Last year around this time we were just moving in. I had had it up to wherever with our last apartment and our not-so-fun neighbors so I started looking for a new place to live. Almost immediately we found this place. Our home came with a part-time roommate, Robin, who is the owner of the house and we don't see him much. Robin spends most of his time at his other home in the mountains. When we do it's great, he's doing so many amazing things. Anyway, it's been great for us to live here, we get the space we so desperately needed and a beautiful space to live.
Most of the blog so far has been about our trip and maybe this won't be so interesting for everyone... But... Doug and I have been doing so much work to get the house back in order since we got home that I really wanted to share. Vain? Yes, that's me. Isn't that why one starts a blog in the first place? I plan to share more of the "there and everywhere" parts of life soon. For now, here's "here."
Doug's bamboo used to be in one of our fish tanks, I transferred it to this pretty vase (that used to be a candle holder) for the time being. It seems to like it.
Here you see the whole dining room and the front hall.
Look at all my pretty flowers! Ignore that pot in the right corner, it's being moved out.
Yes, there's the water feature again, I just can't get over myself about it. I congratulated both myself and Doug for its success about a thousand times last night. That's not unusual, we're a sort of self-congratulatory pair. Mostly we just run around the house telling each other what a good job we've done. Then we complain about everything else. Hey, I never said we were perfect.
Cute little lights Doug hung for me, the glider and more flowers.
Here's a closer shot of the flowers. The petrified wood was all collected by my dad, my mom has a bunch too, it makes great garden adornment. I finally found a place to put those little birds I got in Mexico! Yay front porch!
I worked really hard out on the back deck today. While we were gone there were quite a few storms. There was debris from the trees and even some shingles scattered around, so I got out there early this afternoon and picked it all up. I had to hose off my umbrella and all our deck furniture. It's all nice to sit in again. Please ignore the jungle that is the backyard.
Please note the sign that signifies that cocktail hour happens here. :)
The chaise lounges complete with the new table I bought today at Target (that's for you Mama). We needed a place to put our drinks (and books or magazines) when we lounge. The little table was a perfect fit.
The kitchen didn't take a lot of work, though we did move that chair in from the dining room. At all our parties people congregate in the kitchen so we put our living room inside it. We have the dining room for our table and they're right next door. It's a cozy solution to a small problem. Doug and I probably watch TV in the kitchen more than anywhere else. Figures.
It's nice that there are bookshelves for my cookbooks. Those of you who were at my bridal shower may recognize that lamp. I love it dearly.
This is the kitchen itself. I'm about to mess it up to make dinner.
I'm lucky Doug does all the dishes for me. He's not so lucky that he has to clean it all up. He's very particular about the cleanliness of dishes. I shouldn't have said before that the kitchen didn't take much work. Doug works hard to keep the kitchen clean. Our counter tops are a dark green and it takes pretty much constant care to keep them looking neat and tidy.
This, clearly, is the family room. The exercise bike in the background is less than aesthetically pleasing, but I wasn't about to move it for this shot.
A closer shot of my new (antique) card catalogue. Perfect for a bookish girl like myself.
So, now that we're home, you might be wondering what we've been up to. I'd be happy to share.
We spent the Fourth of July with my mom and I hung out for a few days to grovel to my cats for forgiveness. Isis still puked all over her carrier on the way home, don't worry. Overall, they seem thrilled to be here. What they don't seem particularly thrilled about is being fed by the timed feeder again. So sorry, kitties.
Doug and I were both pretty exhausted when we got here. What we'd kind of forgotten was that we hadn't really cleaned up the house before we left. I mean it was sort of clean, but everything was still in disarray from Spring Finals Mania 2009. So we've spent the last few days getting everything organized and back in order.
Above, you'll see our project for this afternoon. A water feature! We built it ourselves! Neat, yes? We also went to the farmer's market today and now I feel like I need a nap.
At any rate, we're glad to be home, glad to have the house clean and glad to have a while left in our summer to have a few more adventures. Check back in, I plan to keep taking pictures and posting.
Vegas. What can you say about it? It's kind of indescribable. I'll do my best.
Here's the view of the strip from our hotel room.
And here we are looking stunned by all the hustle and bustle.
We ate some good food (Bellagio Buffet, Burger Bar, etc.), we slept a lot and we walked the strip. That was about all we could handle from Vegas. It was so fun to go, but at the end of more than six weeks from home we were a little spent. Luckily THEhotel at Mandalay Bay is a great place to relax. We forgot to gamble (seriously), so that leaves me a gambling virgin, still. We're already married, so that was taken care of. All I can say is that we'll go back. I want to see a show.
These are some of the very few pictures that we took of the giant Redwoods. Unfortunately, that day, bees decided to attack me. Doug swears he didn't actually SEE the bees, of course. While he was getting the tripod from the car they attacked. I ran down the trail screaming, as you do. There were a LOT of them. Maybe three. After that I wasn't really feeling the whole getting out and looking around thing. Anyway, we had a really nice drive through the forest. Bees can't get you in the car.
In my family vacation was often "beach vacation" we'd go back to the same spot on Sanibel Island year after year, because... Well, because it was relaxing. We wouldn't do a whole lot, peel and eat shrimp, go to the beach or the pool, read. Somehow that defined what "relaxing" and "vacation" were supposed to mean. Sightseeing, hiking, or activity in general did not define vacation. In recent years, my mom discovered that beach vacation could be had on the Oregon Coast as well as Sanibel. So when we put our trip together I was excited for this portion of the trip, especially because it came near the end of the trip. I thought it would be a great chance to relax. While Wheeler was fabulous, and relaxing, it wasn't quite "beach vacation." For one thing, it wasn't at the beach. Wheeler is tucked inside Nehalem Bay, which is an incredibly idyllic relaxing place, it just isn't "The Beach." So we headed down the coast to Gold Beach and I started to see THE BEACH. When we arrived at the Beachcomber Inn I knew that we'd have to stay an extra night. Doug knew too. He asked at the front desk before I could even suggest it. I guess my not-so-subtle comments in the car had been heard loud and clear. But from the West-facing balcony of our room the ocean is very, very close and last night we fell asleep to the sounds of the waves. We were also treated to this pretty sunset and a jolly seagull friend**. He sat on the balcony next to us and peeked around to give us a friendly squawk and then he moved to the roof below to give me a better view of his handsome face. He was kind of hamming it up. There's very little going on in Gold Beach so when we went to the beach earlier there wasn't anyone else there. Doug got in the water for a minute, but the water is still very cold here. The wind stopped us from sitting down and hanging out, but we had a really nice time "combing" through all the beautiful beach rocks. Currently, I'm blogging with a view of the ocean, fresh salsa and chips and a PBR.
This is beach vacation.
** All views pictured in these photographs can be seen from the balcony of our room at the Inn of the Beachcomber, where the beds are comfy and the renovated hotel is beautifully dressed in classic "Arts and Crafts" bungalow style.
I think that maybe we were starting to wonder what all the fuss about the 101 was, until yesterday. Somewhere in Central Oregon the road winds through steep cliffs blanketed in pine trees and to the west the Pacific sweeps dramatically into view.
At The Devil's Punchbowl, as the tide comes in the "bowl" fills with water and it churns menacingly.
We stopped off at the Dunes, which are expansive, to snap a few shots.
I forgot to post these pictures before, but this is something we did while we were in Washington. We were tipped off about it when we went to visit the lavender fields. I don't think I could explain what was going on out there very well, see the link below if you feel like you need to know the reasoning behind Troll Haven. There weren't any tours or anything going on the day we were there, it was just a bunch of trolls hanging out in fields. Way, way bizarre.
For the last few days, Doug and I have been staying in Wheeler, Oregon. It's been a bit of a change from the other things we've been doing. While we were in Port Angeles we discovered something: we're tired. We've been going and going from the moment we get up 'til the moment we go to sleep. I have only finished two books since we've been on this trip! For the last two days in Port Angeles we went to see the lavender farms out in Sequim and took drives by the ocean.
When we left Washington to drive down the 101 we agreed to just relax. We've had a bit of trouble actually doing so, though we're starting to have some success. We stayed in a restored, historic hotel called The Old Wheeler Hotel. The hardwood floors are original and there are a lot of really beautiful antiques. The bed is blessedly pillowtopped and there seem to be some sort of fluffy high-thread count sheets covering it. There’s a clawfoot tub in the bathroom that I’ve been making use of for the last few days in my attempt to relax.We finally made use of the common room two nights ago to play Bananagrams and we liked it, so we did it again last night.I swear, for two people who claim to love to “do nothing” we’re really, really bad at it.
