Remember when we were brainstorming how we wanted the windows to look in our loft in the back of the airplane hangar?

Somehow, deep in our hearts, we just knew it would be awesome.

Maybe you couldn’t quite envision it like we could when we sprayed the walls with black paint.

That’s okay! We don’t have to envision any longer.

The old framing that used to house a pilot training room went down. The saws-all came out. And over a course of several days, the windows came in.

Would you like to see, too?

Every time I walk into the hangar now, I feel it. I feel like this space is actually becoming home.

And it’s a home we cannot wait to move into!

You’ll come visit, right? ;)

I’m anxiously watching the calendar. I want to read “December 1″ so badly because I’m ready to start my Christmas journal!

Are you keeping one this season?

It’s my favorite way to document my memories of the traditions our family celebrates each Christmas. I grab a mug of hot chocolate, plug in the Christmas lights, and turn to the prompts in “Joy to the World,” Gadanke’s Christmas journal.

Here’s a peek at an entry I wrote last year on December 5th, describing the mood at the tire house. Snow drifts. Eggnog. Music. Plans for a European Christmas dinner…

Sooooo excited to start again!

Would you like to join me? We’ll slip away into our quiet corners to write. Or maybe you’ll grab the kids for an afternoon activity. Today only, I’ve got a special treat for you:

YES!

It’s Cyber Monday – a day for supporting small online businesses with our holiday dollars. And Martin and I just have to thank YOU for all the support you’ve given us. Thank you for your journal orders, for your ideas and suggestions on this blog, and for your friendship.

Today, our gesture of thanks to you:

Enjoy free shipping (no matter where you live!) on all “Joy to the World” Christmas journals until midnight here in the Rockies (MST) on Monday, 11/28. Code: HOHOHO

Want some Christmas journaling inspiration? Flip through Jane’s Christmas journal at Gadanke.

People always say that if you want your dreams to come true, you have to get out there and make them happen.

So that’s what I did.

I’ve dreamed of having a bathtub since the day I went to college and realized showers were the only option. Well technically one dorm I lived in had bathtubs but… eww.

This loft we’re building in the back of the airplane hangar might be small, but so what. I’d like to have a bathtub. If it means I’m installing one myself, so be it!

First I decided to mark where to put the window. The future bathroom already has a window. However, the slope of the roofline makes that window impossible to keep. (We need the shower in the tallest corner of the room, not a window.) That window will eventually be sealed.

Our new window will go above the future bathtub.

The steel beams that run along the length of the hangar pre-determine the height of my window. (I’m actually using a window identical to the one in the bedroom, which gives everything a nice, balanced feel, especially from the exterior.)

Here’s what I’m envisioning:

And when I say “I’m envisioning this,” all I’m really thinking about is the cold and snow outside and the wonderful warm water inside. That marble and expensive tub are not in our budget. If they were, I’m not sure if we’d want them. In fact, we’re not sure what we’d want AT ALL.

Martin and I haven’t really thought about decor. We’re taking things one step at a time. One window at a time. One copper elbow (a basic pipe fitting) at a time. It keeps us grounded.

When you don’t get specific in your dreams early on, it makes you more tuned in to opportunity when it’s knocking. That’s how we managed to snatch these doors (there’s one stacked in front of another):

As Martin was loading the windows onto the trailer a few weeks ago, the owner of the little glass shop came out. They got to chatting. Turns out those doors were ordered by someone with a whole lot more remodeling cash than us. Then that person changed his mind.

So you know us! We’re nowhere near ready for doors. But we got ‘em! We think they’ll be awesome for the bedroom. The glass will need to be bead-blasted or get some lacy vinyl decals. That’s research for another day.

Right now? We’re installing a bathroom window.

What about you? Do you have a bathtub? Love it? Secretly crave one? As long as we’re dreaming: would you take the fancy one above?

Tub photo compliments of here.

So much is going on around here it seems I can barely find the time to slip away and keep you guys up to date! Blog about the home we’re building… or keep on building? I can’t help it. I’m picking BUILD, BUILD, BUILD!

Now it’s time to pause. Inhale. Celebrate the little victories and signs of the season. How are things going where you are?

Around here, everything looks snowy and sweet.

Even my desk, buried in the weekend’s journal orders, feels like such a sweet place.

Around here, Martin is Mr. Popular as the phone rings and rings for quotes, deliveries, and order inquiry after inquiry for the remodel.

Around here, I have already slipped and fallen on the ice as we went to the hangar to make measurements one last time.

Around here, it looks like a plumbing shop might be opening for business in the hangar.

