{summer of fun} Rogue rafting

As I mentioned before, I spent half of last week and all of last weekend rafting one of Oregon's more beautiful rivers: the Rogue. It was technically a work retreat; every year my company takes its staff, board and spouses on a rafting trip. But, even though it was *work* it was So. Much. Fun. But, clearly, who doesn't have fun when you're on a river for four days in 85 degree weather?

We were on the river for four days and three nights. And, here's where I have a confession: before this trip, I'd never been camping. I know, right? What makes this even more crazy, is that up until a month ago, I worked for our state's parks department. I guess it took leaving there to get me into a tent :). Don't worry, I survived: I set up my own tent, all by myself (Chris couldn't come with me because of his new job :( ), every night. And, it never fell over. Not everyone attending could claim that victory!

So, today, as part of my Summer of Fun series, I'm sharing a few pictures of just how gorgeous the trip was. Lots of amazing green trees, mountains, cliffsides, contrasting against beautiful blue water and quite a few amazing and super fun rapids. In the evenings, we explored trails, waterfalls, and beautiful creeks. We saw bald eagles, golden eagles, a couple (!) bears, and lots of monarch butterflys. It it truly a spectacular stretch of water.

Amazing, no? And that long sleeve shirt I'm sporting? NOT because I was cold. The sun was brutal!

Have you guys been rafting? What's the BEST river you've rafted? If you haven't, I highly recommend getting yourself to a river ASAP and hoping on a raft. It's a great experience! Oh, and that camping thing? I think I like it :).


{For more on my summer of fun, check out my adventures to the Oregon coast, Eastern Washington, and Hood River.} 

{inspired} design-y tattoos

Friends, let's talk about tattoos. If you know me personally, this might be a touch of a surprise ... I don't have a tattoo and I've never really wanted one. But even if I did feel inclined to get a tattoo, I had NO ideas what I would get. Of course, I've run across some beautiful tattoos around the webs.

 Hurley Sashimi

 tattoologist

Gorgeous, right? (And, no surprise that they're all type, right?? *Wink*) I think tattoos are incredibly special when they're personal and mean something. They've been on my brain lately because Chris is getting his first and he's trying to decide what to get. We talk about it. A. Lot. The reason we're talking about it here today is because I was struck with inspiration on my rafting trip last week, in the form of a shirtless river guide. 

What?! He had a GREAT tattoo :).

ndt photo

See this print? I recently added it to my collection .... you'll see where it ended up in our abode soon. But, this sign is significant because forEVER, this sign stood on a building in downtown Portland, right near the river with the city scape in the background. It was a Portland icon, that I always loved seeing when I was little. Especially during the holidays when the nose would light up red. Well, the sign recently changed. Someone else bought the building, blah, blah, didn't want to keep that sign, blah, blah.  They ended up keeping the sign, but the words now say Portland Oregon. Not. As. Cool. It made me sad, so I bought the print to remember how cool the original sign was. 

Well friends, this river guide? He had the made in Oregon sign turned into a HUGE tattoo across his back/side. It was AWESOME! Immediately I knew that if I were to get a tattoo, it would be some form of this sign. After all, I was *made* in Oregon :).

So who knows. Now that I have an idea, maybe I work up the nerve? What about you guys? Any fun tattoos that you already have? Or ideas for great tattoos? 

{inspired} tea time

Friends, have you ever completely unconnected? From your phone, from the internet, from the TV? It is utterly amazing! I spent the last four days in the wilderness, floating one of Oregon's most amazing rivers. I came back relaxed, refreshed, and pretty darn exhausted :). I also came back to my computer not working and my internet down. What a way to get back into things, eh? 

on blue pool road

I'll share photos of my adventure with you later this week. But for today, until I can get my head back on straight, I wanted to share with you this lovely bit of inspiration. Teapots are just beautiful in general. But against that awesome green back ground? Amazing.

How are all of you? What did you all do this weekend? Any fun adventures or home improvement projects?

{inspired} project sneak peaks!

