Home for the Holidays: Part 1

Heath and I were lucky enough to spend a full week at my parent's house for Thanksgiving. A trip down south was greatly appreciated, and I was blessed to land my nanny job the day we left for Franklin. What are the odds? It was a wonderful trip, filled with good eats, time with family and friends, and memorable sight-seeing as always.

Much to my dismay, Heath and I decided not to purchase a christmas tree this year, or put up Christmas decorations for that matter. Being gone the week of Thanksgiving, then spending three weeks in Texas, our tree would be dead and sorry looking by the time we got back. I was sad about this, but there's always next year. My parents had quite a pretty tree to admire though....



While we were in town, we celebrated Christmas with my family as well. It was a treat to have Christmas 1 month early! :) Thanks mom and dad!

We were also lavishly treated in the food department. Oh my goodness, I don't think we've eaten that good in a while. It was mildly depressing when we came home to vegetable plates and pasta dishes. If you live in Franklin, please go eat at Wild Ginger for me!!! I'm begging you.... get the Skittle salad and the Firecracker sushi. Then call me and tell me how good it was. I want someone to enjoy it if I can't. SO GOOD.



We spent Thanksgiving with grandmom and granddad Daniels, along with mom's side. We took lots of pictures, and cherished our time with granddaddy.



Heather and Matt with their puppies.



Neal with his new puppy, Chevy.



Family picture....



So, if you've never been to downtown Franklin, you should stop what you're doing and just go now. Walking down Main St. continues to be one of my favorite things to do while I'm home. The stores have changed overtime, but the buildings have so much character and it reminds me so much of my childhood. I liked this store window... it reminded me of Anthro.



While visiting downtown Franklin, you can treat yourself to a some Sweet CeCe's. It's soooooo yummy!



We were lucky enough to see gmom and gdad twice while we were in town. We spent a day with them alone right before we left. Granddad was much more talkative this day with out so many people around. We shared lots of laughs and special moments together. And took this wonderful picture...



On one of the non-rainy days (yes, the rain followed us from Oregon), mom took Heath and I to Radner Lake in Brentwood. I loved taking pictures and enjoyed the sunny sky. It was a good day.



Though I was not able to see everyone I wanted (there's always next year :), it was a great trip, filled with nice memories and lots of love. We love our Tennessee family. Thank you for treating us so well.

Random....

A dear friend recently encouraged me to blog more, so I will. But I warn you, this post is random and has no theme at all. Enjoy :)

1. Two weeks ago, Heath and I attended a marriage seminar in Seaside, OR. Overall, it was a great getaway and really encouraged us to keep growing and learning more about each other. We stayed for the whole six hour seminar (which was a bit lengthy if you ask me), and were then awarded with a free hotel stay by the beach. Not too shabby, eh? Anyway, there was a swing set on the beach...



2. Two weeks before that trip, we visited Seaside with Jared and Michaela. We played lots of games and enjoyed exploring the city. I really just wanted to share what Heath's hair looks like in 60mph winds...



Made him five inches taller I tell you! (He just got his haircut yesterday and looks very handsome. smile)

3. The birds were on attack at the beach. At first, they followed us and we thought it was funny... it wasn't funny after 10 minutes. Katie Buckel, I'm pretty sure you would have passed out.



4. I love Trader Joe's! We have one about 5 minutes from our house and I visit it often. It's not a place for staple grocery items, but I buy my meat and specialty things there for sure. They also have the most beautiful, afforable flowers! I purchased this lovely bouquet for $4.99 a few weeks ago.



5. I've had a good week in Etsy sales. One of my magazine inserts was featured on the Etsy email last Friday, and by Saturday, I sold all of the files I had! Wonderful, but I wish I had more in stock now. (If you have been hanging on to any magazine inserts, I'd love to take them off your hands!) Anyway, I am now the proud owner of lots of these beautiful rose buds... they are small and adorn the ear beautifully. These would be lovely stocking stuffers. :)



6. I like to go for walks around our apartment complex. After long days of job searching online and crafting in the living room, it's nice to enjoy a little sunshine when I can. This is what our road looked like two weeks ago. The cold front brought wind and ran, so the leaves now blanket the ground.



