Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mini Vaca

Welp, I said I would be back on Monday to tell you guys about my little weekend vacation... but I wasn't.

My excuse? Sometime last week I became addicted to the Bachelor. I know, I'm a couple of months late to the party. But, it's all I heard about for a couple of weeks and decided I needed to find out for myself what the fuss was about. Therefore, my house is a complete disaster (still...), I haven't written a single post this week, and I just changed out of my sweats like 20 minutes ago because Alex has company over.

Good news though, I finished the season about an hour ago, so I can have a life again! As everyone knows already, it was a dramatic story. All I'm going to say on the issue is that it really does seem like Ben and Courtney are a good match for each other. I think it was obvious that they could both be themselves with each other, and they could be a little nerdy (which I am clearly a fan of).

Alright... Back to real life.

Our mini vacation was great! We left Thursday night for Bend/ Sunriver, which is east of us. It's a beautiful town that we are considering a move to, but we'll see what happens.

The weekend was full of intense (and a little bitter, on my part) games of Settlers of Catan, a trip to the High Desert Museum, checking out the local college campus, eating great food, and staying up late to star gaze in the hot tub.



Of course, no trip is complete without Bret trying to be a stow away.



The animals at the High Desert museum were fun!












Above are our friends, Michelle and Allen.
And then of course my hottie husband below!


Sunday was his birthday! Happy Birthday baby! I love you so much and had a wonderful weekend with you! I can't believe how much our lives have changed in the last year and I am SO excited to start the next chapter in our lives! You mean everything to me!

Since his birthday was the day we were heading home I wanted to do something fun, just the two of us. So we went on a gorgeous drive from Bend to Portland.
It was so pretty! We drove right past Mount Hood, and through some awesome desert land. Of course since we were driving the whole time I didn't get a lot of pictures, but just know, it was the best view of Oregon I have ever seen.


When we got to Portland we stopped by Ikea, {of course :)}
and I surprised Alex by buying him a new guitar!

{Imagine awesome picture that I forgot to take of Alex's surprised face and beautiful guitar here}

All in all it was a great weekend.
And, I saw some signs that spring may be on its way!


Ok guys, that's all I've got for now. 
Enjoy the rest of your week!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Pink sweater, black stripes









Shirt: Ross Dress for Less
Sweater: Ross Dress for Less
Jeans: AE boyfriend fit
Shoes: TOMS
Necklace: That Jewelry Girl (?) 
(This is up in the air, my husband bought me the necklace our first Valentine's Day together. 
I'm trying to contact the maker to see if we are thinking of the right one and get a link up to her etsy shop.)


Short post today! My husband and I are on vacation for the weekend with some of our friends, so I've had this post ready to go just for this occasion. I'm excited to tell you guys all about it on Monday! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Snow? Again? Really?

While many of you out there are enjoying your spring blooms, and your summer come early, 
this is me...


In snow gear. 

And before you go thinking that I probably live somewhere like Alaska where it snows all the time... I don't. I live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and it snows pretty much never.
If we are lucky, we have one good snow fall a year. Some years it doesn't snow at all. Every few years we have a good "blizzard" as we like to refer to it, people who get real snow just call it winter.
So, you would be right to assume that we are all a little weirded out by our spring "snow storm"(at my house we have a good 1 1/2 to 2 inches, please feel free to laugh and make fun of us at any time). It has probably snowed about once to twice a week since my first snow post on the 1st of March.




The snow is pretty and all, I know we never get any, but I am totally over it. I'm ready for summer. 
For those of you that live else where, we don't really get a spring, we pretty much have two seasons I call them Rain and Summer. At least Oregon is beautiful and makes up for the weather... I guess.

Alright, back to studying and drinking my hot chocolate.





Tuesday, March 20, 2012

This is me, a big fat nerd

I've been working on editing my about me section lately. After some thought I decided I wanted to make it an actual post because, let's face it, not everyone reads that section. I wanted to take some time to do a proper introduction, especially because I've got some brand new followers out there.
(To the newbies, Welcome! I'm so flattered that people are actually reading my babble!)

First of all... I am a complete nerd. I am not even going to try to pretend it isn't true.


