Summer don’t leave us! It’s about this time every year that I want to fit in as much summery fun as possible, into each and every weekend. So here are a few of those things that made me happy in July. 1. McMenamin’s Grand Lodge Hotel – The Grand Lodge is about a 45 minute drive from Portland, in Forest Grove. Like all the McMenamin’s hotels, there’s a lot of history surrounding the place — The Grand Lodge use to be a Masonic convalescent home. It might sound a little creepy, but it’s totally not! It’s a perfect (quick) weekend Read more…

Oh, summer! You’ve finally arrived. Here are a few things that made me happy, happy, happy in June. 1. summer! & lazing about Col Summers Park 2. an impromptu cocktail crawl to Beaker & Flask, Veritable Quandary, and Central. (not as a cheap as a pub crawl fyi, ouch.) 3. I found this delightful, blue tank at Anthropologie. I like to think I look a tad bit happier with my new shirt, than this gal here is. 4. Vancouver for TBEX! My first time back to Vancouver since I was a little one. I didn’t get to see much of Read more…

It’s not quite July yet in my time zone. So I can officially still share my favorite things from last month. 1, 2, 3. Go! 1. Fleet Foxes! Really, really, really good live. 2. Picking out my garden at Portland Nursery – yay for tomatoes! {I have no photographic evidence of this} 3. Cotton Jones at Doug Fir. There aren’t words… so here’s a song. 4. San Juan Islands. We’ve already discussed my love of biking around on the San Juans. 5. Shark sheets… yep, I bought them. I’m ready for Shark Week! 6. I <3 my city. And speaking Read more…

I usually spend a few minutes flipping through pictures on my iPhone for my Things that Make Me Happy posts, and the month of April has left me with a feeling of gratefulness. April was fantastic! So here are 10 things that make me happy… 1. Maui! Maui! Maui! I finally managed to get back to lovely Hawaii. Even though it’s so cheap to get to Hawaii from the west coast, my first trip was in 2007, when I went to Oahu for 5 days, so I was excited to visit another island. I’ve only ever heard amazing things about Read more…

Last month, I was beyond ready for spring to show up, and now I can’t wait for summer to arrive. So as April is quickly passing, it’s high time I do another 10 Things That Make Me Happy post. So without further ado, here are 10 things that put a smile on my face… Portland Farmers Market opening – It’s been a long winter, so March 19 was like Christmas morning! I’m excited to have the PSU Farmer’s Market back open — it’s one of my favorite Saturday morning routines during the summer. While there wasn’t as much produce available Read more…