It's Fall Y'all

I cannot express to you how nice it is to live in a place with actual seasons! It's so wonderful. Living in West Texas was not terrible, but in the middle of fall I always found myself becoming home-sick. The leaves never changed colors... the weather stayed warm until December...

Well today, Heath and I got to experience Oregon fall weather at its finest. We drove out to Mt. Hood (which is about a hour and twenty minutes from our house) to explore the Salmon River area. Imagine the sound of the leaves ruffling softly as the wind blows, watching them fall slowly around you as you walk along the trail, and listening to the river move rapidly over the shallow rock beds. (that was my sorry attempt of describing the most beautiful, serene place in the world!)



This was probably one of my most favorite hikes we've taken thus far. It probably won me over due to the golden, yellow leaves, the perfect 70 degree weather, and the abundance of wildlife.

We weren't able to spot any Salmon... I think they're spawning. However, we did hang out with some monster Steelhead Trout. (see picture below) It's amazing how amusing these things can be. We watched them for at least thirty minutes. And I probably could have watched them longer :)



I realized that Oregon has giant redwoods too.







I love living here. The past few weeks have been a little difficult. With the job search, finding our new everyday routine, missing friends and family... but today was a great day. For Heath and I, and for me individually.

I think I'm a mountains kind of girl. You know, some people like the beach, some people like texas, but I like the mountains. And the rivers and waterfalls that come with them. :) Thanks for reading, and I promise to share more pictures and updates soon!



Happy Weekend

I'm Still Here

Hello friends.

I never meant to leave for so long. Sorry about that. I just wanted to pop in really quick to say that I am going to post some pictures tonight. Heath and I are about to leave for a hike so I don't think he would appreciate me writing for another hour. :)

Lately, I have been in job search mode. It works best for me to search and apply to lots of listings in the morning/early afternoon. Then, I give myself a break to clean, craft, ect in the afternoons and at night. I have started applying for receptionist/secretarial work... basically all entry level social workers up here are bilingual or have their masters, thus I do not qualify for most of the positions. Do not fear, I have not given up on social work forever, I'm just ready to start some income around here.

Other than a job searcher, I am a cook and a baker of many delightful things, grocery shopper, and Etsy shop creator/manager/owner. I'm so glad I set up an Etsy shop; I now have a license to create things that I wouldn't have necessarily done before. And it doesn't hurt that you make a little money. I think my new thing is embroidery! The other night, I taught myself the stem, silk, and back stitches. Exciting, I know.

Coming soon...
-My all natural deodorant recipe and review
-recipes for tomato basil soup and raspberry cream cupcakes
-pictures from mom's visit (a month late)
-pictures from our hikes to Mt. St. Helens (two times) and other times to Mt. Hood
-pictures of our house!
-My random Portland list

That's all for now. We're off to enjoy beautiful fall weather!

A Friend's Adventure

Today has been a very big day. Not for me, but for my dear friend, Katie Buckel.
Today, she began her adventure to Ghana, West Africa where she will be working with the Village of Hope.
I am so proud of my friend, and I am excited for her to have this experience.



For the next two months, she will be serving the many children at the Village of Hope through teaching them art. It's her passion and she'll do great. :)
I'm praying for Katie, and I ask that you will too. Pray that she has a safe trip there and that she gets acclimated fairly quickly... but also for this experience to touch her in ways she hasn't even imagined.
I love you, sweet friend. I'm already looking forward to hearing your stories and seeing beautiful pictures.

(She did not raise money for this trip. If you would like to donate, let me know and I can send you a link!)

My Introduction to Natural Living...

Well friends, please bare with me as I do a little experimenting. For about a year now, I have been slightly obsessed with reading over blogs, research studies, and books concerning natural health and living more simply. Most articles I read were very convincing, yet it has taken me a while to take the next step and actually implement these ideas. I think living in Portland, amongst all these hippies, has given me a bit more confidence and "you've got nothing to lose" mentality.

With that said, please know that I have found something that sparks my interest and I wanted to share it with you. I don't expect all of you to do the same and agree with me fully, I just want to take you on this journey with me. :)

A couple days ago, I went to Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Safeway to pick up these items....



I actually already had a few of them in the pantry, but still needed the essential oil, Borax, virgin coconut oil and Apple Cider Vinegar. These items, along with some water here and there, will be my household cleaning products, deodorant, and hair cleaner until they run out... so I hope they work well! All in all, I have a little less than $30 invested.

My first adventure: the "'Poo Free" Method. Shampoo strips the hair of natural oils that keep it healthy, shiny, and strong. When I learned there was a way to clean your hair without using shampoo, I was obviously intrigued. This is a frugal, non-toxic, and extremely easy way to care for your hair. (If you want to read more, this site was helpful to me, as well as this one.)

Here's my new hair-care routine:
1. Use a squeeze bottle or an old shampoo bottle. Mix 1 Tablespoon baking soda to 1 cup water. Shake well.

2. Soak your hair completely with water. Squeeze some of the baking soda mixture onto your scalp. Massage it in, mostly concentrating on the scalp, and adding more of the mixture if needed. (This probably goes without saying, but you won't get suds like with normal shampoos... I noticed a more gritty texture. Just now it's doing its job.)

