An Oregon Farm Wedding

I posted a few weeks ago about our family trip to Oregon. We stayed with my Grandmother on the coast for a few days before we headed to Halsey to help our friends with their wedding. Here are some pictures from that beautiful day. This wedding was a dream. It was perfect -- a true farm wedding where the community came together and everyone rolled up their sleeves and pitched in. It was so great to see it all come together. 

^ Hay bale seating and a handmade wooden arbor. More than 350 friends and family came to party down!

^Setting up the dessert table

^The local coffee shop owner came to make lattes and coffee for everyone. What a love. 

They Do!

^ Kids table with milk, cookies and reusable cartons.

Pink peonies and tiny dancers^

^ Feasting time!

^A sweet moment

I love this guy^ 

^My mom and dad and the lovely little flower girl 

Sunset

Golden grass on my Great Grandparents farm in the distance ^

Sleepy babe^

We had so much fun in Oregon. The wedding was gorgeous and I loved the small town love.

Creamy Banana Maca Root Ice Cream

I've been on a health kick lately...well not really, but you know how that goes. Every morning I've been trying to drink a green juice or blend up a bowl of frozen bananas and maca root for breakfast. It's super creamy and wonderful! Maca root tastes a bit like caramel to me, it's perfection when blended with bananas.

Benefits of Maca Root

Here and Here

Ingredients:

2 frozen bananas

1 tbsp. maca root powder

1 cup milk or almond milk

Directions:

-Blend ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy.

-Top with banana slices, chia seeds, nutmeg or whatever fruit you fancy...

As you can see I had to make two -- one for me and one for Dan.

DIY Sunburst Mirror

So I've been drooling over this sunburst mirror for a few years now. All the mirrors that I like are way out of my price range {such as this one}. Why in the world is this mirror $449!? I dunno. So I thought it was about time that I attempted to make one myself. Here's what you'll need.

Shopping list:

10" mirror {I got mine at Target for $12.99}

metallic gold spray paint {Michael's $4}

3 packs of shish kabob sticks {Target 99¢ each}

E6000 glue {$2 Michael's}

scissors or clippers

glue gun {already had -->not pictured}

Total cost = around $22

Directions:

- cut your shish kabob sticks into various lengths. I cut around 60-5" sticks, 40-6" sticks, 40-7" sticks and 20- 8" sticks {place in separate labeled piles so they'll be easy to grab when you start the pattern} 

-Fire up your hot glue gun and turn you mirror face down.

-I started by lining up 4 of the 8" sticks with the lines on the front of the mirror. Dab a pea-size amount of hot glue on each point on the backside of the mirror 1/2" from the edge. Place each stick accordingly. 

-start the pattern {see below}

-Once complete, squeeze E6000 glue over the sticks to seal any weak spots that the hot glue gun may have missed.

-Let the glue dry overnight

-spray paint everything the next day {be sure to cover the mirror}

easy as that...

Pattern ^

8", 7", 6", 5", 5", 5", 6", 7", 8"...

Seventh Tea Bar

I heard great things about the Seventh Tea Bar and wanted to check it out. We had a friends birthday coming up so we thought it would be fun to take her to Seventh for a Grand Service. It was gorgeous! They have an amazing selection of tea! We decided on the jasmine pearl green tea and oolong, both were wonderful but I'm a sucker for jasmine. Our server even brought us a timer so we could steep our tea to perfection. 

This place is so cute! Both indoor and outdoor seating are available -- marble tables, bright chairs and industrial looking chandeliers on the inside or tiny cafe tables under a vine covered pergola on the outside. Very charming and relaxing, exactly the place you would hope to drink your tea. 

We were served shrimp rolls with fresh dill, creme fraiche, avocado, and diakon sprouts; fluffy pretzel bread with pesto, house-made apricot jam and ricotta; earl grey truffles; a mini citrus chamomile tart with tangerine curd and chamomile cream and salted caramel mousse cup... all handmade from the Seventh kitchen. Wow! Such a fun experience.

Pictures Via: A Bit of Bees Knees, Seventh Tea Bar Banner, SOCO {last picture}

Fudgy Vanilla Brownies

            

             Fudgy, chewy, vanilla amazingness... basically the perfect brownie for vanilla lovers.

Ingredients
2 cup flour
2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter {room temp}

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cup powdered sugar {sifted}

Instructions

Preheat oven 350F

-Grease and flour jelly roll pan or rectangular cake pan {15x10}

-Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a bowl.

-In large pot, combine butter, heavy whipping cream and white chocolate chips. Stir until the chips 

  have melted and the liquid begins to boil. Remove from heat.

-Add flour mixture to the pot, stirring to combine.

-Stir in sour cream, beaten eggs, almond and vanilla extract, spread evenly in pan.

-Bake 25 minutes or until the tip of your knife comes out clean {poke the center of the the sheet with 

  the tip of your knife}. Set aside to cool.

-Make frosting {blend butter, milk, extracts and powdered sugar together in an electric stand mixer. Start mixer on low speed and end on high speed. Stop mixing when frosting can hold stiff peaks}

-Spread vanilla brownies with frosting

Over The River & Through The Woods

My Mom, Dad, Dan and I hopped into a mini motorhome last week and made the 12 hour trek to Brookings, Oregon to visit my Grandmother for a few days before heading to Halsey for a wedding. Here are some fun pictures that I took along the way. Wedding pics are soon to come...

^Dan relaxing in the motorhome like it's his job.

^The things you can make on a loooong drive.

We stopped at a little cafe to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. I love this picture that I snapped of my mom while we shared a piece of rhubarb pie.

 The Human Bean has the cutest coffee ^ complete with a chocolate covered coffee bean on top!

 Dan skippin rocks

Grandma's new car...

it's going to be a metallic gold with glints of green. She's a wild one.

Burgers on the beach and our last evening with Grandma and Don.

We loaded up the motorhome and hit the road for Halsey, Oregon to help our friends get ready for a wedding on their farm.

My parents rented a little trailer so each of us could have our own humble abode. I loved waking up to a cup of coffee and views of the grass fields -- it's so different from home. Don't get me wrong...I love home, but there is something special about the smell of sweet grass, silence and open land!

I love the 2nd story barn door...one of my funniest childhood memories was when Josh bet Pat that he couldn't pee into a fishbowl on the bottom floor. Josh lost, Pat won. And I was bummed I couldn't partake in this hilarious game...oh to be 6 again. Where were our mothers?

^My great grandparents lived in a farm house next to the grassy hill on the right. He passed away before I was born and she lived to be 99. I love hearing stories about Great Grandma Dodd. She sounded like quite the character. She would hike the hill every morning, can homemade blackberry and strawberry jam by the 100's and crack open crab shells with her bare hands. What a woman!

These little ladies were so sweet. We all became fast friends and enjoyed braiding each others hair, talking about school crushes and taking silly pictures in the sheep run.  

We helped prepare lamb and pig for the wedding. 

^Snuggles with Rosco

Scrubbing potatoes for the wedding!

Check out the Wedding pics!