Fantastic weekend out of town!

For my Birthday present Justin took me on a weekend away! We had a great and very relaxing weekend in Central Oregon. It hadn't snowed in weeks and it snowed lots for us and I loved it!


I'm so in love with this cute little town and lodge, you get your own cottage, here was ours (notice all the icicle's)

 Here is the main Lodge/Lobby

 Pond with cottages around

 Mackie loved the snow- it went up to his belly to he really had to power through it!

Here is the brewery on the property (on the right), it had great food! And the Sisters Movie house is next door (the red building)and we went to see Unknown (great flick). It was so cute because this young guy came out before the movie to introduce himself as our projectionist and wanted to welcome us! It was adorable and so small town- they also served beer and food and popcorn was only $1.50 for a big bag!

I would upload more pictures but my camera was set so the pictures are the largest and each one is taking about 5 mins to upload- UGH! Anyways I highly recommend this place and I feel to relaxed and rejuvenated and loved having this 5 day weekend- it was a treat!Thanks Justin, love you!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well today I turn 32! I love my birthday and getting spoiled and all the things that come with it!
I also dont' mind turning 32, I am exactly where I want to be in my life and I have no complainants about anything!

My oh My what a difference a year makes though! Last year on my birthday I wasn't even engaged yet, and we went to dinner with my Dad! If I knew what I knew how back then I would've stop asking Justin when he was going to propose (since he ended up doing it on Feb 26th) and I would've hugged my dad a little tighter had I know this was the last bday I would spend with him! Here is a picture of us last year on my bday- we were w/ Justin and his parents too, gosh I miss my Dad so much!!!!

I took today and tomorrow off (and my boss said we can have Monday off) so I have a nice 5 day weekend! Today I am headed to Rumi Simone spa for a deep tissue massage, facial, body scrub and a pedicure! I love to be pampered and am so excited for 5 hours of treatments!!!  Then I am meeting my sister for happy hour and hopefully Justin will be able to make it too. Being a business owner is a lot of work, and it actually doesn't bother me if he has to miss things here and there because he has to work. I have so much respect for him and how hard he works and how he takes care of me. Plus he always makes time for me.....in fact he is taking the next 2 days off (yes he works Saturdays too-6 days per week!) to take me to the five pine lodge in sisters! We are going to relax, spa, eat, drink and just play in the snow. Justin use to live in sisters so he is excited to go and show me around. I am so looking forward to uninterrupted time with him too, plus our dog Mackie is coming with us- should be a nice little family weekend!

So thanks to my friend Lexy- I copied her and ordered this for myself as my bday present off of etsy, its so cute, I cant wait to get it I have the perfect spot for it on my wall!

Cheers for turning 32! I already know what I am wishing for this year!

Valentine's Brownie

I know I am no Martha Stewart but I think this turned out pretty cute!

And its the thought that counts right?!?!?!

P.S. ran our of vegetable oil....I needed 2/3 cup and only had 1/3 cup- so I added 1/3 cup of water and they still taste great! I'm sure I saved quite a few calories too! Yeah me!

Happy Valentines Day!

I LOVE this Holiday!!!!

I don't know if its because everyone wears pink and red or because its 3 days before my birthday but I have always just loved Valentines day! Or maybe its because it brings such happiness into people's hearts- I just saw a girl walking down stark street holding a pink rose with a huge smile on her face! Its cute things like that that make this day so great! Justin and I went to our fav restaurant Portland City Grill last night to start the celebration of love! We had calamari, then J had Cesar salad and I have tomato basil soup (my new obsession) and we both had steak for dinner. We skipped desert though because we were way to full!
Its at the top of the tallest building in Portland and has great views!
And my friend Camille gave us as our wedding gift a gift card for there because she knows how much we love it!

It was a great night. Now tonight we are going to do what we've done EVERY valentines day since we first stared to date... get the heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's and stay in and watch a movie together.

And I am going to make a a big heart shaped brownie- picture to come later, hope it turns out well.

My fabulous husband who claims to hate romance surprised me at work today with these!

I Love you babe! It's so funny b/c Justin hates romance if its forced (like a holiday) but what he doesn't know is he is so romantic everyday. He made me breakfast in bed yesterday and now he brings me coffee to bed every morning! I'm loving that guy!
On a side note, it hit me like a ton of bricks on my way to work this morning how much I miss my dad! He always called me on valentines day and would have chocolates, a sweet card and even flowers for me. He always made me feel so special on this day even if  I had a boyfriend to do that job! I know on my birthday I'll miss him even more because he always did so much for me on my birthday too, this is going to be hard week!

A night with Cougar Football

Friday night I attended 'A night with Cougar Football' at the Nike campus in the Tiger Woods Center. It's an event to raise some money for WSU athletics. This is the first year they have had one in Portland and hopefully the will again from now on, it seemed sold out! It was $100 for dinner and all drinks! The apps were great but the dinner was pretty nasty but all you can drink wine and beer is always a good thing at an event where you want people to spend money right?!?!?

Well it was actually really cool, Our head coach Paul Wulf was there and they showed clips of our recruiting class and talked about them. He talked about how after 3 years there are only 6 original guys left on the team he came into. He feels like he is really building a program and recruiting not just good athletes but good people. I actually liked what he had to say. He wife was there too, in a NEON GREEN LEOPARD print dress. I though they had more place to shop in Pullman now?!?! It looks like she got is from Shop-ko, ha! But to be fair she is a very pretty lady, blonde, I would guess around mid 40's and she looks like a typical coaches wife.

