14 in 2014

POSTED ON March 5, 2014 IN 14 in 2014, Goal Setting, Life Adventures

If you’ve been around Nettio Designs for awhile, you’ll know that I’m no stranger to goal-setting.

Now goal finishing?

That’s a whole different story.

But even when I don’t complete the ambitious goals I set out to accomplish, like my 28 at 28 list or my 30 Creative Adventures, I find that just the act of setting those goals in the first place pushes me to get more done than I would have without setting those goals at all.

So when the beginning of 2014 rolled around, I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish this year and how I wanted to do it. Did I want to set another One Little Word? Resolutions? 2014 monthly goals?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this year I wanted to keep things simple and actionable. As much as I love the idea of One Little Word, it can sometimes seem so abstract.

So instead I decided on creating a simple 14 in 2014 list: 14 random things I’d like to be able to check off at the end of year. Since we’re expecting a mid-year arrival for our little dude, it’s a little baby-heavy but it’s also a mix of life, work, home design and scrapbooking goals which I love.

Since we’re a few months into 2014, I thought it’d be fun to share the progress I’ve made on my list so far. It’s still very much a work-in-progress but so far it’s turning out to be motivating me to take action much more so than other things I’ve done in the past. I think perhaps because everything on the list is more project based?

Here’s where I’m at as of March 5, 2014. Blue is In Progress and Green & ~~crossed off~~ is Done:

Finish Advent Calendar: This is a sewing project I’ve been working on for TWO Christmases now and it’s so close to being done, I can taste it. I’m making myself finish this before tackling any of the other “fun” items on my list.
~~Launch KickAss Scrapbooking:~~ DONE as of March 3.
Hang Adventure wall
Make a baby quilt: I’m waiting to officially start this until after I’ve checked off #1 but you can see the fabric I bought for it in this post.
Go on a baby moon: We’re keeping it simple but plans are in the works.
Organize digital photos
Turn master bedroom into a cozy space: Hoping to check this off this month, just have to convince Adam to do a little painting for me.
Make art for over the TV
Decorate office/nursery for the lil’ dude’s arrival: Mostly just plans & pins at this point but I’m excited to get started.
Have a baby. : ) Very much in progress, haha. Just over 100 days to go!
Create Project Life 6/6
Scrap 100 layouts: 7/100. This is an item that’s been on my list for oh, 8 years now and I’ve never managed to accomplish it. Clearly I’ll have to pick up the pace to do it this year.
Read 10 books: 1.5/10. Ten is probably laughable for you hardcore readers but I mostly read blogs and such these days so 10 books sounded doable to me. Book 1 for the year was The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte.
Learn to use my Silhouette: As a lovely desk accent…yes.

I fully don’t expect to accomplish everything on the list but I’ve learned over the years of goal-setting that the dreaming/planning/scheming is just as much a part of the fun for me as actually completing the goals, so I’m excited to see what 2014 brings!

What about you? Any other 2014 goal-setters out there?

Around Here

POSTED ON February 28, 2014 IN Life Adventures

Decided to get my “real” camera out this week and take some photos of life around here right now. I know a lot of scrapbookers have fully embraced their camera phones but I still love playing with my DSLR (and am very much itching for an upgrade after almost 8 years!)

Life around here has been going along pretty smoothly this month. Even turned my calendar over to March a few days early – thinking I’m itching for spring already!

I hit 24 weeks this week and it’s crazy to me to think this time next month I’ll be in the start of my 3rd trimester. Craziness! My bump has definitely hit a growth spurt the past few weeks but considering I was measuring about a week behind the baby at my last appointment, I’m welcoming the extra room for sure!

I feel like the 2nd trimester is a funny time because for the most part, I’ve been feeling good and have a lot of energy, but it still feels a little early to start tackling too many of the major baby-related things. At the same time, I fully expect the next few months are going to fly by and June will be here before we know it.

So in the meantime, I’ve been tackling a lot of the bigger non-baby items on my to-do list like the redesign of Nettio Designs, the launch of my NEW site and some apartment-related items I’d been putting off since we moved here.

Adam actually said to me earlier this week that we should finish up more of the apartment decor items and well hey, you don’t have to tell me twice! In the works are an entry way gallery wall, master bedroom makeover (aiming for a mix of naturals with some gold accents) and then eventually turning our current office into a nursery/office combo – very excited for that!

