Five simple things

Hello.

It's raining here and cold, but there is a peek of sunlight struggling between the clouds. The Mr., The Bean, and I are slowly recovering from a 'bout of sickness that seemed to knock the stuffing out of us for a few weeks. I feel like I've been talking about "being sick" for weeks now. Hopefully, we will be back in the groove soon, but as for now, we all seem to lose steam about 5:00 p.m. each night. Eating dinner earlier was one of our New Year's resolutions, so at least we are keeping up with it. Have you made any resolutions? I seem to make a list each year without fail just to keep me on track with goals, even long term goals. I'll be sharing some of my resolutions on the blog soon, but for now, here are five simple things that made my week.

1. Ice lanterns.

Water, cranberries, boxwood leaves, and a tealight never looked so pretty. 

2. Porch lanterns.

Loving them so far. 

3. Sugar cookies.

Because what's better than homemade sugar cookies in Christmas shapes after Christmas.

4. January's book.

Find out more here.

5. And finally.

Thoughts on blogging: It's always an interesting thing to see nonbloggers reactions when I tell them I am a blogger/website owner/writer/or whatever we are classified as nowadays. I used to write for a few online newspapers. Today.com, 451 Press, Examiner, and even Yahoo for a short time. All of them gave me so much experience and each one of them were different in their own way. For the curious, I had the most fun with 451 Press and Steve Shickles-the boss. The writers at 451 Press were all like a family and we talked to each other daily. I'm still in contact with a few of them through Twitter. 451 Press was based out of Alabama and I live in Oregon, which means I worked from home mostly. Unfortunately, the demand for news articles weren't enough to keep any of these outlets going. I was with 451 Press for over five years, Examiner for almost 10, Today.com for about four months, and Yahoo, well, they are still going, but ended up outsourcing to other writers that don't even draw a Yahoo paycheck. So blogging just seemed to be in my blood, but I don't blog for a paycheck, or even notoriety. I'm a personal blogger and the best thing about it is the fact that I can look back three years ago and relive the moments over and over again. It's like an online scrapbook that gets shared with the world. Blogging is like social media sharing, but in a timeline form. If you share pictures, videos, or moments on social media, blogging is no different. You take the time to recall the moment and put it into words with a few pictures along the side. A lot of people think blogs are too much work, or time, or don't make any sense, but yet these same people with that thought are sharing to social media daily-Facebook'ers, you know who you are. Bloggers are a certain type of person and it takes dedication even on the days you don't feel like sitting down and sharing anything with anyone. Writers' block, a bad comment, negative feedback, or even no comments at all to encourage you to keep going. It's all part of it. I don't get the comments, or the return visitors on my blog-if anything, I get the "lurkers," and it gets me down at times, but then I remember why I am blogging. It isn't for that. It's for me to share my piece of knowledge, pictures, or just a weekend trip/vacation with others and hope they take away something in the process. 2018 is a good start to sharing more of myself and my knowledge with anyone that comes to this space. For anyone that is just a "lurker" and reads regardless, thank you for returning to this space and checking out even just one blog post. I love blogging and I love the fact that I can see on my stats that over 100 people took time out of their day to see what my little family was up to this week, or this past weekend. I hope I share more of our life with all of you and grow with my piece of the internet. Here's to a great year of blogging and sharing!

Have a good weekend.

Seattle-Macy's Santaland

This year was quite a change from our normal routine of visiting Macy's Santaland. Unfortunately, the Portland Macy's closed its doors and sold their flagship/brick and mortar store here. So we had to make the journey up to the Seattle store in order to keep with our tradition. We were hoping to see just a grand put on as we did in Portland, but it wasn't at all the same. Of course, Macy's did try to keep it as grand as they could, but instead of an entire area devoted to Santaland it was just a small corner of the store. We were a bit disappointed, but the road trip up, the people putting on the Santaland, and the atmosphere was wonderful.  

The Seattle skyline as we arrived. 

Macy's is always so beautiful this time of year. They really do bring the magic.

The people they have putting on the Santaland are always in such great spirits. The Santa this year was a wonderfully cheerful man that fit the part well. He was also a Star Wars fan and that peeked Skylar's interest a lot. 

Letters to Santa. 

After leaving Macy's we walked around Seattle for a bit soaking in the holiday ambiance. 

Dock-less biking system through LimeBike and Ofo. This concept is amazing really. With less pollution on the streets and an easy grab and go technique. $1 for 30 minutes!

Five simple things

Hello.

Happy "after-Christmas?" How's the flu where you live? Here it's running rampant and our house was not untouched. We usually skate under the radar with illness each season, but this year it caught up to us. Of course, I can say we have only have a mild case of it, or so we think, but others are suffering quite terribly. The Mr. brought "something" home a couple of weeks ago and now it has worked its way through the house. I am currently writing bedside sipping hot tea and defusing tea tree and other essential oils in hopes that it will soothe my achy throat and ease coughing. The Bean is sleeping next to me cuddled up as if he were a baby again. This time of year is so tricky because those of us that don't want to get the flu shot end up being made to feel guilty by those that do. Injecting dead flu cells from whatever strain of Influenza they guess might pass through doesn't seem that appealing to me. Then there are those that get the flu shot and get sick anyway. Quite a gamble, if I do say so. We are on the uphill out of being sick, so we are mending. I do feel that this weekend will be a weekend of rest in this house.

Here are five simple things that made this week great.

1. Homemade vanilla.

Nothing better than homemade vanilla extract.

2. Waste-free decoration.

Made from the cuttings of our Christmas tree and it worked out perfectly. The bell is from here.

3. This sweater.

Drying them flat is the only way.

4. Space needle.

From our trip. It was a lovely night.

5. Hardy and Happy.

Two peas in a pod.

A few more things:

• Road tripping the Cascade Mountains.

•  One step toward plastic-free.

• For fun?

• Adventures through REI.

• A new broom and dust pan?

Road Trip: Snow on the Cascade Mountains

Longing for a bit of snowfall here in the valley we decided to cheat the system and go to the snow instead. The Cascade Mountain range is roughly a 20 minute drive from where we live and the peaks there are never short on some sort of snowfall before Christmas comes. This year was no exception and we were delighted to see quite a bit of it. Of course, it wasn't anything worth bragging about yet, but it was enough to appease us for the time being.

Three Finger Jack from Hoodoo Ski Resort.

Historical markers marking the history behind the first road constructed on the pass. You can read them up close here.

Warming shelters along the snow parks.

Even though it was a short trip up on the pass we had a rare elk sighting. First time living in Oregon that I've seen them in person, especially this many, and the size of the horns on some of them. Nature is so wonderful sometimes.