DIY: Bleach T-Shirts

    Even though Susan left to go back to Idaho for school a few days ago, today's post is a DIY we did together last week. After seeing some great bleach shirts on Pinterest, I thought it would be a really great way to make some Wyoming themed shirts before we both went back to school. I think using state outlines is a fun way to show your state pride, but any relatively simple design works pretty well. The process is pretty simple and fun, and a great way to spend an afternoon. I would recommend doing this project outside, because of the bleach, or at least in a well ventilated area. Here's what you'll need:

    - Cotton T-Shirts
    - A 50-50 mixture of bleach and water in a spray bottle
    - Contact Paper
    - Cardboard
    - Printouts of the designs you want
    - An X-Acto Knife or other craft knife
    - Scissors
    - Hydrogen Peroxide

    Start by taping the design you've chosen to your contact paper, and using the X-Acto knife, cut out your design. The part of the contact paper you should keep and apply to the shirt is different based on how you want the shirt to look. For example, I used an outline of Wyoming with the area code 307 inside, and I wanted the numbers to stay black, so I kept the outer rectangle and the numbers. Susan wanted her cowboy to stay turquoise, so she applied that part of the contact paper to her shirt. Put a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt to prevent the bleach from soaking through, and apply your design. Once you have your design pressed onto your shirt and any area that you don't want to get bleach on covered, you are ready to start bleaching!

    Start by spraying just a little bleach and allowing it to dry. Gradually spray more bleach until you've reached a result you like. Once the bleach is completely dry, remove the contact paper. For my shirt, I removed the outer rectangle and sprayed a little more bleach to rough up the edges a little. Once all of the bleach is dry and contact paper removed, apply hydrogen peroxide to the bleached areas. This reacts with the bleach to keep it from continuing to degrade the fabric. I would recommend putting the hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle like the bleach because it easily runs off or pools up when poured directly onto the fabric. Once your shirt is dry, hand wash it and you're ready to wear! I'd recommend hand washing the first few times, but other than that, it should be good to go. Here we are wearing our finished products!

Cloud Peak and Back Again: A Hobbit's Tale

    Over the past few days, my brothers and I hiked up Cloud Peak, one of the highest mountains in Wyoming.  Cloud Peak is located in the middle of the Cloud Peak Wilderness, so once you've driven to the area, you've got to get out and hike about 10 miles just to get to the mountain.

    Our trip lasted only two days, although we'd anticipated three.  (I was pretty proud of that pace, since I was carrying almost 30 pounds.)  With a late start in the afternoon, we hiked about 10 miles to the base of Cloud Peak on the first day.  We camped at the base of the mountain in our teeny tent and did our best to sleep through rain and a rock slide.  The next day, we climbed up most of the peak.

 

  

When we were about a mile from the top, the clouds began to darken.



    Heeding warnings about storms, we turned around and made our way all the way back down.  Then we took a brief respite with soup at the bottom.  Determined not to sleep another night crammed in our wimpy tent in the rain, we hiked all the way back to the car, making for about 12 total miles of hiking that day.  And that was my first backpacking trip.

Lake Marion on the way back

    While I enjoy hiking, fishing, and camping, it seems I am a hobbit when it comes to backpacking in the wilderness.  Hiking with all my stuff (sleeping bag, food, rain gear, mosquito spray, etc.) on my back made me wish I'd never left the Shire.  While carrying everything was a bit taxing, I think the real reason was the sense that the extra distance, the extra carrying, and the trekking deep into the wilderness area, were not worth it.  Here's pictures and a comparison between regular Wyoming mountains and Wyoming wilderness to illustrate why:

Regular Wyoming mountain characteristics:                                 Wyoming wilderness characteristics:
- Some people (kids and families)                                                       - Still people (more old people, and even a rare sighting of
                                                                                                            the hipster hiker)
- Trees                                                                                                  - Trees
- Abundance of fish, even if they're smart and won't bite                  - Some fish? (we saw a few in one stream)
- Rocks                                                                                                 - Rocks
- Moose                                                                                                - Moose
- Plenty of forest in which to heed nature's call                                 - Expectation to haul solid human waste with you  (Seriously?  You
                                                                                                               expect us to haul out our own crap on top of everything else?)

    As you can see, the main difference between Wyoming wilderness and the rest of Wyoming seems to be the notion that human waste is not part of nature and must be hauled out with the rest of your trash.  Personally, I'm inclined to think that our waste is one of humanhood's most natural aspects (and that keeping it a good distance from water or trails won't bother anyone), but maybe that's just me.

    Anyway, Wyoming is beautiful.  Especially if you're a moose unrestricted by waste sanctions.