Pregnancy-wise, I’ve become fully hooked on dark chocolate almond milk hot chocolate in the mornings and my Bump Nest pillow at night.

Not going to lie, I kind of scoffed at the idea of buying a pregnancy pillow (partly because I am cheap, haha) but seriously, it’s the best.thing.ever. It hasn’t solved all of my pregnancy sleeping woes (stupid leg cramps!) but as a regular stomach/back sleeper, it has made side sleeping a million times more comfortable for me. I actually look forward to going to bed now – plus it’s SO soft and cozy that I’ve found Adam cuddling with it on more than one occasion.

And I jokingly started referring lately to the pillow as “Snakey” so clearly Adam felt this week he needed an official snake makeover, haha.

I also bought some of the most adorable fabric ever (camping themed!) for a future baby quilt. I’ve never made a quilt before but I can sew and I’ve found some tutorials that seem easy enough so I’m excited to see how it goes.

And this month for Valentine’s Day courtesy of my mother-in-law, baby boy received his first official SF Giants gear! You know he’ll be wearing it proudly once he gets here. Gotta get him started young, right? #MiniSFGiantsfanforlife

And finally I know quite a few of you have been wondering (and asking!) about my future scrapbooking plans and well I’m excited to say that my NEW website will be launching on Monday!

I always feel like there’s a fine line for me between sharing what I’m up to and wanting to just buckle down and get things done behind the scenes and well, I tend to fall more into the latter most of the time, so I apologize for being a bit incommunicado on that front!

But it’s finally ready and above is a little sneak peek at what will be a free download available for email subscribers once the site goes live. Very excited for the new direction I’m heading so be sure to come back Monday for all the details!

1+1=3

POSTED ON January 27, 2014 IN Life Adventures

I’m pretty sure today’s announcement should win me the award for Best Secret Keeper Ever considering I’ve been holding this in since OCTOBER. Oh my gosh, you guys have no idea how hard it’s been!

But the stars have finally aligned which means I can finally share that Adam & I are expecting a baby BOY in June!

Well, June 16th to be exact. So far after two ultrasounds lil’ Jack Jackman* is measuring dead-on to the day for my due date, but whether that’ll continue to hold, we shall see. My doctor has assured us she won’t let me go longer than a week late which means for sure he’ll be here no later than June 23rd.

To say we’re excited would be an understatement. This has been a long journey for us, one that by the time the little guy arrives in June will be 4 years to the month from when Adam returned from Afghanistan and we decided to give this whole starting a family thing a try. But that’s a story for a different day…

Today I just want to celebrate that I now have a reason to buy beyond adorable things like this…

Is it just me or are baby boy clothes infinitely more adorable than baby girl clothes? Maybe it’s because I’m not much of a pink-purple-yellow girly kind of girl?

But seriously, I’d been so proud of myself for not caving into the cuteness so far, but then yesterday when we were cruising Target for the pair of tiny-shoes-he-will-never-wear seen in the photo above, I saw this, which I’m pretty sure is the most adorable baby outfit ever. Considering my love for jackets, the color green & dinosaurs as a child (I had stuffed dinosaurs, dinosaur sheets and was convinced I wanted to be a paleontologist at the age of 5), I just couldn’t resist.

Although, as I took it out of the bag at home and laid it down on a chair in our bedroom, I realized, “woah, there’s going to be a tiny person IN this outfit at some point,” which was a totally awesome and terrifying thought all at the same time. Pretty sure that’s normal though.

All I know is, while it’s been a wild ride to get to this point, we are so ready for this next adventure.

And if you’re wondering if this had anything to do with my decision to step down as a designer at Sweet Shoppe Designs, most definitely yes, but I’ll share those details in another post soon.

*No Jack Jackman will not be his real name. We honestly have no idea about names at this point. But yes, Adam is terrified that after all my joking, in my post-birth haze, I’ll blurt out “Jack Jackman” as his name and the little guy will officially be saddled with the most awesome name in the history of all names.

