Happy New Year!

I'm just returning from a week in Hawaii and attempting to pack up the last four years of my life from my fabulous apartment. I'm moving into a tiny one bedroom with my boyfriend today---what a milestone! I am so excited to share the day to day's with him, have our own place and 'graduate' from having roommates. This evening we will ring in the New Year at a huge bash in the Pearl District with lots of friends and sparkles.

I am pretty sure I am starting off the new year right---I got a promotion at work, I'm moving in with the love of my life and I couldn't be happier!

What are you doing to ring in the new year?

Christmas in Hawaii!

Yeah, you heard me! I'm heading to Hawaii on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with my boyfriend and his entire extended family. We rented a condo near Sugar Beach on Maui, and you can find us laying on the beach relaxing for 6 days. My plan is not to have a plan----I hate vacations that are scheduled with activities and full of busy-ness. Isn't that why I need a vacation? Because I need a break from my schedule, my routine, and being busy? Yep. The only thing we have planned is going to a Luau for Christmas dinner, which I'm super excited about! We are also going to attend midnight mass.

Here is a picture that Katie from KT's Collections posted when she got back from Maui recently. I totally stalked her blog to see what I had to look forward too!

I can't wait! I hope all of you have some time off for the holidays and I will be posting when I get back from my vacay!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Girls Gift Exchange

Every year since college, my best college girlfriends and I have a gift exchange at my apartment right before Christmas. The first year we were pretty much all in Portland and it was fabulous. After that, girls have trickled away, lured to other cities by jobs, loves and opportunities. We still continue the gift exchange and because most people's families are from Portland, we have a pretty good turnout the closer the date is to actual Christmas.

appetizers and desserts

brushetta

5 of 9 girls:) so mad we didn't get a full group photo!

the excitement of opening a gift!

love these ladies!

I hope we continue this gift exchange every year! I love picking out a gift that I think each of my friends would enjoy, and I love seeing those friends who come from far away to meet back up with us. Christmas is a special time of year that brings friends back into town and together again!

Nob Hill Bar & Grill

For years we have been walking by this hole in the wall bar on NW 23rd Ave. They advertise "The Streetcar Special" which is a cheeseburger, apparently award winning! Shane has always wanted to try it and FINALLY we did!

(excuse the blackberry photos---of course I forgot my camera the day we finally went here!)

My mushroom swiss burger

Sweet Potato fries

Shane's Bitty burger--bacon, egg and cheese

me in my winter hat and sweater. My Grandma gave this wool sweater to my mom for her 21st birthday! It's in such good condition and I'm loving stripes this fall so I grabbed it from her closet!

Gingerbread cookies

I whipped these up for a cookie exchange I went to---so easy and its fun to do cut-out cookies!

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com. I love that web site! Find it here, or here it is below.

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

Cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg yolk. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth. Cover, and chill for at least one hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm.

Holiday Hairstyle & DIY Tutorial

I tried this pretty ballerina bun that my friend Tiffany has been doing. She got the idea from Pinterest!The bun is super easy to do, and you use a sock! The sock actually stays in your hair for the duration of the hairstyle. Here are some snaps from the Company Christmas Party at the Pilates studio that I apprentice at.

It was such an easy up-do, and great for a lazy person like me who is hair challenged. Give it a try this weekend at your holiday parties!

Here is a link to the tutorial!

Sparkles, just for Laura

Laura, from Backhandsprings through Bridgetown, and I got to talking about sparkly nail polish....through blog comment e-mail, obviously, since we are friends but only through blogging...we've met once, but really, our friendship is based on the blogs! Anyway, she had some super fabulous sparkly nail polish that I tried to go out and buy but failed! Apparently everywhere in NW Portland is out of OPI sparkles this time of year, but its OK, because Revlon was a pretty good second! Check out my holiday sparkly nails! As always, excuse the bad photos since we all know I have a crappy camera and this is the best I can do!

I alternated gold with pink sparkles

All ready for my holiday parties this weekend!

