July was a great month, even if fleas tried to ruin it.

It was my first time, in a long time having a holiday off. I worked in casinos the whole time I lived in Vegas. 9 years! Casinos never close, so every holiday I mostly had to work. So I was extremely happy I had July 4th off. It was our first of many holidays in Portland!

We went shopping, had lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory (4th place we went to because most places were closed), then we watched the fireworks at Willamette Park. The fireworks did not start till 10pm because it doesn't get dark till late out here.

There are a lot of great happy hours in Portland. The last time we had happy hour was at Casa Del Matador on July 5th. All this for $15: shrimp quesadillas, Texas size nachos, and braised pork tacos. We've been saving money by eating at home now. Saving money for our wedding and our future home.

One of the things I love about working in catering is all the venues I get to work at. Some are so gorgeous, I'm in awe every minute of my shift!

On July 6th I worked a wedding at Bridal Veil. These aren't my pictures, I took them from searching w/google images. But isn't this place gorgeous! If we had the money, I'd want to have our wedding here.

After I worked that wedding I started thinking, we should have a big wedding now. That place definitely inspired me to plan. I downloaded a couple apps on my iPhone. This one is called The Knot Wedding Dress Lookbook app.

I was really honest with my answers huh?! Haha! I also downloaded The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner. I started off with making our guest list. The number of guests kept increasing and I started to have anxiety. Then I decided to go back to our original plan of eloping. Went back to being practical. We really can't see ourselves spending so much money.

Our home has been slowly coming together. Here's how it looked 3 weeks ago. We have now hung up the artwork.

On July 12th I worked an intimate dinner for 20 business men in a GORGEOUS cabin on the Washington side. Here's a photo of the view while the chef and I drove to the event. Left side is Washington and the right side is Oregon.

I fell in love with this property. It had 3 cabins. The main cabin had 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, an awesome kitchen, and a super large living space. There was even a place to go skeet shooting! How awesome is that!

My favorite hot sauce is El Yucateca. When we went to Target and saw they sold it there, I knew we had to have a tostada night ASAP! We love Mexican food! The only thing that's homemade was the pico de gallo. The sauce to the right was our first time having it and it was good. It had a smoky flavor.

One of my favorite dishes to make is risotto. Need to learn how to make other dishes because every week I make almost the same stuff. But eating at home means we're saving money.

On July 19th the catering job I had to work at was at OHSU by the waterfront. It's near our apartment, so to save on gas and to get a little exercise, I walked to work that day. The weather and scenery was nice, so I truly enjoyed the 20 min walk.

I finally got a Sunday off to spend with the fiancé. On July 21st we went shopping in Pioneer Square, went to The Saturday Market, and walked along the waterfront. The weather has been quite lovely so we're enjoying it while we can.

The last weekend of July the fiancé went camping with his sister and her friends, while I stayed home. My momma visited me that weekend. It was nice to not cook and eat out for once. Haha! She paid for most of our meals so I still saved money. Hehe! Thanks mom!

I have been craving sweets for a month so I had to spoil myself. Enjoyed a yummy chocolate hazelnut pie with a scoop of ice cream at the Pie Spot.

Also my mom bought me some VooDoo Doughnuts. The fiancé and I have been too lazy to go on our own. She was kind enough to bring them to me. Yay! What a sweet mom! And I'm the one who lives here too! LOL! I asked for the plain ones because the crazy ones are too much for me.

Overall the month of July was great! We did get a flea infestation mid July though. It sucked. I'm still recovering from my bites. Some are still itchy. I think some will scar because I'm stubborn and I scratched. But...

And I need a haircut!

Stay sweet my friends... Till next post.