3. Leave in for 3-4 minutes, then rinse.

4. In another bottle, mix 1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar to 1 cup water. I also added 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract and about 10 drops of Tangerine essential oil to mask the vinegar smell.

5. Squeeze a little of the vinegar mixture onto the ends of your hair (away from the roots) and let it rest for about 30 seconds. (If your hair is like mine and rests on the oily side, make sure not to use too much of the mixture.)

6. Fully rinse, and you're done!



Isn't that simple! I was a little concerned that my hair would smell bad afterwards, but Heath said it smelt lovely. :) The apple cider vinegar made my hair feel so soft, and my hair still has the same body it did before. Though it should take my hair around a month to get used to this method, I am already impressed. I'm really glad I tried it... I'll post an update in a month to give you my final verdict.

When you run out of shampoo and conditioner like I did recently, try it out and tell me what you think!

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? :)

Life as of Late

Hello all. It's been a while! This past week has been fairly busy, and I have been a bit exhausted. I think it's somewhat due to our heat-wave here.... yesterday, we hit a high of 86! I know, I know. Tennessee and Texas have been close to 100 lately, but I'm to (and very much prefer) the cooler weather. My "perfect" temperature is 68-75. :)

Anyhow, I am now faced with the past 15 days of activities, and I have no idea how to share it all with you. So, I'll just choose my favorites.

First up... We conquered the Lookout Mountain hike! (Remember that one time we failed miserably on our first hike? Well, we tried the hike again; only this time, we drove our car up the majority of the mountain, and only had to scale 1500 feet. It was great!) Along our hike, we played in the snow...



On the summit, we could see 7 mountain ranges. Adams, Rainer, St. Helens, Jefferson, Three Sisters, Diamond Peak, and Mt. Hood, which was only 7 miles from us.



And, Heath stood somewhere where I will never stand... This terrified me, it made for a good picture though.



After this hike, we headed ten miles down the road to Tamanawas Falls. This has been my favorite thing so far! Hiking next to the spring provided a cool, refreshing walk, and the falls turned out to be sooo much better than expected.



(I'm glad my camera has a self-timer.) I also came across the largest dandelion ever! It made me happy.



On wednesday, our family came in for a visit! It was wonderful. I think Heath had been anticipating their arrival for weeks. :) We went to the Saturday Market, walked around downtown, ate from a food cart, visited the local farmers markets, and shared our church with them. It sure felt nice to share our home with family.



We also visited the Washington Park Rose Garden, of course!





And we finally visited Canon Beach! As you can tell from my over-exposed picture, it was very sunny thankfully.... recently, the coast has had temperatures in the low 60s, so we went on a great day.



We've visited several farmers markets in the last month, and I have grown increasingly anxious to buy a bouquet of flowers. Well, Saturday was my lucky day! While visiting PSU's market, I purchased these beauties. Aren't they lovely?



Last but not least, I wanted to add a sneak peak of our apartment. This is my favorite wall, found right above my craft/sewing desk. I'll try to post the rest of the apartment soon.



Though I do not have a picture to show for it, I watched a top-notch 80's movie on top of the Hotel Delux in downtown! Had a lot of fun with new girlfriends who have been so welcoming and nice to us. It was wonderful.

Sorry for the long post! Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of posting weekly...

Hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend

What a GREAT day

Hello friends. Though I don't have that many pretty pictures from yesterday to share with you, I would love to tell you about it!

After my bike incident, I haven't had the desire to hobble around the city. We also took my bike to a bike shop in downtown Portland on Sunday, so we've been less mobile than before. It's been relaxing and I've done lots of crafting :), but I could tell Heath was ready to get out and explore.... So yesterday, we did.
Our first stop was Washington Park in downtown. Heath packed us a lunch for a lovely picnic.



We love Honey BBQ flavored Fritos. Yum



Our walk took us through the Washington Park test rose garden. This was our third time to visit the roses... I must say, if you want to visit when all of the roses are in full bloom, come in June! They are still beautiful now though, and they smell great.



Our trail was shaded for most of the walk. I think I've been spoiled by the weather already. For our first month here, we've had highs in the mid-70's and lows in the 50's... Perfect, in my opinion, for summer. But, the last couple days have reached mid-80's and it feels like a heat wave!



Okay, let me explain. On most of our walks and hikes, I've brought the camera along. This means, if I see a pretty flower, tree, blade of grass :).... I stop. So, Heath has started walking ahead on the trails. I find him hiding behind things with this mischievous face. Luckily he hasn't jumped out at me, atleast not yet.



After our walk, we headed to some bowling lanes in Beaverton. We had a Groupon to these bowling lanes, so it was a cheap afternoon date; I'll post more about Groupon another day! I learned several things at the alley: 1) Bumpers are a must when I play... the majority of my shots ended up in the gutter. 2) Heath has an actual bowling stance. 3) Arcade games are a lot more fun than I remember.

Our final stop for the day was Southwest Church of Christ. We met a small group of ACU Alumni that are living the greater Portland area. Heath and I had fun making connections and learning more about what this beautiful area has to offer. By far, my favorite part of the day was eating HAROLD's BBQ!!!! (The group from Abilene had packed the BBQ in dry ice.) When they announced we would be eating Harold's bbq for dinner, I almost cried. It was a wonderful meal, shared with new friends.

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