indigo part two

and here is the "after" of my indigo project. my theme was contemporary western. i wanted to do something different than you would normally see in such an urban setting. my company makes the blankets, bedding and some of the home accessories and i also had a lot of help from my good friend kathleen at design within reach with additional furniture as well as artwork contributed by my friend cecily over at quintana gallery. thank you both for all of your help, i could not have done this without you!

so let's check it out. (sorry for the quality of some of the photos, with our grey day, the light wasn't very good).


here is the entry. i chose the art work and rugs as the focal point and added the flowers (by city flowers) for that extra touch.


the living room with the amazing view behind.


the living room and the balcony


the living room with fireplace. darn, i should have lit it!


i even put a few pieces from my house out on the patio.


i loved the way the dining area came out. this is one of my favorite photos of the condo.


the "guest" room with our new riata bedding.


here is the master bedroom in the daytime. the bedding is a new collection out in the spring called prairie flower.


another day time shot in the master bedroom. i had to get one in with the great design within reach egg chair.


i loved the way the master bedroom looked at night.


i thought the candle light made such a difference. too bad the fire marshall came and made us blow it out. party pooper!


i gathered a few pieces from anthropologie for the master bathroom.


and you know lulu had to make an appearance since she couldn't be there in person. the flowers were by city flowers.


i found the drape at anthro and thought it would make a perfect shower curtain.

so what do you think? could you live here?

i had a lot of fun putting this together. it took all day wednesday to decorate and a few hours on friday to break it down. and three days to recover afterwards!

thank you to soler productions for giving me this fab opportunity.

indigo part one

ok so here it is. my long-awaited post on my big project at the grand opening of the new indigo building here in portland.

the indigo is a new condominium building downtown at sw 12th and washington and it takes downtown living to a new level. the views are amazing, the wind turbines generate 30% of the building's power, it has an eco roof, a roof-top patio that rivals the one at departure with 360 views of portland and they have an in-house theatre and gym. they are within walking distance to shopping in sw, burnside and the pearl. and the list goes on and on.

i've always considered myself a small city girl and thus my choice of living in hawthorne and not downtown, right in the middle of the action but i have to tell you, i could live here!

i was asked but the production company putting this fete together if i on behalf of my company would decorate a penthouse for the one night only grand opening event. and as these things usually happen at the worst possible time, i was worried if i could pull it off. so i called on a few of my friends and colleagues and we made it happen.

so here is the first half, i'll post photos of the building and the empty penthouse and then follow-up with photos of the after. otherwise, it would be a lot to take in at one time.

so here goes, enjoy your tour of the indigo 12 west.


the outside of the new indigo building


the zoobomber bike sculpture


the lobby


more of the lobby


the roof-top balcony


more of the roof-top


the roof-top lounge


seating outside of the lounge


the eco roof


the wind turbines


view of the big pink


the fremont bridge


the entry into the penthouse (23rd floor)


the living room


the living room


and more of the living room


the "guest" bedroom


the amazing view up burnside towards northwest


the view towards i-405

so here are the before shots of the condo.

narcisse me

i've posted about the wonderful store narcisse before but i have yet to give them their very own post, so here it is.

have you ever walked into a store and instantly felt that it was put here on this planet with you specifically in mind? well, narcisse is one of those stores. i walked in and thought, damn, if i had a clothing store, this would be it. it is so beautifully decorated, the color palette of the clothing is smoky and soothing and the clothes look like they belong to a woman who just got off the train at montparnasse in the '30s or '40s. think anais nin in "henry and june". they carry the danish line noa noa and are the only retailer for this line in the us. and let me tell you, the danes have style!

i met the girls from narcisse last week at the indigo event and they are just wonderful people and i want them to do really well so they will be here in portland for a very long time. so go forth and shop, shop, shop. here are some images from the noa noa catalog for you to ooh and aah over and give you an idea just what i'm talking about.

