Adventures in Hand Lettering

This Sunday evening, it feels like fall. Candle burning, breeze blowing through the window… it’s nice. Except I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer just yet! It has been a busy, but wonderful summer full of adventures, travels, and new experiences.

Through all the business in this season of my life, I found myself looking for a fun, but non-work related hobby. For the first time in a while, I had some down time each night, and throughout the long Wyoming winter I wanted to spend those hours learning a new skill. When I was planning my wedding, I painted a few barn board signs to use on the big day, and I loved the process. That evolved into hand-addressing all 300ish invitations to our celebration. I used a felt-tip pen and it took hours longer than I now know it should. Live and learn, I guess!

So this winter, in my search for a new hobby, I spent some time (AKA lots of hours on instagram) researching hand letterers and the process. I found out that there are lots of ways to create beautiful lettering, and started hoarding building my collection of pens, brushes and inks.

I also downloaded some practice sheets from The Postman’s Knock and followed Saffron Avenue on Instagram. It seems that there are so many styles of lettering, and I’m still working on finding my own. For now, I’m really loving watercolors, and recently worked on a  collection of watercolor prints to sell next weekend at Good Maker’s Market. Take a look!

 

Here’s to new hobbies and hopefully a raise so that I can continue to buy art supplies 😉

Cheyenne-iversary

I have to be honest, moving to Cheyenne, Wyoming was never part of “The Plan.” I’m not sure I ever really had a good idea of where I would end up after college, but I can promise you Cheyenne was not on the short list. Or the long list for that matter. When the opportunity first came about, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Even as we were house-hunting, I had my doubts. Could I move to a state I’d only been to once? Would I find a job? Make friends? Could I be that far away from my family?

With little more than dreams of mountain adventures and blind optimism that everything would work out,  we packed up one week after our wedding and headed out west. It was easily the scariest thing I’ve ever done, and sometime still feels that way. In many ways, it has been the longest and shortest year of my life, filled with anticipation, adventures, doubts, successes and challenges.

Over the last year, the initial questions and concerns I had about taking this leap have been all been addressed, some more than once. Overall, though, my worries have been relieved. Turns out, I could move to a state I’d only spent a couple days in. I did find a job (or two), and made friends. Being so far from family and friends is an ongoing challenge, but I’m not sure that’s something that gets easier when they’re such a great group to miss. We have been incredibly lucky that they’ve all been so willing to come out here to see us, or make time to see us when we have been home.

This move falls into the category of “Things I Better Do Now, or I Maybe Never Will,” and after one year, I can say I’m glad I did. I’ve not only become a resident of this city, but part of a community that cares about its members. I wasn’t sure this was possible in a city 30 times the size of the one I grew up in, but from what I’ve seen, it is. Within a few days of moving in, we had no less than four neighbors ask if we needed to borrow their lawnmowers. That may seem like a small gesture, but for these Iowa natives, that kind of nicety made us feel right at home.

Here’s to our one-year Cheyenne-iversary!

1 Year Anniversary

I’m sitting here after an amazing weekend in Steamboat Springs, CO where we celebrated our one year anniversary, and I really can’t believe how quickly a year has passed by. This year has been one major adventure after the next, and I’m lucky enough to have had my best friend by my side through it all.

Drew and I joke that we met when his mom crashed my fifth birthday party. Whether or not it was love at sight, we may never know (there was a bouncy house and a pony keg involved in this birthday/4th of July bash, so give me a break). Sparks DID fly, though, about 10 years later. I was 15 and Drew was forced to drive me everywhere for the first eight months of our relationship. Including to the orthodontist in a snow storm because I was not going to wait one more day to get those braces off. That’s love if I’ve ever seen it.

Hannah and Drew circa 2009.

 

Our wedding day was everything I could have imagined. We filled The Barn with all of our favorite people and celebrated bigger than I think anyone dreamed. Everyone says this, but it really was the perfect day. It’s such a surreal feeling to hit a major milestone in life while surrounded by all the people who have gotten you to that point. To know that each one of them was cheering us on all along (in various parts of our lives) and to have them all there as we said “I Do” was incredible. I’ll be watching our wedding video on repeat today!

We found out this weekend that when you’ve been together for almost eight years and married for one of them, you end up getting each other the exact same anniversary gifts, prints of this photo from our trip to Jackson, WY earlier this year:

We spent the weekend eating great food, kayaking (my first time..another new adventure), and exploring yet another new city together. It was so much fun, and I’m sure we’ll be back.

This year has been filled with excitement – a move to Wyoming, our first home, Hank (enough said), travel to new places and old, new jobs, friends and traditions. And it’s primarily been been good news. This year has been exciting, scary, challenging in the best way, and…happy. I sit here writing this feeling thankful to have good news to share, and to have someone good to share it with.

