Ultimate Fantasy Town

This month marks our 4-year anniversary of moving into this lovely little town and beginning to turn this drafty old house into a home.  And this month the Sunset magazine just listed McMinnville Oregon as one of the Top 20 Ultimate Fantasy Towns in the world!  Exqueeze me? Yep.  The headline introducing our town reads, "Tired of the daily grind? Find a slower-paced, stress-free life in this dream town."  Our secret is out! 

Here's the link to the article.

But here's the funny part... looking at the photo in the article and then looking out my front window this morning made me laugh out loud.  I can just see some writer coming into town in the middle of summer, 80 degrees, sunny... takes a vineyard tour and sees the plump ripe clusters hanging from the vine, lush hanging baskets of geraniums and petunias and deems this place a fantasy come true.  Ha.  Here's the truth... 35 degrees, rain pouring sideways with no end in sight, acres of ugly dormant grape vines, soggy leaves clogging my gutters, and a lingering smell of mildew somewhere in my jeep that just won't go away.  Welcome to paradise my friends.  

But realestate is relatively cheap and its even cheaper in January and February if you're brave enough to take the plunge.  We did.  I remember the day we moved in... rain pouring sideways and 35 degrees.  Ahhh McMinnville... how we have fallen so deeply in love with you!  Seriously, this town really has been a dream come true for us.  But it's definately not for everyone.   

Warm winter meals

As everyone well knows, the weather up here in the Pacific Northwest is getting pretty bad right now.  It's been raining non stop since I returned home from my trip to AZ and OK.  With an already saturated water table, there's really not much room for more rain except to flood the local rivers and parks.  So I've been hunkered down here and not doing much but reading, sleeping, and cooking.

On the menu for tonight is one of my all time favorites -- Potato and Leek Soup!

I made a loaf of crusy artisan bread to serve with the creamy soup.  While I'm busy in the kitchen, Ben is dusting off his tool belt and jumping back into the bathroom remodel project. We were just reflecting on one year ago this weekend when Ben's Dad flew out to help kick off the basement bathroom remodel.  We've done so much in one year.  I can't wait to look back at this project in another year and say the same thing!  I'm sure we'll be knee deep in something else by then. I can't even begin to list all the major work I would like to do on this wonderful old house.  Luckily we have a lifetime to do it.

Wild West Day Trip

This weekend we took a long drive along the San Pedro River Valley from Sierra Vista to Tucson.  We happened upon an old wild west movie studio and then drove through the beautiful Sonoran Desert.

Oooooooooklahoma....

A day or two after arriving in Arizona at my parents house, all three of us loaded up the car and headed out to Oklahoma to visit my brother and his family, my grandma, and my aunt.  It was a fun few days hanging out with the neices and nephew and eating way too much, like I always do when visiting Grandma's house.  Here are some highlights from our trip...

Flashback to Christmas

I'm still in Arizona right now, but here's the video I made from our Christmas trip to Whiskey Camp Guard Station and Crater Lake.