travelogue ~ portland, oregon.

Coming late to this, but I wanted to be sure to update with a Portland, Oregon post! Ben and I went up to Portland in June to celebrate our 1st anniversary. In fact, we were supposed to go in February to celebrate our birthdays but we had to cancel because of work and that turned out for the best because Portland in June is gorgeous. We had such a great weekend.

We loved Portland. It is cool and funky and friendly and easy. Here is some of what we did and additional recommendations at the bottom from our lists that we have been keeping but didn't have enough time to get to...

We flew up after work on Friday and went straight from the airport to dinner - luggage in tow. For this first dinner, we went with St. Jack in the Hosford-Abernethy neighborhood. It was a great little restaurant and we had a solid meal. Saturday morning we headed to breakfast and then grabbed a Lyft and crossed town to Nob Hill to window shop and check out the neighborhood. We tried coffee at Barista Coffee and tried Salt and Straw Ice Cream.

And from here, we walked ourselves over to the Pearl District and grabbed some afternoon beers at 10 Barrel on the rooftop. It was a gorgeous day for walking the city and that we did.

We then kept moving and headed for Maurice - the sweetest little restaurant right at the edge of Pearl District. We grabbed some lunch there. How charming is this restaurant and how beautiful this bowl of cold soup was?!

We of course made a stop at Powell's Book Store - which was awesome. And with that, we wandered back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.

Dinner on Saturday was at Ava Gene's - a beautiful, cool restaurant putting out fantastic food and phenomenal service. It feels neighborhoody and charming and we would definitely recommend it!

On Sunday, we made the most of the half day we had left in PDX. First, we headed over to Pine State Biscuits for a super decadent and full breakfast of biscuits and eggs!  We made sure to stop into the Stump town at the Ace Hotel for a cup of coffee and so both of us could get some quick work done. And then we made a pilgrimage to the original Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co store where we bought ourselves our first anniversary present we had had our eye on! And finally, we hustled over to the Japanese Garden and checked out the Rose Gardens. And that about sums up a whirlwind less than two days in Portland. We can't wait to go back at some point, we felt like we barely scratched the surface, not to mention we would love to get to the coast....

Restaurants: Tusk / Afuri / Jackrabbit / Coquine / Ox / Nostrana / Ataula / LucLac / Pok Pok Noi / Le Pigeon 

Coffee: Coava / Heart

Drink: Expatriate

Breakfast-Brunch: Tasty and Alder / Adler & Co / Byways Cafe (local stop)

Links to Articles: 36 Hours in Portland

paced out.

It's the home stretch on this week and Ben's parents are coming to town tomorrow for a quick visit. We are taking them to Napa and Sonoma and I'm already looking forward to the warmer weather (90s!) and some good meals! And to help finish out the week, here are some links I thought might be of interest!

• The restaurateur behind Le Diplomate is opening a new restaurant by Union Market!

• This NPR piece from Radiotopia - The Procedure - about abortion is fascinating (hat-tip to Jordan!) - highly recommend the listen!

• Aren't these Barcelona vases from World Market great?

• Bread + Ice Cream - yes please!

• We got this bag for Ben's Mom for her birthday coming up as the perfect beach bag to carry towels, snacks, a book and more - we are going to fill it with beach essentials for her upcoming Maine trip! 

• Ben got us hooked to this show, This is Us, on NBC. Mandy Moore is back and it's like a big old romantic comedy wrapped into 18 episodes! You can get a month free of Hulu and plow through it like us. 

boden.

Have you ever bought anything from Boden? I get their catalogue every month, and every month I flip through and see one or two things that I like, but I have never followed through. This dress and silk shirt caught my eye last night going through the latest, aren't they great?!

face time.

The best gifts are the ones you would never buy for yourself and you love them so much, you end up buying them for yourself after that. My two best examples are the Earth tu Face Serum that Hannah got me for my birthday this year and the Confidence in a Cream face lotion that Alison gave me. I love them both (and apparently I was in need of some face products and treatment)! The Serum is lovely. It smells and feels like a spa on my face for a couple minutes every day. And the face lotion is buttery and cooling - I actually look forward to lotioning my face.

I have never been good at taking care of my face and skin and honestly a lot of times at night I am so tired and lazy that I end up going straight to bed. But turns out some amazing products can also be just the kind of motivation you need. In short, if you are looking for a serum or face lotion, would recommend them both - all thanks to Hannah & Alison!

rich girl.

I have been playing this cover on repeat for the last week, thought you all might enjoy too! Now I am just waiting for Lake Street Dive to come through SF on tour....

to watch.

Are you all watching The Handmaid's Tale? Ben and I started watching last week when we had nothing else, and wow, it is good. And talk about timely, it definitely hits close to home. The acting is fantastic and while I know I read the book a long while back, I don't remember much of it, and the storyline will hook you from the start! We would both recommend it, just brace yourself!

Oh yeah, and if you don't have Hulu, you can sign up for the first month free and binge like we are!

blousey.

A colleague at work has this Everlane blouse and it is beautiful. In fact, she loves it so much she has it in white, black and rose! Isn't it simple and lovely? They are currently sold out in my size, but she told me that regularly happens, so I am just checking and waiting for it to come back in stock to buy my own in white...and just thought you might like it too!