my whirlwind tour of the pacific northwest...part one

A little background for those who don't know me well....

*I love traveling to new places
*I love flying in planes
*I don't get to do either very often
(teacher salary + paying down debt = lack of travel funds)

A wonderful aunt of mine recently passed away, and a couple weeks ago when she was still able to have full conversations with us, she told me about how she had traveled to every state except for two.  As she said, it was one "regret" she had that she didn't get to all fifty.  Someday....I'll find a way to travel to those two states for her.  And I'm sure Aunt Marie will be with me in spirit.

When we got back from our trip, the first thing she asked me was "How was your trip?".   I gave her a quick recap, gushing how gorgeous it was there, and showed her several pictures on my phone.  So, in honor of my Aunt Marie who loved to travel and who I'm named after (Marie is my middle name), I'm going to share some of my favorite things about my way-too-short trip to the Pac NW. 

As I posted on Facebook....here's my trip by the numbers:

Four Days.
Three Major Cities.
Two Countries.
One National Park.

All photos were taken on my iPhone 4s, since I always had my phone with me and was constantly in awe of the beauty around me....and I think I came back from this four-day trip with about 400 more pictures on my phone.  

Let's just say....I won't be showing you everything.

But honestly, photos can't truly capture what it is like to be there.
There's just something about being there.....surrounded by landscapes and environments I've never seen in person, breathing in the clean air, listening to the gentle sounds of nature....it was just magical.

And....although you'll only see me in any of the pictures, I promise I didn't take this trip alone.  ;)

I went with my sister and for a couple days we met up a friend of hers that lives in that area....but they are both "off the grid" kind of people, so I didn't think I should post pictures of them on a public blog.

At O'Hare airport....I found a Coke bottle with my name on it.

And I paid over three dollars for it.  

I really needed some caffeine.

And I love Coke.

Day One...SEATTLE

There was a delay on one of our connecting flights, which....long story short....meant we actually got switched to an earlier flight into Seattle.  Although that also meant we were split up on the plane.

Luckily, we got in two hours earlier than expected...early enough to explore the city for a couple hours before we had to drive to our hotel in Olympia.  

Even though my sister had been to Seattle before, I had not.  So we did the tourist-y thing. 

First, we parked near the Seattle Center and the Space Needle, took the monorail to get closer to downtown and walked to the famous Pike Place Market.  We had a few samples of delicious local food, and actually were there just in time to have dinner at one of the fish stands who cooked up fresh fish.

My sister's dinner....the whole trout....staring back at her.

Deep fried goodness.

I got a less-impressive-looking fish and chips combo.  Still delicious.

We then took the monorail back to the Space Needle and waited around for our trip up to a 360 degree view of the city.  Totally worth the money....and the wait.

Mount Rainier peeking up in the distance.  We saw it from Seattle, Portland, and driving through other parts of this area.  It was even peeking up above the clouds when we flew in that afternoon! It's a presence that can't be missed.

There was some boat race going on that evening....pretty fun to watch from up above.

We stayed in the Olympia/Lacey area of Washington that night....and woke up with a view of the tallest trees I've ever seen in a hotel parking lot!  Notice the tops of the trees aren't even shown in this picture.

Day Two....Olympic National Park

This was my favorite day of the trip....easily.

When I read info before going here about how this park is basically "three parks in one"....I knew it would be awesome.  Actually being there to witness these things in person....priceless.

Mountains.

A Rainforest.

Ocean Tidepools.

Words can't describe.

You would think I was a crazy person who had just been plopped down onto a different planet or  something.   I kept saying "NO WAY!" "OHMIGOODNESS!" or "It's just so PRETTY!!"

Good thing I don't care too much about what strangers think of me.  :)

And now....a few of my favorite pictures. I say a few because I took over a hundred that day.

Not exaggerating.

After stopping at the Welcome Center near Port Angeles, we took the crazy winding road up the mountains to the Hurricane Ridge stop.  

