Sangria Sunday!

Just made delish White Sangria!

Here is the recipe:

2 bottles Chardonnay, pinot gris, Sauvignon Blanc, or some other dry white wine

2 oranges

1 peach

1 apple

1/4 cup sugar

2 liter bottle of ginger ale

1. in a large pitcher pour both bottles of wine and add sugar. 

2. Cut up all fruit (except for 1 orange) into thin slices and add to pitcher. 

3. let sit over night

4. Before serving cut up the orange into thin slices and use to garnish glass. 

5. over ice the pour in wine mixture and then add ginger ale (the ratio is 1:1) Make sure you add some of the soaking fruit to the glass as well!

Yum! Enjoy!!

Great weekend...

Matt and I at

Washburn Park Beach

(more pictures to come)

Looking forward to my weekend...

Matt and I are taking off for a little adventure on the Oregon Coast!

Kayaking and Beach Camping in July??

Yes please!!!

Save the Inn (calling all Twi-hards, hikers, friends of the outdoors, and everyone who has an appreciation for historical buildings)

This is the beautiful View Point Inn...

A B&B on the Columbia Gorge

It is a 4 room 87 year old gem of a property... It is one of Oregon's historic registered hotels...

And here is its amazing view...

You all may recognize it but not know from where...

this might help...

Yep... it was where they filmed parts of the movie Twilight...

This was the Inn this past Sunday

and the Inn today...

To make matters worse, the owner had filed for Bankruptcy and had not as of yet renewed his insurance. The Inn has 1 million dollars worth of damage and there is no money to fix it right now...

Matt and I had a reservation for mid September which of course is now cancelled. The owner of the Inn contacted me yesterday to let me know what had happened (its a small place and he does a lot of the work himself), he was so distraught... I can't even imagine what he is going through. 

 I don't know who is reading this but if you could please donate, spread the word, blog, tweet, facebook, about this- I would really appreciate it...

Especially all you twilight fans... this is a great spot to come visit and is in the middle of where they filmed the movie in Oregon... 

If anyone wants to donate please go to this website... every dollar helps!!

http://www.theviewpointinn.com/

thank you!!!!

A Southern Shower for a Georgia Peach...

Last weekend my mother and I threw a baby shower for my friend, Whitney, who is expecting a little boy at the beginning of August! We are so thrilled for her!!!

I came up with a fun southern menu, because Whitney is from Georgia and I wanted to have foods that remind her of home!

Here are some photos of the event...

Under the Pergola at my parents house...

Our favors were champagne in mini buckets with an insert that read:

"Please save this little bottle and pop in when 

Harrison is born as a measure of 

good luck to the new Duvall Family!"

My mother did the flower arrangements herself... I wish I was this talented...

Southern food!

Printed menus... sometimes we are fancy. 

Kim, Melissa, and Vanessa (who is also expecting a baby in a month!)

Jenny and Shanley

Jenny and Melissa

The Mama to be!

Whitney's Loot!

So I am definitely looking forward to meeting little Harrison as soon as he arrives!!

Bon Voyage Miss Molly!

My sister is headed to the gold coast of Australia for a 6 month study abroad program!

She has been there for 2 days and she has already been on a pub crawl and gone white water rafting!

I will be joining her there for 2 weeks in December!!

Have the best time Molls!!

What exactly does one wear to Las Vegas in August??

I am headed to the Las Vegas for a week in August for the LV Gift and Home Market AND my friend Annie's 30th Birthday... SOOO 7 whole days in the glittery desert of nevada... what the heck am I supposed to wear??? I think I have the social aspect covered at least on the weekend. But how does one dress professionally in 105 degree heat?? Normally I would probably go with stylish comfort... its more than OK to be dressed down at gift shows, especially when you are a buyer. However... The Keynote Speaker is President Bill Clinton... so I don't want to roll in dressed for a pool party when the former leader of the free world will be speaking to me about the market economy...

Here is a peek at the fun stuff I will be procuring for my trip... thank goodness for 4th of July Sales... all of the summer stuff was marked down 50-70 percent off everywhere I was looking! I do not have ANY vacation clothing anymore... too many years of city traveling and working in the summer I guess! I was happy to take advantage of the summer sales!

DKNY Silk T-Shirt

Trina Turk Swim cover-up 

VS- Turquoise embellished swim cover-up 

Tinley Road Sandals

Michael Antonio Beach Sling-backs

Mistique Starfish Sandals

Turquoise embroidered Halter- Bikini

Daisy Halter green polka dot bikini

(shown in pink)

ok SO... I have these things for the weekend part... but what exactly do I wear to business conferences in the heat!!!! 

Any Ideas?? I would be glad to hear!!

Bragging rights...

My boyfriend works for the local minor league baseball team, the Eugene Emeralds. Part of this fabulous job is that he is actually the annoucer at the games. Which is great for him as he enjoys baseball, and fun for me because I love hearing his voice over the PA while I am drinking beer with my friends at the games... he has a great sports announcer voice which sounds nothing like his real voice... which is so funny.

Matt giving a lecture on sports marketing at the U of O

This year its been even more amazing because the team is ridiculously good! I mean OUT OF CONTROL. They just set the league record for most wins in a row EVER... 14!!! They are leading the league by 5 wins right now!

rockin it!

So between Ducks Football making it to the National Championship and the Eugene Emeralds breaking crazy records... it would appear that we have a very small title town up here in Oregon!!

Ok ok... enough bragging. 

if you all want to follow the craziness that is this team right now they have a fanpage on facebook 

Search Word: Eugene Emeralds 

Summer reading list update...

All you veteran readers of my blog are aware of the fact that I have severe ADD... hence the constant comparison of myself to a goldfish (15 second memory span and distracted by shiny objects)

SO I started that fabulous summer reading list I mentioned a while ago, and big surprise... I veered from it.

I started with The Girl Who Chased the Moon and I loved it so much that I decided that I wasn't in the mood for any of the other books on my list... I really just wanted the story to keep going. This led me to a month long literary love affair with the author, Sarah Addison Allen. In one month I have actually read every book she has written. Which really isn't as ominous as it sounds, there are 4 total.

These books are absolutely DARLING... So today I am plugging her! These books all take place in North Carolina, all have strong female heroines, and all have an element of magical realism. Main themes are love, cooking, family, forgiveness, female bonds, overcoming tragedy, and self improvement. These are light reads and are beyond just a feel good book. They absolutely lifted my spirit when I was reading them.

One more fun fact is that in all the books each of the heroines have some kind of affection for food either they own a restaurant or a coffee shop and the author has put the recipes of the food served in the stories in the back of the book... HOW CUTE IS THAT??

So if you are looking for some fun summer reading look for these books:

The Peach Keeper

The Sugar Queen

Garden Spells

The Girl Who Chased the Moon

Surprise surprise... I have yet to go back to my original reading list! As you know I was in Washington DC a little over a week ago which then inspired me to read Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol".  I am on about page 400 and its scaring the pants off me!

So this little summer reading list that I have started just keeps getting longer... but I guess the point is to get people to read more... so I guess its doing the trick!

Happy 4th of July!!!