I suppose it’s a little ironic that by the time I finally get around to having the courage and time to edit/publish a post about marriage, love, and divorce it happens to fall on Valentines Day. Happy Valentines Day.. let’s talk about love and heartache. I want to begin by explaining that most of what I’m sharing here was personal writing never meant to be read by others. It was… Keep Reading
Well Hello 2018 and all the lovely optimism that comes with you.. and all the frustration of changing “17” into “18” every time I write the date. My new year started out with celebrating my mother’s 60th birthday, which is odd to say because I still view her as a beautiful and young soul. And I promise I’m not trying to get daughter brownie points or anything. She’s truly an… Keep Reading
The past few months I’ve felt really guilty about not posting as often as I should. Typically on my days off I would get called in, had a ton of errands to catch up on, or things just wouldn’t go as planned, leaving me with no recipes and no content to share. Over the last few weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting about why I started a… Keep Reading
The last two weeks have brought a lot of change (good change), travel, and celebrations. I accepted a promotion at a new store, turned 29, and went on a week long 3,300 mile road trip through the southwest! I kept my birthday low key and spent it at home with my family and boyfriend. Later we went kayaking at sunset (I’d never gone before) and enjoyed a few beers on… Keep Reading
Summer is officially over, but I’m still collecting tomatoes, peppers, and squash every few days from the garden. And if you couldn’t tell by all the recent recipes.. I’ve been putting it all to good use! I thought it would be fun to share some before, during, and after photos of this year’s summer garden, what I learned, and plans for next year. My dad had gotten on the roof… Keep Reading
Oh Mylanta! I actually have a day off and a moment to write! I took a few weeks off from the blog at the beginning of this month while I was working extra hours at my full-time job before traveling and then of course a week off to enjoy said travels, so it’s nice to finally play some catch up. So let’s get to it! Any time the seasons change… Keep Reading
If you’ve ever taken a gander at Pinterest then you’ve no doubt seen the billion and one ways to re-purpose a wooden pallet. Thankfully I’ve got a step-dad that knows what he’s doing when it comes to building and after just showing him a few photos of the vertical herb garden ideas I found, we were able to put together two pallets with shelves for my herbs to grow in…. Keep Reading
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
Garden Party may be in the title, but it’s not the fancy garden party you may be thinking of nor is this cocktail. We’re literally talking about Bloody Mary’s in shot glasses and it can be a store bought mix that you add vodka to or you can use one of the awesome recipes I’ve got on my blog! It’s the extreme garnishing and vessel it’s in that makes this… 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
A few weeks ago on my Instagram I shared the before, during, and after of this vintage glider bench, so I thought I would share a bit more of the process here on the blog. When I initially decided to revamp this rusted bench from the 1950’s, I thought it would be a fairly grueling task, but the reality was that with a little bit of determination and a lot… 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
I’ve been in garden-mode (along with work, family, and social-mode) this past month which has been keeping me quite busy despite our rainy chilly days. I started my first compost bin at the beginning of this month and things are getting pretty compost-y in there! I also started my herb and vegetable seeds a few weeks ago in egg crates and I’m happy to report that I have my first… Keep Reading
Like any recipe or project, you always set out with the best intentions, think your ingredients through, and follow the proper steps. Then somewhere along the way, something goes terribly wrong and you wind up with curdled milk mojitos instead of a nice refreshing summer cocktail. Here’s how my disaster drink unfolded..
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
With Christmas decorations hitting the stores earlier and earlier each year, we seem to jump straight from Halloween to decking the halls with Christmas décor and November is becoming the forgotten month. Rather than spend money on decorations that will only be up for 3-4 weeks, I thought I would show you five simple and affordable ways to create a festive fall atmosphere using items from your own backyard.
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
This past week I had the pleasure of cooking alongside my mom in the kitchen while I tested recipes from the new Taste of Home Simple & Delicious Cookbook! Head over to Dream A Little Bigger to see tons of photos and read the complete review!
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