It was a really beautiful weekend here in Portland.

I did some gardening, we took a little road trip out to Hood River, and we had ourselves a nice little picnic yesterday in Laurelhurst Park.

We hadn't been to Hood River in quite some time. It's a really nice little town about an hour East of Portland. It's become a beer lovers heaven over the past few years. Breweries dot every corner and several wineries have started to pop up there too. We ate at Double Mountain, which is one of my favorite breweries. We decided to head down to the water front area to watch people swimming, sailing and paddle board. This is also the area where I will be starting my 4th half marathon! I just signed up today and I'm really excited about it.

After walking back into town, we decided to head across the river to White Salmon, WA to check out Everybody's Brewery. The beers were really good and the view on the back patio was awesome. Sadly, I didn't take a photo because it was really crowded and it would have been kind of awkward asking people to move so I could take a photo of the view. But trust me, it was a great view.

Our picnic in Laurelhurst Park was pretty great too. We packed a little lunch of meats, cheeses, crackers and some wine. We ended up staying there for most of the day watching people and dogs and just enjoying the nice sunshine. Chloe had a blast too. She got to watch squirrels and play with her ball all day.

I was hoping she'd be tired today from all her exercise yesterday, but she's far from it. She's been running around wanting to play with her ball the minute she woke up.

Oh well. It's a very good thing that she has this much energy and life :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  

I'm so happy my poppies are blooming. Last year I only got one to bloom, the rest of the buds rotted out and fell off. I think I'm going to get even more of these beauties in the next few days.

It inspired me to make a new birthday card. My little nasturtiums were also an inspiration, although they haven't bloomed yet. 

I'm also re-working a holiday card from last year. I was never really happy with the colors, so I made another. I always feel so rushed when it comes to holiday cards, and I think it effects the outcome. I'm still not sure if I'm happy with the colors, but I'm moving on for right now. I have a few more card designs in mind, and at least one more holiday card I want to re-work.

I've been seeing a lot of photos from this years National Stationery Show and it's been really motivating. I'm not sure if I'll ever do it, but seeing the quality of work that is showcased there is really pushing me creatively. It's truly inspiring to see so many of my peers really excel at their game. It makes me want to be better at what I do.

I'm hoping to get my calendar done very soon and some more stickers printed and ready to go soon! I feel really excited and motivated and it feels really good.

I know it's a long weekend for most people. Try not to forget why it's a long weekend, folks. Hope everyone is safe and enjoys the extra day off! 

Crafty Wonderland was this last Saturday and it was another great success for me. I was really worried because the weather called for 70 degrees and sunny, and I didn't think anyone would want to be inside at all. We haven't had any nice weather up until this weekend and I was sure people would be spending the day outdoors playing in the sunshine.

I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout. It was a busy day and I did very well. I'm so lucky to live in a city where people are so supportive of local artists and crafters. I'm also really lucky to live in a city where Crafty exists. Cathy and Torie, the two forces behind it, do such a great job every year, twice a year!

The rest of the weekend was spent at the Oregon Human Society Pug Crawl and hiking in the Columbia River Gorge. Every year there is a themed Pug Crawl that benefits the OHS. This year the theme was Pugs on Broadway. Dream Girls was my favorite costume. There was, at one time, three pugs on the cart. The owners put peanut butter on the mics, so it looked like the dogs were singing. It won best in show, of course.