Celebration!

Can you believe it's been one year since we got married? I really can't. This has been quite a year!

We celebrated by going to Yachats to our favorite place - the Overleaf! We got our favorite jacuzzi room, and spent Saturday/Sunday relaxing by the great shore there! Amazing waves!

We of course enjoyed the restaurants in Yachats too - including our favorite, The Drift Inn.

Here are some pictures and a short video!

1st Anniversary!

On Sunday, Mike and I will celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary!! I can't believe it's already been a year! We are heading out soon to go to Yachats, the Overleaf, where we spent our honeymoon earlier this year. Even though it's so close to home now, we're really looking forward to a night away!

Happy Anniversary, Mike! I love you!

Return to blogging

Maybe... some days I feel like blogging, and other days I don't. Many days I miss the interaction I have had with you all! (If anyone even stops by here anymore!)

Our transition to Oregon has gone really well. We really love our little town and the Oregon coast. The weather is turning to winter grey, but we still love it - if possible, even more than sun. We're hearing from locals that we'll be running into more grumpiness out and about because a lot of people really hate the constant grey. Both Mike and I really like it so far.

We've LOVED the farmer's market this summer - we went every Saturday morning until this last week. It is over until next spring :( The tomatoes have been amazing - and huge bunches of fresh basil! Yum. I've been experimenting with squash to find ones Mike will eat. He has liked the spaghetti squash and the butternut. Not so much the acorn or the delicata. (I love them all!)

We found an amazing organic farm nearby called Barking Dog. We love the place - the produce is awesome and the owners are super-friendly and fun! Again, we're sad to see them close for the winter...

We LOVED the Kite Festival on the beach near us. It was so fun - we spent about 8 hours down on the sand that day. Took lots of photos and videos. We'll definitely look forward to going to the spring festival as well! We're also discovering some amazing local restaurants! We love trying new places. (Favorites so far include Riptide BBQ, Beach Dog, and J's Fish and Chips. Mike is eating fish! Can you believe it?!)

As always, I have taken tons of ocean pictures. I'll share a few, but you can go to my flickr page and see them all if you're interested.


We love our little apartment and our amazing view. Lots of sunrise pictures too - taken from our balcony looking over the lake.


Our cats have transitioned well too. They like being able to go out on the balcony - almost outside!

I'm starting to work on my own website - Off-Center Studio (http://www.off-centerstudio.com/ - coming soon!) so that I can take on some new clients and build some new websites! It's a bit daunting to design my own, but I'm getting excited to do it! I'm also looking forward to taking a couple classes at the culinary center here in Lincoln City!

N.E.D. - Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I posted. Things have been a bit hectic as we try to settle into our new life here in Oregon! I'll have an update soon, and I hope to get back to regular posting as well. I have a lot of ideas floating around that I want to share!

But - today - I want to bring something to your attention. September (TOMORROW! Yikes!) is Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month. I wasn't aware of this fact until I received an email a little bit ago letting me know this. I was also asked to share this with you all here on my blog and I agreed because it is SO important!

On September 8, there will be a CD release party for a band called N.E.D. This band is made up of six doctors - gynecologic oncologists. N.E.D. stands for No Evidence of Disease. This "represents the hope that every gynecologic oncologist has for every patient: at the end of treatment the disease will be gone." This group of doctors is passionate about their cause and hope that their music will help bring awareness and knowledge about gynecologic cancers.

Check out this great CD - and pass on the good word about the work that this band is doing to raise awareness about cancer! (The music is all original and it's really good in my opinion!) :) On the widget below you can hear the music, learn more about N.E.D., the facts, etc. If you're so drawn, you can donate as well.

I'm featured!

The amazing Jamie of Jamie Ridler Studios has featured me on her website. I participated in her Circe's Circle earlier this year, and it was an awesome experience!

Go check out my feature and the rest of Jamie's awesome website!