Hello From a Wild Heart

    Have you ever felt like you're running in a herd?  You're part of this great, powerful whole, surrounded by sleek, fit bodies pulsing with energy and movement as the herd streams forward and carries you on a high.  But suddenly, the flashing, beautiful whole starts to pull ahead.  The herd surges past you on either side, parting around you, and it dawns on you: you're not one of the sleek, powerful members.  You're the sick, gimpy one.  That's about how I felt after seeing Michelle's brilliant first post. =) My name is Susan, and I'm excessively competitive.

Me playing soccer: can't win ball with skill?  Kill other team with fists!  (Photo credit to Nguyen Photography)

    After I spent last summer away from home, I wasn't sure what a summer in my hometown in Wyoming would be like.  Living with my family after almost two years away is definitely an adjustment I've struggled to make.  When it gets down to it, though, I forgot how much I love Wyoming.  (Friends at my university are probably laughing at this because I talk about how great Wyoming is a lot.  GUESS WHAT, GUYS.  IT'S SUPER TRIPLE EXTRA GREAT.)

    I know now that I'd forgotten the details.  The daily bits of life, what it was like to have turkeys regularly invading the yard, pheasants taking off sounding like helicopters, and woodpeckers drumming holes in the trees.  I'd also forgotten what it meant to be truly alone, and to rejoice in it.

    Over the summer, life here has renewed a lot of who I am.  All those pieces of Susan, little bits of chickens, sunshine, old friends, manual labor, solitary time, and reading, had been lying in Wyoming where I left them, and it's felt so good to pick them up and fit them back into me.


    In a few short weeks, I'll have to leave my wild home.  It'll be good to be back at school, but I think my heart always stays with the land in Wyoming.  And of course, I'll miss my chickens dearly.  You'll probably get to hear how amazing chickens are later because I love them.  I'll also be writing about college, trying to find the future, people, and little bits of life.  Until then, I'll be out in paradise.

Introducing Myself (and my backyard)

    Being home is fantastic. Most of the year I live in Seattle, but coming back to Wyoming is always such a break. While I miss my friends, boyfriend, and school, there's something about being back where I spent the majority of my childhood that just makes me happy. It might be those beautiful sunsets, seeing family and old friends, or it might just be that simple small town feeling. Whatever it is, it makes a great environment for thinking. I've been thinking a lot about starting my senior year of college and about moving into my new place and living alone for the first time (probably going to be some future posts about both of those things). Today though, I just enjoyed the sunset and took photos with my sister Kristin (thanks to her for taking the first two in this post!). Frolicking around and taking silly photos has always been one of my favorite ways to relax.

    My parents' backyard is one of my favorite places in the world to take pictures. It has this perfectly rustic look, with the tall grass and the old fence, and it has most beautiful view of our wonderful Wyoming sunsets. I love the rough-edged kind of beauty that you find in this area. Things that are naturally beautiful have always appealed to me more than the polished edges of modernity, but I also love the beauty in decrepit fence posts and barbed wire and not-quite-dead grass struggling to survive. The telephone lines and barbed wire should ruin the view, but somehow, they just make it better, and the distant sound of dogs barking or occasional cars on the highway don't spoil the quiet so much as make you notice how quiet it really is. This place has a sort of stubborn beauty; life struggles a little here, and to me, that makes it all the more beautiful.

    I'm hoping to continue to post photos of my beautiful surroundings, both while I'm here and once I return to the wonderful Pacific Northwest. I love to cook, so expect some recipes and food photos in the future, as well as posts about moving into and decorating my new apartment, hiking and other adventures, my senior year of college, Anthropology ( my major), and maybe even some personal style, though I could use some work in that department. For now though, I'll leave you with the beauty of Wyoming and the promise of more to come.

Michelle and Susan are Dead

    No. We aren't, in fact, on a boat. Neither are we actually dead. We are, however, lost. We also feel a particular kinship with Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which explains the title of this post. It also inspired the name of this blog, since Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are often confused about themselves on a boat, and we are similarly confused, even though being on a boat is rather rare in Wyoming.
    We are both college students who grew up in Wyoming, Susan goes to school in Idaho and Michelle in Washington. We share a love of learning, mountains, chickens, coffee, reading, food, and a certain flair for interesting grammatical choices. We hope that this blog will feature posts about these things, among others, and lots of pretty pictures. Although right now we are both back in Wyoming, once we go back to school in the fall, we will both be posting about our daily lives separately. Later on, we'll both be posting our own introductory get-to-know-me posts, but for now, welcome, and don't fall off the boat!