Visiting Yakima in April

Yakima, WA is one of those hidden gems in the Pacific NW.  It's surrounded by hops, wineries, and apple trees, cherry trees, little farms, and mountain ridges.  We like to come visit once a year to try the new wine releases and escape the rain in Portland.

In the city itself, there's several wonderful B and B's and restaurants.  We took a break to celebrate my April birthday and do a little wine tasting.  Spring was definitely in evidence with the apple and cherry trees in full bloom. As we left town, it was raining buckets, but once we hit Hood River, about an hour east, the skies cleared and it was cool and beautiful.

We had a lovely Five course dinner at Birchfield Manor in their wine cellar. http://birchfieldmanor.com/15/about-us.html

Later, we stayed at The Orchard Inn,  http://orchardinnbb.com/reviews.html owned by a charming couple, Henner and Karen Krueger.  Each room has a special theme from Cherries to European themed.  We stayed in the NW room with salmon and Native American touches.  In the morning, Henner prepared a lovely breakfast for us with Brioche French Toast, with Apricots, sausage and a fresh fruit smoothie. Henner and Karen were so warm and friendly, we definitely will go back. Why stay at a hotel, when you can have such lovely personal touches and meet such great people!  Their property is a little piece of Heaven.

 These blossoms were so beautiful.  I could just visualize a watercolor painting!

There's such a variety of trees that guarantee an interesting Spring, since they bloom in rotation.

Yakima at Night

It was fun taking a walk after dark to check out the public art. We were pretty impressed to see how many fun pieces there were.

I loved this old revolving sign over a restaurant which I imagined to be from the 50's.  This is a hunting town, a small town, but one that's becoming a destination, famous for it's red wine, apples and cherries!

More art...

I love the Palm Trees.

  This could be right out of California in the 50's and 60's.  I remember when my parents were fascinated with everything Polynesian.  There was Tikki torches at their parties, drinks with umbrellas around the pool.  My parents never played Do Ho, but Dad loved the Brazilian Jazz of the time.  Anyone remember Trader Vic's?  Actually, I think Trader Joe's is making a comeback.

Trending Bracelets for 2013

Ever since the start of the year, 2013, bracelets are seem to be everywhere; specifically, Beaded Wrap and Leather Bracelets are HOT!  

Natural leather, dyed leather, paired with seed beads, chunky beads, silver and gold accents, you'll see it all this year.

It seemed we'd never get through the owl, nature, leaf, Woodland trend, but this year things changed in a big way.  It's all about a more urban, edgier look.  'Boho Chic' is all I hear! It seems that you can have your Bohemian creative style, but often you live and work in the city, so you need to incorporate a more urban, professional cool vibe.

It's both fun and challenging to be a jewelry designer when trends do an abrupt about face.  You just 'settle' into a comfortable style, and all of a sudden, you're designs are so dated.  There's nothing to do but, jump in and try to incorporate your personal style on the trends of the day.

This bracelet combines bone,and tribal beads with Tibetan Silver, leather and a cool silver detailed button. 

This is the year of the bracelet - That's where I am seeing the biggest opportunity for creativity and self expression.  I've always been a bead collector, so it's been fun to pull bead my stash out of  mothballs, and use them in a new way.  I especially love the wrap bracelets, where you can combine lots of fun colors and textures.  I love to stay within a three color range and combine metals, and beads.

I found some strands of colorful shells in Madrid last fall, and brought them home to combine with Starfish and gold shell charms, and crystals for this colorful wrap bracelet. 

Turquoise is my personal favorite summer color.  It's so clean and crisp with white, but you can also pair with coral and brown, and especially natural linen.

More shells from Madrid with brown and teal crystals.

I saved one of my all time favorites for last.  I think it must be the color combination, but I love the cheerfulness of this bracelet, perfect for summer, but I see this going well into the fall season too!

All of these styles are from my Etsy Shop https://www.etsy.com/people/Redpeonycreations?ref=si_pr, but look around and you'll see these fun styles everywhere.

Breakfast at The Columbia Cafe

A trip to Home Depot for supplies is always a good excuse to head to Astoria, especially on a cold, clear morning, rare in Winter on the Oregon Coast.  We hadn't been to the Columbia Cafe http://www.yelp.com/biz/columbian-cafe-astoria-3 in a while, so decided to try it again for breakfast.

It's funky and fun, and the food is amazing!  Specials are on a white board, along with a pretty extensive printed menu.  I linked the Yelp reviews, so you could see the great reviews this place gets...it's really a destination

breakfast on the North Coast, and people are known to drive 3 hours from Seattle to partake!

While I was waiting for my fresh crab omelet, we were served these amazing pepper jellies, ranging from mild to super hot.

Plus, they make great Bloody Mary's, which you can also order in various degrees of hot also!

Everything is made fresh here, even the orange juice

The magic happens in the this little one person kitchen, but I couldn't help noticing the dog sitting in the back of the truck. He seemed happy to people watch, even though it was very cold outside.