DIY Pinterest Craft

I finally made something I saw on Pinterest! I swear, I pin so many fun things but never actually do them :) I made DIY Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrubs!

This idea came from Stephanie Lynn's blog.

How did it go for me? Pretty good! The only thing that is a little off is that the scrub doesn't exactly smell like pumpkin spice as much as I would have thought. It called for 2 tablespoons of the spice and I used wayyyy more, but it still just kind of smells like the oil. But it works great! My skin was so soft afterward, although a little greasy at first it really did help to exfoliate and soften my skin. I am going to use these as Christmas gifts, so Mom, I know you are reading this and you have just ruined one of your Christmas surprises. Oh.well. It's not like I don't know half of my gifts every year before Christmas too!!

I collected these jars from my mom's house and also saved the jars from the roasted red bell peppers I always buy at Trader's Joe's

mix together 2 cups brown sugar, one cup white sugar and 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice (I used a lot of extra spice)

Add one cup plus one tablespoon oil (I used vegetable, but I heard grapeseed oil works well too)

It didn't quite seem like enough oil so I added some more until I was satisfied with the consistency (not to dry)

I filled the jars and closed them

I printed the stickers I found at Stephanie's blog (she said we could!) I had them printed at Kinko's for just $.59 a page, way easier than hassling with my own printer!

and I stuck them on the jars! so easy!

I can't wait to give these for Christmas gifts!

Company Holiday Party

This weekend I attended my boyfriend's company holiday party. It was quite the lavish affair, with an open bar, buffet, gifts for all and the option to stay overnight in the hotel. It amazes me that his company spent more on this party than I probably will at my own wedding! Shane's dad also works for the company so we got a nice family photo before the party started.

Chia Seed Fudge

I straight up stole this recipe from Delighted Mama. I feel like this recipe was made for me! I had all the ingredients already and am always looking for ways to incorporate chia seeds into foods. I originally bought the seeds to use in smoothies for recovery from long runs back when I was marathon training or just running a ton in general. Since I only make smoothies once every couple of weeks, I was glad to find another use. Although not as healthy of a choice, this fudge is for sure healthier than others because of the huge health benefits of this super food! Google them if you are unsure what I am talking about...chia seeds are so good for you!

In a bowl, mix 3 cups of dark chocolate chips or chocolate pieces, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 1/4 cup of butter, 1 tsp of vanilla and 1/4-1/2 cups chia seeds. Microwave all but the chia seeds for one minutes, stir, and microwave again for 2 minutes. Stir, and repeat if needed until all is melted together. Stir in chia seeds and pour into a greased baking dish. Refrigerate until set. ENJOY! 

The chia seeds kind of taste like the crispiness of a Nestle Crunch bar. I actually told my boyfriend that is what it was and didn't tell him the truth until he had eaten three and said how good they were. I kind of have to trick him like that:)

Thanks Delighted Mama!

Beautiful Infinity Scarves!

I know you've seen Infinity scarves all over Pinterest, the pages of Glamour and on girls walking around your hometown. Do you have one yet? Do you have one but want one in another color? I'm endorsing a new local Portland business called Knack for Knitting, who specializes in Infinity Scarves. Check out the facebook page here! Please 'like' it as well! You will see photos of the current scarves available. She also has a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves. To order, e-mail linda.k.pearson@gmail.com. She can also do special orders!

Linda is my mom and the woman who teaches me everything. I know how hard she has worked to make these scarves look great and she loves making them. She learned how to knit over the past couple of years. Last year, when I went to Paris, she gave me a similar scarf to the one in the photo. It is made of lamb's wool so it kept me so warm in the freezing weather! Plus it looked really cute!

So head over to Knack For Knitting's facebook page and take a look at all the inventory. If you order by the 19th she will get them shipped off to you in time for Christmas!  

Readers, let's see how many likes we can get on her facebook page!

An Engagement contest!

