A Note to Self | Projects I must complete before school starts [Prelude]

The struggle is real when you are so bored, or so hot, you just want to lay on the ground and shout to the world in frustration of how bored you are. That basically summed up this past week for me at home. It's funny because I wrote that post about the picnics, but even if you do ask a friend...their body has already shut down haha (but I actually do encourage picnics...if anyone is available). Anyways...SO. I have a mission. My mission is to complete at least 10 projects I have pinned or thought of or have seen on a blog (shown below), and of course I will be sharing this "exciting, not-boring" journey with all of y'alls! So hold on tight folks, cause Naomi (and hopefully Angela will be doing these with me) is(are) tackling this mission with lighting speed!

1. Pick flowers and give them to the others

2. Re-style my knock-off vans with some pretty flowers

found on: Always Rooney

3. Faire une cuoronnes de fleurs fraîches (I felt so fancy saying this) Translated: make a crown of fresh flowers (also notice this flower trend going on here heh)

found on: La Mariée Aux Pieds Nus

4. Fancy up a mug with a watercolor effect

found on: Free People BLDG 25 blog

5. DIY a photo light box

found on: Flax & Twine

6. Make a paper strawberry garland

found on: Studio DIY

7. Donut ice cream sandwiches

found on: Paper & Stitch

8. Ice cream cake!

found on: Food 52

9. Make a temporary tattoo

found on: A Subtle Relvery

10. Decorate a pot

found on: A Beautiful Mess

So these are the projects I am aiming to do, but definitely not limited to. Can't wait to get started!!!

Experiences as an Oregano; Portland Edition

We eventually made our way up to Portland, where we explored the downtown area. Along 10th street there are some really great antique/vintage shops. Unfortunately, prices ran a bit high, as they tend to with vintage stores, but that didn't make it any less fun to browse the selection of things.

I can't remember the intersection exactly, but there is a Goodwill that is literally called "Goodwill on 10th" and it is where the Goodwill's in that area send all the items that are "designer". It was fairly quiet in the store (it honestly felt a little like a museum haha) so I didn't take many pictures because the shutter of my camera sounded like Godzilla walking through a forest.

My mother purchased a cute little Russian teapot that I was able to take a photo of. Stay tuned for said teapot in...
10
9
8
7
Just kidding, I won't go all the way down to 0. Naomi would slap me for being ridiculous.

While in the area, we stopped by the International Rose Test Garden. WARNING: it is very hard to drive in the streets there, so if you every find yourself wanting to go, be sure you either have a GPS or a passenger with a keen eye for direction. 

There is this beautiful amphitheater that is tucked away behind many shrubs. I'd definitely make the effort to find it again though, I think it was one of the highlights of my trip. 

Experiences as an Oregano; Eugene Edition

Hello! I recently went to Oregon with my family and had some experiences to share.

A couple of weeks ago when trying to reserve a hotel, we were baffled when we were unable to find anything in Eugene. Ended up opting for a small town called Halsey, which put us about half an hour north of Eugene and an hour south of Portland. Fast forward to finally reaching Eugene, we discovered that the International Track Finals were taking places there. Was an added plus through our adventures through the small town to encounter folks from all over the world.

If you are ever in Eugene, I'd highly recommend checking out the Saturday Morning Market. It is a huge town tradition that has been ongoing since the 70's and it's safe to say a good 90% of the locals come out every weekend. Whether your purpose is to sell, buy, or just hang out, it is quite the event. Huge shout out to the dedicated and creative people running the booths! Here were a few of my favorites:

Where'd the shirts go?!

A booth entirely dedicated to hand-made bow ties from a very wide variety of fabrics. You can see a few in the corner there. 

Necklaces of carved quarters. Wonder how much it costed to make them...

(Oops, lame joke, sorry :3)

A lovely woman who makes even lovelier pies. My brother and I split one of the mini-ones and it was gone in approximately 2.5 seconds. 

There was also a booth where a man had a huge assortment of home decor, jewelry, and other nick knacks made entirely out of recycled materials. Was too shy to take a picture because this guy's cool-level was out of the roof, but you'll just have to take my word that it was awesome. 

