Cousins

Last weekend I went to see my family down in Cottage Grove.  We had a blast.  My two little cousins are almost 4 and almost 9 and they are just great.  I'm not sure if anything is better than getting a hug from a little girl and hearing her say "I love you Ashley."

Getting ready to watch BRAVE.  I loved this movie.  After watching this and week 6 of the Bachlorette, I want to go to Scotland SO BAD!

Our last feeding of the bottle babies.  They got sold this weekend, so they are down from 8 goats to 6.

My aunts new gold flecked nails.  I think they turned out pretty good.

Our combined stash...

Sleeping (or not sleeping) in grandma's bed since they are still out of town.

My uncle saw this on Pintrest and had to try it.  Favorite quote of the weekend was when my aunt tried to take over the bacon making process and my uncle says... "I saw it on Pintrest and I'm going to make it!"  They were dang good.

Yet another round of painting, while rockin' out to Taylor Swift!

Putting on the finishing touches to our homemade strawberry angle food cake.

Sweetie Pie, the sweetest not-bottle-fed goat around.

Just practicing my goat herding skills.

So Succulent

I'm sort of obsessed with plants.  Succulents and peonies are my current favorites.  Luckily in Oregon, there are a lot of both.  Apparently this is a pretty big area for peonies.  There are many peony farms around here, and some of them are open for looking around.  The prettiest one is called Adelman Gardens.  http://peonyparadise.com/  It looks like some magic gardener's house.  They have amazing flower beds full of labeled peonies and for a few months out of the year, you can just walk around.  They have tons of plants for sale and then a big room where you can see all of the blooms and buy cut flowers.  I have seen LOTS of pins of peonies, especially in wedding stuff, but I had no idea they were that diverse.  Here are some of my favorites.

This is the only not-labeled one that I remember.  Why you might ask... because it's called CHEDDAR SURPRISE!  Awesome!

When I went to the Farmer's Market, I couldn't pass up the succulents I found.  They were $13 for  5 three inch pots.  I'm not sure who this grower is, but his pots were OVERFLOWING!  I've been doing a little research on succulents and I figured I could separate the plants and come out of the deal with a lot more that I paid for.  When I got home, I counted over 50 little individual plants and 6 different types in my 5 pots.  I got some cactus mix from Home Depot and got to planting.

Most plants look like this...

This guys plants looked like this...

And I came home with this...

And I soon after planted this...

 With these left over to see if they will grow up...

And someday I will make this...

For more info on succulent growing check out:

http://jadepoint.wordpress.com/

For the best most beautiful succulents check out:

http://sgplants.com/

For this nursery's tutorial on vertical gardens check out:

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=080ruIw0xJI 

Part 2: the best part

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4QksnFKPc0 

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hlhoc13A0Y 

For my succulent pin board check out:

http://pinterest.com/cakeoptimist/so-succulent/

Granola Girl

I don't often feel like I fit in (or enjoy) the hipster/granola/portland scene, BUT the Portland Farmer's Market, located at the South Park Blocks, is AWESOME!!!  

http://www.portlandfarmersmarket.org/markets/psu/

I felt like I was back in Brazil walking in the feira and looking for the best deals.  There were beautiful fruits and flowers and lots of different things like sheep's milk cheese and gooseberries.  I loved the live music.  My favorite band was Max's Midnight Kitchen, three guys playing some great bluegrassy, Appalachian style tunes.  They are so awesome that you can download their album for free...

http://www.maxsmidnightkitchen.com/

I would suggest if you're ever in PDX, get yourself down to the Farmer's Market and enjoy some of the fruits of Oregon.

 Yummy baked goods.  There were 4 or 5 bakeries represented here, which is always a good idea.

 The colors of the earth!

 I'm not sure if I'm currently more obsessed with peonies or with succulents.  Stay tuned.

 Yes, this place was called the Blue Heron Herbary.  I'll bet they got an A in Herbology.

 Just a grandma, spinning some yarn.

 I've read up on the foraging business.  Sounds interesting.

The most un-granola thing at this market... southern chicken and biscuits.  SO GOOD!

Eastward I Go

These last two weeks have flown by.  I'm not all that upset about it because A) I had a blast and B) it's only exactly 180 days until graduation baby!  Last week, my little sis graduated from high school.  As my mom was crying over packing her last kid's last school lunch, Chelsey was celebrating the end of Rising Sun High School and the soon-to-be end of living at home.  I flew in on Wednesday and spent 5 wonderful days with my family, my grandparents visiting from Oregon, and my dog.  Not to mention Nutter's, Rita's, and Woody's, the best food in town!  We got to sleep in, go to the Amish nursery, walk at Fair Hill, play Just Dance, laugh at family jokes, give mom and grams mani/pedis, make cake pops for the new grads, and see Chelsey grow right up.  I knew things were going to be good when I walked in the door at about 1 AM Wednesday and Chelsey gives me the bestest gift of all time...

She is really into pottery these days and is getting quite good!  I'm using this little bowl right now to hold rings and jewelry!  I was so excited I had to give her my handmade gift to remind her of all her loved ones when away at college...

Grams, rockin' the caviar nails...

Friday was the big day, full of all the normal graduation festivities...

My favorite day was Saturday.  Chelsey had parties to attend to so me, mom, and grams hung out.  We went to the nursery and picked out some beautiful succulents.  The Amish family that owns it are succulent collectors and they have quite the selection at great prices.  Here are gram's finds, and all for about $40:

We then went down to Newark to do a little girly shopping.  I got a copy of Grimm's fairy tales, which I am now reading and love!  We went to Heart and Home, my favorite local Vera Bradley vendor and got the coveted new Vera iPhone cover.  Then we hit up SAS cupcakes and tried the peanut butter chocolate and the s'mores cupcakes.  

That night we went out to a big family dinner.  Dad and gramps cracked me up and the restaurant was busy and fun.  I got three types of crab AND we got Rita's on the way home, at gramps request.  Tummy heaven!  After all that, me and Chelsey went in the hot tub and played all of our favorite songs on Just Dance II AND watched Teen Wolf.  Pretty much, if I'm dying and someone tells me I have one more day to live, this day is exactly how I'd spend it.  

I had an awesome weekend and I'm so grateful for my family!!!  And good food and parents who pay for plane tickets and a nice boss who lets me off of work and for the beauty and culture of Maryland.