Oh man. Just looking at this photo from last summer gives us the shivers. It’s the kind of shivers that go up and down your spine over and over until you finally slap your laptop closed.

Look at all the stuff! It’s amazing to think of all the months and all the hours we spent just trying to clear the place out. And yet… we’re not quite done.

But enough talk about that. Otherwise, I’m going to have to shut down my computer and leave you hanging!

Instead, I want to gaze into the future and update you on some of our plans for turning this old hangar into our home and office. The Nester’s linkup party inspired me to start talking and thinking these goals out.

We’d originally planned on dividing our future loft home into something like this:

The space is about 750 square feet. We decided to balance out the size of the living space a bit more. Now the peak in the ceiling will be perfectly centered in the room. A more asymmetrical room would feel more comfortable and balanced.

Ignore the photo’s outdated elements (like the uninstalled window in the upper right in the living room or the old framing that’s still up in the bedroom). I guess I don’t stand at this spot for photo taking nearly often enough!

It’s plumbing season around here. That way, we can get the floor closed and start building up. We took our drawings with us for Christmas break and accidentally left them behind. Oops. Here are some plumbing inspiration pieces we’re gathering from:

sources unknown

Ummm. Plumbing inspiration? Look at the faucets. The one of the left juts out of the wall. The two on the right come out of the sink. Which do we want? That’s question #1.

Then we go into the kitchen where we’re going to need water hookups headed to the sink and dishwasher. We have to sketch out a tentative kitchen plan. Remember this picture of Martin measuring the space before we extended the floor?

It turns out we’re most inspired by…

Our last major remodeling project in Berlin, Germany! Hey. If you’ve got something that works, you should just go with it, right? We haven’t decided if we’re going to DIY to quite the same extent. (In Berlin, we built every cabinet from sheets of wood ourselves.) I still remember hanging out the window as Martin fed wood through the table saw.

A small German kitchen in the city can’t translate into rural America perfectly. I can’t just hop on my bike and go to the grocery store around here. So the design won’t be quite the same. For one thing, we are drawing inspiration from this:

No, no. Not the baby. Although she is pretty stinkin’ cute, right?! We actually really love the corner pantry in this house. It would be a great way to maximize storage for food and kitchen gadgets in the corner. We’ve yet to see a standard corner get truly maximized with cabinets. Maybe they’re out there.

Well except in Berlin. Most of our corner space was lost to water meters. The water company used to measure our water use to the liter!

Knowing how we want to use the corner of our small kitchen will make it so much easier to figure out how to arrange appliances and water lines.

So those are the plans!

I guess we have a little way to go.

Have any tips for the perfect kitchen or bathroom? We’re all ears, welcoming your stories.

I was thinking about what I want 2012 to look like. My immediate thought was, “Oh! I should keep focusing on becoming.” (My word for 2011.) The idea was fleeting.

A year of becoming was truly awesome. But it doesn’t feel right for 2012. It feels so Katie-focused and selfish. I was about to head to the kitchen to start making dinner for Martin and me, and that’s when I knew.

“Become” journal for finding and following your dreams

My word this year is together.

It’s creating systems that make my journal business efficient. It’s managing our household and taxes. It’s shifting my energy to put together the hangar house.

Most of all, it’s being together with people.

I read this piece, On Friendship, and was blown away by the simple gestures of one woman. We’re all busy; we’re always going to be. Yet there was Caroline, being brave enough to put together events she feared and being available enough to always be by her friends’ side when she knew her friends needed her.

Together: with people, collectively, continuously, close association, self-confident

Goals aren’t steps toward perfection; they’re pieces that take us toward a more fulfilled, inspired versions of ourselves. Being more together is my idea of goodness.

by Cinnamonink

So 2012, here we go.

How do you want to craft your new year?

P.S. I’m back in the saddle. Over the weekend, I made a few of each journal that was previously sold out.I know so many of you have had your eye on specific books like the blue She personal journal, classic rose prayer journal, and of course, all the Become journals. And travel journals! Those are always so much fun… and now they’re all back again after a wild Christmas season. (many thanks!)

“Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay live. That is why we put these stories in each other’s memories.” –Barry Lopez, an American author and essayist.

It’s true.

With Christmas celebrations fresh in our minds, I think we know. Nothing compares with family dinners or Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) that are rich with stories, laughter, and memories. (That includes the celebrations turned disasters!) My grandmas are both in their 90s. Their lives are so rich with story. And their hearts are so full of wisdom.

I wanted to pause today to tell you 7 lessons they’ve taught me for living a life that’s rich with story.

1. Make relationships your top priority.

Never put money first in your life. Put people there. Cherish your family. Treat others with the kindness you offer your family. Know your neighbors. Invite them for cake. Give their kids special treats.

2. Eat dinner as a family.

Life is busy. It’s always going to be. But the greatest memories my grandmas have of their homes always centered around the table. Not the tv. Not on different schedules. They weren’t at the diner or cafe. It was family and story all together every night.

3. Listen.

People always say the sad words “I wish I had asked…” when a loved one is gone. Live so that when someone passes away, you can say, “I remember when…”.

4. Eat like you want your body to last 100 years.

My grandmas say it’s the only thing keeping their MINDS going for almost 100 years, too.

5. Never stop picking yourself up and taking another step forward.

My 94-year-old grandma is incredibly mobile. She goes on long walks every day. “If I decide to take a break,” she told me, “my legs won’t be able to start again. I’ll never be able to walk. That’s why I keep walking. Every day.”

