How About a Vacation in Oregon this Year!

Downtown Bend, Oregon. Our Famous Tower Theatre

Looking for an affordable and fun vacation this year? How about considering Oregon, even better how about Bend, Oregon. It really is so beautiful here and with our economy being so down, you might want to consider staying in the US instead of flying out. We are still a decent drive but..road trips are good family events. It seems to me that we get to know our families a little more being stuck in a car for a few hours..come on now! Besides, Bend host some the most famous breweries in the Pacific Northwest..you have to come try it.

One of our many many hidden lakes for canoeing, kayaking or fishing!

Central Oregon has a lot to offer year round. In the winter we love to ski at Mt.Bachelor. I have had the opportunity to get to ski for $29 midweek this year at the 6th largest ski resort in the US. You can check out their website to get a better idea of how majestic this mountain really is. We also have snow shoeing, snow mobiling, cross country skiing, dog sled events, and sledding and so much more..I can't think of it all.

Mt. Bachelor is the 6th largest ski resort in the US!

In the summer, we offer lots of great camping. Oh gosh the camping is endless here. World class fly fishing, boating, jet skiing, water skiing, hiking, gathering, and mountain bike riding. By the way many world athletes come to practice triathlons here - swimming, running and biking because of our incredible environment. And, even hunting is a sport around here. (not mine though)

Oregon in general is just a great state all together. If you have time, stop in Sisters, Oregon. Every year they have the most wonderful Quilt Show and the best darn Rodeo. This is where the true cowboys live in the West. Right here 30 miles away from me.

Silver Falls, Oregon

We have some incredible forest for hiking and beautiful waterfalls everywhere in Oregon..some right in Central Oregon and of course closer to Portland. This is a picture of Silver Falls and you can see the tiny people walking behind this waterfall...truly beautiful. Oh yes, we also have a lot of great berries to eat and pick here. We have the best strawberries in the world, blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, and even the wild blueberry. Yes, we need your help picking...come on up and enjoy Oregon!

Squares of Flair - Etsy Giveaway!

How sweet is this? A piece of gorgeous art on a tile pendant. Emily from Squares of Flair is amazingly talented. Her biggest inspiration has been her own daughter, who loves to create jewelry too. They started their venture together and are having a lot of fun with it.

Emily lives in Eagle, ID and enjoys the Pacific Northwest as well. She is a stay at home mom with 3 children. She loves her family, her morning cup of coffee, the month of October, pumpkin patches, wine tasting, browsing on Etsy, Facebook, sleeping in, the smell of her kids after a bath, farmer's markets, walking on the beach, chocolate and interior decorating shows.

Emily's work is beautiful and creative. She makes tile pendants,rings, and book markers. She even takes custom orders that include your own child's art work shrunk down to fit on a piece of tile. The bracelet on the left would make the most awesome mother's day gift...don't you think!

For this giveaway this week the lucky winner of this contest will receive this beautiful tile art pendant called "Bright Poppies" made by Emily of Squares of Flair.

Here is what you have to do to enter this contest:

You do not have to be a blogger to enter. It is open to US and Canadian participants only!

PLEASE NOTE: Each entry must be posted separately to count.

1. For one entry please go to Emily's Etsy store Squares of Flair and check out her adorable Etsy shop. Come back here to my blog and post a comment on your favorite thing from her shop. Also, please leave your email address so I can notify you if you are a winner.

2. For a 2nd entry join my mailing list. Only 4 to 5 newsletters a year will be emailed with seasonal discounts and freebies!

3. For a 3rd entry if you would like..follow my blog, or link back to my blog, or blog about this great giveaway!

4. For a 4th entry you can twitter about this giveaway. Please post here with your twitter user name.

This Giveaway ends on Sunday, March 1, 2009 at 12:00 PM PST. A winner will be chosen randomly using Random.org. We will disclose the winner on Monday, March 2nd, 2009 here on this blog. Good Luck and Thank you for participating!

Thank you to "Prizeatron" for promoting this Giveaway!
Thank you to "Etsy Giveaways for promoting this Giveaway!
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
Our Lucky winner for this Etsy giveaway by Squares of Flair is Melanie entry #56 from http://melaniescrafts.blogspot.com/! Congratulations Melanie!

Thank You to all of you who participated in this contest! And most of all a great big Thank You to Emily for hosting this wonderful giveaway from Squares of Flair!

