Spending Freeze

Yes it's going to be a bit chilly with our monies in September. I decided to participate in the finance challenge over at Allison's blog. I enjoy learning more about our finances, saving, watching our debt go down and have been thinking of different ways to share and blog about how we're doing in this area. Little tidbit about me: I am a numbers nerd and could spend lots of time asking Dave, Suze and Gail a question or two. Another blog that I frequent started out with the blogger deciding to go on a spending freeze for an entire year! I am not sure I could do that, but I do have a few guidelines for my personal accountability.

$$ Limit myself to 1 Starbucks drink a week.
$$ Bring my lunch to work a goal of 4 out of 5 times a week to save money on going out to eat.

$$ More eating dinners in - instead of out (this will be the hardest for me!)

$$ No clothes shopping.. eeek. (this will be hard with all the fall sales starting up.. I might give in to 1 pair of jeans..)

$$ Anything else I should add ?? 

Want to join me on a September Spending Freeze? I will be participating in a Thursdays check in with a few other bloggers as a 'posting' accountability of how things are going. So lets see how this goes next month!

image via

JCrew's e-mails couldn't have better timing.. a discount any day September 1-30 .. hmmm. Maybe Trav can spend the money for me.. does that count??  ;)

Church + Community

This spot is at Camp Magruder. I took this photo while at the WUMC's Women's Retreat.

Ohh Sunday. I love Sunday. Wanna know why? Well you were going to find out anyways. Without further ado: 1. It's the 2nd half of the weekend. It means to me "yes! I get another day to recharge." Saturday usually involves the errands, and the 'gotta get this done' type of activity. 2. Sleeping in and cozy breakfast with my husband. Sometimes due to work activity - Trav will have to work on Saturdays, but we almost always get to enjoy our Sundays together. Love that "lets take extra long to wake up" and just have a morning snuggle. Too mushy?  3. The third thing has been missing lately.. Church. We both love going to church, participating in worship, learning more about the Bible and growing together in our faith and our walks.

Before going too far, I suppose I should give a little background about my upbringing in this area. Growing up I knew that my mom was raised with a Catholic upbringing and my dad having a Methodist life (they were both super involved in their churches too). When they married they decided to allow their daughters to grow on their own spiritual path and make decisions for themselves in that area. *However, I do now know that both of my parents wish that as a family we had done more activities in a church (Catholic or Methodist) and had more of a background in church.* In high school I started getting curious about church and participated many times in friend's youth groups and became interested in learning more. When I was in college I can word it sort of like I "lost" my faith or put it on the back burner and did not give the necessary attention I should have.

It was not until after my Dad passed away (October 2007) I started to feel a "pull" to find a church and find out 'why' I lost my Dad. My first knee-jerk reaction was to get mad at God for taking my Dad, but in a way I felt a peace for him. No more pain. No more health impairments requiring pain, medications and sadness for him. He was able to see me graduate college! (probably one of the first actual prayers I can recall making.)

In my search for a church. I found a wonderful community in a Beaverton church. I became a Member of the church, I was involved, made so many wonderful friendships and bonds while attending that church. I was even a link in helping Travis get back to his faith and he too becoming a Member of the church and being super active in events and planning there. After attending for a few years we learned so much and wanted to learn MORE. We wanted to grow more and seek a community that spoke well to us. There are zero ill feelings to us leaving that church in search of a new 'home'. It is important to me that we are with other like-minded individuals (young married couples and families).  We have been able to participate in other churches and have been in awe of all the amazing communities that are formed all over Portland. 

Lately we have let ourselves be 'busy' and have not been able to make the commitment that we once had with church. Currently we both want to be able to make that commitment again. My hope is that 1. we find a great welcoming community that fits for us. 2. we are able to get involved in a small group. 3. we can become stronger and develop our personal faith more. Whether it's a small church or super big church - that doesn't matter. The core of what matters is loving one another and treating each other well. And that Jesus is a friend of yours and mine. :)

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

Sweet + Sweaty Times in Bend!