narcisse is at sw 10th and washington.

bohemian like me?

it's pouring outside and the window is open so i can take in the sounds and smells of the storm. i'm back to work tomorrow so for tonight, i'm enjoying a glass of wine before i put on the teapot and settle in to bed with my latest book, "playing with the grown ups" by sophie dahl.


i think i discovered sophie at the tail end of my college days and i was fascinated by her life. at the time she was working as a plus size model (whatever that means as she wasn't very big back then), and had not yet begun her writing career. sophie lived a very bohemian existence, at times against her wishes. her family is old english money and her grandfather was the children's author roald dahl. her mother regularly moved sophie here and there but she really just wanted to stay put with her grandmother at her family's estate in england.

and while i certainly don't come from old english money, i can relate to her life in a small way as i have had my own bohemian life, even if at times, i didn't realize it.


when i was a little girl, i carried around a little red cosmetics case filled with my paperdolls. these dolls were my escape from my crazy home life with three older brothers. i can remember going to ladies lunches with my mother and sitting at her feet with my paper dolls, perfectly content. life was good, i lived in the house that my father had built himself and i had no desire to be anyplace else other than where i was right at that moment.


my mother had a young friend named diane and she had long, dark, straight hair like ali mcgraw's and i thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world. when i was older, i grew my hair out long just like hers. she also lived in the attic apartment of an old painted lady, of which there were very few of in the southwest. i dreamed of one day living in a place like this, and i even did for a short time.


except my painted lady was here in portland (no, this is not it--i wish!). i came to live in oregon when my parents uprooted my youngest brother and i and moved us to gold hill. oh, you haven't been there? ha, well you're not missing much. i was so upset with my parents and never have understood why they made us move but i guess it was for the best because, it later brought me back to my beloved portland.

after our time in oregon, we went back to the southwest where my mother insisted we would stay until my brother and i finished school. so we did stay there and i went to college there and then one day, my inner gypsy said it was time to move on and that's when i came back to portland. and now i've lived here longer than any place else i have ever lived for one time. will i be here forever? i don't know. i think i will always be connected to this place, just like i am to the southwest, but i think i have this inner yin and yang that governs my life. i like new places but i like stability. i'll take a risk just to go back to my old routine and habits.


i'll leave my steady job to give a shot at my fantasy job, like the time i went to work at anthropologie. just to come back to my old job, realizing it wasn't so bad after all.

so is this my kind of bohemian? wanting to toss it all in the wind, pick up and move away and then stay put for long periods of time? or is it just being a sagittarius?

inglorius night

it's been such a nice relaxing sunday so far. lorenzo and i went to look at a new car for me but the one i wanted to check out wasn't at the lot so hopefully i can go see it tomorrow. yes, i'm doing that truly dreadful task of car shopping. as much as i love my wonderful blanca (yes, that's her in my banner) it may be time to get something newer since we are planning a road trip in the next few weeks and i just don't think i can put her through a drive like the one we will be taking. besides, i really do need something a little more reliable as i need on my car a great deal for work and do a lot of driving back and forth in and out of town. not to mention that i do not want to be stuck this year if by chance we do have another snowstorm t like the one we had last winter.


anyway, i didn't begin this post to tell you all about my car woes, i was planning on telling you about the movie lorenzo and i went to see last night,"inglorious basterds". i didn't really intend to see this movie, although i do like quentin tarantino, i just feel like lately, he's been doing the same thing over and over and i'm getting a little old for gratuitous violence. oh, don't get me wrong, i love movies like "true romance", "sin city" and "reservoir dogs", it's just that anymore, i use movies as more of an escape to take me to some faraway exotic locale, like paris, morocco or africa, so the violent ones just don't appeal to me as much anymore. but i must say, i was pleasantly surprised by inglorious. the entire time, lorenzo and i kept thinking how it seemed more like a coen brothers film than a tarantino because it was a little out of his usual style of filming. when i saw in the listing that it was going to be two and a half hours long, i didn't think i would make it all the way through, but it didn't even seem that long. and finally, brad pitt has done something decent, i really haven't liked many of his latest films but he was great in this one.


