Fireplace fun!

The insurance company is replacing all of our floors downstairs due to the leak....yes! We will be picking out new floors sometime in the near future. Dalan and I decided to do some additional renovations downstairs while the house is torn apart. First, the fireplace surround, and then the downstairs bathroom.

This weekend we decided to start things off with a small project and replace the tiles around our fireplace. They previously were a ceramic tile in a mauve/rose color that we did not really like, and looked quite outdated. We decided to replace them with a natural stone in a neutral tone.

We found the tiles that we liked, and got to work. We ran into some problems immediately. The tiles around the sides of the fireplace were not true 4 x 4's, although that is even what they are labeled at the hardware store. They are in fact 4.25 x 4.25, and Lowe's and Home Depot do not sell any of the natural looking stones in that size......grrrrr! So after accidentally buying the wrong size, we ended up finding some at tile discount store in Draper that we really liked in the right size for only 50 cents a piece. Getting the tiles cut correctly for the floor was a bit of a pain, and after two additional trips to Lowe's, we finally had everything all lined up and ready to put down on the floor. I love the result. It looks so much better, and I cannot wait to get the new floor.

The mauve tiles...last Christmas....I forgot to take "before" pictures.

Bye, bye old tiles!

Dalan surveying the damage!

Just concrete!

Oh no! They are the wrong size!

Almost done! This is the best pictures of the colors!

All done, just waiting for the rest of the new floors!

Should have followed directions

Ali found these instructions on how to make easy cotton skirts forever ago, and we have been meaning to get together and make them, but have never made the time. So, before I go back to work, and Ali goes back to school we decided to just do it already. Ali came over with her sewing machine, and off we went to pick out fabric.

The instructions said to measure your waist and then get double or triple the amount of fabric. We went with double, and after we sewed the back seam together it looked like we could hula hoop in the amount of fabric we had around our middle section. The instructions and the amount of fabric we had just were not making sense to me, so I decided to ditch the instructions and go off on my own, after all, I have made our Halloween costumes for the last several years just from the ideas in my head, why would my visions of my new skirt not work too? So, I reduced my fabric to about 2/3's of what I originally had, and started sewing, all while Ali diligently kept to the plan the instructions laid out.



Then I started having trouble with my sewing machine. It is the problem I have with the bobbin from time to time, and I have always blamed my sewing machine for the errors. However, tonight after getting frustrated with my machine, I went to use Ali's and had the same problem. A problem she has never had. Apparently, it is one hundred percent a user/Jessi error. So, the stitching on my skirt turned out to be super sketchy, and due to my not following the steps in the correct order, next to impossible to stitch up over the elastic. It is does not flow the same way as Ali's due to my fabric reduction. It looks super frumpy.


The moral of the story, follow the directions and you get a cute and wearable product. If you don't follow the directions and sew like a blind little monkey, you get a piece of garbage skirt. Oh well, we did have fun, and bless Ali's heart, she really did try to save my hopeless little skirt. However, after showing Dalan and my parents, it truly is going into the trash.

Travel Memories Part 3

In October of 2005, I went with 5 other girls to Maui, Hawaii for a vacation of a lifetime. My friend, Becca, had once upon a time worked for Delta Airlines and left the organization with five years of flight benefits. This particular year they had decided to issue each employee (and in some cases ex-employees) a set of extra buddy passes. Therefore, Becca organized a girl's trip to Hawaii that was once of the cheapest and most fun vacations ever! At the time, I did not realize how lucky we were to get six people on the same flight there and back using buddy passes. It must have been a Hawaiian miracle or something.

We spent long days at exploring the beaches, going snorkeling, watching the sunrise over volcanoes, and enjoying tasty beverages in the sun. We even spent an afternoon at a nude beach, and met a guy that we named Scuba Steve. Scuba Steve was conveniently snorkeling underwater right next to us, and finally he popped out of the water and asked us to hold his sea cucumber....one of his sea creatures he had found! He was something special. We also gave a nickname to a very old, very leathery tan gentleman we observed on the beach, but his name is not appropriate for print. It was a good times.

I would love to go back, and since I married a man who hates the beach, another girl's trip will be necessary....who is in????

Oh, and I literally only took four pictures on this entire trip, so thankfully all of these pictures are courtsey of Becca and VaRonica.

We apparently hung out in the trees quite a bit....you'll see...this is our first night in Maui.

VaRonica, Becca, me, and Trisha...the ARTEC crew...in a tree!

These trees had the most beautiful bark.
The whole crew...Varonica, Julie, Trisha, me, Becca, and Sara.

One of the many beautiful beaches we visited.

Heading to the beach one afternoon.

Volcano sunrise.

One very silly night in the hotel room.

Double rainbow.

Our last afternoon in Maui.

VaRonica and me doing the crane kick.

Dalan and I will bring the rain

Dalan and I went camping this weekend with a group of friends to Bear Lake, and although, I am generally not the biggest fan of camping, I was really looking forward to going to the lake and hanging out with some of our loved ones. The plan was for people to head up to Bear Lake when they could on Friday to play on the beach and in the water, then head to our camp spot in the evening, eat dinner and hang out, and then in the morning get up and go boating!

However, mother nature had other plans. It was much cooler than usual when we got up there on Friday, and although it was still a lot of fun to hang out on the beach, the water wasn't as appealing as one would have hoped....oh well, it was still a beach, and it sure beat sitting around and not being at the beach. We had a great time at our camp spot, and had an excellent dutch oven dinner, along with s'mores. We all headed for bed with grand plans for adventures in the morning.

It started raining early in the morning, and was in the 40's. After eating breakfast and taking down camp in the rain, Dalan and I decided to head home. I had no more dry/warm clothes with me, and even though, I wanted to get on the boat badly, I was too cold and wet to wait and see if it would clear up. Our much braver friends ended up staying up for a couple more hours, and although they never got the boat in the water, they did have some fun hanging out and playing on the beach.

Dalan and I have had a summer full of rain. It has rained on us during the following:

1. The Gay Pride Parade
2. My birthday party, well really, the whole month of June.
3. Most of our trip to Montreal
4. Bear Lake camping trip.

We did make it through the Fourth of July parade rain free, but other than that, it has rained on all my favorite events of the summer. I am not going to complain though, because we live in a desert and rain is better than drought. In fact, if you have an event you would like rained out, Dalan and I are available, and we will bring the rain.

Travel Memories Part 2

Shortly after my super fun trip to Kentucky, I was lucky enough to go on another trip to Grand Junction, CO with my parents to visit my Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave. It was probably the first time since I was a little, tiny girl that I got to go anywhere with just my parents and me. Very cool.

We had a really fun time driving down jamming out to a mixed CD that my parents had of all the greatest hits, I can remember singing along to Elton John's Tiny Dancer, and Pearl Jam's Last Kiss. I am pretty sure we sounded awesome, since the Carlson's/Plant's are known for their singing abilities.

While we were in Colorado, we played a lot of bocce ball on the golf course behind my aunt and uncle's house. My family loves, loves, loves booce ball and a golf course is the ultimate place to play, because you can play on the putting green which makes the balls easy to see, or you can be tricky and play into the rough.

Golf course by day, bocce ball court by night.

It was also very near my birthday! You know, I love, love, love my birthday. I got my presents early from Linda and Dave, which included a pink neon flamingo....do they know me or do they know me? I also begged my parents to buy me this little pink poodle purse, in which I named Pinkie. I decided Pinkie would be like the gnome people take on vacation with them, and get pictures of the gnome all over the world. Unfortunately, Pinkie's only trip was returning from Colorado to Utah, but it was a fun idea while it lasted. I was itching to get a dog of my own at this point too, so in some ways, Pinkie was the practice dog before I got Piper. Ha, ha, ha!

Me and my awesome gifts!

Patti and Pinkie on the way home.

Pinkie enjoying the ride.

Red and Pinkie on the open road.

If you look very closely you can see Pinkie chilling on the UPS box.

Pinkie and me stretching our legs at the gas station!

Travel Memories Part 1

So, I was just looking through some old photos and I found a whole file full of vacation photos from 2004 and 2005. They were so fun to look through that I thought I would start a little mini-series and share some of these photos with everyone. I need to explain, however, that before that before I was motivated by the blog, I was the world's worst memory maker, and never took very many photos on vacation.

So, my first travel memory will be when I went to Louisville, KY to visit my friends Aubrey and Sam, and to go to the Kentucky Derby. Aubrey had been in dental school there for three years by that time, and I had yet to go visit her. I was so excited to go out there, see a part of the country I had never been to, and just visit with Aubrey. That is one of the great things about Aubrey and me, we can be apart for months and years at a time, but always have no problem quickly catching up and having a blast together. Aubrey and I can just talk and talk and talk when we are together, and no matter the location or the activity.

Kentucky was so much fun, and we even got to go up to Cincinnati to see a see a concert. We also went to the Louisville Slugger Factory, and did some shopping and some eating. We did not however, get to go to the actual Kentucky Derby. We went to the grounds, but due to a ginormous rain storm that flooded that tunnels into the field to watch the derby. After standing outside for a long, wet while, we gave up, and watched the derby at home. Oh well, it was a lot of fun, and started my love of horse racing.

Aubrey and me outside of the Louisville Slugger Factory.

Aubrey and me by the Ohio River.

BFFs since 1983...Aubrey and Jessi

Aub and Sam...my gracious hosts!

Quick little update

We just filed a claim with our insurance. The floor is the kitchen is wet all over as far as we can tell. It is going to be a big project. We decided it would be better to pay our deductible than keeping working on a never ending project, that we know little about. Hopefully, some people will come out and get this all sorted out for us sooner than later.