BabyOregonian, Musings, Tidbits About Us

fourOregonians!

September 23, 2015

First it was just us two.

Then three.

Then our hearts broke when we thought four was certain…but life held other mysteries.

Now, sweet little four is due to join us in the short, cold days of winter, and we’re living in the joy of anticipation.

I’ve been so angsty these past four months: unsure of how to process, unsure of how to celebrate, unsure of how to share the news.

My heart hurts even right now for dear friends carrying the weight of bitter pain while I get to post this cheery note.

For every pregnancy announcement popping up, I’m acutely aware that another heart somewhere is stinging with loss.

For every pair of baby shoes joining the row of family sneakers, every gaggle of blue/pink balloons soaring into the air, every double line on a stick that was, let’s face it, involved in someone’s trip to the toilet, for every happy due date…there is another someone’s disappointing goodbye to the fertility specialist, a punch-in-the-gut ultrasound sending parents spinning into darkness, a purchased pack of pads for blood spilled much too early. Continue Reading…

Short and Sweet and Scattershot

You Know What’s Long Overdue?

June 30, 2015

A good post.

One about adventures and food and family and friends.

Here’s the thing: I have two dozen stacked up in my brain, and each day ends without the spare minutes to write them down. (And no, I didn’t manage to put today’s leap second to use, either.)

But I’ll tell you what’s coming when the dust finally settles around here:

A surprise trip to Los Angeles.

A new backyard studio for my Landscape Architecture practice.

A successful Summer PDX Food Swap.

A little Peach who is nearly two years old and funnier by the day.

A husband who is SIX WEEKS away from being finished with grad school forever!

#✈ ️ #americafromtheair #twoOtoLA

A photo posted by bethany rydmark (@bethanyrydmark) on

 

The little snippets make it to Instagram.

For now, that’s where you’ll find me. And one random hour, when you least expect it, another honest to goodness blog post will pop up right here…

xx Bethany

P.S. I think you’re swell for keeping in touch and reading along.

Musings, Oregon, Portland, Tidbits About Us

Over the City and Through the Fir Trees

May 10, 2015

Full circle.

Back to the upper gardens of The Grotto…

My first visit: fall 2011, before flying away into a wild unknown. Most recently: late afternoon, in a tiny hollow of the week. Ted, relieved to take a break from finals. Me, momentarily disconnected from project deadlines and life juggling. Lucie, happy to walk and scamper on her own.

Sunbeams streaming low, over the city and through the fir trees. A stolen few hours awash in quiet calm… Continue Reading…

Food, Portland

So These Guys from Budapest Walk into a Portland Coffee Shop…

April 23, 2015

That’s it. No punchline. They walked into a Portland coffee shop, bought me an iced latte, and invited me to share pictures of food. Next thing you know, I’m cooking shrimp and sharing a photo of it on their beta app.

I love my life.

Slow cooker sweet corn polenta and chili lime shrimp, made today and shared (virtually) with my new friends over at @piqniq.

Last night’s Instagram post started it all: “Slow cooker sweet corn polenta and chili lime shrimp, made today and shared (virtually) with my new friends over at @piqniq.” I wasn’t even going to blog about it anytime soon, but with so many of my friends replying on the post (or texting direct!) asking for the recipe, I thought I’d share it here for ease of distribution…and I might as well include a little bit of the backstory. Continue Reading…

Musings, Oregon

Heart in Oregon Necklace Giveaway

April 13, 2015

heart in oregon necklace
I’m a sap for sentimental jewelry. I love wearing pieces that connect me to a story, and when I found these sweet little Heart in Oregon necklaces on Etsy, I just knew I’d be wearing one soon. I bought mine last week (and I’m wearing it right now!), and I’m excited to send a matching one out to one of you lovely readers: anyone, anywhere on the planet.*

To enter the giveaway, follow the instructions in the widget at the bottom of this post.

Congratulations to winner, Irene W.!

Read on for tidbits from jewelry designer Amanda Senten at Freshy Fig about her jewelry design, her childhood memories, and her upcoming travel dreams. Continue Reading…

Food, Short and Sweet and Scattershot, The Little Peach, Tidbits About Us

Family Time + Dessert Before Dinner

April 9, 2015

It’s pretty nifty for us that Portland’s best little organic frozen yogurt sweet spot is just blocks from Lucie’s daycare… On sunny days like today, Ted calls mid afternoon and says, “Meet you at 5:30 for ice cream!” 

Lucie and her dairy-free frozen yogurt at Eb & Bean

Typically, Ted leaves his office in the Lloyd District and heads for homework and night class up in North Portland, and I’m usually finishing up a day of drafting and preparing to trek back to outer NE with Lu for an evening of controlled chaos, dinner time, bathtime, and bed (and then a post-kiddo-bedtime attempt at squeezing in a few more to-do list tasks before Ted gets home at 10:30pm). All too often, we three feel like ships in the night during the week. Continue Reading…

Food, Oregon

Long, Long: Rambles from Lincoln City (and Life)

April 6, 2015

My little brother calls Lincoln City the “Chile of the Oregon Coast.”

The long, long skinny beach town hugs Hwy 101 for miles: a rambling collection of nondescript businesses, gas stations, and strip malls dotted with a few eye catching boutiques, outlet stores, and saltwater taffy shops. I remember my parents taking us to the shoreline in the eighties and nineties to watch soaring cloth birds fill the sky during the annual Summer Kite Festival, but my adult memories of Lincoln City consist of passing quickly through on drives to destinations north or south: never quite enough time or reason to simply stop and be there.

This trip, though, the pin on the map at the end of our route was just a west turn off Hwy 101 and two blocks from the sand: a cheery little beach house in Lincoln City, proper. Continue Reading…

Oregon, Short and Sweet and Scattershot

On the Trail to Lincoln City

March 27, 2015

Last Friday, Lucie and I joined our friends Heather and Micah and their girls Penny and Ramona for a spring break getaway to Lincoln City, Oregon and a calm weekend of tidepools and sunbreaks, games and seafood dinners.

Heather and I set aside trip dates on the calendar back in February, then I blinked and it was the night before departure. We called each other on the phone, “Did you?” “Nope. Not me.” “Not at all.” “I didn’t plan a single meal, I haven’t sorted clothes or groceries…” “I’m packing blind and winging it once we get there.” I paraphrase slightly, but you get the idea. We’re both moms with many irons in the fire, and sometimes getting out of dodge is an exercise in lunacy tempered with reckless optimism. Continue Reading…

BabyOregonian, Musings, Poems

Cargoes: Poem for a Wednesday

March 11, 2015

Lately, I’ve been dreaming of far off places again. Ted know this. As my head hits the pillow, I mumble fanciful wishes for plane tickets and foreign sublets and new horizons, unfamiliar sights and smells and tastes…

The siren’s song is everywhere.

I load little Lucie into her car seat, and we set out on the daily circuit around the city.

We have a new CD of poetry read aloud by Julie Andrews; her melodic voice fills the air as we drive (a pleasant jump from jazz radio) and briefly, ever so briefly, the poem Cargoes sweeps me away: Continue Reading…