Eating Our Way Through Portland

Last weekend my husband and I were lucky enough to get away for a weekend with just the two of us. We went to Portland, Oregon for the first time and loved every minute of it. (Well, I guess we didn't love the football game we went to where Arizona lost to Oregon 49-0, but it was still fun.)

One of our favorite things to do when we travel is find good places to eat. We certainly did our share of eating during our 4 day vacation. The key is to share things and order portions as small as possible so that you will still be hungry when another delicious food opportunity presents itself. Our favorite way to find new places is to use Yelp. It hasn't led us astray yet.

Of course, not only do we enjoy eating the food, but we like to take pictures of it too. Luckily, my husband loves taking pictures as much as I do, so we always have a nice collection of photos once we return home from vacations.

Here are our favorite food finds from the trip:

Pine State Biscuits - Fresh biscuit sandwiches piled high with fried chicken, eggs and lots of other topping options. We found this place while we were out looking at some shops. There was a long line out the door, so we consulted Yelp to discover that this is a 4 1/2 star place that we must try.

Cacao - Spiced Dark Hot Chocolate. Need I say more? You can also get a shot glass of super dark chocolate. May have to try that if we go back.

Grilled Cheese Grill - This place cooked up one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I've ever had. I tried the BABS (Bacon, thinly sliced apples, crumbled bleu cheese and swiss on rye.) Of course, we ordered tomato soup to go with it. The coolest thing about this place is that you get to eat on an old school bus.

Thai Food Truck - Sorry, I don't have a link to this one, but Portland has over 600 food trucks and it seems like at least 1/3 served Thai food, so if you visit Portland I'm sure you'll find something good.

Salt & Straw - Homemade ice cream with amazing flavors. I had the salted carmel and really wanted to back the next day for more.

Thankfully we did a lot of walking so I'm hoping we didn't do too much food damage. 

Did you see that the October Scrapbook Circle Kit, New Flash, went live today?  Loving the pretty colors and embellishments in this kit.

Hope you have an enjoyable weekend! We don't have any set plans for tonight which sounds perfect to me. We'll probably pick up some dinner and relax at home.

Layout Supplies /// News Flash Kit /// Bulletin Add-on /// Happening Now Add-on

Right Now

Right Now...

My view right now

Planning two birthday parties, a trip to New York and my daughter's baptism.

Packing up Scrapbook Circle design team kits to ship off today. (Impatiently) waiting for a UPS delivery to arrive so I can finish packing the kits.

Eating pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with browned butter frosting.

Going to my Pinterest group for a potluck lunch today. Taking the above mentioned cookies to the lunch.

Watching and supporting my husband as he works so hard and excels in so many areas. Work, church, teaching @ ASU. He is such a great example of determination and commitment. I love him so much.


Thinking I need to put more time into cultivating friendships with people around me. Sometimes I'm so busy at home, I don't make time to reach out to others as I would like to.

Wanting to create a mini album to document the weekend trip Ward and I just took to Portland. I collected lots of brochures, tickets, maps and photos and want to have it all in one place.

Reading Crossed which is the sequel to Matched. Audrey really wanted me to read this series because she loved it and I like to try and keep up with some of the books she is reading. I'm also working on reading my scriptures everyday.

Looking forward to fall weather. Even though it's still over 100 degrees here most days, the mornings and evenings are cooling off. We will survive this summer's heat!

Driving my kids all over the place today. Chess club, soccer, school dance, choir. All good things, it's just too bad they are all on Thursday.

Excited about going to the lake this weekend and learning how to wake board. One thing I've learned for sure it that it is not as easy as it looks!

Wondering if my kids will ever pick up their dirty socks from the family room floor without me asking them to do it. Someday I will miss this and I remind myself to try and not get too annoyed.

Making our leftover baked chicken parmesan from last night into sandwiches for dinner tonight.


Thanks to Ali Edwards for the inspiration for this post.

