Wednesday, June 23, 2010

in the garden

Courtney, Heather, and I had a fun photo shoot in the Sunken Gardens in Lincoln when they came to visit me earlier this week. They are planning on putting them in their room next semester in the AOII house. Here are some of my favorites:






Thursday, June 17, 2010

fantastic fabric


Last week Courtney and I went to Material Girl in Grand Island. We both needed cute fabric for projects. My plan is to recover some pillows for my room in the apartment this fall. Now if you know how I shop this will be no surprise to you...I went through the entire store three times before I even picked up one bolt of fabric. Eventually I picked up a few more and put some back, but I made my final cut...and here they are:
I also have some scraps from other projects I've done that will work really well with these!

strawberry girl


This is the title of my favorite book growing up. It was on a reading list for school...and one of the best books I've ever read!
But the real reason for this post is that I got in the family's garden today and picked a bucket full of strawberries with my dad...yum! This wasn't the first pick and the berries are getting smaller, but they still look delicious :)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

waterlogged weekend day 3

Today was the day I was supposed to head home...
Remember how I left my car at Grandma and Grandpa Mattox's farm house? Well it was both a good and bad thing. My car would not have made it through all that water, but now the bridge which lay between the ranch and their house was out. To make a long story short...we had to take the long way! A trip that would normally take about fifty minutes took us three and a half hours that day :( Once I got to my car, Jake had the three and a half hours back to the ranch, and I was headed home and then to Lincoln...another three and a half hours for me too!
It wasn't what we expected, but it was still fun...and most certainly a memorable weekend!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

waterlogged weekend day 2

Back at the Ranch...
We had made plans that morning to go to Ainsworth. The trip up there seemed like it took forever...only a few spots with water over the road. We met one of my future roomies and good friend Bailey for lunch at Big John's dinner. It was really good :) Apparently there are lots of things that they serve there but aren't on the menu...you just have the ask. Bailey heard this from some of the locals and tried it. Whatever is was looked really good! We had a good time catching up!
Then is was off to the grocery store...
We started to make our way back to the ranch but checked out some of the State Rec Areas along the way. That took up quite a bit of our afternoon. We found some really cute spots to camp and hopefully good fishing. Any running water we came across was ragin' like a river...although on any normal day it wouldn't be much more than a trickle. Jake and I both agreed that we made the right choice by NOT camping that weekend.
It was really damp that afternoon and misting on and off. We decided to take the opportunity to ride the horses. Going into this we knew this would be "an adventure." You see we have never actually rode these two horses simultaneously...nor has Jake ridden Clyde successfully for a while (he always manages to get bucked off).
The ponies were surprisingly happy to see me (Jake has been spoiling them with treats) and they came right up to me. They stood unusually still as we saddled them up, then it was time to ride :)
The horses were kinda spooky and excited...a combination neither Jake or I was really excited about. Plus none of us were terribly familiar with the lay of the land. Abby was giving me a hard time and as I was messing with her Jake mounted Clyde. As I lifted myself up into the saddle and swung my leg over Abby took off unexpectedly. I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS! I tried to sit deep and calm her down, but I did not have a good grip of the reins or seat in the saddle. The next thing I know I'm laying on the ground and Abby, Jake, and Clyde are standing over me.
I just wanted to lay there for a bit. I wasn't hurt...just my pride. But Jake made me get up...and I got right back in the saddle. We rode around in the damp meadow for awhile, but the weather was moving in. Being wet I got cold and it was time to head in.
By this point it was evening and time to eat. After supper we watching some baseball in the basement, observed some more wildlife in the backyard and went to bed early! We knew the next day would be a long one...trying to get me home after all this rain. We had already heard about a bunch of road and bridge closings...but we weren't going to worry about that until tomorrow.

Monday, June 14, 2010

waterlogged weekend day 1

As some of you might already know, Jake has a summer job on a ranch in the Sandhills of Nebraska this summer. My plan this past weekend was to venture up there for a camping trip, but mother nature had plans of her own.
It had already rained quiet a bit before Friday and the roads being sand, Jake decided he would meet me at my grandparents house in Sargent. From there we would go to the ranch in his pickup.
The highway didn't seem too bad, but when we turned on to the seven mile sand road that leads to the ranch house it became apparent that they had received a lot of moisture. You could see where that water had ran down the road making ridges in the sand. The meadows were full of water...and in a couple places this water was standing across the road. Jake's pickup made it through a-okay (I was so glad that he decided to pick me up...I would not have been so lucky to make it across)
I had been to the ranch once before very briefly...nothing seemed too out of place except the huge puddles of water EVERYWHERE.
On the way up Jake had told me that he hadn't made it to his steers in the pasture because of the rain the day before. He said that the rain had created a stream that had washed the road out and wound its way through the pasture, making it impassable. He knew of another way to get to the opposite side of the pasture and wanted to check it out. I agreed...I didn't realize that this meant a 40 mile ride on a four-wheeler...as we left I said to Jake, "This is going to be an adventure." (that became our motto for the weekend)
So here we go flying down this curvy road watching for water and dodging turtles. We didn't come across anything Jake worried about too much until water completed covered a good chunk of the road. He got off and looked at it and walked out on a little bit of it. He wasn't too thrilled about driving across it...but at this point I was invested! So I walked through it all in my mud boots to show Jake where the high spots were to drive through it. We make it piece of cake :) We passed a lot of beautiful country and only a few more spots of water that I had to walk through. We finally made it to the pasture and checked on the steers who could have cared less that we had come all that way to see them. Jake wanted me to see the washout, so we drove to the other side of the pasture. It was a doozy! The washout came up at least to Jake's hips and was as wide across as he is tall. There was no getting around that! He wasn't exaggerating!
We made it back to the ranch just as it was getting dark. I was wind blown and exhausted!
It rained that night...

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

cherry red

A dresser that we have had for ages got a face lift today...AND...I got to cross something off my list :) This coming fall I will be moving into my first apartment with two of the most AMAZING girls! I planned on using this dresser, but it needed some spicing up before it made an appearance in my new room. I am going for an aqua and red color scheme in my bedroom...so the previously white dresser is now an vibrant cherry red. My sister Courtney had been using it prior to its new coat of paint and purchased some adorable polka dot drawer pulls (which look even better now that the dresser is red) I'm very excited to see the finished product. It will make a huge impact in my room for just a few bucks!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

alex's ambitions

Summer is well underway...and that means I have my fair share of "to do" lists sitting around. Some of them are things I will get to in a day, but others are the things I would like to see accomplished by the end of the summer. For a little bit of accountability, I thought I would share my ambitious list with you...hopefully motivating myself to get things done.
I love that feeling you get when you cross something off a list...in fact, sometimes I write lists just so I can cross things off. I guess it gives me sense of accomplishment. And it keeps me on track :)
So...here it is:

alex's ambitions:
clothing
  • sheer shirts (2)
  • long wool coat
  • wide band elastic skirts
  • Minnie mouse Halloween costume
  • flamingo pink dress
home decor
  • paint dresser
  • pillow covers
  • pillow case
  • cross stitch picture
  • denim hot pads
accessories
  • tote bag
  • clutch
  • hair bows
  • headbands
  • flowers
quilting
  • crazy 9 patch
  • jake's cowboy
  • rag time

That's my list as of yet. I'm sure things will get crossed out and things added. Most of the list is sewing projects, but I added a little variety. Stay tuned!