Memories On the Move

POSTED ON March 6, 2013 IN From the Desk of Nettio Designs, Life Adventures

From the Desk of Nettio Designs Issue No. 8

Hello hello and welcome to Issue Number 8 of From the Desk of Nettio Designs, my weekly email series where I share my thoughts on creatively capturing your life adventures, life and everything in between. This week’s issue leans a bit more heavily on the life side of things but I promise by the end it’ll wrap back around to memory keeping so stick with me.

I don’t often write about our life as a military family because well, to be honest, it’s really not that exciting! Outside of the fact that my husband wears a uniform to work and occasionally leaves the house at 4am or spends the night out the field, our day-to-day life is really not that different from any other.

But there are two military events that tend to affect our everyday life in a big way: deployments and the always popular PCS aka Permanent Change of Station move. Thankfully Adam is not deploying again but it does mean that, after a little over 2.5 years, our adventure of living here in San Antonio, Texas is coming to an end.

So where are we headed next you ask? Where will our 5th move in 8 years be taking us?

Well come May we are going to be moving to…..drumroll please….

Houston, Texas!

I know, kind of anti-climatic, huh? And not nearly as exciting as someplace overseas like Germany or Korea or Italy. Believe me, we tried hard for Germany.

But it’s true, our Texas adventures will be continuing for another two years as we move three hours east from where we are now to the 4th largest city in the US.

If you’re wondering if there’s a military base in Houston, the answer is no, there is not. Adam will be overseeing the medical recruiting process for the area (they’re the people who recruit doctors, nurses, medical specialists and such for the Army) which means this will be the first time in eight years where we won’t be living within a short distance of a military base.

But considering we’ve yet to ever actually live on a military base, we figure this shouldn’t really be all the different for us. Plus it’ll be a nice test run for what life would be like if he eventually decides to get out of the military since that’s the next big decision we’re going to have to make in a few years.

This past weekend we drove over to Houston to scope out the area, celebrate Adam’s 30th birthday with our fave Crave Cupcakes and do a little rental home hunting.

We went into it with uncertain expectations but ended up finding a place we loved so much that we didn’t want to gamble on it not being available later. We’re still waiting on final approval but fingers-crossed it works out because it’s exactly what we were hoping to find and weren’t sure would exist in our budget.

It’s an apartment so we’ll be downsizing quite a bit from our much-too-large-for-us single family home we live in now but it’s perfect: hand-scraped wood floors, 10 foot ceilings throughout, a kitchen with an island which we’ve very very much missed from our house in Colorado, and of course, lots and lots of natural light.

But as excited as I get about the chance to explore another new city, there’s always a little part of me that finds the moving process a bit bittersweet. When I was a child, I was the one who would tear up when an awesome camping trip or vacation would come to an end because I knew those experiences would never happen again in that same exact way.

And the truth is, there’s a little part of me that still feels that way.

Which is probably why I’m so passionate about scrapbooking – because it’s an awesome way to capture these priceless memories and adventures and save them for a later day.

So as we start preparing ourselves to say goodbye to our current home, I’ve been thinking about what stories or photos I what to make sure I capture before we leave. And I came up with a little list:

1) Make a San Antonio bucket list and scrapbook it

We’ve known for awhile we’d most likely be leaving San Antonio in the near future, so Adam and I have talked several times about things we want to do/places we want to go before we leave. But now that we’ve got a timeline in place, it’s time to make it official. I may end up scrapbooking this as a digital layout but I also think it could be a really fun item to include in my Project Life album.

2) Take more photos around our current house and neighborhood

I’ve definitely taken photos around our house and neighborhood while we’ve been here but since I’ve made quite a bit of progress on my on-going “Operation Home Sweet Home” home design goal, I want to make sure I capture all the details of our home in it’s most final state. When we moved from our home in Colorado in 2010, I ended up doing this a few days before the movers arrived and it’s so fun to look back now at what our house looked liked at that time.

3) Capture our San Antonio area faves

You had to know there’d be some form of the faves on this list, right? Haha. But really I’d love to take the time to make some Top Ten-type lists about our favorite restaurants, places we go, etc. Might even be fun to do it as an awards type of thing like “Best Place For Breakfast Tacos” (Little Texas Cafe) or “Most Visited Store” (Target).

