Happy NYE!

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I hope you all have a great & wonderful NYE, whatever your plans may be.

We're low-key this year, spending most of our evening in 

& spending time with Luke's aunt, uncle & cousin. 

Thanks, 2011!

Bring on 2012! 

2011 Favorites

Let's be honest here... 2011 was kind of amazing for me. So much happened.

I moved from Seattle to Portland. Luke & I bought our first house.

We got our first puppy, Gracie. I can't really complain :)

I compiled a list of my 2011 favorites below...

It's basically everything that I obsessed over loved this past year.

image via Abby

I LOVED this movie. Not only am I kinda obsessed with the 1920's, but the fact that it takes place in Paris makes it even better. I love the glitz & glam of that era. It's definitely my golden era.

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Although I didn't read as many books in 2011 as I would have liked to, I sure loved this one. I have many lined up for 2012 (including The Paris Wife, The Hunger Games, The Happiness Project, etc...)

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Anything Pitbull. Luke & I listened to way too much Pitbull in 2011. It helped us get pumped up for Miami & was also just some great summer time jams.

Instagram. No other app compares in my book.

Pinterest. Such a fun waste of time :) Here are some of my favorite pins from this past year.

Hands down, Photography was my favorite hobby of the year. I purchased my first DSLR & also got a Diana Mini & an Instax Mini. My goal moving forward into 2012 is to take more meaningful & thoughtful photos. There's always room for improvement in this category.

Images via Google image search

Zoya nail polishes became a serious obsession this year :) & the Urban Decay Naked Palette was my go-to product to add some color to my eyes.

Images via Pinterest

This year I got my very own pair of nerdy glasses & these exact same boots. They are the two pieces that I love the most out of almost everything I own.

Nashville. Although only there for a few hours (haha) we packed as many bars & shots of Jack Daniels in as we could until we had to be at the airport. Best 3 hours of my life.

Summer, summer, summer!!! A Portland summer is the best summer. The weather is warm, there is so much to do outside & it stays light until 10pm! I moved back to Portland at the start of the summer in 2011 & thoroughly enjoyed my time in the sun :)

This was by far our biggest (& favorite, of course, splurge this year)!!

January in Arizona

Valentines Day

Quality time with my dad

A day in Washington's Wine Country

Announcing my move to Portland & a new job

My first (very short) visit to Nashville

My Summer Bucket List

Our weekend trip to San Diego

The coolest hotel I've ever stayed in

Aaron & Nikki's beautiful wedding

Buying our first house

Our first puppy

Merry Christmas

Happy Friday, everyone! I've been getting a lot of people asking for house photos, so I thought I'd share a few of our living room real quick. I'm in-between house cleaning, grocery shopping & last minute details before my family arrives for Christmas. I kinda wanted to wait until after the holidays when all the decorations are down & our place looks like our normal, everyday house, to show you all, but it looked so pretty today I thought I should share a few pictures of our festive living room now. :)

haha don't judge our shelves, still looking for wicker baskets to place there. ya know to hide all the miss-matched dvds & make it look all matchy-matchy. 

 The Couch. Our favorite spot in the house. 

the most boring blog post you'll ever read...

Today I'm not at work & my day consists of hanging out on the couch, taking in a nap here & there & basically just trying to do nothing & forcing letting my doggie snuggle with me. On any other day that sounds amazing, but I'm at home sick today, so it's not. (& trust me, I'd much rather be at work today than sick).

You kinda go delirious watching that much bad tv... 

Well here are some highlights from my day so far... 

Let me warn you, it's pretty exciting stuff over here...

• Watching Gracie attempt to pick up every bone & toy she owns, all at the same time while pacing around the living room.
• Listening to her bark & whine at the refrigerator.
• Having to pick her up every time she wants to get on the couch. Then she proceeds to jump down every 10 minutes or so. (right now she's snuggled up with me, so I cross my fingers so tightly that she doesn't move...)
• Making mashed potatoes (unfortunately they're sans butter). But this is by far the best thing that has happened to me all day. (Is that sad??)

That's all?? Ok, lame I know...

I hope you all are having a much more exciting day than me :) :)

Portland Christmas Trees

Last night we took the pup for a walk downtown & in the Pearl district to see all the trees lit up.

Not only are there a few big ones around town, but the streets are lined with trees just covered in lights!

Everything is so beautiful; it's definitely my favorite time of year in this city :)

Jamison Square Christmas Tree

Pioneer Square Christmas Tree

ohhh & I might be kinda obsessed with the bokeh lights...

It's just so hard not to be with these gorgeous trees :)

& a picture of Luke & the pup pup, because they're both so cute :)

Handmade Christmas Cards

Instead of buying Christmas cards this year, 

I thought it would be more fun to use supplies that I already have at home 

& make my own cards to send out to friends. 

They're pretty simple - just blank folded cards, a fine point pen & watercolor crayons. 

I think they turned out kinda cute! :)

& I even placed tiny trees on the back of each one :) 

the most adorable winter photoshoot you've ever seen

There's a good chance that you've seen these pictures

 floating around on Pinterest (where I first saw them, too...).

I think this might be the most adorable winter photoshoot

that I've ever seen in my entire life! Seriously.

How cute is this couple with lights strung around them,

while her gives her a smooch on the forehead?!

& the puppies in their Christmas outfits?!

Scroll down below & see for yourself ::

{all photos by Haley Sheffiled}

 



My first time in VooDoo

Okay, I'm pretty embarrassed to admit that I'm a native Oregonian, yet I had never step foot into VooDoo Doughnuts, until last night. I've had them before (see the pink truck in this post), but never made it in to the actual shop, because the line is always wrapped around the building & I refuse to wait that long. Well, last night I finally made it in & we bought a dozen strange doughnuts. I do think they live up to the hype; so far they've been nothing short of extremely delicious :)

Have you ever been to VooDoo?