7. And this was the tree next to our door. I loved looking up and seeing this vibrant red. I'm already looking forward to seeing the colors change next year.



8. I am proud to say that I have completed all of our christmas shopping. (We are celebrating Christmas with my family during Thanksgiving this year and I am so excited to be in Franklin again!) I suggest that you start your Christmas shopping as well. Shoppers tend to be more anxious and crabby during the holiday season, so finish it before you're stressed like the rest of them!

9. I love Heath. He's my best friend, and I'm glad I can share this journey with him. It's been fun.

Okay, that's all I have. Hope to see you soon.

Updates and my new hairdo.

hello there. Just wanted to give you a brief update on the Newton household....
We've been on vacation now for two, beautiful, short months and it has been so wonderful. I'm glad Heath likes to explore and travel as much as I do! We went on 9 hikes, 10 walks through the city (with our walking and hiking books), tried lots of new cuisine, and explored the Oregon and California coast. Awesome. We also had the lovely Newton family come for a visit, as well as my mom, who left yesterday. Pictures will be posted soon.

Heath just attended Pacific University's orientation for the grad program, and will personally meet his professors and fellow classmates on Thursday. I am so proud of him and excited for him to learn more about his passion. Pacific is lucky to have him.

I just applied for a job yesterday, and am working on applying for three more tonight and tomorrow. One job in particular has really caught my eye, and it's an organization that I am very familiar with... even better, it's located less than 5 miles from our house. Keep this in your prayers please! I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but have started to become excited about job opportunities. that's good, right!?

Also... starting tomorrow, my Etsy store will finally be open for business! It's called "katie's handmades" (I know, I know. So creative.) and I am so happy to finally begin listing items. Most of you know, I love to create, but rarely actually complete the projects. Maybe this will be the end of that bad habit. Anyways, I'm going to post my upcycled address files, flower hair pins, bakers twine, upcycled Anthropology envelopes, and embossed notecards. I'm excited! I'll post a link for the store tomorrow.

Last but not least... I got my haircut last week. It's short and fun. So much easier to handle than my long hair! Maybe next time I'll cut it even shorter :)



Have a lovely day friend

One Year Ago

I married my best friend. (Sorry, this post is a little late!)
August eighth was a wonderful day, and I'm happy to say that I remember much of our wedding day. Thanks to my mom, Julie, maid of honor (Katie B), and lots of other family and friends, the day went smoothly. :) I often think back to walking down the aisle with my dad by my side, seeing Heath's face the for the first time that day, looking out into the crowd of beautiful, smiling faces during our ceremony, and singing "Be Thou My Vision" together. These are just a few of my favorite moments, and I will forever cherish them.

In establishing our anniversary tradition, Heath and I decided to do several things. First, we decided to watch our wedding video. (This was kind of a no-brainer.) While watching the video, we realized again how meaningful our ceremony was to us. Our minister, Jason Anderson, was Heath's youth minister for several years; though I have only known Jason and his sweet family for a year and a half, he words made the ceremony so personal and sentimental to us both. Thank you, Jason. You did a wonderful job. :)





Now comes the second tradition... celebrate by eating a fancy meal. The picture below was taken on our honeymoon, in Riviera Maya, while sharing our lovely "Special Honeymooners Dinner". So, we would really like to celebrate every Anniversary dinner at that same table, in that same location, even eating the same food. But alas, we are young and a bit on the poor side, so we cannot. smile



Fast forward.... this picture was taken at Andina, one of Portland's finest Peruvian restaurants. The food was incredible and very adventurous for us! We had "tapas" which is basically ordering 4-6 appetizers for your table and making that your meal. We tried cheeses from around the world, filet with a quail egg on top (no, we weren't that adventurous...), and two different types of fish that were to die for. I'm salivating as I type. Heath and I had so much fun trying these new things together. At the end of our meal, we had the restaurant to ourselves (our reservations weren't until (9:30p.m.) and our waiter treated us to free dessert! It's that sweet. Apparently it was mousse and chocolate of some sort imported from the Amazon. delicious!

