Dutch?

Truth is I don't know where to start on this blog.....

I will start with this. About a month and half ago I got a random phone call from my realtor. He had asked me if I had any interest in selling my house because the 2 townhouses next to mine he sold very fast and he had a buyer interested in them still. Keep in mind my house wasn't for sale but my realtor knew mine had relatively the same layout and he just wanted to check with me. The amount that it could potentially sell for was far more than I paid for it, so it was hard to say no....but I didn't have any plans on moving anytime SOON so I just kind of put that call on the back burner. I saw the two houses next to mine had the SOLD signs in the lawn and watched the owners move out over the next couple weeks. That's the end of that story.

Wall Collage Week

This Weeks Events...
(a little behind on posting)

I bought my house about 3 years ago and completely changed the look of it by painting the god awful flat tan colored walls red, yellow, and green. And WHY anyone would paint the whole house in that color...is beyond me! But even years later, I still don't feel like I have decorated it to the best of my ability.

So yesterday I got a sudden whim (after I saw a photo of a collage on a wall going up a stair hallway, thank you Pinterest) and instantly decided I wanted to make this whole wall collage thing happen in my house. It's pathetic really, it's literally all I could think about the entire day while I was at work. I pictured things in my head, thought of things I had thrifted that were laying around in the garage I could use, and was thinking of some things I wanted to pick up to make it work. I could hardly wait until 5 o'clock hit to attack this brilliant idea that was seriously taking over my head. I really didn't know what I wanted to put in the collage or where I was going to put it. As soon as I got home I started rummaging through my garage (aka my studio.) I have all sorts of "junk" and DIY creations in there, so I knew I'd find something.

So here is my wall before I did the collage..

 

 

Nothing crazy awesome, also nothing crazy boring. But it never really did it for me. So....here was my attempt at the wall collage idea...

 

 

Have no fear folks....the "S" (wedding gift) art is no longer crooked! LoL But aside from that what do you think?! It definitely changed my entry way "feel" and gave it more of a rustic feel. I think I still may change it a little bit, but I really do like it!

I also had a little bit of a problem hanging stuff...pun intended. I am a little bit short, 5'3" doesn't always get the job done. And with a husband who works overseas and a 5 lb. Chihuahua as my sidekick,I didn't have a whole lot of options. So a short ladder and a "time out" stool  I crafted to sell had to make do. No I do not recommend trying this at home!

Here are a few more photos of the wall décor pieces close up...

Soon after I finished this project I had yet another random though at updating the look of my home. I had a left over PVC pipe that had a hole in it from a previous project that I never used. Here is what it looked like before....

I know what you're thinking. (That is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, where can you get such a stunning PVC pipe for yourself...the answer is home depot lol.) I promise I'm not crazy, I put it to good use since it was just hanging in my garage. I also had in my garage a bunch of fake vase filler grass and sticks. I actually found these when I was out on a job one day. Someone must have moved from the house and left a bunch of stuff on the curb, which included this perfectly awesome decorating sticks still in the bag. So my girlfriend though I was crazy when I told her we were coming back with her truck to pick up this junk, but we did it anyway! And now I have a corner stairway filler "vase"...I think it's lovely. All it need was a little paint, ribbon, and some TLC!

I finished off my crazy week by enjoying the gorgeous fall weather Iowa had to offer. It was 70 degrees and sunny Friday so I randomly decided to grab my pup and my camera after work and head to Saylorville Lake. It's only about 15 minutes from my house and I've been there 100's of times, however only to go boating...I've never really explored the areas around it. So I jumped in the car and drove around. I ended up at the visitor's center just in time to catch a beautiful sunset! Here are some photos I got of the gorgeous evening and my little furball.

 

It ended up being a beautiful weekend! I did however capture one shot that shows my hearts not quite complete with my husband away....

I hope you've enjoyed this extra long blog! Until next time....

