Paleo strawberry dessert pizza, and celebrating strawberry season with local berry varietals!

6.25.2018

Paleo strawberry dessert pizza, and celebrating strawberry season with local berry varietals!

I looooove berry season in Oregon, and strawberries are my fave!! We love to get out berry picking throughout the summer but some of the strawberry varieties are the first to be ripe here.

Hood strawberries are famous in Oregon for being super sweet and juicy, with no white part--delicious all the way up to the stem! But there are actually several other strawberry varietals that grow well around here, some of which are even more delicious than Hoods and have longer growing seasons!

The Oregon Strawberry Commission asked me to check out several varietals available at local farmers' markets this time of year and come up with a recipe using them. Now, my favorite way to eat fresh Oregon strawberries is PLAIN!! they are so good!!, but if they're good with nothing on them, they must also be amazing in desserts (they are).

(Wherever you live, it is great if you can support your local farmers and shop for berries at your farmers' market or grocery store that buys from local growers, or direct from the farm. Find farms near you at LocalHarvest.org.)

I'm a mom now, so I figured I should make fun-sounding treats rather than go for fancy all the time. So enter my first ever "dessert pizza." Basically a tarte with shortbread crust and cream layer, but I thought it was fun to call it a pizza, too!

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Big baby bump! Maternity photos on the Oregon coast

4.04.2018

Big baby bump! Maternity photos on the Oregon coast

I can't believe how big my belly has grown... and am so glad we got to document this magical time!! We took maternity photos at the coast and they are SO gorgeous and fun, excited to share with you!

And stay tuned for the surprise photos at the end!

These are all by Crystal Frost, an Oregon coast photographer I met through Instagram. We hadn't taken a mini-break to the coast in so long and I thought Jason's spring break, when I was about 37 weeks pregnant, would be the perfect time and place for some bump photos! (See photos from our trip here and how lucky we got with the weather on the day of these pics!)

Crystal was super fun to work with and got even my slightly camera-anxious husband feeling happy and laughing! Plus she kept complimenting us about how cute we were. Sure helped us feel comfortable!

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MUCH-needed babymoon in Pacific City - Inn at Cape Kiwanda, Hart's Camp, and Headlands Lodge

3.29.2018

MUCH-needed babymoon in Pacific City - Inn at Cape Kiwanda, Hart's Camp, and Headlands Lodge

It's been way too long since we had a weekend away! We used to do it regularly and I would often share photos and how rejuvenating it is to take some time off. One of my goals for myself is de-stressing and I try to share that on this blog... but it's been too long since I walked the walk!

We spent last weekend on a short babymoon in Pacific City, Oregon, one of our new favorite spots on the coast. We checked out some very cool lodging options right by Cape Kiwanda and the beach itself, had a quiet coffee shop morning like we love to do on trips, sampled Pelican Brewing specialties (well, Jason did), and had both sun and cold rain, classic Oregon coast! Oh, and had a great maternity photo shoot on top of the dune!

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How to pick and freeze strawberries! A local farm u-pick win

6.23.2017

How to pick and freeze strawberries! A local farm u-pick win

I've blogged before about how I love berry picking, how I didn't do it as a kid but have discovered it as an adult, and how it really says SUMMER to me! But I never had made it early enough in the season for strawberry picking until last year. We had an amazing experience last summer and did it again this past weekend! Here are our tips for how to do a u-pick strawberry trip, and how to freeze all those delicate, fresh berries!


Being out in a quiet, open space, feeling the sun on your back, being surrounded by the sweet smell of homemade strawberry jam... what a fantastic summer experience!

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The ultimate relaxing afternoon! Oregon wine country

6.07.2017

The ultimate relaxing afternoon! Oregon wine country

Despite living in Oregon most of my life, I had never gone wine tasting until last year!! I'm not much of a drinker at all, so it never occurred to me as something I would enjoy. But we have now had two fabulous, extremely relaxing experiences and kicked off our summer with a much-needed break from house project at Van Duzer Vineyards last weekend!