Surprise visitor

We discovered a surprise visitor in my basil plant which I bought from a local farm. I had trimmed off the top leaves and made pesto (YUM!). Then I was cleaning out the dead leaves underneath, and saw what I hoped was a rock... NOPE. It was this:


Um... EWWWWW! Mike relocated our visiting slug to the grass outside. Blech.

Exercise never looked so good!

I haven't joined a gym with "buff" guys to look at! :) Nope - I've just moved near enough the ocean to walk along the sand every day!

My new "workout" place:

Adventures in Moving

We made it. A week ago today, we arrived in our new town - Lincoln City, OR.

We moved into our apartment the next morning - August 1. Mike did a great job picking out a place for us. It's small, but we're going to make it work. The views from our windows are spectacular!

It's about a 15 minute walk to the shore. The weather has been great, cool, some sun, some grey, and this morning it's raining.

The cats did amazingly well on the trip, and they are adjusting quickly to their new home too! All in all, it went as well as we could have hoped! Dropping Andrea (my best friend) and Jim (Mike's dad) off at the airport in Portland has been the hardest thing to do! They helped us with the drive, and it was very sad to see them go back to Colorado.


More later! Boxes are calling! (more pictures at Flickr.)

Tattoo re-done

I decided that before we left Colorado, I wanted to get my tattoo re-touched. I was able to get an appointment with the original artist from six years ago!

Sunday was the day. Andrea and Savannah went with me to watch (and laugh at me) and support! What I didn't know (before we started) was that re-doing a tattoo is much more painful than the first time around. Pshew. It was really bad! But, I'm glad I did it! It looks much better now!

Here is what it looked like six years ago, brand new!

As he is getting started - you can really see how much it has faded. It was in great shape according to the artist though - especially for location. Tattoos on feet apparently don't last as well as other place.



The artist at work:
And me, in serious pain. I don't think I'll probably ever have this re-touched again. It was almost more than I could handle. It was NOT that bad the first time though.


And finally, the re-done, added to tattoo. The artist told me he was going to re-do the whole thing because "I'm much better now!"

TWO weeks and counting...

The movers come in two weeks (and 1 day) to pack our moving van, and we'll head off for Oregon!! Can you believe it?! I can't yet. Reality probably won't sink in until we've been in our new place for a while! :)

Send us some good vibes for the next two weeks - we have SO much to do!!

Photos of our new home!

We are moving - have I mentioned that?! It's starting to sink in for me, but it probably won't hit home until we're actually in Oregon!

Our new place is an apartment in Lincoln City, Oregon. We look out on Devil's Lake State Park, and the ocean is about 1/2 a mile away! Mike took a few pictures for me, since I didn't get to go with him to find our place. The view from our balcony is spectacular!! And, as we'd hoped - we're within walking distance of the shore!

We can move in on August 1, so our next three weeks are going to be crazy getting ready!! Any good tips on how to move across country?! Especially since we have cats who don't like to travel?! Yikes!! (more of Mike's pictures at Flickr)

And the adventure begins...

We are moving! Mike found a great apartment in Lincoln City, Oregon, and we are moving in on August 1st!!!!

We have been talking about moving to the coast for so long that I can't even believe it's happening for real! Mike will be home tomorrow night from OR, and he has pictures. I'll share them when he's home!

The apartment is on the shores of Devil's Lake State Park. We will have a lake view from our balcony. The beach is about a 15 minute walk away!

Your good vibes worked! We're actually doing this! Mike turned in a resignation letter today (via a friend at work - he wrote it before leaving "just in case"!) His last day at the stressful job is July 17! Yayayayayayayay!!

Send us some good vibes

Mike is in Oregon and on his way to the coast to find our house! He has a list of rentals to check out, and we're really hoping to find a perfect place. In our budget, close enough to walk to the ocean, accepts our cats, and something he can sign a lease on this week so we can move VERY soon!

If you think of it today (or anytime!) send us some good vibes. I'll post info as soon as we know anything more!! Whoo hoo - excitement, nerves, all mixed together.

