Richole Osborne – The Good Stuff

So There’s That Vol. 21

May 17, 2017May 17, 2017 Amanda

{Sort of like a “Friday Five” or a “Life Lately” except it’s probably not Friday, and I gave up on the idea of a catchy alliteration. These are some bits and pieces of my glam #postgradlife. See past posts HERE}

1. Baby Ego

Most people who know me personally have heard me refer to Josh “my uncle who is more like a brother since he’s only a few years older than me” (which is usually my go-to line). So anyway because of this my sister and I do not have any first cousins on that side of the family.

Well after 23 years WE ARE FINALLY GETTING A COUSIN!

Don’t get me wrong, we obviously enjoyed growing up with our grandparents all to ourselves, especially since we have a family flower shop and we grew up just down the street from them, but its safe to say that Janci, me and the rest of the Ego/Spoo clan are pretty darn excited.

Baby Girl Ego is due mid-July and even though I wasn’t able to be home for any festivities, my family made sure I was included via FaceTime and SnapChat.

2. Speaking of Babies…

My best friend Richole is also expecting at the end of 2017. She shared the news with me a few weeks ago before she made it public but the excitement was a bit delayed because apparently I was a bit distracted that day…. click the image below to see our funny conversation.

3. Face App

My sister texted Josh and me about this new app that allows you to take your picture and then adjust it to be a girl, boy, old, young, etc. When she tried the boy version she thought she looked a lot like Josh, which she does…. but not as much as me. Regardless, its pretty funny and it shows that we are definitely related!

Janci as a boy, compared to Josh.

Me as a boy, compared to Josh.

Me and Josh, as “normal” as we can be.

4. Ellie

A few weeks ago I wrote a little tribute for our family pup, Ellie, who passed away. She was the sweetest dog I’ve ever met and I am sure going to miss her when I am home next.

5. Turnpike Troubadours

This concert definitely made me miss the Midwest and Manhattan, where there is at least one (or more) red dirt concerts in town every weekend! Surprisingly though, this was my first time seeing Turnpike Troubadours ever! A group of Kansas kids and other friends caught this concert at the Fillmore which wasn’t my favorite venue in the area, but it wasn’t too bad at all.

6. Girls Night

Thankful for these bible study small group girls who’ve turned into friends….and thoroughly enjoy margaritas and dancing as much as I do.

7. Snapchat Voice Changer

I am well aware that most people probably don’t find the SnapChat voice changers as funny as I do…. and that’s just too bad, because I think they are hilarious.

So when I having a ridiculous time trying to navigate the ONE MILE between work and home because of a ONE BLOCK DETOUR, I figured the occasion deserved to obnoxiously documented.

8. Out and About

A few snippets (and Snapchats) of life lately.

Had a great time visiting my friend Chelsea in Blacksburg for the Virginia Tech spring game a few weeks ago… so much that this was the only picture that I took the entire weekend!

I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed this from Trader Joe’s, considering it was an impulse buy while I was waiting in line.

Virtual meeting with Kansas agriculture commodity and university folks means chatting up with all of your friends and mentors.

Another week, another bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe’s.

…so a 10 minute drive home turned into 45 because of traffic.

9. My Life in Memes

Memes that are speaking to me right now… both thought provoking and just plain funny.

**********

So, There’s That.

Cheers!

Family, Oregon, Photography

Oregon in July | Part 1 | Home & Wedding Prep

August 5, 2016September 12, 2017 Amanda

At the beginning of July, I went home to Oregon for a much anticipated vacation and family wedding. I mentioned in my last post that May through July was busy beyond reason in so many ways, and though this trip also added to the chaos, it was a great mental break and just the dose of home that I needed. On the day I rolled into town, I headed to U.S. Cellular for an upgrade on my phone, which meant my work email was no longer connected until I could hand it over to the IT guy at work. I was so thankful that my boss was perfectly fine with me completely checking out for a full week.

I have WAY TOO MANY pictures from my phone, Snapchat and my nice camera to share, so I am going to break the trip down into three blog posts. ENJOY!

Seriously, though, one of everything from the Taco Truck is on menu for my “last meal.”

Both of my sister’s cats unexpectedly had kittens. It is well known that I am not a fan of cats, but they are adorable when they are little.

That would be my Mom you hear in the background. We were way too entertained by the kittens.