Happy first anniversary, Drew!

 

Summertime!

It finally feels like summertime in Wyoming and that makes for one happy Hannah! We’ve already taken advantage of the nice weather and nearby mountains quite a bit, and have some fun plans for the rest of the summer as well. The Summers are really why we thought moving to Wyoming might be a good idea in the first place (I mean, never ending winters are great and all but humidity-free summers are better) so we’re excited to take advantage of it as much as we can in the next few months.

In lieu of a lengthy post about what we’ve been up to, I’m sharing a collection of photos from our latest adventures. I’ll check back in next week after we take an anniversary trip to Steamboat Springs, CO!

Naturally I have to start with a photo of Hank…We’ve been running in the mornings before work and it turns out it’s really great for both of us. AKA, anything that reduces the amount of energy he has makes me very happy. 

We made a trip back to Iowa for Amanda and Will’s wedding. It was beautiful and we had so much fun seeing so many of our favorite Iowans.

Memorial Day weekend was spent camping with my favorite two year olds. They went “shishing” and their celebration was awesome!

Found in Laramie, WY.

Strawberry Moscow Mules are a favorite this summer. 

The front of our house got a bit of curb appeal with some landscaping, shutters and a newly painted door.

Hank’s first camping experience at Vedauwoo. 

We Also headed home to Iowa for Iowa State’s graduation, and I only managed to take photos of the (very thorough) celebration we had for Alexa’s engagement. #worthit

Other things on our summer bucket list include kayaking, Rocky Mountain National Park, having as many visitors from Iowa as possible (now taking reservations everyone), finishing up landscaping in our back yard (and avoiding killing everything in our garden), lots of hiking and camping adventures, Mt. Rushmore, and experiencing our first real Cheyenne Frontier Days. I always love this time of year, but it seems to go by so fast. Here’s to making the most of it all!

Free Spring Printable!

Once again, I’m sitting at home during a snow storm daydreaming about my back yard not being covered in snow. Hopefully April will bring some warmer weather out West. In the meantime, I’m ignoring the snow to design some springy-printables to share with all of you. Because really… do your thing already, Spring. We’re ready for you! Just click the links below to save & download, then print, set as your computer/phone wallpaper, or Instagram to your heart’s desire. I was really just looking for an excuse to reuse these flower graphics from some wedding invites I made recently. Probably won’t be the last time either…enjoy!

 

Do Your Thing Spring (desktop wallpaper)

Do Your Thing Spring (high quality print)

Do Your Thing Spring (mobile background)

Do Your Thing Spring (Instagram)

 

Good News for Every Occasion

 

Amy Meyer, columnist behind the Original Good News

When I started this blog, I was mostly excited to have an opportunity to write on my own terms. I was also looking forward to taking inspiration from my favorite writer, Amy Meyer, and reading through her most popular columns did not disappoint. As I was reading, I kept mentally filing her various columns and their lessons away for moments I’m bound to encounter in my life. Amy’s columns are jam-packed with the perfect mixture of positivity, realistic opinion, humor, and wisdom. Even though Amy’s life was incredibly unique, both in the things that she chose to do and in the things that chose her, her writing is relatable, regardless of what you’re going through. In realizing that as I read through her columns, I thought I would pay it forward and share some of her wisdom with all of you.

1. For when you need a little perspective: Perspective changes idea of what’s important
2. For when you need a dose of patriotism: What makes a top notch soldier
3. For when you’re going through a major change in life: Great Hats, Colorful Scarves and a Wig
4. For when you are feeling reflective on life’s adventures: 2004
5. For When you need a laugh: Martha
6. For when you’re feeling appreciative of those who raised you: Happy Mother’s Day
7. For when you’re feeling appreciative of friends who feel like family: Give Thanks for great neighbors
8. For when you’re struggling to find positivity: Finding the good in the Bad
9. For when you want to make a difference, but don’t know how: Back to School
10. For when you’re struggling to relate:  Thanksgiving Thoughts
11. For when you’re feeling nostalgic:  But I just got the hang of my old cell phone
12. For when you wish there was an easy solution: Can We Cure Cancer with Cookies

These are just some of my favorites from the Original Good News. You can check out the rest here. I hope you can all take something from Amy’s writing, I know I did! For those who knew her, tell me, doesn’t it feel good reading Amy’s words? To me it feels like I’m having another conversation with her. For those who did not know her, I hope her words give you a glimpse into her awesome personality. Goodness knows her bright light is missed very much.

Snow Day and Life Lately

Yesterday was 60 degrees, sunny and beautiful. Today… my day looks a lot like this.

