Buddy....

Buddy aka Evan is getting married today! So pumped for this dude. (I can't believe this picture is from over 2 years ago). Since I've known Evan, he has been transformed by God. It has truly been amazing to see. Kensi and Evan have known each other since elementary school. Their story is an awesome story of redemption. I am so happy for them.
P.S. they will make beautiful babies (if that's what they want to do)

So excited to be hanging with my friends. I'll show you pictures next week ;)

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is beautiful! Clearest lake I've ever seen! We went kayaking and saw all the way to the bottom. It was at least 20 feet deep where we were.

The Lake even makes a Canadian goose look good.

Sawyer has grown up so much since the last time I saw him. He has hair and can say more than three words. What a cute little man.

Here starts the obsession with the geese.

 So cute, right?

Sawry, Addy. We made Sawyer apologize for hurting Addy. 

 The little man loves throwing sand, dirt, whatever.

 and I love taking pictures of him.

She's pretty cute too ;)

Addy really wanted to fly her kite. So we went to the pier.

 Nice face Trent.

Good Ol' Emily

I had a good time in California. I would go back if I could. Next time, I wanna explore and site see a lot.

Northwoods

Until I get my pictures off my camera from my California trip, I thought I would share pictures from my last weekend with Adam. I ended up taking more pictures with my iPhone than my real camera, which makes me wonder why I even bring my camera on trips. I took my last vacay day on Friday so I went to Milwaukee on Thursday evening. I got to have dinner with some of Adam's friends which was good. The next day we did a few errands around M-town and had lunch with a couple more of his friends and then headed north to go see his sister.

Adam's sister, Sarah, worked at a ranch in South Dakota the last two years wrangling horses and doing trail rides. Backstory: their family went on vacation to same ranch 10 years prior and that had started Sarah's love of horses. When it came time for her to get a summer job, she did some research, found the ranch, and got hired to learn more about her passion. Fast forward: She's now working for the summer at a different camp that is closer to home. She got hired because of her experience with horses. She hasn't been up there very long so is still feeling the awkwardness of being somewhere new where lots of people know each other but you don't know anyone (I know how she feels... I felt that way a lot this winter, as I'm sure I don't have to remind you guys who listened to me on the phone or read this blog... ) So Adam and I decided to visit her. She showed us all around the tiny towns of northern Wisconsin.

She isn't even 5 foot but she holds her own 

even up against the draft horses.

We ate at a cute little restaurant known for their numerous choices on bottled soda. It was really fun.

Adam said he would pay for us if we could figure out how much the tip should be. I confidently whispered the number to him and was a dollar off. Adam threatened to make us do the dishes to pay off our dinner when it was apparent we were both struggling with math. (sorry Mom and Aunt Karen) I really don't know what happened. I used to be decent at math but honestly never really have to use it with my job so I'm afraid I'm getting really sloppy with doing math in my head.

The rest of the weekend was filled with mini golf, kayaking, really good ice cream, nature, and lots of laughs. About the nature part, seriously I have not seen that many stars in a long time. It was beautiful. And we got to walk in the horse pasture and all the horses came up to us because they thought Sarah was going to feed them. It was so fun! I've never walked among horses. I've always been on the outside waiting for them to come up to the fence.

There was one horse, Ace, who loves people. He would rest his body against yours and put his head on your shoulder. It was awesome. I didn't want to leave.

 I love animals and so I loved hanging out with the horses, seeing deer, tinie-tiny frogs, or even minnows in the lake. Stick me in a zoo, aquarium, or the wide open spaces and I will be happy as a clam if I see any kind of creature... well except bugs. They are off limits.

Sarah was only off till Saturday night so we headed back to family's house that Adam stays at. We knew we had to get to Milwaukee some time but had nothing specific to get back for so we took our time and stopped at various places along the way. It was so much fun. We went through a national forest and stopped in Green Bay. Neither of us had ever been there so we wanted to see the bay. We found an amusement park instead complete with a $1.00 roller coaster. It was legit and super fun!

Then we found a local spot to eat and even looked at Lambeau Field. It was so spontaneous and fun. I love those kinds of trips!

Sunday was wedding errands and hangouts before I headed back here. It was such a good weekend!

Teaser

Lake Tahoe is beautiful! Here is a picture until I have time to blog properly about last weeks trip and/or get the pictures off my camera.

Pinterest Party

I have been inspired a lot by some furniture redos on Pinterest. I decided my cragslist furniture needed some updating.

 Dark walls and accents of color or white.

Painting the back of a bookcase with a different color.

Redoing a cheap lamp.

My bed frame, I think, was supposed to be cream with gold trim but the gold was actually turning green. It wasn't a good look at all. So I decided to paint it all white. A random guy at Lowes told me not to sand it because it would be too much work. I wish I would have just sanded it because the paint didn't stick as well to the surface as I think it would have. But now I know this for next time.

Also this bookcase was an ugly purply brown. I didn't know how they had gotten that color until I discovered the bookcase had been lavender and then painted with one coat of brown. Makes perfect sense now.

This little guy has a brother and they got spray painted a light blue. It worked very well but the color was a little off from my bedspread so he ended back up in the closet. I want to figure out a new color for him and a new shade to really change his look. He'll get another update soon.

Before and After

In other news, Adam is caddying for his friend at a golf tournament in Indy today. I really hope the friend does well. I am excited to see Adam tonight and part of tomorrow ;)

Adam added his mark on my whiteboard last time he was here. Who is next to add something to my whiteboard. There is lots of room. You just have to travel a billion miles to come and see me and write on the whiteboard ;)

Projects

A frequent question I get is what a graphic designer does all day. Anything that is printed or put on the web has an origin. Whether it's the secretary creating it in Word or the designer using specific design programs, the facts are the same. Someone had to create it. Here is an example of a project our office worked on.

This is what a certain office wanted to make as gifts. Classy chocolate boxes like this.

They got this instead. 

(There was a little miscommunication between the printer and the client)

 So our office got to see if we could help for this time and then they would go to a different printer next time.  Kelly designed candy labels and we hand cut them all out. It was an experience. (Usually for these things, you get them printed somewhere and they have a die cut made. The die cut is the specific shape of the finished project.  It saves the work for someone having to hand cut them all out, makes the end product all the same, and is uniquely shaped.)

 For the box not being ideal, the chocolate looks pretty sweet.

Shopping with Kindra

 I am so blessed to have one of my good friends only an hour and half away. I was worried when I graduated college that I wouldn't be able to keep in contact with my friends or see them. I am very pleased to say that the last year has proved me wrong. I got to live near some of my friends last summer and fall, which was awesome. I have kept in contact with a lot of girlfriends from college, some more than others but I hope to do even better this year. As wedding season starts, I'm excited to see many of my friends tie the knot but even more excited to see my other friends who will be in the audience ;)

Anyways this past Saturday, I got my haircut and then met up with Kindra to do some summer shopping for vacation and all the weddings I have on my calendar.

 The hair dresser decided I needed sexy hair for my casual shopping. Thank-you?

Kindra and I met in the middle so neither of us had to travel the full way which was nice but also hard because we didn't really have anywhere to go when we were tired of shopping. Thankfully Target has super comfy lawn furniture. We talked there for over 45 minutes haha

So would people take me serious if I wore these? I think so.

 I got a new life bag (a bag I can fit anything I want into it). It's a lot more grown-up than my canvas paisley bag that apparently everyone hated but me. Eh... oh well haha