Chaos & Confetti

3rd Annual Portland Trip!

2014-08-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

About three years ago my mother, sister, and I started a tradition of traveling to Portland once a year together. We keep it short and sweet to keep everyone in a fresh and happy mood and also so that we don't run out of things to do.

Our first stop was the delicious Pine State Biscuits which if you have been to Portland you probably have been told that its a must to go to. Delicious sausage or mushroom gravy for biscuits. Freshly fried, seasoned chicken bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. Scones with locally made apple butter. Specially Portland drinks made in house.

Our next stop is my favorite tea shop, Townshend's Tea Company. With fresh made Kombucha, apothecary style tea concoctions, and by the bottle service. Have a headache or cramps or any collection of aliments and they have a tea for you.

Continuing our trip is Portland's famous City of Books, Powell's. The first time I walked in here I was sure I would be stuck in the for hours. Floors and more floors of new and used books. Unfortunately, this City does have a place for rent, otherwise I would never leave.

Most people who visit Portland and ask for ice cream recommendations will be sent to Salt & Straw. Delicious and various flavors, but Salt & Straw is almost going to guarantee you a half hour to an hour wait. Since we had been to Salt & Straw several times we checked out another local ice creamery and I think I actually prefer it. Cool Moon Ice Cream is downtown and had such a great collection of flavors. The goat cheese and fig was smooth with a sweet little taste of fig through out. Spicy Thai peanut was the perfect amount of peanut butter ice cream with just a hint of spice. My final decision was the Thai ice tea ice cream which is definitely as good as it sounds.

One of our favorite brewery's we visited this year has to be he Lucky Labrador. It is a large dog themed beer hall/brewery with local hand crafted tap handles. Great beer variety, great services, and (though we were to full to eat) great smelling and sounding food.

Hopworks was amazing. . Yummy food, form pulled pork sandwiches, pizza, and awesome salads. The beer is a must and I found my favorite immediately. It's called "I Am The Jelly Doughnut". A very sour beer (my favorite) which they give you a side of cherry "filling"(syrup) to pour to your own taste. I definitely making the trip if you are going to visit a brewery in Portland.

Our final land mark before leaving was Voodoo Doughnuts. One of the most iconic foods of Portland which means the line is always several blocks long, morning, noon , and night. We finally found there other location which had a much shorter line. The doughnuts were delicious. I tried the butterfingers, the maple bacon, and the Mexican hot chocolate. The chocolate one was Very spice to me. The bacon was just right on the maple doughnut. My favorite was the butterfingers. Definitely worth a try but I think once is enough because of the lines.

Running for a Change

2014-08-06T15:00:00.002-07:00

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tacomarunners/#

So I recently joined the Tacoma Runners group. It combines three things I like: running, alcohol, and losing weight. My first run with the group was on July 31st. I joined with my friend Katie for this slightly over 3 miles run. Yes we were not first, but we weren't technically last either. It was actually a lot of fun. Our run, (Rum, I mean Run run), started out at the Tacoma Cabana which would be our ending destination. The run consisted with small high hills, some stairs and extended flat run along the water street. The view was beautiful as we ran down the University of Washington Tacoma stairs, past the glass bridge, and along dock street and back to the new vamped downtown area. Along the way we made a few new friends. Page was wonderful by keeping conversation up while we fell behind. By the end we met a beautiful puppy who definitely dragged his owners behind.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that our next 3.2 mile run is tomorrow with a wedding theme. Hopefully through our joining we make some more social acquaintances. The theme is derived from two members in the group getting married. I have high hopes that the perks of joining a running group will pay off! Maybe some of my readers would be interested in joining?

*photos from Tacoma Runners facebook

Tires, Paint, and Plants

2014-06-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

With the sun out and my boyfriends, (Stephan), new obsession with gardening, it was a perfect day to make planters. Stephan found some well used free tires and we got to work. First we picked out some colors that coordinate as well as were on sale. Then cut some drainage backs for the tires.

We took a pallet and painted it a nice neutral color that ties the other colors. We tried several different forms of stacking.

We then sprayed out the back of green tire black so that it blended in with the dirt. Finally, we added the plants!

From Trash to Treasure

2014-04-26T12:56:00.001-07:00

Director chairs are the coolest! You feel tall, powerful, and in control. Digging through my fathers dilapidated basement, I found an old chewed on director style wood folding chair. I decided to grab it and fix it up.

This style chair, but with white wood and red canvas.

After taking it apart and two rounds of sanding I landed on a color. This beautiful soft grey named gibraltar cliffs. After hunting on line I choose this adorable jelly fish print for the fabric.

After doing this project I think I might want to make a director's chair by hand and make it a set.

A Patchwork House for Puppy

2014-03-17T17:20:00.001-07:00

After

Before

         The other day while hunting for pallets, we found a very dilapidated dog house. Being in the mood to take any and every salvageable piece of wood, we grabbed it.
         Then we ripped it apart. Half the roof was too far gone to repair. The siding was pretty unattractive.
         The interior we cleaned out and sprayed with a water resistant spray. Once dried we put a nice pink coat for sealant. Then we floored it with left over wood laminate from the house. (Yes our puppy is spoiled)
         The exterior we layered over with more wood laminate. Then we made trimming with the same pink as the insides. We also shingled the roof. Half of the roof is on hinges so that we can clean and fix anything easily.

Having not spent a cent on supplies and only using left over materials, I believe the house turned out pretty nice for my princess.