But it’s not. We’ve got drawings and plans that use every foot of that stuff.

Where are these drawings and plans, you wonder? Oh gosh – they’re EVERYWHERE at the tire house. Like this upcoming Gadanke product I’m proofing?

Oh brother. The front got tagged with a window quick sketch:

And the back fell victim to some quick kitchen brainstorming (so we can get the plumbing plan together):

Around here, we’re hosting our second Thanksgiving (the first was with 10 expats when we were waist deep with remodeling our old kitchen in Berlin, Germany). I guess we have a thing for hosting holidays when the place we call “home” is all ripped up.

Around here, this Thanksgiving will be our first time preparing a turkey.

Around here, our knees are shaking at the idea! We’re also beside ourselves, ready to show the progress we’re making on the remodel to family and friends.

And now around here, I’d better boogie. There are a bunch of you needing me to get to the post office. Martin needs xyz from the lumber yard. And we hear it’s eggnog season!

How are things around your home?

Note to American expats: take time to do something fun on Thanksgiving. You might not need the turkey. But trust me… you need something to celebrate the day. Promise you will, okay? Not for me. FOR YOU.

I was flipping through the pages of the Christmas journal I kept last year. (I used the red “Joy to the World” one at Gadanke.) I turned to the last page where I always write my goals for the new year. When I wrote them down, Martin and I didn’t really know where the new year would be taking us. Back to Germany? Remaining in the Rockies?

So I was surprised to see how well I managed to achieve some of my goals. (sew zippers) (have journals in brick and mortars) (join a club)…

And the number one goal on my list?

Get in a magazine.

And it happened!

I went to Hollins University in Virginia for three semesters and earned an English degree there. (I transferred over there for an adventure halfway through my junior year.) As you might guess from the cover of our alumna magazine, Hollins is a women’s college. My journals were included in a feature of entrepreneuring graduates:

Thank you, Hollins! It’s amazing how that school taught me to be brave and continues to do so, even though I was only a part of their story for such a short time.

Two years and two months ago with tears filling my eyes, the flight examiner extended his hand.

“Congratulations, Katie. I’m going to give you your private pilot’s license,” he said. Then he started filling out the paperwork as Martin patted my back. Martin and I had spent the summer of 2009 with one major goal: getting my wings.

So often, I was scared out of my mind. See?

(my first cross country solo flight of 200 miles)

I didn’t think I was mechanical enough, quick enough, engine-oriented enough. But that’s the thing about fear. You can either let it win you over. Or you can keep fighting every day until you reach your goal. And I reached it!

My mom handed me a reward that I’ll never forget – a can of organic, chicken-free, vegan chicken noodle soup. She smiled so big and said, “This is because my daughter’s NO chicken!”

So here’s where it gets a wee bit embarrassing. Every two years, you have to get a flight review with a certified instructor. They want to make sure you’re competent, comfortable with the plane, and understanding all of the rules.

September passed, and I did not take a review. October passed, and I did not take a review.

We’ve just been too busy with the hangar loft remodel. How crazy does that sound? I’m going to live at an airport, but I can’t legally fly for the simple reason that I didn’t do my review. To make things even more embarrassing, my own husband can give me said review. So seriously… what’s been holding me back?

Monday afternoon, we changed the every-so-humiliating story. Martin had to ferry a plane several towns over for a couple of guys. I usually get stuck with the boring job of chasing after him in the car, up and down the mountain passes. Then we drive back home or vice versa, and I drive him out there. But not this time.

Instead, I got the pilot’s seat.

We did multiple landings and takeoffs (touch and gos), practiced our “crop circles” (turns around a point), and a million other details. Doesn’t Martin look so unsure in this picture?! Actually… I think I just snapped the shot a second before he was ready. (Talking about a death-defying flight test would sound soooo much more interesting, though, wouldn’t it?)

(A locally-made down vest is pretty much my BFF the rest of this year.)

I still have to do the ground schooling, which is at least an hour of review and questioning. Martin said, “I think we’ll span it over a few days so we don’t overwhelm you.”

(In husband-wife talk, that translates into, “You’re getting waaaay more than just one hour of ground school, baby. It’s not because I’m worried about what you know, but because you’re my wife. I raise the bar; I expect you to know. And by golly, I’m going to make sure you know!”)

So later this week, I should be back in the sky, a bonafide pilot once again. That is, of course, assuming the hangar remodel doesn’t consume all…

You can read the entire journey to becoming a pilot here. And I’d love to hear about fears you’ve overcome – big or small…