DE-STRESS-IFYING 2014

7:00 AM. Fresh snow. Fog. -15 degrees. Power outage. School closures. 

Back in December, I stood at my kitchen window and watched the sun rise over this sparkling fog. 

It was so lovely and dreamlike I felt compelled to take exactly thirty-three pictures of the scenery. As you will probably get bored after ten, I narrowed it down. And since I don't have anything interesting to say about them except for variances of:

'Holy cow, I love our holy flippin' incredibly beautiful view..." 

I will instead babble about my thoughts for the new year.

2014 has begun on a solemn note: pressure from unexpected sources, stress, disappointment, discouragement, post-vacation blues, hormones, and stewed together with a little selfish feelin'-sorry-for-myself. 

Blah, blah, blah, right?

I'm hoping to rise out of this funk soon. In the meantime, setting new goals does help. They provide new direction and focus. And my focus for the year is: de-stress-ifying. 

My personality tends to be...intense. I feel things deeply and have a ridiculous need to be perfect. I make things happen when I set my mind to it, and things usually work out for me. But when they don't...especially after exerting all my energy to make it so...I feel like a big, fat failure in all areas of my life. 

I'm telling you, the stress will kill me if I don't get a handle on it.

(Sheesh, I'm already weary of this topic. Let's just cut to the chase!)

temple view

It negatively impacts my health in many ways, so this is what I'm going to do about it...

1. Exercise. 

With an emphasis on relaxation and meditation...om-ing and namaste-ing included, if necessary. (Though I'm still trying to understand what Denise Austen means by: "breathe out through your belly button.") 

I bought some yoga tapes at a thrift store, and I found that the local library has a nice collection. Losing weight it not the goal here. I just need to be healthier mentally so I can be healthier physically. I am making it a huge priority. 

2. Refrain from Gossip.

Being at peace with others will help my stress level. Speaking negatively of them will only compound any anger, annoyance, or frustration. There's no reason to spread it around and cause the problem to grow; just let it go.

3. Watch my Tone of Voice.

It's more than just not yelling at Andrew for tracking mud on my freshly mopped floor...ahem. It's also not letting annoyance leak out when the changing room attendant forgets about me trying on new bras in stall number 3, and unlocks the door to a wide-eyed line of embarrassed customers. She obviously didn't mean to, so just chill out and laugh it off. 

And just because this is the fifteenth time since recess that I've asked Bobby Jo not to lean back in his chair, doesn't mean I have to sound like an ogre. Breathe in...breathe out...stay calm and relaxed. Next time, just very calmly, kindly, even lovingly...take that darn chair away altogether.

4. Remember Family & Friends

Those I love the most are (usually, anyway!) some of my greatest stress relievers. I admire them, and I rejoice in their successes.We have fun together. As such, they deserve more attention. I need to be better at keeping in touch, remembering birthdays, and inviting old friends over. As the majority of our family lives far away, I see a lot of letter writing in my future. 

5. Stop Being a Socially Awkward Weirdo

Think of clever, hilarious, pertinent things to say in all situations. Be charming and confident. Laugh infectiously. Most importantly, learn how to prevent my face from turning scarlet every time I'm put on the spot or addressed unexpectedly.

Well, never mind. One shouldn't take on too much at one time, now should she? Maybe next year.

VALENTINE HOME DECOR TOUR {2013}

Here's to posting my holiday ideas BEFORE the actual holiday! I'm so proud of me.

I have never been a fan of the tacky, commercial-looking Valentine decorations overpowered with kissy lips, naked angels, red foil, and pink, pink, pink! (Bah, humbug, right?) Well, I took an unconventional wintry woods approach instead. Most of the Valentine touches are subtle. 

I reused the felt garland I made for Christmas (FYI: Easy as pie to make. I ordered the 2CM wool felt balls from an etsy shop and then strung them with needle and string. You can make your own felt balls by following tutorials like this one.) 

Then I made a doily garland by sandwiching the two halves of a folded doily on either side of string. It is held together with a little white glue. This frilled things up enough to look Valentine-y without overdoing it. 

Andrew helped me cut a dead Aspen tree into several skinny stumps while we were out chopping a Christmas tree. I knew I wanted to use them for some kind of display. I got the idea to make them work for February by adding the carved letters. Another subtle touch.

I kept the homemade wreath I used in December, because it continued the woodsy feel. 

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I love this print. Not only is it pretty and matches my felt garland, but it sums up my feelings for Andrew. Sometimes I feel so boring and serious. Andrew is the funny, lighthearted, playful one...the source of  the color in my life. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the entire page to fit in the frame I had on hand. So I folded the bottom line out...hoping it still made sense. Good enough. 