Aside from the wedding, the highlight of my trip was that I finally met Wesley Ray! Baby Wes belongs to my best friend from high school, Richole, and he was just a day over 4 months when I met him. He is such a sweet, easy-tempered baby and has such beautiful, curious eyes like his mama. I was overjoyed to see how happy he makes my best friend and unfortunately its things like this that makes living so far away hard. I almost want to cry just thinking that he will be 9 months old before I see him again.

The pictures in this post are a tad bit out of order, but it makes sense to group them together the way I did. I landed in Oregon on Saturday, July 2 and we headed up to the cabin the next day for a little wedding prep before heading back to Hermiston so my parents could work and I could visit with Richole and Baby Wes.

Regardless, I was perfectly happy to spend as much time up at “The Diggins” as I could since I only usually get to go about once a year.

When Josh (my uncle who is more like a brother) and Sonia finally decided that they were going to get married up at the cabin I was so excited. I kept joking that I was going to be vicariously living through them because while I would love to get married there someday myself, I could never narrow down a guest list that small. #italktoomuch #invitationsforeveryone

There were many little projects to do for setup and decorations so my Grammy and Grampy put everyone to work. Notice though, how Josh and Sonia are nowhere to be seen in any of these pictures… #ahem.

Grampy, Uncle Joe and Dad.

Archway for the ceremony.

Grammy staining benches.

Up at the cabin we have named all of the buildings. The garage-turned large kitchen is labeled the “Cook Shack.” The shop that is converted into extra sleeping rooms and a playroom/common area is called the “Bunk House.” The shed is the “Jail House.” You get the picture. So when we put up the archway, my Uncle Joe joked that we should call it the “Gallows.” At some point, my Dad disappears and returns with some rope and starts making nooses and prepping some wood for my Grammy to use to make a sign. If you are wondering how my Dad knows how to make a legit noose, you are NOT alone. Let’s just say there’s a story about an intense game of ‘cowboys and indians’ from my Dad’s childhood. #wildwildwest

Oh, did I mention that I celebrated my favorite holiday, while also at my favorite place? Because I did, and minus the fact that we did not do fireworks, it was great. #Merica

Since it was a holiday weekend, we were able to catch the flea market in Sumpter, the nearby little gold mining town. There is a LOT of junk at things like this, but there are also many treasures to find, especially if you are into the whole shabby chic/rustic/vintage decor trend.

In particular, we were in search for some old bottles for wedding table decorations.

Sumpter, OR

I just moved at the beginning of the summer and purged many things before I did, so I have been really focusing on not buying too many new things or decorations. However, I made an exception when I found this gem. It is hard to read in the picture, but the little tag says “Bourbon” and it pumps the perfect amount for a shot. It will go perfectly on my cabinet where I keep all of different drinking glasses, accessories and you know… the actual booze.

I had a fun afternoon browsing with just my Grammy and my Mom. There are so many qualities that I know I get from them, including our sassy attitudes. #igotitfrommymama

I am convinced we should leave the light up year-round.

That is it for today! My next two posts will cover the rest of the prep and the rehearsal, and then of course the wedding day. Excited to share!

Cheers!

Washington D.C.

Richole Visits D.C. – Part 3

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015 Amanda

Richole’s visit to D.C. flew by!

Check Out Our Day 1 Adventures HERE
Check Out Our Day 2 Adventures HERE

We spent our third and final day on the National Mall again and luckily the sun came back out.
We started by visiting visit the White House and laughed about how much of a stalker my camera lens made me since I could zoom in really close. We then headed to the Mall starting at the Washington Monument and made a big loop to see the World War II, Vietnam War, Lincoln, Korean War and MLK Jr. Memorials. Even though there was no rain in the forecast, there were some cool-looking clouds which made for some great photos. We finished the day back in Arlington by visiting the Iwo Jima Memorial and taking a longer walk back to my apartment.

Today we woke up early to get Richole off to the airport and back to Oregon before I went to work.
Some days I get still get homesick for the place I grew up and the people who have been a part of my life so long. But I really enjoyed sharing my new life with Richole and catching up on her first year as both a teacher and a wife (thanks to Dustin for letting me steal her for a few days)!!

Thanks for coming to visit me Richole, it was a great weekend!

Enjoy some of Day 3’s photos!
I’ll share more photos from the entire visit later this week on Facebook.