Please note that I'm wearing the same black dress. Hope I can wear it for a few more years! :)



Our third tradition is eating asweet treat. Yes, I know the tradition is to eat your wedding cake topper on your one year anniversary. Heath and I had our gone about a month after the wedding. We cheated a little bit, but it was sooooo good. So instead of the cake topper, we visited a local cupcake shop for our sweet treats. If you are in downtown Portland, visit Saint Cupcake. We recommend the coconut cupcake with cream cheese icing. yum!



Our last tradition is to go on a vacation. This is my personal favorite. It doesn't have to be to somewhere faraway and fancy, just someplace new. Our adventure to Portland has brought so much growth to our relationship. I love traveling and exploring with Heath; I'm so glad I married my best friend. :)
So, to celebrate our one year, we headed to Oceanside, Oregon. We rented a house overlooking the coast, and even saw whales while eating dinner out on our balcony! It was beautiful.



The Oregon coast is much different than any other beach I've ever been to. The water is much too cold to play in, and it seems that small rocks take the place of sand. We had fun walking though, and just enjoyed the peaceful ocean sounds and breeze. I also took about 1,000 pictures... I'm trying to put together a "stop-motion" video of our time here in Portland. It's a bit of an undertaking, but I'm excited to put all the pictures together.... check back in 2 years for the final product.



All in all, our time in Oceanside was a perfect getaway for Heath and I. It provided time to grow and learn more about each other. I'm thankful for this past year, and everything we have learned. I'm excited for the years to come.





With one year down, does this mean we are no longer honeymooners? :)

Trip Down the Coast

Sorry I didn't post again several days ago. I didn't because life got a little stressful. To sum it up, our car broke down on Thursday, and I feel on the spikes of my bike (where it changes gears) and have been limping around since. Ouch. Good news: we picked the car up last night!

Remember that hike I talked about on Wednesday? Well, that was also another reason I didn't write back. Heath choose one of the more difficult hikes from our book, and we had no idea how advanced it would actually be. In the first mile of the hike, we climbed over 1700 feet, and we kept climbing. Once we reached the second trailhead, we choose the wrong one... this lead us down the other side of the mountain. By the time we realized it was the wrong trail, it was 5:30 and we didn't want to risk getting stuck in the dark trying to reach the top. So, we completely exhausted ourselves and didn't even reach the viewpoint. Whew. Just thinking about it makes me tired.

We almost have the house put together, but still have some final touches to do. So instead of posting pictures from our unfinished home, I thought I would post some pictures from our trip to Santa Cruz! We had such a wonderful time driving down the 101. We saw the Red Woods for the first time, saw the Oregon coast for the first time, visited San Francisco for the first time, spent much needed time with family, and finally got a little bit of a tan. :)





For the first two nights of our trip, we stayed with Heath's friend, Steven. We walked around the Stanford campus then went on a tour of San Francisco!



Pier 39... the sea lions were so cute. Can I mention how bitterly cold and windy this city was?!? If you ever go (and you should), you will need a jacket.



Lombard Street! We actually drove down it... I didn't get a very good picture, so I bought a postcard. :)



Thanks for hosting us Steven! We had a great time



Red Woods! We went on a walk through these giants with mom and dad and Aunt Tracy outside of Santa Cruz.



Before the reception, we drove south to Pebble Beach. This picture was taken on the 17 mile drive.



Had to take a picture by the Pebble Beach sign. Dad likes golf. They also treated us to a nice lunch at the golf course! I had a pulled pork bbq sandwich.... it wasn't brisket, but it was still wonderful! (I've been craving real Texas bbq since the day we left.)



Em looked beautiful! I'm a little jealous that she was able to wear her pretty dress twice! :) We all had a wonderful time. I even danced and enjoyed it, which is pretty rare for me. Thanks Em, for giving us a reason to travel down the coast. It was so great to see you and Nick!



Here's Janet with her new friend. This guy was a feisty one :) I love this picture.



Our second visit to San Francisco; this time with my parents.





