The town that was

I have a strange attraction to towns that were. I love to read and see the history of a place that once was, but over time has disappeared or died. While skimming through my daily reading of blogs I saw a post about this town that used to be, Pine Point in Canada. The center of the town was a mine, Pine Point Mine. When the mine closed, the town began to suffer. The people living in the town were later told that their town was going to be removed from the map. One of the most interesting things was that the town was not left to wither away, rather it was buried and removed from existence.

Here is a short documentary about the town.

Pine Garland

My life as usual has been extremely busy lately. I had decided that I need some side project arts and crafts time, and had found an idea of making garland with those cinnamon scented pine cones. I switched some things up with my garland and think it turned out pretty nice. He's the skinny on how to do it.

I went to Lowes and bought some scented pine cones, screw eyelet hook things, and a can of brown spray paint. At this point in the project I wasn't sure what I was going to attach my pine cones to to make the garland. The tutorial I had originally seen hooked the pine cones onto a ribbon, by punching holes in the ribbon.

Being my mother's daughter I knew I had a huge collection of ribbon at home and if I decided to go that route I was set.


Next step in the project I took all of the screw eyelet things out of their bags and spray painted them brown. Just a tip to keep in mind spray paint and cold weather do not work together. I cleared some space in my garage and spray painted in there with the help of a little space heater blowing on my workspace.



Once your screws are dry you need to screw them into the tops of your pine cones. By this point in the project it was several days later and I had found a premade jingle bell garland I decided to embellish with my pine cones. To make sure that my pine cones were going to stay on the garland I left a small opening big enough to slide the garland's wire into and then closed the gap with another twist of the screw into the pine cone.


I think the garland turned out pretty nice. And there is a faint smell of cinnamon in the air.

Craft Lake City

Craft Lake City is happening this Saturday, 2pm-9pm on Gallivan Avenue (behind the Wells Fargo Building). If you read my other blog, you have probably already seen a post about this.

If this is news to you here are the deets. I have a small little business selling vinyl chalkboard decals. We were accepted as a vendor for Craft Lake City. We participated last year and loved it, so we submitted our application this year and were accepted again. Woo Hoo!

I highly recommend making time to stop by Craft Lake City on Saturday. There are 130 vendors, live bands and food. The vendors all make their wares and have fabulous talent!

This is a great time to pick up gifts for others or just splurge and buy a ton for yourself. I know I left last year with several fabulous things.

Come check it out, and while you are there stop by and say hi.

Swagger Wagon

This is hilarious! Just try not to get the song stuck in your head.

Pioneer Day

This weekend Jon and I went to dinner with his brother Jason and his girlfriend. After dinner we walked to the car and could hear the fireworks in the distance. We spotted a parking garage and decided to see if we could see the fireworks from there.

We were in luck. We watched the show and it was awesome. No crowds and no traffic to fight with afterwards. Plus there was the fabulous atmosphere of downtown.

Closeout Price

Closeout Price...
Gee, I wonder why. Shouldn't everyone love a flavor called liquid fudge.

Loving...

Dear little beehive shaped beverage jar, I am in love with you. Will you please hitch a ride to my house where we can have BBQs and gatherings in the warm summer sun.

Thanks!

Signage

The other night Jon wanted to get out of the house. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but just that he didn't want to be home. I agreed so we jumped in the car and I started to drive. Granted it was pretty late in the evening to take a random road trip, but I am always game. Jon's brother had mentioned that we should see Coalville, if we hadn't already since we like interesting old buildings. So, that's where I headed.

We got to Coalville, drove down the main street and just kept driving to see where the road would take us. We drove around Echo Reservoir, which was pretty cool at night. Plus it was slightly stormy so the sky was full of cool clouds. I didn't really get any pictures since I was driving.

But we did end up driving into the town of Echo and came across these two spots. We stopped and I took a couple of quick pictures.

We continued to driving around the area, but by this time it was getting super dark and we really didn't know where we were. Thanks to the iphone blue dot, we quickly got our barrings and headed home.

***********************

I took this picture the other day of a building at one of the locations Jon did a photo shoot. I was really drawn to the sign on the front and that the wood was so weathered.

