I'm back again!

...with an AWESOME tan and lots of fun memories. Here are a few of my favorite photos from my 11 day trip to Utah (7 days on the river, 1 day at the lake). More commentary to come, I just wanted to get these up!

Crew of kids - loved them!

View from Moonshiner's cabin

the cabin

Jack Creek

Gold Hole (night of the killer mosquitos)

School section photo of Izzy and I (and Bryce's legs)

ladies G&T-ing it up at Steinaker

Livin' the Utah dream!

I'm back!

...with no photos of our new house, unfortunately! This past week has been full of red bull & coffee, take out food, lots of brown boxes, and everything MOVING related! I'm happy to report we're fully moved in and STOKED on our new diggs. Can't wait for you all to visit!

And, in true Shannon fashion, I'm heading out of town (...just as soon as I've moved in, I'm gone!) I'm teaching a junior whitewater school on the Green River in Utah. I can't wait! I haven't been to Utah in 3 years, so I'm really looking forward to floating Desolation Canyon.

Tata for now, friends. I promise to return with TONS of pics, both from the house and of my trip. Happy Summer!

It's official: We're moving!

Yay! After a last minute effort that required running-around-like-a-chicken-with-my-head-cut-off, the house is ours! Guess what we're up to this weekend??

Wedding inspiration

It's too bad I already got married...because I would have totally used this wedding as serious inspiration!



from d*s

Project complete!

Speaking of bridal showers...some of you may remember that my mom, step-mom, and I held a bridal shower for my soon-to-be-sister-in-law Dana. One of the activities that we did was have everyone write down "words of wisdom" for Dana on business-card sized notecards. I took all of these treasures and made them to a really cute accordion book. Take a look!







The accordion book and cards were from papersource, while I got all of the paper from Michaels. I'm very proud of my cute book and I hope you all enjoy seeing the final product!

Recovering from my Weekend High

It's Monday....Mondays are always really hard for me (for everyone I'm assuming!), but this Monday has been especially hard because I had an EPIC weekend. We 1)signed papers on our new house and 2)met Tom Petty! Friggin' amazing...words can't describe the past few days. While I won't bore you with all of the details, I do want to share a few things...

1) Music (live music) is an extremely spiritual thing for me. Though I'm not a religious (or really spiritual) person, there's just something about live music that hits me hard, deep down to my bones! I have rarely had as much adrenaline going through my veins than I did on Saturday night at the show (other than my wedding, of course!) I had the same experience during my 4 days at Bonnaroo in the summer of '05 as well...


2)Tom Petty still rocks the house! I don't like going to concerts in big venues, but when you have great seats you can't really complain. He played for a full 2 hours and ended with "American Girl." One of my favorite classics. He even played some of his new stuff and Paul and I both really liked it.


3)Don't lose your All Access Pass! Instead of getting backstage "necklaces", we got "Local Crew stickers". Great because we had all access, but bad because mine came off immediately and I almost started crying! Luckily it was just stuck on my purse. Whew, that was close!


4)Going backstage is all it's cracked up to be. Now, I was thinking we were going to be surrounded by groupies, photographers, and people who won backstage passes. This wasn't the case at all, in fact I may have become one of the groupies I made fun of. We were able to chill in the hospitality suite along with the band, and we even were introduced to Tom Petty himself. He was playing his guitar, cigarette in mouth, smiling from ear to ear. The image is forever in my head.


5)I want to be a rockstar.

Score!

I made a major score today at Crossroads: A brand new Banana Republic clutch and a cute polka dot summer skirt! I go there all of the time (it's right across the street from my work) and it's always hit or miss for me. I thought I'd go in today (looking for a Tom Petty concert outfit) and hit the jackpot. Not sure if I'll wear the skirt, but I'll bring the clutch for sure....

Bridal shower fun

My dear friend and co-worker Heather is getting married in August, and I was in charge of putting together her "at-work" bridal shower. We celebrate these things here at NWP (which is awesome), and I won't lie - I want my parties to be the best decorated. Is that bad?

Anyway I used the garland I made for Dana's shower as my inspiration....



banner with Martha tissue poms

Welcome!

The crew (and my garland!)

The bride - and the "love" button I made her (it's better than a tiara, right??)

Kitchen inspiration

I want my kitchen to look like this!

from Design Sponge

P.S. it's almost summer, and that means it's time to change my template. I haven't found anything I'm totally in love with, but these fun owls will do for now...

Tonight for Dinner

Asparagus, cheese, and bread? Count me in!

shaved asparagus pizza by smittenkitchen

I'll let you know how it turns out....

Snazzy switch plates

How cute are these?
Martha Stewart custom switch plates

I'm totally going to make these for our new house! They seem like a quick and easy project that will look great in any room

Etsy love....

It's a dreary Tuesday afternoon, and I'm dreaming of all things Etsy (vintage):

Vintage Cast Iron Fan by seedwingwonder

Vintage Picture Frames by SavvyLovesChic

Small Skeleton keys by SteampunkSupply

Vintage casserole dish by SleepyOwlVintage

Makerfaire 2010

I was so happy to finally attend Makerfaire 2010! I've know about Makerfaire for a while, but I always had conflicts on the weekend it was held. Anyway, it totally lived up to my expectations (and more!) Paul was even a fan - and I didn't even have to drag him there. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:


Weird old carnival-carriage


My treasures from the day, including a vintage stopwatch necklace, beet seeds, earrings, patterned japanese masking tape, and lots of inspirational vendor cards


Block printed tea towel - love it!


my beautiful new necklace


I couldn't resist the cut-outs


Paul couldn't either, especially if Big Foot is involved

A piece of Portland

Here are a few fun photos from my trip to Portland last month. I got to hang out with my favorite family, the Chaps. Our first stop was the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden . Little M had an awesome time feeding the ducks and chasing the geese. At one point we were surrounded by about 15 Canadian Geese! It was pretty scary because they were honking really loudly, but Nate had a great time chasing them off.





Next stop was Uwajimaya, the ultimate in Asian food, drinks, and gifts! I got myself a few little treats: A new bento box, Yan Yan, some candies in a tin, and grapefruit sours. They had an awesome collection of crafts books and mags, but they were all in Japanese :(



As you may remember, I was in Portland also attending NWP's Urban Sites Conference. One of the activities I participated in was writing about the Japanese Internment in the Pacific Northwest, and we visited a museum and waterfront park in Portland dedicated to this issue. Here's my favorite quote, written on a rock in the park:

"Sure I go to school. Same as you. I'm an American."

I had such a great time visiting my friends!

Bed Time

The countdown is on - we're moving into our new house in 3 weeks!! (barring any unforeseen circumstances, that is!) We're dedicating this weekend to packing, since we'll be camping the following weekend. All of this excitement is getting me thinking about...REDECORATING! I scored a few awesome things at the Groveland Flea Market this weekend (photos to come soon), but I'm currently swooning over DwellStudio's Target bedding collection. I'm sure it's been around for a while, but I haven't been in the market for new linens. Here are a few I'm considering:

Lucky Me

I am SO lucky to have received so many amazing birthday gifts from my friends and family. I received 2 great books that will hopefully inspire me to craft more (and possibly sell my wares?) including Handmade Marketplace and The Homemade Home. Lo and behold, I'm found another book that I want! It's called Whip Up Mini Quilts (and would be perfect for my ADD-like crafting habit). I can think of many people (mostly babies) that I could make these mini-quilts for. Maybe even Jazzy and Uintah?