Hank has no interest in going outside in this weather, and I can’t say I blame him. So, we’re staying inside and I’m getting some fun projects done! I thought I’d share some of the things we’ve been up to lately. As usual, life hasn’t slowed down much, which is okay with me.

Last night we tried out the Infused Buttercream Cupcakery, a new bakery in downtown Cheyenne. I had a red velvet cupcake, and Drew had  their Whiskey and Coke-o cupcake (because we’re predictable as ever). The shop is so cute, and we had some good company! We went for a social hour with the Emerging Leaders group through United Way here in Cheyenne. We figured it would be a great way to meet some other young professionals, and also support a new local business. Neither disappointed!

As soon as we heard our Cyclones would be playing in Denver for the NCAA tournament, we started planning a weekend trip to see them in action. Bob and Nicole drove up from Phoenix, and we had all kinds of fun! We started out at Society, the bar that hosts game watches through the ISU Alumni Association for all football and basketball games throughout the season. There were Cyclone fans galore, drink specials and shirts for sale that read “Cy is my Spirit Animal.” What more could you ask out of a gamewatch venue?

Before we went to the game, we stopped for a quick lunch at Crave Real Burgers , which was delicious. We then headed over to the pre-game pep rally, which featured the ISU Spirit squad, free beer from Tivoli, and plenty of school spirit! After that we headed over to the Pepsi Center and watched the Cyclones in the NCAA tournament for the second time in my life. I’m a lucky girl!

I’ve also been working along with my mom to get The Barn at Bunker Hill up and running. I won’t lie, I’ve basically been having wedding planning withdrawals since about a week after my own wedding, so finally getting to share one of the most important details from  my wedding is really exciting to me! A lot of work went into making this Barn the perfect venue for all kinds of events, and I’m so excited that others will now get to use it to make memories like the ones I now have from our big day. I’ll share a full post on that later, but for now I’ll leave you with some information on our next event, a Barn open house! We have so many big plans for this space, and I’m so excited for what its future holds. If you haven’t been to the Barn (or have and just enjoy coffee and cool people), come check it out on April 23rd.

And that’s life lately! Now, here’s hoping that spring shows it’s face soon, because as much fun as a snow day is, I’m ready for sunshine and outdoor activities.

Lensch Living: Hall Cabinet Update

Two weekends ago I conned Drew into helping me paint our living room, dining room and hallway. Of course painting can never be just painting though, so we ended up replacing light switches and cover plates, and updating the built in cabinets at the end of our hallway.

I love these cabinets because they are tucked back in at the end of our hallway so they’re out of the way, but they’re also really spacious so they’re really helpful for storage purposes. Right now they’re sort of a catch-all extra storage space that doesn’t serve a specific purpose, but I think they will eventually act as a linen closet since our bathroom doesn’t have a ton of storage and we have eight thousand towels as a result of our wedding.

Anyway, they were in need of a little face-lift. Before, they were poorly painted white with wooden knobs and mismatched hinges. They also had bright blue shelf paper with stars and planets on it. It was time for an update.

We painted the walls “grey beige” (very exciting, I know), so I thought the cabinet doors would blend in too much if we painted them the same color. So we took a trip to Lowes and found some white paint to match our trim. We also picked up some new hinges and replaced those. My parents had some leftover brushed nickel knobs from when they built our house, so we stole a box of those when we were home for Christmas.

The most exciting part of this update is the new shelf paper (can shelf paper be exciting?). It was a little tricky to install, so I would recommend having an extra set of hands available to make it a little easier.

Overall, I’m so happy with the finished product:

It seems like such a small change, but I’m really happy with how it all turned out. Slowly but surely we’re whipping this house into shape! Next up is finishing our basement bathroom and adding the final touches to our bedroom. As much fun as these home updates have been, I’m itching for spring weather and the opportunity to get outside.

Now to get back to work and begin the countdown to the weekend!

Good News: Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative

Happy Monday, friends! I hope Valentine’s Day treated you all well. My Valentine brought me five gallons of paint for my dining room/living room, and I’ve never been more in love 😉 Truly, I was really excited to get that project tackled. And now I plan to avoid painting with everything I have for quite a while. Anyway, moving right along…

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been busy lately working on a variety of projects, one of them being the Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative. This is something I got involved in soon after moving here, initially as a way to use my PR skills while searching for a “real” job. It has since become something I am heavily involved in, and truly passionate about.

If you’re not sure why I’m passionate about breast cancer awareness to begin with, check out this page.

Backing up a bit, when I moved away from Iowa, I knew that a huge part of really enjoying my new home would hinge on my ability to get involved in this community. I’ve never been very good at sitting still, and love meeting new people, so volunteering for a brand new organization seemed like the perfect fit for me.

