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Valentines Wine Tasting at Methven Vineyards
This year, a couple days before Valentine’s Day, my husband surprised me with a fun day of wine tasting with some friends at Methven Vineyards in Dayton, Oregon in the Willamette Valley. It’s always pretty entertaining for me when downloading images taken on a wine tour…never fails that about half of my images are of the blurry sort. Here’s is just one example (directly above) taken early in the day. To be fair, my lens is super heavy, but I don’t think I can blame my hefty lens on this one! During this special event we enjoyed mushroom risotto, standing rib roast, fresh baked breads, gourmet cheeses and fruits. Everything…
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Camping Birthday Party
Happy Campers As a mom it’s always so much fun to watch your kids’ interest evolve over the years. When planning their birthdays I pay attention to what they are currently obsessed with and then I run with it. This summer while we were out hiking on our National Parks vacation, my youngest mentioned to me that maybe he would like a National Parks themed birthday party. We brainstormed ideas for a while and had fun coming up with ways to incorporate our theme, but once we got back from our trip he decided maybe a camping theme would be better. I was pretty excited for his new suggestion because I think there are so many…
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Fall 2016 Willamette Valley Wine Tour
Touring Oregon’s Wine Country A few weeks ago we spent the afternoon touring four different local Oregon wineries. This was our second tour with Dan at Triangle Wine Country Tours and this tour was even better than the first. Lucky for us it was a beautiful sunny fall day here in Oregon which allowed us to soak in the scenery while sampling wine outside. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m no where close to being a wine expert. I don’t have all the lingo down, but I am picking up bits here and there. This post does not contain any wine reviews as I’m still a newbie and don’t feel I am…
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Herb Crusted Salmon
Herb Crusted Salmon When you live in the Pacific Northwest as we do, salmon is part of our regional heritage. For generations, salmon have played an important role in the local Native American tribal religion, culture, and diet. Early explorers Lewis and Clark feasted on roasted and dried salmon and made detailed descriptions and drawings of the salmon they saw in the Columbia River, noting how abundant the fish were in the area. Today, we learn about the salmon life cycle in our schools. Students raise fingerlings and release them into local rivers. We visit fish hatcheries and count the salmon in the fall when they migrate up river. We name rivers and streets after…
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Junk Refunk: Vintage Market
Junk Refunk: Vintage Market Today there were three amazing vintage junk sales on my calendar that I wanted to explore. Two of them were within 45 minutes of each other, so those are the two we decided on. Our first stop was the Outdoor Vintage Market at Wade Creek House Antiques in Estacada. This was set up like a farmers market combined with other vendors selling antiques and handmade repurposed items. I didn’t end up finding any treasures at this sale, but my friend Anne walked away with a cool rustic mirror framed in barn wood for her bathroom. These pillows are all the rage over on Instagram and I…
