Spa day! One of my birthday gifts this year was a massage at McMenamins Edgefield Ruby Spa. So the bff and I had an impromptu girls day. It helps that our birthdays just happen to fall on the same day, so this was our gift to each other this year. We picked the $45 30-minute massages and then used the soaking pool for a few hours. Massages were…
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…
Since my last 52 new restaurants post, I’ve been to 52+ more, which kind of blows my original “Go to 1 New Restaurant per Week” goal, out of the water. Definitely a fun experiment this past year, of making an effort to try new places. So without further ado, here are some places I’ve checked since March… now I really need to return to cooking more! Bijou cafe…
First World Problems Alert! Sometimes life gets busy and you wake up and realize you’re turning 30 in a few days. And then you think, “I thought I would have done more and seen more and experienced more and make more, and be altogether more ‘successful’ by now!” And then someone near and dear jolts you out of your mild self-loathing and asks what you’ve been smoking and…
I went on my first bike trip over Memorial Day weekend! It didn’t involve camping or biking for several days continuously. But I’m still referring to it as a bike trip, since we arrived by bike on the ferry and did a 20 miles round trip ride from Friday Harbor out to Roche Harbor. Here’s our trip report and info on biking the San Juan Islands. It was…
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…
I received a comment on my first Forkover Friday post, about Northstar Animal Rescue, a 501(c)3 non-profit, who was in charge of 1,000 rats that had been given up by hoarders… yeah apparently there’s even a TV show called “Hoarders” [sidenote: I don’t keep up on these things, as I don’t have cable, but while on vacation, I stumbled across a show called Extreme Couponers, that seems to…
Guess what? I didn’t go kiteboarding! Ever since my windsurfing class in Naxos, Greece, I’ve been wanting to try kiteboarding. I’ve tried all the board sports I can think of [and loved them all!], except kiteboarding and stand up paddle boarding. I figured I would have the opportunity to try out kiteboarding this spring during my “escape from weather hell” vacation. After deciding on Hawaii, I started looking…
I’ve really enjoyed the inspiration [and excuse] to spend time on my home, making it a place I love to be — ever since I first read the Apartment Therapy book five years ago. The first year of this blog, in 2007, things were a little AT heavy around here, as I completed my first “home cure” and joined the AT community. Although I’ve been pretty quiet in…
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…
I let #20 on my 30 Before List be a little vague… Get a car, scooter or new bicycle. Oh the options! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been car-less for three years now. Granted, the first year I was traveling, but when I returned to Portland I kept putting it off, and oddly enough I’m still car-free. The streetcar, bus, MAX, and hitching rides (with friends, people,…
I saw this video on swissmiss earlier this week, and love the idea of this project. Brilliant. So this week’s Forkover Friday is for a project that makes me feel joyful, a needed change. Forkover Friday Week Who it helps: the making of a documentary film, The Bicycle City by Greg Sucharew. Donate or share the video! What non-profit/project: about the non-profit Pedals for Progress Where: Nicaragua Where…