Mimmsical Creations

I am a new contributor at a wonderful, new blog!! My blog friends Jana and Suzie came up with this idea! The blog is Friendship of the Fabulous Foodies! Each of us is writing about our recipes and cooking experiences!

I just wrote my first post this morning. Go check it out!! My next post there will be about canning and making pickles! :)

Funny, but Mike said to me the other day "You're shocking me in this wedding planning... You're being so girly!"

And I guess I am! I'm really getting into the planning, the details, everything for our upcoming wedding!! It's coming up pretty quickly, so I had to dive right in!

We are keeping it VERY tiny. We kind of had to go all or none. My family is gigantic. With just my siblings and their families, there would be close to 60 people and that doesn't include aunts, cousins, etc. So... we're going the "none" route. Right now, I think we'll have 7 people plus us. Just a handful of close friends to share the day with us! (I'm sorry family - if you're reading... thanks for understanding!)

My best friend, Andrea, is planning a traditional bridal shower for me though. She's already figuring out the games, the food, the decor, etc. She is having SO much fun with it! I know we'll have a great time! (Family - you will be invited to this... well, at least the females will!)

Andrea and her daughter, Savannah, will be my special attendants! (**We're not doing a traditional wedding ceremony, so they won't be standing up with us as actual bridesmaids, but they are going to help me and are definitely my best girls no matter what!) I've pretty much decided on my dress. Mine is NON-traditional - no white dress for me! (Well, it is traditional... if you're Indian!) The dress is a secret from Mike, so if you're interested in seeing it, please email me! I'll send you the link!

I'm on the lookout for some cool, unique toasting glasses. If you see them, or know of them, let me know!

I think my flowers are pretty much decided as well. I'll be creating the arrangements (of course!). I'm planning on using mini-calla lilies and dendrobium orchids in simple bouquets and for boutonnieres, etc.

I had no idea my brain would be all-consumed with wedding stuff once we were engaged and planning! But, it is! I haven't been sleeping well because my brain is running! But, it's good - and I'm having fun! I think Mike is too, to some extent! He doesn't care as much about the details though. (Andrea is going to go with me to create a registry - Mike doesn't like to shop! The only thing he wants is a meat smoker!)

As for our moving to Oregon... for now it's on hold. Mike is still searching for a job, but he has resigned himself to staying in his current one for now. There are a few possibilities looming, but nothing imminent right now. We'll get there though - it may just be down the road a bit!

OH... and tell me this... once I marry Mike and change my last name, should I change the name of my blog?! Mimmsical is a play on my last name (Mimms) and whimsical. My new name will be Durham!

**Please NOTE: I had to remove a few comments to protect some information. If you commented and see that your comment is gone - know that I still have your lovely words, but needed to remove the public comment!**

Well, my last news was exciting - Mike was eligible. (We were led to think that if he was eligible, he would get the job...) But this misleading information was untrue. Although he was eligible, he was not hired (nor even interviewed!) for the job. We were quite upset and sad on Thursday (I started writing this post on Friday, and never finished!) He got the news mid-morning. So... the job hunt continues. We're researching other options for getting ourselves moved out to Oregon. My bosses continue to be supportive of me! That helps immensely!

Well... enough of that bad news. Here's more about our trip!

On our second day at the coast, we didn't go too far mileage-wise. We found a beach called Agate Beach and we stayed there for a couple hours (or more) and walked the shoreline. The weather was still sunny and warm - the water was COLD! We had lunch and then decided we'd find a hotel on the coast since we were already tired for that day. Well, did we ever find an amazing place!! Near Yachats, OR there is a place called the Overleaf Lodge. I can say I HIGHLY recommend this hotel. It was truly five-star! We got a good rate (more than we'd normally spend, but worth every penny!) on a third story suite with a balcony overlooking the coast. And not just any coast - a very rocky and beautiful stretch of coast!! We could hear the waves crashing in our room! We had naps that afternoon to the sound of the ocean and slept that night so deeply with the sea air and sounds!

More pictures at flickr!

Yachats itself is a tiny town, but we found an amazing restaurant there called the Drift Inn. Truly gourmet food, and a wonderful wine list! They even have live music most every night. We wound up eating there that first night and the next as well! It was so enjoyable (and yummy)!

We drove further south the next day to Coos Bay and North Bend and then Bandon. The towns themselves weren't all that impressive, pretty run down and depressed. We did quite a bit of driving around the towns seeing what was what! We came across another really great restaurant find in Coos Bay - a mediterranean place that had just amazing food! Yum! (I had a gyro, but I "regret" not trying something a little more unique. I was coveting Mike's schewerma! {sp?})

Our favorite place of our last trip was Coquille Point, near Bandon. It is beautiful, of course, but our previous find of the Overleaf and its coast made it less spectacular somehow. We didn't stay on the coast long because it was COLD!

We then drove inland to Eugene, Corvallis, and Salem (and Portland a little bit) We spent some time in each town driving around again and finding the houses we saw in the paper for rent. It was a great way to see the neighborhoods.

We like Eugene and Salem OK, but we really loved Corvallis! It's much smaller than either of the other towns, and it has kind of a "hippy" feel to it! That's the town we're hoping for now! (But many of the others will do as well!) Salem felt too big to me. It's not that much bigger than here, but it feels more like a big city! We'd "make it work" though! Portland is too big. Neither of us like it very well. I have never lived in a truly BIG city, and it's scary!

This trip was truly wonderful. We got a needed vacation, but we also did some needed research. We learned that we truly DO want to move out to Oregon! We both love the grey, rainy weather! We're ready, now all we have to do is get a job for Mike figured out! Anyone know a town that needs a reiki master?

I'm working on uploading photos! But, I took a ton, so it's slow going!!

The first part of our trip to Oregon was east of Portland to the Columbia River gorge! We headed directly for Multnomah Falls. It is truly a breathtaking waterfall!! I am blown away by it each time! It is 620 feet tall and the water just absolutely crashes down! It was running VERY full on this visit, so was even more impressive if that's possible!

We spent an hour or more just taking it all in! We got quite soaked from the spray from the falls! It was a very hot day (95 degrees+, very unusual I guess!) so the spray was welcome!

We then headed a few more miles down the gorge to The Dalles where we stayed for the night. We found a Mexican restaurant where we had eaten on our last trip - really yummy food!! (They had actually moved, so we couldn't find them right off, but wound up there!)

The next morning we headed back west (making our way to the coast) and took the time to drive the gorgeous Historic Columbia River highway! This takes you back along the hills and several other waterfalls! We saw Horsetail Falls, Wahkeena, and we hiked the short way back to see the Bridal Veil Falls. It was so amazingly gorgeous the whole way! All of the falls were spectacular. We timed it right! They were running pretty full and fast because of the spring run-off!

Then we made our way to the coast - I believe we met the ocean near Astoria. We stopped at several places we remembered from our first trip! It is so beautiful no matter where you stop and look! I absolutely do love the Oregon coast! (And it wasn't stinky this year - there were dead jelly fish last time because of a storm and it was smelly!) We stayed the first night in Lincoln City. We had an amazing dinner here - recommended by our hotel. It was a restaurant with an ocean view where I was able to get some truly yummy fish! (It was halibut encrusted with macadamia nuts, on top of garlic mashed potatoes, smothered with dungeness crab and parmesan cheese, and a sherry clam sauce. Wow! So unique and totally yummy!!!)

I'll continue with the story tomorrow - if you want to see more (MANY more) pictures - I'm uploading them to my flickr. There will be more, but I've got a good start at uploading them!

And in other news!! Mike is eligible for the job in Salem!!! WHOO HOO!! We're hoping he'll hear more news tomorrow. If he gets this, things are going to move at a whirlwind rate - like we'll be moved in six weeks! Yikes!! I'll keep you posted!

More stories and photos tomorrow!

We're headed off tomorrow morning for Oregon. This is a combo vacation/searching to move trip. We're going to spend time in Portland, Salem and the small towns along the coast - all with an eye to moving to OR!

Be back in a week or so with trip updates (and maybe wedding details - as I'm sure we'll discuss more on our trip!!)

No - it's not about Mike's job. Still no word there.

We haven't talked details at all at this point. I'll keep you posted! I was so shaky last night I could hardly walk. And today, I'm so distracted I can hardly focus on anything!!