Vacation days are so fun, yet never seem long enough. Agreed? Well, we got back from our stay-cation in Bend, Oregon a couple days ago and wanted to share some photos (of course!). You've been fore-warned: many photos ahead...! On our first night in Bend we explored part of the downtown area near our lodge. Deschutes Brewery - delish! We went back and watched some Inception and had a craving for a sweet or 2 .. or 3. *On vacation, there are no calories. You didn't know? Oh yeah, total and pure fact. :) We saw a fun spot called Powell's Sweet Shoppe and decided to check it out. When you walk in - it is a candy heaven. Any kind of candy you can imagine is in there with Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory playing in the background. Below, is an old card catalog from a library (there were a couple of these lined up) and you could find a candy (or 5) and keep on shopping.

We settled on a few scoops of gelato.

On to Day 2.. it was time to burn some calories and meet a spot we had been looking forward to: Smith Rock. You may have seen the video in the previous post, but some photos are too fun not to share.

Ok so this photo isn't exactly fun to share, but you can see a portion of the Smith Rock area.

We take our hiking very serious.. ;)

Look Ma! It's a big rock! :)  To answer your question: Yes, my calves are real.

Before a long hot day of hiking, you must get at least a couple cute fresh and happy photos!

We decided to take the River trail first (along Crooked River) that goes about 2 miles around Smith Rock. So the beginning of our trek looked a lot like this....

 

Then when you get to the other side (passing many rock climbers and other sweet hikers) you can start to see the image of Monkey Face rock. Can you find the Monkey face below??

 We started using Monkey to be our guide as to how close we were getting not only to the Summit but it also helped us see if we wanted to keep going around (meaning: UP and at a steeper incline in the 90 degree heat).

We decided: ONWARD!!

Close to the summit!

This is the view from the TOP! We made it and look at how beautiful!

The other side of Monkey.. and the VIEW! That is part of the Sisters Mountains to the left.

We did it!! YEA!!

Beginning the trek down and back to base. Our car is down the Rock we are standing, on over that foot bridge, up the small hill, then up another big hill.

This hike was quite challenging. I have some friends who have hiked it and even if you're in super duper shape, you will find some tough spots! It was a little bit of rock surfing on our way down. That trail is ironically called: Misery Trail and rated most difficult on their guide information. Bend has some fun spots to eat and drink.. but when it comes to their outdoors - they do not mess around! There is a reason everyone there is sun kissed, in great shape and all smiles.

Bend thanks for the fun! We will be back again! 
Next time though.. rafting, kayaking and more Sangria.

Smith Rock: Domination!

We're baaaack! I'm still editing up some photos and will be finishing up a more detailed post in a day or 2 about our latest stay/vacation in Bend, Oregon. Everyone there was tan, happy and super fit. Our kind of city! On our second day there we drove about a half hour out to see Smith Rock and get our hike on. Oh and please excuse the photo icon of the video.. if someone knows how to select a different 'preview' photo, lemme know.. cause as you can see I'm a hot mess glistening image of a wife.

A few lessons and tips we learned on this particular hike/trip..

+ Take LOTS of water with you when hiking in a desert environment. (we did!)

+ Wear sunscreen (oops sorry Trav!)

+ Get a small frozen block to keep those sandwiches (that we ended up keeping in our massive cooler in the car..) cold in the back pack you take on your hike.

+ Take lots of photos (A+ for us.)
+ Encouragement, hugs and laughter make any hike together a bit more fun, not to mention having fresh and cold Sangrias at the end of the day is a wonderful treat to look forward to! ;)

Home - Sweet - Away - From - Home..

So, typically I (Shelby) can be found at one of three places..

Job Coaching and using my supreme Type A skills..

Lodges at Lake Salish - Our home is somewhere in there! ;)

Crunch Gym - gotta keep fit and cute for the husband right? ;)

But for our summer vacation we are heading down to Bend, Oregon and staying at the gorgeous, cozy, "green", and 4 smooches awarded (a la Best Places to Kiss in the NW book) spot: The Lara House Lodges.