Wedding Glimpse

September 27th, 2014....The best day of my life. I got to marry the world's most incredible, handsome, loving, crazy man! I'll be updating my site soon (as I am WAY overdue) with some more blogs, but for now a glimpse at my perfect wedding day through the camera lens of Kapture King Productions. He did SUCH an incredible job capturing all the little details and important moments of our day. This video brings so much emotion to me every time I watch it (I've probably watched 100 times and cried each time,) I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Art on Palm Fronds

Who Knew?
Recently I started getting back into my art. I had shipped a small box of acrylic paints with brushes and 2 canvases to help me pass time on the island. So far I have yet to touch the canvases lol. However I came across an old palm frond that had fallen from a palm tree when Greg and I were out and about. It was dried up and hard and looked like it was the shape of an elephant. Instantly I wanted to paint it. Here's a first glance at what it started out like and 2 pictures after showing my progress:

So as you can see it was just the base of a palm tree branch and had dried up. I just brought it inside and washed it up and started painting. It ended up workout out really well. When I was finished with it, I thought was okay but didn't expect the response I got when word traveled around the island that I had been making these. I started out with a safari theme. Next I did a tiger and a giraffe. 

Multiple people on the island have come up to me with interest in purchasing so now I am trying to push myself to work a little every day on them. Every couple of days now we will put the wagon on the bike head out with a knife and cut some good dried palm fronds that we find, bring them home wash them up and get them ready to be recreated into masterpieces. It feels great to get such positive feedback on my work especially since it's been years since I've made the time to get back into my artwork. I forgot how much I love it. I used to be an artist back in high school, took a lot of art classes, voted best artist in my class, hell I took a trip with my art teacher and a few other students to Italy to see all the art museums around there, it was wonderful. (Thanks to my parents for making that possible and letting me go and a shout-out to Mr. Kling!) 

I even made myself an art studio out of my 3rd bedroom at home when I bought my house so that I could no longer use the "I don't have space" excuse and still never made the time to get down there and create! So out here there is no excuse I am unemployed for 2 months, the space isn't exactly here and poor Greg's kitchen table has turned into my art studio LoL but hey it's working out well. With all the compliments I have been getting I hope my motivation to keep creating stays with me and follows me to my studio back home! If I can figured out a way to ship them over 6,000 miles back to the states then I even have some pieces sold back home too. So if you are reading this and are interested in a piece let me know, I am selling them for $50-$75 a piece and am willing to knock the price down for purchasing more than one. Maybe a dream can come true and I can sell art for a living and live on and island with the love of my life.....crossing my fingers. Help me get there by buying and sharing my artwork! =) THANKS and here is one more picture of my Safari art!

S is for SHARK!

BEACH DAY WITH MY HONEY!

Greg was home at 8 A.M. from work the next day so we decided to pack a cooler and head to the beach. After chillin and hangin out for a while we decided to throw on our snorkel gear and swim around. Now Greg had previously told me that around the marina there were a lot of sharks, so naturally I told him we were staying the F*** away from that area. LOL.

We swam out to some coral and saw some really pretty fish. I even saw a black and gold Hawkeye fish....GO IOWA! 

As I said before I sometimes struggle with swimming so I make Greg hold my hand while we snorkel along. I look left and see what looks to me like a sting ray, you know that creature that KILLED Steve Irwin....

I grab Greg's arm and squeeze him as I "hide" behind him, he signals to me that it's okay and it won't hurt us, but I was still freaked out. We swim off the other way making our way towards the shore and as I'm finally calming myself down Greg taps my arm and points right. So I turn my head....A F*ckinG SHARKKKKK! 

OMG I instantly cling to him and think to myself, "just breathe, don't freak out, remain calm, that F*cker will eat you as soon as it smells your fear. AHHHHH Greg again signals to me that it's fine and as hard as it is for me to believe him I trust him but was sure as shit ready to get out of the water! I could see him keep looking behind us to check for it and as I am quickly flapping towards shore all I could hear was the JAWS theme song thinking he was behind me the whole time. LOL But we made it back to shore without any shark attacks! RELIEF! Once we sat down Greg told me that it was actually an Eagle Ray that we saw not a Sting Ray, and the Shark was a Black Tipped Shark and apparently neither one of them are anything to worry about. I am still not convinced, however I am grateful that these two guys had no particular interest in a petite serving of Iowa Inked Chick Filet. HA SHEW!



TONIGHT IS NEW YEARS EVE!

What better way to bring in the New Year then on a warm beautiful island?!

The "Outrigger" bar and grill is throwing a party. Now this isn't your typical bar or NYE venue. The bartender isn't the average hot young half naked 20 something. LoL His name is Wally and he's worked her forever I guess. 

