Monthly Archives: November 2013

I LOVE date nights, but sometimes we have a really hard time deciding what to do.  So when I stumbled upon this Date Night Mason Jar DIY on Pinterest, originally crafted by Life in the Green House, I thought this was an absolutely brilliant idea for us.  Daniel and I tend to be pretty indecisive when it comes to activities, sometimes wasting hours of time trying to decide on a variety of options.  I loved the idea of committing to just pulling a stick out of the jar and boom, there’s our date night with no decision making required!  I also thought it would be a good opportunity to think of more creative or unique dates, so we don’t fall into the same dinner and a movie pattern.  I’ve had this DIY on my list of to dos forever, and I finally finished it!  See below for my modifications and instructions:

Here’s what you need:

• 1 mason jar
• Jumbo popsicle sticks
• Ultra Fine Point Sharpie in black
• Red acrylic paint
• White acrylic paint
• Chalkboard paint
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Red food coloring (optional)
• Mod Podge (optional)

Here’s what you do:

The first thing you want to do is decide on your categories and colors, and then come up with some date ideas!  I chose red, dark pink, light pink, and white. One thing I changed from the original DIY was how the sticks are colored.  Instead of spray painting the entire popsicle stick, I decided to just paint the tips, creating a paint dipped effect.  To do this, I simply measure about an inch and a half below the tip and made a pencil marking on both sides.  I used the first completed stick as a template for the rest.

They turned out exactly how I pictured.  I love how clean and modern they look!

Here’s what I did for color coding and some of my date ideas for inspiration!

Red sticks are mostly nighttime dates out on the town, and they are a little more expensive and take some planning.

• Sushi dinner
• Downtown “food hop” (appetizer at one restaurant, dinner at another, and dessert at a different one)
• Dinner and a movie (a little cliche, but we rarely go out to movies, so I still love this one!)
• Dinner and drinks on Mississippi Ave.
• Weekend away
• A night at the theatre
• Concert or sports game

Dark pink sticks are also nighttime dates out, but are less expensive.

• High school mall date (go see a movie and eat at the food court, haha!)
• Bowling
• Ice skating
• Drinks and dessert at a fancy restaurant (great way to try a more expensive restaurant without breaking the bank!)
• Afternoon matinee and dinner at home
• 4th Friday free museum night (check out your local museums, many have free nights!)
• Happy hour and bar games
• Dinner and beer sampling at a brewery

Light pink sticks are date nights at home.

• Homemade sushi and movie rentals
• Matinee out and dinner at home
• Homemade pizza and board games
• Fondue dinner and dessert
• At home wine bar and cheese plates (grab a few different bottles of wine and do your own tastings!)
• Strip games and drink champagne while taking a bubble bath (this is a great one to spice things up!)
• Hot oil massages (another spicy date night, great way to connect and a free massage never hurt!)

White sticks are daytime dates.

• Oregon zoo
• Wine tasting at vineyards
• Lunch and beer sampling at a brewery
• Museum and food carts
• Rock climbing gym
• Aquarium
• Matinee
• Brunch and a hike or a game of tennis
• Dim sum and a walk at the nature preserve
• Baking and puzzle making
• Ice skating
• Movie or TV marathon with delivery

I chose to repeat a few of the dates, because a couple of them fit into more than one category.  This was a really fast and easy DIY, I think the longest step was coming up with the date ideas.  Take a look at the finished project!

While I don’t think I’ll have a problem remembering the color coding, I did like the idea of a color code key just in case.  The original DIY had a printed label attached to the jar with a ribbon.  I had wanted to paint the lid in chalkboard paint and create a key that way, but the jumbo sticks were a little taller than I initially realized.  So instead, I painted a popsicle stick in chalkboard paint and created a key that way!

I abbreviated some things to make it easy.  N is for night, D for day, In means at home dates, and the $ signs are for expensive and less expensive.

Bonus:  As you can tell from my pictures, my mason jar is red.  I had seen a lot of pins about mason jar tinting around the same time I saw this DIY, and I really loved that look.  So I decided I might as well stick to my red tone theme!  I followed instructions on Momtastic, and I believe I used roughly 20-30 drops of food coloring to get this deep red color.

This was such a fun DIY, I don’t know why I waited so long!  This will be great for our indecisiveness and give us the chance to be more spontaneous!  I’ve even left some room to add new dates as I think of them and when the seasons changed.  What are some of your favorite date nights?

