If you follow me on twitter or instagram (hannahhanley), you may have noticed an influx of doggie pictures, a certain Saint Bernard in particular named Judge. R and I adopted him last Friday from the Saint Bernard Rescue Foundation via petfinder.com. He is one year old, the adoption place told us he weighed 70 lbs, but we weighed him on Wednesday night, and he’s more like 120. He’s a sweet boy and we love him already!
Welcome to the family Judge!
xx
-h
The first time I ever visited The Gorge, I was five and there for the Steve Miller Band concert. Fortunately, Steve is a close family friend so we got the whole backstage experience and from what I remember…it was awesome. I can’t imagine why it took me seventeen years to go back.
This summer I spent the opening and closing weekends of summer there, which was epic. Memorial Day Weekend I stayed four nights and saw over twenty concerts. Labor Day Weekend I stayed one night and saw one concert. Although the weekends are incomparable, they were equally spectacular. The perfect combination of great people, music and scenery seems to make for an unbeatable weekend every time.
It’s hard to believe that a place where the standard rules of society don’t apply is only a three hour drive from the city.
Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures from my time there this summer…
Best view in the house – Memorial Day Weekend
Lighting hot air balloons – Memorial Day Weekend
Rachel and me at the campground- Labor Day Weekend (Photo Cred: Rachel’s FB)
DMB aftermath – Labor Day Weekend
See you next summer, Gorge Amphitheater, right where I left you.
xoxo
-s
When we were in elementary school, my mom would take us back to school shopping. Every year on the list was 2 pairs of shoes. One for running around, and one nice pair for school picture day, choir concerts, Sunday church, and all the other occasions that the casual look wasn’t appropriate. I remember one year I was obsessed with this pair of lace up booties. I would wear them ALL the time with frilly socks and dresses. They looked relatively similar to these dandies from Zara.
Zara Flat Ankle Boot with Laces – $99
These days I would lose the frilly socks and dress and instead pair them with leggings, and a chambray button down.
For my more casual pair, back in the day it was all about Adidas Samba. Fast forward a few years (wink wink), this year’s back to school shopping would include these always classic Jack Purcell in white canvas.
Even though I’m not going back to school this year, I can’t help but shop a little.
xx
-h
S and I spent last weekend at our family’s lake place on Priest Lake in North Idaho. We borrowed a party barge from our parent’s friends and putted around the lake. I love this photo of Ripken with his ears floating in the wind.
Don’t you love how doggie ears feel like velvet? Rip is 11 years old, he likes to rest his chin on your lap and close his eyes that now have cataract in them. I feel like massaging his soft ears makes his eyes feel a little better.
Happy holiday weekend!
xx
-h
If this new Macklemore & Ryan Lewis video doesn’t make you smile, it’s time to hit the thrift store.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes&w=560&h=315]
xx
-h
My colleague’s 94 year old father brought in 3 big bunches of dahlias the other day. He raises them on his 4 acres of property and delivers them to his remaining friends. He joked that most of his friends are gone now and that his stops include their kids and grandkids along with several “old people homes”.
His comments reminded me of a good friend in high school; his grandmother doted on her dahlias, bragging about them regularly and showing off her garden.
Which reminded me of a walk this time last year with my mom and grandmother (98 years old now). We meandered through the gardens in the retirement area of the home she lives in. There were yellow dahlias as big as my head and she liked feeling the petals and talking about the colors. We reminded her of the house in Tacoma on Vassault, that grows the most gorgeous flowers every year and has a sign that reads, “Dahlias for Sale”.
Dahlias remind me of when I was volunteering at The Children’s Center in Salt Lake City and one of the girls in the class was the cutest, sassiest, little thing named Dahlia.
xx
-h
Last week S and I were tasked with providing dessert for a “Meet New Baby” party. We started brainstorming ideas and decided on homemade ice cream sandwiches. Given the temperatures last week in this area (90 plus) transportation was a little difficult for these babies, so if it is going to be hot I would suggest serving these for a party that does not require moving them from freezer to freezer. Melting and re-freezing aside, I loved them. We made 3 types all in mini form: chocolate chip cookie/coffee ice cream, funfetti cookie/vanilla ice cream, and pineapple cookie/pineapple coconut ice cream. I missed my chance to snap a photo of the pineapple ones but I did manage to capture the other two flavors.
I used this recipe for the Funfetti Cookies, and they turned out fantastic. Once the cookies cool, place a small scoop of ice cream and sandwich, we rolled the edge in sprinkles like a tire for a bit more detail.
I consulted All Recipes for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, and swapped mini chips for normal ones since we were shrinking the size, I also skipped the nuts.
Other flavors we considered making – peanut butter cookie/strawberry ice cream, ginger cookie/peach ice cream, sugar cookie/lemon sorbet. My mouth is watering thinking of the endless possibilities. Summer isn’t over yet!
xx
-h
Am I the only one who hasn’t seen this yet? It’s awesome.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0]
Hahahaha.
xx
-h
Everywhere we look right now, booties are getting credit for being this fall’s shoe of choice. We’ve already discussed those, so I think today we’ll let the smoking slipper shine today. Perfect for the transition of fall to summer, I mean who are we kidding it seems like it’s hot through September these days. Here are the ones I’m deciding between.
Vince Camuto ‘Lilliana 2’ – $97
I’m digging the prints, sparkles and studs for this style to add a little pop to your outfit.
xx
-h
In the 1940’s the Department of Agriculture created a huge campaign to fight food cost inflation called the Victory Garden. The concept was backed by the thoughts that gardeners would feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the fruits of their labors – literally.
I’m not sure if it is because I’m getting older, but it seems like more and more of my friends are planting their own gardens. In the same victory style concept but now, less to fight food cost inflation but more to support farm to table style dining. And more because of the fear of what the pesticides in our food could mean for our future generations. Organic farming is the new victory garden.
I think I mentioned before that I joined a CSA for the first time this year. Every week I pick up a small share from Terry’s Berries in Puyallup, WA. I’ve been getting so much produce, paired with the things from my own garden that I’ve had to split the small share with my parents. If you do have too much produce from your garden and you’re tired of freezing, canning, or prepping, most food banks are happy to take them as donation.
Think organic products can’t be as big as normal ones? Check out this spinach leaf.
Are you growing a garden this year? Organic or not? Involved in a CSA?
xx
-h
Steve Madden ‘Chaufur’ – $89
BCBGeneration ‘Dashi’ – $88