December: Upholstery

For the month of December, I embarked upon my first project of re-upholstery! I love the idea behind the concept of taking furniture that needs a little TLC and making it not only usable again, but giving it a whole new life. This fits in very well with my environmental stance of reducing what we consume and throw away. It also speaks to my creative side, my love of puzzles and shopping! It is a very fitting new hobby and I am glad to have finished off the year with something that I hope to continue improving my skills in and embarking upon many new projects in the future!

It was not difficult to find a project to start with - plenty of those around my place event - but it was difficult to find a basic project to start with. I needed a project which only required a skill level I felt comfortable taking on, basically a square. I started with a tall stool with a back. It was a very simple project and made me feel comfortable and excited to take on more difficult projects! I got to experience keeping the fabric taught, folding corners, dealing with a wooden back, working with a thick material, and all sorts of other little things. Now, I think I'll do another one of the stools from the set and start looking for the next level project.

November: Winchester Mystery House

This month's trip was a long time coming. I knew that this was going to be on the list for this year practically the moment I decided to do a bucket list. This is another one of those things I have wanted to do for years and I am so excited to have finally visited this strange house! I had originally planned on going in October - to add to the spookiness - but had the opportunity to meet up with an old friend from high school and we couldn't find a weekend that would work for everyone until November. So, November it was.


Brian and I attended this awesome trip. We left early in the morning to make it to the house by our tour time. We started off with a tour of the houses. So many weird windows and doors and yet so much of it makes sense - if you keep in mind that she thought she was being haunted by ghosts who told her to keep building forever. After the house tour we also got to enjoy an estate tour (private - just the two of us!) including everything from the basement to the gardens. It was an awesome, interesting and fun trip! The two and a half hours flew by - I'd highly recommend that anyone who visits gets both tours as it is only a few extra bucks and totally completes the experience. We topped the day off with some lunch with the friend and his wife and some good catching-up.