We’ve lived in the PNW for over a year now and over the Thanksgiving break we finally visited Portland for the first time. It wasn’t what I would have imagined for our first trip there but it was pretty fun anyhow.

The friends we were visiting had asked us to take their engagement photos and they had a few locations in mind in the Portland area. I may share a few of my favorites later this week. Walker and I were mostly behind the camera but we stole a few chances to jump in front of the camera. I couldn’t let our first trip go totally undocumented. Could I?

^goofing around at Cathedral Park.

^the city and bridges at night.

A couple of weekends ago we had our first free weekend here in Seattle. Either I’d been gone or we had both been gone but we were excited to finally be in town. It also happened to be beautiful weather (it seems like we’ve been getting a lot of that lately).

We met up with friends of ours and headed to a Seattle park that none of us had been to yet. It was so beautiful and luckily, since it was sunny, we got to see the mountains surrounding us. We explored the beach and then played games in the lawn.

After the park we kept the party going by wandering around the annual Yulefest for a taste of Nordic Christmas, we played a board game at the game store, then we ended the night with burgers, beer, and skee ball! It was a very good day indeed.

Just before the Thanksgiving weekend I had a few ladies over to make winter wreaths to begin preparing for the holiday season. Since Walker and I would be out of town for Thanksgiving I needed to get a jump on decorating since it had to wait until I got home.

Everyone brought a little something to make their wreaths but I got most of my items on a walk around the neighborhood and my backyard. Making wreaths on the cheap. Woo! A couple of the ladies brought a wreath backing to give it more shape. I, on the other hand, just went for it but I did have to make a smaller wreath so it wasn’t too saggy. I think they all turned out beautifully! I hung my on our front door and it makes me smile when I walk in and out.

My suggestions for a winter wreath? Take a walk around the block and see what you can find! Have fun and don’t take it too seriously!