Pictures of life lately...

I haven't been very busy! To say so would be a huge lie, and everyone could say my pants were on fire and I would be upset, I have very few pairs of pants.

Here are some pictures I've taken in the last few months. I met my new nephew, spent a lot of time at the park, and read a lot.

I hope I'll have something more exciting to post soon.


Katie Tank

My Internet Role Model.

Elsie Larson

A year or so ago John got me a Google reader, and started me in to reading blogs, and feeds and things of that nature. Well one day shortly after, I was sifting through all of the bike and computer related blogs and I stumbled on a post that contained this video. 

Elsie & Jeremy | May 15th 2011 from Goodwin Films on Vimeo.

    After not reading the accompanying text but, watching the video over and over again and showing John and him crying a little at how perfect it was, I saw a little blurb that mentioned this Elsie character had a blog, A Beautiful Mess, I clicked the link and fell in love . 
Her Blog is amazing, the first and last thing I look at online everyday, A Beautiful Mess has given me so much inspiration for my crafts, decorating my house, styling my hair, doing my make-up, picking out my outfits and taking pictures. Most importantly Elsie inspired me to start blogging and sharing my life and the fun things I do. After further investigation I discovered that not only did this goddess of crafts, fashion and home decor have a blog but she co-founded a vintage clothing store in Missouri called Red Velvet full of amazing things that I really want.  
Please check out A Beautiful Mess and Red Velvet, and get inspired or buy something amazing from the shop.

My Best Friends B-day

So while most everyone else was in a food coma post Thanksgiving, Salena, John and I were counting down until midnight, and gearing up for the night ahead. Now you might ask me " Katie, what did you receive for all of this waiting?" Well friends, since I asked for you, I and the rest of Chico's legal drinkers welcomed my best friend Salena to the scene.
Our night started by being turned away at Bella's, a sports bar, and told by the girl at the doors that most of the other bars in town didn't allow the power two hour past midnight on ones birthday. We were not discouraged and tried a second bar, and with some negotiation on memory of the exact date we were allowed inside.

And Salena had her first beer in a bar legally.
We stayed at the bar until last call, and then we came back home and carried on from there. Salena and I actually ended up staying up until about 9 the next morning, and the next night we went out again. I left my camera at home that night but we had an amazing night, of drinking, dancing and friends.

I am So happy I got to spend Salena's birthday with her. It was so special and very very fun.

Sweater Re-do

 

What you'll need:

Lace or seam binding in assorted colors, thread to match your lace, pins and needles, buttons and scissors!

Step 1. Cut 4 strips of each color lace/seam binding to desired lengths, you may want to vary the lengths to add some character to your flowers. I'm adding five flowers, so I have 20 pieces of lace.
Step 2. Sew one end of a piece of lace to the sweater where you'd like a petal of your flower to go.
Step 3.Continue with the other three pieces of lace for that flower, placing them in a half circle.
Step 4.Take the other end of the first piece you attached  and continue your circle. so that the lace is spanning the circle loosely. continue with the remaining ends of the lace and complete your circle. ( you can sew on both ends at the same time, this is just the way I did it, because I
didn't want to have to keep cutting and re knotting my thread).
Step 5. Sew a button to the center of your lace flower making sure all of the petals are sort of fluffed in the same way.

Step 6. Repeat steps 2-5 until you have all the flowers you want. If preferred make some multi-colored flowers.













This is my finished product : 

I hope you like this and maybe even use it. 

Tank, Katie Tank

About Me...

Me

I realized I hadn't really explained myself and by myself I of course mean me. My name is Katie, it's short for Kathryn, and I hate being called Kathy. I grew up in Ridgecrest, a very small town in the middle of the Mojave desert. I am the third child and 2nd daughter of my parents Jim and Louise. I have two brothers one older, Dennis,  one younger, Ben and an older sister, Jennifer. I recently turned 24.

