Lavender Kay

Good afternoon!  This week has been little crazy but I thought I would check in and post a few instagram pictures from our Florida vacation.  We had so. much. fun!  I was pretty nervous for the airplane ride with Ruby but it ended up going pretty well.  The flight to Florida started a little rocky but once we were in the air things went pretty well, and the flight attendants even gave us a free drink!  Here are a few of the photos from our trip!

We rented a town house through airbnb and it worked out really well with Ruby.  We had our own space but also access to the attached condo’s amenities.  There were two pools and hot tubs and it sat right on Miami Bay.

My favorite past time was taking drinks and snacks to the cabanas and just camping out for hours.  We took our bassinet attachment to our stroller and Ruby would just nap right there.  It was heaven.

Our other favorite thing to do was walk.  It is so cold in Wisconsin right now so we never get to take Ruby on walks.  It was fun to walk along the bay or walk to a restaurant because everything was close by.

We already want to go back again!

Hi friends!  Taking a quick breather from the world of motherhood!  I wanted to show you this cute picture our friend took of Ruby and I.  That hat!  I. can’t. handle. it!

Life has been kinda busy for us lately as Jonathan’s parents came to visit us the other weekend, and then my grandma and great aunt came after they left.  It was so fun having family visit us and help out with Ruby.  We had so much fun with everyone, and wish they could stay forever!

This week is especially crazy too as Jonathan is on call all week and then we fly to Florida this weekend.  I am very excited to get out of town for a week and see the sunshine.  And, you should see the cute swimsuits I have for Ruby.  It may be too much cute that I won’t even be able to handle it!

Have a great Wednesday!

Hello!  I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted here!  I can honestly say I have missed keeping this place up-to-date.  I am hoping to get back in the swing of things here on the blog and post more regularly.

Today I wanted to share a picture from our Chicago trip last week.  Let me just say, Chicago is absolutely amazing!  I will never get tired of visiting this wonderful city!  One of my favorite things about living in Milwaukee is that we are a 90 minute train ride from downtown Chicago.  We can just jump on the Amtrak for $21 and be in Chicago in an hour and a half!  It is wonderful!  The Amtrak is also a really comfortable ride with free wi-fi and fun scenery.  Growing up in Washington, riding the train somewhere just wasn’t really an option (or at least not a very good option) so I hope to take advantage of this great resource as much as I can!

Once is Chicago, we spent time eating at some fabulous restaurants, explored the city, bought some cute baby clothes along the Magnificent Mile, and walked around the Navy Pier.  Because I am pregnant we had to take it pretty slow but it was still a wonderful time!  I can’t wait to go back!

Good morning!  Thank you again for finding your way over to my new website!  I am so excited to move forward with Lavender Kay, and I appreciate you all being a part of it!  Today I wanted to post some instagrams from last weekend.  It has always been a dream of Jonathan’s to go to the Prefontaine Classic track meet in Eugene, Oregon and last weekend we got to go!  It was so much fun!  We got to see a lot Olympic medalists, and our personal favorite, Nick Symmonds!  Here are a few pictures from our trip!

top left: Jonathan and I at Pre! / top right: the 800m race with Nick Symmonds / bottom left: our favorite market in Corvallis – we had donuts outside before we left for Eugene / bottom right: outside Hayward Stadium before the race

You guys!  Oh my goodness, we went to Depoe Bay yesterday, and it was fabulous!  The weather was perfect, and the scenery was so beautiful.  One of my favorite things we did was explored some really cool, secluded beaches where you had to hike on narrow trails to get to them.  It was peaceful because there wasn’t very many people around, making it feel like you had the place to yourself!  I guess this bay is a great place for whale watching, but we didn’t see any while we were there.

To end our adventure we went to this really yummy restaurant for dinner where they served amazing, fresh seafood.  The restaurant had huge windows overlooking the bay, and the view was breathtaking.

Jonathan and I both agreed that one of the things we will miss most about our time in Corvallis is living so close to the Oregon Coast.  I feel so lucky that we can just take off for an afternoon to the beach.

Happy Wednesday friends!

I am so excited because we are entering such a fun time of year!  Jonathan has the day off today so we plan to go Christmas tree shopping and then hang our stockings.  As a newly married couple, we get the opportunity to make a lot of new Christmas traditions together, and it is so much fun!

Last year we decided to only exchange stockings between the two of us.  I had such a great time picking out special, meaningful gifts for him (and it is amazing how much you can actually stuff into a stocking!).  Another one of our favorite traditions is going to New York City in early December for a fun, winter getaway.  Some of the things we like to do while we are there are go Christmas shopping, see all the amazing Christmas decorations and ice skate in Central Park with hot cocoa.  But, this year we decided to do something a little different since we far away from home.  We decided to fly to Spokane to see our friends, stay in a hotel downtown and experience the wonderfulness of a Spokane Christmas since we would otherwise miss out.  I think this was a good choose even though we LOVE New York.  And, there is always next year!

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Photo Source: Thyme.com and pinned by Amanda Jane Jones

Happy Monday friends!  How was your weekend?  Mine ended up being SUPER crazy.  So last week I told you I was heading to Spokane for the weekend and, well…getting there turned out to be an insane experience.  Here is a quick recap of what happened.

Jonathan had just come off the night shift and had to take a test in a different town on Friday.  I picked him up in that town right after his test with our bags packed and we left for the airport.  We were about 80 miles from the airport.  At that point we had plenty of time.

