HOLIDAY '13 RECAP - INSTAGRAM

FRAMED GIFT FROM HUBBY / 2013 ORNAMENT

     The framed gift was from a super cool new gift boutique in Newberg, Pulp & Circumstance. In full disclosure, Dan went there and picked out something entirely different and this is 1 item that we exchanged for. The actual gift he gave me was a necklace with a carved wooden bird. (Big points for putting a bird on it, and even bigger points for trying to buy me a present in a fancy stationary/gift shop with a toddler in tow, but it just wasn't something I would have actually worn. I will not suffer fashion to avoid hurting my husband's feelings. And really, he had no hurt feelings. He honestly said "I had to be quick! I had Raine!")

     The ornament was from a gift shop here in Carlton. I picked it because not only was it pretty...It lights up! That seemed fitting because Raine was so into THE LIGHTS! (MOMMY! THE LIGHTS!) this holiday season. ;)

RAINE & THE GINGERBREAD HOUSES / DONATION CARDS

     There is one business in particular in Carlton that is always fun for Raine to pass the shop windows on our way to the coffee shop every morning (GIANT HORSES! POODLE FIGURINES! FROGS ON THE SIDEWALK!) During the holidays Raine was extra enchanted by their festive items. GINGERBREAD HOUSES! GIANT SILVER PLASTIC SHEEP! NATIVITY SCENES! Not to mention a life-size retro SANTA outside the front door. Unfortunately, it is not a shop 'for minors.' There is wine tasting, just as there is wine tasting in practically every business in our town, so no toddlers. ;)

     I raised some funds and collected gift cards to send to five families in Washington that were affected by the tornado. These were the beautiful cards by Rifle Paper Co. that I bought and had the total pleasure of mailing the donations in.

CHRISTMAS MORNING / HOLIDAY BREWS

     It was absolutely hilarious to watch Raine open presents this year. He thought it was the most exciting thing, and yet was still a little bit unsure of it all, and what was happening exactly. He STILL doesn't know how to grab a present and just rip into it, despite three Christmases and two birthdays. But once you get the unwrapping started, he will certainly help finish! After his first few presents from Santa (including this clearly AWESOME Hungry Caterpillar puzzle --way to go, Santa!--) he started grabbing the presents from under the tree and proclaiming, "For me! For me!" After several more presents from family in Illinois, he started running around the room in utter excitement and stopping at the tree and screeching, "I am here! I am here!" And he would repeat grabbing presents and shouting "For me! For me!" Dude was jacked UP on Christmas! Ha!

     A favorite holiday brew of mine was Fireside Chat spiced ale by First Amendment. I also enjoyed one of Dan's gifts to me, the Experiment Ale (with Oregon marionberries) by Harvester, which was a welcome treat as I had changed by Christmas to a gluten-free diet. Additional seasonal brews we enjoyed this season were: Deschutes Jubelale winter ale

10 Barrel Pray For Snow winter ale

Fish Fish Tale Organic Ice Breaker winter ale

H.U.B. Abominale winter ale

Ninkasi Sleigh'r winter ale

Portland BlackWatch cream porter

 Widmer Brrr ale

Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla Bean*

*Dan's favorite ;)

DINNER BY LORRI / RAINE'S FIRST SNOW

     The weekend after Christmas, we enjoyed celebrating with Lorri and Carmen in their new home. She pulled out all the stops to give me a beautiful, satisfying gluten-free dinner. :) We had slow-cooked pulled pork with barbecue glaze, smoky black eyed peas, and gluten-free ham biscuits with a homemade honey orange butter. Raine was a huge fan of those biscuits and butter and I have to say, after two weeks of no baked goods (going gluten free) it was the BEST Christmas present for me. :) They were delicious!

     Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Yamhill County saw a half inch of beautiful snow for one day. :) Roads were frozen and it was hard to drive anywhere (we don't salt in the Northwest) but the scenery was worth it. Raine woke up that morning and was excited by the sight of snow. It was certainly new to him. He is very good at telling me what we are dealing with each morning, weather wise... I enter his room, turn on the light, and open his curtains. He proclaims: "Fog!" (Sounds like "F*#!*") "Raine!" "Sun!" And that day, I taught him, "Snow!" We are looking forward to our trip this weekend to Illinois when he can actually play in real snow. ;)    

Warming the House

Raine is snoring softly in his crib and Dan is multi-tasking cooking dinner and writing thank you cards to our friends who came to our housewarming party two weeks ago. There is laundry to fold and projects to attend to, as well as so much dust accumulating in those little nooks in each room... But! I would really love to sit and write just now. (Bless Over the Rhine and the double album that arrived by post today, for it moves me to relax and reflect.)