 In High School I was a cheerleader for two years, and I was (in my opinion) a pretty friendly person. After I graduated I tried traditional college and really wasn't able to focus. A year or so later I was living in Chico going to beauty college studying manicuring and skin care ( I don't style hair, though I might want to go back to school for it some day) and loving every minute, I also attended Message Therapy school and am certified in that too. After school was over and my one year lease was up on my apartment, I moved back to Ridgecrest to be with my family, and work at a wonderful salon and spa called Madison Avenue. I lived and worked in Ridgecrest for four years after that, and a lot happened, but the biggest being the loss of my mom in 2009.

John and Me

A little over a year ago, I was lucky enough to meet a fantastic man by the name of John Jones, and a few weeks later he was mine, and I haven't let him go since. Shortly after meeting John I got to meet Merle, John's dog, who is a  aussie/retriever mix and is just so smart and sweet. About two months after we started dating I decided I want a dog all my own which led to us getting Molly, who is...well we're not too sure, but she's small, cute and can jump really high. Together we are a happy little family. 

Molly and Merle

In August when John got a job offer in Chico, we jumped at the opportunity to move to a cooler climate in a more northern part of the state. So we packed up a budget truck and my truck, and drove 8 hours, signed the papers for our house and moved in. A month later my best friend, Salena, moved in with us, when she made the move from Ridgecrest to Chico.

I have a ton of hobbies, including but not limited to, crafts, cooking, decorating, photography, the ukulele, computer science, web design, and I'm always looking for new and fun things to try. John is an avid cyclist and commutes to work by bike everyday, he has built me two bikes, and most of our friends ride, so we spend a lot of time pedaling our weekends away around town or through the park. 

Me being silly

My life is very happy, I do my best to not let sad things get to me. I love making people happy, joking around and being silly. My life is pretty balanced but it never stops being exciting.

 I hope you think it's as fun and exciting as I do!

Our Town Pt. 1

The Park.
We spend a lot of time at Bidwell Park, it's  giant, filled with trees, streams and tons of bike paths. It's always a busy place but it's so big you feel like you're in the middle of the woods rather than the middle of Chico.  The place we go within Bidwell the most often is called  5 mile, which is a wonderful little picnic area that's hidden away next to a the creek.

5 Mile - Bidwell Park Chico Ca

 I love how magical the park is every moment of the day, with the streams flowing softly, the wind rustling through the trees, and the way the light shines through the leaves different times of the day and season. The Park is always changing but in a natural way that's calming and peaceful.  Sometimes, if the others allow me, we hop off the bikes, wander off the path and I get to take pictures, and sometimes Salena gets a few pictures of me taking  pictures.

In the summer time the Park also offers tons of  places to swim, we got to go once or twice before it got too cold, it's really fun. The park is so big, you can choose an almost private spot to swim with you friends, I say almost because it is a public park but we love meeting new people so we don't mind. I'll be sure to take pictures when summer rolls around again.

Room to Live

 

I love my home actually, I love all of the things inside of my home. John and I spent about two months getting our living room finished and finally, it looks amazing. It's warm and inviting like a living room should be. 

 

 Collection of mounted stuffed animal heads. 

a close up on the bookshelves.

We find a lot of the art, and pieces we decorate our house with, at thrift stores. Like our stuffed animal heads, we found them, and being that we're vegetarians, thought they were funny and really cute. The small table in the picture was given to us, for my birthday, by our friends Tony, Laura, Mikey, and Erik, who each had a part in making it.  We are so lucky  to have been given some wonderful pieces by friends and family members, like our "Nixon Resigning" newspaper from John's Grandmother, Jane,  and the Mama and Baby owl our friend Mikey me. 

the sconces frame our projectors image.

Our home is pretty cozy and I can only imagine it will get better, after all home is where the heart is, and we're just renting. I'll post more of our house as more rooms become complete. For such a small house, it really is a huge process.