If you read my romantic getaway post about Rockaway Beach, you know I had searched long and hard to find things to do in the area.  Since we went in the off-season, beach activities (which is the main attraction in the summer) were kind of limited.  While we loved enjoying the awesome vacation home we were staying in, I still thought it would be nice to have some outside activities during our stay.  We had already stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory on our way there, so that didn’t leave much more to do unless we wanted to drive up to Seaside.

Luckily, I came across an article about the Rockaway Beach Old-Growth Cedar Wetlands Preserve.  It is a 45-acre home to some of the remaining giant red cedar trees in Oregon – how lucky that it’s right in town!  It is somewhat of a hidden gem, mostly only known by the locals.

Makes sense, as it was pretty hard to find any information about it, even just how to get to there!  The article I found was written in 2009, and unfortunately it seems the trail has changed a lot since then.  By following the directions from the article, we ended up entering a trailhead that you really don’t want to go through.

Very overgrown and fallen trees everywhere, it would be very easy to get turned around, as the trail is no longer a clear path.

One upside of going the wrong way was that we got to see this humongous trunk and all of its roots!

After taking pictures, we were about to give up since we really weren’t sure where the actual trail was.  Fortunately, we heard a couple coming towards us!  They told us how to stay on the path and where the real trailhead was!  The trail you want to take is on Washington and Island.  Directions:  Take Washington St., which is right off the 101 freeway.  You want to take Washington away from the ocean and towards Island St.  Turn left on Island, and there you will find the trailhead.

It’s a very easy and beautiful hike, and it’s only about 1-mile.  Tip:  There are some flat stones on the path that, what I believe, are meant to be stepping-stones.  Be very careful if you step on them, as they are incredibly slippery.  I would also advise dressing in layers, and in shoes you don’t mind getting muddy.

When you get to end of the trail, you will find one of the biggest trees in Oregon, with a circumference of 49 feet!  Take a look at these photos!

So hard to get the scale of this tree in pictures, it really needs to be seen in person.  As you can see from some of the photos, there is a boardwalk surrounding the tree for viewing, and there are benches on the boardwalk as well (not shown).  It was such a beautiful, quiet, and peaceful spot – it would make a great place to eat lunch.  We are definitely going to pack some sandwiches next time we go!  This tree, as well as others in the Wetland Preserve, were truly amazing to see.  If you are in Rockaway Beach, I hope you get the chance to visit this spot.  It is worth it!

If you’re visiting the Oregon Coast, a main attraction besides the ocean is the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Daniel had been to the factory once before, so he already knew how awesome it was.  But I had never been, and it just so happened to be on the way to Rockaway Beach.  Clearly we had to make a stop!

Tillamook Cheese has a long history in Oregon, and the factory is the perfect place to learn more.  They have historical facts and videos all over the place, and you can also learn more about the cheese industry itself with a self-guided tour.  Plus, you can see how it’s made and packaged as there are multiple viewing areas.  Tip:  If you really want to see the full production in action, don’t go on a Sunday.  That’s when we went, and although it was nice that it was less busy, the production line was all but shut down.

Tillamook used to only be accessible by water, and this is the original ship that brought their cheese to Portland.

While the history is incredibly fascinating, the real attraction is the cheese!  Here you can see Tillamook provides a bunch of cheese samples.

This, of course, leads you into where the cheese for purchase is!  Here is just one small case of what they have to offer.

But they don’t stop with just cheese.  They also have fudge!  We came home with far too much cheese and a slice of pumpkin fudge.  So good!

And don’t forget to get a scoop (or two) of ice cream!

We saw a couple of fun photo opportunities throughout the factory, and this one was the best (we thought).  Be sure to get a picture in the Tillamook Van!

This is dairy heaven, I tell you!  The Tillamook Cheese Factory is definitely worth a stop!

While we later found out that the cheese factory also serves food, we didn’t know that at the time, so we stopped for lunch in the main part of town.

We ate at a really small, but really amazing place called Fat Dog Pizza.  If you’re looking to explore more of the town, there are a variety of restaurants in the area.  If you’re in the mood for pizza, check this place out!

If you already read my Rockaway Beach post, then you know if you’re staying in town, there aren’t that many food and activity options there.  Luckily, Tillamook is only about a 20-minute drive from Rockaway, and can easily add variety to your getaway if you’re looking for more restaurants and excursions.

