On Things [I like that] You Might Enjoy.

It's not exactly Friday, but high fives all around. Here is a compilation of things I like that you might find enjoyable as well.

1. For a laugh... "My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter" is a Pinterest board featuring Tiffany's fake daughter, Quinoa, her BFF Chevron, and the most hilarious captions.

For example:

2. For inspiration... "What People Need" by Glennon at Momastery.

"You will get into the car and sit for a few minutes and marvel about how God can use any idiot anywhere. About how whether we’re with our kids or without our kids or in an office or traffic or a makeup chair we are always RIGHT IN FRONT of somebody who needs love. And how we don’t have to be dramatic about it. Because while it’s a wonderful thing to do – we don’t have to go to a refugee camp to serve others. The whole damn world is a refugee camp.  We are misplaced, certainly. Every person I’ve ever met is much too precious for this precarious place. And these “first world problems” that folks keep snarking about can still be really big freaking problems."

3. For a happy belly... I used this recipe (with minor modifications) to make Coffee-Encrusted Steak last night. It was a HUGE hit with the husband. HUGE.

4. For a grammar lesson... "Second Graders Correct Tweets from NFL Players and It's Magical" is a few months old, but still hilarious.

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5. To redeem chainsaw art... We saw this guy getting his chainsaw art on at the Reedsport Chainsaw Carving Competition last week. He is a true artist among those who perpetually over-saturate the market with grinning bears, fish, and eagles.

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I hope you all are having a fabulous week so far! What interesting things (blog posts, photos, pins, etc.) have you found around the internet lately?

On [the Oregon Edition of] Kelly's Favorite Things.

Adam and I are self-proclaimed foodies, and we especially love finding superb local ingredients and treats. Here are three of our favorite things, all from our home state of Oregon!

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Moonstruck Chocolate.
This chocolate is freaking gold, guys. My first experience with it was when I was living in Missouri and Adam was in Oregon. He mailed me some and I fell in love...with the chocolate!

Our favorite is Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Almond, but you can't go wrong with the classic Dark Chocolate. We haven't even tried any of their truffles, but I'm sure they're amazing.

Every grocery shopping trip we check if it is on sale, and almost every night we find ourselves drinking hot tea and nibbling on this chocolate. I told Adam he should hide it from me so I don't gobble it all up at once.

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Jacobsen Salt.
I got this salt for Adam's birthday, but I find myself using it instead of all the other salt options in our house when cooking. I also ordered the sliding tin of finishing salt for him, but it wasn't in the package. I contacted the company and they sent us TWO sliding tins. Hello, customer service! We are quite pleased.

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Tillamook Cheese.
I'm actually not a big cheese person, but I can't help but love a good cheddar melted in a quesadilla, grilled cheese, or atop tortilla chips.

I remember seeing Tillamook cheese in the specialty cheese section of grocery stores when I lived in Missouri, never failing to make me miss the Northwest. It's in the regular cheese section here!

We pretty much always are eating our way through a baby loaf of this stuff in our fridge. We hope to go visit the Tillamook Cheese factory at some point while we are living here in Oregon.


Have you tried any of these yummies from Oregon? What are your favorite local products?

*No, I'm not getting free product, paid, or reimbursed for posting nice things about these products, but I wouldn't be opposed to the idea, since they are all delicious.

On Strawberries, Strawberry Jam, and [SO MANY] Strawberries.

It's strawberry season in Oregon, and there was much rejoicing.

I joined some other cool people on an expedition to the strawberry patches on Monday. Together we picked dozens of buckets of strawberries. Dozens.

For hours on Tuesday morning I washed, hulled, froze, blended, and ate strawberries, because they were OH SO RIPE, and I didn't want to lose a single strawberry.

I used this recipe to make freezer jam using my kitchen aid (my seminary graduation present).

And for dessert on date night: Strawberry Short-tinis.

Do you pick berries or fruit where you live? Do you make anything with them, freeze them, or just gobble them all up while they're fresh?