Category Archives: Personal

Fourth of July Adventure

July 5, 2012

Filed Under : Personal

Yesterday, the hubs and I slept in, had an easy-going breakfast, and hopped into our car for the rest of the day. I’ve lived in the Vancouver/Portland area pretty much my whole life and never really put it into my head to make the trip east along the Columbia River. So we did just that. We drove until The Dalles, crossed the river, and then drove back on the other side. This little adventure made me appreciate the area where I live even more. Everything is so beautiful, even the drier areas with their golden rolling hills. We wrote down some new things we saw along the way that we want to try very soon, two of them being a train ride and a sternwheeler ride along the Columbia. Then we rewarded ourselves with frozen yogurt and a load of fresh fruit for being so adventurous. What did you all do?

Happy Fourth!

July 4, 2012

Filed Under : Personal

It’s always a happy time. This year, the original plan was to head over to Skamania Lodge in the Gorge for one night and lots of relaxation. Then we decided we’d rather just stay at home and do the things we don’t normally have time to do — like go sun-bathing, bike riding, popsicle-eating, and just enjoying having a full day all to ourselves. What are your plans for today? I’m hoping I don’t get a single comment because ya’ll should be out enjoying the day!

Anniversary Celebrations

June 8, 2012

Filed Under : Personal

A couple days ago, the hubs and I celebrated our three year anniversary. He went to work as usual, and I didn’t have a clue that he actually had asked his boss to take the second half of the day off. He arrived home for “lunch” as usual, but with a huge bouquet in his hands and the good news that we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Hooray! So we first headed out to Pastini’s on 23rd in Portland for a late lunch. Delicious. Don’t know why we don’t go to that place more often. That was followed by ice cream from Salt & Straw, some flower smelling, and shopping for gifts. Afterwards, we headed on up to Pittock Mansion to rest our feet. Pittock was where we got engaged nearly four years ago. Yep, we certainly did some reminiscing. Then we ended up taking a short nap on the bench overlooking Portland. What a beautiful day it was.

Three Years With My Love

June 6, 2012

Filed Under : Personal

Three years ago today, I married my best friend. It’s incredible how fast time flies. I’m so grateful that God gave me my Jimmy and that these past three years together have felt like a long honeymoon. I think that’s the way it should be. I put up proposal + wedding photos last year for our anniversary, so if you’re curious to see more photos than the one I have above, you can check them out here.

Shower the Bride

May 24, 2012

Filed Under : Personal - Wedding

Last weekend I threw my little sis a surprise bridal shower. I am happy to say that she was indeed surprised, even though someone accidentally slipped “isn’t today your shower?” when the sis told someone she was heading to the beach for the day with her man. Why that didn’t click, I do not know, but I’m sooooo glad it didn’t.

I decided to deck out the shower with lots of ivory and white, with touches of peach and kraft brown. My sister is a simple kind of gal, and so I wanted to keep the shower simple, but not too much so. Lots of whites were definitely the way to go. For the blooms, I went to my local Fred Meyer and picked up whatever white I could find there, and trimmed a ton of white snowballs from my mother’s backyard. I arranged them all in jars and clustered them all together to create one giant centerpiece. Peach and ivory ribbons were laid across the table.

A couple of days beforehand, I spent my late evenings cutting a load of white, kraft, and shimmering ivory tissue paper. I  arranged them one on top of the other to create fringe garlands. (Care to know the details on how to make your own? See my DIY tutorial!) The garlands were hung on either side of the two windows in the dining room. It’s kind of hard to create tissue fringe without making the party look like you walked into a big piñata, but I believe I succeeded!

From the chandelier, I placed my ribbon wreath chandeliers that I had made for my forest-themed portion of my promo shoot on top (pictures were just recently posted, so go see!). Love recycling props; it saves you so much money.

For the presents table, I hung up some more tissue fringe with peach and ivory ribbons.

Well, there you have it. Simple party decor that’s easy to re-create! And here’s a little look at my sis’ engagement photos taken by Max Lopatin: