Pure Beauty in my backyard

What a hike! I seriously got to witness this beautiful sunset. Do I live the dream or what. Pure beauty right outside my back door. Sometimes its hard for me to consider ever leaving this awesome place. I mean its like a hidden gem that no one really knows about. After being voted the number one city to live in by Outside Magazine this year, the word is spreading, but seriously. Just a peak into my weak. Be ready for Friday because we are making a fall Harvest Feast....Recipes & Pictures to come. Have a great week everyone. Get Outside!

Driving Home

After a wonderful weekend in Scottsdale with my family, we are making our way back to Utah. Our weekend was filled with so many fun things. I got to see my favorite person in the world, my grandma Myrt, And my cousin Adam, who I haven't seen in 3 years. Gabe and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary at a beautiful hotel and got a couples massage and lastly we got to celebrate my aunts 60rh birthday. What a fun weekend! 

My grandma is seriously my idol! I love her so much. It was amazing to see her and have her make it to my aunt debs bday. Cherish every moment you can with your family!!! It sure is a treat when I get to see them. 

On the ride home, I started to realize that I wasn't feeling too hot. Well thinking back, my mixture of events explains it all. First a day at the pool, with a few FULL strength beers and not a lot of sleep, and then a deep tissue massage (releasing tons and tons of toxins from my body) followed by a night of celebrating my aunts birthday- that explains it all. Being dehydrated and getting a massage followed with getting even more dehydrated is not very nice to do to your body. The deep tissue massage was amazing though! So nice and relaxing! I think I've drinken a lot of water to the point where it's annoying Gabe, stopping every hour to use the restroom facility! I've been spending some of this driving time tho looking up tips to do before a massage. So for next time Cassie.

 Check it out....

Massage Tips 

Remember, you are about to stimulate your body's most powerful system of detoxification. If you do not follow the recommended instructions given below, you may feel sick after receiving lymph massage. The lymphatic system is responsible for handling and neutralizing toxins and wastes created from food, pollution and our own body's daily cellular activities. It is also responsible for housing and transporting immune cells.

MASSAGE TIPS

Massage Tips Before your lymphatic treatment:

• Arrive at your appointment well hydrated. Dehydration will severely impair your ability to detoxify and rebuild and may make you feel ill.
• Expect to undress to your level of comfort but know that direct contact with the skin is always best. Tight clothing and under wire bras will make it difficult to get lymph moving.
• If you choose to wear clothing during your session, wear cotton underwear
• Arrive with an empty stomach or eat a light snack prior.Drainage will be performed in the deep abdomen and organs.
• Do NOT apply lotion to your skin prior to treatment. Dry skin contact is more effective for stimulating the stretch response needed by your lymph vessels.
• Do NOT drink alcohol or consume recreational drugs the night before or immediately after your session. Your liver will be responsible for detoxifying much of what the lymphatic system collects so please don't burden it before your session or you may feel quite sick afterwards.
• Plan and allow for a period of MOVEMENT immediately after your session. Your lymph collects toxins and places them into the blood stream for removal. 10 to 15 minutes of gentle movement and breathing is recommended such as a short walk before getting into your car after the session, walking your dog, or hitting the gym or a gentle yoga class is one of the most critical massage tips to follow.
• Plan and allow for a period of REST after treatment and movement if needed. Your body's resources and nutrients will go toward "cleaning up shop" and this may include an immune response to cleanse any bacteria or foreign cells that don't belong.Rest will allow the body to regenerate and heal.
• If you are already sick, fighting an illness, or recovering from illness, consider shortening your session or contact your therapist to identify the best time to receive lymph work. The first acute 24-48 hours of illness is NOT the appropriate time to receive massage. Be prepared for your immune system's increased response listed above!
• Use the restroom prior to getting on the table. No one likes to "hold it in" or run to the restroom in the middle of a relaxing Lymph Drainage session!

I'm feeling a lot better now. But for a good hour, I was not feeling well. I'm glad it's passed and over with. Tomorrow I will only be drinking water.

The Good things in life.

This is a picture of my hike today. How beautiful it is right now in the Mountains. The colors are a poppin like crazy! Today,  I woke up and hiked this! I love my life. Makes me happy to be alive! 