I pretty much had no (or a very limited supply of) friends when I was younger.
Not looking for pity, just being real. I was so so not the popular girl in school.
But I didn't really mind too much, because the friends I did have were real. (Ok... Honestly I may have minded at the time, but looking back I am beyond thankful that I was friends with the nerdier crowd. Friends, don't be offended, you know it is true.)
We weren't obsessed with how big our boobs were (highly important issues as a tween),
or how "fat" each other were.
We didn't care about boys....

Ok... Mom, Dad...
We totally cared about boys.
I know you want to believe that I was "Little Miss Innocent", I do play the part well :],
but I guess I can only speak for myself when I say that, I liked pretty much every boy that said "hi" to me.
(Trust me I totally know you guys never fell for the "innocent" act, but just keep letting me believe I had you fooled, at least until I have kids of my own.)


Anyways, back on topic...
I'm a nerd.


The day my husband and I started dating was during an all day Star Wars marathon he hosted with some of his friends... Pretty sure it doesn't get much nerdier than that.
And he constantly tells me that that is how he knew I was a "keeper".
Because he didn't think he would ever have a chance to be with anyone as nerdy as me.
How sweet right?
??


My 21st birthday. 10 months prior to our first real date. Look at the love in our eyes.

This picture is purely for the sake of letting you know that he doesn't look like that 18 year old in the picture above anymore. Looks change a lot in 4 years huh?

I love my husband. Marriage is the best gift I have ever been given.
It amazes me each day when he wakes up next to me and I see the look of utter adoration in his eyes.
For me.

Me? Really?
And he sees the way I look in the morning, and the way I don't clean when I should, and the way I get grumpy when I haven't eaten.
And he still loves me.
The day we got engaged.
Our marriage is far from perfect and I am more than open to share that.
We argue. (Gasp!)
But after everything else, we love each other the way I have never experienced love before.

Ok, more on our gushy love story another time.
(BTW, Does anyone who knows me outside of the blogosphere have pictures of us during the pre-dating stage, particularly a certain party where we got a certain set of bears?... Kind of a necessity for any future love story posts.)


I'm obsessed with my cats.
Mostly only one of them (I know I'm a terrible cat mom).
I'm not even slightly joking when I tell you that 
.every. single. day.
I tell my husband how cute our cats are.


This is Bret. He is the cutest, sweetest, most loving and cuddly cat I have ever met.
How could I not love a little face like this??
This is Jemaine...
He is a little more on the eccentric side. He likes to eat and drink with his paws.
We put his bowl at the table just to see if he would try to eat like a person...
He did.
BTW, I'm not sure if any of you have heard of Flight of the Conchords, but if you have... Yes, they were the inspiration for our cat names.


Flight of the Conchords is amazing. They are an actual musical duo, but they also had a show called "Flight of the Conchords" (Go figure?)
This is one of their amazing songs (purely for comedic purposes).



Also... Random fact, I can't live without my cardigans.
I wear a sweater every day. Sweat shirts are just too bulky. Sweaters are amazing.
No joke.



Anyways, I started this blog a couple of years ago because I love to write. Love to write.
I used to write song lyrics and poems. Most of them were really depressing, due in part to happy poems sounding super cheesy. (I've tried, it's hard.) Some people think blogging is weird, or it is a form of seeking attention, or a way to be fake. Personally, I just like it. I like to share my thoughts and feelings and opinions, on just about everything.

Not everyone will like to read my blog, and that is perfectly fine. I'm not doing this for attention, or even to try to change the world. I'm doing it for me.
Because I like it.
Because I'm inspired by others who also share their hearts.
Because I love being a part of a community that encourages, inspires, motivates, and calls higher those around them.
I would be ecstatic if my blog in any way did any of those things for any person. Even if it was only one person. I know what it is to feel sorrow, shame, and hopelessness.  My only goal is really just to let people know that, despite how they may feel, they truly are not alone. Including me.
I'm not alone, and slowly but surely I am realizing that more and more.



