PORTLAND, OREGON!

At the beginning of June, Ryan and I will be packing up our house and our kitties and driving allllll the way across the country from Atlanta to Portland. I can hardly believe it! We found out on Friday afternoon that Ryan matched at OHSU for his residency-- and we're thrilled! IN a bit of shock, but really thrilled. I'm so proud of my husband. This whole medical school thing has been such a long road, and it's amazing to be coming to the end of it, knowing that a job as a doctor is waiting in Oregon for him. It's really amazing.

This is where we were when we found out about the match:

Haha. We drove down to the Florida panhandle on Friday to go to the beach, and we were in southern Alabama when 1pm rolled around (match time!!) So we pulled off the highway and parked ourselves next to a gas station and this shut-down BBQ joint. It was the funniest place ever to find out the big news.

Once we'd recovered a bit, we continued on our way, and we finally got to to gulf coast! It was beautiful. We walked on the beach on Saturday morning in the fog:

And then it got bright and sunny! We spent the day lounging on the beach, and I even bought a new bikini! It was a fantastic way to celebrate.

We saw this fantastic bird on a walk on Sunday morning:

It was about 3 1/2 feet tall! It was standing on the shore amongst a bunch of people walking around, and then it heaved up on those spindly legs and flew away. So cool. We saw a bunch of dolphins, too. Wildlife adventure!!

We even found a cat:

It lived at the hotel. I wanted to bring it home, but Ryan said no. Boo hoo.

We had lovely dinners on the beached and asked a southern Spring Break-er to take our picture (it was full-on Spring Break down there on Saturday, man oh man! Complete with a college dude in a bright red speedo and a cowboy hat strutting around and a keg buried in the sand. Awesome.):

And we saw this, too:

Gotta love the South.

And I spied this lovely joint from the car on the drive home (still in Alabama):

Too bad I won't get to take any more photos of places like this once we live in Oregon. Oh well. :)

All in all it was a fabulous and celebratory weekend, and I'm excited that we know where the next phase will take us now!!

Need some cute holiday gift tags? Let me help!

If you'd like to print these festive tags that I made, just click on the image above. It'll take you to a high-res, printable 8.5x11" version of the tags. Then you can print to your heart's content and make all your gifts look a little cuter.

I recommend printing on card stock for a nice, sturdy tag.

I hope you enjoy them!

Have you finished your shopping yet? I haven't. I need to get on it. Only 11 days to go until Christmas!

Oh, and did you see this tutorial over on Creature Comforts? LOVE. I can't resist glitter and teeny animals, so this is right up my alley. I'm going to the craft store to get supplies asap.

Like I mentioned last week, my good friend Khristian Howell organized an amazing artist auction this holiday season, all of the proceeds of which will be donated to charity. (Because it's good to give back, yo!)

Well, the auction begins TODAY! In fact, you can head over and bid on the first set of artsy items right now. I've got some coasters in the mix today:

There will be a new batch of wonderful items to bid on each day starting this morning, and the auction will run for one week. 100% of the proceeds will be donated via Charity Choice to the American Humane Society, Toys for Tots, and the American Red Cross.

Please help us to spread the word via Twitter and Facebook! You can even use the promo flyer above to use on blog posts about the event if you'd like.

The highest bidder for each day's auction will get a fantastic new treasure (and can also feel great for helping contribute to these amazing organizations who act in the spirit of giving each and every day.)

Here's to a happy and healthy holiday season full of generosity and good cheer. :)