Sweater Weather

It's mid-June, but here in Washington it's still solidly in sweater-weather territory. Yesterday we had a rare day of sun and we took full advantage of it by having a super fun, all day long barbecue in our backyard. We had burgers and watermelon and homemade potato salad and beer and brats and a campfire and chocolate chip cookies... and it was awesome. It was our first backyard barbecue of the year and what a great way to break in our backyard. For such a tiny house (a mere 440 sq/ft), we've got a really amazing backyard that fits the Winne and still has a ton of room for hanging out. We laid out blankets and had the grill going all afternoon and into the night. We got a little fire pit as a wedding present and so far it's only been an ashy bird bath because the rain just fills it up, but we finally got to put it to good use warming us up as the night got a bit chilly. One of my all-time favorite activities is starting and tending a campfire. I love stoking and prodding and rearranging a fire until it's perfectly burning, and then waiting until it needs to be prodded and rearranged again.

dress/modcloth :: top/courtesy of alainn bella :: cardigan/anthropologie

necklace/courtesy of Jewelmint :: bag/courtesy of handbag heaven

shoes/courtesy of minnetonka :: tights/target

brooch/courtesy of stoic & pariah :: headscarf/vintage (my grandmother's)

This little brooch is from Stoic & Pariah and I absolutely love it. Every time I see it I'm reminded of Kaylah from The Dainty Squid. Stoic & Pariah has so many adorable little brooches I couldn't decide which to get! The Mount Rainier one is so awesome, but then again so is the record player one and the log-lady one (yeah, Twin Peaks)! I may have to get another one because they're all so Northwest-y and cute.

Lately I've been inspired by Megan Draper's cute scarf hair-do, and so I gave it a shot. I have a couple long vintage scarves that I got from my grandma and they're perfect for it. I always get square scarves, but I love how these long rectangle scarves are so long that you can tie them around your hair and have the tails come over your shoulder. I think I'll keep my eye out at thrift stores now for these long scarves!

Rambling On

I've been thinking a lot lately. More than usual, I think. I recently read Amy's post about figuring out life at 25, letting go of the rat race, and embracing the moment. Her thoughts echoed so many of my own at this time in my life. I feel like up until graduating college I had a distinct goal in mind (finishing each year of school, graduating high school and getting good grades to go to college, graduating college...), and even the Winne trip was a goal I worked towards, but now I don't know where to go or what to do. Everything seems so nebulous. I feel like my options are both endless and extremely limited... at the same time. Which is frustrating and confusing. Dan has two years left of undergrad left to complete and we're struggling with figuring out a way to do it without being loaded with debt by the end. Both of us are extremely anti-debt, and even though school is a worthy cause for getting into debt, it's still painful to think about graduating with so much debt before even going into a masters program. I think for a lot of people the concept of having debt is normal, especially when it comes to school, but for both me and Dan it makes our stomachs turn.

So there's that. And then we have this feeling of wanting to enjoy this time in our lives. To get out and travel and go on adventures before grad school or kids tie us down. And then there's the completely opposite idea of putting some roots down in Tacoma, if Dan is going to end up going to school here, and maybe trying to buy a house, instead of throwing away money on rent every month. Or somehow figuring out how to live in the Brave. For now, though we're here in our house until the end of summer, so we don't have to figure anything out for at least a couple months.

And in my own life, I'm really struggling with my job. I knew going into it that it was a bit of a gamble as I'd never done anything like it before, but I had hoped that I'd settle in and it would feel right. Unfortunately, this has not happened. I hate being a "quitter" though, and will sometimes end up sticking with something longer than I should just because I don't want to feel as though I've "failed". I frankly don't know what to do, and my tendency when I don't know what to do is to not do anything. So I'm doing nothing. I'm thankful to have a job at all, though, and that Dan has been able to find work as well.

This paragraph from Amy's post pretty much sums up a lot of things I've felt recently:

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how I got where I ended up. I'm 25, which gives me this weird feeling of reflection and an intense need to say...wtf? What is my life right now? I feel like I've let young, scrappy Amy so full of ambition and hope down. Do most 20-somethings feel this way? I spent the last decade worrying about my future. Middle school was all about getting ahead in high school, high school was all about working hard to get ahead in college and get scholarships, college was all about studying and writing my guts out to get a good job, and now here I am. 4 years on the workforce with not a whole lot to show for it.