This pick was generated by Random. Org. Timestamp: 2009-03-02 16:31:15 UTC.

Crochet Crochet Crochet

PhylPhil is an Etsy fiber artist who lives in my local town here in Bend, Oregon and her work is truly gorgeous! She is very gifted and her work is simply classy! She creates scarfs, hats, gloves, and so much more.

It is amazing to me how some fiber artist, can turn simple string and yarn into something so beautiful, and adorable. I often wondered about the women and men who did this just to make clothing for their children and families long ago. It must have been a real honor to have a handmade sweater, or scarf that was knitted or crochet. I mean today it is so easy to take for granted, when so many clothing articles are mass produced by machines and what not. What is far more interesting, is how fiber has become a real art.

Just take a look at JudyJems very adorable teapot and tea cup! Wow, how cute is this! I can barely create a scarf well enough on my own. JudyJems etsy shop is worth a second look. She is creative enough to make dolls, pincushions, cookies,children booties and lovely sweaters! I am sure she can crochet anything you would like, it seems. Tea anyone?

One of my all time favorite crochet items are warm snuggly slippers! I swear by these because I broke down and made some myself. They really keep your feet warm. There is nothing more important then warm feet to me, living in this primarily cold dry climate. Although, these are made by Linda's Krafty Kreations and you can easily buy your own for only $8.00 a pair right now..wow what an incredible deal! I am not sure she can keep these great prices for too long.

If your adventurous enough like myself and even my 16 year old son who is now knitting ski hats, you can always search Etsy for a lot of great patterns. There are a lot of them that are just simple to follow. Like I always say, "Have fun making something!"

Look What I Made! Ballet Slippers!

Yes, I made these. I am just tickled. I have always wished I could knit or crochet something other then a hat or scarf! And here it is. These simple ballet sippers are so easy, I even made some for my daughter by adjusting the pattern...it made so much sense. The original pattern does not call for a strap across, but I figured that out too! It did not take that much time and I have to admit that it was just so easy and fun. FYI, I am a serious beginner crocheter!

I of course love making jewelry, but these would be nice to make as a gift too. When I have to watch tv I can make these at the same time. That's what so cool about them! I can't bead and watch tv at the same time..does not work..my studio is away from our living room! For me tv is such a waste of time.

Here is the Etsy shop where I purchased the pattern for just $3.45 : Ladie Sadie's by Locklear
You have to know how lucky I felt to find this pattern! I went all over my town looking for a simple pattern for ballet slippers. I have also tried a few on Etsy that did not work out as well for my skill level. But for a beginner..this pattern is so simple and easy. I love how warm they keep my feet too!

Have fun making something! Thanks everyone for reading!

In Honor of the one I love...It's Valentines Day!

I wanted to blog today about my wonderful husband! The love of my life! He is my hero, my friend and the father of my beautiful children! I feel so blessed to have met this man. He has loved me and supported all of my goals and dreams and is the "Rock" of my life! I could never be so lucky!

Thank you Chuck..for the love, the smiles and great joy you bring to my life.! Thank you for taking good care of us! I just love You! In 9 years and 8 months we will be competely debt free and we are going to travel the world and have so much fun...I just can't wait!

Happy Valentines Day...to everyone.

The Winner of the Crazy Handmade Soap Giveaway!

A great big "Thank You" to all of you who participated in The Crazy Handemade Soap Giveaway on my blog!

Our lucky winner was chosen using Random.org:

Today our lucky winner is entry # 43 Timestamp: 2009-02-14 19:51:38 UTC. Congratulations to.... Meghan from http://calabazagreens.blogspot.com/ is our lucky contestant!

I will contact the winner by email and allow a 3 day response time. If I don't hear back I will pick another winner.

I will be having other giveaways in the near future hosted by other blog owners...please keep checking back!

Thanks again everyone...this was a lot of fun!

Crazy Handmade Soap Giveaway!

Hey guys..check this out! I am promoting a very dear friend of mine, named Kim Tessien. She lives here in Bend, Oregon too. She has been making some of the most fabulous soaps here in our local town and her customers, including myself, just love her and her wonderful handmade soaps.
Kim has been selling her soaps in our retail store for over 6 months and I am amazed at the repeat customer base she is building. Well actually, I know exactly why we come back to buy her soaps. I myself and my family love her soaps. They lather up very nicely, they moisturize our skin well, and they smell incredibly good. And, I really mean they smell really really good. Our store smells good because of these soaps and all the customers tell us! My personal favorite is Watermelon!

