For April’s 12-of-12 Challenge, I was in Portland with one of my very best friends — Finny! We celebrated our annual girl’s weekend in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, enjoying the city mostly on foot and with a fork.
Breakfast at Bijou Cafe, where we sat, strangely enough, near Steve Kerr. St. Honore’s Bakery was my favorite breakfast find. The cranberry hazelnut rolls are heavenly.
Josephine’s Dry Goods is as great as the reviews. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a fabric district in Phoenix?
The Button Emporium didn’t disappoint either. Ribbon, trim and buttons of all sorts, lined up and beautifully displayed. You know you are on vacation with the right friend when you both jump at the sight of vintage trim/racks of Amy Butler fabric/organic fruit at a farmer’s market/a giant Banana Republic outlet.
There was also yarn, but I was too distracted by this sweet little guy next dooor at The Happy Needle — a needlework shop:
NOODLE! Isn’t he sweet? Napping in the sun.
In the meantime, if I needed a sign I’d fit right in here, voila.
We hit the farmer’s market, the Saturday Market, numerous fun restaurants (Oba, Manzana, Cha Taqueria, Everett Street Bistro) and took our rental Prius out to the country.
We took in the tulip festival at The Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. It was a sea of beautiful color. I took more than 100 photos of flowers. (Note to self: less coffee, more restraint.)
This one reminds me of a hungry baby bird.
Definitely my favorite tulips. They were all wavy and I appreciate aesthetically how the light green of the stem carries into the flower’s petals.
And they were only slightly too big.
My favorite purchase — a sandstone elephant from Zimbabwe courtesy of Swahili Imports in the Pearl District. Other purchases included fabric, trim, local wine for a future community dinner, pickled asparagus from the farmer’s market and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a stack of new books from Powell’s sitting next to me. Powell’s really is my idea of heaven on earth; floors of used and new books, a great coffee shop, and magazine racks that flowith over.
We are a year off, and I’m already dreaming of the next Fin/Donk weekend. And not just because she introduced me to Haagen Dazs double chocolate chip while watching a Deadliest Catch marathon. (What? This isn’t your idea of a great Sunday night? Obviously you haven’t partied with us lately.) It was a great trip; I am such a lucky girl.
~K