Sunday Morning

Our backyard meets up to the church property behind us. In the summer, we can hear the choir singing hymns while we sit on our deck ... drinking mimosas. It's nice. This past Sunday, the fall sun was low and streaming through the trees so beautifully.

Road Trips

On our recent road trip we decided to keep a loose itinerary and were reminded how indulgent it feels to never look at your watch for a time check. In route to Walla Walla, we decided to take the longer more scenic highways to reach each of our destinations. This waterfall is in the Rogue River National Forest ...


Quick lunch at Diamond Lake ... it was 38 degrees!



Central Oregon ... see, it's not all green ...



A relaxing evening after a long day of driving ...

Walla Walla Walla

Our wine tasting trip was to celebrate our 15 year wedding anniversary. GO US!
We visited 12 wineries in two days. GO US! My favorite was North Star where we ended up purchasing a mixed case. I literally loved every wine we tasted and can't wait to share the bottles with friends.

My other new favorite was Olive. We had an amazing lunch ...


and then proceeded to go back the following morning for breakfast ...



I can't wait to go back to Walla Walla ... or as my husband said, "Walla Walla Walla."

Wine Tasting, Walla Walla Style

Who knew Walla Walla was becoming quite the wine tour destination? We've heard so many great things the past few years, we decided to check it out for ourselves and loved it. LOVED IT.

We had a beautiful place to stay.


Our gorgeous view made it difficult to leave ...



And so did our comfy room ...

WTF?

I am very fond of the saying, WTF. I know I have a potty mouth but sometimes there is no other appropriate phrase that fits the situation. We were out of town last week celebrating our anniversary ... 15 yrs! woot woot. We came home to these lovelies (not!) on our completely private back deck (you know, the deck that is rotting away) ...





Creepy, right? There were four of them made to look like they were walking out my French doors to the deck. (Sorry, my photos are not loading correctly).




I thought it was the cleaning gals ... no dice ... and I am quite sure they think I am insane as they kept asking, "What do you mean? Shoes with flowers?"

I know it was you Cupcake. And just because my deck is rotting, does not mean I also need Ms. Phoenix's rotting shoes out there as well. We do have some standards. And oh ... that's right ... you are leaving to Hawaii soon ... hummmm

Chicken & Dumplings

Before the Northwest weather decided to be summer again, I was totally info fall comfort foods. I was going to be home all day on Sunday so decided to make a batch of stock which only increased the home-y, comfy feeling of a perfect Sunday night dinner. I insisted that my husband call me "Martha" the entire day ... He rolled his eyes instead.

It's a Date

My husband loves pizza and Friday night seems the perfect night to order in after a long work week. Because we've been dissatisfied with the pizza shops in our neighborhood, I've been having fun making my own. It's actually pretty easy ... a little extra time is needed for the dough to rise ... but that gives you time to relax, have a cocktail (or two!) and decide which movie you're going to watch.