We drove across the Golden Gate bridge and visited Salsalito. We ate lunch overlooking the Bay Bridge and Alcatraz before my parents had to catch their flight back to Nashville.



And finally, we drove by Mt. Shasta on our way back to Oregon. Beautiful. I love living in this part of the country!


I promise to post more within the next few days! Have a wonderful Tuesday

Hello there.

Sorry I've been absent from blogging lately, but we've been a little busy. This one will be short since Heath and I are about to go on a hike around Mt. Hood, but I'll try to post more tonight... MANY pictures to come. The past three weeks have been very surreal and I still feel like I'm on a great vacation. We finally started hanging up picture frames and things are starting to find their home, but it still doesn't feel like home... I have a feeling it will soon though. :)

Since Heath doesn't start school until the end of August, we mutually agreed that it would be great if I didn't find a job yet, assuming we will not have free-time like this for a while. So, I've been casually looking, but will hit the ground running in the job search area mid-August. Many of our new friends have been very helpful in connecting me with Social Work leads and organizations, and I start volunteering at a children's shelter tomorrow. I'm excited to start a routine and VERY anxious to start makin' the money.

In an attempt to catch you up very quickly, here is a brief recap of our adventures so far... again, I will be posting pictures soon!
-35 hours driving time cross country with my two favorite guys
-hiking Latourell Falls in the Columbia Gorge
-attended Timbers game... 17,000 crazy soccer fans chanting and setting off smoke bombs... can't wait to go back!
-watching the Bachelorette. I know... it's a guilty pleasure.
-first Sunday church experience: Southwest Church of Christ. Great people, excited to visit them again. The group went out for lunch at a BBQ place!
-vintage shopping in Hawthorne
-started a yoyo quilt! Met some very interesting ladies at the vintage fabric store... I'm excited about this project!
-grocery shopping at Winco and Trader Joe's
-dock party on the Willamette River
-farmer's market!
-visited the test Rose Garden... over 550 different types of roses! Smelled great :)
-second Sunday church experience: Westside Church of Christ. Felt welcomed and loved very quickly. It's a small church, so it seems like we know everyone already!
-spent the 4th with new friends and watched fireworks around a lake. It was wonderful and cold.
-Spent the past week in Santa Cruz for Emmy's reception. We drove the 101 down the Oregon and California coast... SO FUN! The Oregon coastline is beautiful, we drove through a herd of elk, and we walked through the red woods!!! We also visited San Francisco, twice.
-found a vintage dress and a bright yellow plant stand at the Santa Cruz flea market. more to come on this later
-working on moving cards... you should be receiving yours very soon!

All in all, Oregon has treated us very well. Mira's friends, our new friends :), have treated us so well! It's like we've known them for years and have just moved back from college or something. They are wonderful. I'll be posting regularly now! Expect lots of pictures, recipes, and updates. love you all

Missing Family

This week, the Morrison family is spending a wonderful week in Oglebay, West Virginia, and I miss them. Not everyone was able to make it this year, which in reality will probably start becoming the norm. So sad, but true. This is my second time to miss; once several years ago because Heath and I were living in the Bronx, and this year because it's the week of the big move!

I miss working on puzzles, sitting on the porch for hours, laughing together, playing miniature golf, eating frozen lemonade while playing on the paddle boats, swimming in the indoor pool, and relaxing in the hot tub. I miss visiting the Christmas shop, the zoo, and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery... guess I'll have to wait until next year. Hope we can make it then. Since I'm in a reminiscent mood, here are some pictures from the last few years.

This picture was taken several years ago.... All the grand kids are present; if you must know, I am now the shortest in my family. You'd think I'd have someone beat at 5'3. Nope.








Last year, Heath was able to come with me to the cabin for the first time. Someone thought it would be great to greet Heath for the first time with everyone wearing a pair of these teeth. :) I also received a lovely pair of teeth in my honeymoon bag...


All of us at our rehearsal dinner, minus Joe.


My family. I love you, and I'm so glad to see you all soon in California! Emmy's wedding reception will be in Santa Cruz in just a few weeks from now. Can't wait!