Life Lately

In watching the blog traffic, it's very clear that you, the readers, are most interested in the more personal posts, so I thought I would try out a new post topic called "Life Lately." In these posts I will be sharing tid bits from my daily life. 

As you may know, last week Katie and I celebrated a birthday. My +1, the Mini and I used it as an opportunity to try out a new restaurant here in Portland called Tusk. They have an awesome outdoor patio, cool decor, a full bar and delicious food. 

We ate outside on the patio, and here is a photo of just a few of the dishes we enjoyed. The tomato salad was so fresh and so tasty! 

As a bit of a birthday celebration I had some girlfriends over for dinner, and the Mini helped me make an apple crisp. I pretty much make up my own recipe, but this recipe from friend and blogger Robyn of Real Food Whole Life is pretty close.

This apple peeler made peeling and coring all the apples so easy. Thanks to my friend SC for letting me borrow it. I think we might need one of our own. 

We've been without a rug for a while in the master bedroom as we moved the rug to the living room (thanks to the dog for ruining the one we had there). As a birthday present my mom and dad bought me this fantastic Draftsman Rug from Schoolhouse Electric.

I'm so happy to finally have something cushy in the space. It makes the room feel cozier and makes foam rolling a lot more comfortable. 

I've been having major mountain withdrawal since we got back from our big trip. I've been hiking/jogging a 10+ mile loop in Forest Park called the North Nasty (it has about 3,000ft vertical), but it's just not the same as being in the mountains. I have a really hard time finding friends to go on big adventures with me outside of Portland, so on Friday of last week I decided to go solo. I packed up my bag and went out to the Gorge to do the Ruckel Ridge Loop hike.

It's a 9+ mile hike up a steep ridgeline that ascends nearly 4,000ft. 

The views are beautiful!

I had a great time except I lost my favorite hat. It got caught on a low hanging tree, was pulled off m head and I watched it fall to is death down the side of a cliff. Clearly this was before that happened. 

It was a good week! Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more "Life Lately" posts.

C & C Around the House: Basement Renovation Recap



Hallelujah, God bless America the basement renovation is D-O-N-E, done (pending a few minor punch list items)! If you've followed along with my previous posts, you know that we started this project back in October. In case you've forgotten, this is what it looked like before.



Our goals for the project were to finish the space, upgrade the half bath to a full bath, relocate the laundry and maximize storage space. And I'm happy to say we achieved all of them. It was 100% worth the wait...and living with contractors in our house for four months. So, without further ado...

 

At the top of the stairs you're greeted by this ray of light from Schoolhouse Electric (also worth the two month wait).

 

Take a left at the bottom of the stairs and you'll be greeted by an entire wall of storage (do you hear the organization angels singing?)! From toiler paper and cleaning supplies to shoes and vases, this is my heaven.

 

Under the stairs on the left side is our relocated laundry area (room is a bit of  stretch...it's more of a hallway). You can't tell from this photo, but the counter is for us "tall people." I never realized how much I bend over to do things. Don't worry, the builders installed a pull-out step under the sink cabinet for anyone that's vertically challenged.

And don't forget the drying racks.

If you take a right at the bottom of the stairs you enter our new guest suite. We've still got some decorating to do (and a TV to add), but you get the idea.

 

I'm considering a move downstairs for the bathroom alone (that and because now that the basement is insulated it's the most temperature-controlled portion of the house).  

 

 



As the daughter of a builder it was fun to go through our own building project. I really enjoyed picking out the materials, deciding how to best use the space and seeing our vision become a reality. Now who's coming for a visit?!