I’m sure as we jump into the decluttering/planning/moving stage I’ll think of more things I want to capture but I figure this is a good start. My general rule of thumb when it comes to memory keeping is “You never remember as much as you think you will” and since a lot of times with military moves, there’s always a chance we might never return to where we were before, I always try to capture as many details as I can. Better to have too much than not enough, I say.

It’s Challenge Time!

Your adventure challenge this week is to take a moment to capture where you live, right now. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy: a single photo, a series of photos or a layout would do. Even if you’re in your forever home, life changes and I can tell you from experience how fun it is to look back and be reminded of all those little details and changes that have happened when you didn’t even notice.

And hey, if you have any awesome moving tips, feel free to lay those on me as well.

Well that’s it for this week’s installment of From the Desk of Nettio Designs! As always if you have any comments, questions or just want to share what you’re up to feel free leave a comment below. Until next time…

This post is Issue No. 8 of my From The Desk of Nettio Designs weekly email series. Want to get in on the action? Sign up for Nettio Designs emails here.

Weekend Adventures: Big Bend National Park

POSTED ON February 26, 2013 IN Life Adventures, Travels, Weekend Adventures

Over Presidents’ Day weekend, Adam and I took hit the road for a weekend adventure to Big Bend National Park. One of our joint bucket list goals is to eventually visit all the National Parks in the US and since we’d crossed off a bunch during our two-week Southwest road trip over the summer, we figured it was time for us to hit up one closer not really that much closer to home. And best of all, this time it would be a new one for me as well!

I hope you like photos because this post has got a whole lot of them…

We started off by renting a small travel trailer thru the Outdoor Center on the military base. We debated about camping in our tent but considering it was February, we thought it might be a bit too cold. Good decision on our part since it was in the 20s the first night we were there.

Adam picked up the trailer on Thursday afternoon so early Friday morning we headed out. I’d say we look pretty chipper (well Adam looks focused, haha). I totally had to laugh when I realized we unintentionally wore matching color shirts. At least it makes it easy for scrapbooking? #twinsiesforlife

For those not up on your Texas geography (because lord knows I never was before we moved here), Big Bend National Park is located about 6 1/2 hours west of San Antonio down along the Rio Grande near the Texas/Mexico border. To get there you basically hop on I-10 and drive and drive until you get to Fort Stockton and drive another 100+ miles south.

To say it’s in the middle-of-nowhere Texas would be an understatement – they call it “splendid isolation” for a reason. Which is exactly why we decided now would be a good time to go because short of El Paso, this is probably the closest to it we’re ever going to live.

Hello I-10, our old friend. Other than I-5 out West, Adam and I have determined that I-10 now holds the second place mark for most miles traveled by us. I’ve driven all the way across the country on it (thankfully NOT in the same trip, haha), so it’s safe to say we know it quite well.

There isn’t a whole lot out in west Texas but there are parts of the road that are pretty, like this.

Best part of the trip? Rediscovering these little babies. When I used to go on road trips with my family, we’d buy the big individually wrapped bags of them. I’d totally forgotten all about that until these. #ahmemories

After many hours of driving we finally saw this sign. Hooray! We were excited…

That is until we saw this sign…

Wah, wah, wah. Granted we knew this would be the case from the map but somehow seeing it in sign form made it seem that much farther – probably because at this point we were getting more than a little antsy of being in the car.

Which is why I entertained myself by snapping photos like this…

Until we finally got here…

Yes, that’s me doing my best Vanna White impression. Adam played it a little more cool…

Is it weird that my first thought after looking at the sign was how much I loved the font? It’s so cool & retro. #typeloverforlife

Of course even from the sign it was still another 30 miles or so to the main area of the park but eventually we started seeing views like this. The mountains in the distance are actually in Mexico.

Our first night was pretty low key because it was COLD. It was in the 40s when we arrived but the wind picked up and in ended up being in the 20s overnight. We basically ate dinner real quick and then huddled in the trailer to keep warm.

The next morning we headed up to the Chisos Mountain area of the park. One benefit of the wind – it cleared out all the haze!

Our main activity for the day was to hike out to the Window, a small slot canyon that overlooks the valley below.

You can’t tell in this photo but I’m wearing like 4 layers because it was in the 40s. The funny thing is as we headed down the trail, everyone coming back up was in short sleeves and we were thinking they were crazy. That is until we realized it was uphill all the way back and we were in short sleeves by the end too.