There is a Daily Special, called The Chef's Mercy, and no two are alike.  It's basically whatever yummy thing the chef wants to put together.  In this case, Rick had a Petrale, egg and vegetable dish on an elegant sheet of lace potato.

One thing I saw many people ordering was a Beet Pesto originated by Chef Marco, that included beets, pecans, Parmesan Cheese, ginger and olive oil.  Sounds like it would be fun to try and make that.

My crab omelet was yummy, and full of crab and cheese. 

A great breakfast from a very unassuming place!

Putting Away the Christmas Ornaments

It's always with mixed feelings that we take down the Christmas Tree.  It seems that the season comes and goes so fast these with out of marker of school programs and Company Christmas parties.  We're empty nesters now, and most company parties have fallen victim to the Great Recession.

I couldn't find my main box of ornaments, but found these fun sparkly snowflakes to brighten up the tree. They just looked so pretty that I hated to put them away!

Years ago, and long forgotten, I'd purchased these Paper Mache' Pears, and they were fun and festive, and matched a beautiful Angel ornament that I'd found years ago.

Katie was just back from Spain and brought this lovely spun glass angel on one of her side trips to Prague.  All in all, it turned out to be a lovely Christmas with Dear Daughter back in the country, and 17 people and 5 dogs for the Christmas holiday.

Happy New Year from Manzanita

Happy 2013 from Manzanita, on the beautiful Oregon Coast.  We've been coming here on New Year's for years. 

 When the hustle and bustle of the holidays gets to be too much, I dream wistfully of being on the beach on New Years.  Last night we went to a cocktail party NY time, which ended at 10 PM.  The plan was to walk down Laneda Ave. at midnight and 'revel' with the party crowd getting out of the local Sand Dune Pub, but since it was cold and we were wimpy, we hunkered down with two cats and decided to check out the Polar Bear Plunge at a more civilized hour: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/bold_cold_manzanita_crowd_take.html

Promptly at 11 AM about 100 brave souls stripped down to bathing suits and ran into the ocean to the sound of wild cheering and conch shell calls.

 There was a crowd of bundled up spectators there to cheer them on.  It was a beautiful, but chilly morning, with temps in the high 30's.

 Dear husband and I brought a bottle of champagne and two glasses to photograph a New Years greeting!

 And, then hurried home to enjoy a spinach and crab quiche which was warming in the oven.

 What a great start to the New Year!

Marie Anoinette meets the Mad Hatter in Astoria, Oregon

I had a call from my friend, Barb, to go see this wonderful new 'cupcake place' in Astoria, but was told in no uncertain terms "DO NOT Blog about it until I've had a chance to write about it!"...OK, this is from a blogger who hasn't put up a post in two years! (Uh Oh, I'll hear about this!)  Of course, I knew I had to check out this 'magical' place ASAP!

What was formerly a bank, then a Spa, is now Marie Antoinette's Cupcake Parlor.http://www.marieantoinettescupcakes.com/  It's housed in a truly magnificent building, and upon entering you really feel like you are coming into someplace special!

This is definitely a whimsical place to come with your girlfriends, mother, sisters, daughters...you get
the idea. However, I brought my unwitting  husband, and he was more that pleased to find a WWII Museum housed in the cupcake parlour...how clever!

 While Dear Husband was occupied, I was free to feast my eyes on the amazing decor!

I felt like I was transported to Versailles or New York, certainly this was too sophisticated for Oregon!  Then again, Astoria is full of surprises, and this once sleepy Coastal Town, has become a destination for it's renovated hotels, fun shops, great restaurants, and many attractions!

So much Eye Candy...the owner has an amazing eye for details!

I ambled my way back to the Cupcakes and they looked amazing!  I was on my way to a Brewery for lunch, but knew I had to come back afterwards to enjoy a treat!

This is the namesake, Marie Antoinette Cupcake, with a lemon cake and a melt in your mouth meringue. Perhaps, this lovely confection was what Marie had in mind when she implored her subjects to 'Eat Cake!'  Who could blame her for her Faux Pas?

The cupcake above was a date concoction.  Of course, Espresso's, and Tea are also available, and I  understand in the Fall there will be a room upstairs to host groups, with champagne as well.  I would imagine this place would be perfect for bridal teas, etc.

Such attention to detail.

Dolls, figurine's and art were everywhere!

This is the lovely bar where the coffee and Espressos are served

A likeness of a dress of the times

more loveliness

I loved these little vignettes that were everywhere

depicting scenes of the 18th century

A set of these lovely animal lamps flanked the bar

One could easily imagine sipping tea in the Pump Room at Bath, a character in a Jane Austin novel, with a French twist!

I loved the cozy conversations nooks!

A likeness of Marie herself!

Art and creativity everywhere

More vignettes...could it be a 19th century actress? 

Eye Candy continues...I couldn't resist taking photos of the bathroom, such a beautiful daybed!

and the sink and mirror

These lamps reminded me of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.

A view of the Grand Space

This cupcake was yummy, so delicate with a 'Kicked Up' Meringue frosting!

This magical place is definitely worth a visit! Plan to stay awhile, and bring your camera.