Found along our walks in a city aptly named “The City of Roses”.
All of these were taken at Washington Park at a section known as the International Rose Test Garden. You can find over 10,000 bushes of roses with more than 650 different varieties. It’s a stunning sight to behold.
Not much else to say here because the beauty of these flowers speak for themselves. ❤
My favorites tend to be the orange dreamsicle colored ones. But these painted ones were so amazing!! Each rose was so unique, as if they were personally painted with different brush strokes. Beautiful.
As delicate as flower, as tender as rose petals, choosing to be tender and kind in a harsh environment is not weakness, it’s courage. Luffina Lourduraj
Sometimes it’s just the two of us in a mutual awestruck silence taking in how extraordinary Mount Hood really is.
I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.’Sylvia Plath
Tamanawas Falls, Mount Hood
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. Rachel Carson
How do you meet new people, and by chance, they will end up becoming meaningful relationships for the rest of your life? Especially when you aren’t relying on meeting others through school or work?
Well… we got so incredibly lucky with the people we have met here in Portland so far. Every time we think about the strangers that became more than that, it always blows our mind. We moved here without knowing a single soul in Oregon and we just feel grateful.
Michael and I met by a chance encounter when I stood behind him at a coffee shop. From that moment on, we’ve embraced keeping an open mind when it comes to meeting people.
Here are a few of our favorite stories that now have a special place in our hearts. 💙
Our Landlord
Homemade by our landlords.
In 2017, we were visiting Portland for the first time together. Michael already had a job lined up, so he was doing a site visit. I was interviewing to go back to school. We were looking all over downtown for a studio apartment and geez, it was expensive. We decided to stop looking one night and go to a dessert bar. There was such a huge wait, so we initially decided to get a dessert to-go. As we were being handed our to-go box, two seats opened up at the small bar. I immediately asked if we could snag those two bar seats! The restaurant got our dessert plated so we could enjoy it there.
As I was laughing and talking with Michael, my shoulder bumped the older man beside me. I turned to apologize and the man ended up laughing at me and asked what dessert we were having! We ended up talking to this couple for the next hour or so. We found out that they were both in the healthcare field and had a connection to the school I was applying for. They asked about our situation and story. It was so easy talking to them. At one point, I noticed them kind of give each other a silent look, the kind of look that showed they were communicating, but we had no idea what it was…
Turns out, the couple had two homes and they were wanting to rent out one of them, but they did not want to put it on the public market! They said they could sense that we were genuine people, so they offered us to come over right after my interview to see their place!!! We were FREAKING OUT. Of course we said yes.
We brought over two bottles of wine. And when we arrived, they had so many little appetizers. After chatting for awhile, we enjoyed homemade baked salmon, sautéed greens beans, and a side salad. It was soooo delicious and thoughtful of them. We got lost in so many conversations over 4-5 hours of being there.
A few days later, they negotiated a deal with us and umm.. it was a no brainer.
These wonderful humans have become a second family to us. Without their generosity and guidance, we wouldn’t be where we needed to be. We are forever grateful for this family for what they have given us.
Our Friends
This one is a strange one, too. We met all of these folks through Instagram via our mutual love for hiking, adventuring, and photography. I won’t make this too long, so here’s a few photos of our adventures together. 😊
Spent a weekend camping at Mount Hood.Waterfall chasin’.These ladies are so wonderful.Couple’s trip to the painted hills!A bunch of us celebrating Christmas. Truly a family away from home.
My Mom’s Childhood Friend
My mom is on the right.
This is my mom’s childhood friend from the 70s-80s.
Let this sink in… they hadn’t seen each other in over forty years. By the miracle of social media, my uncle found her profile and forwarded it to my mom a few months ago. My mom discovered that her friend immigrated from Vietnam to Portland!!! I was living so close to her this whole time. Our family flew her out to Dallas for our wedding which was so amazing. Michael and I also ended up spending an afternoon with her a few weeks ago, and she showed us this picture of her and my mom.
Unbelievable, huh?
That is life, isn’t it? Fate. Luck. Chance.
A long series of what-if’s that lead from one moment to the next, time never pausing for you to catch your breath, to make sense of the cards that have been handed to you. And all you can do is play your cards and hope for the best, because in the end, it all comes back to those three basics.
Psst! We are going to let you in on a little secret of ours…
When we have friends or family visit us from out of town, we have probably taken almost all of them (if the weather behaved) to these easy-to-visit-but-absolutely-stunning sights along the Columbia River Gorge. I mean.. how could we not?! The drive is less than an hour away from Portland. Even after visiting several times, we still aren’t tired of these views.
Michael and I both grew up in Texas, so we used to joke around about how when we would see a small stream on a hike back then, we would be so excited. Nowadays, we are constantly blown away by the mountains, the waterfalls, the rivers, the trees and everything else we get to see in the pacific northwest.
Here’s our little tour. 😊
Latourell Falls
We loveeeee how moody the pnw can be. Look at all of the beautiful fog hugging the trees.This waterfall is gorgeous with the columnar basalt rock formations behind. It is amazing.It’s a big plus when you get to stand behind the falls!Latourell from afar.
