Silver Falls State Park and Weekend Recap

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful and memorable Memorial Day Weekend.

I hope we all took a little time to express our gratitude to all the men and women who faithfully and courageously defend our country today and in the past and especially to those who gave their lives for our freedom!  We are blessed.

Our weekend started out with our Saturday morning trip to the Farmer’s Market.

The produce selection is growing each week and the colors were bright this week. I thought the orange beets were amazing!!

I am also loving all the amazing peonies at the market.  The ones in my garden are just getting ready to bloom.  I found a new little vendor that sells the cutest little cookies.  Of course I had to try and a few.  The macaroons were delicious!

We also enjoyed our Saturday morning breakfast at the market.  Tessa went for the waffle with strawberries and whip cream and Jim had the Lebanese omelet which was delicious.  I checked out the new crepe vendor and ordered one with lemon curd, strawberries and whip cream.  It was good but I’m missing my girl Tina from Zest Crepes who isn’t at the market this year.

If you are at the Beaverton Farmer’s Market this summer you will definitely need to stop by the IC Confections booth because this cute girl just may be working there!  Tessa has been working part time making fudge and selling it at various places for the vendor.  Who wouldn’t want to buy fudge from this cute face!  The peanut butter chocolate fudge is my favorite!!

Monday we celebrated by not working in the garden and going for a hike.  Our friends the Jensen’s joined us and we talked Tessa into getting up early on a holiday and going with us too.

We headed south to Silver Falls State Park which is just outside of Silverton, Oregon.  It is a beautiful park and hike and is rated moderate on the hiking difficulty scale.

It was a perfect day for hiking.  Cool and overcast but no rain.  But thanks to that rain we have gotten everything was GREEN!  At Silver Falls you can see 10 different water falls within a few miles of each other.  So beautiful.

Have I mentioned how glad I am to have this girl home to share some of our summer fun with us!?

We ended our weekend with a potluck BBQ with some friends.  I took a salad and a dessert.  Both recipes were twists on old favorites and I can’t wait to share both recipes with you.  We are especially loving the salad recipe and have had it two nights in a row and I think there is a third night in our future.

What did you do this weekend?

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Portland} The Grilled Cheese Grill

Now that the weather is getting better in Portland one of our favorite things to do is hit one of the food cart pods that are all over the city for lunch or dinner.

Portland is a mecca for food carts!

One of our favorites is a food cart that just serves grilled cheese.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup is one of our favorite comfort food. I think we grew up on grilled cheese and tomato soup at our house.

The Grilled Cheese Grill is located at 1027 NE Alberta Ave., Portland, 97211 and is open starting at 11:30 each day except for Mondays when they are closed. Check out their website for specific closing hours. They also have a location downtown at the Alder Street food cart pod and over on SE 28th and Ankeny. The Ankeny location is actualy a double decker bus!!

The Grilled Cheese Grill is celebrating their first birthday tomorrow – Tuesday, April 19th so head on down and join the celebration.

The kitchen is run out of a little trailer.

There is outside seating but the best place to sit is in the bus.

They have brought in an old school bus and outfitted it with booths and a nice long counter and stools. Hundreds of old school photos decorate the table top and counter top. Maybe you’ll see someone you know!

The painting on the ceiling is amazing and will keep you entertained for hours!

There are lots of fun grilled cheese combos on the menu or you can make up your own. Any combination you can think of they will make! (as long as the ingredient is listed on the menu)

We went with The Gabby which was a combination of cheddar, colby jack, swiss, mozzarella on white bread. We lived dangerous and added potato chips to it – yes, potato chips. I loved the addition of the salt and the crunch.

Our second choice was The Pops which was a combination of tomato, Havarti and honey mustard on Dave’s Killer Cracked Wheat – so good and my favorite. Of course we added the tomato soup too!

For dessert we couldn’t resist The Jaime especially when it said that “you might need to eat this in private.”

The Jaime was a combination of marscapone, Nutella, and grilled banana on grilled cinnamon swirl. It was amazing and I don’t even like bananas!!!

The food was great and how fun is it to be able to eat lunch in a school bus! Check out The Grilled Cheese Grill!!

