We’re in the midst of summer and I find myself wishing it were October already. The stifling heat and humidity have taken away the enjoyment of being outside and spending time in the garden. Even early in the morning I find myself pouring sweat and ready to pass out after just a few minutes of being out there. I blame the Pacific Northwest and their mild summers for making me… Keep Reading
Spring seemed to just come and go with a whirlwind of road trips, concerts, work and garden projects. Things kicked off in April with a vacation to good ole Nashville (which I’ll share a separate post about) and then a few weeks later a quick 24 hours in Chicago. In between my mini-getaways and working I’ve poured the vast majority of my spare time into the huge 100 square foot… Keep Reading
It’s been a little difficult for me to do any personal writing lately because when I do finally have a moment to sit down and process it all, it’s just an intense outpouring of everything all at once. It ends up being a little too raw and personal or the reverse and I find myself “editing” as if everyone is reading it live, so I have to make sure not… Keep Reading
After a five day battle with a nasty cold I’m happy to report that with the help of a steady stream of Dayquil, NyQuil, and Sudafed.. I’m back to good health! The last time I checked in, we were talking about some of the goals that I’m working on for this year, like getting out of debt, horseback riding, and being more active in general so here’s a quick update… Keep Reading
After the last “heavy” Daily Life.. it’s time to talk about some of the awesome things finally unfolding in my life, some 2017 goals, and how to tackle them more successfully than last year. A few days after New Years, I filled up a piece of paper with all of the things I would like to accomplish in 2017 in no particular order. I circled 5 of them and wrote out… Keep Reading
This isn’t so much of a Daily Life as it is just a very honest and intimate reflection on everything that occurred in my 2016. With every beginning of a new year I feel it’s important to look back at the good and bad times and the lessons we learned from them. 2016.. What The Hell Just Happened? As ridiculous as it sounds, just the simple change of the date rolling… Keep Reading
The last few weeks have been BUSY and I’ll dive into that in a little bit, but I did manage to take some time this past Saturday to do a little hike at Ledges State Park. I hadn’t been there in years, so it was nice to get out and do a little exploring. You may assume that most of Iowa is flat, but the sandstone cliffs in the park… Keep Reading
Of course we’re just two days into November and I believe I’m already sick. I’m currently drinking a gallon of lemon ginger tea with honey to soothe this sore throat, but I’m thinking a Hot Toddy may be in order soon! The last few weeks have been a pretty equal balance of good, bad, calm, and weird. I try to keep a pretty sunny disposition about it all, but sometimes… Keep Reading
I’m several weeks into living in my new home and I wish I could report that I’m fully settled, fully furnished, and at ease in my new place… but it couldn’t be further from the truth. As you can see from all the photos, I’ve been enjoying a lot of walks around my place and appreciating the country sunsets, so it’s not to say that things are all bad. Right… Keep Reading
Hopefully this is the last post (at least for a few months) where I find myself wanting to open it by saying, “What a whirlwind!” “My head is spinning!” or “What the hell just happened?!” As a lot of you know I’ve been in the process of closing off one chapter of my life to start a new one. They say that divorce and moving are among the top 5… Keep Reading
I feel like my head is still spinning from the last week. I traversed seven states in 35 hours by car and then flew 1800 miles back to Portland just 4 days later, arriving late last night. Getting out of Oregon was slightly more chaotic than I would have liked.. My rental car fell through last minute and I found myself in tears on the phone with another company, only… Keep Reading
It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Daily Life post and it’s for good reason. However, I’m starting to feel pretty disconnected from all of you and I’m sure if you’re a long time reader you’re feeling the same. I’ll just lay it out there.. I am scared shitless right now and I think that’s exactly how I’m supposed to feel. I’m working my buns off to really… Keep Reading
Photo by Lindsey Rickert Photography Exactly four years ago today I sat with my laptop in front of me, knowing nothing about blogging, but made the risky choice to jump feet first into purchasing a domain and launching a blog. I had no idea that it would soon become my outlet, passion, biggest source of challenges and frustrations, and yet one of the most rewarding choices I’ve ever made. Photos… Keep Reading
We live in this age where we type out little blurbs about our lives and with one click, share with the world about how awesome everything is. We also get to take dozens of photos of ourselves, choose our favorite one, edit and add filters, and then present this flawless version of who people think we are. My point is that even though I haven’t been sharing a whole lot… Keep Reading
A lot happens in just one month! As if life couldn’t get any busier, I accepted a promotion at work which means a lot more hours and I’m constantly jumping between day and night shifts. It’s left me physically exhausted, but I’m trying to utilize any free time I have to work on blog projects. It’s not easy when you’re delirious and want nothing more than to go to bed… Keep Reading
I haven’t had a lot of passion to write lately because to be honest.. what I’m feeling isn’t anything I want to write about. This blog is meant to be a source of inspiration and positivity and I’m feeling quite the opposite about life right now. I’m stuck between the dreadful, “rock and a hard place” it seems. I’m looking at picking up a 40+ hour a week job in… Keep Reading
A few days ago we escaped the heat and went for a day trip to the coast. The sky was overcast and there was a slight breeze which was a welcome change from the scorching hot days we’ve been getting in Portland. While we were walking down the beach to find a good spot, we came across a little driftwood shanty someone had put together. It already had a fire… Keep Reading
I’ve been working for a solid 13 days so it’s been work, dinner, sleep, repeat and not much of anything else in between so I don’t have a ton of photos for you, but I did still want to update. I must say, I’ve never wanted to call in and quit more than on the days these two are snuggled up in bed still sleeping. I did find some time… Keep Reading
I apologize for dropping off the grid for a bit. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with the tattoo convention, traveling, work, and friends visiting. As if I didn’t have enough forces fighting me.. Upon arrival back home we discovered our internet wasn’t working. After numerous calls to Comcast we decided to wash our hands of this terrible company and cancel. Please bear with me as I catch up… Keep Reading
I was quite surprised earlier this week when I attempted to log on and publish a post, only to find that my site kept crashing! Thanks to many shares of my Ocean Stone Bath Mat post, I had an immense amount of visitors to the blog that I was not prepared for! I took some time to upgrade my hosting to provide more bandwidth and also put a few more… Keep Reading
I finally got a few days off in a row and I took full advantage of them! On Monday we took on the challenge of the Multnomah Wahkeena Loop Trail which is 5 miles long and has 8+ waterfalls to see along the way. It was so refreshing to get out and hike again, but we were definitely feeling it towards the end! And speaking of more pain.. Tuesday we… Keep Reading
I meant to write this post yesterday, but still being extremely sick the only thing I could focus on was Netflix and not moving from the couch. I’m feeling slightly better today and hoping this is the last time I’ll be sick for a while! Before going any further I would like to wish my wonderful mother a Happy Birthday today! I felt very grateful that I got to spend… Keep Reading
Long time no Daily Life! Just like every year, the last few months seem to fly by and I keep waiting for a calm day to sit down and actually write something other than a recipe! To catch you up on the last few weeks we’ll start with our annual Friendsgiving Feast! As the RSVP’s rolled in, I quickly realized that setting up a few card tables together wasn’t going… Keep Reading
I thought that I might take today to relax, get caught up on emails and blogs, and refuse to change into real pants… then I remembered that we decided to throw a Halloween party last minute! This is my favorite holiday and I seem to work well under pressure, so today I’m making it happen! Wish me luck! Over the weekend I worked a couple of photo booth gigs at… Keep Reading