Oregon/California Road Trip! Yaaahooo!

Daniel and I are going on a road trip to Oregon! We're visiting my Grandmother, Josh n Megan (old friends), Christian n Jenn (our expecting friends) and The Fitzmorris Family (family friends). We'll then make our way back into California, visiting Sonoma, San Francisco and San Louis Obispo on our way down the coast. Wowzaaa this is going to be a fun filled trip...with lots of driving! I'll try to keep you updated along the way. Here is a rough draft of our day to day plans!

 Wednesday - Friday: We are leaving at 4:00 AM coffee in-hand! We have 15 glorious hours of driving ahead of us until we reach Grandma's house in Brookings, OR. We hope to spend time picking blackberries with "NiMa" and making jam to bring home. She wants to take Dan and me out for some of the "best burgers in town" -- a celebration of our recent engagement! Yum, sounds tasty!

Friday - Sunday: After breakfast with Gram, we are planning to drive to Josh and Megan's in Corvallis, OR. Josh is a pastor in Covallis, so we're sure they're the happen'in couple in town -- hard for them to find free time, when a community needs to be served! We hope we can steal them away for a day at the river or to talk about their adventures of teaching English in Korea.

 Danny and I will also be visiting the Fitzmorris family (they live in the next town over). Chris and Tena are long-time family friends that grew up with my parents. Their boys, Josh and Pat are roughly the same age as Dan and me, so it'll be fun hanging with the guys on the farm. Maybe they can show us how to drive the harvest tractors!

I remember when we were young, Josh dared Pat to pee out of the barn window and into a tiny fishbowl below. Our mothers weren't too happy about that.

Ohhh the good old days... those boys were always entertaining.

Sunday - Wednesday: After saying our goodbye's to Josh n Meg and the Fitzmorris Family, Danny and I will head to Christian and Jenn's in Medford, OR. Danny and Christian have been friends since elementary school. Christian and Jenn are expecting a baby tomorrow morning!!!! They wanted us to be there for when Olivia arrives! We are so honored and excited to be invited! Christian is starting his contract with the military only days after the baby arrives, so these few days will be a whirlwind of celebration and send-offs! We are thrilled for the birth of Olivia and so proud of Christian for his service and Jenn for being a fearless new mama! We love you both!

Wednesday - Thursday: Dan and I are leaving Medford Wednesday morning and driving to Sonoma for fun with wine. We have friends that live in the area and it will be nice to drop by and see them. I've heard so many great things about Sonoma; I'm eager to see what awaits us in the land of wine!

Thursday - Friday: We leave Thursday morning from Sonoma and we'll travel to San Francisco (one of my all time fav's). I can't wait to eat at Oyster Depot and do some light shopping in the Marina District. Maybe we'll be able to grab some cannolis at Lucca's Delicatessen!

So I know this is majorly touristy, but we also have plans to take a ferry to Alcatraz! I've never been, and Dan says it's a must. So we'll be catching and mid-afternoon ferry to THE ROCK -- provided we get our tickets soon!

Friday - Sunday: Friday, we'll have breakfast in the city and use the remainder of the morning to do what-ev... I'm thinking a run across the Golden Gate would be fun. Too ambitious? Ehhh maybe. We shall see.

After fun in San Fran, we will mosey our way down to SLO (San Louise Obispo). One of our best friends (Evan) is living there until December. We love visiting Evan, there is always fun times to be had with the McLainsterzzzzzzzz.

So that is it. These are our rough plans for the next 12 days. I’ll try to keep you updated with the latest and greatest of our road trip adventure! I have a pile of new posts that I have prepared to keep you busy in the meantime, as well as sporadic updates from our trip! Have a good week my friends!

What Really Matters?

“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken away from you.” -Oscar Wilde

What is most important to you -- what are your real riches? Are you spending too much time on things that that don't matter in the long run? How can you manage your time to serve the people and activates that you love most?

Hmmmm? Let's think about this together. What really matters in life?

Picture: (No Info) I'll be happy to edit if you have a source

Flower Power

WhAt Is YoUr FaVoRiTe KiNd Of FlOwEr?

Pictures: Pinterest

Amazing Artists

Julian Beever 

He is an English chalk artist who has been creating chalk drawings on pavement since the mid-1990s. He creates the illusion of three dimensional images when viewed from a specific location. Julian has worked in the UK, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Denmark, the USA and Australia.

