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
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
As you saw in yesterday’s Tattoosday, we spent our weekend at the Portland Tattoo Expo! We had a really good time, brought home some new artwork, and even an award for my thigh tattoo! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again at the Evergreen Tattoo Invitational next spring! And speaking of spring.. our weather has been a little bit crazy and we’re still getting some fairly nice days. My garden… Keep Reading
Hello October! I’ve waited 11 months for you to roll around again so I’m going to make sure I appreciate every day this month! I said goodbye to September and twenty-five yesterday by spending the day at the pumpkin patch. I’m at the point in my life where I appreciate experiences with good company on my birthday more than I do free Jell-O shots from the bar, so my day… Keep Reading
The past few weeks have been extremely busy socially and I’m finding myself struggling to keep up! I know that waiting for life to calm down is a bit of a waste of time because in my experience, it only seems to pick up the pace! I’m doing my best to keep up with comments, emails, and questions so hang in there with me! Last Saturday we attended the after… Keep Reading
Last weekend you might have seen that I took over the Sailor Jerry Instagram and shared photos from our three day camping adventure, but now you get the details! We packed up the car Friday afternoon which left a small 3 foot by 3 foot area in the back for me to squeeze into. I lost feeling to my lower half about 10 minutes in and after a 3 hour… Keep Reading
This past weekend we met up with family that were traveling through Astoria on their year-long road trip throughout the U.S. We were really excited to finally explore further up north on the coast since we typically just head south. We stopped and had lunch at a little pub that was rumored to be haunted, but the only thing haunting we found was the angry bartender who seemed less than… Keep Reading
We kind of have another kitty! If you follow me on Instagram you might have already seen me post about this little guy. He’s a stray that’s been hanging around our neighborhood for a few months. He was obviously an indoor cat for most of his life and then either got out of the house and lost or was abandoned by his previous owners. Either way, he’s be abused by… Keep Reading