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Projects and Weekend Recap

It was all about projects at our house this weekend. I’ve got a list a mile long.

Most of the projects on my list have something to do with a little wedding we have going on later this summer.

I love a good project.  I love coming up with the idea for the project, making the plan for the project, executing the project but nothing feels quite as good as finishing the project and crossing it off the list!

This weekend I crossed a couple of projects off my list.

Earlier this spring I just happened to go onto Craig’s List and type in vintage ice cream cart.  I mean really – how many vintage ice cream carts do you think there are on Craig’s List, especially in Portland, Oregon.  I knew it was a bit random but I decided to do it anyway.

Can you imagine my surprise when I saw this baby listed!!??

It was well used and had several coats of paint in various colors.  At one time it had even been used as a first aid cart but I knew it had potential.  I texted back and forth all day with the guy who had it listed.  He had someone else coming to look at it first so I kept my fingers crossed.  Lucky for me they didn’t take it so Jim and I headed out to pick it up.  We pulled up in front of the house and Jim said, “I know that guy.  I work with him.”  So the cart was mine and at a bit of a discount.  It was just meant to be.

I got to work and now it looks like this!

It’s amazing what a little bit of white spray paint can do!!  Isn’t she cute.  I’m in love.  Can’t wait to fill it with ice cream and start scooping!!

The next project on the list this weekend was to get all my pots planted and some plants in the ground in preparation for our big party this summer.  Got to have the yard looking good!

My friend Jane and I headed down to Hubbard for some major plant shopping. I didn’t count but there are several hundred plants sitting there.

Before we got to work on those plants though we had to play a bit.  Tessa and I started off our Saturday with a trip to the Farmer’s Market.  A Saturday morning tradition at our house during the season.  We picked up some of the first strawberries of the season.  They were delicious.

We also enjoyed a little breakfast.  I shared this amazing omelet with my friend Jane. who we met at the market.

And Tessa enjoyed this gourmet grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich complete with bacon and maple syrup.  It was amazing!!
We picked up a few more plants (yeah, I needed more) and headed home to start working in the garden.  This is part of our garden.  Spring is one of my favorite times of year in the garden.  The iris are blooming and the roses are just beginning.

One of the first roses of the season.

The iris are in full bloom too.

After a long day in the garden here is what that pile of pots looks like.

They aren’t all in the ground yet but we got pretty close.  We still have lots to work to do in the garden so that project isn’t crossed off the list but I don’t think a garden is ever finished.  It is a living, growing, ever changing thing and I love mine!

Just so you don’t think all we did was work, work, work all weekend,  Tessa and I did have a little mother/daughter lunch date on Friday.  We hit our favorite pizza place and enjoyed a little sunshine while Jim was off camping with the boys from church.

To celebrate the summer weather we have been having in Portland this last week (it’s suppose to rain all next week) we made some homemade malted milk ball ice cream.  So good.  My second batch this past week.

So what’s the next project on the list.  We did get a little work done on that one this weekend too.  I was feeling pretty energetic.  We’re building and painting carnival booths!
Did you get a project or two done this weekend??

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Bridal Shower

I told you it was going to be Party Central here on the blog this week.  But today we are switching gears.  We are moving from graduation party ideas to a bridal shower.

No, that is not the bride but one of our cute little party guests!

The bride is one of my daughter’s high school friends.  It seems just like yesterday she was in high school and I was teaching her in Young Women’s at church.  It probably seems like that because  it really  was – just a few years ago!

Well, every bride to be deserves a party and I was pleased to be able to  hold a party for cute Kara.

I followed some of my own party planning tips and set up my table the night before.

I also created this fun backdrop for the table.  I’ll have a tutorial next week for how we made it.  I also purchased some paper fans from Polka Dot Market for the backdrop.

I added some flowers from my garden.

And then I let food become the rest of the decoration on the table.  These little meringue cookies from Trader Joes were a pretty extra touch.

Food, flowers and a few candles make for a pretty table.