We found a perfect wreath for our front door the morning of the party at the Yamhill Lavendar Festival.

I was a bit caught off guard by how little I felt I had accomplished at decorating or preparing our new home after having lived there two months. A few days before the party, I felt the urge to drastically decorate! But really. There is no time! Putting up fences, hanging art, hanging curtains and painting walls will come eventually. That is the joy I look forward to in living in our home...Making it ours slowly as the days go by. The overall fact is that we are in what I like to call the "two full-time-working partner domestic marathon" and there are diapers to change, work hours to log, a high maintenance dog and cat to attend to, peanut butter to wipe off what seems like every surface, and a million errands to run in between. ;-) I have to thank Char for all the cleaning she did while baby-sitting Raine. And I did my best to make things look presentable: hang some art that had been sitting on the floor, tidy up, and put out some fresh lavender for our guests.

We were thrilled to have quite a few guests despite the fact that we now live a little further west than the rest! Standard commute for folks was 45 minutes, and one couple drove all the way from Sandy, which is at least an hour and a half. One particular guest I will refer to as "the guest of honor" because it was Dan's mom, Char, all the way from Chicago. :) We asked guests to sign our guest book in the entry. While unpacking from the move, I found our wedding guest book from 2004 and the empty pages in the last half seemed to be asking for fresh signatures... We received some cards and gifts, two beautiful orchids, and more than a few beverages to fill our fridge and wine shelf. Everyone was so sweet and generous! I have to say the most clever gift was from Josh and Mary. They brought a crumble pie and the pie plate itself was for us to keep. Great idea! And speaking of a crumble pie...The food was the best part! Another friend, Melissa, also brought a dessert, fruit salsa with baked cinnamon chips, and we savored those leftovers for a few nights after the party! :) The theme of our "spread" we provided for our guests was "Carlton." I really wanted to show off all of the fantastic artisan food and beverage businesses in our little town. We had bread from the bakery, handmade chocolates, specialty jams and sausages, and of course, local beer and wine! ;-) I supplemented some chips, veggies, cheese, and other items from Trader Joe's because I am not perfect and did not have the time to shop various farms or make my own crackers from scratch with local grains, thank you very much. We don't actually have a TJ's near Carlton, so I had to drive to the one in Lake O after work Friday afternoon. It made for an hour drive home, but it was worth it to know we were serving items that were GMO free and generally free of extra additives/preservatives etc.

*Chocolates and bark from Honest Chocolates*

*Pesto and heirloom tomato bruschetta made form baguettes from Carlton Bakery*

*Carlton Farms sausages with dipping mustards*

My favorite part was offering a little jam tasting. I bought some crackers and cookies from T Joe's and the lovely ladies at Republic of Jam gave Char proper pairings for everyone to taste. (My favorite was the tomato & fennel, and not only was it outstanding on its own accord with the pita crackers or pretzel sticks, it was fabulous with the spicy sausage!) See a complete list of jams with pairings and recipes below. Of course, Dan and Char did all of the actual prepping and cooking, while I made sure my overall concept was executed perfectly and presentation was *lovely* down to the last detail ~ cute little note cards to describe each offering. LOL.

*Dan's figs & goat cheese wrapped in Carlton Farms bacon. You wouldn't know it but we also had options for our vegan friends. ;-)*

The Spread (*Vegan):

Figs & goat cheese wrapped in bacon (Carlton Farms)
Assorted quinoa/bean and sweet potato/corn chips with guacamole*
Greek salad bites with feta, tomato, and olives
Assorted chocolates and bark (Honest Chocolates)
Grilled sausages ("Smoked Bratwurst" and "Louisiana Red Hot") and dipping mustards (Carlton Farms)
Pine nut pesto and tomato bruschetta - without cheese (Carlton Bakery)*
Fruit salsa with baked cinnamon chips (Made by Melissa!)*
Assorted hummus and pretzel bites*
Sea salt pita crackers & smoked tomato fennel jam (ROJ)* (No link to that jam...Sold out! Next batch up in 1 week! ;-)
Rosemary raisin crackers & rhubarb rosemary jam (ROJ)*
Ginger cookies & apricot reisling jam (ROJ)* (Jam is currently sold out!)
Coconut cookies & pineapple vanilla clove jam (ROJ)*
Assorted brews from Fire Mountain Brew House*
Assorted wines from Cana's Feast Winery*

And you can see all photos from the party here.

October Eighteenth, Two Thousand Twelve

Leah Ruth. Age 32.

Don Raine Alexander. Age 1.

