the summer of 2023

It’s been wayyy too long! I miss my blog friends so much – luckily many of you are friends on Instagram. Social media is both a blessing and a curse, I suppose. This past year has been a whirlwind of fun and adventure. Our first year in Oregon has exceeded all expectations – it’s been life-changing and oh so fulfilling. Everything is firing on all cylinders.

Our first full summer here was jam-packed with so many adventures. Some day I’ll post details of a few outings so they may be re-created and enjoyed by others, but for now, thought I’d keep it simple and do a photo dump of all the things we crammed into what felt like a week of summer (it flew by).

The list is pretty endless: white water rafting, backpacking, camping, river activities, hiking, the Oregon Coast, so many concerts (The Lumineers, Nathaniel Rateliff, Dave Mathews, Beck, and James Taylor topped the list), Washington State, Colorado, Moab, a cozy cabin on the river, golfing, friends came to visit, farm-to-table dinners, SUP’d on mountain lakes, mountain biked beautiful trails, celebrated multiple birthdays, enjoyed our pups, played 1,000’s of games of rummy cube, learned to play Mahjong, took a work trip to Chicago, golfed and enjoyed family in California, ate and drank our way through Portland, met a bunch of life-long friends, found money on my birthday (thanks dad), chased waterfalls, and even did a little bit of crafting (that was the biggest stretch on the list – haha).

Phew! I’m exhausted, yet cannot wait to do it all over again next year. Still so much to discover in this sweet state I now call home.

As Bryan Adams put it:

“Oh, when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah, I’d always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life”

I love my life, husband, puppies, friends, hometown, even my job.

Amen.

…i choose this…

PS: This post is mainly for myself – when I look at it later in life, I wanna remember all the good stuff about the summer of 2023.