Black Cap Mountain

Black Cap Mountain Hike

Finally went on a real hike in Maine! Well, on the border of Maine and New Hampshire. A little past North Conway, New Hampshire are the White Mountains and some beautiful trails. Before work, a friend of mine drove us out to North Conway to hike the Black Cap Mountain. I should have kept track of our time but I was too excited. First time on a mountain. We geared up with lightweight backpacks and water. My friend told me it should be no more than an hour up and then hour down. We started our day at 7 am. Got to North Conway by 8:30 and made it home by 1 pm. A pretty good morning! 

The path starts out just like a forest path should, lots of dirt, winding roots and scattered rocks.  It's still pretty early in the season, so the weather at 9 in the morning was perfect. Not to cold and not at all hot. Insects must have still been asleep, we forgot bug repellent and got lucky, didn't need it. I couldn't get over how green everything was. The leaves were almost neon with the sun shining through.  

Getting closer to the top, the dirt path started to become just rocks. All my previous hiking experiences have been through woods and mostly hills. Once we started actually trecking up the mountain, I actually had to climb rocks and boulders. Though it was more than I had expected it was perfect. 

 

The view from the top was gorgeous! The rock or stone in the picture was literally all around us. It was very quiet and peaceful, because it still kind of early in the morning, we only saw 2 couples while going up the mountain. Perfect for yoga and meditation! I was super bummed I didn't even think to bring my yoga mat. 

Descending we took a different trail which was mostly dirt and tiny pebbles. We actually had a tougher time slipping and sliding then we did climbing up. Once at the bottom we drove down the mountain a bit and saw some water I had to take pictures of. While walking along the stream we came across a Rock Balance sculpture someone had created. I love the simplicity of the art and the complexity of the balance at work within them. 

As always thanks for reading everyone! 

& 

Have a Sweeter Day than Yesterday

Baby Shadow Box

Baby Shadow Box

A friend of mine was having her first baby. Super excited I wanted to make her something special. I liked the idea of the Book of Firsts. I love the thought of filling in the blanks and putting in pictures of the memories, however, I didn't want to make a book, I wanted something she could have and see often, not sitting a bookshelf. Answer? Shadow Box!

First I found out the gender and went shopping for paper! There are so many colors and patterns, I was overwhelmed with all of them. I didn't want anything to flashy, but I definitely wanted cute patterns for a cute little girl.

Originally I wanted to write or stencil on the bits of scrapbooking paper that would decorate the inside of the shadow box. While shopping though, I ended up finding scrapbooking paper that already had tags and fill in the blanks for all "Baby Firsts." Half the work done, I just needed a slightly darker background color so everything else would pop.

While gluing everything in, which didn't take as long as deciding where to put it all, I realized I wanted her to be able to put keep sake's in it also. So I made an envelope for "First Hair Cut," and a tiny box for "First Lost Tooth."

Here is the link on how I made the Mini Paper Box. I did have a little difficulty with it just because ot the size I wanted. Large enough for a baby tooth of course, but super tiny so it wouldn't overwhelm the rest of the memories. After a lot of unmentionable curse words, I finally got the size if wanted and without crumpling it.


1)   Baby Scrapbooking Kit


2)   8" by 8" White Shadowbox Picture Frame


3)Clear Tip Glue Pen


As always thank you for reading, comments are always welcome and I would love to see your crafts and/or shadowbox projects.

Have a Sweeter Day than Yesterday

Maine Yoga Fest (Day 1)

As always, I'm trying to find things to do and people to meet. Still working from home and only my husband for conversation, a girl has needs that girl talk ya know? One day in April, I was roaming twitter and Maine Things To Do  ( link ) twitted about a 2015 Yoga Festival. I figured I already missed it. I tend to find really cool things a week after they happen. But I clicked on video attached and was thrilled to see at the end of the video it was in July! I had to go! So the next couple of blogs are going to be a day by day of the festival. Which was pretty exciting stuff! 

The first day was July 10th. It was a grand opening of sorts. It started at 6 pm where there was a Red Carpet Premier. Basically you arranged and could get your picture taken with the Maine YogaFest in the background. The photographer had a spiffy printer that would instantly print out the picture with the MYF logo on it. Very snazzy. Of course I was distracted and didn't get end up getting to do one. But there's always next year.  

The MYF Crew posing for the red carpet.

After the initial Red Carpet and everyone got registered and signed in, there was the Black Light Yoga Rave! I had never done Black Light Yoga and didn't really know what to expect, expect that it would be in the dark. The MYF crew and several volunteers decorated the entire East End Community School. Most of the decorations were set up and lent to the MYF by Asia West Imported. Beautiful sculptures and even pillows filled the hallways and classrooms. 

The Gym Transformed!

The lights were turned down in the gym and long ropes hung from the ceiling. Everything looked so cool and I had no idea what to do. I saw a large crowd standing by stables putting on temporary tattoos and glow in the dark body paint, but I didn't really see a line or who was in charge. Finally a young woman had mercy on me. She came up to me and asked if I came by myself, then explained she did too! She ended up helping me find a couple temporary tattoos and apply them. The glow in the dark body paint was little out of my comfort zone, plus I had no idea what to draw! Once we were all set we found a place to mats together.

One half or the class waiting.

We set our mats in the middle and turns out the instructor's mat was at the center too. We were right by the Yogi teacher! Beyafore the Black Light Yoga Flow class started they had a performance by an Areal Yoga instructor, which was absolutely beautiful. I was suddenly regretting not signing up for that workshop.  

Then the class started. They lights turned off and the black lights were switched on. They had a DJ that played techno music that was a little fast but not like club dancing fast. No lyrics just music. The yoga was a faster paced yoga flow instructed by Caitlin Marcoux from Nantucket. I loved her energy and the way she motivated the instructions. At one point we were all in some sort of pretzel concentrating on our balance, I remember my legs straining, and she told us all to look across the room and look at another student and smile at them. Because if you are smiling you can push through anything. 

During the Black Light Yoga Rave!

With Day 1 of the Maine Yoga Fest over I was super excited to see what the next two days were going to be like. I learned so many different positions in the yoga flow and I felt like I could have run a marathon with all the stretching and energy I had. And I can't wait to do Black Light Yoga again! Next time I need some spiffy pants that will glow brighter. After all of this, I can't help but think how I went by myself and had a blast, met some amazing people and did something I never thought I would do. Super exciting stuff! So as always I hope this inspires you to get out of your shell or find something that your passionate about. Don't be afraid to go alone, you never know who you're going to meet. And don't be afraid you're not going to enjoy it, just go for it and experience it! Learn and grow as much as you can. Life is to short.

Thanks for reading!

Hope you have a Sweeter Day than Yesterday

What I'm About

Hi! My name is Amanda and this is my blog about stuff I think is sweet and stuff that's on my mind. Some of my favorite things to do is crochet, so you're going to see a lot of that on here. My other hobbies are paper quilling, reading, watching movies, dancing, working out, and glass etching just to name a few.

To give you more of an idea of what to expect on this blog, check out my pinterest boards. Honestly I'm addicted to pinterest.com. I can't help it, I'm on it every chance I get. ravelry.com is another favorite of mine. The only way I can explain it is as a Facebook for people who crochet and knit. 

Another thing about me you should probably know is that I'm easily entertained. Oh and I have a small obsession for the Minions from the movie Despicable Me. 

Minions!!!

Paper Quilling

Crochet

Movies