First Anniversary Trip: Portland

Lauren7 Comments

PORTLAND!  Oh my gosh, Portland.

I can’t think of a better way to impress upon you my excitement for Portland than to tell you that I seriously COULDN’T SLEEP the night before.  Like a kid on Christmas, guys!  Oh and also the fact that I bookmarked the ish out of Bridgetown (<– Portland’s nickname due to the fact that it has SEVEN bridges crossing the Williamette River, which runs through the city).  I mean we only had one full day there and I had about 40 restaurants, coffee shops, parks and donuteries (if that’s not already a word is should be) bookmarked on Yelp, so maybe that was kind of unrealistic but I couldn’t help myself.

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We drove in late Wednesday night, let ourselves into our ADORABLE Airbnb apartment, ate a slice each of red velvet cake (priorities, people) and crashed into bed so that we could not sleep all night because of Portland excitement wake up and start exploring Portland right away!  First things first, breakfast!

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We hit up Bröder Nord and as soon as we stepped in the door we were hit straight in the face with restaurant décor magic.  We’re talking wooden birdcage structures, bright yellow bar stools, white subway tile, a giant mirror.  It shouldn’t have worked, but it absolutely did.  Then I gently coerced Joey into ordering a Bloody Mary so I could taste it.  I’ll be honest I ordered a baked egg scramble that I mostly dug through to find the pockets of goat cheese in.  It was so unseasoned.  But… Joey’s Lost Eggs were so creamy and flavorful.  So what I’m really trying to say is that Joey won the breakfast round that day (and probably every day).Read More »

Lately: Books, Movies, Music

Lauren1 Comment

I just had to do a quick search through the archives of my blog.  “Don’t I have a series called ‘Recently’ or ‘Lately’ or something?”  I did end up finding a few posts that I’d titled “Lately” so I guess this belongs in that series.  Gosh, writing this professional blog is so time consuming sometimes.  Only kidding 🙂

Anyway, I thought I’d take this moment to give recognition to the small things.  Aka the books, movies, music, etc. that I’ve enjoyed lately.

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Jane Iredale Make Up

Earlier this year, I decided I wanted to start switching out my make up to some more natural stuff that I could feel good about putting on my skin every day.  Luckily, there’s a little shop nearby that provides just such make up and I am loving the Jane Iredale brand.  The only thing I’m skeptical about is the eyeliner.  It rubs off my eye sooo easily.  But otherwise, a big thumbs up.

Kaleo

The week before we left for vacation, we went to Film on the Rocks to see Guardians of the Galaxy — sidenote: we left early to avoid traffic so I still don’t know how the movie ends… — and the pre-movie band was PHENOMENAL.  They’re called Kaleo and they’re Icelandic, so how cool is that?!  Guys, look them up ASAP.  Your life will be so much better for it.  We just bought tickets to a concert that they’re opening for and I don’t even care about the headliner, just Kaleo.

The Girl with all the Gifts

This book was our September book group pick.  I checked it out from the library then returned it four days late because I didn’t have time to finish it on vacation like I thought I would.  It was giving me serious anxiety knowing someone was waiting for me to return it, probably so they could read it for their own book group.  I was hesitant at first because there were zombies but then I really ended up liking it.  Quite a few plot holes, though…Read More »