Christmas/Engagement Photoshoot

Ry and I have been engaged for about a year (gees! how times flies!) and we have never taken any photos or done any sort of "official" announcement so when I bought this awesome Groupon for our Christmas cards, I thought what a great time to kill two birds with one stone. On the day of our shoot, it turned out to be beautiful so we just wandered around the Pearl District looking for fun places to pose. We had never really taken pictures together before, besides one here and there, so it was totally awkward at first. Mal was nice enough to be our photographer and she did an amazing job! Thanks, Mal!

Anyways- Here are some of my favorites:

This is one of the first photos. We honestly didn't know what to do!

Same with this one...a little awkward but getting better.

Trying to be serious...but not really.

All that awkwardness for this one. THE Christmas card photo.

Ry insisted we take a photo by the totem pole.

On our way home we took one final photo. Pretty cute, I'd say.

Wine Tasting in Wenatchee

In about a month, Ry and I will be driving to Massachusetts.  Before things got crazy, we wanted to do one last rendezvous. I decided to try Groupon Getaways and see what they had to offer. Ry loves wine tasting so I bought a deal that included wine tasting at 20 wineries in Central Washington. I looked up Wenatchee, WA and found that it's about 5 hours away from Portland. It was perfect, not too far and not too close. We left super early the day after Thanksgiving (no shopping for us!) and managed to pack in 10 wine tastings. We stumbled upon Leavenworth, WA and were shocked to find a completely German themed city. It was so much fun to check out but also SO random. After all of the wine tastings on Friday we were much more assertive on Saturday about what we liked and what we didn't like. My all time favorite was one that had no alcohol at all. It was an amazing lavender apple cider from a local family in Wenatchee. I know it sounds odd, but it was seriously so good. You should try it!

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Day 1: Leavenworth, WA

I wish it wasn't rainy so I could have taken more pictures but this is from their main Christmas Village. Totally Awesome!

 Day 2: Wenatchee, WA

One winery still had a few grapes on the vines!

Lucky us! This weekend was barrel tasting weekend!

There are so many wines...I had no idea.

 Day 3: Wenatchee, WA + Driving Home

Artsy photo of the downtown area.

So much sun! I love it!

There was frost/snow on the ground! Very exciting!

Foot sculpture in the garden...it was very accurate with veins and all!

Other pretty cool sculpture.

Beautiful sunset driving into Portland. It was a great way to end a great weekend!

A little about me...

I'm 24 years old and live in Portland, Oregon with my gorgeous fiance. My ultimate goal-other than being a great friend, wife and mother- is to become a physician assistant. I get to start fulfilling my goal in less than two months when I start PA school in Massachusetts. Everyone asks- why Massachusetts? Well, it wasn't exactly easy to decide on considering I knew I would have to leave Oregon but for the first time, I was ready for a totally new adventure. My future mother-in-law grew up in Massachusetts so I have a lot of family out there and I thought if you have to go somewhere, Massachusetts isn't too shabby. They have distinct seasons...less rain...more snow...lots more to do. I mean really, I feel like I can't go wrong.

Anyways, enough about moving, I want to take a minute to show you some of the amazing people in my life:

This is my wonderful fiance.

This is Mal and I. We have been best friends since we were five. She is an amazing person and I miss her very much because she is currently living in Peru!

This is my very best friend Michelle and her little girl, Ellie.

This is Michelle, her husband and her baby girl, Olivia.

Last but not least, these are my amazing parents and my future in-laws who are also pretty darn amazing.

I'm a pretty lucky gal. I've had an amazing time here in Portland and I've absolutely loved growing up in Oregon. But, it's time to spread my wings and see what the world has to offer!