Remember me? Just a few updates!

So many things have happened since my last post! I will go in order over the next few days.

First things first.

I got engaged! Brian proposed to me in the freezing rain during the snow-pocalypse we had in PDX not so long ago.

It all started on Saturday morning when the cheerleading competition my girls were competing in was canceled. His plans took a major turn, because now I would be with him all day! He INSISTED that we go over to his parent’s house, even though the roads were treacherous and it was snowing hard. I argued and practically melted down in protest, but he persisted. I seriously thought we were going to die on the road as frozen dismembered ice cube versions of ourselves. Now I know why he was so stubborn, the ring was there!

Once we got back to my house we went sledding with Marina all afternoon. It was ridiculous fun. When we began our walk to the harbor-side McCormicks from my apartment, the freezing rain had started. The walk was miserable, and much longer than I remembered! The last time I made that journey it was 75 and sunny…

Brian proposed on the waterfront in the snow, under freezing rain and twinkly lights. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Sorry for the large face/ square Insta photos.

The Pumpkin Patch Post

It is clear that going to the pumpkin patch is a required activity. This is especially true in the NW. My feeds have been full of pumpkin couples, pumpkin babies, pumpkin toddlers, pumpkin sorority sisters, and my favorite, pumpkin spice lattes! PSYCH! I don’t care about your latte. I will admit that they are deloish though.

I have made 2 observations during this pumpkin season:
1. Pumpkin patch pictures are CUTE!
2. Everyone looks better in a pumpkin patch. Which is weird, because apparently orange is a tough color to wear. Whoever said orange is the new pink is seriously disturbed. –Elle Woods.

Now I will force you to look at my pumpkin patch pictures. They turned out cute, even though fog frizzes hair.  Pumpkin magic. Enjoy!

Brian likes to do weird stuff like gaze into the distance. I don't quite have the hang of it... considering I look like I'm about to cry, or vomit, or both. Usually I cry when I vomit. Overshare? Whatever. 

There are so many pictures of me looking at him! It isn't what you think though, I am usually just asking him to "please smile normal."

I know that first one looks fake, but I swear to you, it was real laughing! Pumpkins are hilarious! 

Didn't you know!? 

And I leave you with the most important photo of the day. Mini horses. Not only is my roommate obsessed with mini horses, but I assume these guys would have been friends with Li'l Sebastian... RIP.  

Let’s talk about weddings.

At one point, Brian came to town and we did the wedding thang again. (I am losing track of time and weddings at this point) Basically we are professional wedding goers. Just part of the deal when you are in your 20s! But a wedding sure makes for a fun (free) date. Dinner, drinks, dancing? Yes please! Plus the romance is built in. Guys have it super easy in the summer. No effort necessary. Just put on a nice shirt and show up, and then they get credit for the date. Not too shabby! I don’t have any specific opinions about this, I just wanted to point it out. Other activities that have recently happened in my life include: blading on the Eastbank and drinking pretty coffee.

At a wedding! What else!?

A perfect photo bomb by Tyler! 

The group! Photo by Jess

I am currently in Sunriver (cheating on Black Butte). And I went to another wedding last weekend. I’ll probably post about both of these things in due time! Later gators!

Boyfriend Blunders

Over dinner and drinks the other day, a few of my friends shared some hilarious “excuse me!?” moments that happened in their relationships. Today I will be sharing three direct quotes from loving boyfriends.

This is what we looked like as we told these stories! You can decide who they were...

“You’re the prettiest girl in the city.” 

I see where this was trying to be a compliment… but JUST the city!? Her response was, “The city of Salem!?” She is not even living in the largest city in the state right now. Doesn't he know that the world was an option? Come on bro!

“That skirt makes you look fatter than you are.” 

I also understand how this was an “almost compliment.” I just urge all humans to refrain from using the word fat when talking about or to a woman. Girls know how to be honest with their friends by saying things like, “It’s not super flattering” or “It isn't my favorite.” Take a cue from us, and just drop the word fat altogether.

A follow up to that “compliment?” was this:

“If you keep eating that, you really will get fat.” 