It was raining really hard so the cars were driving a little slower than usual but we still had plenty of time so far.  Then we took our exit onto the next highway leading to the airport and we were were about 30 miles away.  One minute into that drive all cars were at a complete stop.

Fast forward about an hour and we are still at a stop and we have only gone about 15 miles.  When we checked our phones 10 miles out from the airport it said we still had 1 hour and 50 minutes to go!  And our flight leaves in 30 minutes.

Fast forward another 30 minutes – we have only gone 2 miles and have completely missed our flight!  The traffic was SO insane.  I have never seen it like that.  We ended up parking our car at the airport about an hour after the flight had taken off and it took another 30 minutes to get to the terminal because all the shuttle buses were also backed up in traffic.

Once we got to the airport, we found out the next flight wasn’t unit the next day and we would have to wait until the morning to fly out.  Pretty much everyone at the airport had missed their flights and were trying to re-book so every flight through every airline was full.  So crazy!

Needless to say, we did make it to the Spokane on Saturday morning and had a wonderful 2 days there.  It went really fast but we had a great time.  We were even able to fit in a Greenbluff trip (which if you ever go to Spokane in the fall, this is a must activity).  We were so happy to see our friends and celebrate fall in Spokane.

Here are a couple instagram photos from the trip.  The above photo was at Greenbluff and we were picking out pumpkins.

(Above) Beautiful streets in my old neighborhood and (below) my sweet sister and her husband.

(Above) One of our favorite restaurants in Spokane (and the place we had our rehearsal dinner!).

Here are a few fun snap shots from our trip to Washington this past weekend.  While we were visiting, my mother-in-law wanted to do a mini family photo shoot at the pumpkin patch for Christmas cards.  My sister-in-law, Laura, is an awesome photographer and she took most of the family photos (see her website here).  I took the other pictures (mostly with instagram) throughout the weekend.  We had lots of the fun at the pumpkin patch picking out cool pumpkins and playing with our cute nieces and nephews.  PS. Aren’t all my nieces and nephews ADORABLE!

Overall, the wedding was fabulous and seeing family was just what we needed.  I am so thankful for the trip and can’t wait to visit again!

Hello dear friends and Happy Friday to you!  What are your weekend plans?  I am heading to Seattle for the weekend and I am so excited!  Two of my best friends will be in Seattle at the same time and I am really looking forward to seeing them.

The above picture is a picture of a street in the historic Mississippi District in Portland.  I have been splitting my weeks between Corvallis and Portland since Jonathan is working in Portland for the month.  The program rents a cute apartment in the Mississippi neighborhood for the residents to live in while they are working in Portland.

I had never been to the Mississippi District before but I highly recommend it if you ever find yourself in Portland.  It is a charming neighborhood on the other side of the river from downtown and it is loaded with fun restaurants and bars (and a really yummy ice cream shop!).

The other night Jonathan and I went on a fun date to this restaurant called Equinox in the Mississippi neighborhood.  We walked to it from the apartment and the sun was setting just as we were getting to the restaurant.  It was a beautiful sight.  And, the restaurant was fabulous too!  We sat in their charming garden patio where there were pretty white lights and red umbrellas.  (You can see part of it in the picture)

I hope you have a fabulous Friday and weekend!

Most of you know, two weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Austin, Texas.  One of my best friends moved down there over a year ago and I have been wanting to visit her for awhile.  Well, I finally got the opportunity to go and I had the most amazing time!  Austin is wonderful and if you ever get the opportunity to go, take it!

First and foremost, it was so wonderful getting to spend some quality time with my beautiful friend, Leah.  We have always been kindred spirits and I am so thankful that I was able to have some time with her just the two of us.  She lives in a lovely part of Austin, close to downtown and in quite a charming neighborhood.

But not only did I get some amazing one-on-one time with one of my best friends, I also got to see so many fun restaurants and neighborhoods!  I feel like I don’t stay up very late anymore (I am getting old!) but not while I was in Austin – we stayed out late every night and had so much fun!  I really needed an adventure and adventure is what I got!  Thank you Leah!  We saw so many cool places and I am grateful for every minute!

One place I feel like I need to highlight in particular is the Midnight Cowboy.  This is a new bar (speakeasy style) that recently opened up in Austin where a reservation is necessary.  Leah had heard about it and called a week in advance to make a reservation and the only opening they had was at midnight!  This bar is unique because it is located in the heart of what Austin calls the dirty six.  The dirty six is sixth street in downtown Austin on weekend nights and it is super crazy!  The street is closed off to cars and it is full of really rowdy people.  But the Midnight Cowboy chose the dirty six as their location because they wanted to be a safe haven from all of the madness (and it sure was!).  So let me paint you a picture.  The Midnight Cowboy  doesn’t have a sign.  You have to know the address and look for a little red lightbulb out front.  Next to the door is a row of names with corresponding buttons.  You have to look for the name ‘Harry Craddick’ and buzz in.  Someone will appear at the door and ask you for your password.  If you have the right one (they give it to you when you make the reservation) then you will be let in.  Once inside it is a calm oasis filled with wonderful music and old world charm.  You really feel like you have been transported into a different era.  The experience was exceptional!  If you ever find yourself in Austin, you definitely have to try out the Midnight Cowboy.

Happy Thursday!