Order the Rosa

If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I love to take pictures of food. It's probably because I love good food and the pictures help me enjoy the deliciousness of the food just a bit longer. One of my favorite Phoenix restaurants is Pizzaria Bianco. Not only is the food so flavorful, it is also pretty to look at.

If you are ever in Phoenix, your should go here and order the Rosa pizza. You won't be sorry. Maybe even call me up and invite me to join you! 

Tip: Go on a weekday for lunch and you most likely won't wait for a table. Weekends for dinner can be a 2+ hour wait!

Yes, this is the second layout I've done about Pizzaria Bianco. You can checkout my first layout here.

Project Life: July 22 - 28

Yes, I'm slowly, but surely plugging along on my Project Life album. I'm focusing on keeping it simple so that when I have time to work on it, I can make a lot of progress.  Here are the pages from the last full week of July.

I'm noticing that I take a lot of pictures of food. I wonder what that means?  I'm pretty sure it means that eating could be one of my hobbies!

First day of school pictures /// enchiladas for dinner /// Buckeyes for dessert

Hannah + her friend enjoying the sunshine /// salted caramel cheesecake /// Amazon order /// braces /// breakfast for dinner /// relaxing at night

Another week documented!  I really do love looking back through the album and seeing it as a cool compilation of our year.

I Love This Girl

A month or so ago I picked up the Bella Blvd Birthday Girl collection pack and thought it would be nice to have it on hand of birthday cards and projects. When I saw this heart patterned background though, I knew it would be perfect for these sweet photos of my niece. Isn't she adorable? She has the best smile. It just lights up her face.

I took these photos over spring break while my family visited my sister's family in North Carolina. They live only an hour from the beach and we got to spend one day of our vacation playing together.

It's late now and I'd better get to bed. My husband and I are flying to Portland bright and early in the morning. We're celebrating my birthday and going to an Arizona vs. Oregon football game. Looking forward to a quick trip away. Thankfully we live near a lot of family who are willing to take turns staying with our kids. We've never been to Oregon, so we're looking forward to exploring a new place.

I'll be posting my weekend adventure on Instagram (lisaandrewsaz), so stop by and say hi if you have an account!

Stand Up Paddle Boarding

Have you ever been stand up paddle boarding?  I went out on one for the first time this summer while we were visiting Lake Tahoe. My sister Kristen and I decided that it would be a fun new adventure and we rented SUPs while others rented kayaks.

I thought that it would be hard to balance, but it was really easy and neither of us fell in the water on our two hour ride. We has fun paddling around the lake and even jumped in the cold water a few times to cool off.

One of my favorite things about visiting Lake Tahoe was that we were out everyday doing something fun that counted as exercise. We kayaked, rafted and walked a lot. Can't wait to go back to Tahoe again someday to enjoy the beautiful water and cool summer days!

Layout supplies /// Talk of the Town Kit /// Say It Like It Is Kit

Flat Sonoran Enchiladas

Today I want to share one of our long time favorite family recipes with you: Flat Sonoran Style Enchiladas.

I've been enjoying these flat enchiladas since I was a kid. They were called "dad's enchiladas" when I was going up because it was one of my dad's specialty dishes. He didn't cook a lot , but this was something that he had mastered. He learned the recipe from his mom who grew up in Mexico. They like to top these enchiladas with a fried egg in Mexico, but that didn't carry over to how we make them.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (I've also subbed ground turkey at times)
2 cans (28 ounces each) tomato sauce
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
Grated Cheese
Corn Tortillas - you will need 2-3 tortillas per person
2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1/2 tsp. Cumin
Oil for frying

Optional Toppings:
Sour Cream
Diced Green Onions
Sliced Olives
Avocado

1. Brown the meat in a sauce pan.

2. Once meat it cooked, add tomato sauce and tomato paste to the meat.  Season with spices (adjust amounts to your liking.)