My blog name was originally "Life: The Pursuit of Something more than Ordinary". I changed it because, for one it was a really long name. And two, because I wanted something different.
Although that is still my goal in life, to live a life that is more than just mundane and boring, I also felt like it didn't properly convey what I wanted this blog to be for me. This place here is a space for me to relax. A place for me to find me.
 I wanted to portray a setting that is calm and relaxing and inviting. For me, the picture that comes to mind is me, curled up on the couch with a blanket in a beautiful cottage style home on a farm.
A glass of red wine in hand and a good book on my lap.
Somehow that just speaks to me. And that is what I wanted. I wanted that warm cozy feeling when I curl up on the couch with my lap top and lay all my feelings, hopes, dreams, and frustrations out on the table. I wanted to be able to feel the weight lifted off my shoulders usually felt only after a few hours of letting go.






Monday, March 19, 2012

Fashion blogger?


I'm not sure I am "fashion blogger" material, but I'm going to take a stab at it.
Purely for the sake of trying new things.
This is my second attempt at this kind of post (you can see the first here).
I honestly am the least photogenic person I have ever met, so if all else fails Alex and I will have fun laughing at some of my worst pictures ever taken.
But here are some that turned out ok.





Shirt: Forever 21
Skirt: (used to be a dress) Macy's
Sweater: Ross Dress for Less
Boots: UGGs Channing, Nordstroms
Boot socks: sleeves from an old sweater.
Earrings: Jolie Boutique (Located in Maui, and for the life of me 
I can not find a website for this company.)
Headband: DIY t-shirt headband, tutorial found here

Linking up to:

Miscellany Monday @ lowercase letters

Grace Laced Mondays

Monday, March 12, 2012

Mozzarella Tomato Basil Pizza





This was our dinner last night. Amazing!
Usually I'm not big on sharing our recipes, mostly because we aren't really measuring type people.
Most of the time I just guess. If I am following a recipe, sometimes I just look at the ingredients I need and do the rest on my own. So, by all means, feel free to alter this recipe as need be.
Alex is the pizza maker in the family, so my job last night was to take pictures and enjoy. :)

Ingredients:
8oz mozzarella cheese shredded
8-10 cheery tomatos (or 1 large tomato)
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
10-15 fresh basil leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
handfull of fresh spinach 

Before you begin, preheat oven to 425.

We bought our dough pre-made at Trader Joe's because it was faster, but feel free to make your own! Here is a good recipe from allrecipes.com. If you are going to make your own dough, just make sure to start dinner very early. It takes quite a bit of time because the dough needs to rise for awhile.

As you can see, we (and by "we" I mean Alex) charred our tomatos, but they can just be sliced and put on the pizza if you prefer. If you are going to char them, just heat up a pan with a little bit of olive oil (or desired oil) and cook them until they begin to look a little yellow, some of them may burst, that is ok. We (Alex) waited until ours were soft enough to cut in half with the spatula, halved all of them and then used them on the pizza. We had lots of black spots on ours.

Once your tomatos are done, roll out your pizza dough, making sure it doesn't get too thin in any one spot. Once the dough is rolled out evenly, move dough to a pizza tray. Spread an even layer of olive oil over the dough. Tear basil into large chunks (or just use whole leaves) and place all over pizza. Put the rest of your toppings on as desired. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown, and cheese is completely melted.

When finished, serve and enjoy.


Linking up to:

bits of splendor monday

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Dresser, Before & After

So this weekend we took some time to paint this dresser that we got about two years ago. It was a craigslist find. Lovely reddish brown with ugly handles.


Before:


Broken drawers.
After:


New porcelain knobs and silver pulls




These next pictures are a little shameful... Don't judge me.




We have ugly carpet :(. We are renting so we have an excuse. I hate showing pictures of our rooms simply because of the carpet. The downstairs has nice carpet, the upstairs however does not. We almost didn't want to move in just because of the carpet (it was installed after we had agreed to move in). If my landlord happens to see this: I'm sorry! We just aren't brown carpet people and it makes it very hard to decorate.


We tried to cover up with a few rugs, but they are expensive and never big enough. We might buy another one of these from Ikea just so it covers a good portion of the room.


We made these crates and I had them on the wall, but I took it down to use it on top of the dresser. put some books, a ball jar and an old picture I took in high school for a photography class. This is my old dog Tilly. She was such a good dog. She passed away a few years ago. RIP Tilly.







Mine and Bret's (our cat) view from the bed. Much better and more complete. Eventually I will have a whole before and after of our entire room. Once it is finished of course.

Enjoy the rest of your week!






Linking up to: