Weekend in Portland

I can not believe it has already been two weeks since we were in Portland! I thought the last half of 2014 flew by, but what happened to January! Wow! These past 2 weeks have been beyond busy, between work, visiting friends, and spending last weekend in Port Alberni - so looking forward to a quiet weekend! 

We had a wonderful weekend in Portland! Stopped into all our favourite spots, and found a few new favourites. The two days went by fast, but we managed to cram a lot into them. It only took 5 hours to get there, which was about an hour faster than we expected. No wait at the boarder probably helped - that's what crossing at 6am gets you. Anyway, here are some photos from the weekend...

The weather on the way down was crazy! It was so incredibly rainy - the first photo illustrates this, there is actually a semi truck in front of us, but you can't even see it! Luckily there was barely any traffic. We got into Portland just after 11am, and were greeted by the typical grey skies, and the river that splits the city down the middle. No impressive skyline, but it is filled with beautiful old brick buildings. Before we could check into our hotel we explored our favourite area, the Pearl District. We grabbed lunch at Little Big Burger, had a beer at Deschutes Brewing, doughnuts at Blue Star Donuts, picked up some chocolate at Cacao - it was a very successful couple hours. Then to Powell's City of Books, a book store that takes up a full city block and is five stories high! It's heaven! I picked up another cookbook - I may have a problem - Seriously Delish by the author of the blog How Sweet It Is. Then we headed to our hotel to check in before finding to next place to stuff our faces.

Before dinner we decided to check out Commons Brewery, a small European style brewery on the east side. Excellent beer and a very laid-back taproom, we will definitely be back. Then we headed back to the west side for dinner. I caught a blurry photo of the Portland sign on our way back over the Burnside Bridge. We had dinner at a new casual handmade pasta place, Grassa. It was amazing! We had the Pork Ragu Rigatoni and Pork Belly Carbonara, $10 each - can you see why we eat so much when we go to Portland? And for dessert we headed to Salt & Straw for ice cream, an all time favourite. Its such a popular place, there is always a line up. This time we had to wait in a line up almost half way around the block in the rain, but it was so worth it!

Sunday morning we went out and grabbed a coffee downtown before heading to brunch - or beerunch, as you can see from the photo - at Tasty n Sons. I think this is my new favourite place! We had French Toast with maple apple butter and Shakshuka, a middle eastern tomato & pepper stew with baked eggs on top. Both were wonderful, and we will be attempting to recreate both. I also discovered a new favourite beer, Occidental Brewing's Hefeweizen. It was an all around great experience. After brunch we explored that neighbourhood a bit, and wandered into a super cute shop with a little flower cart set up in the back, adorable!

Then we headed over to Schoolhouse Electric, which I've been dying to go to for a while. They manufacture a large variety of lighting & other home decor items, as well as carrying things from other American makers. And it's in a huge, beautiful, light-filled, heritage factory. I wanted one of everything, or to just move in! Also in the store's entry there was a coffee shop and another florist! It was lovely!

After that we did some shopping downtown, where I picked up my very first waterproof jacket! Then we grabbed pizza for the road and headed home just after 6pm, getting home just after 11pm. Perfect little getaway!

This trip made us realize that it's totally doable to travel this far for a weekend trip. Which made us think, where else can we drive to in 5 hours? More adventures to come.


Sending love,

Xo, A

Life on the North Island.

Hello,

It's been a while. Sorry. A new year will do that, I guess. It's so fun to read your updates. :) Alysia, I cannot wait to see all your cookies! Such a fun goal. Kristine, I love the dress. It's gorgeous. You're gorgeous! Aalysia, can't wait for the first trip in your wheels. :) Micah, proud of you for starting Pilates! 

Life here has been good - busy, but good. We kicked off the New Year with a lot of planning and prep at work. Jon's busy putting together a bunch of programs and helping readjust the financials/budget at work, and I started off with a winter unit with the kiddos. Who doesn't love polar bears and penguins, right?

We have both set some goals for 2015, as well. Hoping to see them through to completion.

Her:

- try a new recipe each week. I did this last year for a while and some of those recipes have wiggled themselves into our weekly meal plan. Yum!

- get back on my bike. Hoping my foot will be strong enough to join in "Bike to Work Week" in May. You'd think two years post-op would be enough. ;)

- Take a class to try something new. Last year I did pottery and LOVED it. I am thinking of taking a quilting class to brush up on skills and learn new techniques. We'll see.

