Craft Show season has begun

it is officially here!  and I can't tell you how happy it is making me :)  I had so much anticipation in the weeks leading up to our big opener at the Arts Picnic, and it is such a good feeling to be back showing the public what we love to do.  We could not have had a better First show of the season, and for that I am so thankful to our family, friends, and fans that came out to support us!  We love Greeley and all the amazing creatives and art fans that dwell there!!

Jared did throwing demos on Saturday - he didn't splash too many on-lookers!  And he had a bunch of students come out to see him, which was very cute :)  We are getting REAL in the studio busting out some more pieces for Art in the Park @ loveland in just a week n a half!!  I don't think either one of us expecting to sell some of our showcase items the first show, I love being Surprised :)  

Jared has been busy taking care of a lot of stuff around the house.. we had a cracked spigot in the backyard that was leaking water.  He did a full replacement on it all by himself!!  I was so proud of his plumbing abilities and DIY skills - after about 6 trips to the hardware store :) He also had to change a spare tire on my car that went flat on sunday, of course.  When we needed my car to load up after the show.  Crazy how craft shows always seems to come with car problems for us.  last year it was my window being blown out on the highway... just crazy i tell ya.  

I also had a really good b-day a couple weeks ago :) 

  IT seemed like a week long birthday with celebrating with my family, getting spoiled by jared, and going to denver to enjoy lynn's birhtday treat... She got us tickets to see comedian Aziz Ansari!!  He is one of mine and jared's favs.  It was sad to find out he rescheduled his show - it was so close to the Aroura theater shooting that he said it didn't seem right to come make jokes - so true.  We had a great time anyway and are still super excited to see him in a couple weeks!! 

My yoga challenge was finished on tuesday, and sadly I didn't reach 30 classes.  I had stuff stack up at the end of the month and I ended up being 4 classes short, Bummer!  as much as I wanted to accomplish it, I still feel pretty stoked about how many classes I was able to do.  I did more yoga this month than I have ever done period, and it is super exciting to see how much my practice and body have changed.  more than anything I think this challenge has motivated me to keep going as much as possible.  I have so much enthusiasm for class and the process is keeping me wanting more!  

this was my calendar @ the half way point.  Also an exciting part of the challenge was getting stickers for each class.  I love Stickers!! haha I think I might keep doing it, just stickering my planner for every time I go.  Stickers just make a person happy, doesn't matter how old you are I say :) 

happy August all!!

hugs & love

xoxo

summertime

crazy how the days go by so fast.  I blinked my eyes and june was over.  

As of July 1st I took on a Yoga challenge that my instructor friend Maggie created.  The Challenge is; 30 classes in the month of July (which has 31 days!!  sneaky and brilliant to give us a day off lol)  As much as I love Bikram's yoga, I only practice 1-2 times per week.  This is the most yoga I have ever done in my life but I so excited for the progress and results of such an intense challenge.  It is also a lot of fun to be taking classes with all of the girls from work!  there are 5 others taking the challenge too and it makes class really fun, and motivates me to go.  

One Quote that has stuck with me from bikram's dialogue is "If anyone steals your happiness, you are the loser.  If you let anyone make you sad or angry, you are the loser."  It is a wonderful reminder in the back of my mind to stay positive.  And I love that yoga has that power to change your mind & body & life.  Even though summer is rushing by I am holding on to memories and the things that are making me happy... and would really love to share a glimpses of the past month!  and what is making me smile :) 

Hanging out with this skateboarding, pokemon collecting, tank top wearing boy.  He is enjoying time off to its fullest and I love that he makes no rules for summer.  

Fresh eats - blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and melons.  OH YES

Seeing much anticipated movies... escaping the summer heat for matinee shows, put your feet up and enjoy.  

sweet packages that make me feel so loved and special.  and jared's new found love for checking the mail - he has been a card collector through e-bay.  our postal love is just about equal i would say. 

(and I now have my own scale for printing shipping labels at home.. it will be a huge money saver, yey!)

daytrips and adventures to new places, finding some of the best pizza i've ever had in my life:

holidays with friends and family, makes me really thankful.

 My patient handyman, taking care of me and our house.. and all of my little projects :) 

Fresh pots and Jared's new collection of GLAZED stuff!!

SO ready for arts picnic.  

Skies that aren't filled with smoke coulds and ash.  (colorado's wildfires have been relentless and devastating especially in this summer heat.)  

I have to so much to be happy for and for that I am thankful.  

free your heart from hatred.

free your mind from worries.

live simply.

give more.

expect less.

laugh often.

xoxo

hugs and love

father's day shoutout

I know this is technically the day after Father's day... but I had to Give a shoutout to 2 of the raddest Dads I know.  I feel so lucky to have amazing men in my life and appreciate their unconditional love and support, Love you!!

and Happy Father's Day!

I also wanted to share a proud moment last weekend, I was able to go down to Co. Springs for an anniversary lunch - My dad has been with the Boeing company for 25 years and we were all able to get together and celebrate the occasion.  SO proud of the hard working man he is and all he has done for our family!  It is crazy to think he has been working for his company longer than I have been alive, awesome. 

Last night was the reception for an art show at the High Plains Library in Greeley where I got 3 pieces in!  They had 4 jurrors that judged the artwork and 2 of them happened to be Mike lemke & his wife Gaylin!  (he was my professor in college!) It was great getting to see them at the gala and even more awesome I won first in 3-D category (with my teaset) and got a $100 prize, WooHoo!! 

Pretty excited to have got my work in, let alone get awarded!!  sweet.  

As promised here is a glimpse of some of my new beauties coming out of the kiln.  I love this group with the deep blue color... It all started with the doily teapot and I have been building around it since :)  It reminds me a lot of Dutch pottery... If only i was using porcelain!!  