The views on this trail were so neat – the Window is located in the little valley to the right of the pointy peek. It was a bit like Vegas – it didn’t look as far as it really was.

I’m pretty sure I said something to the effect of “pretend like you’re hiking” to get this photo, haha…

One of my favorite things about this park was all the desert plants. It was like my succulents adventure on steroids.

Adam was a little scared of these big ones. They looked a bit man-eater-y…

The trail continued to wind thru the rocks…

I’ll just say, this would be a brutal hike in the summer heat – this was one of the few shady areas.

Towards the end of the hike we reached a point where were all these crazy stairs carved out of the rocks. Adam was pretty excited to reach the top of the first flight, haha.

A look back at more of the stairs. I’m just glad I wasn’t the one who had to carve these out of the rock!

Once we reached the bottom of the last set of stairs, we were at our destination, The Window! One of the nice things about this park is it’s really uncrowded so while there was only one family there when we arrived, they left shortly after so we had the place to ourselves. Definitely beat trying to sight see around tour buses full of people like we did over the summer.

We were really careful not to get too close to the edge – it was pretty scary looking! The view was amazing though.

The Window was carved by water that rushes through the canyon during the rainy times of the year. It comes through so fast that it polished all of the rock along the walls. I didn’t get quite this close, I used the zoom lens a bit since it was pretty intense.

We also pulled out the timer and got a shot of us together thanks to big rock acting as a tripod. That was about as close to the edge as we got.

Then it was time to head back. Here’s me hiking my way back up the stairs.

For anyone wondering about my backpack, I use the Clik Elite Cloudscape which is basically like a camera bag and hiking pack in one. It has room for a 3 liter bladder of water and also includes a padded camera insert for holding my camera or any extra lenses. It looks giant on me since I’m only 5’3″ but it’s actually really comfortable to wear.

The view coming back up was really beautiful. I didn’t really expect the desert to be quite so green.

The only downside to this hike was the entire way back was uphill. It was rated Moderate but I’d call it easy on the way there and difficult on the way back. Our legs were definitely feeling it by the time we got to the end!

After the hike we headed back to our campsite for some relaxation, snacks and dinner. Thankfully it was a bit warmer than the night before.

In case you thought Adam always cooperates with my photo taking, this is a look I get from him a lot. I’m pretty sure he asked me to do something (grab the trash maybe?) and I said, “hold on, let me take a photo first.”

But like 5 minutes later he’s like, here take a picture of me doing my best food network chef impression…

For dinner we had chili which was delicious.

We were also treated to an awesome sunset view of the cliffs from our campsite.

Our second day in the park we drove the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive out to Santa Elena Canyon. It really wound around and made us realize this park was much bigger than we thought.

Just to give a little perspective, the arrow is where we were on our hike the day before. The valley we were now in was the valley we saw through the Window. We hadn’t realized that until we saw it pointed out on a display, so it kind of blew our minds a little that we were all the way up there.

A view looking out towards Santa Elena Canyon…

I’ve never considered myself much of a desert kind of gal but I can definitely see why people like it. There’s something cool and textural about the landscape here.

Looking for a fun way to get yourself into pictures? Polarized sunglasses make a pretty fun mirror…

At the end of the drive we came to the Santa Elena Canyon Trail which was a fairly short hike back into the canyon.

After being in the car for awhile, Adam was definitely ready to get his hiking on…

The trail started out on the sand so I was very glad they had these mats down. Hiking in the sand=no fun.

Here’s the start of the Santa Elena Canyon. I think it’s hard to get an idea for just how big these cliffs are until you realize those tiny colored dots at the river are in fact people. The walls were 1500 feet high.

In case you ever needed evidence of the Texas drought. It was crazy how dry the ground was.

Of course one of the coolest things about this canyon is that the Rio Grande, which happens to also act as the border between the US and Mexico, runs down the middle of it, which means the rock on the left side is in Mexico and the rock on the right side is in the US.

We stopped for a quick obligatory hold-camera-at-arms-length-and-hope-you’re-in-focus shot and then headed down to the river.

This is by far the closest I have ever been to Mexico. You were literally a stone’s throw away!