                                               It's a good day to be alive:)








                           

Favs of Portland

Portland was Amazing. Oregon is one of the most beautiful states I have ever been to. I was there for 4 complete days of awesomeness. I wanted to recap my adventure a little bit and go over a few of my favorite things about the city. 

I absolutely love that there's no Sales Tax. Unfortunately in Utah we have to deal with that :( It makes splitting checks easier, and it such a treat to read the price tag and pay actually that.

I love the fact that Cats are such a huge part of the demographic in Portland. Walk down the street for 5 minutes and your bound to see a cat. Cats are everywhere; boutiques, yards, walking along the paths. They even have an instagram hashtag called #portlandpussy. HA!

Green. Green. Green. This place is one of the greenest places I've seen besides Ireland. I love all the moss covered trees and green grass. The hikes were amazing. Even looking out into the blue ocean, look behind you and you have  view of a green forrest. The best of both worlds. Ahhhh.

I love the variety of the city. Lots to choose from. Lost of vegetarian/pescatarian restaurants. My favorite of all, lost of micro beers. Even at the gas stations. Full strength. Anyone that knows me, know I am a sucker for micro beers.

Portland is not Park City, in my meaning of that, I am trying to differ the closeness of the Mountains. Portland has mountains, but they are an hour away :( It's still such an outdoorsy place, but you have to get in your car and drive a little. Park City has the mountains int he back yard, something I think we take for granted here. I didn't mind at all that we had to drive to the mountain in Oregon, but what I loved about it, was that you still have a neat little city to play in. So again, the best of both worlds, its outdoorsy and somewhat of a hipsterishy, local, fun city.

I love the neighborhoods. They are so cute, real similar to Austin. In one neighborhood between Hathorne and Belmount (not quite sure), there is a huge sunflower in the middle of the street that they repaint every couple years. It covers the whole street. Its so cute. Theres chicken coops in some peoples yards. Stuff to look at. Eye candy. Artistic people.

Things you have to do in Portland

You have to check out Hathorne and Belmount neighborhoods and Mississippi Avenue!! Theres a store in Hathorne called House of Vintage and its the biggest thrift store I have ever been to. I was in heaven. Every time you would walk into a room, there would be another door to another room to check out. Absolutely loved it.

Go to the coast. Sands beach is amazing in Oswald State Park. The path to get down to the coast is beautiful and you walk through these huge trees. When you get to the beach you have green forrest surrounding you and a cool waterfall to your right. The sand is super soft and when the tides are low you have some neat tide pools to play in.

Check out Mount Hood! And on your way go to Trillium Lake. Its the coolest little lake ever. And you can walk around it and take tons of photos and soak up all the beauty. I wonder how many times that day I said, "this is so beautiful!" I wish I had a device to count for me.

Go to the Huckleberry Inn for a huckleberry shake. The town is close to mount hood in Government Camp. Super good. The foods nothing to rave about, but the shakes are awesome!!!

Visit a brewery while your in Oregon. I visited the Full Sail brewery and it was awesome. There everywhere.

Go to the Historic Timberline Lodge. Its on Mount hood and you get to see the cool views of the drive up of mount hood. They filmed the shining there. It was built in the 1930s. Beautiful place!

Go to the famous Burnside skatepark in Portland. I had to do this. The skatepark is featured in tons of skate videos and is world famous. Check!

Eat at Gravy on Mississippi Avenue for Breakfast. Its so good. It better be, because we waited an hour and half to eat!

Check out the Gorge. My experience was an intense, 6.9 mile hike called Dog Mountain Hike. It gives you great views of the hike and you can see everything. http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Dog_Mountain_Hike

Lots more to check out, but I'll be back to find more hidden treasures. Thanks to a good tour guide!

A peek @ the Pumpkin Art this Fall

Halloween!!!!  This is a nice little display of the start of my friend and I's masterpieces of the season. 

The pumpkin on the left has a gold glittler stem with some glow in the dark swirls. The middle pumpkin is another creation of the crayon wax being dribbled all over, mixing colors, with a purple glittery stem. The last one is from painters tape, taped on to your own liking of a design and then painted over with glitter. Here we did the chevron design. Our beautiful pumpkins dazzle up the room and we're still going to town. Get your Halloween on.