Trip report: Portland, OR

We went to Portland to attend the wedding of some good friends over Labor Day weekend. We hadn't been there in 10 years and wow, it has really changed. We really enjoyed the city! The food (including the Singapore-like food truck pods) and the local craft scene were fantastic. It's definitely on my list of places to visit again (hopefully sooner rather than later). And L. absolutely loved Cannon Beach. So fun.

Some the highlights:

Coffee: Spella Caffe and Stumptown Coffee.

Fav grub: Monte Cristo sandwiches at The Big Egg (with gorgonzola!??!). Khao Man Gai at Nong's. Burek at Ziba's Pitas. Seriously addictive Vietnamese chicken wings and drinking vinegar at Pok Pok (more on the drinking vinegar soon). Pizza from Ken's. We also managed to try cult favorite Voodoo Doughnut without waiting in line for an hour. Crafty.

Shop stops: Canoe, Noun: a person's place for things, and AM Living for the fantastic balloons.

Stumptown

The Big Egg

Monte Cristo sandwich

Cannon Beach- Check!

Balloons at AM Living

Khao Man Gai

Noun

Drinking vinegar at Pok Pok

Voodoo Doughnuts. Yes, that is bacon.

35 before 36

A little over a month ago I mentioned that I would be making a list of 35 things that I would like to do before I turn 36. As we have no idea where we will be living a year from now, I thought that I should focus on some things that we may not be able to do in our future hometown (such as visiting a cider mill, building a snowman, or feasting on Zingerman's bread). So here it is. I am pretty excited about the list. And I have already signed up for a photography class (see #18) so I think that I am off to a pretty good start.

1. Bake something once a week
2. Visit Cannon Beach
3. Sew something (maybe a quilt?)
4. Roast a chicken
5. Read King Leopold’s Ghost
6. Make a necklace
7. Pick blueberries
8. Go to a Michigan football game
9. Take L. to the zoo
10. Buy Zingerman’s bread once a week
11. Pick apples
12. Visit The Wave Field
13. Make croissants
14. Pickle carrots
15. Take L. to the pumpkin patch and corn maze
16. Visit the cider mill with L. and O.
17. Take a class at Pot & Box
18. Learn more about our camera
19. Get up early and go bird watching
20. Plant succulents
21. Take a BAKE class
22. Make a snowman
23. Visit Leelanau County and Sleeping Bear Dunes
24. Work on photo album for L.
25. Make pâte de fruit
26. Go to the Homegrown Festival
27. Take a winter stroll in the Arb
28. Make Bûche de Noël
29. Go for a walk once a week (even in winter)
30. Put up a Christmas tree
31. Read The Brothers Karamazov
32. Make jam
33. Plan monthly art project to do with L.
34. Take a class at Hollander’s
35. Visit the Natural History Museum

And five big things to do before I turn 40:

1. Take O. and L. on PhD celebration trip (tentative destination: Croatia)

2. See the Northern Lights

3. Get back to Asia

4. Visit Hawaii with Mom

5. Research and plan fabulous 40th birthday holiday

On the list: Tanya Aguiñiga and Crafting Community at the Ace Hotel

I first noticed Tanya Aguiñiga's rope necklaces via a post about the Community Shop on the Heath Ceramics blog. Here's a peek into her studio. She has an interesting story; she was raised in Tijuana and uses her experience of living in two cultures as inspiration for her work. Recently she designed a Toddler Texture Forest for The New Children's Museum in San Diego. It looks like such a whimsical place; I would love to take L. there someday.

Toddler Texture Forest at The New Children's Museum

But what I really love is her jewelry, especially the small cotton rope necklace. The larger necklaces hanging on the wall look fantastic, too.

Community Shop at Ace Hotel Palm Springs

Unraveled small cotton rope necklace

The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs (home of aforementioned Community Shop) also plays host to the Kimmel Kids Crafting Community retreat, a weekend of eating, crafting, and family hang-out time in the desert. Such a cool idea. Sign me up!