If you caught my last blog post I've had some exciting changes in my life as of recent. Even better, I got to kick off my new life adventure with nearly a month on my favorite coast! It was so wonderful to be home to relax and regroup a little, all without having my departure looming over my head. Somehow the month still flewwww by but I did get some quality family time in, which I SO needed! Here are some of the highlights of my trip!

Portland

I kicked off my west coast tour in one of my favorite cities with some of my absolute favorite people -- the PERFECT combo!

It's always so much fun visiting Portland! I may have only lived there for a year, but it always brings back great memories.

Little Duck and I put our walking shoes on and had such a fun adventure! It's probably good we walked a lot too because we followed our amazing breakfast with donuts and cupcakes. #NoShame. Okay, well we saved the donuts for later, but hey, when in Portland enjoy the food!

After an awesome day. We united with our other lovely ladies and enjoyed a fun night out! We checked out a delicious little Italian spot in the Pearl District that was dishing up some seriously good bites and then we headed to the Nutcracker! The last time I had seen the Nutcracker, Little Duck probably wasn't even up to my shoulder in height, so you know it has been a LONG time! It was such a nice holiday treat and I'm so thankful that the Hardersens invited me to join them! 

For our last day in the city, we visited my all-time favorite Portland spot, Pine State Biscuits! Nom, nom, nom! Followed by some shopping at some seriously cool home stores including City Home -- LOVED this place!

Enumclaw

After our amazing trip in Portland, we headed back north! My mom recently moved back to my hometown so it was so wonderful to break in the new digs! We hosted the whole fam for Christmas and it was a great time catching up with everyone!

We even got a little bit of a *White Christmas*! Barely, but enough to say we did ;-) After Christmas I worked quite a bit, which doesn't make for that exciting of blog posts buttt I did capture this work-from-home day with my dad! We have matching hats because we're cool like that.

Fast forward a little bit and Chris headed west for a visit. Almost as soon as he arrived, we headed up north to Vancouver B.C. for a little getaway.

Vancouver, B.C.

I've been wanting to visit Vancouver B.C. for awhile so we decided to finally make it happen! Surprisingly, even though it's only about 3 hours away, I'd never been so it was some new scenery for the both of us.

Normally I'd do a lot of research on visiting a new city, but for this trip we kind of winged it by just booking a hotel and some great suggestions from a friend.

If there's two takeaways I have from our visit.. it is that Vancouver people are some of the friendliest I've ever met and man is the city beautiful! 

Seattle

Following our Vancouver trip, we also made a trip up to Seattle. Aww, love this city so much.

It may have been a little chilly, but the day was gorgeous so we hit up Alki Beach. I just love the views over there.. oh and the donuts weren't bad either!

We also checked out an Oregon Ducks bar for our bowl game. The bar was a lot of fun and it was awesome to see so many Ducks fans in Seattle. The game ended up being an epic bust though sooo we'll just skim over that fact!

And Back to Enumclaw!!

For the rest of my trip I mostly stayed local for some more family time and a few Seahawks games! Plus I got to be home for my mom's birthday (the first one since I was 18) soooo that was really nice too! 

It was such a great trip, although still somehow not long enough! I think being home so long almost threw me off in a weird way! If plans had to get pushed around I was thinking, "oh no problem, we'll get together later" and then poof! Suddenly there wasn't time for later. So to those I didn't see, or see enough of. I'll be home again soon! :)

Happy holidays everyone! You may have noticed it's been a quiet month on the blog and it's all been for good reason. Big life decisions reasons! Yeah, I know! 

So after a lot of behind-the-scenes decisions, I'm ready to share some of the dets! You ready?

Okay, after 6 years of being at my current position in my day job, I've decided to take the leap and try something a little different. Insert excited/sad/ambitious/nervous and surreal feelings here. I've had such an amazing tenure in my position and have been so lucky to have had a boss who has not only shown me the ropes of the industry but who has been integral to pushing me to try things a little out of my comfort zone -- she is the one who encouraged me to take a chance on NYC after all! When I was hired on as an intern in the dead of the recession in Portland, I had no idea where this journey would take me and I could never have predicted it would bring me where I am today! And I am SO thankful that my boss took a chance on little bright-eyed college senior Anna. The opportunities, the colleagues turned friends and family, the amazing clients -- I'll forever be grateful for it all. 

So what's next?! Dun, dun, dun! I'm going to be taking a walk on the wild side.. I'm starting my own freelance biz called Bold & Pop! 🎉 

As most of you know, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and while NYC is great a lot of the time, those 2,500+ miles are always tough to swallow and after 5 years those drives to the airport to head back and say goodbye never get easier. Just the thought of it makes me tear up.. It's kind of been a constant battle for me. The struggle between missing home and the things that matter with family but then also not wanting to give up the life I've built for myself and those in it in the city has been a constant tug-of-war that never seems to have a winner. 

Which brings me to freelancing. A few years ago around this time at Christmas I made a promise to my mom that by the end of 2016 I would either move home or be bi-coastal. I had no idea how or if I'd be able to keep that promise but from that moment forward it's always been stuck in the back of my mind. Fast forward to this year when the timing just felt right for making a change and taking a chance. And that chance for me is freelancing in the social media, branding and web design world! 

The really awesome thing about the my field of work is I can do it anywhere my laptop is! Whichhh, will allow me to have a little bit of both of my worlds! Can I get a WOH HOH! Want to know my second woh hoh? I'm kicking off this dream with almost a month on the west coast. Yes, a whole 26 days! Cue those surreal/excited/nervous feelings again! 

I still have a ways to go before I can say I've met my goal but I'm dreaming big, taking a chance and putting one step in front of the other to make this dream a reality. You never know what can happen if you never try right?! I can't wait to see where this next journey will take me and I can't thank everyone who has been so supportive of me over the past few months while I've been working through my ideas on this decision. Bring it on 2016, I'm ready for what is next! And if you have any projects you could use my skills on you know how to find me 😉 hint, hint! 

This burger might change the way you look at burgers. Yes, seriously. Chris and I discovered the Bondurants' Pimento Burger and let's just say our burger game has changed a little. Bondurants is an awesome neighborhood spot that features small batch bourbons, local distilleries, a draft list the rotates and some banging food.

Meet our new favorite burger on the Upper East Side in all of its pimento cheese, lettuce, pickled green tomato, hot sauce (this is key) and pretzel bun goodness.

The key things that set this burger apart with some southern flair are 3 things -- the hot sauce, pimento cheese and pickled green tomato. Combined together they give a nice kick to your mouth that compliments the burger perfectly. Add in the pretzel bun and you've got a seriously delicious burger. Just try it. You need to.

That's not all though. They make these tots.. that are unlike any tots you have had before. They are handcrafted and all sorts of delicious. They're bigger than what you are used to and once you take one bite dipped in their spicy ranch or ketchup you'll be hooked. We've been here a couple of times by now and vowed to try some of the other options on their shares menu, but we just can't get away from them! So tasty.

If you're a burger lover like I am it's worth the trip uptown (or down the street for me) to check them out. Eat up!