- Hike Mt. Arrowsmith & many others. Last summer I got to do my first hike since surgery, which was amazing. I'd like to do a lot more this year.
- get back on some skis. The mountain got a great dump of snow this week, so I am hoping to get up in the next few weeks. 

- read at least one book per month. My book club chose some fantastic books last year. I'll keep you posted on good reads I find this year. Just finished Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Currently reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. 

Him:

- reorganize the garage to get his workshop up. Check! I came home from work the other day to a beautifully organized and lit up garage. Can't wait to see what he builds this year. 

- start up a volleyball league at the church. He put in an outdoor net last year. Hoping to get it kick started this year.

- join a floor hockey league in town. 

- fill his deer tags again this year and get Tolmie trained for birds. So thankful for a freezer full of fresh, wild game. 

Us:

- finish some more yard touch ups. 

- get in our veggie garden this year.
- take a class together. Last year, we did a cheese making course and had a blast! We also dusted off our archery skills and now spend many evenings at the range - Jon especially. This year, we think we'd like to try kayaking or rock climbing. 

- take a trip to celebrate our five year anniversary. Yay! We're thinking either a hiking trip, perhaps up in Stratchcona, or heading out east to Nova Scotia & PEI. We'll see. 

That's us. I'm not very good at those "in a nutshell" posts. Sorry. 

Enjoy this foggy, rainy, Saturday morning. We certainly are. 

xoxo E 

Real or Fake?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5hOm8_3mJA

FRIENDS the movie!

The latest with the Mulligans

I love this blog so much! Every time I think about it, it makes me happy to think that the 5 of us have been together for 13…nearly 14 years! CRAZY! I feel super blessed to have you all in my life :)

I love the idea of 2015 goals, mine would have to be
-take more photos with my camera (once I get a lens. My lens broke at the bachelorette party if you all remember ;) ha
-I really like the clean kitchen EVERY night idea. There's nothing better than when I wake up in the morning, it's to a clean kitchen.
-I plan on knitting a larger item this year, either slippers or a baby sweater… I think I can manage that
-Quinn and I plan on moving somewhere.. I hope that happens soon, he's been looking for so long.
-Quinn and I plan on going on a road trip, now that we have a reliable car again! we're thinking the first weekend in April (Easter weekend) and catch both a Colorado Avalanche game vs. LA Kings and catch a Lakers game. plus spending time in the sun is always nice.
-be more adventurous with my cooking… i'm pretty safe with the meat and potatoes… I need more ideas. Quinn would never complain, but I found us eating out 2 times this week because I did not feel like eating the food I would cook. Ideas and recipes are always welcome!

Kristine, I agree with your FRIENDS reference, how fun would that be to all get together one day in our Wedding dresses and drink wine and chat away for hours… sounds pretty perfect to me!

This week has been a fun/busy week for Quinn and I, we bought a 2012 Ford Fiesta. It's a super fun car to drive! plus, we got a pretty wicked deal on it, so win, win!

Quinn and I went out for a "surprise" supper the other night to Italian Kitchen (one of my favourites). I worked a 12 hour day (not intentionally, I was stuck in meetings all day and by the time I got out, it was nearly 8pm). When I got home Quinn said " I made reservations, lets go" As a good wife, I didn;t ask questions, I was just excited to eat! We got the the restaurant, I ordered a glass of Mellivira white wine (I think that's how it's spelled. I hope I remember because that was yummy stuff!) and Quinn ordered a vanilla Coke. We were chatting away and drinking as Quinn reached into his coat pocket and pulled out an envelope and handed it to me. I opened it up and it was his boss giving him recognition in the form of a raise. I started to tear up, I was so proud of him! Finally he's being recognized for all his hard work! That was news worth celebrating with a wonderful meal at Italian Kitchen!

Hope you all are doing well!

Aalysia

Flippen Kinder Surprise Egg!

Ladies!
What's it been like 3 months! ....life:/

I enjoyed reading what was going on in your life! Aalysia do you know how blessed you are to use Quinn! That Seattle weekend sounded amazing! You guys are sooo cute!
Kristine um woow that dress!! Stunning! I so wish I could do it all over again with Pinterest. I keep asking Aaron for our ten year anniversary to do a vow renewal. Something simple but elegant. 6 years this year! That in it's self is so hard to believe! Not sure if he'll come around though.  In 4 years I'll have a 8 and 6 year old.  The boys are growing so fast!
William is flourishing at kindy! He goes two days a week and it gives me time to breath and miss him again. He's 3 1/2.... Enough said! When people ask what he got for Christmas. He tells them a kinder surprise egg! Flippen heck do you know how long I looked for the perfect Christmas present! And all he wanted was a chocolate egg!
Lucas is 1 1/2 now. He is the most emotional kid you will ever meet! Happy one moment and then loses the plot the next! Hilarious though! He has had more black eyes than I can count. But he is a tank! Him and William have started to fight like brothers! An he can finally hold his own!

