Five Favorites

Today was a lazy day – you know the kind of day… jeans and a hoodie, hair pulled into ponytail, eating breakfast for all three meals (cinnamon rolls, eggs & hash browns, and cereal respectively) kind of day.  Despite that, I did manage to both get some work done as well as write this post of five favorites from my week.

Cranberry Peach Pecan Scone at Bipartisan Cafe

Leftover sunflowers from a photo shoot that I put into wine and champagne bottles.

The African violet my husband surprised me with!

Personalized wrapping for a baby shower gift that I thought of all by myself.

Daffodils that brighten my day despite the Portland gloominess 🙂

Five Favorites

1. Vice Verses by Switchfoot – I love music!  And I have been a Switchfoot fan for years.  So when this album was released recently, I absolutely had to listen to it.  I love how Switchfoot didn’t just recreate the same sound over again; they wanted to try something new and went for it.  And frankly, it is excellent.
2. Discovering new blogs – I found Daily Garnish through Espresso and Cream, a blog I already follow.  While I’m not a vegetarian, I do need to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my diet and enjoy food blogs that inspire and share adventures in the kitchen.
3. Scarves – I’m not a big accessories fan, but I prefer not to live without scarves.  They add variety to my tees, jeans, and a cardigan standard wardrobe.  Also, they help keep me warm when the temperature drops.  I just love them.
4. Having a three day weekend – Since I started working in May, I haven’t had three days in a row off except to celebrate my anniversary in July.  I also rarely have two days off in a row.  So having a three day weekend on an actual weekend is a reason to celebrate!  So excited!
5. Coffee – After randomly giving up coffee for two months, I’m slowly starting to drink it again.  And I enjoy it!  Especially with coconut creamer from Coffeemate.  A cup in the morning with a good book is pure relaxation!

Also, I apologize for the lack of pictures.  The one downside to owning a Macbook versus a Macbook Pro is that it doesn’t have an SD card reader, which wouldn’t be a big deal if my camera was new and Macbook-compatible, but it isn’t.  So until I borrow my husband’s computer and upload pictures, I won’t be posting any pictures.  Thankfully we share and all I have to do is remember to ask.  🙂  I’ll keep you updated!

Five favorites

I’m going to begin with a disclaimer.  I would normally use pictures for posts of my favorite things, but since I’m writing this post more or less on the fly I won’t be using pictures.  I just don’t really feel right about images from a Google search unless I’m using them to make a specific point, which I wouldn’t in this case because my five favorite things this week are not from Google images.

Enough of that!  Onward to my most fabulous list! 🙂

1. Fall – in the past few days the weather in Portland has finally decided to chill out and become more fallish, which I absolutely adore!  Fall is my favorite season, and I cannot wait for the leaves to begin changing around here.  It should be simply spectacular since there are so many trees in Oregon!  However, the turn in the weather has caused a special alert to be issued – it’s fall and therefore not the best time to climb mountains due to precipitation.  Yup.

2.  Long conversations with friends – not only do I enjoy long conversations with friends in the Eastern Standard Time Zone (where most of my college friends live), I have also been thoroughly enjoying conversations with new friends here!  And much to my delight, several friends recently visited, so I’ve had a fantastic few weeks of real, long conversations covering almost every topic imaginable.  It’s been encouraging and refreshing.  I love keeping in contact with old friends (though admittedly I’m quite bad at calling them) and developing friendships with people here in Oregon.

3. Soup – the chillier weather has meant that I have definitely made soup more than I care to admit in the past few weeks.  I love soup!  And I’m always looking for good soups, restaurants that serve good soup, and soup recipes… so if you have any to share, please do!

4.  Reading a book, especially cover-to-cover – I love reading.  And since I’ve graduated and work part-time as a barista, I have plenty of time to read and access to not one, but two separate county libraries!  Also, I live across the street from a Barnes and Noble… as far as reading goes, life couldn’t get much better unless I somehow had an unlimited book budget… now that would be fantastic!  Anyway, I’ve been reading a lot (sometimes I even finish a book in a one sitting!  My favorite :)) and expanding the genres and types of books beyond what I would normally read.  And as with soup recipes, I’m always looking for recommendations… anyone know of any really great books I should read?

5. New experiences – the past month has been full of new experiences.  Hosting friends for the first time as a couple.  Going to the Japanese Garden in Portland.  Trying several new restaurants.  Exploring Portland and discovering coffee shops.  It’s been glorious!  I love trying new things and finding new favorites, though sometimes I am simply reminded of why I love what I already know.  New experiences are rad… I suppose that is why I’ve lived in China, moved to a new city, tried a new job, and pursued varied interests all within the past year.

That wraps up my five favorites for this past week!  I’m going to try to post this list every Friday and include pictures for your viewing pleasure!  What are somethings you delight in?

Favorite Five Friday

Today, and every Friday, I’m going to share a list of five favorite things from the past week… that is unless I’ve had so many favorite things that I share fifteen favorite things!  Normally, I’ll include pictures, but since I forgot to take my camera with me this week, I don’t really have any.  Shame on me.

1. Sunny, bright, warm Portland days!  I love the rain here, but having the occasional sunny day is simply delightful!  Sunny days always remind me of God’s comfort and encourage me; I love it!
2. Candles.  John surprised me and let me pick out one Yankee candle, as well as some tealights and tealight holders from Target.  I got the Vanilla Lime candle, which is a fantastic, fresh scent!  And I love the tealights!  We mixed and matched five holders; I love the way they look in our bedroom.
3. French press.  My friend gave us a French press this week!  It is lovely.  While I love the pour-over filter we had been using, the taste of French pressed coffee is so much smoother.
4. Lunch dates with new friends.  Or just hanging out with new friends.  God has blessed us with some new friends who are an encouragement to us.
5. Good music.  I downloaded Coldplay‘s new single, Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, this week.  Love it!  I think Coldplay is successfully branching out into new sounds, improving upon the sound they began to develop in their last album.

There you have it for this week!  Enjoy your weekend and stay tuned for a tale of my adventures tomorrow!