tailgate envy

there are days where I seriously wish i had more free time on my hands. actually, more like everyday i wish i had more free time. but i do wish i had more time to bake little treats and cute little football shaped things for tailgating purposes. my obsession with tailgating is pretty recent. I wasn't really ever able to tailgate until last year. And i should have known I would become obsessed with it. It is just another form of entertaining. Now that I am into tailgating I have started to realize how many amazing tailgating items are out there. Being a total and complete Oregon State fan it is obvious that everything must be orange and black. That is just a given. My collection of tailgating materials and goodies is slowly growing. But there are some truly amazing tailgating accessories out there. From great canopies, games, and fun pop up bars. Needless to say, i have a bit of tailgate envy. Someday right? Here are just a few things I would die for this tailgating season! 

you have to look the part for these things. so i obviously need to get a jersey 

how awesome is this galvanized tailgate tub with a bottle opener attach?!

i am loving this cube cooler with stand. functional and obviously sporting the orange and black

every tailgate obviously needs a bar. no explanation required  

the 1st thing on my tailgating must purchase asap list is a canopy. I am borrowing one for our tailgates at the moment but desperately need to just purchase my own. 

i love football season. and i love tailgating. already getting excited for next weeks home game! 

Hope everyone has a simply spirited thursday! 

giant jenga

two words. Giant Jenga. how freaking amazing is this thing? this last weekend we went to visit my roomies family and one night we ventured out to a local bar and guess what they had?! Yep! you guessed it! A GIANT JENGA game! we obviously had to play. not going to lie it got a little intense. my bestie is a BIT competitive so of course she was making things as difficult as possible. but it was a fun way to spend the evening. I am pretty sure someday i am going to need one of these things. i always loved playing Jenga growing up so obviously i would love the giant version. And to be honest this would be a great DIY project someday. I think I may have even seen something floating around pinterst about it.

sometimes it's nice to pretend we are still kids and playing fun little games.

never to old for games right? 

hope everyone has a simply fantastic thursday! 

15.

this past year i had a couple big milestone family birthdays that had me going through old family pictures. so many pictures and so many memories. Some I don't even remember, but i love going through them. I love that my grandma had put together an album with pictures of my dad growing up and him is a kid and old football newspaper articles with him featured. i even found his old year books from high school and i loved going through and reading all the messages that people had written to him. So many words of encouragement and love for him. it's weird but it brings me comfort to see all those messages. it also makes me feel kinda closer to him in some way. as of yesterday it has been 15 years since he has passed. 15 years and there are times where it seems like it has been a lifetime and times where it seems like yesterday. as usual it's a time for reflection and a time to remember and as i sat and went through old pictures last night i couldn't help of feel proud of the man he was. he was able to do so much in the time he was here. He lived a full and honorable life. Someone to be proud and someone I am proud to call my dad.

hope everyone has a simply memorable monday. 

it's Friday?

I honestly have no idea where the heck this week went. Actually, I do. Work, work, and more work. Students are back on campus and this week has been jam packed of orientation activities and countless other things. Somehow we are now back at Friday and all my grand blog ideas for the week will i guess have to wait until next week. Or maybe I should just get better about planning these things. Regardless today seemed like the perfect day for some blanks. Make sure you link up yourself at The Little Things We Do!

1. Something I am very proud of is: well my business seems like the obvious answer, but it is true. I am quite proud of what I've been able to do over the last couple of years.

2. My favorite things about myself is: my ability to make others feel welcome. I try really hard to make sure that the students that come through the office feel welcome, that the people who come through my home feel taken care of. 

3. My favorite fall color is: mustard yellow, charcoal grey and I am loving all the burgundy out there right now. 

4. Something I've been learning lately is: patience. i am a planner and sometimes most of the time life doesn't care what you would like your timeline to look like. However, usually it all turns out for the better. 

5. A book I am reading now/have read recently is: Thin is the new happy by Valerie Frankel. It is  a memoir about a women who battled body image issues her whole life and how she pretty much stopped buying into this whole world wide concept of thin equals happy. Quite eye opening and a great perspective on things. 

6. My favorite Pandora Station is: ...I am more of a Spotify girl but the 90's radio station is always a great trip down memory lane! 

7. This weekend I will: be heading to my roomies hometown for some family fun. kinda nice having my best friend and roomie dating. Means i get to hangout with both of them :) 

Hope everyone has a simply great weekend! 

wedding video wednesday!!

Moetic Wedding Films does it again! i fell in love with this weeks video for two reasons. 1. Betsy and Ryan are a freaking adorable couple (kinda wish i knew them in real life), and 2. i loved the song they used in this film. the perfect music is so important, and frankly you when you are obsessed with wedding videos like I am you tend to hear some of the same songs over and over, but i had never heard Live Forever by Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors before and I am now obsessed with it. Hope you enjoy it!

