So Thankful

I had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends and am feeling fully rested. I am so fortunate that my boyfriend's family and mine can spend the holidays completely together and not have to worry about rushing around to two separate places. The food was delicious and the company was even better. I am thankful for so much: my home, my home away from home, my dear friends, my job and awesome co-workers, my dog, the kiddies I baby-sit who make me smile and so much more. I am truely blessed!

Wish I was here Wednesday

Olivia from one of my favorite blog's, For Me (oliviakcarter@blogspot.com) inspired this post. I wish I was on the Greek Islands where I vacationed last May.

Where do you wish you were today? Comment away, or link your blog!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Aren't these nametag holders sweet?

Another day in Oregon Wine Country

Our good friend Amy hosts a wine tour each year for her birthday. She calls it the Vintage 1981 Wine Tour, since that is the year she was born. This time we thought we'd try a new area instead of our normal Dundee/McMinneville wine tours. We headed out to the Forest Grove and Gaston area to visit Patton Valley, Montinore, David Hill & Shafer Vineyard Cellars

We packed our normal cheese/crackers/fruit & chocolate snacks and headed out. It began snowing halfway through and it was BEAUTIFUL!


At David Hill Winery: You can see the snowflakes in this picture! I wish I had a better camera.


Us ladies being silly in the snow! Love these girls.

The Millennium-trilogy

As you already know , I love to read. I normally enjoy fiction based on fact or history--books I can learn something from and be entertained at the same time. I also love reading classics and books that have been recommended to me by friends. I normally never read mystery's....however late this summer I picked up the first book in Stieg Larsson's trilogy from a friend's bookshelf and became hooked. The combination of the murder mystery, family saga, unexpected wealth and of course the love story are an intriging mix. The books are a little longer than the books I normally read--up to 700 pages--but I somehow manage to finish these books in less time than my normal ones. This morning I started the 3rd and final book.
I am hooked!

Go Ducks!!

This past weekend Shane and I traveled down to Berkeley to watch our #1 Ducks play Cal. It was my first time going to an away game and it was so much fun! It was quite the experience to be a guest at Memorial Stadium. We are very spoiled to have Autzen Stadium and its exceptionally nice facilities. The game was nerve-wracking and low-scoring, but we pulled off the win!






We spent some time in Walnut Creek with our good friends Kim and Will and also some time in San Francisco. The photo's below are taken on our friend's roof in the middle of North Beach. We drank mimosa's on his roof in the 70 degree weather while enjoying the amazing view! What a change from the dreary, Portland weather in November.






We had a great vacation weekend and are excited to continue to cheer on our Ducks this season!

and.......WE'RE IN!!!

The check was cashed and it's official....my new Hood to Coast team was accepted into the 2011 H2C relay! I am beyond excited. Not all teams are accepted so this was a big deal. I originally wanted to run on my corporate team again with work friends, but this year our team was not selected to run as one of the corporate sponsored teams. While this was a bummer, I understand that other teams need to be given a chance to participate. It actually worked out for the best because a couple of my college girlfriends that live all over the country now wanted to fly in for the race. Several of my good friends will be on the team, including my amazing friend Jen who originally got me excited about running. She will run the New York Marathon this Sunday! Another friend, Savannah, just ran a half marathon in Los Angelas where she lives with my best friend Molly. Our team has some great runners on it! Below is a picture of my friend Jen and I the last time we got to see each other, at a Ducks football game. She lives in NYC so we see each other once a year at best---although this year we got to see each other twice because I was on business near NYC this summer and popped in for a night. It will be so great to be on her team for H2C!

On my Bookshelf

I'd like to share a couple of books I read recently, all of which I was a fan. I've also included my current read.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin: An inspiring story about a woman who vows to do things to make her more happy over a year. Her willingness to admit her flaws and openly work on changing little things about her attitude and thought process lead to increased happiness. I learned many lessons throughout this story and often identified with her. Her blog is found at http://www.happiness-project.com/



Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion & Purpose by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com. This is the story about how Tony began his company and how he made it the best corporate culture and customer service oriented company around. The second half of the book focused on the ways to provide great service, including actual examples of Zappo's employee situations. My manager actually recommend this book to me--Zappo's is one of our larger accounts and he thought the lessons in this book were valuable. He's right, and not only did this book inspire me to put these principles to use, it got me laughing and thinking about the possibilities that lie ahead if I work at being the best I can be.


Currently reading: Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich. This book is about going back to the basics. I identify with a simple life in so many ways because of my upbringing. My mother was raised on a farm and literally made everything from scratch. She brought most of those principles into my childhood. From as far back as I can remember, we grew our own food and made as many things from scratch as possbile. This book brings me back to my roots as Jenna explores ways to escape the 'fakeness' of modern day life and becomes more self-sufficient