Pirate Parrrr-ty

2014-03-10T17:19:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was my older brother's birthday and we decided to have a small dinner party with him. He just turned 29 but he is pretty obsessed with pirates (and I'm not talking about people scanning things off the internet). My boyfriend made him a nice treasure chest birthday cake which hit the hot list on tickled yesterday which is awesome!tickled link

Your Hair Looks Like A Zoo

2014-03-06T21:08:00.001-08:00

Recently I surfed into the awesome sight incrediblethings.com and found masterfully creepy animals...designed through a hair. These are amazing, (and a little creepy).

http://www.incrediblethings.com/art-design/animals-sculpted-out-of-hair/

Pallet Projects

2014-03-06T20:25:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I spend the day checking out small company's and construction sites for pallets for diy projects. The amount of success was surprising for only about an hour and a half of searching.

The mass amount of pallet projects out there is impressive. I found this nice pallet project collection while peruse trendhunter.com I already see tons of projects to force labor my boy into building me. Here are just a few of the collection.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/recycle-wooden-pallets

Yes, I Like to Dress My Pets Up

2014-03-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

Here is my sweet little darling puppy, (or my boyfriends). Her name is Allons-y and yes she is the cutest thing on the planet. But she does have a tendency to destroy the clothing I buy her. Here is her Seahawks jersey that she wore all the Sundays leading to the Superbowl. And there is her Boba Fett costume that matches her dad's. Unfortunately she already destroyed her bomber jacket and she keeps growing out of her clothes like her dorky pink argyle sweater. That will never stop me from buying her clothes, which I assume that what she thought she was preventing.

Below is the most recent addition to her wardrobe; the Wookie costume!

Veggie Version

2014-03-05T09:09:00.001-08:00

My family happens to make delicious food...which I usually don't eat. I happen to be a pescetarian so I usually make a vegetarian version of what ever they are eating.

One night they made BBQ pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. I made myself a delicious BBQ black bean sandwich with sauerkraut (I don't like coleslaw).

Another night they had a taco fest. I made a wonderful grilled onion, chickpea, and corn with veggie Worcestershire sauce topped with cabbage. So good!

A Candle Light Picnic Without Leaving Home

2014-03-04T20:24:00.004-08:00

My boyfriend has just opened up a former office space to lay way to a new dinning room. Of course, what a dining room needs is a dining table to be complete. His idea was to transform an old picnic table he had in his back yard to the amaizing diy tables that have become oh so popular.

Here is the, (almost) finished product. It's stained a nice dark mahogany color. He is going to be taking the seats off these chairs he was given and staining the seats the matching mahogany stain.

And here is the gorgeous first meal on his new table.

Clutching at Legos

2013-10-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

www.agabag.com

I've had this beauty saved in my bookmark to-do list arsenal for a year. I don't usually carry clutches but I see this Lego clutch and I am up for it. Of course I'm going to DIY it and make it my own (the price tag also scared me away from just buying it as well). I just put my order in for a set of teal, purple, and black legos to make a righteous pattern. I also plan to remove the side legos to make it an accordion style to fit more. I will keep you up to date of the process on the way!

Fallin' in Love with Fall!

2013-10-05T14:37:00.001-07:00

Physalis alkekengi- I am picking up one of these this season for sure!

Everything about Fall cries out to me; from the savory comfort foods, all things pumpkin flavored, to being able to wear sooo many layers of cotton and not melt (I love my boots, scarfs, and jackets), to the changing colors in the trees, and of course, Halloween! I have already found a list of things I want to make this fall!

From one of my favorite blogs abeautifulmess.com ( http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2013/09/pumpkin-cheesecake.html ), I really want to make this delicious pumpkin cheese cakes with ginger snap crusts.

From the lovely modcloth.com (http://www.modcloth.com/shop/scarves/outfox-the-eye-scarf), I really want to make my own spin on this cute fox scarf idea.

Coming up soon is my dear friend Amilyn's Halloween party and I need to get my costume prepared. I have been wanting to make a Sherlock Holmes costume for years. If anyone has a nice pattern or an idea for my jack-o I would be much appreciated.

My Daily Addiction (from Escher to Argyle)

2013-09-27T21:51:00.003-07:00

When it comes to knitting, I'm actually more addicted to designing than the finished products. Above is a project I started over two years ago, inspired by M. C. Escher's amazing repetitive, interlocking lizards (you can see the orange lizards create the grey lizards). This was near the beginning of my double knitting addiction before I had 100 more designs than projects.

This guitar double knit is my first attempt at double knit where I learned the difficult task of not letting a mistake keep you from "unraveling".

Below is my latest concoction, argyle. This scarf has seen me through a trip through Hawaii and 9 months.

Even though these creations take up an exuberant amount of time, the designing takes from 20 minutes to several hours and I seem never to get bored. My future projects I have already designed out are: a matching hat and scarves for my argyle, a Hyrulian shield book bag, Majora's mask pillow, and a handsome Green lantern scarf for my man. (Just don't expect to see any immediate finished projects!)

Plushies

2013-03-05T22:23:00.001-08:00

For a while I was (it's a lie I still am) a big fan of plushies. These are my first two babies.Recently on http://nuno-runo.blogspot.com, I have discovered some cute simple patterns that have once again sparked my interest. Like this cute Stegosaurus, or the adorable squid kitten combo the squitten from craftster feeshy, or the amazing ivysaur.

Dinosaurs come to life!

2013-02-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

We live off the remains of these gorgeous gods everyday and now there is a way to give new life to our dear dinosaur brethren. I love the idea of taking everyday items and transforming them from nic nac to practical and innovative items. I came upon this concept while on one of my favorite website Craftsters.com. Fellow craftster member OhNoJoJo found this and other amazing animal planters on the very cool More Design Please website advertising for Plaid Pidgeon. I will have to take this design opportunity to expand my indoor plant collection.

Craftster OhNoJoJo More Design Please Buy Them Here