wonderful words

 

Happy Wednesday everyone! Half way to the weekend.

hurricane sandy {checking out the storm}

I had yesterday off. School was closed because of Hurricane Sandy. And Dan left work early because of the storm. So of course, what would we decide to do? Go out in the storm of course.

We decided to head down to the beach to check out the waves and the wind. The wind was so so so strong. I don’t think I have ever been in wind that strong. I think at one point I was actually leaning into the wind and still standing.

We weren’t the only crazy ones to brave the storm….

We were ready for the weather. At least I was with my huge yellow rainboots.

We left Hampton Beach and went down the street a little to the beach we usually go to. We couldn’t even make it down the steps because of all of the sea foam and how high the water was.

And the wind was blowing so hard we were getting attacked by sea foam blowing all over the place.

The storm wasn’t really that bad here. Just some rain and a lot of wind. We didn’t lose power but I know there are a lot of people who did. I hope everyone is staying safe and gets their power back soon.

Does anyone else go out in the storm to check out the beach or the area?

 

do it yourself: crayon drip art pumpkin

I realize I haven’t blogged much in the past week or so. I tried to and then things came up. And then our internet wasn’t working well. And so on…

So here I am, ready to blog about my pumpkin. Dan and I both talked about getting pumpkins to carve. Then the day when we were actually going to go get pumpkins, neither of us felt like carving a pumpkin. So I decided to buy a white pumpkin so I could try something that I had seen. This awesome crayon drip art pumpkin by Alexa on The Swell Life that I found through Pinterest.

I thought it would be really fun and something different to try.

Dan and I went to Apple Crest Farms last weekend and I found a perfect little white pumpkin. We also picked up some apple cider and some delicious apple cider donuts…that were pretty much gone by the time we got home….Anyway, on to my pumpkin.

I brought the pumpkin home and decorated it that same afternoon.

I found a box of unused cheap crayons in one of my craft drawers. I began by peeling all of the labels off.

I decided to do this on the kitchen floor where I had plenty of space. I put a trash bag down on the floor because I knew there might be some splattering as the crayons melted.

I started trying to lay the crayons on top of the pumpkin and discovered that they were too long so I broke the ends off the crayons. Then they were rolling off so I used a little dab of super glue to hold them all on the top of the pumpkin.

I used my hair dryer on hot and high. I tried medium but it didn’t really seem to be working well. There was some splattering but most of it stayed right on the trash bag. {ps. don’t mind my comfy clothes. Dan came over and decided to snap some pictures while I was in the middle of doing this}

Some of the crayons melted really well and others didn’t really do so well. It was kind of weird. But I just went with it and tried to heat them evenly.

I think it turned out really cool. Some of the colors show up better than other colors and some are more chunky. But I really love it.

This was something completely different from carving an orange pumpkin and I’m glad I did something different this year. Now if only we had a porch that I could put this out on…..Maybe next year.

Did anyone else do anything different this year?

photo friday

lots of pumpkins

beautiful foliage and blue skies

crayon drip pumpkin

frost in october. way too early.

working out to jillian michaels.

Happy Friday!!

jillian michaels 30 day shred {10 days down}

I posted last week about doing Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred. I thought I would post an update on my progress.

Today was day 10 so I have completed 1/3 of the 30 days and I feel pretty good. You are supposed to do each level of the workout until you feel like you should move on. I did level 1 for 7 days. I’ve done level 1 many times and I felt like it was pretty easy. So I decided to move on after a week. I moved on to level 2 on Monday. I forgot how hard level 2 is compared to level 1. Oh man. I’m doing it but it is so hard. And I know level 3 is even harder….

I haven’t really lost any weight but I definitely feel like I’m building some muscle. So that is a good thing.

Anyway, here is to the next 10 days when I will update on my progress again.

wonderful words

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!

photo friday

early morning sunshine through the trees

getting ready for a 5k

love the colors of the fall

fall at great island common

beautiful foliage

I love this tree.

my new boots in the leaves

tug boat and bridges in downtown Portsmouth

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

wonderful words

Happy Wednesday!

And Dan and I absolutely love How I Met Your Mother so I love these life lessons.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

fall fun {columbus day weekend}

Columbus Day weekend was last weekend. We had a long weekend and it was crazy busy. We, of course, filled pretty much every minute of the weekend up because that is just what we do.

Friday night we relaxed because we knew we had a busy weekend ahead.

Saturday morning started out bright and early with us heading to Dover for Dan to run a 5k. After the 5k, we walked around the Apple Harvest Festival, which was crazy packed, even at 10am.

From there, we headed home so Dan could shower. Then we went right back out to meet up with some friends at the Portsmouth BrewFest. A bunch of breweries all come together so people can taste all of their beers. There were so many breweries and beers and people. It was crazy. I’m not really a beer drinker at all but I did try a few and ended up liking at least 1. It ended up being really warm but it was a blast hanging out with some faves.

After the BrewFest, Dan and I left so we could drive right to New York for a wedding on Sunday. When we got to the hotel, we hung out with the bride and groom and a few of their friends before we needed to go to bed because we were exhausted.

The wedding wasn’t until the afternoon on Sunday, so we decided to use our time in Plattsburgh and go to Ausable Chasm. It is this really cool place with about 5 miles of trails. Some go right along the chasm, which is what we mostly walked. I loved being right there on the small stone pathways and hearing the water rushing by.

There was also a trail that went down to a dry chasm. There was beautiful foliage throughout the trail.

At the end of all the trails, there was a big bridge that gave a fantastic view of the waterfall.

After Ausable Chasm, we went back to the hotel room to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was for one of our friends from college. They live in North Carolina and we barely ever get to see them so it was really great to be able to celebrate with them on their wedding day.

The ceremony was in a beautiful ivy covered chapel. It was gorgeous inside and out. The reception was at a hall down the road and there was delicious food and good music.

After the 2 busy days we had already had, we were exhausted. We took our time getting ready Monday morning then headed out of NY to come home. The sky was amazing when we took the ferry from NY to VT. I had to take some pictures.

We were going to do a little hiking on our way home but it just didn’t work out how we thought. We did do some leaf peeping though. The foliage was gorgeous.

We found this really amazing little area with a curvy road and tons of yellowy trees. So beautiful. There were tons of people there but I managed to take some good pictures.

Driving down the road a little further, we got a view of some mountains. And there was snow on them. SNOW. I am not ready for that.

All in all, it was a really great weekend full of a ton of fun, crazy, and amazing activities. And we were exhausted when we got home. I went to bed early Monday and Tuesday night. But it was worth it.

 

jillian michaels {30 day shred}

I used to do this DVD a lot before we got married. It is really hard, especially for being a 20 minute workout. It is 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs then you repeat 2 more times. There are 3 different levels that get harder and harder.

I’ve never actually done it for 30 days in a row though. I decided I would try it for 30 days and see what the 30 day shred can do for me.

I plan on doing each level for 10 days and then moving on to the next level.

I started the 1st level today so October 15th is day one. I already know there is at least 1 day that I won’t be able to do it but I plan on doing it every single day that I can. So let’s see where I am in 30 days from now. I will definitely keep you guys posted.

Has anyone else done the 30 day shred? Has anyone seen crazy results?