This is so wonderful! What a trip. I feel nervous just looking at it!

Margaux Lange

Barbie dolls were immensely important for fueling her creative life as a child, and ironically continue to inspire her art today. Margaux's Plastic Body Series jewelry collection is the result of a life-long fascination with the icon and a desire to re-purpose mass produced materials into handmade, wearable art jewelry.

 

 

Shu Uemura

Renowned for his masterful makeup artistry since 1958, Shu Uemura helped pioneer the concept of the makeup artist, merging makeup and art through his bi-annual mode makeup collections and on-stage makeup performances. Each of Shu Uemura's products embraces elements of art, nature and science through original packaging, unique textures, key ingredients and ground-breaking product formulas.

Dalton Ghetti

The 45-year-old Bridgeport resident has been carving sculptures into pencil lead, without the aid of a magnifying glass, for 25 years. There’s a boot. And a church. And a bust of Elvis. He's even created a “Chain,” in which the middle of a pencil has been transformed into 23-links! Very impressive!

 

Jessica Kerbawy

A young graphic designer who doubles as a fine artist on the side. The crayons are lined up and melted on a foam board using a heat gun. She uses a controlled heat application for the desired outcome. The result is a clean line from each crayon, resembling that of dripping paint. Genius, Jessica! Simply beautiful!

HERE is a link to Jessica's post about A Bit Of Bees Knees!
Thank you so much Jessica, that was very kind of you! Keep up the great work! We love your art!

Janine Golbert

Born in Uruguay and having lived in Switzerland and Panama before finally arriving in Israel where she currently resides with her family, Janine´s life is a blend of different cultures that encompasses many worlds. She is the jewelry and clothing designer of Eninaj.

I just adore these sweet sterling silver lace earrings! They wrap around the bottom of your earlobes. So gorgeous!

Funday Sunday

Shanny, Julia and I had a lovely morning at church. We then went to South Coast Plaza to do some window shopping and grabbed coffee and croissants at Vie De France Cafe. I've found the croissant of my dreams! Their Chocolate Almond Croissant is AMAZING -- a buttery piece of heaven with crispy edges and a soft center, lightly drizzled in chocolate and a sweet almond paste! I saved half of it to share with Danny when I got home; he agrees -- heaven. We'll be back for more in a day or two!

As of now, we're going for an afternoon bike ride and meeting up with friends for a possible boat ride and Breaking Bad episode. Life is good.

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Tip: How To Keep Berries Fresh

If your like me, you love your berries, but HATE it when you spend an arm and a leg on the fresh stuff only to find they've gone moldy in a day or two. Here is a tip on how to prevent berries from getting mushy and moldy.

Rinse fresh berries in one part vinegar/ten parts water to preserve freshness.

Dump the berries into the mixture and swirl around. Drain, rinse and place them on a paper towel to dry for a few minutes, then put them back in the fridge. The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the surface of the fruit!

Happy Birthday Coco

In 1970, in collaboration with the perfumer Henri Robert, Coco Chanel created her last fragrance. She named this bracing green blend of iris, neroli, vetiver, and cedarwood No 19, after her birth date, the nineteenth of August. Mademoiselle made No 19 as a gift for herself—after all, it had been 50 years since she created the iconic No 5. Seen as subversive for its unusual pale-green color and strikingly modern composition, No 19 launched quietly at first in Switzerland, becoming a sleeper hit over the years with a loyal corps of the devoted.

“Once a man stopped me in the street because of it,” Coco recalled to her friend Carmen Tessier. “As I was leaving the Ritz, I felt someone touch my shoulder. Before I could sharply brush off this intruder, he said, with an American accent: ‘Excuse me, I’m with two ladies who would like to know what perfume you are wearing.’ I told him, ‘Why don’t you follow me.’ And I took them to the Chanel boutique.”

Today, to celebrate what would have been Coco’s one hundred twenty-eighth birthday, Chanel launches an update on the original: No 19 Poudré. Perfumer Jacques Polge’s soft new interpretation stays true to the original’s neroli top notes, iris heart, and vetiver base notes, adding mandarin orange, jasmine absolute, white musk, and tonka bean. It goes on sale this morning, at Saks.com

Article reposted from Vogue
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