by Wendy Scheel | Aug 18, 2016 | Life
As you know, Wade and I got home from the Haven Conference a week ago Sunday night. On Monday morning we got some news from our sister-in-law Mara. She called to say that Rian was nearing the end of his journey here on Earth. Wade took off right away hoping and praying that he would get there to say goodbye one last time.
He arrived at a house filled with friends, relatives and co-workers telling stories and sharing the wonderful memories they had with Rian. Sharing this time with his brother and those that were there was good for Wade. Rian passed away late Tuesday afternoon. He was only 54 years old and will be remembered as a loving father, brother, son and friend.
The kids and I drove to Chicago on Friday to be with family and attend Rian’s memorial service on Saturday. It was a very touching service with a comforting sermon detailing Rian’s life.
RIP Rian. You are loved and will be missed.
Adjusting back to a routine has been difficult, but I’ve learned that whenever a transition occurs in my life it helps me to get organized.
Because there was so little time between the Haven Conference and the memorial service, I hadn’t had time to put away all of the freebies I collected. Cue reorganization.
There was obviously a lot to do, but where to put it? I’ve needed to clean up space in the garage for awhile now, and today was the day.
This included more work than I had initially planned. I unpacked boxes that had been sitting in the garage since move in day (mind you that was two years ago), I cut the remaining birch branches into candle holders and then vacuumed up the pounds of sawdust I had created. The final step was adding a shelf next to the workbench, where the branches had been, to make room for the Haven freebies.
You know how much I love a good before and after:
Even after a successful reorganization session, I needed a little DIY therapy. I started the deconstruction process on the settee and found a pleasant surprise. Underneath the arms of this piece I removed fabric to find a knotted bamboo. My plan had been to reupholster every piece of fabric on the settee, but now I’m thinking I might leave that bamboo for a bit of texture.
Stay tuned.
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Aug 9, 2016 | Life
Well, it’s been about a week since I last posted and so much has happened since then! Wade and I left last Thursday evening for Atlanta, Georgia to attend the Haven Conference for Bloggers.
The trip started out very smoothly and we were having so much fun spending time together, but that all came to screeeeeeching halt when we went to baggage claim in Atlanta.
No luggage for Wade.
My luggage made it, but he was stuck with the clothes on his back.
So Friday morning rolls around and the conference gets started with a Welcome Session led by Marian of Miss Mustard Seed along with Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect. These two successful bloggers shared a few personal stories and got us all excited for the weekend. In total I would say about 400 women and… 5 men were in attendance including my Wade who was still wearing the same clothes as Thursday night.
The weekend consisted of educational and instructional classes taught by famous bloggers and experts in different fields. In between the classes there were opportunities to meet various vendors. These vendors ranged from Home Depot, to Ryobi tools, to Wagner, to Mod Podge plus so many more.
Wade and I got the brilliant idea to ask vendors how we could win a t-shirt from them so that he would have something clean to wear.
Another aspect of the Haven conference that I personally loved was the fact that they matched first time attendees with a seasoned blogger to create a “tribe”. These tribes of attendees met daily to bounce ideas off of each other and ask questions. My tribe, led by Shaunna West, included myself and Wade and eight others. The joke of the weekend was that our group had a “token” male.
Saturday night was the big celebration, “The Saturday Soirée”. This was such a fun event because we got to dress up and be pampered with great food, great music and great conversations.
Everything wrapped up on Sunday with a few morning sessions, and then Closing Ceremonies featuring the Keynote speakers John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love. From there Wade and I headed home. The entire trip back we chatted about what we had learned and how much fun we had. We both agreed that the number one takeaway from the conference was “Slow and steady wins the race”. A great reminder of this came when we found a giant sand turtle on our beach the next morning. Our neighbors spent the weekend on the beach and left us this adorable turtle named Tank.
I’m so excited to share with you all the ideas I came up with over this past weekend!
-Wendy
P.S. Please forgive my poor iPhone photos. With so much excitement, I forgot to take out my good camera. Silly Wendy.
by Wendy Scheel | Jul 8, 2015 | Life
I am a list maker. Being self employed allows great flexibility and also a lot of non- productive time if I don’t make a to-do list or schedule.
I schedule fabric shopping time, fabric cutting time, sewing time, blogging time, picture editing time, posting new items time along with personal and family time.
Personal time includes exercising. The hardest part for me about exercising, is getting dressed. Not physically putting on of the shorts, shirt and shoes, but the knowing that when I have made the commitment to attempt a physical activity, once I am dressed, there is no going back.
Odd? Yes.
I have run 4 half-marathons and have signed up and paid for the 5th half marathon scheduled for this Fall. I try to run one half marathon a year. Avid runners probably think this is silly because once you are conditioned to the point of completing a run, you should probably stay at that physical level and run races more often.
Nope, not me.
So that means a lot of training. A lot of getting dressed.
In the past my training would only include running. Run and run and run. As I get older, I find the need to do other things in addition to running. I love to walk, I love to bike and I love to take a class at our local YMCA called R.I.P.P.E.D. (Resistance, Intervals, Power, Plyometrics, Endurance, Diet) or as I like to refer to it, a combined hour of jumping around, lifting weights, kicking and sweating. J.A.L.W.K.A.S. 😉 I don’t really call it that but how fun if the acronyms would have worked out and made a word.
Like anything, the first time you take a R.I.P.P.E.D. class it is pretty intimidating. I have zero kickboxing skills. The jabs, undercuts and punching combinations are comical when I am doing them. My technique is laughable, but it gets easier once you learn the lingo. Not that I look any less comical.
Each segment is put to music and the instructor is giving you the routine plus options if you would like a lower or higher intensity.
Here is one of the instructors. Gillian. She is the one on the left. My friend Alyssa is on the right and up until her 30+ week of pregnancy, she was in class every Thursday. Bless her cutest ever baby bump.
Gillian, not to be confused with Jillian from Biggest Loser, is amazing. Think about this. She is calling out the routine and giving encouragement the entire hour. Even during sit ups while her legs are fully extended into the air and she is touching her toes she is talking. Yet, she is encouraging you about the great job you are doing even though you are only doing every other sit up barely getting your shoulder blades off the mat with flopped frog legs. And she genuinely means it. She loves what she does and it shows.
So schedule some personal time, find yourself a Gillian and get back to me if you find that getting dressed is the hardest part.
And by the way that cutest baby bump now looks like this along with his proud big brother. Love these kids!
You must be logged in to post a comment.