July was one crazy month and I'm finally coming up for air {I'm aware it's the middle of August}. Lots of time with family that we normally only get to see every couple of months, capped off by a very relaxing vacation for the Husband and I to the Oregon coast. If you haven't ever been, GO! I thought Utah was beautiful, but Oregon puts my state to shame!
After covering two National Parks, one National Monument, the better part of three states, 3500 miles, and an entire week of peace with no child {I did miss her terribly}, and no TV or internet, I've returned with lots of memories, a love for the great state of Oregon, and the realization that I need to get a
portable hobby because I am a
slave to technology--seriously, the first two days of our Oregon trip I thought I might die, and maybe most importantly: reflection and some direction for this little blog.
The month started with a camping trip at Zion National Park--the first of three National Parks/Monuments we hit this month. Have you been? I've lived here my whole life, even went to college only an hour away, and had only ever been briefly {and driven through several times}. My husband has been to
every National Park west of the Mississipi! Maybe no one else thinks that's cool, but I do! Anyway, it's beautiful and I got to cross a to-do off my bucket list: hiking
Angels Landing--well,
to Angels Landing. We left Adelie with the grandparents and had
every intention of actually doing the whole thing, until we saw it in all of it's terrifying glory:
My Facebook status that day about summed it up:
"So Angel's Landing was on my bucket list, dying TODAY however was not, so this is how far we went. Fear (and being a mother) got the better of me. AWESOME hike though!"
You have to hold onto chains up the whole side of that ledge--and it's a
ledge--and all Chandler and I could think about was leaving Adelie parent-less, so we opted out, sat and had lunch and enjoyed the view.
Next was home for two days, then back on the road to the in-laws in Northern Nevada for the baby shower, which I shared
here. So I'll spare you more details on that and just show you my favorite sign in the entire world. I laugh every time I pass this (and if you follow me on
Twitter, you've already seen it). Am I the only one that thinks this is funny? Maybe there's some truth behind this that I don't understand, but a picture of the Sphinx and "Half-way to everywhere"
in the middle of Nevada, just makes me laugh. Every. Time. And I'm not singling out Nevada here. Beaver, Utah used to be the "Land of Four Seasons" and now they claim something like "World's best tasting drinking water." The clever things some people come up with.
After the baby shower it was home for a week and then, the Husband and I headed off on a road trip to the Oregon Coast. Just the two of us. For a WHOLE week.
The first night we made our way to Bend, Oregon, and if you follow me on Instagram (@jmenteer), you know we were greeted by this little gem of a hotel room.
Here's a word of advice: when the Hotels.com reviews say it's "a little old, but clean and a great place to stay when you're stopping through," AVOID IT!!!! Seriously, none of the reviews on this place were bad. It was an $80 hotel room, so I wasn't expecting much, but this was like beyond. And as if my design sense wasn't screaming loud enough at this point, my sense of hygiene was screaming bloody murder--something that may have actually happened in this room. Is anyone else thinking that none of this is bleach-able!? Because I was!! Luckily I had packed my own blanket and pillows, which smelled like an ash tray the entire next day. All I could think was Planes, Trains, and Automobiles--has anyone else seen that? All this room was missing was the vibrating bed and an hourly rate.
Luckily, the hotel was
not representative of Bend, which was an awesome town, though we didn't get to stay long, and I fell in love with Lone Pine Roasters. Cutest coffee shop EVER.
Did you notice that their menu board and display case are old windows? And for tables outside they had old school desks with the chair attached and then a free standing chair on the other side for a little table for two. In our Oregon experience, they really embrace vintage, junky style and it's like an antique/thrift shoppers paradise. It was like heaven everywhere I went.
The beauty of road-tripping childless was that we could just sort of "wander," so we stopped at Newberry National Volcaninc Monument.
And it was in this moment that I officially realized I'm getting old. These are the kinds of stops that my parents would make on road trips that I was positive were going to cause me to die of boredom and/or anger at such ridiculousness and now: here I am. Another validation moment Dad; you're welcome.
The contrast of the desolate volcanic landscape against all of the Oregon pine was amazing. And past the lava rock, it's nothing but trees for miles. I'm sure Big Foot was out there somewhere.
Then we took a detour to Crater Lake which was A-MAZING. Seriously, there are no words to describe how awesome this is. It's huge. It's blue. It's clear. It's breathtaking!
In all, we basically spent two days in the car getting to the Coast, but it felt like mere hours because the Oregon landscape is like a postcard of quintessential Americana. Farmland with grazing animals
everywhere, lush forests, rivers running along the road where deer are drinking at the water's edge, and quaint little towns to stop along the way.
And this was our final destination: Depoe Bay, Oregon. Beautiful.
And my home for the week. Not too shabby, huh? We rented a little, one-bedroom cottage for
$85 a night. {We found it
here if anyone's interested.} It was a steal of a vacation, and I wanted to kiss whoever decorated it, it was SO adorable--especially considering that I'd spent the night before in an Austin Powers paradise.
It was a week of eating what and when we wanted, napping at will {that may have been my favorite part. I
love to nap--ask my husband}, adult conversation with no interruption, walks on the beach and RELAXING. And to cap everything off, I got to cross,
seeing a whale off my bucket list on the last day of our trip. Two in fact who were playing
incredibly close to the shore for about an hour. I could have watched them all day.
And finally, on our way home, another restaurant I could have totally moved into: Prodigal Son Brewery in Pendelton, Oregon {where apparently they host one of the world's largest rodeos}. FYI, the food was also great. Sadly, we didn't get to try the beer since we were stopping through on our drive home.
Even the bathroom stalls were mismatched old doors with vintage knobs. Next time we make this trip, I will be stopping in this town for
much longer.
So, now that you've indulged me in reliving the fun and craziness, I mentioned
"some direction" for MFL. I don't know if I even need to put it out there, but my blogging hiatus has allowed me to really evaluate what I want this to be and I've decided that I'm not really going in a new direction, but the direction I always saw for MFL and sort of steered off path along the way.
When I originally started this blog, I
did want to document all of my projects because that's so much of what I do and love, especially furniture, but My Fabuless
Life was intended to sort of encompass
all of life and my approach. Somewhere along the way it became all about the projects. I also need to focus a little more time and effort on my client projects and creating a step by step for MFL for everything I do takes A LOT of time and work. It's not a huge change, but you may have noticed that I've changed my header a little and the "About Me" to more truly reflect what I want this to be and where I see it going. I'll still be sharing my projects and furniture, but I'm excited to also start mixing in some of my other passions and the more serious motherhood and
life stuff and I hope you still enjoy it!