The they had past players there and guess what...DREW BLEDSOE was there! Along with Alex Brink (past QB), Sean McWashington(one of Ryan's Leaf's fab 5 receivers), Rueben Mayes (who's son was recruited by WSU and will attend next year) and the throwin' samoan' Jack Thompson. It was pretty cool actually and it got me super pumped up about Cougar football and I felt the Cougar Pride I haven't felt in a long time!
Here's a pic of the guys on stage: Drew is in the middle in white

Then our new AD spoke and he is fantastic, his name is Bill Moose and played football at WSU. He talked about the changes he is making to the the athletic department, and his vision for the future. He along with other pac-10 coaches negotiated for all schools to split the TV money which will really help WSU. Apparently over the last 4 years USC has received $88m and we only received $43m. A huge gap that will now be equal over the PAC-12. Also WSU is now a Nike sponsored school which is so exciting! We are getting $1.8m for new NIKE uniforms for all teams and we are now only going to have 1 official shade of CRIMSON! Lastly he talked about the new indoor facility we are raising money for and how at then end of this upcoming season they are renovating Martin Stadium. Oh and 1 more thing the game we play at Quest Field every year will now be against Oregon or Oregon state, it will rotate every year, which will be super exciting!

Then they showed highlights of games in the past which got me super pumped! I sat with friends Kacie and Costa who bought 2 Drew Bledsoe signed jerseys! Here they are

Did you notice they spelled his name wrong??! oops he was not too happy about that!

Butch was there and I tried to get a pic with him but my photographer who shall remain nameless had had a lot of wine and couldn't quite work the camera phone!

But all I have to say about it is.....GO GOUGS!

H&M

I'm so excited because as of tomorrow my favorite Mall (Washington square) will open one of my favorite stores- H&M.

You better believe I'll be there tomorrow!

http://www.hm.com/us/__openingpage_1296492846033.nhtml#/openingpage_1296492846033/

Greek Quinoa

So I have been wanting to cook with Quinoa for awhile and I finally did last night. I made a Greek style Quinoa with lots of vegi's and it was Delish! here is a picture:

I made 1 cup of Quinoa and mixed in:
sauteed spinach
roasted broccoli
roasted cauliflower
roasted cherry tomatoes
cilantro-this made the dish I should have added more!
kalamata olives
chives
Feta

Next time I would leave the broccoli and cauliflower out, it didn't really go with the theme but I was trying to add as many vegis as I could. I also would have added more cilantro b/c it really added most of the flavor. The Quinoa really doesn't have any flavor so i want to find things with lots of flavor to add to it. Next time I want to make one with basil, tomatoes, balsamic and mozzarella.

However my husband was not a fan of this dish. He thought it was pretty nasty actually and I just had to laugh. He had toast for dinner :-)

I loved you Weekend!

What a great weekend I had! Justin came home from work early on Friday (4:30!) and brought his co-workers bulldog because we agreed the baby sit. We went on a walk and had dinner.

Saturday, more walking and playing with the dogs! Its fun having 2 they totally entertain each other- I see why people want 2 kids or even 2 dogs! Then my friend Meghan had some of us girls over for dinner- she made Italian chopped salad and butternut squash soup, it was delightful! Plus we had wine and Courtney brought m&m cookies, it was a fun night of gossiping and dishing about celebs!

Superbowl Sunday we went to my friend Kacie & Costas house and another couple (Megan and and Joe- I went to high school w/ Megan and she married a guy I went to college with Joe- who is Costas best friend and Costa is Kacie's husband and Kacie is one of my best friends. I was actually there this random Monday night Kacie and I went to the bars in College when she met Costa!) was there and they both have 1 year olds that entertained us when the game wasn't. I made pulled pork sliders (thank you costco for having the best smoked pulled pork I have ever tasted in my life!), and guac w/ chips. There was a lot of food and drinks and it was a nice low key way to watch the superbowl.

Oh Monday.... I haven't missed you at all! Back to the Grind!

Shoes that can tone your bum?

So I fell victim to great marketing once again... or did I? My mom has been in town these past few days (which has been wonderful!) and she took me shopping for my birthday present. One of the things I have wanted are the Reebok Easy tone shoes. So here is what I got:

I plan on wearing these every time I walk my dog, walk on the treadmill and go to the gym for the next 30 days and I will report back and let you know if my bum looks like this by March 1st:

A girl can hope right?!!?

Also they now make ones for running, the salesman at Dicks' informed me that they DON'T work while walking though, only when running...WTF? Doesn't that sound ridiculous!!! The sole on these look different here is a picture

Well wish me (and my bum) luck and I promise to let you all know how it goes!

Happy Birthday Alex!

My Step-sister Alex turns the big 3-0 today so I want to wish her happy birthday! She is ridiculously sweet, very thoughtful and just has a really good soul. I hope she finds everything she's looking for this year and that her 30's are better than her 20's!

We took her to dinner Sunday night at Hall Street Grill for an early birthday dinner and we had a great time!

Here is a picture of us at the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert back in 08'

I love you Alex and I am so glad your mom fell in love with my dad and they married in 1989 and you were brought into my life as my sister! Even though they have now both passed away (OMG that is so weird to say) we will be sisters forever!