and even better, it was showing at one of my favorite theatres, the laurelhurst. the theatre was packed last night since it was a prime movie going night of wind and rain and the dark beer we had on tap was a great cold winter's nightcap.

did you do anything fun last night?

for tonight, i think i'm going to make chicken soup and drink some wine and do laundry. tomorrow i'm taking the day off to get caught up on my household responsibilities, but tonight, i'm taking it easy!

face it

i'm pretty shy about having my picture taken but lorenzo took a somewhat ok photo of me at the indigo the other night so i thought i would post it just for the heck of it.

i've always been very self conscious about my skin and the fact that i have a very thin upper lip, not to mention that big nose, so i always cringe when i see a photo of myself. it's funny because i don't feel that way in reality, just when looking at photos. i hate how flat they can be. well, anyway, due to the fact that i have been burning my candle at both ends, my friend kjirsten bought me a facial today so i could get in a little pampering and relaxation and let me tell you, i'm hooked!

i went to see lenor b. over at ne 16th and broadway and it was amazing. the facial consisted of a complete cleansing, exfoliation, a rubdown of various creams, massage, aromatherapy, oxygen therapy and waxing. can i just say i feel like a new person. i hope i can stick to the things she talked to me about my skin, like using a good moisturizer and keeping hydrated. i wish i was the kind of person that made self-care more of a priority but i always thought it was so self-indulgent and expensive--but guess what, it's not. it actually was very affordable, you just have to find the right place that works within your budget and i feel lenor is very reasonable.

now i'm at home, relaxing with a glass of wine, listening to my new pete yorn/scarlett johansson cd and waiting for l. to get off of work so we can go out later.

i just love saturdays!

and thank you to kj for the fab facial.

back to life

ahhhh, i can happily say i have completed one of the busiest weeks i have had in a really long time. i managed to complete my store inventory, host a dia de los muertos dinner at home and furnish a penthouse 23 floors up. now i am relaxing at home with my girl lulu, my kitty willie, and enjoying my muertos leftovers.

the event last night at the indigo building was insane. thousands of people lined up in the rain hoping to get in. i think the condo turned out really great and i'm anxious to get pics up for you all to see, i'll try to get them together here in the next day or two. today, i'm taking the afternoon off doing two of my favorite things.


i'm catching up on my latest favorite blog, bohemian musings, i just love this girl isabelle. she is such a sweet, refreshing girl with such great insight.

then, i'm contemplating a movie and was thinking about this one...

new york i love you.

did you see je t'aime paris? this one is in the same style but about new york. i loved paris so i'm excited to see this one.

what are you all going to do this weekend? i'll be recovering!

i'm blue...

...or rather, indigo, if you will. i apologize for lack of posts recently but hawthorne girl has been working her little arse off lately.

remember i told you a few weeks ago about a big project that i'm working on? well, here's a clue for you. it takes place this thursday night (first thursday) at the brand spanking new indigo building downtown at sw 12th and washington.



that's right, i'll be there hanging in the penthouse on the 23rd floor representing my store. i've been given the amazing honor of furnishing the penthouse for the one night only grand opening.

this is going to be an amazing event with several neighborhood businesses as well as local art and entertainment and best of all, fabulous food provided by restaurants like masu, jake's crawfish, mcmenamins, kenny and zukes and many more. you do not want to miss this event.

in addition, you get to tour this amazing new building, complete with gym, theatre and roof top patio and lounge.

so come on down thursday night from 5-9 pm and stop in and say hi. i can't wait for you all to see the transformation i'm going to attempt to do in this beautiful space, all in only one day! i'll also get some before and after pics up on the blog as soon as i can catch my breath.

i've missed you my lovely little blog!