OUR COMMON HOURS

Kelli Ann Wilson October 18, 2013

pumpkin carving

Last night we had a pumpkin carving/birthday party (for my mom and my brother). My hometown’s annual Pumpkin Festival is one of my mom’s favorite events of the year, and she always carves a ton of pumpkins in the hopes that this will be the record-breaking year (Note: the last time Keene took the record was the year that we couldn’t go because I was in the hospital giving birth to Lillia!). This year my mom enlisted a little help from the family because she was behind schedule. We have some very creative types in the family who went above and beyond the traditional jack-o-lantern. Some of the highlights were a husky silhouette (JD), a mother bird & her babies in a nest (Mom), and Cthulhu or Zoidberg…we’re not sure (Damian). It’s always nice to get together, whatever the reason.

Kelli Ann Wilson October 9, 2013

my new “office”

I don’t consider my blog a decorating/home improvement type website by any means, but we just finished up a project that I thought would be interesting to share, especially for those of you with small houses that can’t sacrifice an entire room for a home office. I posted a long time ago about my plans to convert our closet into an office (or “cloffice”). Well, it took a long time, but my husband really pulled through for me. This was a lot of work for him, and I appreciate it so, so much. In fact, I feel a little undeserving.

It is beautiful.

The photos don’t do it justice. It looks so small, but when you are working at the desktop it actually feels quite spacious (the closet is about 2 ft. deep x 4 ft. wide x 8 ft. tall). Damian used 2×2 pine ledgers which we topped with poplar board shelves (they are very solid and will probably take longer to bend than pine under all those books). The desktop is a piece of 3/4 inch thick plywood custom cut for me by Damian and is supported by 1×4 ledges on three sides (back, right side, and the front on either side of the doorway). We had to do this crazy setup because our bathroom shower access is on the left side of the closet, and we wanted to be able to reach it easily and quickly. It works out really nicely, though, because the gap on the left side allows me to run cords up between the wall and the desktop. Underneath the desk I have my printer on the left side, and a cart with all of my writing supplies and stationery on the right side. It is so wonderful to have a place for all of my things.

I added our college diplomas on the wall behind the bedroom door just for fun (you can only see them from inside the room with the door closed, so I don’t feel like I’m showing off). I also have a few more things I’d like to add, like a corkboard and some wall-mounted file storage, but I’m enjoying it just the way it is for now. I plan to do a lot of research from this space, as I seem to have become obsessed with genealogy again! I’d also like to try writing some poetry…it will all be terrible, I’m sure, but at least I have a nice space in which to write it!

Lastly, I owe a big thank you to my wonderful husband, Damian, who made this dream (and many others) come true. I feel so loved.

Kelli Ann Wilson September 12, 2013

color palette // fireweed

While I was going through all of my photos from our trip to Lubec I was struck by how beautiful and colorful the natural world can be. I thought it would be fun to create some color palettes from some of my photos. I used this Photoshop template from The CoffeeShop Blog, popped in my photo, and then chose some beautiful colors to feature using the color picker.

Here is my first color palette, entitled “Fireweed.”

Kelli Ann Wilson September 6, 2013

lubec // around town

This will be my last, albeit belated, post about Lubec. I’ve gathered together a collection of various photos I took around the Main Street area of the town, where most of the “action” takes place (if you can call it that — it’s a really small town).

Kelli Ann Wilson August 25, 2013

zane is two!

Here are some highlights from the big day:

A new sandbox! My parents (especially my dad) put a lot of work into this, and Zane loves it. In fact he lives in it. They also gave him a little balance bike which he is sure to grow into very soon. Lillia gives him “rides” (pushes) on it for the time being.

A new “computer” from Aunt Rachel. He was pretty darn pleased with himself when he discovered that he had his own laptop.

Some new trains from Mama & Dada.

And, of course, the birthday ring — one of our favorite family traditions. This year he chose his own peg people.

I should also add that my husband’s parents gave Zane lots of excellent gifts, as well, including a great DVD/CD set called “Twenty Trucks” that he loves. We discovered it on Youtube when we were looking for videos of trucks doing work. It’s a little campy, but surprisingly informative! Have you ever seen a feller buncher?!? I’m not a big fan of media for little kids but I am okay with him watching these videos occasionally. He probably knows more about construction vehicles than most adults! He also got some great books, a fun puzzle that makes sounds (he really like the cruise ship’s horn) and a little stuffed loon. Our rental house in Lubec has a clock that makes a loon call every hour, and he was quite taken with it so my mother-in-law thought she would get him his own little loon.

And, last but not least, a cute video (he’s eating an apple, in case you were wondering…)

Zane’s 2nd Birthday from Kelli Wilson on Vimeo.