The Weekend Blate

I'm positive that I've never crammed as much awesome into my weekend as I did over the past 5 days that Melissa was in Portland. 

Not only did I get to meet this beautiful and confident lady in the flesh, Brooke and I were able to show her some of the "greatest hits" that the Portland Metro area has to offer. She's got the cutest Canadian accent and we enjoyed pointing out how it was even more obvious when she'd get excited. Trust me, there was tons to get excited about.

Food, scenery, girl chats, good music, wine, meat(!!!). Such a packed weekend that I don't even know how to recap it all.

Let's list some of the yummy places that took my moneys this weekend. So many meat sweats I can't even count them all.

- Casa Del Matador

- Smokehouse 21

- McMenamins Blue Moon

- Tilt

- Willamette (rhymes with "Damn it") Valley Vineyard

- Stoller Family Estate

- Red Hills Market

- McMenamins Edgefield

- Deschutes Brewery Portland

Each day was something differently epic. Wine tasting, hiking and taking advantage of the beautiful things I sometimes take for granted in this city I live in. I know the song is "Don't go chasing waterfalls" but why?! They are beautiful, I want to chase them all!

On Melissa's first night she even got to see the unicycling bagpipe playing Darth Vader ride by while all of the Portlanders looked at him and immediately went back to what they were doing without taking a second look. #KeepPortlandWeird

Maybe the biggest win was that Melissa realized how not-normal Brooke and I actually are. Surprisingly she seemed to be okay with that!

Blate weekends rock. Can't wait to see you again, Melissa!!

Wednesday Mix

Following through with my February goal #7 I have been showing some love to other bloggers in the community. I've made great efforts despite a busy schedule to leave positive and supportive comments on what others are writing and hopefully making them feel good about what they've shared with the world. Today I'm going to share three posts that I've read over and over the past week because I think they are really great and that you'd benefit from reading as well!

But first, watch this. I thought this song was past it's time but only a few seconds in I couldn't help dancing along with this little girl:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjd2wFWDubc&w=560&h=315]

Let's get started!

1. Run to The Finish: Clean Eating Breakfast Ideas

I'm participating in the February Clean Eating Breakfast Challenge (and you can too!) and have enjoyed the supplementary details Amanda has been including on her blog. Key focus points are eating breakfast (or at least something!) within the first 30 minutes of waking, adding veggies into my morning mix and  remembering to drink water in excess of / in addition to my pot cup of coffee.

In this post she shares 15 clean breakfast ideas (wow!) ranging from smoothies, scrambles, oatmeal and pancakes!

2. The Lean Green Bean: How to Prep Food on the Weekend

If you think I'm organized, check out Lindsay. I'm a new follower and was instantly impressed by her organization and that she knows her stuff. She's studying to become a registered dietitian so you know she's got tricks straight from the book. She shares my thoughts that the best way to eat healthy is to be prepared and she proves that in her post about food prep. She definitely has more variety than I've been getting in my own kitchen and I look forward to using some of her pro tips in my own life.

3. The Shine Project: The 7 Secrets of Genuinely Happy People

Of all of the blogs I've read, Ashley is one of the most positive and inspirational writers in the community. She's constantly sharing ways on how to be a better you, how to support the ones you love, how to make a difference in the world and how to leave your mark.  In this post she shares 7 secrets (oops, they're out!) of genuinely happy people. Click through and see why you should start practicing some of these tips to make a change not only in your life, but in the lives of friends and strangers in the world around you.

Plus, she makes some beautiful jewelry that I just need to pull the trigger on already.

I hope you got as much worth out of these reads as I feel that I have - and I'm especially happy that now these links forever live on my blog and won't get lost in my bookmark maze.

<3 JE