'Tis the Season

Hoping you all had a Merry Christmas!

I am looking forward to the adventures that 2012 will bring!

Bucket List - Be the Caretaker of an Island

I’m not sure if it’s my affinity towards the television show LOST, but when I heard you can be a caretaker of an island I was all about it.

Newport, Rhode Island, is surrounded by coves, bays, harbors, and islands. Traveling from eastward in Rhode Island to get to Newport, you will have to take two daunting toll bridges, the Jamestown Bridge and Newport Bridge. (They might be typical bridges to most people, but for a girl who has grown up in Florida where elevation is nowhere to be seen, they are daunting for sure.)

You’ll need to quickly peek out the windows to your right when crossing the Newport Bridge to see the Rose Island. It’s a mere 18.5 acres and is in between Jamestown and Newport. In World War I and II, Rose Island was a part of the Navy Torpedo Station to store explosives. The area on the island that was used for military storage includes dilapidated buildings on the verge of collapsing. This part of the island is only allowed to be explored by 3 species of snakes (yuck!), birds, and harbor seals.

Now, the fun part. The Rose Island Lighthouse was restored in 1993 and maintained by volunteer keepers since then. They have three options to become a "keeper," including a keeping full-week vacation, a nightly keeper, and a full-time keeper, where your skills are matched to help maintain and restore the lighthouse and island. The last option also classifies as a tax-deduction for charitable contributions.

The worst part of this is you need to pay a hefty little price tag for this opportunity. Keeper fees range from $225-350 per night to $1000-$2300 per week.

Hopefully someday! Right now, it’s sitting pretty on my bucket list.

Handmade Holiday

Check out my Etsy shop to see more of my holiday tags. Great for adding a handmade touch to your gift giving this season!

Status Community Market Review

I finally got the opportunity to participate in a Status Community Market. It was great hanging out the the Status community and seeing what the community had to offer. My husband and I did not nearly bring enough money! I wanted to buy so many great things that I saw there. I did eat an amazing EIGHT-cheese grilled cheese sandwich and drank killer egg nog from Big Wheel Provisions. Also, got my picture taken from Cody Jordan Photography.



I'll be posting more photos soon, but here's a peek until then.



Don't forget to personalize your gifts this year! They are great for gift tags, favor tags, and wine tags. I can help with my holiday inspired tags. Check out my Etsy shop and message me for details.

So, I Went to Brazil

My husband got the honor of being ordained into ministry this November. We took a trip to Brazil for the occasion and I pointed my camera at a few things.


This is Asher. A friendly pup that was outside our window.

One of the days we spent at a wonderful family's home! We had Italian lasagna and chicken for lunch. Then  we finished the meal off with dark, sweet coffee and homemade lime gelato. Everything was so delicious!

Since, I'm always bugging my husband about expanding his palate. I tried expanding mine. You'll see a tiny chicken heart next to my fork below. Very cliche to say, I know, but it really did taste like chicken.

These next two photos are taken from inside the largest mall in Latin America. It was so crowded and apparently Brazilians walk slower than Americans, which was very strange for me because in the United States I walk slow and I was speedy there. One image is a piece of a tree root that was uprooted to build the mall. I'm not sure what they did to it, but it looked shiny, sculpted, and awesome. You might be able to tell the size by the people to the side of the photo. The other is a cute bird sculpture we found.

The sidewalks of Mogi Mirim, Brazil looked like this. This was taken in a centralized park area after an afternoon shower.

Operation Christmas Child

I had my Etsy shop and my family combine efforts and finances to support Operation Christmas Child. Through the the non-profit organization Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child collects shoe boxes full of holiday treats to distribute worldwide to children. I am so excited about this organization and plan on making it a holiday tradition for my household. I'll be donating these to my church this weekend. They are setting a goal of 4,000 boxes this year! I'm glad I was able to contribute.

The last image is the contributions from my Etsy sales that were donated.

SHOP www.todayisasunnyday.etsy.com
BLOG www.today-is-a-sunny-day.blogspot.com
TWEET NEW! www.twitter.com/2dayisasunnyday

Butterfly on my Doorstep

I found this little guy on my front doormat this week. And no, he isn't dead. He flew off a few minutes later.

Backroom Redesign

I'm breathing easy with my backroom redecorated! Most of the key pieces in the photos were given to us by family members (decorative screen, handmade coffee table, 'man' chair, and shag rug). You'll also see our Rhodes piano with a whiteboard backdrop ready for my husband's ministry ideas to be written all over it. And that sweet, quirky pillow was purchased on Etsy a few years back.

SHOP www.todayisasunnyday.etsy.com
BLOG www.today-is-a-sunny-day.blogspot.com
TWEET NEW! www.twitter.com/2dayisasunnyday

Scraps!

I started putting up my recycled line of gift tags today. Check them out at my Etsy shop. Order anything from my shop with this coupon code: "IREADBLOGS" and you'll get free shipping on your order, which will cut down most orders by 50%!

This batch was made with a box for an old pizza stone. I'm working on getting biodegradable ribbon, but what's below will have to do until then. Enjoy!

Redecorating My Craft Corner

Cleaning out my house and allowed me to carve out a great space for my crafts. I'm hoping that with all my crafts organized and in one space, my creativity will flow freely. Here are some photos of the first steps to putting this space together. Next is a seating area once the room is completely organized and coordinating boxes for a sleeker touch.

A few books made it onto my craft shelf next to my ribbon box, along with one of my favorite photos. This was taken in the "blue" courtyard during my high school years. My friend Holly and I are both have our then boyfriends, and now husbands, on our backs!

My way to garden I suppose. I desperately want a green thumb, but it hasn't worked out so far for me. But I loved decorating with garden accessories on this message board alongside a few of my most prized possessions, song lyrics that my husband wrote for me and a bookmark given to my by a middle school teacher.

The top shelf of the bookcase will house some trinkets from an amazing summer camp that my husband and I were fortunate enough to lead in 2009. The paint brushes have dried neon paint from a significant night during the camp.

Check out my Etsy shop: today is a sunny day

Tampa Food Truckin'

Just a few shots from the October Food Truck Rally. Fire Monkey Truck lived up to the hype. Delicious! Corey trusted me with my Cuppin Cake selections this time. Beautiful weather and great food made for a superb Saturday.

Spider Monkeys (fried plantains) and Gorilla Balls from Fire Monkey Truck

What Cuppin Cake was serving up.

Pumpkin Patch and Apple Pie cupcakes. Corey and I couldn't decide which one was better.

That's us

It was so nice out that we didn't want to go home. We stopped at Starbucks on our way home to read for a bit.

While I was reading Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie (founder of TOMS Shoes), I doubled one of my gift tags as my bookmark.

Crafting

I took my crafting outside last weekend. It was so great! I packed up everything in my repurposed 45 carrying case and took my creativeness outside.

pssst.... this is an sneak peak of my recycled gift tags.

See what gift tags I have for sale now by checking out my Etsy shop, www.todayisasunnyday.etsy.com.

ATL Road Trip

I did some exploring in Atlanta this weekend.

Packed up and ready to go. I'm very fond of this pin. It went on my jacket when I was in elementary school. Now it's on my long-living JanSport. They really do fix bags for free! Mine had 'zipper disease' (JanSport coined term for zippers that will unzip unannounced), a torn side, and ripping strap. Great read: The Hippie Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder.

As expected, we found a rock climbing gym.

This vegetable disaster held up some traffic on 275. Tomatoes we all over the roadway. This is only about 10 percent of the spill.

The next batch are from an excellent pizza place we found.

This amazing sink was in the guy's restroom. My husband took the photo. Ha!