3. Allow sauce to simmer for about 30 minutes so that the flavors can really mix. You may need to add a little water if the sauce gets too thick.

4. When you are ready to eat, it's time for the enchilada assembly. Each serving of enchiladas is built on each person's dinner plate. Be sure to have everything ready because assembly goes quickly.

5. Heat up some canola oil. Once it is hot enough to fry tortillas, quickly dip a tortilla in the oil to soften it up and then put it in the enchilada sauce.

6. Coat the tortilla with sauce and then place on a plate. Add a spoonful of sauce on top of the tortilla. Add some grated cheese.

7. Repeat with as many layers of enchiladas that you would like. We usually do 2 layers.

8.  Top with any optional toppings.

That's it! Let me know if you give these a try.

I Love My Sisters

Did you know there is a national sisters day? It's the first Sunday in August. I didn't know about the day until I saw someone post a sister picture on Instagram last month.

We were at my parents' house that night and my mom pulled out a picture of my sisters and I from when we were little. I snapped a picture of the sisters picture with my phone and have it on a layout today.  Can you tell which of the girls is me?

Now the four of us live in three different states and don't get to spend a lot of time together, but I still feel close and love it when we are all together.

Just for fun, here's a look at what my sisters and I look like today. (Plus we've added a baby brother who is 10 years younger than me to the group.)

Hope you have a great Sunday relaxing with your family!

Layout Supplies /// Scrapbook Circle Talk of the Town Kit

Project Life: July 15 - 21

Went I starting working on the Project Life spread for the week of July 15th, I realized that I'd only taken a handful of pictures that week. It was the week I got braces and had a tooth extraction, so I was feeling pretty awful and just didn't pick up the camera very often.

Since I was low on pictures, I had to get creative with ways to fill the space. One idea I came up with was to take a screenshot of a texting conversation that I had with my husband. I also added a a biz card from the periodontist and a movie stub. Plus I included the instruction sheet from the orthodontist about what I shouldn't eat.

We did some back to school shopping this week and since school was on the brain, I added in emails for our elementary kids' teacher placement. Luckily I had a few photos to fill in the rest of the space.

I also added insert with Audrey's junior high schedule and a map of her new school. (Just not including it here to keep it private.)

I was really happy with how the pages turned out especially since I was low on photos. Another week is complete!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello, Cupcake

Today on the Scrapbook Circle blog, one of our blog coordinators, Diana, is sharing a great sketch for the monthly blog challenge.

Here's my take on the sketch:

First of all, doesn't that picture make you really crave a cupcake?  I'm not usually a big cupcake fan, but my sister, Michelle, discovered a place called Ollie Cake in Phoenix through the show Cupcake Wars on the Food Network that has fabulous cupcakes. The cake is moist + the frosting is delicious.

My mom, Michelle and I went to Ollie Cake the week they were featuring the four cupcake flavors they used when they won Cupcake Wars last month. The flavors were a little unusual, but that was part of what made the experience so fun. They had a tomato soup and grilled cheese cupcake that it was sweet like carrot cake. There was also a rosewater cupcake which I wasn't very excited about ordering because it didn't sound very tasty, but it ended up being my favorite flavor. There was also a corn cake with a berry compote topping and a chocolate/orange cupcake. I've only been once, but I need to go again soon!

The Scrapbook Circle Talk of the Town kit was a lot of fun to use when creating this page. I loved how all of the colors and patterns worked together.  Don't forget to stop by the Scrapbook Circle blog to find out the details on the sketch challenge.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

First Day on Our Boat

A couple of months ago my husband was at his computer and told me his friend Dave had emailed him a bunch of links to boats. I thought that was a bit odd since my husband doesn't really know anything about boats. Apparently, the two guys were scheming to buy a boat together. Sounded good to me!

It took some time to find a used boat that they both liked, but it was worth the wait because we now have a great used boat that we share with our friends. Now I just need to learn how to wake board or surf or something behind the boat that this more interesting than riding in a tube.

