.ADK We Love You.

Adam and I were able to sneak away two weeks ago to celebrate our third wedding anniversary (which is actually tomorrow!) visiting our happy place:

 The Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.

Before I even really begin this post, I need to state one simple fact and that is

God has His hand in everything!

Adam is from Minnesota. 

I am from New Jersey. 

We met in Virginia.

We both LOVE the ADKs in NY.

How did this happen?

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I grew up in Northern New Jersey vacationing to the Adirondacks with dear family and friends. My mind and heart are instantly filled with precious memories when I think of two particular places: Lake George and Speculator.

Lake George was my family's getaway weekend destination growing up and gave me my love for all things outdoors and camping. 

Speculator is a small town in Upstate NY and the home of Camp-of-the-Woods. My church's senior high youth group would attend Camp-of-the-Woods every year for our winter retreat. After spending five days at camp four years in a row, it began to feel like a home and gave me comfort every year I returned.

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Adam grew up in Central Minnesota, hours (and hours and hours) away from the Adirondack Mountains and yet he became connected while attending college down in Virginia.

During his sophomore year at Liberty University, Adam's friend introduced him to Deerfoot Lodge and it was love at first sight..or in his case, love at first description. Deerfoot Lodge is a Christian all boys backpacking camp located in Speculator, NY. The more Adam heard of this Deerfoot, he knew he had to work there that very Summer.

And he did. 

Adam was known as 'Chief Adam' Summer of '05, '06, and '07. 

While working at Deerfoot, he would spend his days off relaxing at Camp-of-the-Woods and exploring nearby towns, one of which was Lake George.

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2006 was a great year because I met Adam and well that speaks for itself :)

 On our very first date Adam asked me if I enjoyed hiking, camping, and backpacking. He was obviously thrilled with my response of "yes" and told me I should work at Tapawingo, a Christian all girls backpacking camp. (Sound familiar?)

I honestly do not even remember getting a word in because he went on and on like a junior high girl talking about Deerfoot and Tap. It finally came out that the two camps are known as "brother-sister" camps in Speculator and that Tapawingo is affiliated with (you guessed it) Camp-of-the-Woods.

You can only imagine our conversation at this point.

"Oh my word--"

"Do you know--"

"What a small world!"

"Have you been to--"

"Me too!"

It was good friends, very very good.

The Summer of 2007 God saw His brilliant plan working just as He planned. Adam worked at Deerfoot and I worked at Tapawingo.

We wrote letters. Actual, handwritten letters to each other. 

Every single one has been saved.

We spent a few days off hiking, exploring, and falling in love.

It truly was magical.

God brought us back to the ADKs for our Lake George honeymoon in 2009.

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God is good. He has His hand in every aspect of your life. I did not realize it until recently, it was all God's planning bringing a Minnesota boy and New Jersey girl to the Adirondacks. What an amazing thing God created
for Adam and I:

A place that is special to us physically, emotionally, and spiritually..to us.


God provided us a solid connection with our hearts and more importantly, to His heart. I am forever thankful for the mighty plans of our Heavenly Father and for all the ways He continues to bring Adam and I together as one.

I praise God for pouring His love onto me and onto Adam. I praise Him for being omniscient. I praise God for His planning, for His promises. I praise God for blessing me with a husband who loves Him more than me and puts Him first. I praise God for everything He has given Adam and I. 

The list goes on in my heart and the Lord knows and feels it all.

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Now that I have gone in great details (whoops) on why we love the ADKs, I can finally get to our anniversary celebration!

Adam and I drove to Keene, NY to hike two of the forty-six high peaks. We stayed at the Roostercomb Inn and really enjoyed our visit. It was fabulous and great fun meeting other hikers, especially their dogs, and to cook our own meals in the shared kitchen. Here are a few photos of the place:

We enjoyed some gluten-free penne our first night in town and packed pb&j sandwiches, on gluten-free bread, for our hike day. It's extremely comforting packing a few groceries from home you know you can eat--we were thrilled to learn we had free access to the kitchen!

 Adam and I hiked Cascade and Porter, two of the forty-six high peaks. Adam is simply awesome and only has 11 peaks left to become an official 46-R. As for me, well I have only 44 more to go ;)

 The weather in the ADKs is sunny-stormy-sunny-stormy-sunny all day long, it's actually pretty cool. The clouds began forming as we were on the summit of Porter so we raced to the next peak, Cascade, and attempted to beat the storm. We failed but had an awesome time!

On the left Adam is standing on Porter and right standing on the top of Cascade which is his 35th high peak bagged--only 11 more to go! (Notice the clouds!)

 We ended our time in Keene checking out the local shops, all 2 of them, and bought a few goodies for our home to remember this special time. Adam and I ate at the Noon Mark Diner and check this out:

This is the perfect example of how God's hand is in everything! Seeing this menu thrilled me as well as humbled me in front of my Heavenly Father. He always reminds me to trust by blessing me with little things that bring smiles!

Adam and I ended the week in Speculator, home of Deerfoot Lodge-Tapawingo-and Camp-of-the-Woods! We were there not only to visit dear friends we've made over the years, but to celebrate the wedding of two great people. I will show photos from the beautiful occasion in a different post.