Sun and the Beach

I spent last week in California for work. Although I missed be away from home and had a lot of other things I needed to do to prepare for Austin it was nice to enjoy the warm weather of California.

For the last half of the week I was at the Seascape Resort in Aptos. This was the view from my room. It was awesome! I could hear the water in my room if I opened the patio doors.

Since I was there for work, they had all sorts of events and other things planned for our time. The best part was that we had dinner on the beach for the two nights we were there. The resort even set up bonfires and brought out supplies to make smores.

There is nothing more relaxing to me than watching the sunset and listening to the ocean.

All in all the trip was good. I did come home with a wicked sunburn though. My skin isn't used to the sun, since we haven't had very many warm sunny days yet this year.

A Day in the life of

The other night Jon and I grabbed some dinner at the Desert Edge Pub downtown. Although the sun started to set shortly after we sat down, and the temperature started to drop. It was nice to enjoy the warmer spring weather.

Really?

Go in the store for a few things and it's sprinkling. Come back out to this! Seriously Mother Nature I have two new pairs of sandals I *REALLY* want to wear, but not in the snow.







-- Post From My iPhone

To break bread

I have this odd desire to make artisan bread. One afternoon off from my day job I caught an episode of Studio 5, while working on other projects. On the episode they had a simple recipe for artisan bread. It inspired me.

However, the recipe requires that the bread be cooked in a cast iron pot. I don't have one of these but would love to have one. I haven't required one in the past, so I never purchased it. I am sure if I had one I would find other uses for it, but it would also need to find a home in my cupboards, which don't have much wiggle room.

To make matters worse, Macy's is having a 50% off sale on their Martha Stewart cast iron pots today only. What's a girl to do?

Spring?

(taken this morning)

Dear Spring,

Your official start day is tomorrow. I am worried that you are not going to show up on time. Please be responsible and promptly arrive tomorrow ready to be warmer and provide days full of sunshine. A few days of rain showers are acceptable, but no more snow please.

Thank you,

Me.

Birthday Celebration

Last Sunday was my birthday, so Jon and I spent the weekend celebrating.

Saturday night we started off the festivities by going to Stoneground for dinner. Their food is fabulous and we always end up eating way too much, but it is always worth it. We ended the meal with their fabulous tiramisu.

(pics courtesy of Stoneground's website)

Sunday was a relaxing day. We had brunch and went to go see a matinee of Alice in Wonderland.

Monday we both took the day off. We ran a bunch of errands just spent the day enjoying the great weather. We went to lunch at Tony Caputos.


While there we picked up a few things from their store and got a lesson in fancy cheeses.

Once of the cheeses we picked up was this 4 year gouda. It's great.

We also got this insane cheese called Testun Folglie di Castagno. It's super sharp and we were told that it has to be made just right in order for it to turn out. Also the cheese is wrapped in chestnut leaves, which gives the cheese three layers of flavor. The stuff is insane! A little piece is all that you need.

All in all the weekend was wonderful and a much needed break from the craziness that has been life lately.

I've been published...

well kind of. Maybe not really.

A few months back I had to travel to Memphis for work. While there my co-worker and I wandered around the city during our off time. I took a bunch of pictures and posted them to my flickr account. Well I was contacted by the people at Schmap!! and was told that they liked one of my pictures and wanted my authorization to possibly use the picture. My picture was then put in a pool of other pictures for them to choose from.

I just found out that they decided on my picture and it has been posted on their site. There is even photo credit given to me. Awesome!

The page can be found here.

Papercuts

I can't remember if I have blog about this before, but if I have I will again. I am absolutely in love with the paper-cut art made by Madebyjulene. She makes the most fabulous custom hand cut pieces of art. I would love to hang one on my wall.

Here are a few of her pieces.


And my absolute favorite!


Her Etsy store can be found here and be sure to also check out her website.

Would you like bacon with that?

Although Jon has been vegetarian for forever, he still misses bacon. Unfortunately, he has had to put up with me and some friends teasing him about his forbidden love of bacon.

While at work today I was cruising the eBay daily deals and came across this:

The seller of this item feels that everything "Everything Should Taste Like Bacon". The best part of this quirky item is that it's vegetarian.