I am a pretty high-stress person. I put too much on my calendar most days, and get anxious when things take longer than planned. Especially with our fixer upper projects in high gear right now. My poor husband supports me, but it's hard on him too that weekends can be pretty stressful. He recently noted that it might be nice if I was as driven and diligent about finding time to relax as I am about getting things done.

But now we've found wine tasting. The way we've done it, we go to one vineyard on a mildly warm afternoon, dress up a little, and sit outside drinking our samples overlooking a pretty view, listening to the music, talking about the future. We take the back roads through beautiful Oregon wine country on the way there. This past weekend we stopped in cute downtown McMinnville on our way home for dinner. Basically we took 6 whole hours off of stressing about the house!

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Imagine an incredible historic beach house renovated a la Fixer Upper - and you can stay there!

2.23.2017

Imagine an incredible historic beach house renovated a la Fixer Upper - and you can stay there!

It's real!! We spent last weekend with 10 friends livin' it up at the Historic Reed House in Manzanita on the Oregon coast.  The house is 101 years old but was fully restored a few years ago with modern touches like marble tile and heated bathroom floors--and lots of shiplap.

Kim, the owner of The Houses on Manzanita Beach, is a reader of this blog and has been sewing and remodeling houses with her mom since she was a girl. She reached out to me about trying out one of her vacation houses to share with you!

Jason and I love to go to the coast for little weekend getaways but we usually go just the two of us. But this 7-bed, 5-bath house was just too incredible not to share with friends, so we invited a big group and had a relaxing weekend eating, drinking, working on a 3,000 piece puzzle, and walking on the beach together! This place sleeps 20 so would be great for a bunch of wedding guests, a family reunion, or a corporate retreat. Or a super fun weekend with friends like we did!

There is no question that my favorite thing about this house was the kitchen. It's massive, with drawers for storage everywhere, marble, two dishwashers, and a super cool vintage sink with two faucets which was so helpful when a few of us were cooking at once!

Also, this kitchen is STOCKED. Tons of cutting boards, knives, beautiful dishes, everything we needed. Even had huge stock pots (crabbing, anyone?) and a slow cooker.

My second favorite thing was probably the seating. Or the lighting. Or the tile.

The huge dining table seats 14 (how cute are those Windsor chairs??! They are throughout the house.) and was the perfect central gathering place for our puzzle attempts.

Every single piece of lighting in this house was cool, and carefully selected and placed. (And there are a TON of light fixtures to place.) I don't even know where to start on the lighting (sconces, floor lamps, flush mounts, chandeliers, exterior lighting... all fabulous) so just keep an eye out for it in all the photos.

As for the seating--I know how hard it is to decorate a whole house at once so I was SO impressed by all the seating areas and vignettes throughout the house, how each had a slightly different attitude but they all were comfortable and tied together. A great mix of vintage and new pieces!

I think this was my favorite of the four seating areas in the main living space. Great views of the ocean, too!

A lot of the original wall and ceiling construction was exposed and new wood walls added, giving this super cool, funky industrial vibe that also worked out to be really beachy.

Every single bathroom had beautiful tile work, This one at the top of the stairs shared a wall with an almost identical bathroom (but with marble shower instead of claw foot tub). So dramatic when you walk up the stairs!

The master bedroom on the main floor was just luxurious (Jason and I claimed that one!) and there was another king bed room on the main floor with I'm pretty sure this fabulous West Elm bed and some beautiful vintage furniture. But I loved the bedrooms upstairs, too, especially this double queen bunk room!! With an ocean view.

More cute seating upstairs. And vintage dressers! As someone who has been obsessively searching Craigslist for dressers for a couple of purposes for our reno, I really enjoyed looking at how Kim used hers.

We also hung out at the fire pit and recited parts of The Sandlot while roasting marshmallows. Oh! and we played pool and had a ping pong tournament on the ground level, while some of us hung out in yet another living space down there. There are also two bunk rooms in the basement that would be great for an even larger group!

