Portland for pleasure

Back to Portland! This time, our trip had nothing to do with buying things related to our home. This was partly my anniversary gift to D from December. We have seen the singer William Fitzsimmons nearly every time he's been to Portland in the last three years. His music is lovely, soothing, introspective and, lets face it .. depressing as hell. Still, we love him and schlep nearly 7 hours each way to prove it. Before meeting Slater and Hoot for dinner, we strolled around 23rd ave in NW Portland for a bit to ogle some furniture. For all we're doing by hand and going the extra mile, I'm afraid we don't have the wherewithal to do all the customising we'd like, so Restoration Hardware it is. Lucky for us, the fabric we like is in style and the style we like is in stock.

While on 23rd, we decided to look at some houses for color inspiration.

This guy hasn't been loved in a looong time.

Lurking your house and taking photos from the hedges? Not creepy at all!

Here's the beardiest one of all! Mr. William "Down in the dumps"Fitzsimmons!

The beard gets bigger, the instruments get smaller. Have YOU ever seen a banjo-lele?

It seems to be a new tradition, that every time we're in Portland, Slater takes pictures of us together!

Not that I'm complaining. We look good.

We disagree about this photo -- I love it, he doesn't. I am writing today's entry .. so that's that.

Slater and Mr - bein' silky before brunch.

On Saturday, we were able to finally make our routine stop at Rejuvenation to be inspired. We are jonesing for a real bathroom, and this little corner setup has nearly everything we want! (Except four walls)

White porcelain hex tile with a black border and black accents? -check

Vanity that matches the profile of our window and door trim? - check

White subway tile? -check! (sidenote: I would put subway tile on nearly every tileable surface possible if Mr. would let me loose with the thinset. Probably for the best he doesn't.)

And a vintage medical cabinet for ancillary storage!

Next, we tried to decide which schoolhouse fixture would best accentuate our kitchen. I apologize for the crummy phone photos - the light doesn't tend to meter properly when you've got that much brightness in one picture!

Restored fir floors! I can't wait for ours to look that nice! Soon .. soon .. soooooon ...

REJUVE_ATION

Loads more happened on Saturday -- like the last-minute decision to extend our visit from one night to two! The rewards of that decision were endless .. We were able to meet up with Mr's awesome brother for dinner and drinks, hang out with Mr's oldest friend, Tony .. AND ANOTHER BREAKFAST OUT!

This bakery is great. For some reason, Mr always loves to get granola for breakfast .. This bakery has it. Me? I want all the eggs in town. Everyone wins! (I only had one egg .. for the record)

Oh .. then the rain started.

No worries, where we were heading, we didn't care about the weather. We were shopping for antiques! Please make note: Antiques are collectible. Collectibles aren't always antiques... shop on:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Something we can use! And want!

This toes the line, honestly. I don't have my own computer, you see .. Did anyone else have one of these as a kid?

Cartridge games! YES!

Don't get me wrong. I love the ocean as much as the next girl. Maybe not glued to EVERY available surface in our home, though. They're not subway tiles, after all!

Oh, we're back to this now?

And Stars antique mall has been redeemed by the two-headed chick!

I'll just add this to the ever-lengthening list of things I'll never own...

*shudder*

Once I was done being creeped-out by (neither antique, nor collectible) troll dolls, we headed back to Old Portland Hardware. I know I said we weren't there for house-related stuff, but we can't resist. It's a compulsion. We're powerless, really...

I am a sucker for old photographs. I have this photo of a kid from the 20's or 30's in my wallet. I don't know who he is or where the photo was taken. I bought it for $1 and there he lives. Frozen, forever .. next to my coffee punch card.

I was tempted to buy these for my brother in law .. But I didn't. (Not my best story .. they can't all be zingers!)

The perfect tub set-up!

Except, our tub will be bigger!

After we finished up there, we headed North, to Mississippi ave. to cruise for chicks:

..hey baby..

We love Pistils Nursery!

Just a man, checking out a coop.

Then this happened and suddenly, I was equipped to face to rest of my day.

And then we looked at bikes. I'll say this right now: I don't know crap about bikes. I know I have one. I like it. I painted it myself. I bought it for $10 on Craigslist .. and painted it blue. That's all I know. I don't know anything about this bike except that it is a Linus (is this good? No idea!) and is a delicious shade of cream and brown. I love it. It is cute.

THEN I FOUND THIS!

And then we went home!

Later!

Have I ever mentioned that the Northwest is better than any other region? Because it is. It's a fact! Ocean, rivers, lakes, desert, mountains, rainforest, major metro areas and ghost towns .. all within an afternoon's drive. Beat that, everywhere else.