One more day of work for us both and then it's off to Central Oregon. Of course, we too would love to spend a week in Maui or go to another beautiful hot spot. But sometimes you don't have to even leave your own state to find somewhere beautiful. We are super excited for our trip and have a few spots planned to visit. I haven't really appreciated Oregon much (due to the whole 9-10 months of rain), but in the last 2 years I have been changing my tune a bit. Oregon is green, lush, full of super friendly people, great brew pubs and Starbucks around the corner. *Go ahead look around the corner - see! :)   Though much of my family lives in other states, I always look forward to coming back home to Oregon. I think many Oregonians will agree you can't beat the fresh air and smell of lumber and chai.. or maybe that's just me. ;)

Have you ever done a 'stay-cation'? What do you love about where you live??

Multnomah Falls Day Date

This past weekend was great! I indulged in my Pinterest hobby having some girlfriends over (more on our DIY projects in a future post) and crafting followed by a dinner with the couple who did the flowers for mine and T's wedding. 

But moving on into Sunday.. waking up at the crack of dawn at 11:30am felt amazing. I haven't slept in like that since college weekends! After our waffle breakfast (total and forever a weekend tradition in the Waltz household - if you ever stay a weekend with us, come with an empty tummy.. we love a big breakfast!!), and figuring out the agenda for the day; I decided we should have a hiking date. It has been a while since we had done that and unlike our previous hikes we actually went prepared! :)  Prepared meaning: having more than one water bottle and a bag of trail mix. I wouldn't say we often go unprepared but more like we just live on the edge. After packing the necessities: 2 nalgene bottles, peanut butter wheat thins, bananas and chocolate chip dunkers we were all set. :)

Meet the beautiful Multnomah Falls

Now ladies, when your husband, boyfriend, partner, puppy tells you "Oh just ignore the switch backs (the markers on the trail telling you how much further to go), that is for a longer trail - ours is half that." Heh. Half that? Nope you are trekking the WHOLE thing! So if you haven't ascended Mult. Falls - it is all uphill and at an incline that will make you a hot sweaty mess a glowing butterfly. I may or may not have taken a break alongside a 5 year old waiting it out in an old tree trunk.

The view from the top of the falls! Our car is somewhere in that parking lot on the right.

It truly is a gorgeous hike up the hill. Hill makes it sound so dainty.. striding up a huge rock. There, much better description. After enjoying our dunkers and finishing off our water - we took a few "oh yes, we made it to the top photos.."

See that little girl on the step? That was me probably 25 times up climbing up the big rock. But really it was a great time!!

Handsome.. mmm hmmm.

Our afternoon date was super fun but it had its moments. Reminds me of guidelines you hear about marriage. When we were hiking to the the top we encouraged each other to keep going and keep the focus on our goal: to make it to the top! Even for active people like us it was hard. Did I mention it was like a big rock? You look out for each other too. Packing snacks, keeping tabs on how you are both doing and "oh don't touch that - that could be poison oak".. yeah I almost had a nasty run in with some 3 leafed plants. But most of all, doing things together and achieving goals together is always feels good as a couple. Marriage is teamwork and an adventure. Doesn't matter if you're the navigator or captain or other cutesy metaphor, you gotta be willing to lead and support each other. All the time. I'm talking daily friends.

Ice cream after is a wonderful goal to get back down the big rock together. :)

Smoochin' in the NW

Oregon is truly super beautiful and has so many gorgeous spots to check out! One thing we love to do is visit new places in the gorgeous Northwest! For Christmas 2009 I found a great book for my soon-to-be husband Travis.

This book was in its 10th edition (I'm not sure if they have released an even newer version). I highly recommend it for couples who love Oregon and want to check out new places to hike, travel and eat. Fun note: this was how we determined our honeymoon destination.. 

the San Juan Islands!!

*that photo is at the top of Mount Constitution on Orcas Island. Took about oh.. forever an hour to hike. (I'll let you in on a secret.. we drove the car up about halfway to the top of the mountain.. then decided to hike.. I may or may not have elected to do this.)

We even spotted one of the restaurants/hotels rated in the book by total accident!

The San Juan Islands are just north west of Seattle, WA. What a fabulous trip that was and we might not have really thought about that spot without flipping through the Kissin' NW book. Our next vacation is coming up in about a week and a half. 

We are trekking down to Bend, Oregon and will stay at The Lara Lodge. (It got 4 smooches out of 4 in the book! So you know it's good.) ;-)

But this time we will drive around in our own car and leave the Scoot Coop for the Islands..