I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

Nifty Thrifty!

Yesterday Magnolia had her 1 year pediatric visit. She's growing, oh my! She absolutely glows when people say hi to her. She'll flash them her big smile, showing off her tiny two pearly whites, and people sure do react! Babies smiles are infectious, are they not?

Nolie did well. She's 50th percentile for height and 60th percentile for weight and head circumference.

After the doctor's visit, we stopped at a nearby Goodwill to find some small glass candlestick holders for our make-shift advent wreath. I know, we're a little behind, but timing isn't everything, right?

I didn't find any candleholders, but i did find a few goodies:

Apple Pie pie pan - pie recipe printed inside!
Might be a gift, but I might keep it. 

Bag FULL of gorgeous thread.
Some vintage on wooden spools!
Might be a gift, or I might keep it.
I don't sew, but someday I will. 

Kiss the cook print and fiesta looking trivets.
These will either be gifts, or they'll go up on my wall. 

Are you sensing the theme here? I buy these things with other people in mind and end up wanting to keep everything! 

Thrifting is one of my favorite things to do. Plan on seeing more posts here on my adventures in thrifting. 

After we got home, Nolie went down for her nap and I pulled out some boxes of Christmas decor. Things are getting festive up in here! 

Christmas decorations! Oh boy!

Can't wait to show you the finished product!

xoxo,

omiegrace

Lovely Sunday

Joel worked overnight last night. This happens every now and again. It is not awesome, but is means he gets home by 10 a.m. the next morning. Typically he takes a huge nap post-call, but before that, we almost always go out for family brunch. Today we chose to explore Mississippi Ave. We bundled up, got in the car and followed our fancies towards warm goodies to fill our tummies.

Mississippi Avenue is a hot spot in NE Portland. It's full of charming shops, restaurants, bars and the like. It also holds a staple in the DIY homeowner's go-to repetoire. The Re-Building Center. We didn't realize it was on Mississippi until we drove past it and let out a shout for joy! Even though our tummies were grumbling, we had to check it out!

The center takes up an entire block.

Doors and doors for miles!
We plan on replacing all the doors in our new house
and this place will come in quite handy!

Sinks and sinks and sinks and sinks.

Joel was in heaven. He kept saying,
"We're going to save so much money fixing up our house!"
My man loves to save a dollar. 

Tiles. And tiles. Drool. And drool. 

Not for sale, but charming nonetheless!

Flooring!

Lights!

Seriously. This place had everything you could image for fixing up your house, but it's also great for creating art, furniture, whatever your little heart desires!

I foolishly took all of these photos in b&w. Sorry about that.

We ended up eating at a cute little taqueria called Por Que No? I had the plato tipico with beans, rice, eggs and avocado and a Rosa de Jamaica tea. This was basically what I ate every day of our honeymoon in Guatemala, so it was a wonderful breakfast for me. Joel had a plain ol' cheese quesadilla (boring!) and Nolie had a little bit of everything. 'Atta girl!

All in all it was a lovely morning.

My man and the bear. 

Pictures, worth many words.

I'm a visual person. I like pretty blogs. I skim through magazines. You could group me in with the tl;dr crowd. Don't judge.

Here are some pictures from my phone. Enjoy!

Our Bungalow when we lived in Birmingham, AL.

The Rufus.

I have a super happy baby.

Team Zizzou!

I brought home a baby bumble bee.

Portland is gorgeous. Even at a flag football game.

My Nana plays Skip-Bo.

Pine trees. Yum.

Sometimes I get to dress up.

Hi, I blog now.

My blog. I did it. I started a blog. It's only taken me, um, about three years to get this thing going. I think it's taken me so long because I had such high expectations for myself, thinking that everything had to be perfect before I posted anything for all to see. Reality check, that's never going to happen! So, here we are. Typos, bad grammar and poorly thought out blog posts! Hooray! I'll get better as I go on, right guys?

A brief history: My man (Joel), baby (Magnolia), two fur people (Rufus and Kiwi) and I moved to Portland, OR the end of June 2011. We currently live in a charming old farm house near the hipster hub that is Alberta Street. We're renting but are in the process of purchasing a cute little bungalow! My husband is a cardiology fellow at OHSU, (Translation: he works all the time... mostly for peanuts,) and our family is all over the place, mainly Arkansas, Iowa and Minnesota. I miss them terribly!

Me, my man and my baby.

Miss Magnolia Grace. 

I'm starting this blog now as a way to document and share with family and friends our home progress as we take on ANOTHER fixer-upper, let y'all keep up with Nolie and her adventures in Portland, and to share my creative ventures, be it cooking, decorating or designing. Oh, and hopefully it will help me keep the TV off. (Can I get an AMEN?) I don't expect to gain hundreds of readers or make any money. This is just for me and you. It's something to enjoy! As long as that happens, I'll be happy. Even if my mom and my sister are the only ones who read this, I'll be happy. (Hi, guys!)

xoxo,
omiegrace