Daniel and I love wine tasting, and when we heard there were great vineyards in Oregon we definitely wanted to check them out.  If you saw my Rockaway Beach post, you know that we decided to stop at a few on our way to the Oregon coast.  We chose to do wine tasting in Forest Grove because it was the closest to our original route.  It’s only about 45 minutes outside of Portland, so it’s also doable as just a day trip.

Our first stop was the David Hill Winery and Vineyard!

The wine tastings are in this adorable house below.

The David Hill Vineyard had really great reviews on Google, which was one of the reasons we stopped there first.  And no wonder!  The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable, and it wasn’t overly crowded, so we were able to ask as many questions as we wanted.

They had a nice variety of wine, and everything I tried was excellent.  Wine tasting is only $5 for 7 wines!  Pretty big difference from when we used to go tasting in Santa Barbara, CA!  While there were a number of wines I would have loved to take home, we decided on a bottle of their Estate Gewürztraminer.  Highly recommend if you like a refreshing white!

They also have a variety of other local products available for purchase in the tasting room.  Including cheese, crackers, and sausages.

While it was a bit too cold when we went, during the nicer months it would be fun to by a bottle and snacks, and have a picnic!

They have a few picnic tables outside, as you can see from the picture.  Their grounds are really pretty, it would be a great atmosphere for a relaxing lunch outside.

But don’t take my word for it, take a look at the photos below!

I think we’ll definitely be coming back here!

Our 2nd stop was Shafer Vineyard Cellars, which had one of the best views by far!

The draw to this vineyard was the complimentary cheese and crackers, which I’m a total sucker for.  They also had good reviews on Google.

This seemed like a smaller, more family run vineyard than the last.  In fact, the only person in the tasting room was the wife of the late owner.  She was so incredibly nice, and she even waived our tasting fee (which was only $5 to begin with)!

Shafer Vineyard also had a great variety of wines, and we decided to buy a bottle of their “Holiday Magic Wine,” which is a gluhwein.  Can’t wait to have it over the holidays!

The tasting room was a little small and a bit busier, but luckily they had a huge Christmas shop to explore in between tastings!

They seriously had any kind of ornament you could possibly think of!  It was also fun to see these huge tanks of wine!

I would definitely recommend this vineyard.  Here are a few more pictures of the gorgeous grounds!

A fountain was recently installed as a memorial for the late owner of the vineyard, Harvey Shafer.

Another place we were hoping to check out was Bull Run Cider, but unfortunately they were closed when we were there on a Sunday.  We certainly have not even scratched the surface of vineyards in Oregon, but this was a great start.  If you are headed towards the Oregon Coast or looking for a day trip, definitely check these vineyards out!  And if you’re looking for more things to do on your way to the coast, don’t miss my full romantic getaway post!

So my boyfriend works for this great vacation rentals company called Vacasa Rentals.  You can rent amazing vacation homes, often for the same price (or less) as a hotel, but with a lot more space and privacy!  And if you’re a homeowner, Vacasa manages your property and takes care of housecleaning, so you can easily make some extra cash when you’re not using it!

Well, obviously since he works for a vacation rentals company, we wanted to utilize this great service and take a vacation ourselves!  So… Right before Halloween, Daniel took me to the Oregon Coast in Rockaway Beach, OR for a romantic getaway.  Lucky girl, right?!

We were super excited to finally see the coast, but we were also excited to make some stops along the way.  A friend of ours gave us the idea to stop and do some wine tasting, which was right up our alley.  When we used to live in LA our weekend getaway spot was Santa Barbara, and our favorite activity was bicycle wine tasting!  I had heard that Oregon had great wine and vineyards, but I had no idea HOW MANY!  Seriously, go to Google Maps and search “vineyards near Portland, OR” and then zoom out a bit… I was not expecting all of those red dots!  We stopped in Forest Grove because it was the closest to our route to Rockaway.  You can read about the vineyards we stopped at here.

Side note:  while on the way to the vineyards, I totally saw a sign for Roloff Farms!  Umm, has anyone else watched Little People, Big World?!  I used to watch that show when I was younger, and I maybe got a little too excited when I saw that…

Ahem, anyway, another stop we made on the way was at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  This is a must!  If you love all things dairy, this is heaven.  Read about what we did in Tillamook and the cheese factory here.

After our last stop we finished our journey to Rockaway, which is about 20-30 minutes away.   Read more »