Later that night we had dinner and a neat pizza place and got the legendary Voodoo Doughnut for dessert. Yes, yes it did live up to it's reputation. :') 

(Picture feat. my mom and dad)

These were just a few highlights of the days we spent there. Overall, Eugene...scratch that, the entirety of Oregon is filled with people with a very sunny disposition. Kindness was a commodity and one that was well appreciated :) 

Appreciating Picnics

What's better than eating, spending a good time with friends, and going outside for once? Nothing. Okay..maybe a few things--but during the summer, we often find ourselves sprawled out on the couch, binge watching TV shows, snackin', maybe spending too much time on Tumblr or Pinterest, or just flat out bored. Picnics are a lovely way of just stepping outside for once, having a conversation face to face, and doing what we all love...eating! The next time you feel bored at home, call up a friend, pack some snacks + drinks and set out for a picnic! You could even start early, and do a breakfast picnic :-)

Enjoy & Fair winds,  
Naomi Fuad and Angela Phung

A Sendoff Party

It's Naomi here! This past week I had the privilege of helping plan my cousin's sendoff party to Africa! All the credit + hard work should really go to my aunt & uncle, but I had a lot of fun discussing the decorations with them, and then furthermore, creating the final product. I've compiled a few photos taken from my iPhone highlighting the key pieces I was "in charge of".

1. The "Guest Book Table"-- You may notice later down this post that the color palette was very neutral and consisted of many shades of browns. To stray away from that a bit, I wanted this table to be a little more vibrant and exude more of the cultural aspects you may view in Africa. My aunt had these beautiful blankets/tablecloths/whatever you want to call them laying around and they were a perfect fit for what I was envisioning. One more aspect I wanted to encompass is where my cousin was going--South Sudan. And so I had the flag under the basket full of cards, and I also made them for the bunting, using colored paper and sharpie. The final and very last (and also my favorite) part of this table was having the guests highlight their favorite Bible verse, so that my cousin would be able to look through all of them during his time in South Sudan.

 

2. Centerpieces--As I had previously stated, the color palette we were going for was a very neutral color palette consisting of a lot of browns. My aunt emphasized that she didn't want much color or anything extravagant, since my cousin was not going anywhere fancy nor full of vibrant botany. It was also important that we kept the centerpieces a little dry looking..and that we did. A few days before the party, I went on a walk and picked up sticks + the flowers shown in a dead field. I'm pretty sure they were either weeds or a crazy invasive plant.

Tip: Not an expert on flowers nor am I an expert on floral arrangements, but I discovered on my walk that there are plenty of flowers up for grabs. With clippers, take a walk and clip what looks good to you for an arrangement. Flower can be expensive, so this is a great alternative as long as you're not clipping off of private property or your neighbors or something aha

The arrangement consisted of 3 sticks, a few of the flowers, and a filler (short leafy flower plant I found on the walk as well). Not wanting too many flowers, I did take the small white flowers off of the short leafy flower plant. By the time it was party time, these flowers were d-e-a-d. Now you're probably thinking why didn't you just put water in the jars? Well…keeping with the dry look, my aunt didn't want any water, but that's okay!

This has been really too much talking, but here's a summary of the other elements: burlap + smaller mason jar w/ sand & candle + cutout of Africa w/ mark pointing where my cousin was going & a verse + a cross made with smaller sticks. So yup! That was all! I enjoyed taking part of this creative process, and I can't wait for future projects!

Cheers to this g a t h e r i n g and many more to come!

Enjoy & Fair Winds,

Naomi Fuad and Angela Phung

DIY Mason Jar Tumblers || ft. berr(y) peach soda!

After a year of wanting to do this little project, I finally got around to doing it! Perfect for myself and others, these lovelies make perfect gifts!

note: I was a bit lazy and didn't feel like taking the tripod out, so you may notice that the camera's a little shaky :P 

Enjoy & Fair Winds,

Naomi Fuad and Angela Phung