Andrew thinks the shelves look like Easter...which works for me. That just means I can leave this up for several months...maybe with just a different framed print. Less work!

As for the mantel in the great room, I was never fully satisfied with how this turned out, but I wanted to show off my homemade garland. 

The framed print can be snagged for free at sissyprint.blogspot.com. I made a tiny 8x10 look a little more imposing in a large framed mat. 

I received this Hyacinth for Christmas from grandma.  It bloomed just in time to decorate for love month. Doesn't it look unreal? Hopefully, it sticks around a little longer. 

I made the bunting over a few evenings sitting in front of Netflix. My inspiration came from here. I cut pages out of a vintage, thrift store book with a razor blade--sinful, I know. Then I used a template printed from the Internet to cut out hearts from fabric scraps. 

I tried double stick tape with no success. Glue left ugly splotches behind the fabric. So I sewed the things on with a needle and thread and handful of mismatched buttons. 

They looked a bit plain...so I added a washi tape touch across the top. 

Then I strung all the flags together with needle and string. Seriously, easy. 

Have a happy Valentine's Day, folks. 

Feeling the Love,

Rachel

OUR CHRISTMAS TREE 2012

We drove to Green Canyon, Idaho, to get our tree this year. That area has the spruce trees we prefer. 

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of us finding, cutting, or dragging the Christmas tree to the truck. Instead, I have fifty-seven pictures of Moose playing in the snow. 

It was his first time seeing any significant accumulation and he kind of freaked out about it. 

Let me fully impress upon you the point that Moose LOVES the snow. 

Dad, look! Snow! Everywhere! I love it! I must run! I must prance! I must feel the wind through my ears!

Mom! Look at me! I love you! And I love the whole world! Pet me! Never mind! I must run speedily through this glorious snow!

So, yeah. His utter joy was highly entertaining.

And that's why our Christmas tree post is all about our very large puppy.

And his beautiful golden eyes. 

But anyway. Back at the ranch...with Moose exhausted in his backyard kennel, we dragged in our thirteen footer and set her up. We felt the need to take advantage of our new vaulted ceilings. 

Good thing for the ginormous ladder, is all I have to say. 

Fully decorated with "The Grinch" playing in the background and 600 drops of sap waiting to be scrubbed off the wood floors. Becca kept saying it looked like a Dr. Seuss tree. I'm cool with that. I think.

Glowing in the dark. It was at this point that I decided to forego the white ribbon next year. It just looked like I toilet papered my Christmas tree.

At the after Christmas sales, I searched for a birch wood-looking ribbon I had seen, but ended up instead with a pale blue burlap ribbon for next year. Pale blue, pale green, and white is the color scheme I have been trying to gather and pull off for years. But my love for red keeps sneaking in and stealing the show. 

A full tour of my Christmas decorations will be coming soon! Until then, here are a few inspirational photos I found to help me with my new color theme next year...

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MARCHING ON

Sup? 

My current free time is spent as a regular house paintin' gangsta. I was horrified recently to find my first patch of gray hairs as I was getting ready for work. Seriously? Already?!

Then I noticed those gray hairs of mine looked suspiciously similar to Sherwin William's pussywillow gray... 

.

Hence the bandanna. No gray hairs for me, thank you.

Hello handsome husband of mine. 

Andrew's boss took him snowboarding under sunny skies. I bet you can't find where the gap was between his goggles and his beanie. I made fun of the resulting sunburn all week. And it was a lot brighter in person.




Andrew returned from the mountain with a fever and chills. He was out of commission for several days afterward. 

My hard workin' man can't stand being home all day alone doing nothing. I got home on day 2 to find he had found packed away Easter accessories and lined them up in the living room. After questioning him, he responded simply: 

"I decorated."

We sat in awkward silence for a moment before he said with utter sincerity: 

"Rachel, if I have to stay home for another day, I'll die." 

He was so serious, I had to laugh.




I feel kind of bad for Winter this year. All efforts to really get going just...fell flat.  I never even had a chance to get sick and tired of snow and wind and below freezing temperatures. Instead, it felt like one really long spring. 

Global warming is the bomb.

My excitement for spring may have been dampened, but nothing can ruin the joy of longer days with  more hours of sunlight. When the alarm goes off, it doesn't feel like I'm getting up in the middle of night, no headlights are needed to get to work, and I actually have some day left when I get home in the evening. Glory Alleluia! 

FOG

Driving around Saturday morning, I couldn't resist pulling over to capture the patchy, wintery landscape shrouded in fog. 

These pictures feel so much like home.