All of the photos were taken with my phone and they aren't as sharp as I'd like. I think I'll take out the SLR camera on our next boat outing and try to get some better pictures. Since the photos are printed small, I think the phone photos still work for the page.

I used the Talk of the Town Scrapbook Circle kit + Say It Like It Is add-on for this page. I'm loving the patters and colors in this kit!

Party + Sand Dunes

A couple of months ago my siblings and I threw a surprise 40th anniversary party for our parents. We has so much fun planning the party and we were rewarded with completely surprising our parents at the party. I have tons of pictures from that night and I've finally printed off a few of the pictures for a layout.

These Glitz Design papers were perfect for my page. I love the bright, cheery and party feel from the Pretty in Pink line. It's perfect for documenting a celebration!

For a little added dimension on the page, I sewed some tulle to the page and then sewed the photos on top of the tulle.

For my second layout today, I have a page documenting a visit to Jockey's Ridge Sand Dunes while we were visiting my sister and North Carolina. I've been want to use the arm/heart picture for a while and I was happy to use it on this page.

I mixed several different Glitz Designs line on this page. I love how their different lines can coordinate so well. For now, I only have the Cashmere Dame 6 X 6 Paper Pad, but I really wanted to use this line on my page. I used smaller pieces of the paper in little groupings around the page since I didn't have any big pieces of paper.

The hexagons were leftover from a layout I did a few months ago, but I held onto the little hexagons because I knew they would eventually be put to good use.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Anniversary Party Supplies
Glitz Designs "Pretty in Pink" Patterned Paper: Stripe, Polka, Ledger
Glitz Designs "Pretty in Pink" 6X6 Paper Pad
Glitz Designs Pink Woodgrain Alpha
Glitz Designs "French Kiss" Layered Stickers
Glitz Designs "Pretty in Pink" Paper Layers
Glitz Designs "Pretty in Pink" Epoxy Stickers
Glitz Designs "Pretty in Pink" Peek a Boo Transparency
Glitz Designs "Dance in the Sunshine" Tulle

Jockey's Ridge Supplies
Glitz Designs "Happy Travels" Patterned Paper: Polka, Bicycle, Stripe
Glitz Designs "French Kiss" Patterned Paper: Floral
Glitz Designs "Cashmere Dame" 6X6 Paper Pad
Glitz Designs "Happy Travels" Giant Rhinestones
Glitz Designs "Happy Travels" Title Cardstock Stickers
Glitz Designs "Happy Travels" Layered Stickers

Project Life: July 8 - 15

In July, our family was lucky enough to attend a family reunion at Lake Tahoe. This was a perfect vacation destination. The five of us headed up to Tahoe a few days before the reunion and put in a lot of play time before the rest of the family arrived.

Although I've done a few layouts with Tahoe photos, I also wanted to document our week in our Project Life album.  Here's a look of the spread from our vacation week.

The Tahoe water is so beautiful and blue and I wanted that color to shine on this spread. I focused on a lot of photos with the water.

I kept the use of embellishments really simple this week so the focus would be on the photos + words.  There are a few kayaking photos because we rented kayaks three different times during the week. It was so great being out on the water. We also met up with some friends from AZ for a day since we were both at the lake the same day. One day we went to the beach and actually swam around in the cold water. The water is so clear that you can see down to the bottom when the water is really deep.

While we were there, my husband, sisters, brother and dad all went parasailing. It really was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to go with all of them. I thought it might be terrifying, but it felt totally safe and we loved the views from way up above the water. We also did some rafting, boating and mini golfing that week. 

The final two days of the vacation were spent at our family reunion. I used an insert for those photos which included the name tags we wore that designated which part of the family we were from.

One of my favorite parts of the reunion was seeing my kids getting to know my cousins' kids.  The kids were a little shy at first, but then they warmed up and really had so much fun together. We had a great time being with our family.

I'm happy to have another week in 2012 documented and on the books!