The towns around Nehalem Bay don't have a lot going on. If you want to shop, there's some shopping. If you want to go to the beach, remember that it's cold. All in all, there's not much to go DO. So we've been antiquing, I found an old school card catalogue, which is really, really cool. Doug says we can fit it into the Jeep, so I'm taking him at his word. He's the packing expert, not me. I found a pair of really nice vintage cowboy (girl) boots that I'm dying to wear. We've been to the beach, watched TV, gone to eat some really yummy food and just generally hung out. It was hard at first, but sleeping all night is good.
If you ever find yourself in this area (Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler, etc.) we really recommend that you go to Wanda’s (in Nehalem) every single day for breakfast. Wanda’s may have the most perfect food ever. The eggs are light and fluffy, the bread is homemade and delicious, the bacon is to die for and two people can eat for around 20 bucks. Nothing is greasy and the decor is delightful, it’s cheerfully 60s kitch without being overdone or imposing. The beautiful outdoor deck is surrounded by lush greens and fragrant flowers, even if you’re inside it seems to give the whole back section a Edenic kind of glow.
Additionally, the Antique Mall in Wheeler kicks major antique ass. Even if you, personally, do not like to buy antiques it serves as a good afternoon of entertainment. They have everything beautiful and old and everything weird and old and I recognized some things that seemed like they were made around the time I was born. So that was a little scary, but otherwise, GO THERE!!!! Garbo’s also has some of the cleanest, best vintage clothes shopping that I’ve ever done. The lady who owns it is incredibly helpful and fun. Bring some socks, you’re gonna want to try on something from her giant selection of vintage boots and shoes. There are a pair of butter colored, knee high, stacked heel boots that were just a squinch too small that are still calling my name.
Anyway, I’m sorry there aren’t pictures. At some point, I think we both started feeling a little lazy. We’re going to be home around the fourth of July, so we hope we’ll see many of you then. For now, we’re off to Gold Beach for one more night on the Oregon Coast and then to see the Redwoods, then off to Vegas.
I know that you've been dying to know. Yes, it's true, I'm in the land of Twilight. Around here they call it the "Twilight Zone." Not too shocking, eh? If you've read the books by Stephenie Meyer or seen the movie then you know that the story takes place in this neck of the woods in Forks, Port Angeles and the Quileute Reservation. What you may not know is that Forks is nothing like it is in the movie or even in the book. Nothing. However, they are managing to capitalize on the novelty of being the setting of the bestselling novels. There are tours that will take you to all the hypothetical places in the books and I hear that Forks high school is holding a very interesting event in a week or so. Apparently, you can go to Forks High, just like Bella and Edward for a week this summer while school is out. I haven't heard the details, but the locals seem to find it ridiculous. Here in Port Angeles, I was told that Forks was falling apart before Twilight and that everything that is there now (a tiny main street area and a Twilight store) is because of the hype. I'm not so sure I know what to think. I know that Stephenie Meyer picked Forks out on a map without ever visiting, I wonder if she's ever been here?
La Push beach (where Bella hears the story of "the Cold Ones" from Jacob)
Forks, the Twilight store is featured - it's called "Dazzled by Twilight." I didn't buy anything. Doug wanted me to buy the t-shirt that says, "My husband sparkles."
Finally, the view from our campsite in Port Angeles. Look! You can see the mountains peeking out of the clouds, they do that a lot here. Very pretty. You can go to the restaurant that Edward took Bella on their "first date." Apparently, you can get the mushroom ravioli that she ate. Get this, the name of the restaurant is Bella Italia. I can't remember, was that was what it was called in the book? Someone go look that up and get back to me.
Folks around here seem to think that this whole Twilight thing is a lot of silliness. They seem to like it, but I'll tell you, they think the rest of the nation is sort of ridiculous. Never-the-less, almost everybody has a Twilight poster and they don't seem to be cashing in desperately. Just quietly enjoying their unexpected fame... From what I've seen anyway... I could be totally wrong. As for Doug, he suggests that the teenage boys around here try acting like Edward to get chicks. Dazzling.
After our short walk through Hoh National Rainforest we decided to visit La Push, which is on the Quileute Nation Reservation. It was Doug's first time seeing the Pacific Ocean, so that was neat moment for me. As soon as we got there we were greeted by a lovely dog. He wouldn't let me take a picture of his face without trying to lick the camera, but you can see his fluffy tail, below. He was so sweet and he hung around us while Doug gave him some water. Then he left us for some kids with snacks. Fickle pup.
My husband (Doug) is my best friend and I'm so lucky to be married to him! Feel free to gag a little, I would. We have some great times and this is the little world we live in.
