local love

i absolutely love it when a friend turns me on to a great local designer or artist as was the case when i first met vickie and beth of gossamer designs. last year i was invited to one of their trunk shows in their studio space above the monticello antique mall. as soon as i walked in i loved them. hello tex-mex! their little studio was so cute, i could have lived there. sadly, they no longer have the studio but they do sell on-line as well as at various markets and their trunks shows. if you go to their website, you can get on their mailing list so you will be informed of any upcoming trunk shows which i highly recommend checking out if you have the opportunity. it's where cowgirl high style meets bohemian chic!


at their trunk show i also discovered this amazing local artist named brenda dunn. i immediately bought some of her note cards and have them all over my house and one in my car named "bianca" that i decided to name my car after. she often sells at first and last thursday and here at etsy. some one just might be getting one of her prints for a birthday present. shhh...


and here is my favorite antique mall, monticello. it's not in the typical antique neighborhoods so i think they have much better prices. let me tell you, i've never left here without buying something.
it's located at se 83rd and washington.


and i can never say monticello without thinking about one of my favorite films, "green card". it's the answer to the question girard depardieu's character missed during his ins interview and got him sent packing back to france. i just wanted him to remember so bad. oh well c'est la vie! hopefully bronte didn't have to give up her fab new york apartment.

so sorry

these are my favorite


but i would still take these

i'm so sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend. i had a 3 day weekend that was very busy and the computer was acting up. i hope to get some extra posts out this week.

for now i'm dreaming of these shoes. i'm in love with them! they are by swedish designer asa westlund and as far as i can tell, they are not available in the us. if any of my lovely followers has any idea how i can get my hands on these beauties, let me know.

oh i do so love clogs. i guess i never grew out of that phase. i remember when my family moved back down to new mexico after a few years in southern oregon, i arrived the first day of school wearing red clogs, a yellow calico peasant top that my mom had made and a wrap around skirt with clouds and a little village around the border, also made by my mom. i also had long straight hippie hair that i had been working so hard to grow out. if i were still in gold hill, i would have been very fashionable. however, farmington, new mexico did not follow the same trends. they all had big giant hair with bangs that stood straight up, tight jeans and tee shirts and black nikes with a silver swoosh. it took me a few years for people to forget that! and while my style has adapted over the years, i will always love my clogs.

mmm cupcakes

there are some trends that come in that i really could live without (the fashion of the 80's, ugh). then there are trends that i don't know how we ever survived without them which brings me to today's post about cupcakes. cupcakes today, i suppose, are what donut shops once were. and i think the sudden surge of cupcake shops helped the popularity of donuts come back in but in a much more fun and funky way than the old duncan donuts and the winchell's. for me, a cupcake is the ultimate indulgence. i'm not that into ice cream the way some people are and i feel that if i'm going to eat something fattening, i want it to look really pretty. (st.cupcake photo oregon live)

the first cupcake shop to open in portland was st. cupcake and while the other cupcake shops we have in town are great too, i still love to go to st. cupcake. they have a huge selection and their locations are just so cute. i usually head over to their original location at 407 nw 17th because it's closest to work but the location at 3300 se belmont is great too and has a little shop in it as well.

although i like to splurge on a st. cupcake once in a while, i still really love to make them whenever i get a chance. i needed to make some for a work event and i wanted to find some cute decorations to put on them and i didn't know where to go. i asked some friends and i was told about the decorette shop. i went out in search of this shop that all i knew about was that is was around se foster and 50th. the first time i went by, i drove right past it because there really is not a lot of signage on the building. i turned around and saw a big pink building and thought that it must be a cake decorating shop and in fact that was it. going in, you have no idea what's inside but once you're in, holy cow, they have a lot of decorations!


decorations like these for all of you baking needs. (photo by sugar bloom)

i think it is mainly geared to wedding cakes but there are a lot of other little decorations as well. i ended up buying 75 tiny little flowers in assorted colors to put on top of my cupcakes and it was less than $10. they also have books and pans and cake making supplies, everything you could possibly need for your baking projects.


here is the building i drove right by. if you are heading east on foster, it's on the right hand side at 5338 se foster 503.774.3760. this is one of those portland establishments (open since 1973) that i wish i had known about a long time ago. so bake some cupcakes some time soon, i promise you'll have so much fun!