6. Do challenging things just for you.

One of my grandmas gave up scuba diving in her 80s. She still tells me about her own visits to Germany years ago. She felt like a rich life was one where you got out and tried new things and challenged yourself. As a result, she had friends everywhere she went. She connected with people and understood them. She felt like her life was more than being a stay-at-home mom or a wife. She was also her own self.

7. You have to choose happiness. Happiness isn’t a token that some people get and some people don’t. We can all carry the token. We have to make a deliberate effort to get up in the morning and see the good stuff. The depression. The war (WWII). My grandmas have lived through so many good times and so many hard times in their personal lives and our world. But at the end of the day? They choose to smile.

What’s a piece of wisdom your grandma or a woman in your life would have added to this list?

Thanks for all the well wishes on my finger injury. All those journals that sold out at Christmas? They’ll be slowly entering the shop again on Monday! So if you’ve had you eye on a prayer journal, She 1.1 personal journal, or any of the other diaries, they’re on their way!

Needless to say, due to a recent hand injury, I have not been helping with the latest progress at the hangar. Of course, I didn’t think I’d actually MISS all of the fun, too.

Our neighbor with the backhoe came by one last time to give us a hand… or rather, the strength of a thousand hands. He just drove his backhoe right into the hangar and scooped up that glulam beam. Bang. It was in place and secured on either side before I even knew they were up to anything.

Here’s a good picture from a few weeks back when we still had the ladder and trellis railing up so you can have a visual comparison.

I know what you’re wondering. Why is that beam there?

Let’s go up stairs to the loft where we’ll be living. I’ll see if you can guess…

Not yet? How about if we get some 2x6s in there…

Do you see where we’re going with this glulam beam now?

Yep! We’re expanding our living quarters.

Now the entire loft will be a perfect rectangle instead of having a notch cut out of our bathroom/kitchen area. The way I see it, extending the floor is pretty much what allows us to have a bathtub and dishwasher.

Aww. It’s looking downright homey up there now. Or at least it’s getting there, right?

Now I want to hear about you. If you could get a few more square feet in your home, where would you want them? What would you add? Any other bathtub requests out there, perhaps?

The words of author Christina Baldwin have meant so much to me in 2011:

The power of story is understood by the powerful, yet the power of story belongs to all of us, especially the least powerful.

I started the year very cold and sad because I was just so cold. (The tire house was not built to handle our winters.) I knew I had to stretch myself to become something more. I knew I had to carve a path that could bring me to a warm, comfortable home again one day.

My motto was simple: become

1. I wanted to become more in my business.

The shop has grown and grown. It even won a green business award from our governor!

2. I wanted to become a friend within my rural community.

Is there anything more wonderful than a few great friends nearby? I pinch myself each time I realize how lucky I have become in friendship this year. (And you know what? All of those friendships came because of THIS blog.)

3. I wanted to become connected to the stories of my past.

No matter how busy we are around here, I wanted to pause and celebrate family and family traditions/stories. I found some new heros along the way and embraced the loss of my grandfather to Alzheimer’s like I could never do before.

4. I wanted to become a girl in her very own (warm) home.

If you’d asked me in January 2011 how things would go, I would not have been able to say, “I’m moving into the back of an old airplane hangar.” Back then, I just knew I wanted something more.

In May, Martin and I were in Germany. We found ourselves taking the deepest, bravest breaths of our lives as we decided to return to the US and become home owners… of sorts! We’ve been decluttering and building up ever since.

4. I wanted to become comfortable in my clothes, comfortable with being me.

The No New Clothes Challenge was awesome this year! I patched sweaters and learned how to reattach buttons. I found my signature look. I learned the power of a shining inner beauty.

5. I wanted to become a storykeeper and guide and inspire others to celebrate their stories.

So many women opened pages of their journals – and with them, their hearts – for all of us to read their stories. I’m so, so grateful. I loved sharing peeks in my books and projects. I loved creating new journals (including the Jump Up kid journal and Seeking Grace prayer journal) this year.

There is still so much Martin and I dream about, so much we want to do together.

I’m so grateful to have you all on this journey with us. Thank you a million times. You have become such an important part of our life and story.

The funny thing about all of these becomes is that I didn’t remember to ask for help when I most needed it. I just kept pushing and pushing to do it all.

In the end, Martin and I found ourselves rushing to the emergency room. I remember just sitting in the passenger seat of the car with my slippers on, squeezing a clean cloth around my hand. I had sliced my finger open. It needed five stitches.

All of a sudden, I couldn’t do the things that I was always doing. I couldn’t build journals or tape envelopes shut. I sure couldn’t work at the hangar or even scrub our dishes. Typing was difficult. Everything was. Everything is. And it’s going to keep being hard until my finger heals.

I forgive myself for pushing too hard for too long. (This has not been easy to allow myself to do.)

I am accepting the low inventory at Gadanke right now and taking time to relax and heal.

2011 was a beautiful year with so much beauty and richness. I loved it with all the good and bad it brought. I learned so much. I laughed and smiled so much. I loved so much.

And as for you, 2012? I’ve got big plans for you, mister.

Happy New Year, everyone! We’re going to make it beautiful.

Interested in 2010′s personal theme? It was be true to yourself, not your stuff. Yeah… 2010 was our year of decluttering.

We’re going to head into the holiday weekend a little early over here. We have these Czech Christmas cookies and these German Christmas cookies ready to go. I even had to tape the tin shut to keep out curious little fingers.

As the craziness begins, we want to ring the bells, sound the horns, beat the drums.. and wish all of you a big, “HAPPY HOLIDAYS!”