What a cool house. Literally across the street from the beautiful beach.

The Houses on Manzanita Beach include three other houses, sleeping 4-10, so if you can't fill the Reed House with 20 check those out! We hadn't ever been to Manzanita before but just loved it. It's quiet and beachy, with just the right amount of little shops to visit, but also great for just hanging out in a swell beach house like this one!

Thank you so much to The Houses on Manzanita Beach for covering our stay! We had a great time!

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Christmasey minibreak! The Heathman Hotel for the holidays

12.09.2016

Christmasey minibreak! The Heathman Hotel for the holidays

We kicked off the holiday season strong last weekend with a minibreak staycation and Christmas shopping in downtown Portland, cutting down our tree, husband's work holiday party, a trip to the mountain to play in the snow, and a low-key party with friends! Phew!

We love taking little local trips to unwind a little and this one at The Heathman really started our busy weekend (and holiday season) off right! Not only is it all decked out for the holidays with lots of Christmas trees and festive decor, it's blocks from Pioneer Courthouse Square and all the hustle and bustle of downtown in December. 

Also, their restaurant Headwaters just opened up and it is gorgeous. We loved the atmosphere and decor. Lush but not pretentious, totally Pacific Northwest but really elegant. And the food was great. Chef Vitaly Paley, a James Beard Best Chef Northwest winner, runs it and it features a lot of local ingredients and flavors.

The dining room...

The foyer...

The bar...

Oh, and we had a suite room which was so fabulous because Saturday morning while husband slept in I was able to close the big sliding doors and do my relaxed weekend morning pinning and Instagramming.

I love the local touches they put in their rooms, like Portland Monthly Magazine. You don't see those kinds of details at every nice hotel.

And it's so fun to walk around downtown Portland early on a Saturday morning! You see a way different crowd than we do driving through downtown on the way home from work. It's really fun to be a tourist in your own city! And way less stressful than when you have to worry about traveling to your destination.

What a fabulous, relaxing getaway!!

Thanks to The Heathman for covering our hotel stay!

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Beach getaway and inspiration from the cabin in the woods

9.13.2016

Beach getaway and inspiration from the cabin in the woods

As I shared on Instagram throughout the weekend... I had the loveliest birthday weekend featuring family, visiting sister-in-law from the Bay Area, a trip to the most peaceful cabin at the coast (with a hike and visit to Hug Point, our new favorite), and a day to rest up at home before the week started. It was so perfect! (I also spent some good chunks of time perusing kitchen hardware online. And pinned lots of house ideas.)

I stayed at this amazing cabin at my bachelorette party more than 5 years ago now, with sister-in-law's connection, and it was so cool to go there with husband now since he LOVED it, too. And, we've been talking a lot about the style we want for our new house but husband has a hard time picturing things until he sees them in context--so it was good to look at how the range hood, black doorknobs, black ceiling fans, and other elements I've told him about look in a home.

I really wanted to capture the magic of this gorgeous beach house for our memories this time!


First, possibly my favorite part:

Now imagine that lovely tub in this rustic setting!

 I love the big porches on three sides. And lots of cross-ventilation with double doors on two of them.

The sauna is a new addition since I was there last. Sauna or steam room if you pour water on the coals.

Inside there's a main room and loft, like any cabin should have.

The main room has some great vintage pieces and this wood stove, which is the main source of heat in the home.

The kitchen is possibly the first place I saw open shelving in real life, back in 2011 when I first visited!

The bathroom is under the loft and is quite roomy. There's no indoor shower (just a charming outdoor shower, which I used and which was exhilarating!) but this incredible tub.

The bedroom is decorated simply but, like the rest of the house, with style and fabulous lighting.

Oh--and it's a couple blocks down a quiet gravel road from this:

And you can watch sunsets like this!

This place is owned by sister-in-law's cousins, and she thought they might rent it out but I checked and didn't find it on Airbnb or VRBO. Sorry. But, hope you're a little calmed and inspired by these photos like we were staying there! We're so lucky to have a connection to this amazing place!

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