Life at a "Swell's" pace

Hello.

Good week, I hope. It's been a messy week here with the hard rains, cold, and wind that comes and goes. There is 45-inches of snow up on the Cascades right now and the snow is still falling. We are extremely jealous of that and wish the powder would grace us with its presence. My dad told me that even Arkansas has snow on the ground. Last year, at this time, we had snow already and it stuck around awhile, but years before it has come around December, so we are still holding out hope that it will come sooner than later. Other than that, we have had such a fun week. We purchased a Smart Fortwo on Saturday and have had a lot of fun zipping around in it this week. It's a fun, little car and I am loving it! I have wanted one for a few years now and this one is perfect for a starter to the Smart cars. It's a lot bigger than people think it is, but it has the look of a smaller car. I've added a picture of it below as part of the five things that made my week because it truly made our week a lot of fun. Here are the rest of the things that made this week.

1. Door knob.

I've always swooned over glass door knobs and in this old house it seems to fit in perfectly. I picked this up at the local antique store here and just felt it calling my name.

2. Copper rods.

We've replaced all of our curtain rods in the house to these copper hardware rods. We needed something more sturdy and less of an eye-sore. Regular curtain rods are so loud and busy that these worked out perfectly. Each copper rod is made up of a copper tube (cut to size), a copper strap, and a copper cap. We have plans to replace the screws with copper screws, but for now, they look wonderful.

3. Bank "W."

There is a great story behind this weathered copper "W" and I am so thrilled to share it. Our local bank here, Willamette Community Bank, remodeled their building and removed the lettering from the side of the bank. The remodel happened a few years ago and the metal letters have been laying in the elements on the side of the bank ever since. I always remarked that it would be neat to have the "W" because of our last name-Wilkerson. It took me a couple of years, but while I was at the drive-up window a few weeks ago I asked about it. The teller said she would ask and get back to me. The Mr. went to make a deposit this week and the branch manager said she meant to get back to us sooner, but she got permission and we could have it. The Mr. brought it home to surprise me and I was overjoyed. I think it means more than just a simple "W" sitting in our house, it now also has an old history and now it will have new history.

4. Grove Collaborative.

I took advantage of the Grove Collaborative introduction and received everything above for $20. Not sure if we will continue it, but for now this was a good haul. You can get it here.

5. Smart car.

Again, we are loving it! I enjoy being able to hop in, jot to the store, library, or lunch, and know that I'm not burning a lot of gas. The practicality of it is just a great thing for us. Check out the inside.
Side note: We've never purchased a car from Carmax before and I have to say, we will definitely give them another shot in the future. Carmax of Portland(Clackamas) is a great group of people and we had a blast purchasing a car from them!

A few more things:

• Vintage wire food cover.

• Buying milk in bulk? (but the waste)

• Sustainable clothing companies.

• Grow a Redwood tree in your living room.

• Stock your spice cabinet.

Have a good weekend!

Hello.

I've been reading a lot of random blogs this week and blogger's resolutions for the year. I see a lot of them posting about wanting to change their eating habits and some sort of diet they're trying now-Whole 30, 21 Day Fix, The Raw Food Diet, Weight Watcher's, Paleo Diet, etc. The list goes on. Some of these bloggers have tried these diets in the past and are trying them again, or using the new year as a chance to start a different diet. The problem with these diets is that none of them offer lasting changes. In my experience, the only "diet" that you need is to eat less calories than you burn. Meaning, don't eat over your daily caloric intake and burning off your daily calories each day. It's the one and only approach that has and will work long term.

There isn't any plan, diet, pill, or magic that is going to help you keep pounds in check other than your plan to eat less than you burn. That's the magic solution and overall it will be a lasting approach to weight loss. Here's the key points to this plan: Eating less processed foods (most processed foods come in some sort of box), make more food at home (you can whip up a quick meal in a matter of moments), snack on fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains (honestly, it's the only snacks you should be popping into your mouth), keep processed sugar to a minimum (I hate to say it, but it's true). Treats are just that, treats. If you're eating them daily, or more than once, or twice a week, they aren't a treat. These are the key points we've been following in our house and have had great success. Of course, we are an active family, so weight gain isn't so much an issue with us, but keeping and staying active will not only help you shed extra pounds, but it will help you keep sickness at bay. I believe the two weeks we were under the weather could have been worse had we not been active in our lifestyle and helped out immune system.

Now that our house is on the mend and we are all feeling at least 90% (silly cough) we are already planning our weekend. We have a lot of road trips we've spent the last two weeks planning out. I am really excited to share these trips with you and hopefully, these road trips posts will influence you in wanting to visit Oregon, or plan a road trip yourself.

Here are five simple things that made my week.

1. This lantern.

There is an amazing antique store here in Lebanon, Oregon, and I love browsing their many rooms full of great vintage goods. On a recent trip there looking for a typewriter for The Bean I spotted this vintage lantern. It was hanging over the checkout counter and I scooped it up. I think it looks lovely hanging in our little vestibule.

2. This vacuum.

We test drove several vacuum cleaners this week and agreed on the Miele C1. Such a great vacuum and with our "almost" carpet-free home, it works wonderful on bare floors.

3. First aid.

We've been on a hunt for awhile for a metal, first aid box and finally found one. I'd like to say that we found it at the same antique store, but we didn't. This one we picked up on one of our road trips this past year. It will eventually hang in our kitchen where it is easily accessible.

4. Homemade vanilla.

This week another vanilla bean was added to the homemade vanilla vodka-making it a total of three. We'll check it in month and see where we are. See that jar with the red lid? Picked that jar up at our local co-op to place the first vanilla bean in and I've been using it ever since for v-beans. The smell in that jar is heavenly!

5. Swedish dishcloths.