Thursday, March 24, 2011

hawthorne girl hits williamsburg

last month when i was in nyc for work, i had just enough time to hop on over to brooklyn and check out williamsburg in hopes of finding jason schwartzman filming bored to death (not really, well yeah, maybe). my bff and i hopped on the subway and and got off at the bedford stop. we didn't have a lot of time and it was pretty cold out but we did manage to find two great spots before heading to downtown brooklyn to visit with my friend gale.


our first stop was the bedford cheese shop. the windows full of cheese drew us in, i had no control over the matter! this was a quaint little neighborhood cheese shop full of cheese, salami and best of all, chocolate. how cute is this little corner shop? we need one of these in portland.


the goods laid out before us.


here i am in my infamous pendleton coat purchasing some mast brothers chocolate. if you have never heard of this chocolate, find some...soon. it is to die for. i'm trying to get some ordered for my shop but i fear i will be my own best customer.

bedford cheese shop is at 229 bedford ave. brooklyn, ny 11211 718.599.7588

as my friend and i were growing thirsty, i asked the gentleman at the cheese shop where a good place to grab a glass of wine would be and he directed us kitty corner to juliette bistrot. i feel as if he truly knew us by sending us here!


juliette is a beautiful restaurant that channels paris in brooklyn.


i loved the little bar area the best (sorry for the blurry pic). i must say, after two glasses of wine here, it was hard to leave.


in the center of the restaurant was a little atrium that reminded me of bronte's rooftop garden in green card. i wanted to get a better photo of it but they were having a staff meeting and i didn't want to interrupt.


here is my bff kjirsten enjoying a rest and a glass of wine after i drug her shopping all over soho. it was a much needed break!

juliette is at 135 n. 5th st. brooklyn, ny 11211 718.388.9222

I have read on their website that they have a fabulous roof-top bar as well so if you find yourself in brooklyn during the warmer months, this would be a perfect place to waste away the afternoon.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

historic portland


back when i had free time to do things like volunteer, i worked with an organization called the bosco-milligan foundation. this foundation is focussed on preserving historic portland artifacts big and small- from the building all the way down to a door knob. bosco and milligan were two gentlemen who's passion was to go around portland collecting old bits of buildings that otherwise were headed to the landfill. they amassed quite a collection of architectural salvage before they both passed away quite prematurely.

for a while the historic preservation league of portland was responsible for their collection but it required more attention than they could give and thus the bosco-milligan foundation was formed and has been run ever since by a close friend of benny and jerry's, cathy gailbraith.

the photo above is a buidling that the two owned and ran their stained glass business out of. for many years it sat untouched lacking the funds it needed to be renovated. if you have been in portland for a while, you will know this building over on se grand ave. well, a few years back, the renovations were completed and the building was reopened as the architectural heritage center and the home base of the bosco-milligan foundation. this building works as a resource center and library for all things old portland.

i mention this now because the archtectural heritage center has some really cool programs on a regular basis and this spring they are hosting walking tours of portland. the tours begin in april and run through the summer. there are some really great neighborhoods on their list of tours-belmont, hollywood, yamhill, vista and reedwood. i can't wait for the reedwood tour, i've always wanted to check out the reed college campus and this tour focusses on the mid-century houses on and near the campus.

many of the tours require pre-registration since there are only so many spaces available. so go to the ahc site for more information and to register for the tours.

when i was in interior design school many years ago, i went on several walking tours of portland and let me tell you, there are some amazing gems in our community often designed by very well-known architects.

so what better way to spend the warm months here than getting out and getting to know the historic neighborhoods of portland!

Monday, March 14, 2011

lucie and the girl


when i first started iheartportland, i would occasionally torment my readers with cute pics of my little baby girl lucie. well, i decided that i did not want this to become a dog blog so i created lucie's own page, lucie sees. however, yesterday, i took this picture of her that i just had to share with you.

the timing is actually perfect because between my portland blog, my fashion blog, and my work blog, i have been having a hard time keeping up with little lu's blog.

and hence, a few weeks ago, i came to the decision to throw cute photos of lu into my portland blog again and retire lucie sees as it just isn't getting as much attention as it deserves.

i apologize to those of you who are not dog people (do you really live in portland?) but alas, it is my blog and lucie is a part of my portland life. so i ask that you tolerate my completely self-indulgent photos of my baby once in a while. and i ask you, how can you not love this face?

Friday, March 11, 2011

murder in portland part 2

i know i have mentioned the author cara black on i heart portland before. she writes a series of murder mysteries based in paris starring the stylish and smart yet not so great decision maker french detective aimee leduc. aimee inevitably finds herself in some sort of bad predicament in paris usually due to the fact the a criminal has pulled on her heartstrings yet again. oh aimee, when will you ever learn?

sometimes the stories are a little far-fetched for me and end like the da vinci code (completely unrealistic), but there is something so endearing to me about cara's novels. most likely the fact that they take place in and around paris, of which cara knows very well due to the help of great friends and the paris prefecture as well. it really is like taking a little vacation through the quartiers of paris.


cara will be in portland again on the 26th of march speaking at the alliance francaise. if you have not been to an event at the alliance and you are even remotely a francophile like i am, you should check it out. it is in a beautiful old victorian house in goose hollow that the alliance runs its programs out of, and there is no better place in portland for cara to transport you to paris than here. hop on the alliance website to register for the event because it is a very intimate space.

cara will be in town reading from the 11th installment of the aimee leduc series, murder in passy.