My first visit to Yellowstone National Park was in kindergarden. My love for this park is one the reasons Martin says, “You can take Katie out of the country and put her in Berlin, but her heart is always in the country.” Yellowstone is – without a doubt – my all-time favorite National Park.
Here’s a seriously jaw-dropping youtube video my dad documented of a bugling elk in the park:
If we were to hang a little sign on our door, I think we’d have to say something like, “Welcome to our home sweet tire.”
Our home for the summer is made out of old, discarded tires. And in case there is any confusion about this fact when guests come to visit, here’s the front door:
Tire houses are officially called Earthships. They are designed with natural materials from the area (such as stones from the valley) and hundreds of recycled tires. You don’t know how many tread patterns there are on tires until they make up your walls!
I fell in love with the state of Wyoming this summer. I did not see it coming. The people have always been the kindest people during the 5-minute glimpses of life that I share with them in gas stations, restaurants, and all those quick-stop kind of places over the years.
For example, Martin and I needed two AA batteries for my headset when we were getting fuel for the plane this past weekend, and the airport didn’t have any. So the woman just pulled the batteries out of the remote control and handed them to us. ”You’ll be needing these,” she said and handed them to us, refusing payment.
01. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I make these chocolate chip cookies.
02. Whenever Martin feels overwhelmed, he works on airplanes.
03. Those probably aren’t the best forms of stress relief in Germany where (1) there are no chocolate chips and (2) we have no access to airplanes.
04. What? You thought I’d say it’s bad stress relief because then we EAT the cookies? Okay, that’s true, too.
Summer is always a little slow to come our way in the mountains. The mountains still have snow, and lilacs are just starting to bloom. I was so touched by the different summer homes and old tack houses on our hike this weekend.
I wonder what it would be like to live on this old dirt road tucked in the mountains.
When bucks shed their antlers in the fall, a lot of people like to decorate with them. All the white on the side of this building are antlers. It’s so rustic and charming.
I finished setting up my desk yesterday. It’s in the bedroom.
My desk is always in the bedroom, and Martin’s is always in the living room. It doesn’t seem to matter where we are. It always ends up this way after plenty of conversation. I don’t know why, but I do very much love my new home.
I seem to keep my desk very simple. My MacBook is from 2007. I prefer Pages over Microsoft Word at any moment (though I was slow to make the switch). And Martin says I am very good at polishing the keys. i.e. I type a lot. You can see our bed in the background – also very simple. I would love to upgrade to some beautiful sheets and a duvet cover. But for now we chose other things – like the experiences of the past year in Germany.
I'm an American in Berlin, Germany. My apartment is 480 square feet; the kitchen's only 36. This blog chronicles the DIY approach my husband and I take in Making This Home.Read more.