Awesome right?! LoL It was technically a Masquerade, but we didn't wear any because there is no party store or Wal Mart for that matter on the island. We did put on some borrowed masks of our friends though for a few photos opportunities.  

It was a really low key and fun NYE. My main wish I got and that was to be able to kiss the love of my life at midnight! =) We did just that and were home by 12:15. What a great way to bring in the year 2014. Hell 2013 brought me so much, 2014 has a lot to live up to but I have no doubt! Hope you all had a great New Year! 

PEACE OUT!

First week on the island

I'm playing catch up here from my journal because I haven't been able to blog due to Greg's laptop being down. So here  is the first page of my journal:

12/31/13 7:05 AM 

It' my 4th day on the island and I've yet to adjust to the day and time difference. Which basically means I wake up at 3 AM on the dot every day which would be 9 AM back home. On top of that I haven't really felt good since I've been here. My whole family was fighting a stomach bug on Christmas, so I assumed that combined with a 33 hour travel itinerary, jet lag, and lack of good eating has been what's dragging me down. Yesterday around noon I finally started feeling myself. So on to the good stuff let me catch you up from day one!

One thing not many people have probably experienced is flying on/off of a runway of which the whole length of is the entire island....for those of you who haven't let me tell ya SCARY SHIT! I fly often enough I never really get scared but when you look down and see your descent is almost complete and you still see no land under you, just ocean you start to panic. I just knew we were going to touch down in the ocean. Obviously I'm aliving writing this so we made it but talk about freaky. Here's a little pic to get you some of an idea...but not really capturing the no land part:

Obviously I'm alive writing this so we made it but talk about freaky! And as you can imagine the same level of freakiness taking off, it looked like we were going to drive right off the runway into the ocean.

So after a few more island stops and a bit of a delay I arrived into Kwajalein. I felt like a kid at Christmas when we pulled up. As I walked off the plane I could see Greg waving at me outside the fence. AHHH FINALLY! But all the passengers had to go inside the "Airport," which is the size of my living room. As soon as you enter all the officials make you put your bags on the red line, take a seat, and fill out paperwork. The polic K9 comes in and sniffs the baggage and after about 20 minutes of processing I was the last one to be let FREE lol. I hopes the door and found my love hiding around the corner trying to surprise me. 

BEST HUG AND KISS EVER

It was so great to finally be back in his arms. BUT after all this flying I'm still not to my final destination. The next flight we have to catch is a daily flight they run back and forth from Kwajalein to Roi. That flight was only about 15 minutes and it was really awesome to be able to see the different tiny beautiful islands in the chain of the Marshal Islands from above.

Questions you get when you have Tattoos!

Alright this blog was inspired by the article I just read and couldn't agree more with on ThoughtCatalog.com check it out here
http://thoughtcatalog.com/ella-ceron/2013/12/the-9-most-common-questions-people-with-tattoos-get-asked/

So first off if you don't know me I have a few tattoos. Here are some....

Now the first two are my Grandparents when they we're around 15 years old. TRUE High School Sweethearts! And the last one is my most recent finished piece, which is hard to get a picture of. It says "Even The Darkest Night Will End And The Sun Will Rise."


So if you read that article from thought catalog here is my response which I am re posting from my personal facebook:

OMG I can't love this article enough I want to blog on this topic! My favorites are these numbers...
 
1. Did it hurt? 2. Don’t you regret them? 3. Don’t you respect yourself? 4. How are you going to feel about them when you’re old? 6. But what does it mean? 8. What do your parents think about them?

I could go ON and ON. So my little tiny rant and answers.
DUH it hurt, but obviously it depends on your pain tolerance and yours is different than mine. Hell no I don't regret them. Nope not even the tramp stamp that says my name...every single one of them was me at one point in my life. So maybe I wouldn't get the same one now as a 25 year old, or when I'm 35, but as an 18 year old I did and that's a stage of my life and a part of who I was and am today.
Do you need a tattoo to remember stages of your life, absolutely not. Do I have them anyway? YEP! That one also goes with the what does it mean question? Welp all of them have different meanings but don't ask me if you don't want to know the most amazing love story of two of the most important wonderful people in my life, my grandparents. Tattoos are so trashy right? Getting a portrait of the ONLY couple I know who's first and last kiss was to each other, literally til death (of my gpa) do them part. (I admit my Grandma does hate tattoos though.) Respect myself? Of course I respect myself, I love myself actually, you should learn to love yourself too and not judge others on appearance. You'll live a much happier life, trust me!
OH and when I'm old IM WRINKLY anyways so why not be tattooed and wrinkly?! I really don't think I'll be the only one in my generation rockin a sleeve or two in the nursing home. I'll be the "bad bitch" of the old folk home! HA! Just kidding. And why would my parents care? They are cool and love me for being unique weird me, wouldnt have it any other way! 