Have a simply marvelous Wedding Wednesday! 

http://moeticweddingfilms.com/2012/08/betsy-ryan-wedding-film-hopewell-or/

Betsy + Ryan // Wedding Film | Hopewell, OR

Posted on 22. Aug, 2012 by Ryan Rossman in Moetic Wedding Films, Portland Wedding Video, Viewing Room, Wedding Films

dream job

Growing up you always have these grand ideas of what you want to be when you grow up. some of us will take those and run with them, and some will get to college and realize that maybe thats not the exact path they want to go. some of us will go on for further schooling, becoming the next doctors, astronauts, or pharmacists. and some of us will take the path less taken and maybe choose not to pursue things in the exact pathway our world tells us we should. 

When I was younger I thought I would be a doctor, and cure cancer. But I knew by middle school that  my interest, or lack there of, in science and math were not enough to get me through that career choice. When I hit high school I became very involved in the business department of my high school. I felt at home with the computers, web design, and leading. It was then I decided that I would someday own my own business. What that business would be was the real question. But it just seemed like the right fit for me. 

As I headed off to college it was obvious that I would major in business. This was my calling. I would own a business. The fall of my freshman year my mom got engaged and this is when I had my Aha moment, as Oprah would call it. Weddings. Her wedding was the first time I realized that all the things I enjoyed doing had a job title. Event coordinator became my next aspiration. I would plan grand events and weddings and make others peoples dreams come true. Now if they only had a major for event coordination. Schooling has never been easy for me. I am the girl who will study and study and still not do very well. I wanted to work more then I ever wanted to go to school. School for 4 hours or work for 8? I would choose work in a heartbeat.

My decision to take some time away from school was nothing but easy. It was a decision that I went back and forth on about a million and one times. I decided to switch majors and try something different  and give it another year before i really decided that this is what i wanted to do. I thankfully have the most supportive mother who was behind what ever decision i would make no matter what. Not many people can say that. Espeically when it was a decision regarding education.

Thankfully I was able to find a job event coordinating in Salem. This is what I wanted to do! It felt so right and it was at that time. I learned so much working as event coordinator for a facility. I learned about catering, and contracts, what I wanted my business to look like someday and more importantly what i didn't want it to look like. After a year there it was time to reevaluate. I was commuting and my hours were never guarenteed and the reality was that this wasn't a financially smart decision.

I then ended up with a job for the university. It was a relief to have some stability, and benefits. Things that don't seem that important when you are young but you realize are huge considerations when job searching. Having a stable job allowed me to start pursuing what my true passion was. I had a great friend and business partner who worked with me in putting on Dinner Parties. Not just any dinner party. We would come into your home and prepare and cook the meal there, and bring in everything to make a successful and memorable evening. Flowers, stemware, tableware, linens, the whole nine yards. And thanks to some connections we were able to even start doing some dinners for one of the deans on campus. I am truly blessed to be able to do what I am doing. I have a stable job that supports me and understanding coworkers who also support what I do outside of work. I am pursing a dream that I have had for years. And I know it will take many more to get where I really want to be. But I'm slowly but surly getting there. My non traditional route is risky and I am so aware that things would be a bit easier with a piece of paper saying I have a degree. But this was a decision I had to make for me. And right now I am perfectly content in it. I think this little saying is so true, "Your Dream job does not exist. You must create it." Has never been so true for what I want to do. And everyday I am trying to create it.

Hope you have a simply thoughtful Tuesday. 

instagram life update

wow...i have no idea where this summer has even gone. all of the sudden we are nearing mid September and this weather today is reminding us all of what is to come for us Oregonians. Here I thought I might have a couple weeks of down time before things got busy again but that didn't exactly happen. So here are some instagram life moments from the last couple weeks. I guess i'll find time to relax come November...or December...i hope.

now that i live with two boys i was told to pick an NFL team...of course the NFL site has games that you can play to determine what team you should cheer for. These were the top three picks for me.
Apparently I am going with the Chargers! 

found a great new pair of nude heels! 

finally got to have a fun night out 

found this adorable Fairy Cupcake Kit

HAD to get my niece and nephew into some Oregon State gear! 

made Chocolate Peanut butter cupcakes for my niece!
(that "cookie" on top is actually frosting...i know...amazing!) 

iphone photo shoot with little miss Ovidah 

its finally TAILGATING SEASON!!! 

and GUESS who won against Wisconsin!!! WE DID! 

Had an amazing day with the roomies! Was a great way to start of the season!
Go Beavs! 

finally made it into starbucks for the amazing pumpkin spice. i love this time of year 

it's been busy but i do have to admit that there has been plenty of fun going on as well! 

enjoying this last bit of summer. before you know it the students will be back and school will start and the most hectic time of year at the office will begin...wait...it already has begun. 

Hope everyone has a simply wonderful Monday!