My birthday morning started off with this a certain megawatt dimpled smile. Could there be anything better!?! :) Raine woke up a pinch earlier than usual which was very, very nice of him because mama was stinky and needed that extra time for a shower. We played and had breakfast, watched some Barney and Sesame Street. We dressed up in our finest. It was a special day, after all. We were making up for last year's pjs and drool. The rest of the day was made up of the usual Herzing celebratory things...Flowers, beer, and fun.



Raine and I stopped at the store for a chai and some flowers to put on my desk at work. I set Raine down on the ground and let him grab for whatever bouquet he wanted mama to have. He has great taste! ...And then he was off and walking away from me, grabbing at discounted DVDs and magazines. I am just beginning to let him down to toddle around and explore in stores. It is adorable and I am not ready at all for him to get better at walking and ...running! ;)

My boys met me at Sawatdee for lunch. Raine devoured his first plate of Thai food like a real champ. I don't think we could have been more proud! After lunch we walked next door to the grocery store for a cookie. Raine was sweet enough to blow out his diaper and drench his pants for me. I struggled with that one in the grocery store bathroom for a good ten minutes. He had already blown out his cute corduroy pants for the baby-sitter that morning, so THANK THE HEAVENS I was a good mama and had a THIRD change of clothes in his bag. Just when you think you don't need a THIRD change of clothes? YOU DO.

On Tap On My Birthday! Cheers!

When I got home from work that night, I was excited to find another bouquet, card, and presents on the coffee table. After we put Raine to bed I ripped open the card and presents. I have to say, I was a little disappointed. It was weird. Dan got me baking sheets and a pizza stone. Not that these aren't great things to have in the kitchen, but you know, I'm NEVER in the kitchen. That's Dan's thing. Yes, I am trying to cook a little more and he is doing a great job patiently teaching me, but you know, cooking tools are the kind of gifts that I usually give Dan. And these were two things that I had happened to mention recently that we needed to pick up at the store. Our current baking sheets were beyond repair and we broke our pizza stone years ago. I recently ordered some pizza dough from Amy's Wildtree Tasting Party and Dan said we should get a stone again for it. These just weren't the types of special gifts that had much to do with me at all.

I spent about fifteen minutes folding laundry before I finally told him in an outburst: "That was like me getting you light bulbs for your birthday!" I told him how disappointed I was that there was no special thought behind his gifts. He said he lost track of time and did the best he could but he was sorry I was upset. He asked if there was anything he could do to make up for it.

I could totally picture him running into the store after picking Raine up from the baby-sitter and making a mad dash through the aisles trying to find something to get me. I saw him getting the card and signing it really fast. I saw him grab the same bouquet of flowers that I had already sent him a picture of earlier that day. It just seemed so UNLIKE him. (I know there are many of you reading this who find this to be absolutely typical behavior but my husband was raised by a crazy, creative, thoughtful, and often romantic father and his crazy, creative, thoughtful romanticism rubbed off on Dan big time. It just wasn't like him to not put some extra thought ahead of time into my birthday!)

While Dan cooked dinner I approached him again and explained that I wasn't trying to be mean or naggy. I just thought it was unusual for him and wondered if there was something else wrong. I mean, I really dragged the situation out. I popped another beer open and waxed and waned on his history of sweet gestures. I emphasized that it wasn't about the gifts themselves--at least, it wasn't about the size of the gift. I wasn't expecting another iPad like Mother's Day or a love-bomb of letters from all of my friends, like he organized on my 30th. But even in the absence of fancy gifts, scavenger hunts, or other sweet surprises, there was at least a very heartfelt hand written message in a card or letter. So I was stumped. There was just something missing that showed his genuine and thoughtful spirit that I had grown so accustomed to experiencing! We ended the night joking that he had totally set himself up for future failure by an early history of awesomeness. I mean, you can't be perfect each and every single time, right? LOL.

Well, actually, YES, you CAN be perfect each and every single time. And he did it again. I'm sure his father would be proud. He pulled off a huge surprise.

At the end of the evening, I climbed into bed exhausted only to find something unusual next to me. A flat screen TV was hidden underneath the sheets.

OH MY HECK. 

We had been talking about getting a TV for our bedroom for a while now but hadn't officially decided. I secretly really wanted one but felt like it was such a silly and frivolous thing so I hadn't pushed it or bought one myself.

Dan laughed and teased, "And you think I'm not paying attention!" I pretty much started crying because I had been giving him grief all night long! I was so totally thrilled but at the same time absolutely horrified that I had complained and been a baby. I couldn't believe he didn't just tell me a few hours earlier and save all the trouble of listening to me go on and on!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful surprise. And he is so stinkin' awesome that he knew it would be an even BETTER surprise if he let me wait it out in my misery until the very end of the night! ;)

Awesome.

October, I Love You!

They found the perfect pumpkin!