Okay, this one is just too much! He is saying that she ISN'T fat. So that is a positive. But really, if she wants to indulge, just let her do it! Sometimes ladies just really need to eat entire box of Annie’s mac and cheese! Only me? Damn. At least it’s organic. But again, let’s just leave the word “fat” out of the equation.

So there you have it folks! Some recent flubs from the male species. I hope they have learned their lesson. Maybe read this post to any men in your life, so they can learn from the mistakes of others.

Antone Shenanigans

I spent an amazing weekend at the Antone Ranch! I don’t know how to describe how crazy wonderful this place is! It is a 40,000 acre ranch in central Oregon. Last year I described it as a cross between Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Hey Dude, Wildhorse Canyon and Disneyland. We barrel around the curvy rocky roads in jeeps, ride horses, shoot guns, boat, eat, play, pray and camp. And by camp, I mean glamp. That is glam camping. There are beds in the tents… so the word camping is quite misleading.

A line-up of our weekend transportation! You know we took those bad boys through creeks! 

Sunrise

So country! 

Everyone likes boats and sunshine! Not to discount the wakeboarding and tubing!!

Sunset from the fire tower

No filter! 

I am majorly sore and tired from such an awesome weekend! I’m sure you all feel super bad for me. I hope your weekends were equally amazing!

Independence Day!

Down with the Red Coats!

Have you noticed how the news calls it Independence Day rather than the 4th of July? Do they have to? “Independence Day” is the official holiday title, so I guess they can’t get sloppy and casual and call it the 4th. So pretentious.

I spent the most amazing weekend in Black Butte. [Read an old post about the ranch here!] What was so amazing you ask? Oh, just everything.

I subjected Brian to my family… so let’s just say I was thinking the weekend had the potential to be a little dicey. He could be like, “whoa, what is up with these people?” Or maybe he would embrace us, including the weirdness that is inevitably in every family. I mean, it isn't like you know what is weird about your family. You are in too deep. The weird is normal for you! Don’t worry, it was great!

The weekend was freaking awesome. I spent so much time in the sun. Time walking on the golf course and laying by the pool! I think I am probably no longer 98% water, but instead 96% water and 2% sunscreen.  (So I just researched this and the internet says we aren't 98% water. Umm. I’m pretty sure I learned that fact, turned myth, in science class. Great job public schools!) But seriously, it was a great weekend. The men and my mother golfed, my sister and I walked with them on the golf course and lounged by the pool… and we really did nothing else. Basically we ate, relaxed and sipped bevs for 4 days. What a great way to honor those who fought for our freedom!

Okay, that is all. Linking up with Sami today for weekend shenanigans, 4th of July edition! Pardon, I meant Independence Day. I hope you all had great weekends!

Summer is here!!!

My weekend was AMAZING! Summer has finally arrived in Portland. I’m talking highs of 85ish to 92ish. So it is nice and bearable. Not 117! Like my friend Hanna is dealing with in AZ. Oh Oregon summer, how I love thee.

It all started on Saturday. I took a little bridge walk with some of my women. We went down the East bank, over the Morrison, up the waterfront and back over the Hawthorne. A short and sweet walk.  Just long enough to finish our iced coffees and catch up on super important life stuff. Like what level of “Britney breakdown” Amanda Bynes has reached. Life changing topics. She is not yet at the umbrella vs. car, shaved head phase… she is on her way though! (In case you were curious about what we decided)

Then I did this for the rest of the weekend:

Yes, I am re-reading the HP series for like the millionth time. What of it!? HP is amazing and Brian is about to hear Harry Potter references that he doesn’t understand for the rest of the summer. He will hate it. Maybe I should start working on an online dating profile now…  Just to get a jump on the inevitable.

Marina and I also went to see the Bling Ring. It was SO good! Especially if you know stuff about the accused or watched Pretty Wild on E! (I did both). Then we spent the rest of the evening downtown. It was perfect out at 10pm, so we wandered.

I hope your weekends were equally as awesome! Happy short week amigos! (Even though you’re probably mostly amigas)

My biggest concern was my tan.

For a long time my summers were spent at the pool. As I sit here at my desk, I reflect. Literally. My skin is so pale it is reflective. I long for the days where I spent my time at the pool! I will obviously be spending my weekend in the sun, but it is just painful to think of those former summer days while I am sitting here at my computer. I didn't have a care in the world. Or if I did, it was about a boy or something else stupid. Come back to me dear summer! I did not appreciate you as I should have.