Quick Update

Boy - trying to get ready to move is time-consuming (actually - all-consuming!)

Mike is flying out to Oregon on the 30th to find a house! Hopefully, if all goes well, he'll go ahead and sign a lease while there (we'll rent for a while - if we do love living on the coast, we'll consider buying at some point). If that does happen, he'll be able to give notice at his job right away and we'll plan to move mid-July or so.

Sorting through my boxes is almost done. We are having a garage sale this coming Saturday. I hope to get rid of a ton of stuff. (Almost literally!) If stuff doesn't sell, we'll be donating it, as I don't want to take it with us!

Once the garage sale is past, we will start packing up what we do plan to keep. Pshew!

I'll update as we know more ... wish for the best as Mike tries to find our house on the coast!

Wishcasting Wednesday

Think of this as my wishcasting post, and a quick update on the craziness of our life over the last couple of weeks.

This week, the question is "What is your wish for June?"

My wish for June is for everything to fall into place for our pending move to Oregon!

It has been a roller coaster ride. A house we liked fell through. We decided to wait to find out about a job for Mike in Raleigh, NC. That job fell through (which we've both decided is a good thing since we really want OR, not NC.)

I've been sorting and digging through all of my stuff, and really getting rid of a LOT. We were to have a garage sale this Saturday. Instead, we will be leaving for Texas in the morning to attend a funeral. Mike's great-uncle JE has passed away. We'll be driving down and come back on Sunday.

So - garage sale postponed, house hunting is ON, and purging of stuff is happening! (Our house looks like a hurricane went through here!)

June is only three days old, but it has been an eventful month. I hope that July will find us on the coast in our new house!!

Good News!

Well - it's not news about Oregon or our move (**yet!) but I got good news in regards to my health today.

Earlier this week, I had follow up blood tests to find out if my blood sugar levels have improved since my diagnosis of diabetes. Well - they have!!

My levels are down quite significantly! In fact, they are close to "normal" non-diabetic levels!! Whoo hoo!

Hoping for more good news on the moving front today! That would be great!

Oregon-ho!

We are moving.

Yes - I said it! We are going to be moving to Oregon in the very near future. Mike and I have made the decision to take a major leap of faith. We don't have our timeline nailed down just yet, but by the end of summer for sure! (I have to stay in CO until the middle of June for sure -I have a ticket to see Rent!!)

We looked at our budget, etc. and Mike is going to be able to quit his hellish job and find something for way less salary, but hopefully happier!

We are currently looking for a rental house on the coast somewhere! (If you have a lead on that, let me know! It's hard to find long-term rentals - a lot are listed as vacation rentals!) We're going to use our long Memorial Day weekend to start sorting and getting rid of "stuff". I have a LOT of "stuff"!! A lot of it has been in the basement since we moved into our house over three years ago! Time to ditch it I think!!

So... our adventure is starting. We are both very excited and it feels like we've made the right decision! Leaving our friends in Colorado will be the hardest part, but they'll come visit!!

Any advice for us as we prepare to pack up and move across the country?! Send us some good vibes if you think about it!

Discovering Soba Noodles

One of my favorite discoveries since learning I had diabetes is soba noodles. I need to limit my intake of high carbohydrate food, so I started looking for alternatives to noodles. My find has turned out to be one of our favorite meals over the last month or so. (Mike likes the soba noodles too - which is great!)

Soba noodles are buckwheat noodles from Japan. In reading online, I found that buckwheat is actually something that is recommended to be added to a diabetic diet! It can actually help lower blood sugar!

Soba noodles are silly easy to cook - they only take about 4 minutes to boil. So far, the way I've fixed them is this:

(I don't have any quantities really, so I'm kind of guessing!)

In a wok or deep skillet, put about 1 tbsp of olive oil to heat. Add in about 1 cup each of cooked, diced chicken, chopped broccoli, and shelled edamame. (I use frozen veggies and pre-cooked frozen chicken.) Sauté until the vegetables and chicken are heated through. Meantime, boil your water for the soba noodles and cook the noodles.

