Chaps

Cowgirl & Cowboy go to Chaps

This past Thursday Joe & I had another day off together. I have been bugging him for a long time to take me to Chaps, a cute little vintage inspired cafe. I think I first came across Chaps when I was reading up on Farm Chicks last year. I saw a picture of the inside and fell in love with it. Ever since, I've wanted to check it out for myself.

Here is the entrance. Chaps hanging on the wall to your right...

...and horse paintings hung on walls that were covered with scraps of old wall paper, sheets of music, recipe cards, and pages from vintage books.

We were seated in the corner, right next to picture of "Chief Joe", no joke.

Old wood flooring hung on the walls? or is that old house siding? Which ever, I love it. And I love the gold crown molding. Not sure if I would ever have it in my house, but it looks great with the black ceiling.

Our water came in jars! So cute!

cowboy is getting hungry!

ye-haw, lunch is served!

Mac-n-cheese & Chicken Quesadilla

Whenever a restaurant offers Mac-n-cheese on their menu, you know it's going to be good! Everything was Awesome! including their fresh salsa! yum

Sandpoint, Idaho

Joe & I both had a day off last week (which doesn't happen very often), so we decided to take a little day trip...

On our way to Sandpoint, ID: 1.5 hours from Spokane

Beautiful Pacific Northwest

Postcard I bought to send my Mom.

The reason I wanted to make the trip!

I found a piece very similar to this at Marketplace Antiques that I fell in LOVE with! (I took these pictures off of ebay) A vintage POST OFFICE mailbox; hundreds of little doors on one side and open cubbies on the other. What a perfect room divider this would make! Both sides are equally as interesting. The one I saw at Martketplace was a little deeper so you could use the top as a shelf if you wanted to. I want it! I can't stop thinking about it. Unfortunately, it's quite pricey and quite honestly we don't have room in our apartment for it.

...of course I could always find a spot for it! ;)

Instead I bought an old tackle box. I love organizing things and I figured it would be great for my craft room. For now though, it works as Joe's catch-all.

Off to the Beach to enjoy the Sunny day...

Who needs to go to NY to see the Statue of Liberty?

Sittin' in the sand, soaking up the rays

Lunch time...pizza and a pitcher of beer

Dessert anyone? We decided to try this little cafe right next to Marketplace Antiques. Everything on their menu is Homemade and they're known for their huge selection of pies. Yummy!

To end the day: Sunset from our apartment balcony

Bowl & Pitcher

Last month, Joe's brother Noel was in town from New York. It was so nice to visit with him, considering I had only met him one other time for a brief 1/2 hour when Joe & I started dating. (I had just gotten to Spokane to visit Joe and Noel was catching a plane back to NY an hour later) This time, I was lucky enough to have a day off while he was here and the four of us (Joe, Noel, Lill, and I) went on an afternoon hike at the Bowl & Pitcher. (a State Park located minutes from Joe's mom & dad's.)

It was a perfect day to be outside:

SuNsHiNe, FLoWeRs, MoSs, FLoWiNg WaTeR, FrESh AiR, chirping BiRds,

did I mention SuNsHiNe!!!

I'm hoping Noel gets a chance to visit again this year...he's such a pleasure to be around. He's so energetic and gives off such a positive aura. I would love to pick his creative brain and wish he was here when I needed some creative inspiration. ...As we were hiking, Noel kept on picking up little pieces of moss. I asked him why he was collecting them and he said he's been working on live terrarium center pieces for a restaurant back in NY. Weird, b/c just a couple of weeks ago while on a hike with Joe, I brought home a branch covered in moss. Of course Joe thought I was crazy and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I just have always loved bright green moss. I tried standing it up in a vase, but it just looked silly. It ended up sitting on our dinning room table and started to turn brown and I eventually threw it away. Now I have an itch to create a terrarium!

Here is a cute one I found in one of my Country Living magazines,

made from old picture frames: