Details 2013

I am a shoe person.

And when I say that, I mean I don’t like walking around barefoot – I wear shoes all the time.

It could be because my parents are shoe people and always wear shoes around the house, although I don’t believe my siblings do…(I’ll have to ask them). Or it could be because I have extremely high arches in my feet and it just hurts them to walk barefoot without my orthotics.

I preface my story with this because as I was putting on my house shoes (aka Crocs) this morning getting ready after I put my socks on, I felt like there was a large lint ball in my sock, but I figured it would move enough when I put my boots on later.

It didn’t. But I needed to get out the door so I just walked on it. Walked on it 4 blocks from parking to work. Walked on it around work in the morning and walked on it to a lunch meeting 4 blocks away and back.  I finally took the time to take my boot off to get the large lint ball. To my surprise, I found this pin. Yes, I was walking on that all day.

My first thought was to call myself an idiot. I was! That was an idiot move – why didn’t I take time to just figure out what the problem was this morning when it first bothered me. I didn’t take the time.

I wasn’t going to resolve to do anything this year (except drink more water – more of a health goal than anything), so I decided this was a good lesson that teaches me to pay attention to details – and take the time to get something done at the time it needs done.

I also want to do things that are meaningful to people I care about. I recently received a subscription to Taste of Home’s simple & delicious magazine from my friend Lori. She didn’t’ have to do this, but she did because she is such a great friend.

Lastly, I want to dig into to God’s Word and focus my heart on Him.

So here’s to 2013!

Home office | my favorite things

I wanted to highlight my favorite things of my new room.

First, I obviously LOVE my chair. It is a Flexsteel swivel/glider and so comfy to sit and read/write. I’m also a fan of paisleys – which is why I chose the print.

All of the pieces on the wall are special to me. This first one was a 4-H project I did with paper and string when I was little. I found this digging through some things at home. I found a frame that is double glass with an easy edge that slides on to display the piece.

The “mola” above my desk is a quilted piece of art that Mom found for me when we were in Panama. Since it is turquoise and I love quilting, this one is special.

The pallet shelf is rustic and fun that it came from the ranch. I also love it that Ronny and I made this together. Other favorites about this is that it has our brand, and star, and a picture of Hank.

The chest is Ronny’s show box made in High School. His mom refinished it last year and I love the dark brown accent it adds to the room. It also stores extra quilts and blankets.

Our picture stand. I used to have this in the living room, but since redecorating, I brought it in here. This was a hand-me-down shelf from the Pope’s, but I love that we have all of our family pictures in one place.

On that shelf is also one of my other favorite pieces of art. This was made by Aunt Sue, in which she took our wedding invitation and added beautiful paper flowers. She knew I loved turquoise (probably from our turquoise wedding invitations!) and the flowers match perfect to my room.

Modern Maze Quilt

Last fall I started a queen-sized quilt that I wanted to make for myself. This was the first, very large quilt to attempt – so I started simple. I picked an easy pattern (out of the Modern Basics book) called a Modern Maze that was the same block organized in a different rotation for each row.

I’ve had the top of the quilt done since December and it was one of my goals to complete it by the time summer rolled around.

You might remember the pictures of the backside of the quilt that I wrote about in January.

I sent it to Omaha to Aimee at Splendid Stitches and she had the whole thing quilted in less than a week. I’ve had my quilt completed for a couple of months – but now that it is warm enough out, I could finally put it on our bed and I’m so happy with it!

I took it to “show-n-tell” at the local quilt guild meeting and they loved it as well. I can finally cross this off the list and move on to the next project. I have a pattern for a Christmas wall-hanging, so that is next!

Third time’s a charm | State Farm 5K

This weekend was the third year in a row that I ran the State Farm 5K in Lincoln.

The first time, I ran with Patricia and Shelley (read here) in the rain.

The second time, I ran with Ronny (read here) in the snow.

This year, it was almost too hot! I ran with Ronny, Shelley and Kim and even though I finished my slowest time of the three years, it was still a great day for running.

My excuse is that I hadn’t ran for over two weeks – whoops!

But here are my results anyhow.

Name: Kelsey Pope
Place: 358    
Time: 31:59 
Pace: 10:18

I am proud of my hubby’s stats!

Name:Ronny Pope
Place:103 
Time: 25:37  
Pace: 8:15

Home office redo | Weekend Project #5

Remember one of my goals for the end of 2011 was to redo our spare room for my home office/reading room? Well, I took a huge step to completing that project this weekend.

Thankfully, my Mom loves to paint. So my parents came to Nebraska to visit us, help paint my room, and for Ronny and Dad to get all caught up on their cattle talk.

Here was some of my room inspiration:

Source: notjustahousewife.net via Kelsey on Pinterest

Source: housetweaking.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: hikinginstilettos.blogspot.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

So here we go. Before:

During:

Almost there…

Thanks, guys, for the help!

Now, I need some accessories to look like this room layout:

Source: Uploaded by user via Kelsey on Pinterest

I really like these chairs:

I will update you all when I get it all furnished and finished! {Thanks again Mom and Dad for helping!}

Garmin–a new incentive to run

For Christmas, I asked for and received a Garmin Forerunner 210 watch. It is a GPS-enabled sport watch that has a premium heart rate monitor that I strap around my ribcage.

What is so cool about this GPS running watch is that it calculates my time, distance, pace, elevation change, heart rate and calories that I burn. I borrowed my friend, Shelley’s, for the Lincoln State Farm 5K and it was great to keep track of my splits and know how consistent I was.

What is even better about this is that I can now track all of my usual running routes here in town and know exactly how far I’ve been running, my elevation change, and the exact distance. Then I can plug it into my computer and upload all of my info to GarminConnect.com. Even my walks with Hank are fun to track. Here is my normal 2.5 mile running route:

For any runner that doesn’t have a GPS, I’ve been using www.runningahead.com – which is a great site to help you put together a running route or map out where you ran.

I’m excited to run in some new races this year and try out my Garmin! Thanks again, Mom & Dad!

My First Quilt

I finished my first quilt.

It’s not my first quilting project…you may remember my very first quilting project, a runner that my grandma helped me with. I hand-quilted that – never again after machine quilting!

But it is my first quilt that I cut all the pieces out, pieced them together and quilted it by machine all by myself. I made this quilt, “Theta Sisterhood Kites”, for my sister for Christmas. I was able to give it to her early because I really wanted to see her open it.

I did hand-sew the binding, but I think it makes for a prettier, clean, finished look.

I used a diamond/lattice design to symbolize kites – which are a symbol of the sorority that we are both in – Kappa Alpha Theta. I got the pattern from this baby quilt book, but scaled it to be a larger, lap quilt. 
 

Our colors are Gold & Black, hence the color scheme.

Here are some other close-ups:

Being able to give this to my sister was such a gift in itself. She is one of my very best friends and making something special for her to keep was a joy.

I love you Miss Em!

Six goals

Wow…six more weeks until 2012. And I have SO many things I want to get done before that!

To help keep myself accountable, I’m going to post my six goals here and attempt to get them done (and a few more things!) before the new year. Call it pre-New Year’s resolution, resolution.

1. Put together an advent calendar for December. I really like these from Pinterest:

Source: sewmamasew.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: kimberlypetersen.typepad.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

2. Finish my two quilts I’m working on. One is a gift that I cannot say what it is, but the other is my bedroom quilt which I just need to finish the back of and send in to get quilted.

3. House reorganization: Move Ronny’s office downstairs and reorganize his current office room for better storage and a seating area for reading/blogging.

I would love for a little area like this:

Source: housetweaking.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

Source: grandinroad.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

4. House cleaning: I really need to deep clean. :(

5. Christmas cards & gifts: Have Christmas cards sent and all gifts purchased/made by December 17th! 

6. Mend clothing & thrift trip: I have about 4 outfits that I can’t wear because of seams that were ripped out or a tear here and there. Also, I’m inspired to find some fun stuff at a thrift store – I just need a buddy to go with me?!

Anyone else have some great year-end goals that I need to get inspired to get done, too?!