The menu consisted of an array of crostinis.  I’ll be sharing some recipes in the next week but we had a artichoke/spinach crostini with toasted almonds on top, flank steak with caramelized onions and red pepper mayo, Cambonzola cheese, roasted garlic and tomato jam and I mixed together some cream cheese and some roasted pineapple and habanero pepper sauce from Costco for another and added a piece of walnut on top.

For the sweet side we had a selection of mini bundt cakes.

I made the orange poppyseed bundt cakes I shared a few weeks ago.  My friend Meg made some chocolate bundt cakes.  I’m not sure what recipe she used but this is my favorite chocolate cake recipe and the one I would use.

And the third flavor was a White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt Cake.  So good!  That recipe is coming and I think it was my favorite of the three types we made.

I used my big chalkboard as a little decoration and just added the bride and groom’s name.

I decided our guest of honor needed a crown.  What girl doesn’t like to wear a crown?  Especially a crown as cute as this one! You can find the full tutorial on how to make the crown here.

Be sure to come back next for more of the party details and recipes.

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13.1 – Running a Half Marathon

I am not much for bumper stickers but this is one bumper sticker I am proud to put on my car!

I woke up this morning to this fun sign outside my bedroom door and to the Rocky theme blasting thanks to my thoughtful husband and cheerleader.

I am moving a little bit slower today and taking a few Motrin but I did it, rather I need to say WE did it.

Our friends Anne and Lynette are a bit faster than we are so they took off ahead but my friend Marsha and I hung together the whole race.

It was fun and exciting to be a part of a group of 3,500 women all with the same goal – to finish.  O.K., some of them probably had a goal to finish in a certain time but ours was definitely to finish.

We started out under the big balloon arch – can you see us there?

Our husbands and Tessa were there to cheer us as we started off.

And Jim even showed up along the route to snap a few pictures.  He brought a sign to cheer us on!

Marsha had only planned on running the 1/4 marathon and then walking the rest of the way but she hung in there with me and we did it together.  I was so proud of her and so grateful to cross the finish line with her.  Along with Jim, she has been my cheerleader through this whole experience and I loved being able to share it with her.

I work hard in life to enjoy the journey and I did enjoy the race – it was a perfect weather day.  Sun, not too warm, a nice gentle breeze, beautiful countryside to run through, and a good friend to do it with.  But I have to admit that I really enjoyed the thrill of finishing.  As we entered the stadium where the race ended, I heard them announce my name and as I ran through the finish arch it felt great to finish!  The satisfaction that comes with finishing something you started, finishing something you weren’t sure you could really do is pretty amazing.

It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

John Wooden

Rounding the bend of the finish line!  I think my favorite part of the whole race was as we were about to enter the stadium Marsha yelled to a man standing on the side cheering the runners on – “104 years here!! ”  Our ages combined!  Loved it.

Not such a lovely picture but hey – we did it!

And then our sweet husbands and Tessa were there to meet us at the finish line.  Tessa even brought me flowers to celebrate running a half marathon!!

We did it and it was even more fun and fulfilling to do it with my friend. Thanks Marsha!!

We can do hard things has been our mantra through this whole journey.  And we can!

On the way home in the car I asked Jim – so what’s my next goal?  Need to think about that one.

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I Can Do Hard Things

This is my motto for today.

Today I will finish a half marathon.

Something I have never done before.

In fact, before this last year I had never run.

But you see now I am a runner.

There has been a mixture of excitement, anxiety, nervousness etc. this week.  I have done the work, I have put in the miles and now I just need to have confidence in myself and enjoy the journey!  As my friend and running mentor Heidi says, “At this point it is 95% mental!”

I am also taking Heidi’s suggestion and I am dedicating each mile that I run to someone I know.  Someone I know that has done hard things.

They are friends and family that have overcome obstacles, challenges in life and been a wonderful example to me of fortitude, endurance and strength.

Mile One:  My husband, Jim. 

After all he has been married to me for 30 years.  That can’t have been easy!  He’s also started over a career late in his working life.  He did what he needed to do to support his family.

He has also been my biggest cheerleader on this running  journey.

Mile Two:  My father, Barrie

He fought back Stage Four Bladder Cancer and won!

Mile Three:  My mother, Mary Anne

Now after having raised four children of my own I have so much more respect and admiration for my mother who raised three of her own.  Raising children is hard work!