Happy Friday friends!
My beautiful friend Kristy and her fiance Sean were featured in the BRIDES Proposal Awards contest. They have such a sweet proposal story that is featured on this web site. I would love it if you would head over, read their story, and vote for their story by clicking the heart at the bottom of the page. If they win, they will recieve an engagement party! This would be huge for them because they are having a destination wedding in Hawaii that not all of their friends are going to be able to attend. The party would be local and more of their loved ones could celebrate! I am so hopeful they win! Kristy and I met in college in our sorority and have stayed close since we both moved to the Portland area after school. Her fiance ended up working with me for about a year and he shares a love of sports like my boyfriend. Needless to say we get along well!

Click here to read the story and vote: Kristy and Sean's Proposal story

The cute couple after getting engaged

Mimicing my favorite restaurant at home

I love roasting butternut squash in the winter! I roasted a huge one the other night and had tons of leftovers. What to do? I tried to imitate a dish that one of my favorite restaurants, Casa Del Matador, serves, called Butternut Squash Quesadilla. Basically you use mashed up butternut squash as the main ingredient and add just a little cheese to melt the tortillas together. I served it with a dollop of Greek yogurt and salsa. The butternut squash gives it a fuller taste than just cheese. Yum!

I love Rumiano's cheese. It's organic!

mash up the butternut squash with a fork--super easy if its already been roasted

add a little shredded cheese. Not too much since the butternut makes up for it!

Add greek yogurt and salsa and serve!

here is the photo of the butternut squash quesadilla at Casa Del Matador, just to compare. I used whole wheat tortillas so that's why they look a little different!

Portland Blogger's Meet-up!

I am so glad I got to go the Portland Blogger's meet-up this weekend! It was so much fun to meet other bloggers and a couple whose blog's I read all the time:) We talked, crafted and gift exchanged!

deep in thought as we exchange ideas and stories!

Jenni made the cutest little drinks!

Laura from Backhandsprings through Bridgetown made a wreath!

delicious appetizers

Laura crafting

the ornament I made while crafting! So sweet and it matches my tree. Jenni had tons of supplies for us, and I chose to use beads, lace, ripped up pages from a book and lace!

the beautiful scarf that Nicole from Running in Heels gave me in the gift exchange! I gave her a scarf too!

The best part about the meet-up, in my opinion, was how different we all are! Although we all blog and are from Portland, we all blog about slightly different things for different reasons. Some of us are just getting started and some of us have been at it for years! Some of us make money from the blog to support the blog, and others just put a little time and energy into it and that's it. Some spend hours every day, some spend a few minutes, but we are all doing it for the reasons that matter most to us! I loved meeting all the ladies and getting to know the person behind the blog.

A big thank you to Jenni at A Well Crafted Party for setting it up and to Nicole from Nicole Marie Who?! for hosting at her beautiful building in The Pearl District. It was a fabulous time and I cannot wait for the next one!

sick in bed

Hello readers....I have been in dreamland most of yesterday and today due to being sick! 

All I can think about is my bed....

Nostrana

I have been wanting to try Nostrana for some time now as I keep hearing how good it is. I have to say I was slightly disappointed with the pizza but I may have just not ordered the right one! I loved the ambiance and the brick oven was awesome. We had to get a reservation a week in advance---that's how popular this place is!

Piping hot brick oven

delicious bread and yummy olive oil

Insalata Nostrana---a fancy Caesar salad. It was delicious! The sage croutons were yummy

they actually bring scissors to your table for you to cut your pizza with!

The Salumi pizza---salami, tomato, provalone, house mozzarella, wild oregano, honey

me cutting my pizza!

The Sonia--arugula, prosciutto, marcapone, tomato and pecorino

Shane's pizza was yummy and mine was OK---I was a little surprised the prosciutto didn't go in the oven with the pizza as opposed to being put on top after it was baked, but maybe that's the proper way, I have no idea! Does anyone know? The pizza's were huge and we could have shared but we wanted leftovers! Everything else on the menu looked good as well. They had other main dishes like steak and halibut. My favorite part was the ambiance and the brick oven!