Black Butte

We spent the three day weekend over Presidents Day with Jeff's family in Black Butte, a resort about two hours away from Portland. There was about a foot of old snow on the ground, which made for a beautiful view with the gorgeous sunny weather we had all three days. The house we stay at is on the golf course so the dogs LOVE running around freely in the snow (Chloe gets cold pretty fast, thus the sweater :-) The best things about being in Black Butte have to be sitting by a cozy fire, taking walks in the snow, eating, reading, and relaxing. Can't wait to go back!

a visit to Bumble and Bumble in NYC

This past week, I had the opportunity to go to NYC (very last-minute might I add...) with a co-worker for a few days, to attend a three day color class at the Bumble & Bumble salon headquarters. I came back feeling totally inspired and excited about the new techniques we learned. It was so great to be in that high-fashion, fast-paced atmosphere, surrounded by colorists and stylists who are involved in doing Vogue cover shoots and other editorial work, fashion week, and constantly changing styles. We soaked it all up! The hotel (2nd pic) we stayed at was this crazy and modern place...just a block from Central Park and with a view of the Hudson River, the Hudson Hotel is visited by people who just want to see its design. We were only there four days, but still managed to fit in the three day class, a day of shopping, lots of yummy food at great NYC restaurants, and we also saw the show "Chicago" on Broadway. Let's just say I was exhausted when I came home!

a snowy day in Leavenworth

We spent five days in Seattle for Christmas, and even had a white Christmas! On the 23rd, Jeff, Kelly, and her parents took a day trip to Leavenworth, a Bavarian-style village two hours east of Seattle. What a snowy wonderland it was! We walked around the village, window shopped, ate lunch, tasted beer (as shown in picture :-), cozied up at Starbucks, watched Chloe in the snow, and enjoyed the Christmas festivities. It was SUCH an unforgettable and fun memory with many laughs, and we really had a blast together.

The hunt

Wow, it looked much smaller in the ground. Here's this year's Meakins (Griswald) family Christmas tree! It's still absolutely huge and grand even after trimming half the branches off to fit it in our living room! It snowed in Portland this morning, and there were some small flurries as we were chainsawing our tree down. Chloe had a blast too, as it was her first experience at a tree farm. So cold though!!

Chloe's first birthday!

November 26th was Chloe's first birthday!

we finished the fence!

After months, we've finally finished it and are pretty proud of ourselves! :-)

visiting the Virgin Islands

On October 26, Kelly took an eight-day trip to the Virgin Islands to stay with some friends who are living on St. Thomas. The weather was beautiful...and so hot and humid! They swam at several of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and also spent a day in St. John, which was definitely a favorite. It was great to come home though! (I missed Jeff a lot :)

yummy yard and new deck

Our grass is growin' strong in the FRONT, and we are a few boards away from finishing our deck in the BACK (except for the pergola)!! The cedar smells so good and it's amazing to finally have a place to spend time outside. We are also finishing up the back fence, as well as the side fence which we are hiring someone to do next week. How lucky we were this weekend to have some gorgeous October weather.

Sunriver in September

The last weekend of September, we spent a weekend in Sunriver with our friends, Justin and Jessica (and Ellie). We rented a great house with a hottub, and spent the weekend RELAXING!! The four of us played tennis, took a bike ride (Jeff zipped Chloe into a backpack...she wasn't havin' it), ate food, and laughed! It was some much-needed down time, after all of the busy-ness of summer.

new grass...finally!

This past weekend we tore out our old grass in the front yard (long overdue), and installed sod which was A LOT of work but instantly satisfying (eight hours later). Sore muscles...Kelly will probably never walk again.