I See Pink When I Turn Out The Light

Well, well. This is a big week, my friends. Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day. I bet most of y'all didn't even think about the first two holidays. Oh well! Is it really a big week? No. But Lent is one of my favorite traditions I have ever taken part in, so I'm excited. If you're taking part in Lent as well let me know what you're doing for your ... Lent-ing? (it sounds like a good word to me)

In celebration of the more famous, or infamous depending how you look at it, I have collected a bunch of images from my Outside board on Pinterest for . . . TRAVEL TUESDAY! With a Valentine's theme.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake - Bentonite Hills, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. Photo: Joshua Cripps via Flickr

Pinned from: Fly Me There, by Junxx

Pinned from: Cabin Fever, by Barbara Smalley

The Mourne Mountains, Newcastle, Co Down by mcilrathf on Flickr

Monet's Gardens at Giverny by snap713 on Flickr

Pinned from: An Infusion of Lavender by Bonnie Jackson

by Steve McCurry

Pinned from: Adorable by Heather Mettra

Mystical Stairs, Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina; Pinned from Destinations by Jammie Friday

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. – Robert Louis Stevenson

Moats and Boats and Waterfalls

For this Home Wednesday I thought I would round up a few images from my own home of little things that bring me join in my place. These are all taken from my Instagram. Follow me @WhitneyGoller.

Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. - Oliver Wendell Holmes 

The Thrill of Movement and Location

It's Travel Tuesday! I am actually really excited about this because I haven't posted about traveling or places I want to go since the summer when I posted my images from my 2 road trips ( found here, here and here) and when I wrote about wanting to see Ireland (here).

Lately my life has been all about "the next step"; with applying to graduate schools and even just dreaming about where I would like to live, I have gotten a little too caught up in living in the future more than once in the past weeks.

I would like to show you why, though. I am listing for you schools to which I am applying, and what travel aspect I look forward to for each destination.

First up:

The University of Texas


Austin City Limits: the longest running live music television program. Austin is the Live Music Capitol of the world, and I would love every second of it. Not to mention that The University is known for having one of the most beautiful campuses in [at least] the country.


Washington State University


First of all, the city of Pullman is nestled in a thick of trees and mountains. Second of all, there are sites like these all around: this is the Palouse River Canyon.



Oregon University


Another city within a forest within the mountains. Eugene, Oregon is surrounded by sights! And some of the most celebrated National Parks are within driving distance, like Mt Rainier, and Olympic, as well as a longer drive to Yosemite. Not to mention that it's only 2 hours up to Portland.

Willamette National Forest, directly east of Eugene. Actually, you should just see all the beautiful pictures from this amazing forest: check out the Google image search here.

The University of Colorado


Are you seeing a trend yet? I really would love to live in the forest with instant mountain access. I would choose the mountains over the beach any day. Boulder is a beautiful city, in a beautiful state. Plus, Colorado is known for its arts community as an ENTIRE STATE. Wow. Plus, Boulder is located right on the boarder of one of my favorite spots I visited over the summer: Rocky Mountain National Park.

This is Odessa Lake, right in the middle of this mystical national park.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago


SAIC. Talk about a school known for its arts. Chicago is a booming city itself, but the School of the Art Institute of Chicago definitely has a top reputation in the country. Honestly, if I got in to this school . . . I would feel extremely overwhelmed.


East Tennessee State University


This is not the last university within a forest within the mountains, but it is in my absolute favorite mountains I have visited thus far. I love the Blue Ridge, the Smokies, the Appalachians ... whatever you want to call them. They are beautiful and magical.



Bald River Falls, found in the neighboring Cherokee National Forest.

Burren College of Art


Ireland. Need I say more? Burren is a land of rock on the western coast of Ireland. Ballyvaghan, Ireland is located across an inlet from Galway. I get goose bumps thinking about this place. No really. I have them right now.


Burren National Park.


Where would you vote to live? I sort of hope I only get in to one school so I don't have to decide between all these amazing programs and places.

Don't do it for anything but the love of movement and location, Or the battle is lost. - Movement and Location, The Punch Brothers

Ba-bling Ba-bling

I'm not really one for wearing much jewelry, but I have been making a conscious effort of late to accent my outfits with a little sparkle. I am definitely not one to over do it with a mess of bracelets or a grapple of necklaces dangling around my neck. However, in the ensuing photos I found, these ladies have pulled off a very bling-y look, while still allowing for subtlety.

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

J. R. R. Tolkien

Thursday DIY: Stained and Painted Bar Stools

This is a DIY project I did a little while back in the fall. I had these bar stools from Wal-Mart since I got my first apartment 3 years ago. They were definitely bland but have always served their purpose. I have, however, developed a love for dark-stained wood. 

Bar Stool DIY: Before and After

Stools are a really nice place to start experimenting with staining because typically no one notices them while their butts are on them. So I had seen a number of really cute looking tutorials on sprucing up bar stools and took a shot at my own style. 

Bare with me on these horrible pictures, I did this project well after midnight and took pictures on a Blackberry.
First off you will want to sand at least the top of the stool to take off the thin varnish it comes with.

Spray down and wipe off the sanded areas to remove any dust. If you don't do this you will end up with clumpy stain and you're gonna have a bad time.

I used Minwax finish on mine. I chose a dark stain with an ashy tint, as opposed to red.

A little bit of style comes in to play at this point. I really wanted the top of the stools to be dark, so I did 2 coats, applying with a rag. After the second coat had sat overnight for maybe 5 or 6 hours, I went back with my rag and created a rougher texture.

I really liked the way the top turned out. It has a lot of grain texture in it and a nice rubbed look. After the stain had fully dried, which probably took around 2 days, I then applied a few coats of ModPodge to seal it all up.

Finally, I painted the legs white with just one coat of acrylic paint (that's what I have lying around so that's what I used).

Happy crafting!

Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress. - Bruce Barton