At one point, we had to stop so I could take a few pictures from the side of the road because I didn't want to run off the road from trying to look up and over at the mountains.

We went on a couple hikes in this area, and I could definitely feel the change in elevation. I had to walk a little slower than normal, and stop to catch my breath more often. 

I guess you could say it was literally breathtaking.

Looking back at the Hurricane Ridge information center and the Olympic Mountains!

Loved all of these mountain trails- such an exhilarating adventure!

Next stop was Lake Crescent....a gorgeous, glacially-carved lake among the mountains.

The water was pretty cold, but a few brave souls were jumping in for a quick dip.

From here, we drove to the small nearby town of Forks for dinner.

And a few dorky photos.

Yes, Twilight fans....*that* Forks....home of Bella and Edward.

Bella's trucks.  ;)

We stopped for a late lunch at Pacific Pizza....who had a lot of Twilight-inspired menu items.

It was a quick stop in Forks, but enough to satisfy my YA-fiction-fan-geekiness.

From there, we drove to my favorite FAVORITE stop of the day....

The Hoh Rainforest!!

The tall trees, over 200 feet high, provided a canopy for the rest of the rainforest below.

One of the trails, the "Hall of Mosses" was like stepping into a different world.  I kept saying I felt like I was on some futuristic, sci-fi movie set.  Like some blue Avatar creatures were going to pop out at any time.

Everywhere we walked there was evidence of the interdependence and competition in a rainforest.....huge logs that had fallen many years ago that are now the feeding ground for other living things.

Another trail took us through a less "mossy" part of the rainforest, but just as beautiful.  This also led us to the Hoh River, with more gorgeous mountain views from the river.   I wished we could have stayed and set up camp there....it was so relaxing and we were blessed with the absolute BEST weather that day!

Selfie #2.  :)

We had one more stop we wanted to make that day....to the Pacific Ocean to see some tide pools and hopefully get there in time for the sunset.

We made it!

 JUST. IN. TIME.

The closest spot to stop was Ruby Beach, and it didn't disappoint.

After it started getting pretty dark, we made the late drive to our hotel for the night (a few hours away) since we had a long drive ahead of us the next morning.

And more about that....in my next post!  :)

monday made it....cute craft closet!

My first "Linky" of the summer!!

I'm linking up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics for a Monday Made It.

I know....it's Tuesday...but better late than never.  Also, unlike most projects on this linky, this isn't a classroom/teaching based project, but it's definitely one I'm proud of sharing!

After years of living with all of my crafty/DIY materials scattered about in about seventeen different places around my house (okay...maybe seven....but it felt like seventeen when I had to find something)....I finally have corralled them all together in one place.

My new.....Craft Closet!

Please note....all photos were taken on my phone in low lighting....so don't expect super high quality here.

First.....time to be real with you all.   Although I think of myself as an organized person, one who doesn't deal well with clutter, when I get busy (also known as "September through June")....I tend to pick one place to pile up the clutter when I just don't have time to deal with it.

Here's what the closet in my guest room looked like before this transformation....yikes.

BEFORE

Left Side....Top.

Left Side....Bottom.

Right Side....Top.

Right Side....Bottom.

I'm a tad embarrassed to show this, but I also love a good "Before and After" comparison.  

So, luckily my family was having a garage sale this summer and I ended up selling enough to make a good dent in all of that stuff hanging out (some of it literally) in the closet.  

I started out with SIX baskets of purses.....and now I'm down to just four.  For those who know me well, that wasn't easy.  I loooooooove purses!  The other basket was wallets, and I downsized those, too.

The bed in my guest bedroom first became a dumping ground for all of the clothes I was going to sell or donate.  Yes, there IS a bed under there somewhere!

Once all of my garage sale stuff was cleared out, it was time to collect all of my craft items in one place.   This made it much easier to see what type of storage I would need, and I could start grouping like items together.

 Sorry, guest room bed.....you'll see daylight soon.

