Weekend Project: Kitchen Stool Redo

Today I tackled another overdue DIY project: recovering the seat of a flea market kitchen stool I bought back in March for $15. The seat was covered in a cracked green vinyl from the 1940s. Its need for recovering was two-fold - the crack and the fact that our kitchen walls are the same green color. 

I wanted to find a yellow chevron fabric to tie in to the yellow in the fabric shades I recently made, but JoAnn didn't have any so I settled for a small yellow patterned fabric. I then used clear vinyl from our generous neighbors to finish off the seat since it lives by the stove and occasionally gets splashed during my cooking frenzies. I think it turned out cute!

Molly the Therapy Dog

I'm so proud of my furry-faced hound! We've been going to therapy dog classes together since June 12, and she passed her certification test today. Several months ago, my neighbors suggested we put Molly through therapy dog classes because of her easy disposition, and it turned out to be a great fit.

For those of you who don't know, there's a difference between therapy and service dogs. Service dogs are those who live with and serve one person with special needs and therapy dogs live with their normal owners and visit places like hospitals, nursing homes, schools, etc. to bring joy to the people there.

At a nursing home, Molly might just work the room and let people pet her. At a hospital, she may walk down the hall alongside someone who needs to get out of bed but needs an incentive. At rehab places, she may have people brush her or throw a ball for her. At schools, children might practice reading to her because dogs don't judge those who can't read well. There are seemingly endless ways Molly can help others, and I'm excited to be a part of that with her!

Catching My Breath

The last two weeks have been super busy leading up to a big two-day work event I planned for July 10-11 and then a work trip to Austin last weekend. Since I don't have anything particularly exciting to share, here's a short video showcasing the fun we had at our leadership conference (one of the biggest events I plan all year) so you can at least see what I've been up to:

Nuestra Vacacion a Puerto Rico (Our Vacation to Puerto Rico)

Last week, Levi and I squeezed in a quick vacation to San Juan, Puerto Rico during his four days off. I took my vacation time at work and he used his normal work schedule to his advantage (rough, I know!). Though we spent two days traveling and two days there, it was nice to get away if even for a short while.

These beautiful trees are everywhere in San Juan!

The first day, we toured Old San Juan, the area the Spanish inhabited during the late 1700s/1800s, where we saw the old city gate, two fortifications and a cathedral. The forts were especially impressive, having been built in stages and covering quite a bit of land, especially considering the time they were built (one began construction as early as the 1500s!). The old city gate and wall were also neat, and the gate led straight up the street to the cathedral where travelers would immediately go upon entering the city to thank God for a safe voyage. 

The second day, we took in some rays at the beach. San Juan has a rather rocky shoreline, but there were some areas of nice sand, as well. The weather is quite humid there, though it was a little cooler than Oklahoma (at least last week). 

In between the "events" of our stay in San Juan, we ate lots of good food and relaxed. On the way to the airport, we asked our taxi driver what we should do if we return in the future. He said there's a rainforest to visit, a cave system to explore and paradores, which are little guest houses scattered throughout the island in various environments or areas you might like to see (e.g. if you'd like to see a coffee plantation, you could stay at one of the guest houses on an actual plantation or if you'd like to spend time in the rainforest, there are probably paradores there, too).

Though Puerto Rico wasn't my favorite place I've visited, it was enjoyable and I would definitely go again!