Columbia River Gorge
The drive along the gorge that separates Washington state and Oregon is breathtaking.
Bridal Veil Falls
Michael climbed that big ol’ rock to get a close up view of these falls!
Multnomah Falls
If you visit Portland and don’t visit these falls, did you even come visit?!
Yes – it gets crowded. Probably the busiest tourist spot in Oregon, but worth a visit. She’s just so picturesque.
Rowena Crest Viewpoint
Driving further east along the gorge, you can stop aside to see this winding road!
Hood River, Oregon
You have to stop in Hood River, Oregon for mountain views, local beer or wine, and delicious food. It’s a must! Also… if you see salmon on the menu, order it.
I’ve posted this quote before, but it’s a personal favorite. 💙
Here in the corner attic of America, two hours’ drive from a rain forest, a desert, a foreign country, an empty island, a hidden fjord, a raging river, a glacier, and a volcano is a place where the inhabitants sense they can do no better, nor do they want to. Timothy Egan
I think we are going to go out on a limb and say… these are our favorite waterfalls in Oregon!
These two nearby waterfalls are incredibly easy to access and you will leave feeling like you were just in a scene straight out of a pacific northwest postcard. It’s incredibly beautiful. When you go, definitely wear waterproof everything and bring extra microfibers because your camera will get wet.
We also included a couple of photographs to compare the falls between the spring and fall season. 💙
Koosah Falls, Oregon
Behind the scenes of photographing the falls!Spring | The falls are so full and powerful this time of year.Fall | It’s so different compared to the spring season. Look closely, there’s Michael!Feeling refreshed being so close!
Sahalie Falls, Oregon
Michael was SOAKED after this!! It was a huge sacrifice for the photo, but there really is nothing like a good waterfall shower.Happy dance because who wouldn’t when you’re surrounded by the amazing outdoors?
Detroit Lake, Oregon
This was a little pitstop we had on our road trip. It was a beautiful lake.
If you look closely, there’s a stranger at the edge of the water. So happy we captured him in time before he walked away.
To find the universal elements enough;
to find the air and the water exhilarating;
to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter…
to be thrilled by the stars at night;
to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring —
these are some of the rewards of the simple life. John Burroughs
What’s my guilty pleasure? The thing is, I never feel guilty about pleasures. Tom Hiddleston
We were talking about what some of ours were the other day, and we figured we would share them here. Here’s a few of them. 😊
a cozy campfire:
Michael loves bringing life to a campsite by chopping up some wood and building us a cozy campfire. You bet there are s’mores when there’s a fire around! (That’s probably the most guilty part about it!)
sweet treats:
Vanilla bean ice cream on top of a warmed pecan pie bar??? Yes, please. It’s true… we are both guilty for having a major sweet tooth.
cuddling:
This is from inside our home on a rainy day. We love love love being close to each other. Cuddling, wrestling, tickling, pranking, kissing, cooking, talking. Whatever it is, we just love being in each other’s company.
our backyard:
We got so incredibly lucky finding our current place. Our landlord is one of the most wonderful human beings ever. Favorite thing? Our bedroom opens directly into this upper level deck that has this view!! The guilty part? We prefer to stay home more than going out on most days.
building things:
Michael loves to build things! He removed the back seats out of our FJ cruiser and built a storage platform that has so much space AND can fit a full size mattress on top of it. There’s nothing like getting the bed set-up, opening the back window, and enjoying the view wherever we are. Also – check out the spice rack he made for me!! (I know, terrible photos. They’re from my Instagram stories haha.) It’s so nice that I can see them all now versus shuffling through them trying to find the right one.
pizza:
Need I say more?
cheese & charcuterie:
Pretty much… adult lunchables. I am secretly a fan of The Bachelor series only because my classmates got me into it last year. Let’s be real, I think they easily had me at wine and meat and cheese. This spread above was just from last week when we had a girl’s night. My friend, Molly, had this all set-up when we got to her place after work!
Sometimes, you just gotta let yourself enjoy the little things in life. 💛
cold wrinkly finger tips & water droplets on pine needles.
We haven’t picked up our camera in a good while… but looking back at some of our somewhat-macro shots go us excited to shoot again. We are going on a trip this weekend for Michael’s birthday, and I think we are gonna finally dust off the little guy and take some photos again!
In the meantime, here’s a few of our favorites we’ve taken on some of our adventures. 🌿
Snuck up to this little bee!Getting close up and personal with pine trees because look how beautiful it is!Moody tulip season.
Pretty droplets.
SO sorry for the terrible quality on this one because it was compressed… and I’m a little too lazy to sift through alllll of the old photos for the original.
A field of daisies where we saw a view of Mount Saint Helens.
The fall colors here in the Pacific Northwest are stunning. I’ve never seen colors like this before. And when it rains, we love seeing the water droplets on everything.
All taken with the good ol’ nifty fifty f/1.8 Canon lens.
I wish more people felt that photography was an adventure. To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. Elliott Erwitt
