As I’m sure you’ve gathered by now, I am an avid gardener! Nothing beats getting up early on a Saturday morning and getting my hands dirty! So I made sure to mark my calendar for the first Saturday in May, which kicked-off the Newberg High School Plant Sale! The sale is open from 9am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday throughout the month of May.
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you get to spend time with your love ones today and eat all the mash potatoes, turkey, and cranberry sauce you want! The Renaissance Man and I are heading to my parents house this afternoon and will be partaking in a small family event. It always feels good to be with family this time of year!
Can you smell the lavender? The Willamette Valley Lavender Festival was celebrated this weekend all across the Willamette Valley with fields upon fields of blooming lavender. One of the main events was held at the Chehalem Valley Cultural Center so we made sure to stop by on Saturday morning to check it out.
Our neighbor always has the inside track when it comes to fun wine tasting events. She’s a tasting room manager and knows just about everyone in the industry! So when we were coming up with our itinerary Memorial Day Weekend she mentioned an event we just had to attend…a special tasting at the Historic Medici Vineyard Estate.
This weekend is the second to last weekend to visit the Newberg High School Plant Sale! All through the month of May, the Horticulture Program at Newberg High School is selling plants on Friday and Saturday from 9am-5pm. The Renaissance Man and I picked up some hanging baskets for our Mom’s on Mother’s Day, and I’ll be going back this weekend to get some vegetable starts for our garden, and a few hanging baskets of our own! So many beautiful colors!
May 1st was exciting!!!
We celebrated the Opening Ceremony of the Chehalem Cultural Center 2015 Focus Culture in downtown Newberg. The focus culture this year is The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, which is near and dear to my heart because The Renaissance Man is a tribal member.
The ceremony started with a drum song given by tribal members and was followed with a welcome speech given by Rob Dailey, the Director of the Chehalem Cultural Center. It’s so neat that the Chehalem Cultural Center decided to reach out to The Tribe and feature them as a focus culture. The story of the Willamette Valley and Newberg is also a story about tribal members. Bob Andrews, The Mayor of Newberg, was also part of the ceremony and he gifted The Tribe a “Key to The City.” The Renaissance Man then gave a short speech about the importance of this collaboration and the healing it helps to facilitate within the community.
I was so happy to finally attend The Newberg Camellia Festival! Last year we were out of town when it happened, so I made sure to get the date on the calendar early so we didn’t miss out. For those of you not familiar with the Camellia Festival, it offers an exploration of Asian-Pacific Rim cultures through art, food, performances, and horticulture.
Some of our “chosen family” was in town at the end of February, and yes I know it’s almost the end of March, but I had to share. They’re huge foodies from the East Coast, and so we decided it was time to finally try out The Painted Lady. The Renaissance Man and I have been hearing about The Painted Lady since we moved to Dundee and I can tell you that the rave reviews were well earned!
We had an eight o’clock dinner reservation and the whole upstairs room of the house to ourselves. What’s neat about the location is the charm of the old Victorian house. The house is part of the “painted lady movement” thus the restaurant’s name, The Painted Lady.
Last Friday night, The Renaissance Man and I both got off work late…it was a loooonnnggg week.
By the time we had dinner, it was already after 7pm, but I really wanted to go into Newberg and explore First Friday! Despite wanting to stay home and hunker down, I managed to successfully convince The Renaissance Man to join me. When we arrived downtown, we popped in and out of a few shops and then wandered into Valley Wine Merchants.
Shopping for holiday gifts can be so much fun! Especially if you keep things local.
This year we decided to purchase gifts that showcase our new home town and the bounty of the Willamette Valley. With that in mind, it gave me an excuse to go exploring places that I haven’t had a chance to visit. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about the Rain Dance Marketplace, so last Saturday we made a point to drive out OR219 to find the “Red Barn!”