gypsy music

last week i went to first thursday and got to talk to one of my favorite local musicians, adam hurst. he often plays his cello at first and last thursdays and i love stopping to listen to him. his music is very ambient and beautiful with a little bit of a darker sound to it (oooh look at his picture, a little eerie). he has several cds out, mostly of his cello music but he also has a few where he plays spanish classical guitar which i absolutely love. if you go to his website, he also has several music videos to watch. check him out if you get a chance. i highly recommend his music

things that make me happy

this morning i woke up so happy and began to reflect on some of the things that i love. i truly am fortunate to have a great life and live in a beautiful city. i started thinking of what i love and couldn't live without.

i always love reading in decorating magazines the column "10 things that i can't live without", that famous designers get to answer. i always dreamed that it would be cool to have my answers in a mgazine when i became a famous designer but i'm not patient enough to wait for that. so here it is, 10 things that i can't live without (in somewhat of a particular order):

1. my wonderful friends and family. way too many to show here but they know who they are. without you guys, i couldn't possibly be the person i am today. thank you all for your love and support.


2. my kitty, willie and my puppy lulu. they make everyday so much fun and i love their snuggles at night.


3. visiting new mexico. i know how lucky i am to have grown up in such a magical place and try to get back there whenever possible.




4. my frida and mary icons that people are always giving to me. i feel like they are my guardian angels.


5. coffee! i knew i was a true portlander when i began to crave coffee and we have so many wonderful roasters to choose from.


6. red wine, almost any kind will do but my absolute favorite when i get to splurge is brunello.


7. i could wear black wedge boots everyday if the weather permitted.


8. my chanel red lipstick in allure. i don't know what i will do if they ever discontinue this shade.


9. i simply cannot live without striped shirts. they are part of my weekend uniform and i've had friends threaten to not let me buy anymore but i still sneak them in.

10. i probably spend more time reading design blogs and magazines than i should but hey, it's work related, right? here are some of my favorites:
decor8
desire to inspire
apartment therapy
design sponge

so there they are for what it's worth. i'd love to hear about some of the things that you can't live without.

call me tamale

jemez, new mexico across from the visitor's center


growing up in new mexico, eating tamales are a way of life. everyone has their favorite tamale cart, recipe, restaurant, you name it. i have very fond memories of me and my father making tamales on christmas eve. when i go back to visit, i always have to stop and get a tamale from my favorite vendor in albuquerque, el modelo. or stop off at my favorite roadside stand in jemez. for me, tamales are a comfort food and a work of art.

this past holiday season during the great snowstorm of '08, lorenzo and his daughter surprised me with some they bought from a lady walking down hawthorne. they had tamales in one hand and a tree in the other. this definitely made it feel like a traditional holiday season for me and i will never forget how cute they looked walking down the street.

tamales are very labor intensive so can be challenging to make which is why it is important to have a favorite place to get one. lately lorenzo and i have been making them at home which has been a lot of fun but it is time consuming and very messy. this past sunday, he wanted to surprise us and take us out to dinner so imagine how happy i was when he pulled up here:


it's casa de tamales in milwaukie and i was so excited. i had been wanting to go here for quite a while but we just hadn't made it yet. it is just off of highway 99 in milwaukie on the main street where they are going through a major renovation. it was kind of quiet when we were here but i have a feeling things will pick up when the major construction is over.
casa de tamales is located at 10605 se main in milwaukie 503.654.4423


the interior is very cute and kitschy. i loved it!




complete with decor hanging from the ceiling.


here is our spread which included several types of tamales and a few chile rellenos. it was all very good. i do however, enjoy tamales that are a little smaller because that way you can try more than one flavor but these were still good. i had the chicken and asparagus tamale and some of an asparagus relleno, yum!

they even had mexican coke which you should try if you've never had one. they use sugar cane syrup instead of corn syrup and it is soooo good.


look at all of the great foods in the case. they also serve flan, which i love but i was way too full to have any. next time i need to save room.

so if you are in need of a tamale and don't want to spend an entire day making them, try one from casa de tamales. they even sell them at many local farmers markets including the one at the ecotrust in the pearl on thursday nights. just look for the cart that says canby asparagus farm.

dahlia

swan island dahlia farm





aren't dahlias just the coolest flowers? i love how they are all a little different and oh my gosh, so many great colors. i had to drive out to canby this weekend and saw a sign on the side of the road that said "swan island dahlias". well this definitely looked like something i needed to investigate so i went into town, grabbed some lunch and drove out in search of the dahlia farm.