I have not one, but TWO sneak peaks to share with you guys today. Because clearly, beginning one project, finishing it, and then moving on to a second project would be way too easy :). 

The first project is happening in the living room. I'm sure you can all guess what it is .... and it's been a LONG time in the making. I'm excited to get it finished!

The second project is in the craft room! Progress is being made in there friends, and this pictures is proof. But, it's all the proof you're going to get for now!

Happy friday friends! I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back next week with pictures from my work rafting trip :).

{summer of fun} cape lookout

So apparently, one of the *perks* of my new job, is a company rafting trip every summer. Twist my arm :). So, for the rest of the week/weekend, I'll be working incredibly hard here:

Oregon Rogue River

Try not to be jealous, friends!

Although I'm super excited for the trip, today I'm going to share a different adventure with you: the next adventure in our *summer of fun* series! 

Over the 4th of July we were at the beach again with some friends. We went on an the most incredible hike. It was amazing. Named Cape Lookout, the trail takes you 2 miles straight out into the ocean.

The rock in the picture above is Haystack Rock, and is actually the same rock (from a completely different angle!) as the rock in the first picture.

Gorgeous, right? Being at the very end and surround on three sides by blue ocean was a completely surreal feeling.

I hope you're all having a great week! And, make sure to come back on Friday ... I have a post scheduled with a sneak peak of TWO projects going on in our house right now :)

{inspired} summer color palettes

Earlier this year, I did a post about spring color palettes where I found spring clothing I loved and paired it with a room in a similar color scheme. I loved this post because I fall into color ruts incredibly easy. It was fun to see both clothes and rooms that are a little out of my comfort zone. So, I thought I'd do a summer palette post. Now, I know you're thinking .... Jenn, summer began a couple months ago. BUT, in my defense, summer in Oregon doesn't begin until July, so I'm right on time :).

Palette #1

Similar to my post last week about my navy/coral adventures, aqua and orange are just lovely. Oh, and I'm completely coveting this dress.

 Anthropologie

 Anything Pretty

Palette #2

These fun, almost pastel colors are ground by the deep royal purple. I had a little trouble finding this color in a room, which is unfortunate because it really is lovely, but I do love the limited use of purple below. It adds a nice pop of color.

 Anthropologie

Redesign Interiors

Palette #3

I love this palette. It's so feminine and pretty, but the red adds a dash of spicy. Tread lightly around this color scheme. It can be a little overwhelming and a little red hat society. The room below is a lovely example of how small doses of red and purple can brighten up a room.

Anthropologie

Habitually Chic

What is YOUR favorite color palette this summer?

Happy friday friends! Thanks for stopping by and visiting this week :).

{summer of fun} eastern Washington

If you remember, a couple weeks ago I publicly declared that this summer would be a summer of pure fun. I continued seeking fun this weekend on a very special trip to see a very dear friend in Eastern Washington (hi ang!). You guys. I had so. much. fun. I took some pictures to share because Eastern Washington (and Central/Eastern Oregon) are an entirely differently world from Western Oregon/Washington, where I live, and usually hang out. 

The east side of the Pacific NW is brown. And, I mean, very. very. brown.

All the visible green here is fields. Growing up, I really disliked this area. I was a green snob. We used to have to drive right through here to get to my grandparents house. I thought it was so boring. But now that I'm older and wiser (ha!), I've learned to appreciate different landscapes, and I actually think this is incredibly beautiful now.

One of the BEST features of this region is that it is quickly becoming a world class wine area. So, what are two ladies to do with a Saturday afternoon in the middle of wine country? Go wine tasting, of course! :)

The grapes grown in this region are vastly different from the grapes grown in the Willamette Valley. I posted about my Willamette Valley wine tasting adventures here. But, they are amazing.

The regions focus is really deep full-bodied reds. Which, IMHO, when done well are so amazing. BUT, I also learned that Chardonney doesn't have to be utterly disgusting. YAH! 