This left me with a completely cleared out closet.....a blank slate for my organization-loving self to embrace.

Perfect time to clean the shelves, walls, and floors that had been covered up for a while.

My next stop was my favorite store....Target of course....to stock up on some items I needed for this project and a couple others I had in the works.

I wanted to do a little something extra....a little something cute....a little something different....to make this stand out from other closets I've recently organized.

Target came through again.

I was in the paint aisle (for another project I'll blog about soon) and saw that they have "wallpaper".  Not the typical wallpaper that people cringe about taking down because it's been literally glued to the wall. 

It's actually more like contact paper....just thicker and higher quality.

And of course, since it's Target....it's absolutely the cutest.

So I found a print I loved, in a color that coordinated well with my paint project, and I brought it home and used a good amount of patience, along with a little compromising with my semi-OCD self, to get this result:

You may already notice the "compromise" on the bottom, right-hand side.  There's a section that I couldn't get to match up with the rest.  Since I had decided to put the pieces on horizontally, I matched up the sections the best that I could, but since I had precut the three pieces I had to shift them down to match.

That left a little section at the end of each piece that was "missing" and had to be replaced with another piece that didn't match with the pattern.

My advice....don't precut all of your pieces.  Also....it probably would have been quicker and easier if there was someone else to help hold the paper while I smoothed it down.  Like I said.....LOTS of patience.

However, since I knew I had some items to put in front of the wall, I wasn't too worried about it.  Most of "that area" will be covered the whole time. :)

So I brought in the drawer cart and storage container I got from Target, along with a bookcase I transformed from a thrift-shop find.  The bookcase will get it's own post soon.  :)

And then I just started filling in the rest!  Lots of these were organization items I already had, so in the end this project didn't cost very much at all.

AFTER

Left Side....Top.  

Purses, wallets, and less than half of the clothes I had in here before!

Left Side...Bottom.

Scrapbook paper supply, craft books, baskets with random items, and a paper cutter.

Right Side....Top.

Gift wrap storage (the long gray thing), extra totes, and a shelf of crafting items.

Right Side....Bottom.

Extra frames, and lots of craft items now grouped and stored in containers!

Here's a closer look at some of the groupings....

I put this on Instagram a couple days ago....I found this adorable jar on clearance at Meijer, and knew exactly what I could use it for-- my washi tape collection/obsession!

The three little boxes (super cheap- from IKEA) hold smaller items, like this one that has mostly ribbons.

Underneath those, some extra small frames in a cute basket that my washi collection outgrew, and any extra fabric and my glue gun/sticks (underneath the fabric) are stored in this cute Thirty-One bag.

This larger storage box (from IKEA) holds all of my stamping and card making items. I had more than I remembered....mostly because they weren't all in the same place.  Now I know not to buy more!

Small scrapbook papers, stickers, and other embellishments filled one drawer.

Hole punchers, and other cutting tools (including my adorable mini-paper-cutter) filled another.

This storage box was the perfect size for my extra gift bags, and party plates, napkins, and straws.

I relocated this basket from my bedroom and it now holds all of my "adhesives"- glues, tapes, and sprays.

This box, which holds all of my extra greeting cards, got a little makeover with some extra wallpaper and....of course....washi tape!  :)

That pot and plant (fake) are both from IKEA.  It serves no purpose other than to be cute.

This tray.....which once held things in my bathroom....got cleaned up and is now holding some of my paint supplies.  The rest are in the bottom drawer in the cart, along with other larger items.

The little drawer set next to it just holds smaller items that would get lost in the other boxes/bins.

That's about it.  Except for some labels that I'll be making for those boxes/drawers.  Yep, even when I'm "done"....I just can't stop organizing!  

I can't tell you how exciting this project is for an organization freak like me.  Not only does it make it easier for me to find things when I need them, but now I won't buy things I don't need.  I'll be saving money and crafting more now that this is finally done!  :)

And now....guests can stay at my house again.

The bed is free!