Mile Four:   Jeannena M.

She nutured and loved a special needs child.  Jeannena has shown me how to love and to serve.  The amazing part is she would never think that what she did was hard.

Mile Five:  Cathy S.

A dear friend of 20 years that has fought back cancer twice now.  She is such an example of strength and positive thinking.  She is also a marathon runner!

Mile Six:  Carol R.

Another dear friend who has always been such a support to me.  She is one of the smartest, wisest and hardest working women I know. She has never been afraid to do the right thing even when it is hard.

Mile Seven:  Heidi V.

I met Heidi through the world of blogging.  She has also mentored me along this running journey.  Heidi has suffered the loss of a child but has turned that “hard thing” into a beautiful thing as she blesses the lives of other families in the same situation on a weekly and almost daily basis.

Mile Eight:  William & Julie W.

Julie is one of my precious Beach Babe friends.  She and her sweet William are now fighting the fight of their lifetime.  My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Mile Nine, Ten & Eleven:  My other Beach Babe friends.  April N., Patrice B. and Shauna W.

These three women have done many hard things and continue to do so.  They are amazing examples to me and I am so grateful for their friendship.

(They know what hard things they have done!)

Mile Twelve: My Children

How grateful I am for their examples.  My boys gave up two years of their life to serve their Heavenly Father in a foreign country.  I can’t imagine how hard that must have been.  I have watched Cali work so hard to overcome learning disabilities and not only succeed but thrive in school and life.  I am so proud of my sweet baby, Tessa,  who not only survived her first year of college but thrived and grew so much.  Many times it was hard and things didn’t go according to what she had planned but she did it and she did it well!  She was not afraid of hard things.

 Mile Thirteen: Marsha J

Marsha has been my running partner through this whole journey.  We have been there for each other to give support and be each others cheerleader and freak out a bit together.  She has done this hard thing right along with me and we will run together today!

I can think of so many other people I know that have done hard things but I guess I will have to save those for another race!

13.1!!!!

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Top Ten Party Planning Tips

I love throwing a party and I’ve learned lots of party planning tips to make it easier on you and more enjoyable for your guests. Sharing all my top party planning tips.

Last Tuesday I hosted a How to Plan a Party Party!  It was so fun to have a group of you, my blog readers, in my home. I just wish I had room for all of you.  We had a fun time together, learning, sharing and eating some yummy cupcakes.

Today I want to share with you some of the highlights of the class and some of my Top Party Planning Tips.  I am still working on putting together a virtual version of this class.  Hopefully more details to come soon!!

Top Party Planning Tips

1.  Choose a Theme

I love a good themed party.  I find it much easier to work with a theme.  You can find lots of fun themed party ideas on Pinterest or right here on the blog.  Just click on the Party category.  As you know I am planning a wedding party this summer.  I decided to go with a themed event and my inspiration was this lollipop and I am developing a whole carnival theme around it!

2.  Carry Your Theme Throughout the Party.

It is fun to use your theme not only in your decorations but also in your invitations, thank you notes etc.  Thanks to Snapfish I was able to easily and quickly create some fun Save the Date cards as well as stickers to use on the envelopes thank you notes, a mug and a picture poster!

There are so many ways to carry your theme throughout the party.  Water bottle labels, pennant banners, table decor(pinwheels), cupcake toppers,  and party hats. 

3.  Lighting

I always like to incorporate lighting into my parties.  One of my favorite things to use is old jars with tea lights in them.  So easy but adds so much.  I also find candles at the Dollar Store that work great too.  Putting a candle in a pretty container can create magic at your party.  Install a dimmer switch on your dining room light fixture for instant ambiance!

4.  Let your food become part of your party/table decor.

Serving pretty food is a quick and easy way to add decor to your party.  I usually serve buffet style from a table or counter and the food becomes the decoration. 

More Party Planning Tips

5.  Label Your Food

Create signage for your food items.  Not only does it add decoration to your table but I like to know what I’m eating and it saves me a lot of question answering – What’s in this???  I have acquired quite a collection of table signage.  I have picked them up at Goodwill, The Dollar Store and eBay.