Adam tried to reach out and touch Mexico. Since the dividing line is somewhere near the middle of the river, he was probably pretty close! Apparently the border here in the park between the two countries used to be more fluid but they’ve cracked down on that.

Once we were done with the river we started up the trail, which began with a large set of switchbacks carved in the cliff face.

The view looking back down the switchbacks. Seriously, who was the poor soul who had to make all these things? It’s quite the feat.

The trail wound down into the canyon a little ways…

…until you got to the end point where the canyon narrowed. It reminded us a lot of the The Narrows hike at Zion, minus the hiking in the river part. Kind of a baby taste of the Narrows for non-hikers (since the trail was pretty flat & easy).

Adam set up our little gorilla pod so we could get a quick shot of the two of us.

I’m pretty sure these are our “when is the timer going to go off” smiles, haha.

As we hiked back out of the canyon, the view was amazing. It’s kind of crazy to realize this river carved the canyon considering how little water there was flowing in it while were there. Somehow I expected it’d be a bit more grand.

The final leg of the scenic drive was to take the Old Maverick dirt road back to the paved road. Not going to lie, dirt road+desert+broken car had me worried we’d end up on an episode of I Shouldn’t Be Alive, haha, but it actually wasn’t that bad. Certainly much less bumpy than our “scenic drive” through Monument Valley!

My favorite part was all the trees! They looked like something straight out of Doctor Seuss. I expected the Lorax to jump out at any moment.

Later that night we were treated with a rather beautiful sunset from our campsite. It was a good way to end the weekend.

Considering we were both smiling the next day, I’d say it was a pretty good trip.

And that was our not-so-little adventure to Big Bend National Park! I have to say, it was totally different than what I expected but in a really good way. I don’t know that we’ll be making the trek out there again any time soon but if you’ve never been, I’d say it’s definitely worth a visit.

Anyone else ever been to Big Bend National Park? Have any suggestions for where our next park adventure should be? Adam mentioned Great Smoky Mountains since we’ve done most of the west already but we shall see…

October, Right Now

POSTED ON October 3, 2012 IN Life Adventures

In celebration of the new month, I’m jumping on the Ali Edwards train and capturing a glimpse into what life is like around here right now.

Right now I am…

Living in San Antonio, TX. Can’t say it’s my favorite city in the world but at least the Mexican food and margaritas are amazing.

Counting down the days until my sister Susan comes to visit. Spending time with family is the best.

Anticipating our plans for the 4 day weekend this weekend. Four day holiday weekends are one of my military faves.

Waiting (not so patiently) for my new MacBook Pro to arrive.

Wondering how I’m going to survive waiting 6 more days for it to get here.

Enjoying the cooler fall weather that has arrived in San Antonio. Even if “fall” around here means highs in the 80s, it’s perfect.

Brainstorming ideas for Project Life, December Daily and general December craftiness. Oh how I love this time of year.

Watching Season 1 of Revenge on Netflix. Adam and I are so totally hooked.

Working on my version of calendars for 2013. (Or mini-cals as I’m calling them.) Hoping I can get them finished in time for Saturday but loving seeing my idea go from inspiration to reality.

Listening to lots of awesome interviews at BlogcastFM while I work. Especially loved this one from the lovely Tara Gentile.

Wishing the photo organization fairy would come and organize my photos for me. It would certainly make my scrapbooking life easier.

Dreaming about our next big vacation even though when and where it’ll be is still up in the air.

Loving the days when Adam and I get to just relax and hang out. It almost makes up for the crazy stressful weekdays.

Trying to learn how to balance designing, scrapbooking and blogging in a way that doesn’t leave me feeling burnt out on a weekly basis.

Hoping my new computer will make all of that a little bit easier.

Thinking a lot about my goals for Nettio Designs, what I’m really most passionate about and how I can build my business in a way that works best for me. Lots of big ideas mixed with frustrating moments and nervous excitement is pretty much the norm around here.

Planning out the next stage of our Operation Home Sweet Home. Love the mix of shopping, colors and patterns that comes with home design. Plus I figure I need to get on that before we possibly have to move again.

Dreaming of the day we’ll be able to own our own home again.

Wondering what our life will be like a year from now. Lots of possibilities, uncertainty and waiting in the air right now.

Excited for whatever future life adventures are to come.