ode to bobbie gentry

so because one project isn't nearly enough, i've committed myself to another one that i'm very excited about. so here's a little hint, i just can't get enough of bobbie gentry right now and i absolutely love this picture. i'll keep you posted as it develops.

color me scarlett

i'm running over to music millenium right now to buy this album. i just listened to a few tracks on you tube and i'm loving it!

zombies in portland

the funniest thing happened today while i was at work. hundreds of zombies took over the streets of portland. as you can see, i remained safely in the store. i'm not going out there, no way!


it turns out that today is the annual portland zombie walk. i thought i had seen it all here in portland--protests, naked bike riders, day of the dead processions...


but this one really surprised me.


who are these people that dress up like zombies? i must say, some of their costumes were pretty darn creative.


there were even cute little kids but i couldn't get any good shots of them.


i also wish i could have gotten a shot of how many there were. i'm serious, there were hundreds coming from every direction!


i just want to know which one of them is going to come back and clean my windows?

foggy daze

i had to take these photos while driving in to work the other day. i couldn't believe how foggy it was.


i just love the fog. i never experienced it growing up in the southwest but the few years we lived in southern oregon, there was a record year of most foggy days in a row. i think it was 30 days with the thickest fog you could imagine. i'd stand outside waiting for the school bus and i couldn't see it until it was about 4 feet away. we even got stranded in medford once. we went to see the incredible shrinking woman and when we came out of the theatre, it was so foggy we couldn't see to drive home to gold hill. we had to get a hotel room and stay in town that night. it was a lot of fun because back then, we never stayed in hotels!

i just love fall.

fall on mulberry street

right now i'm enjoying looking at the beautiful fall colors out my window. i just love this time of year, don't you?


the autumn leaves

my geraniums are still hanging in there, though.

lucia & bo

happy saturday everyone? what are you doing on this lovely fall day? i had to go in to work for a while and now i'm going to head home to hang with my critters, lulu and willie.

i just thought of another great portland place that i wanted to tell you about, though.


next door to the beautiful hotel lucia, is this really great little restaurant called bo restobar. i like to pop in here every once in a while for lunch or happy hour. the lunches are really good and reasonable priced and i absolutely love the servers there. they are all so sweet and helpful. i have never once had bad service here, or for that matter, less than stellar service. so go check it out and say hello to the bartender, addison for me. he's a total sweetie!


the other day was a little chilly and i felt the need for some yummy pho.


look at this cool frieze they have by the bar. i love the decor in bo resto, it's understated and beautiful and the colors are so relaxing.

the lucia and bo restobar are at 400 sw broadway

(lucia photo courtesy of adrienne gunde photography)

shopgirl

hi everyone. i apologize for the lack of posts recently but i've been absolutely swamped at work and i'm beat when i get home. i really think i need to schedule my blogging time, as it's been the first thing to suffer lately. the good news is, though, that i've got a lot of really great things to write about as soon as i can sit down and get it done. but for tonight i'm so excited to tell you about one of my favorite friends and blogs.



i've been meaning to tell you about my favorite portland shopgirl, ashley over at frances may. ashley and i worked together at anthropologie. we both opened the store and she is the last remaining crew member from the original opening team. she still works there a few days a week and she also works over at frances may. can i just say that i heart ashley. she is one of the genuinely nicest, sweetest girls i have ever met.

so anyway, i've wanted to tell you all about her but for one reason or the other, i haven't had the chance. so imagine my surprise today when i got on one of my favorite portland fashion blogs, urban weeds and there she was. yay! how cool is that? so here she is for all of you to meet. go and visit her at either frances may or anthropologie and tell her hawthorne girl and lucie said hi.



and if you like, check out one of my favorite films, shopgirl. you know how i feel about my boy, jason schwartzman. love him! and steve martin and claire danes are great as well. this movie started out a little dark but i really loved the ending and how sweet jason and claire were as a couple--although i am still a little weirded out by jason's request for saran wrap...

party with proust

periodically, the proust questionnaire makes its rounds in bloglandia and now i've been tagged. i thought it would be fun to answer the questions and then challenge you and your friends to do so at your next party. so here we begin, your true insight into hawthorne girl. you already know i'm a little nutty and now here is proof!

1. what is my favorite virtue? the ability to love openly

2. what is my favorite quality in a man? i'm a little old fashioned and still love chivalry.

3. what is my favorite quality in a woman? i love the sisterly bond that women can form, even if it's not your "true" sister.

4. what is my chief characteristic? independence. i grew up the youngest of four children and i think by the time i came around, my parents were too tired to be control freaks so they just let me do my own thing. at one point in my life, my mom said she was sorry to have raised me so independently because she didn't think i really needed her (entirely not true but you get the point).

5. what do i appreciate most in my friends? their unconditional support. i can't tell you how many times my friends have heard the same old story but they act as if they never had and continue to give me their fabulous advice and support.

6. what is my main fault? I tend to be a little lazy. i want all of these great things (like speaking five languages) but i don't want to do the work to achieve them.

7. what is my favorite occupation? if i could do it all over again, i would be a writer.


