Paria Canyon

Living in Colorado these past couple of years I've been blessed with many opportunities to do some amazing things.  Last March I went on a backpacking trip with a friend and my fiancé to Paria Canyon, in between Utah and Arizona.  It was challenging, but beautiful.  The trip was about 38 miles, but you were literally wading in a river for almost all of the hike.  It took us 3 nights and 4 days and right in the middle of our trip Utah had a crazy wind storm... we definitely felt the wind tunneling through the canyon, picking up the sand to whip our legs.

Here are some of the pictures I took while we were hiking.

Buckskin Gluch, a narrow slot canyon:

Day two in Paria

The sandstone walls of Paria... you can see my fiancé and our friend ahead of me (I was always lagging behind because I was trying to take so many pictures!)

Buckskin Gluch

I think this was also Buckskin Gluch or Paria day one...

Paria day three, the morning after we slept in a cave because of the wind storm.  

A welcome site after 35 miles... signs of civilization

I love this truck, this was at the end of the hike at an abandoned ranch.

All photos by me

Washington, DC

I went to Washington, DC a couple of months ago--my first time ever!  It was amazing, there was so much to see and do, I definitely didn't get to do everything I wanted to, but that just gives me an excuse to go back!  

Here are some of the highlights from my trip...

Flags around the Washington Memorial:

Photo by Me

The fountain at one of the museums of the Smithsonian...PS I did not know that the Smithsonian was free until I got there, what a great surprise!

Photo by Me

Picking out a name at the Vietnam Memorial:

Photo by Me

The stars at the new World War II Memorial:

Photo by Me

And ropes around the World War II Memorial:

Photo by Me

Before & Afters...part 2

I forgot about this cabinet in my last post...this is tied with the dresser/vanity for my favorite before and after.  If only I could fit something like this into my apartment!

Here is the cabinet before:

And the cabinet after!

Photos on DesignSponge

And to make it easy, instead of painting the flower onto the cabinet, they just stuck on a decal from fawn&forest!

Before & Afters

One of my favorite things are before and after pictures that people post of rooms or furniture that they have redone.  Here are a few of the good ones.

My all time favorite (so far) is this redone dresser on DesignSponge...AWESOME!

Here is the dresser before...

And AFTER!!!

Photos on DesignSponge

And on the same post as the dresser/vanity is a great chair that I think I might try to do for my dining table...here it is

The chair before...

And after!

Photos on DesignSponge

I just saw an awesome post over at knack... this buffet is amazing!

The buffet before...

And after!!!

Photos found on knack