge dramatic but that first glimpse of the bright blue water completely took my breath away.

Merriam Point; First viewpoint when entering park from north entrance

According to the park guide, it was a 33 mile drive around the Lake and the suggested time of travel was 2-3 hours. 

We stopped at just about every spot we could, got out to take pictures, and jumped back in the car to take in more of the sights. It was absolutely spectacular!

Discovery Point

Kerr Notch; first time we were able to really see the Phantom Ship rock (also, wish I had a camera like that)

Cloudcap Overlook; the best spot to really capture the entirety of Crater Lake

We did make a brief visit to the gift shop for gifts for family (if you're reading this, dear siblings, be keeping an eye on the mail) and a few things for ourselves (2 postcards and a coffee mug). Once we were satisfied that we had taken in all we could take in for the morning, we made our way back north for a very late lunch.

If you live around the Portland area, perhaps you've heard of the restaurant/pub/bar/hotel Mcmenamins. It is probably one of my most favorite places to eat and they have this real nifty marketing strategy of using passports to have customers travel to their different locations. The passport itself is $20 and for most of the locations you don't have to do anything except ask for a stamp. Once you get all the stamps for a certain area, you are rewarded with a prize. So far I've completed 3 areas entirely and have various stamps from others. J and I agreed that the passport would be used similar to how we use group-ons - if we already plan on eating out or going somewhere, only then would we decide on Mcmenamins. Since we had traveled down to Crater Lake, it only seemed logical to have lunch on our way back to Madras, in Bend, to get another Mcmenamin location full of stamps, and collect the prize.

Thankfully the Old St.Francis Restaurant and Hotel allowed dogs on their side patio. We seated ourselves and I ordered an oldy but a goody - Cajun Tots, a Communication Breakdown Burger (a huge burger with everything on it - perfect for leftovers), and a Ruby (a light, crisp ale). While waiting for our food, I went inside to see what the photo challenge was. For some locations, you have to complete a photo challenge and show it to the front desk in order to receive your stamp. Up to this point I had experienced 1 fairly simple photo challenge (Mcmenamins Edgefield) and 1 slightly more difficult (Mcmenamins Lighthouse Brewpub). To my great relief, Bend's was quite easy: "As you look for your car keys, look up at the hotel for another set of eyes or perhaps some prayerful guidance in helping shine a light or two". Okay, so in the parking lot I should look towards the hotel and there should be a light by, perhaps, an angel.

Not an angel but it is Father Dominic O'Connor

Showed this photo to the front desk, along with the other stamps I had already collected from the 2 bars and pub as I wandered, and was given a choice of my prize. Since our pup, Worf, had been such a trooper through it all (he's a bit of an anxious dog when it comes to just about everything, though he has improved so much since we adopted him) it only made sense to choose the Mcmenamin's dog bandana and a poop bag dispenser (you can never have too many poop bags!).

The stamp from the front desk is upside down

Two other things I love about Mcmenamins, besides their food, is that they honor the history of their location and they always have great artwork lining their walls (though occasionally their halls are so dimly lit, you have to squint to see). I definitely recommend any one of the Mcmenamins locations to anyone visiting the Pacific Northwest!

Museum of Wonders

At the end of the day we had traveled to somewhere we both had never been, had very full tummies, and were ready for much needed rest. 

Goal #13 is checked off the list!

That's all I have for now - until next time, get out there, travel, live long, and prosper!