6.  Personalize it with Photos

When I am hosting a party for a new bride or mother to be or a birthday party, I love to include photos of the guest of honor.  You can either ask them for some photos or I like to grab my own camera and go do a little mini photo shoot with theme.

I have a box with a collection of baby nursery decor that I have saved.  Every time I host a baby shower that box comes out and I have instant table decor.

7.  Just add flowers

Flowers are an easy, easy way to spruce up any serving table or party.  They don’t have to be anything fancy. Just grab a white glass pitcher or a canning jar to put my flowers in.  I cut these flowers out of my own back yard.

8.  Get your Guests involved

One of my favorite ways to do that is by having them make their own food.  My recent Grilled Cheese Party was a fun way to do that.  

Another fun way to get your guests involved is with a Photo Booth.  We did this at Tessa’s Sail Away Graduation Party and it was a huge hit.  It kept the kids busy all night.  The photo makes a fun momento of the party for all your guests too.

We had a fun little photo op at our party earlier this week too.

9.  Set up the Night Before

One of the guests at my How to Plan a Party Party said this was the best tip of the whole evening.  Whenever possible I always like to set up my serving table the night before.  I put out all the decor and all the serving pieces I am going to need.  All you have to do is add food and light the candles.  It really helps cut down on that last minute panic you sometimes feel with a party and you are assured that your table will be pretty too!!

10.  Have fun! 

That includes you!  Allowing yourself enough time to plan and execute the party is important.  Be sure to enjoy the party too – get yourself out of the kitchen and visit with your guests. 

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Create Your Own Juice Bar

I love to throw a party–a full-out themed birthday party or a simple dinner party. I love the creative process involved, and I love spending time with people I love with good food and drink.

At our house good drink is non-alcoholic. At a party I recently hosted our good drink was fruit juice. I love having my guests get involved with the food, and so I love to do “food bars or drink bars” where the guests actually assemble their own food.

It also cuts down on the work for me as the hostess. I don’t have to spend all my time in the kitchen; I can be part of the party, too.

At my most recent party, I put together a Juice Bar starring a new product by Simply Orange Juice Company – Simply CranberryCocktail which they asked me to try. I also made them work for their dinner. I’ll be posting about that tomorrow.

Host a Create Your Own Juice Bar at your next party!

For the Juice Bar I covered my old vintage ironing board with a vintage table cloth.

I provided a selection of juices including Simply CranberryCocktail the newest in the line of Simply beverages as well as Simply Orange® and Simply Lemonade®.

In addition we had some other “mixers”–peach juice, apricot nectar, pineapple juice, coconut, and lemon-lime soda. Simply CranberryCocktail is not made from concentrate so it has a fresh, pure cranberry taste, both sweet and tart and just a little different than the other cranberry cocktails you may have tried. Because it has no added preservatives you will find it in the refrigerator section of the grocery store; it is chilled from the time it’s blended.

I grew up drinking cranberry juice blends and I love cranberry cocktail all by itself but my favorite drink combines cranberry cocktail, orange juice and lemon lime soda. It was our own little “mocktail.”

It was fun to see how creative everyone got with their juice mixtures.

Simply CranberryCocktail comes in a fun carafe so no need to pour it into a pretty container; it comes in one, either 59 oz. or a smaller, personal size of 13.5 oz.

Some of our other favorite juice bar combinations were: Simply CranberryCocktail, pineapple and lemon lime soda; Simply CranberryCocktail, orange juice and lemon lime soda; Simply CranberryCocktail, peach juice and lemon lime soda; Simply CranberryCocktail, lemonade and pineapple.

I highly recommend a Juice Bar at your next party or dinner party. People love the hands-on process and being able to experiment with all different combinations.

As the hostess you provide the ingredients and let your guests do the mixing!

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Your Homebased Mom 50’s Style!

Are you ready to have a little fun with me today?

I have decided that life is short and that I need to have more fun.