For the sauce, I'm using a soy ginger sauce I found in the grocery store. It is one of the few mix sauces that was low in sugar. It's yummy too! I add in some chopped ginger and garlic, a few drizzles of sesame oil for taste, and let this cook together. Drain the noodles and add to the mix. Voila - you have a tasty, healthy dinner!

Have you ever cooked with soba noodles? Any other recipe ideas for me?

Our House... in 10 years

We saw this house in Yachats, OR last year when we were there. It is just up the coast (about 1/4 mile) from the Overleaf Lodge where we stayed for our honeymoon. I LOVED it last year when we saw it.

During a visioning exercise in Circe's Circle, we were exploring ourselves 10 years from now. Well, my 44 year old self (with Mike, of course!) lived in THIS house! Right on the ocean! I could see myself happily walking the trail along the coast, and I was making art to make my living! Perfect!

Seeing this house again when we were in Oregon a couple weeks ago... confirmed it! Yep, I love this house, love this town, love the coast... I WANT to live here. I hope it will be sooner than 10 years from now, but I will continue to keep this vision in my mind and work towards making it reality!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?!

Back to the Blog World

I'm back! I don't know if anyone missed me, but I've finally decided I want to blog again! I am starting over with a whole new blog. My previous home is still in existence at Mimmsical Creations. Since getting married a little more than six (!) months ago, I have felt I needed and wanted to change the name of my blog. I kind of needed a writing break too, so that all combined to my absence.

My new home (here!) is a fresh start, and a branching out, all in one. My blog name is Off Center Studio. Over the past couple of months, I participated in Circe's Circle with the amazing Jamie and Suzie. We worked on projects, and ideas, for ourselves. My initial project/idea was to have my own website design business. I work for a company doing their website currently. I love that job very much. But, I also have an interest in branching out and doing design for others. We worked through some of my thoughts, brainstorms, etc. I came up (with Jamie and Suzie's great help!) my name of Off Center Studio. It fits! I'm going to take that name right now and go with it.

My project morphed, stalled, and changed during our 12 weeks of Circe's Circle. I put it on hold when we had some major things happen in our life. But, I have held onto all of the information about what I want to do, and I'm going to see where it takes me, or where I take it! I am starting Off Center Studio with this blog!

My plan for this space (as of right now anyway) is to share a lot of things. I have a lot of photographs that I want to have a place to share. I love to cook, and I want to share my process, recipes, successes, and failures. I am also going to join in The Next Chapter bookclub, and will share about that process here as well. As things change in my life, I'm sure this blog will change too!

A lot of things have happened since I last posted. The biggest thing is that I was diagnosed with Diabetes (Type II - and very borderline.) That news hit me quite hard, as you can imagine, and I had to really relax into the idea of needing to make some major changes! Since learning this, about 10 weeks ago now, I have begun making changes in my diet and life. My doctor told me, and here is the really good news, that if I could lose about 50 pounds, she thinks I can reverse the diagnosis! Well... I took that very seriously, and I have lost 19 pounds (as of this morning) so far! I have changed my eating habits by eliminating all obvious sugar. I also eat smaller portions, and more frequent small meals. I have limited carbohydrate intake and am careful to choose foods that have a low glycemic index. Mike has, of course, been totally supportive! Even while on our honeymoon two weeks ago, I did pretty well with the new eating habits and maintained my weight loss!

On our honeymoon, Mike and I realized that we NEED to follow our dream of moving to Oregon. We spent the week in Yachats, Oregon, and we absolutely fell in love with the area. It is the spot for us! We have already started planning what it will take for us to move out there, even if Mike doesn't have a job there! We've been wanting to move for quite some time, but haven't taken the leap. Well, we are both ready to leap now! The ocean is calling us! We're going to listen! It may take a while to be prepared, but we're planning and I just know it will happen!!