We ended our trip with an evening canoe ride on Lake Pleasant.

We had such a wonderful time together and left feeling energized physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It was the absolute perfect pick me up we both needed, thank you Father.

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Thank you for making it to the end of this post, it was a bit long :) 

I would love to know how God has revealed His hand in your life recently and if any of you have ever been to or heard of the places I mentioned in this post. 

Have a wonderful day!

.Surprise Trip.

Hello friends!

I wanted to stop in quick to tell you Adam planned a surprise anniversary trip for us that is happening as I type this :) Our anniversary is June 20th but I do not mind one bit beginning the celebration earlier!

We will be back on Tuesday with pictures and details about our adventure!

Have a wonderful week and weekend--

Katie

.Corner Gallery: Part 1.

I am genuinely excited to share this project with you. I've been planning it in my head for months and months and all of a sudden, I acted on a whim and went for it! Here's a peek:

The past two nights I felt surprisingly bold and confident and began working on our corner gallery late at night..we are talking starting at 9pm. It worked out well because Adam was busy working in the dining room on his website the first night and last night was working on building the last wall in the garage (another project to share).

::taking a step back::

The truth is I have been extremely indecisive about decorating our new house. It has almost been one full year since moving in and yet I feel as though my decor does not represent that time frame. Maybe I've felt pressure of making it look great..maybe I've been nervous to mess up..maybe I've been trying to fully understand the mood I want the house to express..not sure what the exact reason is but I've been taking my sweet ol' time decorating.

This is why it is so strange I busted out a huge corner gallery in only two nights and mostly all by myself (Adam showed me a great technique I will share later in the post). I cannot believe I did it and most of all how easy it was for me to make decisions!

Here's how it all went down..

After my spray painting fail, read here, I drove myself to Target and Walmart to buy different sized white frames. I had no idea of a layout or how many I needed, I simply bought the frames in pairs making sure I had at least two of every size frame. On our recent trip to IKEA, Adam and I picked up our last few frames again without knowing how many we should buy. We just went with it, very relaxed about the whole thing.

Two nights ago I brought all of our bags to the kitchen table and began unwrapping the frames. It hit me then we may have bought too many but in fact we bought the absolute perfect number--I just LOVE dumb luck :) I started laying out the frames on our kitchen floor and within minutes, yes minutes, I had my final look. I was shocked at how quickly the process went even more so that I was pleased, tickled even at how great it looked. I asked Adam to take a look and his response was perfect, "Really, you're done. And happy with it?"

Yes and yes! Take a look:

I truly do not know how it happened but it did! I was thrilled with the layout and immediately began hanging them on the wall. Adam helped me measure to get the two big frames centered where I wanted them on the wall and then taught me this great technique. I do want to quickly apologize for the picture quality, most were taken at night and then this morning on a very rainy dark day. I am well aware the white balance is off and you can see the harsh daylight versus the soft, warm inside lights. 

Anyway..here is Adam's technique for hanging the frames:

Step 1: Place masking tape on the back of your frame. Make sure the edge of the tape is flush with the bottom edge of the frame.

Step 2: Trim the excess tape off that is sticking over the frame.

Step 3: Pull the remaining tape off of frame. You are now left with a tape strand the exact width of your frame. Set aside, will use later.

Step 4: After you have your frame in the set position you like (..and checked with measurements) simply hold it in place while you place a new piece of masking tape flush with the top of your frame and label it like so:

Step 5: Place your frame down and take your cut piece of tape (the one that is the exact width of your frame, from Step 3) and place it directly under your tape labeled, "top."

Step 6: (This may require help from a partner) Hold your frame back in place with the top of your frame flush with the bottom edge of the piece of tape labeled "top." Take a ruler and measure your frame's width, marking on the tape where the center is. For example, if the frame is 10 inches wide, you need to make a mark at 5 inches.

Step 7: Place frame down once again and pick up your nail and hammer. Line the nail up with your mark and place it UNDER your cut piece of tape from Step 3. This will ensure your frame will hang at the exact height you want.

Step 8: Once your nail is hammered in the wall, check out your work by hanging up your frame. The top of the frame should be flush with the bottom edge of your labeled tape.

 Step 9: After it is hanging, place a level on top and tweak the frame as needed.

Step 10: Continue until you are finished--woohoo!

I shared this step by step process with you because this truly helped me complete our corner gallery in no time, I hope it helps you too! Last night at 1am I completed the first part of our corner gallery and took a few pictures this morning, take a look:

The idea to do a corner gallery came from this stunning image found on Pinterest (left) and the white frames inspiration came from Young House Love (right). After viewing these two beautiful galleries months and months ago my mind was made clear..I had to do this!

I am afraid our Corner gallery: Part 2 may take quite a while to complete. I am not certain what will fill our frames but I'm thinking photos (duh) mixed in with art both homemade and from Etsy. It will take time and this may sound silly but I am pleased with having just the empty frames up--they alone make me happy :)

All of that to say, don't be on the look out for Part 2 anytime soon..it will come--some day!

Happy Living--Happy Gallery Making

and remember

--Little Things Bring Smiles--