To follow up my last post, I flew back to Illinois last weekend and stayed with my mom for four days. I was able to be with her at the hospital for two days and afterward at home. It gave my sister a break to spend the weekend having quality time with her family and gave both my mom and I boost to see each other. :) (As for an update medically, we have no diagnosis yet. They have ruled out any problems with her heart, kidneys, and reproductive organs-including cancers-so we are back to the liver. There will be another biopsy in a week and then if the liver still looks fine she will go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for a comprehensive exam.)

I can hardly believe October is halfway over because it is my favorite month of the year and I feel like I have barely had a second to enjoy it! Because I spent last weekend in Illinois, I was looking forward to having this weekend to go to a farm and get Raine a pumpkin. (You know, these are the things that are so fun with children...) I was disappointed to find out when I came back to Oregon that they were already predicting rain for the whole weekend...and the following week. I was afraid that I had missed the last beautiful ~dry~ weekend for the season! (Dan spent it Saturday taking Raine into Portland for a special trip for an ice cream treat at Salt and Straw. So cute! And they totally remembered me and brought home a little pint of Snickerdoodle. Yum!)

However the skies cleared up yesterday afternoon and we abandoned grocery shopping for a trip to Baggenstos Farm. Raine had been a cranky mess all day while we ran errands but he cheered up right away when we got to the farm and showed him all the fun stuff! :)

So much to do! Where do we start??

C'mon, daddy! I don't have time for this. Let's catch up with those kids!

Peek a boo!

Hello goat!

Look out peeps! Here I come!!!!

It was a super fun 20 minutes. Ha! (That's actually about how long Raine lasted.) Even so, I couldn't have asked for a better fall/pumpkin purchase experience. :) He is still too young to really get into these types of things, so just to get his picture snapped a few times and see him so happy ~especially when he was having such a rotten day~ was all I could ask for and more! (You can find all of our photos from the farm here.)

Raine's favorite things at Baggenstos Farm included (in order of 1.) Most Extreme Pleasure to 5.) This is Rotten and I Hate It!) were:

1. The fence around the chickens and goats. (Literally the fence itself. But he also enjoyed the animals. LOL.)
2. The tractor, especially sitting in the driver seat. High five Grampy Jim!
3. Poking his head through the painted photo boards.
4. Picking out a pumpkin.
5. Straw bale maze. (He hated it!)

Hope you are enjoying this time of year. We have a lot to look forward to in the next couple of weeks. I have my birthday to celebrate with my boys, time with friends, and then we will be traveling to Illinois for a very fun visit including Dan attending a Bears game and celebrating Halloween week with Raine's cousins! :)

Even though I feel so busy with work, taking care of Raine (and Dan who sprained his back!) and managing this household, I am trying to slow down and stop to smell the fresh rain, admire those colorful fall leaves, and savor the seasonal brews. Why Autumn has to be the quickest season (at least in Oregon!) I don't know. But it is my favorite! And October is like, the pinnacle! Cheers!

On tap tonight! God Bless Deschutes.

I Am Thrilled About Five Things

1. This beverage, on tap tonight in the Herzing household. God bless my husband for sharing.

2. New episodes of The Office and Parks and Recreation tonight.

3. Hubby cooked the oh so delicious Crispy Chicken Salad with Pickles & Lima Beans.

4. Raine went to bed without a peep and is getting some good rest.

5. Tomorrow is Friday.

It Took Me Three Weeks to Bake Banana Bread

I bought the ingredients.

Time passed.

Dan teased me.

The ingredients went bad and I had to buy new ingredients.

Time passed.

More teasing.

I finally baked it. And it wasn't very good...! Lol. Oh well.

Finding time and energy for things has been tough lately.

Today is August 1st and I don't know how we got here so fast. The days are flying.

I've started three posts in the last week and had to save them as drafts. Sometime soon I will catch up.

Until then, here are some Instagram photos from our week. :)

Happy almost Friday!


P.S. I am trying out posting with my iPhone blogger app. Did it work??

1. A preview of Raine's birthday party decor...The pennant banner :)

2. Raine and Nexus reunited!

3. Tour de Cure - Hillsboro, OR July 2012!

4. Miss Lorri & Raine 

5. August in my Charley Harper calendar...So cute!

6. Enjoying Carmen's 2009 Black Butte XXI  by Deschutes Brewery. Delish!

7. Hello Kitty find for Alexis' 2nd birthday gift! How much fun is it to shop for her!?

8. More birthday party decor...Flowers from NSM. Only the best for Raine! :)

9. Raine's new buddy, Ralphie. 

10. The best pizza in Portland: Lorri Barone's made from scratch!

On Tap and a Make-Again!

Red Curry Chicken with Rice Salad from Real Simple