I Love Lilly Ledbetter

I couldn't be happier with the first bill that our President passed. It's only going to keep getting better!

What will we do without you guys

I got to work today to find these 2 lovely things on my computer:

From Sara & Oli

From Matt & Leigh
Love you guys so much. Don't worry you'll be seeing lots of us!

I'm breathing my sigh of relief

I've been holding it in for the past 8 years and now the time has finally come. Ahhhhhh...




Thank you Jenn for sharing the photos.

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN_________

I found this great site today thanks to Smitten. So many of them made me think of so many of my fave people. So here I go...

Jen L:
Sarah H:Sara F:Jason:
Jenn:Ash:Mom:and last but not least, Robb:

Desire to Inspire

This is my new favorite blog right now. I'm so addicted, I could literally spend all day on it. Some of my loves:

Its Movin' Time

So we found a great place over in SE that we'll be slowly moving into over the next 30 days. We've loved this neighborhood for a long time, so we're excited get over there and discover a new side of PDX.

We've been so spoiled living on such a great street with such great friends/neighbors right there. The house hasn't been too bad either. Its had some hiccups, but all worth dealing with for the view and big yard. I think the thing I'll miss the most is those amazing sunrises that we wake up to almost every morning.
Either way, we'll be sad to leave Hammy T, we've really loved it there. Good thing we have a sweet little guest house to stay in anytime we want to visit!

Evan B. Harris

Robb, Devin, Nicole & I saw this exhibit at Compound this summer at 1st Thursday. I immediately fell in love with his work. The whole nautical theme... anchors, mermaids, tattoos, sailors, whales. Right up my alley. Such an amazing painter/illustrator, not to mention born & raised in Oregon. He has popped up on my radar a couple times since then. Once at a deep SE restaurant on Foster (i'm blanking on the name) & now at a exhibit at the Mark Woolley Gallery where he has collaborated with another local artist, Amy Ruppel.
Here are some that i would love to own:
You can find him here, here and here.

As my Gpa likes to say

"Just another gorgeous day in paradise."

Here are some pix from our trip...

back & bronzed

Well we got in late on Monday night after a not so pleasant flying experience. The 2008 me would have said the worst, shittiest flying experience ever, but the 2009 me is trying to be more positive and uneffected by things i can't control. ;) Off to a good start!
Anyway it's good to be back. We had such a blast with both families and are missing them lots already. If we could only have had Mo with us, we would have never returned!
I made an agreement with myself this winter that from now on I'm only using SPF 15 and nothing less. As many of you know, I'm a baby oil/SPF 4 sorta girl, so this was a difficult transition. I've always loved soaking up the sun and getting as bronzed as possible, I just think I look so much healthier with a tan glow. Robb assured me that I would still get tan with 15, but I didn't believe him.
Well I'm glad to say I was wrong. I've probably got one of the best tans of my life and I did it all while be responsible and keep away those nasty UVs. I owe it all to Coppertone and maybe a little to the Bloody Marys & Pina Coladas!

Xmas Cookies

I'm made my favorite Xmas cookies last night. This is my first attempt at making them and they're not nearly as pretty as the ones my Mom makes, but still really yummy. I got the recipe out of my hand-me-down Betty Crocker cookbook that is probably older than I am.

Here it is!
Russian Teacakes, makes about 4 dozen

What you'll need:
1 cup of butter, softened
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cups of finely chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp of salt
some extra powdered sugar

Heat oven to 400ºF
Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla together. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until the dough holds together.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased sheet about an inch apart.
Throw it in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until they are set but not browned.
Remove from oven and let cool for a bit. Roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar, let cool. Roll again when cool.
Then Enjoy! Yum!