Thanks for letting me share and boast about all the awesomeness in life :)

hugs & love

xoxo

rockies celebration & a studio peek!

wow, can you believe it's june already?! june!!  I know, summer is officially here :D  

I have been training and working on my new Kenny's role the past 2 weeks.  "training?" you ask... why yes, Manager training!!  My boss gave me the promotion last year but didn't have the shifts to give me with our other full time managers.  some vacations overlapped and they finally made it official!  It almost felt like manager boot camp haha I went from a full week of training to my first week of managing the restaurant on my own.  I really enjoy the new responsibilities and wearing my boss pants... turns out people listen to me when I tell them what to do :)  Now that everyone is home from vacationing I am back to my regular schedule and will probably have a managing shift once a week.  Which is a good thing.  I was getting spoiled and chubby eating my free manager meal each shift hah!  and I have also been missing bartending ... glad this week is back to "normal"!

we got to celebrate this weekend with our whole group of friends, It was Scott's b-day and everyone went to a Rockies game on saturday!  

only the first 5 innings were rainy!  and it was a great game!  even though we lost :(  

Jared has been busy in the yard, he has part of it sectioned and fenced off for grass growing!  The seed is laid and he has been nursing it well.  the side that got the special grass treatment last year came in amazing and thick as ever this year.  Exciting to see the yard come together!!  

We are busy busy in the studio preparing for arts picnic less than 2 months away!  yey!!  I love that the picnic is our first show of the season this year :)  our wheel pretty much looks like this everyday of the week:

and I am trying to keep up with etsy, special orders, annnd craft show inventory.  I will have lots to share once pieces start getting glaze fired!!  

hugs and love

xoxo

memorial day weekend

This past weekend was so much fun!!!  I had Sunday and Monday off and we got to spend time down in Arvada with the butler fam and Jared's Grandparents who were in town from SD.  

Ann and Lynn had been planning to do the boulder boulder this year and invited me along!  to prepare on Sunday we ate lots of amazing food, including a carbo loaded baked mac and cheese before the race!!  and many desserts... grandpa Dick brought an old malt maker he found at an estate sale for Rusty.  It was in beautiful vintage condition and worked like a dream :)  

We also had sensational angle food dessert and lemon pie... SO Good!

 

Us girls were up bright and early to get to the Boulder Boulder!!  We drove to an RTD station in broomfield and rode the bus to boulder - It was a brilliant plan by lynn who knew traffic would be mad.  This was year 9 for her doing the boulder boulder!!  She is pretty much a seasoned pro ;)  

 

 We found our way around the start and had plenty of time to chill and meet up with people from lynn's work before our heat went.  It was fun to see SO many people and the crazy outfits and costumes they decide to wear!!  We all wore our awesome race shirts and collected ideas for coordinating outfits next year :) 

cickfil-a was a sponsor, yea!  they had a ton of cows there, even kid cows!!

 The race was just amazing!  There were so many people and tons of fun things along the way.  And we crossed the finish line arm in arm!!  pretty awesome experience for my fist time :)

the stadium was packed at the end of all the heats!  Shanda and chad did the race too, and I got see her in the stadium after :)  They also put on a memorial day tribute after the elite runners finished the race.  this is pretty embarassing to admit but I think I was more sore than anyone else.  Ann and lynn are awesome!!!  I hope I am in as good of shape when I turn 70!  seriously!!  I should probably to a little more prep next year, other than carbo loading hah

The boys spent the morning in black hawk and we all met up for lunch at the Yardhouse :)  Also got to do a little shopping at the brass armadillo antique mall - They have some pretty cool old treasures!  but after walking 10km I was ready to give my feet a rest lol

So happy we got to spend time with everyone and had so much fun doing the boulder boulder!!  I can see why it is one of the highest rated races in the US :)  already excited for next year haha

hugs and love

xoxo

mother's day

So happy I was able to go down and visit my moma close to mother's day!!  We did an early saturday lunch celebration @ Maggiano's and it was wonderful.  So thankful for ALL the wonderful women in my life!! 

It was also fun to see a bunch of mother's being treated out today - Kenny's was full of love and celebration... and an incredible buffet!!  It was a good busy shift and I came home to a sweet hubby that cleaned the kitchen and built a cabinet for our laundry room!  I didn't think I would get so excited over furniture.  I mean, I was excited when about our new bed.  but this cabinet is gorgeous!!  And it is going to make our laundry room so complete!!! Am I a huge dork or do other people think it is fun to start owning pieces of furniture?

  Also, Instagram is my new favorite smart phone app.  It used to be solely for iphone peeps, but in the last month they came out with a version for droid!!  It has been my new favorite way to capture pictures and document the little stuff :)  also posts right to facebook, which is nice for people like me that don't get on and update all the time!  I am a huge fan of instagram... like my rhyme?! 

you also may have noticed.... my hair is gone!  I cut off 10 inches this week and donated to wigs for kids!!  feels amazing to know a little one will have the chance to have hair :)  and I think it was time to change my do - summer is the perfect season to go short!!  

Jared Has one full week left of school!!!  We are so ready for summer.  I told him how excited I was for summer and he asked "why?"  I said "cuz I get to see you all the time!"  he said "yea, We have a lot of fun during summer don't we?" lol... I may not be getting out of school, but I am ready for summer and all that comes with it!!   longer days, and late nights! seeing jared during the days before I go to work at night, planning a couple of vacations!! being outside, working together in the studio, and fun times!  Only thing I think Jared wishes would have happened for his last week is the Nuggets beating the Lakers... that would have meant there would be Nugs games through the end of his year.  They made it pretty darn close!  Sad to see them loose that game 7.  Looks like we are rooting for miami heat now :)

I'm off to bed, Hugs & Love

XOXO