Although I am weirded out about the thought of bacon flavored mayonnaise, part of me wants to get this.

Spring Cleaning

I've got the Spring Cleaning bug, only problem is that we've outgrown our current place. Granted we do have clutter and things to get rid of, but we also just don't have room for the things we want to keep. The house just doesn't have the layout or storage that we need. So I ask you, what do I do?

I really would like to put the place up for sale this year and move on up in the world. But here we are at the same problem again, we need to downsize to help in making the house more attractive. We could move stuff to a storage unit, but when we use it on a regular basis that doesn't really work.

I am feeling overwhelmed.

Hobbies and side businesses take up a lot of space...

While I was out...

During my blogging hiatus we took a trip to California. I was stressed from work and we decided that a break between Thanksgiving and Christmas would help with all of that holiday stress.

We flew into Long Beach, picked up our car and headed to Newport where we were going to stay for a few days. We didn't really have anything planned other than to hang out, visit the beach and just relax.

The first day was beautiful! The sun was out. It was much warmer than Utah and we didn't have to go to work.

The day was awesome! Unfortunately, the next morning a storm that was supposed to come the next week started to rain on our parade. It was still sunny and beautiful but the wind had a not so friendly chill to it. We decided we would take a drive down the 101 and see what we could find.

And of course it was that day that the ocean and I got into a fight. There I am standing on the beach admiring the scenery and listening to the ocean, when a big wave suddenly washes ashore and before I can get out of the way I get hit.

It's cool I can survive. We jump in the car and I make Jon run the floor heater to try and dry out my shoes. I pretty much dry off, just have sand in my shoes. Oh well, a souvenir.

We get back in the car and head out to another beach. Since Jon usually takes the pictures, we find this cool spot and I tell him to go out and stand on the rock. It's in the ocean so he has to wait for the tide to go back to get to the rock. I am hoping for this awe inspiring picture where the waves are crashing behind him.

I think he stood there for a good 5 minutes and this was the best shot I could get.

Not what I was imagining.

Jon comes back and then it's my turn to go to the rock. No problem, right? Wrong! Remember how I said the ocean and I got in a fight?

Enter me running to the rock.

Right as I jump up on the rock, what do I see?

That huge wave that is supposed to make the impressive picture, only it's WAY bigger than I thought and I have no where to go.

Ocean - 2 Bekah - 0 and soaked. Now I am completely wet and covered in sand. The ocean just knew how to get me. It waited until I wore the most absorbent hoodie I packed and then got me.

On the last day we went out to Balboa Island, just to see what we could see. We went out on the Pier and were lucky enough to see some dolphins.

And this guy

We went to our last beach and watched the sailboats and the storm come in before we had to head back to the car and drive to the aiport.

The End.

Valentine Surprise

Jon surprised me this year by kidnapping my Vespa from my parent's house and taking it down to Beehive scooters to get it restored. If you are reading this and are shocked to learn that I have a Vespa, I not really surprised. I purchased this lovely back in high school. I was beyond excited to get it. However, I really didn't have the knowledge or means to get it restored to the condition that I wanted.

Over the past years there have been a few moments of inspiration to get the scooter up and running, but then those are quickly killed by frustration of Italian engineering. I guess in an attempt of out of side out of mind, the scooter had been left at my parent's house. My mom had been using it as a place to put her bucket of gardening tools.

Since Jon has been making plans to build his Triumph motorcycle I have been wanting to get my Vespa up and running. Once again that feeling of intimidation had filled my head. Especially when I think of the shoe box full of parts we had previously taken off the bike, that I was sure we didn't know where or how to put back on.

Jon and I would talk about getting the scooter up and running and joke about me putting around on it, but that was as far as it got. We weren't sure were to take it, or even how to get it there since we don't have a truck.

Over the weekend I was helping Jon at the shop and he surprised me by telling me the story of my Valentine Day Surprise, which can be found in his words here. I was beyond shocked and overjoyed. We discussed color schemes, design ideas and what additional parts we may need. When we got home we started putting the list together.

When all of this is done I will have the most fabulous vintage Vespa ever!

Stay tuned for updates, we are hoping to have this project done in a few months.