Washington Monument

Panorama Richole took of the National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial from across the Tidal Basin

Washington Monument

Vietnam Memorial

National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial

Panorama Richole took of the White House and the Eclipse

National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial

White House

World War II Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial

National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Memorial: Each wreath had a ribbon corresponding with the countires listed below on the walkway.

National Mall

MLK Jr. Memorial

World War II Memorial

National Mall

Korean War Memorial

White House

Jefferson Memorial from across the Tidal Basin

World War II Memorial

Memorial Bridge from the back side of the Lincoln Memorial

World War II Memorial

Treasury Department

White House

Lincoln Memorial

MLK Jr. Memorial

Washington D.C.

Richole Visits D.C. – Day 2

June 28, 2015 Amanda

Day 2 of Richole’s visit was exactly the opposite of the first day.
It practically poured all day!! Luckily we had already decided that Saturday would be primarily a museum day, so the rain did not deter our schedule too much.

Check Out Our Day 1 Adventures HERE

We started our day at my favorite coffee shop in my neighborhood and then headed into the district. We visited the National Archives, the National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of American History. Our favorite was exhibit was definitely the gemstones! We finished the evening a bit more relaxed by kicking it back at my apartment with a movie.

Enjoy some of Day 2’s photos!

Museum of Natural History

Museum of American History: Statue of Washington

Museum of Natural History: Coral reef tank.

National Archives where we saw the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History: Triceratops

Museum of American History: Lincoln’s hat

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History: Giraffe skeleton

Museum of American History: Muhammed Ali’s gloves and Apollo Ono’s skates

Museum of Natural History: Opal

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History: Sapphire

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History: Emeralds

Museum of American History: Nancy Reagan’s presidential china

Museum of Natural History: Giant sea turtle

Museum of American History: Dorthey’s red slippers

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History: Rhino Skeleton

Museum of American History: One of the first Apple computers

Museum of Natural History: The elephant leg is taller than me!

Museum of Natural History: Amethyst

Museum of Natural History: turquoise

Museum of Natural History: Rubies

Museum of Natural History: Crown that Marie Antoinette wore.

Museum of Natural History: The Hope Diamond

Museum of Natural History: T-Rex

Washington D.C.

Richole Visits D.C. – Day 1

June 27, 2015 Amanda

I officially have my first visitor to D.C.
My childhood best friend Richole is in town for a long weekend! I am so excited to show my new home and have an excuse to play tourist.
Friday we spent the whole morning at Mt. Vernon. In the afternoon we took the Metro into D.C. ate lunch at Union Station and took a tour through the U.S. Capitol. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking the mall, where we stumbled across a Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

It was a bit humid and our legs definitely hurt from so much walking!
Richole also learned that I’m still a rookie when it comes to living here…and that my idea of a “few blocks” is not quite the same as hers.

I am also pretty excited because this is my first time using my new DSLR camera! I recently got a Canon Rebel EOS T5i, with the help of an early birthday and Christmas present from my parents and grandparents, and I love it!

Anyway enjoy a few photos from our first day!
I will post more on Facebook later.

The original statue of “Freedom” which is used to cast the one that lives at the top of the Capitol.

Mt. Vernon – WHEAT!

U.S. Capitol

Mt. Vernon

U.S. Capitol – this painting goes all the way around the Rotunda showing America’s history from Columbus to the Wright Brothers took 80 years to paint.

U.S. Capitol – bust of Lincoln by the same artist that did Mt. Rushmore. This is the “mistake” version and the real one is at the White House.

Mt. Vernon

U.S. Capitol – Rotunda

Potomac River

Mt. Vernon – Slave Memorial

Mt. Vernon – A slave cabin

U.S. Capitol

On the Mall

Mt. Vernon – George and Martha Washington’s tombs

This teacher needed to get her picture at the Department of Education!

Mt. Vernon

U.S. Capitol

Mt. Vernon

U.S. Capitol

Mt. Vernon

U.S. Capitol

Mt. Vernon

Library of Congress

Mt. Vernon

Mt. Vernon – 16-sided barn invented by Washington for grains

Smithsonian Castle

So There's That Series

So There’s That: Vol. 7

May 23, 2015July 8, 2015 Amanda

{Sort of like a “Friday Five” except it’s probably not Friday, and I gave up on the idea of a catchy alliteration. These are some bits and pieces of my glam #postgradlife.}

1. My vacuum cleaner ate my phone charger…

(Reference.)

