Adorned In Grace Flash Mob at the Beaverton Farmers Market

Just got back from the Beaverton Farmers Market. A friend of ours Kate Wilkins is very involved with an organization called Adorned in Grace. Visit their website. http://adornedingrace.blogspot.com/  Adorned in Grace Bridal features donated new and used wedding gowns and formals for resale. Run entirely by volunteers all proceeds are used to bring awareness, prevention and shelter to the problem of sex trafficking. They had a fantastic idea to promote the store and executed it perfectly...a bridal flashmob through the market! Our Jake and Kates son Daniel took care of carrying music through the market. The young women in the flashmob pulled it off beautifully. Congratulations to all the hard working volunteers at Adorned in Grace!
See the video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGe5RoXksDo

Rock & Roll Lives on Alden Street

We have awesome neighbors! John and Brenda next door invited us to their party tonight... well ok everyone in the neighborhood gets invited but we were thrilled to be included this year. We got to meet more of our new neighbors and everyone is great and very welcoming. The music was Amazing! We still don't know what the live bands name was but we will find out. We would love to see them again.

Our New Home is "Luxury Camping"

We have had several requests to see where we are living during the remodel. Our new digs are inside the shop on the property. It is either luxury camping or trash living... we prefer luxury camping! We have a kitchen, bedroom, living and dining area in the shop and bathroom in the house. What more could we need? Quite frankly we may never move into the house. Well maybe, when the weather turns outside and it is 50 degrees. Life is certainly simple in here. There is nothing like waking up in the morning and opening the dock door and having a full view of your back yard. We have been pleasantly surprised that we are not have a bug problem in our living area either. So door wide open is great. 
Jay now has  proper place to hang all his Model planes he has built over the years. They add a little something, something to our living space don't you think? We also pulled our travel trailer up next to the shop and that is boys bedroom, or "guest house" we tell them.




HOME SWEET HOME



Foundation, Sewer and More

Major work has begun. Or should I say Major Destruction. Just when I thought there was nothing left to tear off or down on this house they keep finding more. Oh well its progress!
Yesterday was the first day of work since we received our permit. The foundation crew came in and started tearing apart the backyard to get ready for the foundation on the addition. Within hours they discovered that the old septic tank was in ground still. Right were a new footing needs to be. In addition the house has been hooked up to the sewer since 1966, but the septic tank has been used as a pass through between the house and sewer. So the whole septic tank has to be pulled and the sewer rehooked up correctly. Nothing like digging into your contingency fund within hours. I did have one of those Oh My God What Have We Done Moments but it didn't last long fortunately. Steve Barnes our general contractor is getting us hooked back up to the sewer in one day. One thing that makes living in the shop ok is having a working bathroom in the house. Thank you Steve! The front porch came off today as well. Inside they are working on new footings and rerouting ducting. I also want to give a big thanks to Mother nature for cooling it down today to 85 degress. The last few days of record breaking 100 degree heat was miserable for everyone.


Contractor Steve Barnes hooking us back up to the sewer!




Septic Tank has to come out




Front Porch Came Off Today



Jay keeps working almost daily to Reclaim our Yard. He has recovered
around 1000 sq. ft  that Blackberrys used to own.

Tried to Beat the Heat with a Beach Trip





Marie Antoinette Cupcake Parlor

  

We got our permit yeah! Work starts Monday!

So hot today in Portland 99 degrees that we took off for the beach to try and beat the heat. Nice try but no such luck. It was 99 degrees in Seaside and Astoria. But at least the long car ride ( traffic, traffic, traffic ) was air conditioned.

We did have a good time in Astoria despite the heat. We found Marie Antoinettes Cupcake Parlor in the old Astoria Bank Building. This building has been restored so beautifully you can't imagine. You even have to visit the restroom, it is amazing.


We stopped at my favorites Romancing the Home and found two huge rag rugs for cheap cheap. Then onto Astoria. There was a sidewalk sale going on outside the Vintage Hardware Store, another favorite and we found a couple treasures there. Last stop Ambiance. Those two ladies have an amazing knack for display. Almost too good though.... as I rarely want to disturb their displays and buy something?
I love just looking at old buildings and signs and Astoria has a bunch.





Ambiance at Phog Bounders Antique Mall

  



Astoria Signs

  

Street of Dreams Tour

Jay and I went to Street of Dreams last night. http://www.streetofdreamspdx.com/   Why? We are still waiting for our permit. News is probably Friday we will have it in hand. Work will start Monday.


It was a great way to spend the evening though. Street of Dreams is in West Linn this year. We stopped in Old Town West Linn for dinner and were pleasantly surprised to find that West Linn has there farmers market on Wednesday nights. Live music, good people watching, margueritas and great food at La Fiesta almost made us to late for the Street of Dreams. But that worked out as well. We got there so late it was almost empty and we still has enough time to see all the houses.

Most of our favorite ideas were around the houses with indoor outdoor living spaces. We got several ideas that we could incorporate into our new house that would not break the bank.