here we are...

Oh boy... where do I even begin... 
How does one return to blogging after a 5 month hiatus?

First let's establish the reason for my nearly half year departure from something I worked on so meticulously in the past - a wedding. Not just any wedding, my wedding. Yep, that's right, I return to you as someone's wife (which still sounds strange to me after ten freaking years).

Around the time of my last post, wedding planning/designing/crafting, insanity began to shift my life balance in to dangerously stressful territory, so I had to cut something out for my own peace of mind, and unfortunately my blogging platform had to give. Incidentally I have so much to say/post/document, but so little time to play catch up on everything. As I sit here typing this out, my head is filled with our upcoming trip to Europe in just two short weeks... Basically getting things back to normal, i'm afraid, seems damn near impossible.

As much as i've enjoyed working on My Week posts over the past year or so, moving forward I think I am going to have to edit things down a bit more. My plan is to focus more on the the big events, trips, milestones, etc. and less on the every day. Please bare with me as I continue to catch up on those promised posts from the past year (Telluride, San Francisco, John Day, every little wedding detail, birthdays, and soon our honeymoon).

One day in the not so distant future I will be back at it, but for now please allow me to get things in my life back to my version of "normal".

In the meantime, I leave you with our wedding website (that I worked super hard on) to comb through, as well as our awesome preview video! 
And one of these days I promise you will see some "new" posts popping up.

♥ 

my week in pictures 76

monday 10/27 - sunday 11/2

Last week was an awesome one! On Tuesday me and Pat went to look at yet another potential wedding venue... and guess what? We finally found a new one! (More on that in another post). Other than that, during the week I worked on out costumes, and enjoyed some crisp fall weather.

Friday night Pat decided to decorate the house, grab some candy, and hand it out to trick-or-treaters again, and then we wandered through the neighborhood a little bit to check out other people's set ups before watching some Halloween favorites.

On Saturday we slept in, packed our stuff, and then headed to Portland to surprise our friends at their party. After our foggy/rainy drive we met up with Brad, Alia, and their baby girl Henley for some dinner at Che, and then checked in to our hotel to get ready. The party itself felt like college again, and I loved surprising everyone! I have a lot more pictures which I will throw up here tomorrow.

Sunday morning we headed to Alberta to grab breakfast at Pine State Biscuits with Tony and Alex before making a quick stop at the Nike Employee store, and then heading back over the pass for home. Another super short trip (which seems like all we have time for these days), but it was well worth it.

[[ a preview of our venue. fall goodies. finishing up my costume. pretty accidental gold leaves. date night at 10 below (i always have to take these pics). red sky on halloween night. skeleton socks. our cute little decorations. the neighbors scary/awesome house. heading to portland: our side of the pass, their side of the pass. the view from our hotel room. dinner with henley. a preview of our costumes. sunday morning. brunch at pine state biscuits. nom nom nom. ]] 

my week in pictures 74

monday 10/13 - sunday 10/19

The week summed up in a few words: nights out, the venue hunt continues, exploring country roads, wild ride, shopping in Bend is super awkward (to my never ending frustration), our leaf situation is brutal, endless raking...

[[ that one time we tried to leave no tip for terrible service and make a clean break, but i left my purse and we had to go back. dinner and drinks at drake. exploring another potential venue. country roads in lower bridge. beers and snacks at wild ride in redmond. ugly clothes for days. round one in the war against the leaves. ]]

my week in pictures 73

monday 10/6 - sunday 10/12

Last week was definitely a stressful one without much sleep, unfortunately, as we continued our endless venue replacement hunt. One of these days I will post all about that struggle.

On Saturday morning we grabbed my little sister and then headed to my moms place to celebrate the life of my grandma Norma with family. It was a really emotional day for everyone, but nice to see some of my aunts and uncles from California. My stepdad put together a really nice slideshow, and my aunt Debby created a book of her recipes that I am really excited to check out once the holidays roll around (especially the best sugar cookies ever). I promise promise promise I will be writing a post all about my grandma soon, I just haven't felt like I had enough time or a clear enough head to get through it yet, and I don't want to rush it. She deserves more recognition than that.

In the evening we met up with Pat's "little sister" downtown, and then stopped in Lompoc before calling it a night and heading to my dads place to sleep.

On Sunday we met up with Megan and her little sister for brunch at Slappy Cakes in Portland. I had been wanting to try that place for a long time, and it was so fun (and delicious)! We got a ton of ingredients, and ended up making both sweet and savory pancakes while playing with our food the entire time. Once we were done we said our goodbyes and drove my sister back to Corvallis where we checked out the house she is living in, before stopping by Block 15 (because we always have to) for a snack (and beer), and then checking out a newer brewery, Mazama, on the way out of town. We got home just as the sun went down and both passed out super early, exhausted from the quick weekend trip.

[[ working from hammock. more venue hunting... rainbow while heading over the pass. celebrating norma jean. my grandma's recipe book that i am definitely going to be using! a good place for a pooch to sit. a quick stop at lompoc. slappy cakes! decisions decisions. all of our toppings: bananas, bacon, mushrooms, goat cheese, chives, homemade hazelnut spread, chocolate chips, cinnamon creme fraiche. savory pancakes and sweet pancakes. making pancakes! i accidentally made a beard... oops. bathroom sister photos. starberries! viking? a short visit to b15 for some fruit beer and nachos. checking out mazama. sunset views on the drive home. ]]

my week in pictures 71

monday 9/22 - sunday 9/28

I spent most of last week back in Telluride Colorado for work, and I will be doing some full posts when I get a chance because I have a ton of beautiful scenery to share with you! But for now, I have a tiny preview and some pictures from our adventures over the weekend.

[[ telluride sunset. more venue searching in the woods. the epic bunny trophy at the dry hop ale festival in sisters. tortilla soup on a cold fall day. stormy day at brasada. rainbow! accidentally stumbling on a naked member event. oops, me and sarah got married! pat and payton in matching batman shirts (adorable). bend sunsets. ]]