2. Sisterhood Forever

Let’s talk about a few things here…
— The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books and movies were me and my besties Kayla and Richole FAVORITE when we were growing up. So the fact that one of its stars, Blake Lively, made the other three actresses the godmothers of her newborn just makes my forever-teenage heart so happy.

— Blake named her daughter James. I have this strange affection for using boy names for girls, so I think it’s fabulous.

— While I’m having an extreme fangirl moment I might as well also mention what I would give to have Blake Lively’s hair circa her “Gossip Girl” days…Is it possible to have a hair-spirit animal?

3. #PorkTips Video’s

This video was part of the last project I worked on during my time at the Kansas Pork Association. Although my role was extremely small in comparison, I am SO PROUD of the final product, especially after all the long talks and day dreaming we did about them. And I had so much fun working with 502 Media Group! Be sure to check the others out on the Kansas Pork Facebook page!

*Even my own personal baking stone makes a cameo in this one.

4. #Wheatie Humor

What art would look like with out wheat…
http://glutenimage.tumblr.com/

5. Mat Kearney – Coming Home (Oregon)

Alright friends, we’re going to play pretend. We’re going to pretend that this video was not basically written for the University of Oregon, and that the music video does not feature Oregon football clips and Autzen stadium. And we’re going to forgive Mat Kearney for being an obsessed Ducks fan, because his music is too good to miss out on. And because once I got past all of that nonsense, I fell in LOVE with this song.

6. I live here…

Seriously though, I can’t get over it.
Last Friday night I visited the USDA farmer’s market where I bought some (amazing) bread for later and a pizza (who knew) and wondered down to the Washington Monument where my lap became my dinner table.

So, there’s that.

Creativity and Organization

DIY Lately.

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015 Amanda

I’ve been pretty crafty over the last couple of months, so I thought I would share.

Really, all of the baking on Pinterest makes me feel inadequate, so I had to compensate somehow.

1. Hanging Wooden “O” Monogram

My childhood best friend Richole up and got herself hitched last summer to Dustin Osbourne, and right away they moved into a new home. They didn’t have much to start decorating with so I went ahead and helped out.

I painted this medium-sized wooden letter that I got from Hobby Lobby and embellished with lots of fun bling, that I also I got from the holy ground.
(i.e. Hobby Lobby.)

(Warning, I’m a huge fan of Hobby Lobby)

2. Holiday Silk Arrangement

Yah, sure I’ve already blogged about this. But I’m still just so proud.

3. Grey and Yellow Decorative Bottles

Decorating bottles is kind of my new thing, and while these ones are my first, I have a whole Pinterest board bursting with future ideas.

I made these ones for my best friend Megan’s birthday, who recently did a new bedspread and color scheme for her bedroom. I used a tequila bottle and two different wine bottles, and all of the accessories are from Hobby Lobby. One fun thing I found was that instead of buying individual twine string, it also comes in a ribbon that looks like you used individual strands. For the paint I used acrylic. Now there may be more preferable kinds of paint to use on glass, but I like that acrylic is fast-drying (I’m an extremely impatient person) and I particularly like the texture that it leaves. You may not be able to see in the picture, but I also used metallic colored silver and gold sharpies to add some final detailing.

4. Purple and Blue Painted Bottles

So I lied. THESE were technically my first bottle project, but I didn’t decorate them like the ones above, so they don’t count, right?

Anyways, I painted these when I moved into a new place last year and got a new bed spread set. I already had the skinny blue bottle (on the bottom right) and the mosaic vase (on the bottom left) and decided to build my look around them. Again, I used acrylic paints and the few embellishments were random decorative things that I already had. As for as the bottles go… well there’s a little bit of everything up there 🙂

5. Hanging Wooden “E” Wine Cork Monogram

So this is the only project on here that I (kind of) got from a specific pin on Pinterest.

I’ve been wanting to do something with wine corks for a while, and have been religiously saving my stash for the right project. Now I kept and used my broken ones because 1. I like how they look and 2. I’m really bad at removing the cork perfectly. Like the “O” I got this large-sized wooden letter at Hobby Lobby. I was making this one at home in Oregon over my holiday break to I access to my family flower shop and their “library” of spray paint. For this I used a matte black for the front and then lined all of the edges in metallic gold. All of the button embellishments came from Hobby Lobby, but all of the rest came from the odds and ends drawer at our shop. This was a Christmas present for my uncle Josh and Sonia, and the future home they is searching for.