Pure Magic // Christmas 2017

This year was our first year traveling for Christmas since we moved to Portland 4 years ago. We went to Vegas to spend Christmas with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, mom, brother, and other brother-in-law. It was simply pure magic seeing Christmas through the eyes of a 1-year-old. Though I don't think she quite gets it yet, it was fun getting to experience her reactions and sweet personality during this spectacular time of year.

Before we left, Tim and I dressed up our tiny apartment with Christmas decorations that we're still enjoying ❤️🎄🎁

A fun little timelapse of Timmy and I decorating our apartment for the holidays! I love this magical, spectacular time of year. Head on over to the blog for more Christmas joy:

We arrived in Vegas wearing Christmas Vacation t-shirts I found on Amazon. Mine read "Why is the carpet all wet, Todd?" and his read "I don't know Margo." We thought we were hilarious at 4:30 a.m. when we had to arrive at the airport for our 6 a.m. flight. But no one noticed the shirts except one flight attendant and our family. 😂 Oh well, at least we got a kick out of it. I'm bummed we didn't take any pictures wearing them together, but I felt kinda gross after flying and wasn't too thrilled about the concept of picture-taking that day 😉 Tim took pictures galore of Mila, however. You're welcome:

We mostly stayed in and spent lots of quality time together catching up, baking, and drinking wine 🍷 The first night we arrived we made at least 100 peanut clusters (seriously one of my favorites) and what my sister calls "Christmas Crack," our family's delicious toffee (Tim approved, which says a lot considering he's a toffee connoisseur). 😋

My sister & brother-in-law's friends came over for Christmas Eve dinner (we had tamales 😋) and brought their adorable daughter, Charlotte, who's only a month younger than Mila. The two of them together are a crack up. Charlotte LOVES Mila, but Mila wasn't too sure about all the affection. They still ended up having fun sporting their matching jammies and exchanging gifts 🎁

Christmas Eve night we all got cozy in our matching jammies (thanks, Mom!), played the oven-mitt gift game (it was hilarious), and watched Christmas Vacation. It was perfect ❤️

Christmas morning came fast and swift. We woke up and enjoyed coffee, cinnamon rolls, and bagels with cream cheese and lox. We exchanged gifts and helped Mila open hers. My favorite Mila gift was her cute kitchen set. Just look at that farmhouse sink!  It's ridiculous how cute it is.

Spending time with family always goes by way too quickly. But we definitely cherished it while we were all together. I hope your Christmas was just as magical as ours! 

Lavender is Life

Last weekend, Tim and I braved the 100℉ weather and ventured out to Oregon City for the Lavender Festival at the Oregon Lavender Farm. With views of Mount Hood and bright purple lavender all around us, it was so, so beautiful. Not to mention the scent! Imagine taking a luxurious lavender-soaked bath - that's what the fragrance was like walking through the fields.

A post shared by Bre 💕 thisdaintylife.com (@thisdaintylife) on Jun 26, 2017 at 12:22pm PDT

While wandering the farm listening to the awesome local bands, I sipped on lavender lemonade, which is probably the most refreshing drink I've ever had - yes, it was really that good. I mean, just look at the photo from my Instagram! The festival also hosted vendors - everything from handmade rugs, jewelry, and artwork to candles and natural beauty products. There was lavender wreath making and a distillation demonstration, which was so interesting! I've read about the process, but I've never seen it in person.

Tim and I also enjoyed lavender beer and lavender cider - serious yum. And on our way out we picked up a Killa Dilla, a quesadilla larger than our faces, to share 😋 It was absolutely delicious. We ordered the "basic dilla," which comes with mozzarella, cabbage, marinated red onions, and a "secret tangy dressing," and we added grilled veggies. Holy moly, you guys. I can't do its tastiness justice.

As the title of this blog post suggests, I use lavender constantly, so I thought I'd share how I work it into my daily and weekly routine.

My favorite ways to use lavender essential oil:

1. Combine your favorite non-scented, natural lotion with one drop of lavender to moisturize and treat yourself to a little at-home spa experience 💜
2. Put one drop into your mascara bottle to support strong, healthy lashes 💜
3. Diffuse 3-4 drops at night to aid sound sleeping or make a pillow spray with it for the same benefits 💜
4. Add 2-3 drops to your laundry detergent, especially when washing sheets or towels 💜
5. Add 3 drops to your wool dryer balls when drying laundry 💜
6. Use a roller bottle to experience lavender's calming properties on-the-go 💜

Do you love lavender essential oil? What are your favorite ways to use it?

Mila & Malbec

Tim and I took a last-minute trip to Northern California to spend some time with my family. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that my sister just had her first baby (the first grandbaby and niece on my side of the family!), and Mila is already 7 months old (time seriously flies!). It was planned pretty quickly, so Tim and I just decided to road trip down. It was a weekend filled with mama, sibling, and cousin time, as well as delicious food and elegant wine.

It's safe to say Mila was the star of the show for the 60 hours we were there, and rightly so! Her predisposition to laughter and sweetest double dimples make you just want to have a monopoly over cuddling her all day every day. Luckily there weren't too many arguments over whose turn it was to hold her ;)

Sunday was wine tasting day at Honig Vineyard & Winery, always the best hosts! They took us on a fabulous tour of their vineyard's operations and then walked us through an amazing tasting complete with cheese and a few extra on-the-house tastes. Needless to say, Sunday was my favorite <3

On the tour, we got to take a peek into the barrel room where they house wine from floor to ceiling (my happy place!). We finished our Honig tasting experience in a private room with beautiful views and even better company.

I have to admit the title of this post is a little misleading... Honig doesn't yet provide Malbec, but they were just about to plant Malbec grapes when we were there! That's why the view outside of the private tasting room looks empty and brown; they were prepping the land for more great wine.

Time goes by way too fast with the little ones, so we took this opportunity to snap a few family photos. Look at those cheeks!

After our amazing tasting experience, we had an absolutely mouth-watering picnic with deli sandwiches, chocolate-covered cherries, bread and artichoke dip, swedish fish, and other random goodies that tasted even better with our Honig bottles of wine ;)

Family is so important. Even more so as it grows and flourishes. I'm so happy we were able to spend some quality time with my mom, siblings, and little miss Mila Moo Moo (yes, she's going to hate that nickname when she's older), even if it was too short. I love them so much! Now just gotta convince them all to move to the gorgeous PNW ;)