Lately, Kim's dog Peanut has fallen ill, and her vet bills are super sky high. So I suggested Etsy to Kim and now she has this great lil shop called Peanut541 ..and wants you to know about it! She is very affordable and offers great pricing for wholesale as well.

The lucky winner of this contest will receive not one, not two, but SIX bars of Shea Butter and Goats milk soap in assorted scents. Each bar is approximately 4 oz. Full size bars! Retail value is $24.00.

Here is what you have to do to enter this contest:

You do not have to be a blogger to enter. It is open to US and Canadian participants only!

Each entry must be posted separately to count.

1. For one entry please go to Kim's Etsy store Peanut541 and check out her soap shop. Come back here to my blog and post a comment on your favorite thing from her shop. Also, please leave your email address so I can notify you if you are a winner.

2. For a 2nd entry join my mailing list. Only 4 to 5 newsletters a year will be emailed with seasonal discounts and freebies!

3. For a 3rd entry if you would like..follow my blog, or link back to my blog, or blog about this great giveaway!

4. For a 4th entry you can twitter about this giveaway. Please post here with your twitter name.

A winner will be chosen randomly using Ramdom.org on February 13, 2009 at 10:00 PM PST. We will disclose the winner on February 14th, 2009 here on this blog. Good Luck and Thank you for participating.

Remember, you can't win if you don't play!

Try This Yummy Cheese Tortellini Soup! Food for your Soul!

This soup is good soul food. It is great with a bit of some old world Artisan bread and a glass of white wine. Sometimes, I get tired of eating the same old thing. It really is nice to try a little something new. This receipe is simple, super easy and best of all quick too. It has a lot of vegetables and my children loved it and ate all of their dinner tonight.

Here is what you need:

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped and minced
1 cup of chopped leeks ( or regular onion if you have that)
3/4 cup of chopped carrots
4 big mushrooms chopped
3 to 4 handfuls of baby spinach cleaned and rinsed
1 tablespoon of olive oil or canola oil
7 cups of chicken broth
1 teaspoon of thyme (I used dried, fresh is always better!)
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
Pepper to taste
1 pound of cheese tortellini (usually found in the frozen section)
1/4 pound or 1 cup of chopped kielbasa sausage.
- (your choice beef, turkey, or sausage)
- chop sausage into quarters, small pieces shaped like triangles.

1. First I place a large deep pot on medium high heat, then I start the olive oil for about 2 or so minutes. I then throw in the garlic..get the juices flowing from the garlic into the oil for 1 minute..don't let them burn or get brown. Add the leeks, the carrots, the mushrooms, thyme, pepper flakes and the sausage. Saute for about 8 to 10 minutes or so until the sausage looks browned and the vegetables are softer. This process seeps the flavors out.
2. Add about 1 cup of broth to start and scrap the bottom of the pot..mmm flavors are right there. Then, add the other 6 cups of broth and bring to a boil and them simmer. Place lid on top of pan for about 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Add cheese tortellini and let this heat for about 12 minutes or till softened to your liking. I like mine soft..some like it more chewy? But use a fork and feel the texture occasionally. At last, you may add the beautiful green spinach and this will wilt within one or so minutes. I added 3 cups or big handfuls of spinach, but I like a lot of spinach.

I served easily 4 adults and sprinkled Parmesan cheese over the very warm soup. Serve it with some good artisan bread and butter, a glass of wine, AND Call it good.

Enjoy my friends. Please leave a comment and tell me your thoughts, or ideas! Have a great day.

Winner of the Bloggy Giveaway!

A great big "Thank You" to all of you who participated in my very first giveaway on my blog! Another great big "Thank You" to Bloggy Giveaway! Please be sure to visit there to see winners posted!

Our lucky winner was chosen using Random.org:

Today our lucky winner is entry # 168 Timestamp: 2009-02-01 17:23:40 UTC. Congratulations to.... Donna from http://donna444444.blogspot.com/ is our lucky contestant!

I will contact the winner by email and allow a 3 day response time. If I don't hear back I will pick another winner.

I will be having other giveaways in the near future hosted by other blog owners...please keep checking back!

Thanks again everyone...this was a lot of fun!