crystal palace

this morning i was lucky enough to be given a tour of the latest mcmenamin's endeavour, the crystal hotel.

the crystal hotel is housed in an old portland bathhouse and the former location of the silverado club located in portland's vaseline alley. i must say this neighborhood has made quite a transformation over the years becoming home to an american apparel store and a new johnny fluevog shop.

and while i'm a little saddened by the new squeaky clean look of this particular neighborhood (there is little left of the old portland of the drugstore cowboy and my own private idaho days) however, i'm happy that this small city block has been lovingly preserved by mcmenamin's. this is much better than being torn down to build another giant chain grocery store or condo building!


most of the rooms in the hotel are european style with a shared bathroom but there are a few king suites with bathrooms. there are four large bathrooms on each floor with just 17 rooms sharing them so i'm sure there is plenty of bath space.

the rooms are all named after bands that have played at the crystal ballroom over the years and are decorated with the whimsical mcmenamin's touch. rooms start at $85-$185, which is very reasonable for being located so centrally downtown.



in the basement is the salt water soaking pool. i love the bamboo lined walls in here.

a few cool things to take note of is that if you stay at the hotel, you are automatically reserved 2 tickets to the shows playing at the crystal ballroom during your stay. if you would like to make use of these tickets, you just need to book them more than 48 hours in advance. after that, they open up to be sold to the public. if there is a sold out show you were hoping to catch, you can always book a room to get the opportunity to see that show.

also, there is an all ages venue (up to 10 pm) in the basement of the hotel that you can access through ringler's annex or the hotel lobby. it's a great live performance space and every show played there will be free. i can't wait to catch a show down there!

the crystal hotel officially opens on may 3rd and m. ward will play a series of three shows to celebrate the grand opening.

303 sw 12th avenue
503.972.2670

the hotel is located near every king of public transportation in town so make your stay here car free.

all images from oregon live

sigh...

look who stopped in to shop in my store today. yes, sam elliott! oh he's just so cute, and that voice is to die for.

dig it!

have you ever seen the movie dig! about the dandy warhols and the brian jonestown massacre? well you should.

i was not really a fan of the local portland band, the dandy warhols, but after seeing the film, i have a new appreciation for them as they seemed to carve out a niche for their sound and worked very hard.

the film follows their relationship with the band the brian jonestown massacre and their "friendly" competition with this band. i checked out the music of brian jonestown after seeing the film and i really liked it. i'm not so sure of their new stuff (there is a constant rotation of bandmates). lorenzo really wanted to go see them, just to check them out, i on the other hand, think i will pass since it's a work night and wait for his report back.

whether you like either band or not, i highly recommend the film dig! for it's character study of the respective musicians.

the brian jonestown massacre is playing tomorrow night at the crystal ballroom.

save the dolphins

perhaps it's because my second all time favorite movie (after my own private idaho) is the big blue, i've been obsessed with dolphins and their capacity to communicate with the human race. so i was shocked by the fact that they are mass killed every year in japan.

i don't know if you all have seen the cove yet, but i highly recommend seeing it if you haven't. and for you locals, there is a benefit to end the slaughter of dolphins going on this thursday the 10th at the someday lounge starting at 6pm.


lorenzo and i are planning on checking it out. i'm not sure if they are going to screen the oscar winning film on thursday but you can find it on netflix. i just want to know what we can do to keep this fight alive and end this horrible killing of the dolphins.

the someday lounge is at 125 nw 5th ave 503.248.1030

i'm breathless!

i was so excited to hear today while reading the english muse, that one of my all time favorite french films, breathless, has been remastered and will be re-released to celebrate it's 50th anniversary. and even better, it will be showing in august and my favorite portland movie theatre, cinema 21.

i'll be sure to remind you when it will be showing but i just had to share with you my excitement.

guess who's coming to town...

charlotte gainsbourg! she's playing the wonder ballroom on april 15th.

and guess who has tickets...moi!

no place like home?

lorenzo and i recently went to see crazy heart over at the moreland theater (one of my favorites). i really loved the movie, especially the scenery of the southwest which left me wondering, can you ever really leave home?

there were so many scenes of the big, blue new mexico sky and it left me yearning for my home state. i know, i know, this blog is about my love of portland so why am i writing about the place i left behind many years ago? well, i'll tell you...

when i was two, my family moved from albuquerque, where i was born, to prescott, arizona. we lived in prescott for ten years before moving up to southern oregon for a new beginning. we lived there two years and then moved back to new mexico where i finished junior high, high school and then college. even though we had gone back to new mexico when i was young, we still visited the northwest every opportunity we had and i had grown to love it here, too.

after i graduated from high school, my parents moved back to the northwest (olympia) and i figured eventually i would join them up here after i finished college. well, after i finished, i worked in albuquerque a few years and when the time presented it's self to move to portland, i took it. however,by the time this happened, my parents had moved back down to arizona.

i think it was due to all of these moves that created this yin and yang in me that causes me to feel a little unsettled when i'm in one place and not the other. i don't think i could entirely live back in new mexico again and i love portland so much, i can't imagine permanently leaving here either. i have a family here and friends and a job that i really believe i couldn't have found there.

part of my original plan of moving to portland (which i still think was the best thing for me) was to eventually spend part of the year in new mexico. i still have a lot of family and friends there that i love dearly and miss very much. i even work for a company that does the majority of their business in the southwest so it should be a perfect fit. i haven't quite figured out a way to implement this plan but i just have to believe that when it is meant to work out, it will.

still, it leaves me thinking, is it possible to have more than one home? is this what it feels like to be an expat living in another country? well at least it's a lot closer for me to go home than taking an international flight!

well, i'm happy to say that i will be heading down south at the end of the month. i will have a wonderful time there soaking up the beautiful sunny skies and being with the ones i love, and then i will come home to you, portland, and take in the soothing rains and be with the ones that i love.

and p.s. go see the movie, it's really great!

gus and tinkerbell

my man gus van sant and jena malone have teamed up together to do a short film for opening ceremony directed by another portland director m. blash. in the film, the elfin jena, wearing another portland namesake, pendleton for opening ceremony, dances and twirls around gus practicing her martial arts as gus seems to be transfixed by a twinkling tinkerbell flitting around him. and while i'm totally endeared to gus, this one's a little bizarre!





i never have good luck downloading youtube video on blogger so you'll have to go over to youtube to check it out and let me know what you think.

gus, you know i still love you but not your strongest performance!

oh coco

i'm ashamed to admit that i haven't yet had the time to go see "coco before chanel". i know, i know, what kind of francophile am i? i've been meaning to see it since it originally came out but for one reason or another, i just haven't made it. however, the great thing about waiting this long is now it's at one of my favorite theatres, the living room theatres, and monday night is bargain night so you can't beat that!

have you seen this movie yet? i can't wait to see one of my favorite icons played by one of my favorite actresses.

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.

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!

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!

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...