8. what is my idea of happiness? to have the people that i love all around me for sunday night dinners.

photo courtesy of northern virginia magazine

9. what is my idea of misery? to feel absolutely and utterly alone. or to be out of coffee.

10. if not yourself, who would you like to be? a woman in paris in the 1930s or 40s, like coco chanel. this is also my favorite perfume.

photo courtesy of diaphotography

11. where would you like to live? in a big old barn or chapel out in the country--or maybe paris.


12. what is your favorite color and flower? red and orange tulips.

photo courtesy of the dude

13. who is my favorite prose author? hemingway, duh.

photo courtesy of gonzalo

14. who is my favorite poet? edna st. vincent millay. "my candle burns at both ends, it will not last the night but ah my foes and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light." hey, that's how i feel right about now!

photo courtesy of maine

15. who is is my favorite painter and composer? the composer part is easy--pachelbel. since the first time i heard him in college, i've loved him. as far as painters go, kahlo, picasso, and o'keefe. probably more for their whole being than their paintings per se, although i do love their art as well and i've grown up with them in my life forever.






16. who is my favorite heroine in history? sylvia beach.


17. what is my favorite food and drink? easy--green chile chicken enchiladas, tamales and wine.

photo courtesy of the food network



18. what natural talent would i like to have? to be able to play the accordion.

19. what is my present state of mind? ho exausto!

20. what characters in history do i hate the most? anyone who had anything thing to do with the extermination of the jews or the native americans.

21. what is the reform i admire most? gay marriage.

22. what is my favorite motto? "you can't take it with you."

and that's about all i can manage tonight. so go my friends and conquer proust!

m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i !

...and my much awaited mississippi post. now you know why it's taken me so long to get this one up 'cause it's a long one. i figured i'd leave you with something to read over the weekend.

you know i can't say "mississippi" without spelling it out. can you? i forever owe my fourth grade teacher, mr. eldridge, for that one!

so i know i've mentioned before that if i weren't a hawthorne girl, i'd probably be a mississippi girl. but it was in the cards for me to live in hawthorne and there you have it. at least i get to go and shop, and eat, and drink over in mississippi and that's good enough for me.


i love the windows of mississippi records, such a cool place, so i thought this would be a good place to start. 4007 n. mississippi 503.282.2990


and next to mississippi records is the typical portland coffee shop, the fresh pot. i usually need a caffeine fix when walking the strip of mississippi and this is the perfect place to stop. and hey, did you know this was the coffee shop featured in the movie feast of love? well it was and now i get to brag again that i helped pick out morgan freeman's shirts for that movie.


oh and you have to stop at por que no for lunch or dinner some time. such a great quirky little place with great food. 3524 n. mississippi 503.467.4149


mmm.. and lovely hula hands is so good, too. they have one of the best burgers in town. if it's nice out, sit in their back yard and enjoy the weather. i loved this car in front and it was for sale. i tried to convince lorenzo that i needed it but no luck. sigh! 4057 n. mississippi 503.445.9910


i had to feature this funky bookstore, the black nose bookstore. i've never been inside and i'm a little afraid but yet intrigued...


isn't the color of this house great? i'm really into turquoise lately.


oh and the little moxie rx, so cute. i love that it's a little diner and juice stand run out of a camper. every year they add a little more to it...


now it has a dining room...


and an outside dining area. it's at n. mississippi and shaver.


down the road is pistils nursery. i remember this great place before they renovated it and i thought what a cool place it was then. i'm so glad that it has been reinvented into the coolest nursery ever.


i love the winding stairs up the side.


my favorite part of pistils is the chickens.


and the cool back porch. i could just live here.


this is the back yard where the good plants can be found.


and aren't these stars so cool?


you can even get your chicken feed here.


hey, wait, what is that white thing. oh it's my favorite chicken. i was looking for it earlier. when it's standing up, it looks like a llama. i guess it found it's perfect hiding spot. that is one wild bird!
pistils is at 3811 n. mississippi 503.288.4889


oh and down from pistils is another really cool store, the meadow. this is one of my favorites. it specializes in wine, check, chocolate, check, fancy french salt, check, oh, and flowers, check--what more does one need?


check out the salt block. and why would someone need a salt block? i grew up in the southwest and i've heard what one uses a salt block for--but that's another story entirely!


they always have the most amazing flowers.


check out that wall-o-wine. it's a beautiful thing!
3731 n. mississippi 503.288.4633


directly across the street from the meadow is the really cool brewing company, amnesia.


and heading back towards the car was another one of my favorite shops, gypsy chic. the owner started out selling her designs at saturday market and they got such a great reception that she opened this retail space. i know it can be a little hippie, but i always find something i love here. and her prices are really great so stop in and see what she has.
3966 n. mississippi 503.234.9779




and that was our little walk down mississippi. oh, and for the record, there are so many more great shops that i didn't mention so we'll check them out next time. meanwhile, why don't you go discover your own favorites over on mississippi. i'm sure you'll find something cool.

all the photos taken by moi except the fresh pot, courtesy of barista.