I have been reading heaps of books lately. I just finished Love, Rosie. I need book that I can switch off the rest of the rest of the world and not think! Like my excape from the world.

I have started Pilates. So hopefully my back and core will become strong!  Once again it's an hour all by my self once a week... Can you see a theme here 😁


Hope your going well! Love you xo ox

2015 Goals

I always like to set goals for the year, not resolutions exactly, but things I'd like to do or start doing more of this year.
These things include;
- Go on more weekend getaways & roadtrips
- Do more projects - a headboard & bedside tables are on our list
- Read more books - I'm currently reading California by Edan Lepucki
- Finish my granny square blanket - I'm about half way
- Finally try my hand at calligraphy - I've had a pen & nib set for a while, but haven't used it yet
- Clean the kitchen every night - this is going pretty well so far, but we did run out of bowls the other day, oops!
- Keep the cookie jar full - after looking through all the recipes I have bookmarked over the last year, I decided I really need to start testing them out to see what ones are keepers. So, I'm going to make a different type of cookie each week for the year. That's 52 cookies to try out. Totally manageable, right? It's been going well so far, but more on that later.

What about you? Any goals for 2015?

Now for a little throwback to OTH. Do you guys remember Jack's Mannequin? Well, the frontman is back with his own project Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness. This song came on the radio the other day, and it made me think of you ladies. The song is named after his newborn daughter, and is kind of like a time capsule for her, beautiful.

We are heading to Portland bright & early tomorrow for the weekend. Looking forward to doing a little shopping, wandering and a lot of eating! I'll post some photos when we get back.


Sending love,

Xo, A

The final gown!

Happy New Year Ladies, 

I was re-reading our old posts and comments and realized I needed to still share this. Now that the holiday season is over the realization that the wedding is so close is very apparent! I think it's quite funny that all the planning has been very virtual thus far, so why wouldn't the sharing of the little details to my closest friends be too! 

The evolution of lace, as I like to call my wedding dress experience. Always thinking to my self that lace was for me I thought it would be pretty easy. NOT. I never imagined the hundreds of variations that existed in this department, so much so that I was starting to believe it wasn't possible to find what I envisioned and I should alter my expectations. I booked a trip to the twin cities with my parents when they came in October, hoping that they would have more options. First store in and we were shoved in a closet with a shower curtain blocking us from the rest of the world. I was displeased with the 'dress them and shove them out the door feel'. We moved on. Then we came across a gem! Raffine Bridal, right when we walked in it was the right price point of dresses, the nicest people, and the most beautiful lace options yet. I felt the luck starting to kick in.  

           

The The final selection! I had seen this dress online before but it was one that you'd have to see in person and try on to get the idea. It was the perfect lace, different then I had seen anywhere. Vertical scallops, the elongation effect was perfect. Not too poofy or fussy, the 'girls' are covered and the addition of 'something borrowed' to complete the look was the AMAZING!   

So ladies that my story! Wishing we were all home so we could hang it up in the living room have some drinks and just talk about it's beauty, then have it turn into this.....(see below)...but this will have to do!

-K xoxo

Happy New Year!

Hi Ladies!

It has been a while! My goodness! I don't know about all of you, but the last few months of 2014 just flew by!

You all follow us on instagram, so you've seen glimpses of the highlights. We've mostly just been working a ton and exploring on our days off. Corey celebrated his 25th birthday - snow on the ground, a lovely brunch at Cafe Medina, and a quiet drive out to Sasamat Lake. Went home for Christmas, and was greeted by this song on the radio as I drove down the hump. Made cookies for Santa with the girls, cozied up by the fire (tea in hand), and played games into the night.

I hope you all had lovely Christmas and New Years Eve celebrations, filled with traditions old & new.

Here's to a wonderful 2015! I'm sure it will bring some exciting things for all of us!

Any resolutions or goals for the new year?

Sending love,

Xo, A