Oh, and by the way, it's sunny here all year round (hence the brown). It was AH-MAZ-ING. (And, yep, we're cute! ;) Don't worry, we didn't just drink ... we hiked too! Oh, and we'll not talk about the altitude difference and how I panicked because I couldn't believe I was THAT out of shape. Mmmmkay? :)

On the way home I did something that I haven't done in YEARS. I went on a little adventure by myself. Do you guys ever do this? When I was single, if I wanted to do something or go somewhere I just hopped in the car and went. But since I LOVE spending time with Chris, I've been sharing adventures with him since we met. I was all alone on Sunday, thought, and I didn't have to be home at any certain time, so I took the LONG way home, played tourist, and had the most amazing afternoon. I really believe that some alone time is good for the soul.

As you might know, the might Columbia River separates Oregon from Washington. It's GORGEOUS. And, the fastest way to drive up *the Gorge* is by freeway on the Oregon side. So, I decided to head home on the Washington side via two-lane highway. It was lovely. I stopped whenever I pleased and took photos and checked out tourists sights. The land in the photos above is actually Oregon.

This is Washington's Stonehenge. Who knew?! It's actually a war memorial. It was pretty interesting, and it sits on the edge of the Gorge overlooking this amazing view:

Doesn't this house look like it was plucked out of a Jane Austin novel?  I love how this picture shows such contrast between the lush house grounds and the stark barren desert. It's a museum, and since I was in no hurry and playing tourist, I poked around there for a bit. It was lovely.

I thought I'd show you the contrast between the different regions of the Columbia River Gorge. This is still east. It's about 2 hours away from Portland.

This is an hour away from Portland, in Hood River. I posted about our trip here a couple weeks ago.

And this is about 20 minutes outside of Portland. Isn't it amazing how progressively green the landscape becomes as you head West? It's quite a sight when you're driving it all in one shot.

All-in-all, I had necessary girlfriend time and necessary alone time all in one weekend. It was PERFECT! And, I came back so refreshed and recharged. 

So, friends, what about you guys?! On the landscape debate, where do you lean: green vs. brown. And, how do you feel about going on adventures by yourself? Do you find them awesome and sorta liberating? Or just completely lonely and sad? :)

{inspired} words as posters

If you've been reading for any length of time, you know that I am completely obsessed with  addicted to fonts and words. It's been pretty well documented here, here and here. I think words themselves can be so inspiring, but paired with the correct typeface, they can be elevated to a work of art in and of themselves. 

simply lovely

This is my favorite lately. I want to buy it and hang it on my wall. But, I can't seem to find it anywhere for sale. Did someone create this as an internet-only artwork? I think the sentiment is both sad, happy and beautiful all in one. I love, LOVE, the two different type faces ... especially the way the curly one is in such stark contrast to the photo. Simple beautiful.

I've been wanting to share it with you for awhile .... it's the type of work that NEEDS to be documented. Then a couple weeks ago I was sucked into the Pinterest vortex, again, looking at other type-as-art images. So, below are my favorites. There are quite a few more on my Pinterest page, if you'd like to check them out.

 dear musketeer

 sweet matryoshka

 

 google

 

little types

marble tulip

I hope you all have a fantastic Monday! Thank you for stopping by today :).

{inspired} blue + coral

A little fun fact about me: I having a pretty boring wardrobe. Cute, but boring. Lots of black. Lots of solid colors. Lots of safe. But, in a crazy spark of inspiration, today I'm wearing navy blue gingham + coral. And, I LOVE it.

(ps: there are very few things more awkward than taking a picture of yourself. especially when a coworker walks into your office while you're doing it.)

In fact, I'm digging this color combo so much, that I started searching around for rooms that feature these two colors. And friends, there is some awesomeness that falls within these two colors. I pulled some of my favorites from the source (you know, Pinterest), to illustrate how this color combo can cross from clothing into rooms and even products. :)

Project Wedding

 Tobi Fairley

 Epitome of Chic

Forever Lovely Design

Be Colorful

Style Me Pretty

Gorgeous, right? What color combo are you really into right now?

I hope you all have an adventurous and fun-filled weekend!