vegas :: sneak peak

You know the drill... it is going to take me a while to get through all of the pictures I took in Seattle and Vegas (it has to be creeping on 2,000 now...), but in the meantime here is a little sneak peak of our Las Vegas adventures, as posted on Instagram.

I will say right now that Las Vegas is insane. We had a very epic/exciting/interesting/plastic/hot/casinofilled/latenight/exhausting/sensoryoverloaded/sequinfilled/vodkaridden adventure that was over in a flash.

[[ instagram photos: our hotel room view. posing in the elevator on night one. breakfast in the eiffel tower. exploring the strip. my chocolate milkshake at 3:30am. the city view from the palms moon bar. ]]

vegas baby!

In about an hour me and Pat will be on a place headed for Vegas (baby)!! I am super excited because I have never been to Sin City before... and I have some major sinning to do. Not really, but I am just happy that I get to be a part of the spectacle, even if it is only for the weekend. We are headed to the desert to celebrate his little brother Hayden's 21st birthday... its definitely going to be an epic few days. Be back Monday!

[[ image from hipmunk. ]]

Here are some links that have been helpful in coming up with a game plan for places to check out:
- "Las Vegas: 10 Things To Do" by Time Travel
- "10 of The Best Bars in Vegas" by The Guardian
- the Nightlife section from the Las Vegas website itself

Oh yea, and, Happy Birthday Little Brother!!! See you in Vegas tonight!
By the way, I have looked in to your future, and this is going to be you tomorrow...

[[ happy birthday little hayden monster. ]]

seattle :: sneak peak

I have a lot of big plans over the next few weeks so it will probably take me a while to get to editing all of the pictures that we took from our Seattle trip last weekend (over 1,000 by the way, I am out of control), but in the meantime, here is a little sneaky peak of our adventures! It was an amazing experience by the way. I am really glad that I did some research on restaurants and bars ahead of time because we found some really awesome places with very friendly people to interact with.

If you follow me on Instagram then you have already seen all of these pics, but I don't want to give anything new away just yet. :)

[[ instagram photos: a very serious biscuit  bartenders with major flair. pikes at night. gasworks park. a view of the entire cityscape. my beautiful bouquet. ]]

we're headed for seattle!

Today me and Pat are headed for Seattle for a four day weekend and I couldn't be more excited! I have only been to Seattle once, but it was over a decade ago and I have been aching to get back, especially with Pat so that we can do some exploring of the city. In fact, this is another 30 before 30 goal I can cross off the list! I am looking forward to the views, the shopping, and food, and especially spending some uninterrupted time together free of our every day work loads. You can expect a ton of pictures when I return.

[[ from design sponge. ]]

pat's sleeve part II

On Saturday Pat spent four hours in the chair getting the shading finished up on his Egyptian Sleeve. In my first post back in December I went through the symbolism of the tattoo on a general level as well as why Pat choose it, so I am not going to get in to all of the specifics again. I will however say that Cynthia did an amazing job with the shading, as she did with the line work, and as his tattoo is healing and the color is coming down slightly it really looks like a work of art. Pat is really pleased with the piece for now, though he may decide to add on later. Once again, I am super excited for him!

Here are some pictures of the shading process:

[[ neon. the waiting room. getting set up. parlor art. pat getting worked on. peak-a-boo. icing one of the other artists. before sketch. the after tattoo. a few details of the final piece. ]]

my week in pictures 3

monday 4/8 - sunday 4/14

We enjoyed some delicious meals this week both at home and out at restaurants. Thursday night we decided to skip the gym and head downtown to Barrio which was delicious, as always. I did some experimenting with braids during the week. And over the weekend we headed to Salem so that Pat could get the shading on his tattoo worked on (this will get its own post), we could pick up the Maxima, and to see Tony at Gilgamesh. Sunday after breakfast we braved the snowy pass and made our way home.