One more question they didn't address, or more of a statement.

"You'll never get a good job with tattoos all over." You're right. Although I seem to remember having a great job before my new one (that I willingly transfered to) at this place you've probably never heard of, it's called Wells Fargo. LoL I made great money there and even better money at my new job....so take that statement and shove it!

 Rant Over! **DONT FORGET TO CLICK READ MORE RIGHT BELOW THIS THE BLOG CONTINUES**

White Snow to White Sand

Guess what?!?!?!

I'm out of here! I am leaving Iowa the day after Christmas for the months of January and February and can't wait to get out this miserable cold weather! I'm going to stay with my boyfriend who currently lives and works on a tiny (basically deserted) island in the middle of the ocean. Rough right? Well here is a picture from my front door step today...

And here is a picture my boyfriend sent me of the view he has to deal with...

Any sane person would clearly prefer the 2nd picture, the white sand and beautiful blue waters over Iowa's dead trees and freezing cold snow and ice. 

So what the hell is this place called and where exactly is it you ask?

Kwajalein Atoll. Ever heard of it? Me neither. It is part of the Marshall Islands and to put into perspective it's about halfway between Australia and Hawaii and just 9 degrees north of the equator. The island Kwajalein is 3 miles long by barely 3/4 mile wide. The population is around 1,000. Small right? WELL if you think that's small the island Greg (my boyfriend) is on and where I am going is 50 miles North of that island and is called Roi-Namur. Roi (for short) is just 2 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. Population here is 100. Now that makes Kwajalein look big huh? To put it in Midwest Iowa farmer terms basically that's a well off acreage around here. TINY! 

Here is a picture from the plane that Greg took of the islands....

Here is a map to show you how far across the world my other half is from me..

And here is the breakdown of the Kwajalein Atoll islands....

It's crazy isn't it?

Well if you know either of Greg and I, It really isn't. This adventure of tiny island living and long distance madness couldn't be more perfect for two people like us. We are both crazy, spontaneous, outgoing, always up for a new adventure type people. Our love story in itself and the how we met story is a crazy story and will be a whole new blog in itself, so stay tuned for that one! <3 You really do find it when you're not looking. So here's to the next 17 days and hoping they fly by so I can see my honey, I miss him beyond words! Just look how cute we are....

**DONT FORGET TO CLICK READ MORE, THIS BLOG STILL CONTINUES**

Fernweh? Why?

Welp.
This is it. My first ever blog. So much pressure to write amazing articles and make sure to use good grammar and punctuation...HA! Wish me luck!

So I decided that I travel enough and have so much interesting stuff that happens in my life that starting a blog would be a great way to document it all while keeping my friends and family posted on whats going on in my crazy life. Often I have to pinch myself wondering if my life is real or a movie.

A little about me. My name is not Chelsey Fernweh, but for please don't stalk me purposes I've chosen not to post my real last name. "Fernweh" I came across on this website you've probably never heard of....Pinterest. ;) A friend said it reminds her of me and I couldn't agree more. So there you have it my new Blogger name Chelsey Fernweh.

I am a 25 year old outgoing lady (ha or lack of lady) with alot of passion for adventure and happiness in this crazy world. Born and raised in the Midwest...Des Moines, IA. I am absolutely obsessed with my 5 lb. long hair chihuahua, Reesie. Yes she is tattooed on my arm. I love her THAT much!

I like to think I'm pretty normal as far as the average 20 something year old female goes. I'm into traveling, photography, music, my family, fitness, yoga, art, my boyfriend, shopping, and being happy!

Please stay tuned to the Chelsey Fernweh Blog as I've got an amazing crazy traveling opportunity coming up in the months of January and February that even I can't believe I get to do! And stories galore to catch you up on!