It just so happened that this organization was so brand new that they were in need of some help with their public relations efforts. So, with the help of an amazing team, we put together the “face” of the new Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative.

My favorite part about working with nonprofits is the dedication of the people behind them. This is especially true of the WBCI. With it being a brand new organization, 100 percent of the people behind it are volunteering their time to make it happen. 

The Wyoming Breast Cancer Initiative (WBCI), in partnership with the Wyoming Community Foundation, is a new organization with an ongoing mission – to increase breast cancer awareness and prevention across Wyoming. The WBCI builds on previous efforts in Wyoming to raise awareness and educate Wyoming residents about breast cancer. Emphasis will be on increasing breast health education, financially assisting breast cancer screenings, facilitating patient navigation, and promoting survivor recognition. One hundred percent of funds raised through the WBCI will remain in Wyoming and will continue grants with existing health partner programs. Grant applications will be available in early summer through the Wyoming Community Foundation with funds awarded by the end of 2016. It is the WBCI’s goal to provide a grant in every county across Wyoming.

Now, this team is working on coordinating events for 2016. The first is something I can totally get behind – coffee and books!

52 Cups for Cancer will be the first event, and features Wyoming author Megan Gebhart. Her story is so cool. While in college, she challenged herself to have a cup of coffee each week for a year, then chronicled her conversations in a book, 52 Cups of Coffee.

 

Then, in August, the first annual Pink Ribbon Run will be held in Cheyenne. I love a good race, especially when there’s a cause behind it that I am passionate about.

Overall, my involvement with the WBCI has been so much fun. Not only has it given me the chance to use all those skills I worked so hard to learn in college, it’s given me the opportunity to meet so many great people in this community. I’ve learned that although Cheyenne is a larger town, people here are really invested in their community, which I love.

When I started this blog, this is the kind of thing I was excited to share with all of you. The people/places/things that I see in my every day life that exist for doing good. WBCI is doing wonderful things, and I’m so excited to be part of it.

 

 

Lensch Living: Living Room Tour

I’d like to preface my newest post with a list of excuses as to why there have been no posts for two months. Between Thanksgiving and now, I went to Chicago for a weekend, Iowa for nine days at Christmas, Texas for a weekend, started a new job, started some contract PR work, and have been volunteering my time for a new nonprofit initiative in Wyoming. While I apologize for the lack of actual posts, I like to think it was all in an effort to report more good news to all of you. Because really, it’s all been pretty great!

I’ll report on some of the events I mentioned above soon, but today I want to present a new series I’m calling Lensch Living, which will all add up to a tour of our first home. I warned you all that this blog may become a wannabe home improvement blog from time to time, so today I’m going to make good on that promise.

Buying a house is a daunting task. On one hand, I was excited about all the possibilities for making my HGTV dreams come true. On the other, I realized that my mom is the true home decor genius and she lives in Iowa. Somehow, with her help via FaceTime and many project requests to my handy husband, I have finally put together several rooms in my house.

I’m going to kick off this series with a “tour” of our living room. This is where Drew and I spend 99 percent of our time, so it was important for me to get this put together fairly quickly. When we moved in, everything was painted white, and so far we haven’t painted anything but the bathroom, bedroom and office. We will eventually paint the living room, dining room and kitchen, so I’ll keep you all posted when that does happen.

Without further ado, the Lensch Living Room:

Despite the fact that my dog is 50 lbs., his favorite spot in the house is on the back of that couch looking out the window. I’m going to appreciate the amount of fluff in that middle cushion while it lasts. 

We rescued this piece of furniture from a dumpster. A new top and a coat of paint later, we had a new entertainment center! 

We desperately needed a larger coffee table, so Drew made this one out of pallets. It still needs to be sealed, but it is the perfect size for between our couches. 

This rug is from Walmart and cost $17. I’m also on the hunt for some baskets to go on the bottom of this coffee table. 

Another Handy Husband project request. I drew the Elk on the pallets, then he cut it out and glued it to the vertical pallets. I love how it turned out!

I left for a weekend in Chicago in December and came back to the floating shelves I had been hinting at for quite a while. These are on the wall between the Living Room and Dining Room. I’m looking for a short bookshelf/table to put underneath them as well. 

For now, I’m considering this room 85 percent complete. I can’t wait to get everything painted, and I am looking to add a few other touches, but overall I’m really happy with how it turned out. We’re also planning to update the door knobs and light fixtures throughout the house as well, but its all an ongoing process. I’ll try to continue this series as we update other parts of our house, including the bathroom we’re installing in our basement. Home ownership is no joke, but I’m really enjoying channeling my inner Joanna Gaines when I have the time and energy ;).