November 2013 in an Instagram

How is it December already?!

I mean seriously.

November was an event filled month!  It started off with my first ever art show (a month-long gallery even!) and ended surrounded by family for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Here's some of the highlights:

• My art show in Newberg
• Girls Road Trip to surprise my family over my niece's bday weekend
• Danielle and Joie visiting Portland 
• New glasses
• Spending 4 days with my whole family over Thanksgiving
• Finding out the family is growing!

Did you see family over the holiday? How was your November?

Here's to a great December!

September in an Instagram

It's been a LONG time since I've recapped my months with Instagram photos!  In an effort to document my 31st year better, I'm going to start including these little recaps again.  It's always fun to look back on the month and see what's happened in my daily life through these little square photos.  I've also been considering offering a linky party once a month, so I may just have to combine the two!
Stay tuned ;)

Without further ado, here's my September 2013 in an Instagram...

Coffee  ||  Friendship  ||  Birthday Celebrations  ||  Dancing

Timbers  ||  Camping  ||  New Adventures  ||  Fall 

Growing Up  ||  Pumpkin All The Things

Running  ||  Fundraising  ||  Climbing  ||  Flowers Everywhere

How was your September?  Cheers to a great October ahead!

July 2012 Recap. Instagram Style.

pancakes | brunch

voo doo donuts | running

fireworks | moving

settling | coffee

dates | nannying

niece time | wedding fun

reading | flowers

more pancakes | bacon

the goonies!

July was a great month,

Here's to many more!

The Slug

Yesterday it rained.  Yes, even in the "summer" in Portland, it rains.  A lot.  In fact, I've been told by many people that summer in Portland doesn't start until after the 4th of July.  So apparently I have a heat wave to look forward to starting on the 5th.  And by "heat wave" I mean it will sometimes be above 80.  Oy.

Anyhow, the rain brings many beautiful things for the Pac NW, including, but not limited to, green everywhere, moss everywhere, abundant flowers and gardens that grow well (without added irrigation!).

However, it also brings an something I've come to loathe.

See those holes in the lettuce?  Dead giveaway.

The slug.

Don't worry, I'll spare you a picture of one of these nasty creatures.  Instead I'll share a picture of one of the Koi that I have the pleasure of feeding.  Much prettier, yes?

Yes.  Each evening around 5:00 I gather the fish food, stand on the edge of the pond and toss in a couple of handfuls.  Then I stand back and smile as I enjoy the peacefulness of watching them glide around and eat their meal.  Last night was no different.  I grabbed the food, opened the sliding glass door (leading to the pond) and noticed that the deck was still wet from rain.  Rather than grab my shoes though, I decided to walk on the wet porch barefoot.  I don't like shoes and don't mind the feeling of rain on my feet.  So I tiptoed across the porch, threw in a few handfuls of food and watched the fish come to the surface.  I smiled, stepped back, and that's when IT happened.

My right bare foot stepped back and made contact with the porch.

My left bare foot stepped back and
made
contact
with
the
SLUG.

Of course, I didn't know I had made contact until my left foot shot out from underneath me like a rocket.  I'm not sure why the cartoons all make banana peels out to be the slipperiest subject you can place under someone's foot, because my friends, the slug beats it.  Hands down.

I learned a very valuable lesson last night.  Although I hate shoes, I hate slugs even more.  And while I promised myself that I would never ever wear a pair of these shoes, they beat having slug slime between my toes. 

3 a.m. alarm and yummy firemen

It's officially my birthday week, and oh boy, did it start off with a bang.

Well, a ringing really, but "it started off with a ringing" just doesn't quite have the right, well, ring to it.

I was roused (and I used that word in the most urgent and rude sense possible) at 3 a.m. from a glorious and peaceful sleep by my smoke detector screaming at me.  Now let me tell you, were it possible to wake the dead, and a person wanted to, a smoke alarm would be the tool of choice.

That sucker is LOUD.

So there I am, scrambling for clothes to throw on, while turning my head left and right trying to see where the flames were so I can plan my exit accordingly.  Only, there's no flames.  And upon further confused investigation, I see there's no smoke either.  Suddenly, just as loudly as it came on, the deafening silence set in.  Convinced it was a fluke, I laid back down to sleep.  And sure enough just as I reached slumber land, the alarm rang out once more.

Now I was pissed.

If there's no fire, and no smoke, why the hell was I being woken up at 3 in the morning!  I grabbed my phone and began googling "my smoke detector won't stop waking me up."  You'll be surprised to know this got me no where.  However, I did read some scary stuff about wiring malfunctions and smoke detectors catching fire, so I did the only thing I could think of and called the non-emergency fire department line.

Long story short, the dispatch decided to send out a truck just to make sure everything was ok.  I hurried into my bathroom to re-brush my teeth, run a brush through my hair, apply a little mascara (hey, it's not every night a single gal has firemen delivered to her door!) and went downstairs to wait for them.

It didn't take them long to discover the problem.  Apparently my smoke detector was announcing it's need for a fresh battery, and wanted to make sure I heard it loud and clear.  (Am I wrong, or don't most smoke detectors just chirp annoyingly in the background?!)

The beautiful men made sure I felt safe, wished me well and drove off into the night.

I have to say, being awakened at 3 in the morning is not pleasant, in any sense of the word; however, if you have to be, adding firemen definitely helps.  Especially when they look like this...

Happy birthday to me!