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!

Weekend Project: Fabric Shades from Mini Blinds

Since I saw an online tutorial for fabric shades from mini blinds several months ago, I've been wanting to make them for our kitchen. However, I'd been putting it off because I couldn't decide what fabric to use and I was afraid of ruining the blinds and having no window covering at all! Finally, I just picked a tablecloth from TJMaxx and used it as the fabric (only $20!) and Levi assured me that mini blinds are cheap enough to replace if I screwed them up.

As always it seems, I forgot the before picture. So just imagine there are cheap mini blinds hanging there in place of the new shade - very plain and boring!

DURING

AFTER

I'm really happy with how it turned out! I'm still not sure the fabric is my favorite, but I like it well enough and I've told myself that I can always change the fabric later using the same blinds skeleton (but I know I probably won't!). I might also add a backing fabric (some white muslin or something like that). Also, I still have one other window in the kitchen to make a matching shade for, but it's considerably smaller and the process should go faster now that I've done it once.

If you want to know how I did it, I used this online tutorial. My only advice would be to hang up your shade skeleton before you add the fabric to make sure it's the right length - and be sure the cord is all the way extended first! I had to adjust mine a couple of times, so I was glad I checked before I got to the fabric stage. Also, if you're curious to know, I spaced my blinds 7.3333 inches apart instead of the 9 inches suggested in the tutorial. You can do them however far apart you want. Now go make your own!

Hair Loss

About a year or so ago, I committed to growing my hair out to donate it. My goal was to grow it out until Jake and Becca's wedding (May 27) so I could wear an up-do for the event and then chop it all off. With my goal date having come and gone, I took a big step this week and made a hair appointment. Today was the day and, in true Emily fashion, I forgot to take a before picture. So, let's substitute a recent long-haired picture of me and then you can enjoy the rest. I think I've already decided to grow out my hair again, but the short hairdo will be nice for summer and it's always fun to have a change!

Camping Trip

Yesterday was Holt's 3rd birthday party at Lake Thunderbird, and my sisters, their families, Molly and I stayed after the party to hang out and camp for the night (Levi had to work). As many of you know, an intense storm blew in about 1:20 a.m., and everything went downhill from there. My sister Lindsay tells about it on her blog, so I won't retell the story here. Despite the crazy happenings, we managed to have a good time (mostly before the storm arrived!). Here are some pictures of the fun part:

Wilkins Reunion

Last weekend, Levi and I went to the Wilkins Family Reunion. Somehow the entire family was able to get together on the same day, at the same time, in the same place. Many of them I had never met, including some of Levi's aunts and uncles (despite having been with Levi for 8.5 years). His dad is one of 7, and none of them can seem to remember when the last time was that all the siblings were in the same place. It was a great afternoon of hamburgers, hotdogs, paddle boats and stories. Unfortunately, we had to leave early so that I could get to Bowl for Kids' Sake, a Norman fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters (which was also fun; click the link to see my sister Lindsay's blog post about it). I hope we will all get together before another 8.5 or so years pass!

 Our immediate family

The 7 Wilkins siblings with their dad