[[ delicious home meals. barro. spring flowers in my office. experimenting with braids. pats tattoo getting worked on. a stop in to gilgamesh for dinner. tony! breakfast at a little cafe in salem. ]]

worthy brewing grand opening

Last Friday me and Pat met up with a few coworkers for the official grand opening of Worthy Brewing. It was pretty sweet. Good beers, good food, tons of people, live music (though the acoustics were pretty awful), and a photobooth!! I am a REAL sucker for photobooths! Check out our lovely attempts.

[[ photobooth round 1: business professionals. ]]

[[ photobooth round 2: my love. ]]

[[ the little guys i took home from bend photo longue. ]]

this one time i went horseback riding...

I am afraid of horses. I will just start right there. 
They are big, solid muscle, have minds of their own, spook easily, can have poor temperaments  kick, and therefore I do not consider them to be an idea means of transportation. However, when I arrived to work on last Wednesday morning my coworkers, who seem to have other views entirely, suggested that we spend an hour in the afternoon on horseback exploring the property. I reluctantly said "...um...ooook." in a shaky voice, although not before explaining my hesitation.

Once the afternoon hit we were all on our way to the stables where I was promptly saddled on a horse named Blanca holding on for dear life and preparing for our trek. Needless to say this was my first time on a horse.

It was perhaps not as bad as I thought it would be, although I was pretty uneasy the entire time because after all, horses are tall and I could have fallen right off at any moment! (I don't exactly have the best track record for being, you know, not clumsy as hell). Eventually I did loosen up enough to grip the reins tightly in one hand, my phone in the other, and snap a few pictures.

The end of my story is, I survived, unscathed, Pat was proud of me for going through with it, and I would in fact get on a horse again if necessary, though not without some hesitation once again.

[[ me on horseback for the first time. ]]

my week in pictures 2

monday 4/1 - sunday 4/7

This was a pretty crazy week that involved a ton of work, spring flowers, horseback riding (this one will get its own post), sushi, rainbows, deer, a brewery opening (which will also get its own post), and my friend Tiff coming for a little visit.

[[ business casual. spring flowers. horseback riding preview. tomo sushi. rainbows. deer. work work work. worthy grand opening. tiff visit. ]] 

eagle crest hike with drea & alex

On Sunday we decided to take Drea & Alex on the little Eagle Crest hike that me and Pat had done a few weeks ago. It was a gorgeous and warm sunny day, perfect for some outdoor adventures. We even packed a growler and some snacks so that we could hang out for a while.

[[ pat taking in the views. alex building little rock statues. posing for pictures. ]]

my week in pictures 1

monday 3/25 - sunday 3/31

Last week was extremely busy, so we didn't do much aside from working, but over the weekend our friends Drea and Alex were in town, so we wandered around Old Mill, did a little brewery exploration, had a delicious easter breakfast, and went on a mini hike.

[[ beautiful day at old mill. crux for lunch. hoppy easter at the deschutes tasting room. hola. growler room at the grocery store. cod for dinner made by pat. spring flowers. easter breakfast at one street down. my mimosa. pats manmosa. eagle crest hike. ]]

happy bunny day

Happy Easter! We didn't do much along the lines of Easter festivities this year... I didn't even eat any jelly beans, but I did have a glorious excuse to wear my bunny shirt that Tiff got me from London for my birthday last year!

[[ bunny shirt. ]]

a non april fools announcement

One of the main reasons that I started this blog back in September 2010, is because I was not being challenged creatively at work and needed a new outlet to help keep me inspired. Over time I continued to evolve this blog to have more regular features such as Weekend Adventures and Midweek Inspiration posts, but as my career picked up and me and Pat began traveling more, I started to loose track and have to cut some things out. Lately I find myself referring to this ongoing project as more of a chore than a creative outlet, and so I have concluded that it is time for a change.

In order to keep up with blogging, and life, I am going to switch things up for a while. Instead of posting five days a week, I am going to start posting "My Week In Pictures" from the week before once a week. I will still continue to do the occasional secondary post or Photo Adventure post, but am hoping that this will be a nice compromise so that I can actually enjoy the process once again.

Quality over quantity. You know, that whole thing.
And just for funsies... All The Single Ladies...