Mandi's 23

My baby turned 23 years old yesterday.  She is incredible!  So independent and wonderful.  She's strong and beautiful.  She was a wonderful hostess to her friends and family at the local celebration last night.  I baked her brownie pops and they turned out really cute (and tasted good too).  I'll post a photo later. 

Surprise Garden at Meridian Park Hospital

Earlier this week, Tucker (my little cockapoo) found this water wall inside a lovely garden at Meridian Park Hospital.  We went for a walk before my doctor's appointment and found this wonderful garden.  It had raised vegetable beds with beautiful tomatoes, a fragrance garden, lots of bench's for people to sit and best of all a PURPLE garden shed!  What an unexpected pleasure!

Summer flowers from our Garden

Fruit & Cheese Mini-Kabobs

A few weeks ago, we enjoyed the company of my nephew DJ, his girlfriend Shelly and her two little girls for a backyard BBQ (and then a walk to the water/sprinkler park up the road).  I made these fruit/cheese kabobs in hopes they would please the younger crowd.  They were a hit!  Gruyere cheese, blueberries and grapes. 

theshabbycottagehome.com one of a kind furniture & restyled vintage finds

This is a great little local shop where the owners (I believe mother and daughter and/or daughter-in-law) restyle vintage finds. Delightful! My home and office both hold some of their pieces (and more to come I'm sure).


theshabbycottagehome.com one of a kind furniture & restyled vintage finds

Does Air Exist?: Why I Married a Stranger

As a kid (and now adult) from Oregon City, the "Kissers" were always a strange, fascinating group of people that we as "outsiders" whispered and wondered about.  They were formally called "Followers of Christ" but were well-known to the town by the slang term above.  On Facebook, I subscribe to a post called "You know you're from Oregon City if" and today I was lucky enough to find a post by Suzanne Shumaker.  She grew up in the "Followers of Christ" church and eventually left the church.  She is working on her memoirs as her thesis project but currently has a great blog with exerpts of her story that I've posted the link to below.  What an interesting story she has!  Check it out and I'm sure you, like me, will be anxiously anticipating her book.

Does Air Exist?: Why I Married a Stranger: “Please God, let something – anything – happen to me. Anything. I don’t care if it’s good or bad, please let something happen.” I’m w...

Monday (Labor Day)

My favorite coffee shop (Singer Hill Cafe) was closed this morning, so my niece Heidi (she's beautiful inside and out by the way) enjoyed our latte's at the Main Street, Coffee Rush (another great OC hangout).  We sat in cozy high back chairs, drank our hot beverages, dished about everything and anything and loved being together.  I made a quick stop at the local Goodwill (hmmmm... found some great wool jackets to turn into something else) and then home to hubby.  Put a new slipcover on the couch, quick visit to the parental unit and then home to make some Christmas gifts and banana muffins.  Hubby washed my Lamby slippers so they're ready for their next adventure.

The garden is just about given us it's last bit of produce.  Terry has been busy making spaghetti sauce, we've made pickles for the first time (using a wonderful recipe from one of the old world Russian ladies at work) and made cherry/raspberry jam.  We've pickled green beans (can you say, HELLO Bloody Mary?) and canned cherries.  We hope for a wonderful pumpkin and gourd harvest.



Lovin' the simple life.