Summer 2008. Ignore my crazy face. 

4th of July 2008 when we had missed the fireworks. I only added this because Brian is in it! I like him, sue me. 

At the time these photos were taken, the most important things to me (and probably Lauren and Marina) were as follows:
1. Being tan
2. Getting Lauren into Happy Hour (she was still 20)
3. Frozen yogurt

Happy sunny days my friends! Don’t forget your SPF 30!
This post is about college summers when we actively neglected out part time jobs and internships. Still to come? A post about childhood summers!

Taking it back to 2002! Backthatazzup.

Okay, I had too much fun doing this last week, so I'm doing it again! No elaborate photo participation this time, but please prepare yourself for the weekend by enjoying this jam.

Today I am contributing Big Tymers, Still Fly. Enjoy the journey back to 2002!

  

A very vino weekend!

This weekend I wine tasted and it was fantastic!

One of the major benefits of living where we do, is that we basically have our very own Napa Valley just a hop skip over in Yamhill County. Yes, it is a much chillier and really probably not like Napa Valley, but it is very beautiful none the less. And they have wine! So… yeah. It’s awesome. Know what else is awesome? The fact that I went to college out there! I would say that we all (speaking directly to my fellow wildcats) took for granted that our college was in such a beautiful place. At least I can say that we took advantage of the wineries for a couple years. Turning 21 in wine country was not so shabby!

We started the day with brunch and mimosas, packed the car with snacks and hit the road! We visited Penner Ash, Adelsheim, Bergstrom and Colene Clemens. Our least favorite was Adelsheim. They were crazy pretentious and had pathetic pours. We paid to be in here! You might as well be nice and quit being so stingy with your vino! You have a few grape vines… I don’t think you’re going to run out! All the others were marvelous though. Amazing wines at Penner Ash, snacks and cool stories at Bergstrom and Colene Clemens had a pup and a fire place. Who doesn't love a cute puppy and cozy fireplace!?

Get ready for a ridiculous amount of photos!

Sista friend! 

Marina and my lovely mother! 

Mama Jo was our chauffeur extraordinaire! 

Just a few texts went out... Sorry I'm not sorry Brian! 

Pretty friends and tasty wine. This was the place w/ snacks! We were about it. 

Marina's new friend

I hope your weekends were stellar too! 

Disney people are crazy.

Want some joy?

Okay, here’s your joy in the form of Nationals and Disneyland pictures. The girls did great btw. Made it to finals and took home 5th place!

We love trophies! 

I didn't quite make the pose. Too scary! 

Oops. Sorry for blocking your face chick behind me. But not really. We look awesome. 

I promise I'm not a creep... those wigs were just too weird! Had to take a picture.

BTMR (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) It is my favorite ride and deserves a nickname as it should also be everyone else’s favorite. Yes, I am going to should on you right here. If Pirates is your favorite you have some serious problems that I can’t even tackle. Anyway, BTMR was closed! I feel like anytime a major ride is closed they should be discounting your Disney pass. Seriously! WTF is wrong with them?

We were devastated.

Let’s all agree that Space Mountain is the best ride, BUT since it isn't cheesy Disney enough BTMR takes the number one spot as a cheesy and fast rollercoaster. It also gets bumped up a bit because people have died on it. Every time you ride, you are basically living on the edge. How bad ass of you! Kudos.

One last thing about Disneyland. There is something about Disney that makes people completely lose their minds. They all of a sudden buy crap with Mickey on it that they wouldn't be caught dead in any other time. Don’t you worry, I am not one of those people. I have not purchased a Mickey t-shirt, nor will I in my lifetime. Unless I end up with a kid someday who loves Disney… Then I will consider buying Mickey stuff for it. When I say "it" right there I mean the kid. I did have a Tigger jacket when I was 9… Come on Joanne! Why did you let me have that? Gross. But really, what is it about Disneyland that makes people buy all that crappy stuff? Maybe they put something in the water? That would also answer the question of why the water tastes like dirt.

So long Mickey Snow White. Until we meet again!