Several months ago I saw a fun photo shoot that my photographer friend Tara B had done with her mom and sisters.  It was a 50’s housewife photo shoot.  I loved it and when I knew I was going to be in Utah for a week I asked Tara if we couldn’t do something like that.  Lucky for me Tara agreed and her mother lent us  her amazingly beautiful kitchen for the photo shoot.  I dressed up in my best 50’s attire including a few of my vintage aprons and Tara and I had fun.

I must admit I was a little out of my comfort zone but that’s what made it even more fun.  Crawling up on the kitchen island and posing with plates of treats felt a little strange but it sure was fun!  Tara has a great knack for making you feel comfortable in front of the camera and she just has fun with you.  And she is pretty talented with that camera too!!

Be sure and check out the laundry room.  I think I could do laundry all day if I could do it in a laundry room as beautiful as this one!!

If you’d like to take a peek at some more of the pictures from our fun photo shoot visit Tara’s blog.  If any of you Utah readers are looking for a great photographer I HIGHLY recommend Tara.  She also recently did these wonderful engagement pictures for my son Clark and his fiancee Jessica.

Thanks to Tara for making me look so good and having fun with me!!

Your Homebased Mom 50’s Style!!!

A special thanks to my friend Jenn of Doll Cosmetics who did my makeup for me.  She’s got lots of great makeup tutorials on her blog too.  Jenn is in the Saratoga Springs area and does makeup for brides, photo shoots and special events.  She even took a break from BYU Women’s Conference and met me in the Wilkinson Center to do my makeup.  She also did Tessa’s makeup for her high school Prom and Homecoming.  She’s great!

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When Your Heart Speaks and Free Printable

I love this quote and I have tried to live my life by it.  When my heart speaks, I take good notes.   I not only take good notes but I try and take action too.

Many wonderful blessings have come into my life as a result of listening to my heart.  Over four years ago something whispered to my heart that I should start a blog.  I didn’t really know what a blog was and I had no idea how to do it but when my heart speaks I take good notes.  So I figured out how to do it and what an incredible blessing it has been!

Twenty years ago I was a young mom of three little ones (with a fourth one to arrive in the next year or so.)  My life was full and my days busy.  I wasn’t looking for a job or a business but I was introduced to a direct sales company and my heart spoke again and it told me I needed get involved.  So I listened.

The next twenty years were amazing.  I learned and grew as a person so much.  I met incredible women and made life long friends.  I was able to help train, inspire and motivate thousands of women.  I helped hundreds of women learn how to preserve their stories and photographs and enrich their family’s life.  I was able to travel the world enjoying so many beautiful places I never would have traveled to otherwise.  I won awards and received recognition for top sales, recruiting and leader development in my company.   I was a top leader in my company. I earned a wonderful income that helped provide a lot of the extras for my family and allowed my family to financially survive five years of on and off again unemployment for my husband.

Then earlier this year my heart spoke again.  And I listened.  On March 1st I formally resigned from something that I had spent the last twenty years of my life doing.  Something I loved doing.  Something I had felt passionate about.  Something that was a major part of our family’s financial stability. I resigned from the direct sales company I had been involved with.

It was a little scary but because I was listening to my heart I knew it was the right thing to do.  My ever supportive husband agreed.

So after twenty years I left.  I left for a lot of different reasons but the main reason was my heart told me it was time to go.
Because I listened to my heart there has not been a moment of regret.  I knew it was the right thing to do.  In fact, I felt like I lost ten pounds (just wish I really had!!)

I am an entrepreneur at heart and a believer and supporter of homebased business and I am not one to remain idle so I have found another adventure.  One I am excited about and because my heart whispered “This is what you should be doing Leigh Anne”  I took good notes and moved forward.  If you’d like to read more about this new adventure you can visit me at a blog I have set up where I tell the story about how and why I got involved and more about the company and how it has made a major impact on my family’s health.  Please feel free to sign up for email updates too!  I also have a button on my sidebar that you can always click through to read more about what I am doing. Of course if you would like to contact me directly with any questions about my new venture or the products feel free to email me or leave a comment.

Learning to listen to your heart, taking good notes and then having the courage and faith to move forward with what your heart tells you to do is not always easy but for me at least, it has always been worth it.  I am excited for this new adventure!  It’s always fun to see where my heart will lead me next.

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