Oh, Amy, I don't know if most 20-somethings feel that way, but I sure do.

Honey Nutmeg Cinnamon Facial Mask

I was browsing Pinterest the other night when I ran across this face mask recipe from College Fashion.  I'm no skin care guru by any stretch of the imagination and I literally cannot remember the last time I put a mask on my face, but I had all the ingredients and it sounded fun at the time, so I went for it!  Apparently nutmeg and honey can reduce swelling and redness in your skin, as well as soothe acne scars and prevent infection.  Who knew!  I just know that cinnamon, honey and nutmeg taste pretty good, and I enjoyed the smell following me around for the 30 minutes I had this mask on.  The nutmeg and cinnamon felt really nice when I was taking the mask off, too.  It was almost like a mask + exfoliating scrub in one.

What you'll need:

1 tbs honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

The original recipe was double this, but I found I only used half of it to cover my entire face.  Mix everything together into a thick paste and then apply away!  Let it sit for 30 minutes and then wash it off with warm water while scrubbing gently in circles, to exfoliate.  Before you slather it on your face, make sure your skin isn't going to have an adverse reaction to the ingredients by testing the mask on a patch of sensitive skin, like your inner wrist.

Like I said, I'm not much of a skin care guru or anything (my face-washing routine is... uh, nonexistent), but this was pretty fun.  I have a hair mask recipe I've been wanting to try for months, so maybe that'll be my next adventure in homemade skin/hair care!  Do you guys have any favorite homemade face or hair masks that you enjoy using?

Bike Style // Vintage Cyclists

I adore photos of vintage cyclists.  It combines two of my favorite things: vintage style and bikes!  Not only are all these women so stylin', but they've got some seriously cute bikes as well!  I'm really excited that contemporary bike manufacturers like Public are making bikes these days with the look and feel of these vintage beauties.  I love the cues that last bike has taken from 50's cars with that fancy back fender!
I really love the look of high waisted shorts and a blouse that quite a few of these girls are sporting.  It's such a chic, yet casual and bike friendly look.  I've yet to find the perfect pair of high waisted shorts this summer.  A good pair of shorts, it seems, is even harder to find than a good pair of jeans.  Hopefully I can get a pair of comfy high waisted shorts so I can replicate some of these outfits!  I love all of these classic, casual, summery looks.

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

Salmon Burgers

A couple weeks ago when Dan & I were at the store I spotted some canned salmon that had a salmon burger recipe on the can and impulsively bought it when I realized I had pretty much all of the ingredients.  Growing up in Alaska, I used to love salmon burgers but I've never made them myself.  This recipe probably isn't the best recipe, but the burgers were all right.  Dan loved them!  They didn't seem to stick together super well so I threw some parmesan cheese on top to try and create a binder to keep them from breaking when I flipped them.  Whenever I make burgers I like to saute some mushrooms and caramelize onions to go with.  We also threw some barbecue sauce on our burgers.  Barbecue sauce makes everything better, in my book.  I really want to look up some more salmon burger recipes to see what fancy things people have come up with, as I'm sure there are better recipes out there than the one I found on the side of the can of salmon, haha!  If you guys know of any awesome recipes, let me know!  I'd love to give salmon burgers another go.

What you'll Need:
1 can salmon
2 tbs lemon juice
1.5 tsp Dijon mustard
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup sliced green onions (I didn't have any, so I replaced this with diced white onion)
3 egg whites

Drain and flake salmon (I picked out the bones, but this isn't necessary).  Combine lemon juice and mustard.  Blend the flaked salmon with your bread crumbs, onions and lemon juice/mustard mixture.  Mix in egg whites until well blended.  Form mixture into four patties (I think I ended up with five), and grill on a lightly oiled grill or saute in a skilled until golden brown on both sides.  I thought the burgers might not stay in their patty shape on a grill and fall through the grates (which they would have), so I did mine in a skillet.