the turn off for the farm is off of highway 99 just as you drive into canby from portland. you turn to the right and then follow the signs out about 3 miles until you start seeing dahlias everywhere. at the end of the road is the dahlia farm and it is gorgeous. acres and acres of dahlias! and they have a u-pick so you can cut some to take home with you.

i was telling my friend about this and she said that she had been out there once to cut flowers for a friend's wedding. i think that it would be so much fun to take your bridesmaids out before your wedding and cut dahlias for the ceremony.

i'm not sure how long the season lasts so try to take a drive out soon, you'll be glad you did.

i heart food

last night i went to see julie & julia and i really enjoyed the film. i wasn't sure what to expect because it's been receiving mixed reviews due to the fact that there were basically two separate stories going on simultaneously. the critics were saying that the meryl streep story was very good but they weren't loving the amy adams story. well, i absolutely love meryl streep and she really can do no wrong. when she's on screen, you just can't take your eyes off of her but i have to say that two-and-a half hours of meryl as julia child may have been a bit much for me to handle. in fact, two-and-a-half hours of julia child may have been a bit much for me (no disrespect to you up there, julia). i found myself enjoying the amy adams story line very much and since the main topic of it was her blogging about cooking every recipe from julia child's "mastering the art of french cooking" it was inspiring to me and i appreciated the commitment that she made to her blog.

i had wanted to start my blog for quite a while but when i finally did, it was really on a whim. i didn't think it through too much, and really, i'm just letting it go where ever it wants to go. but the one thing that i decided after i started it was that i was going to take it seriously and keep posting as much as possible. so i understood the commitment that she made to her blog, even when people weren't always being supportive of her.

another part of the movie that i really loved was seeing stanley tucci portray julia child's husband. stanley and meryl were great casting for these roles and seeing them on screen together was magical. they really brought to life a side of julia child that we never really saw. after watching stanley tucci last night, i want to run out to get one of my all time favorite films, "big night".


a few years ago, i was in the mood to watch "big night" so i went to my favorite video store, the ladd's videorama (rip), to rent it but they didn't have it. i bugged the clerk there for months asking if they had it yet and so one day i went in and he surprised me with it. he had ordered it from one of the other stores. i think it's one that i need for my own collection. stanley tucci and isabella rosselini were so great in it. if you haven't ever seen this classic, i highly recommend it.


so if i'm on a roll about food movies, i must mention another favorite, "mostly martha". this is the original version of the american reinterpretation, "no reservations". and while i feel that "mostly martha" is far superior to its remake, i have to say that i enjoyed "no reservations" for what it was--aaron eckhart cooking great food and looking hot while doing it! i just don't understand why they had to give it the same name as my hero anthony bourdain's fabulous travel/food show. and why do we always have to "americanize" great movies? can't people handle watching the original with subtitles? they actually were somewhat different so i almost look at them as two separate films.




and last but not least, i feel i must mention another great food movie, "ratatouille". believe me, i am not a huge fan of the animated movies that are always coming out and that everyone seems to love but i actually went to a theater to see this one and i'm glad i did. i mean a mouse cooking in paris, who thinks of these things?

so here are a few recommendations, i hope you enjoy, i'm getting hungry.

bisou, bisou!

ti amo allora

last night after taking lulu to the mutt mixer at the hotel monaco, i was in the mood to go to one of my favorite restaurants, cafe allora. cafe allora reminds me so much of my favorite cafe in florence called cabiria cafe. i would go to this cafe almost everyday and study my italian for my classes. the servers at the cabiria were the most stylish servers i have ever seen but in that non-chalant, i don't need to make an effort kind of way. i loved this place and was sad when i had to move on to the next stop. i was so happy to find a place like cafe allora in portland because it truly is like being in italy. i step in here and it's like i'm back in florence and lucca again. stefano and paolo, the owners are so sweet and fun and there is always a group of italian speaking regulars sitting outside or at the bar. and the servers are just so warm and friendly. oh, can i go back again right now?

this is the cabiria cafe in florence. i used to sit at one of these round tables to study. i'm not sure if it is still open, i heard it closed for renovation a few years ago.


this is the interior of cafe allora. i find it so relaxing here. i love their motto "non e stata colpa mia" which means "and guilt be mine".
cafe allora is at 509 nw 9th, 503.445.4612.


i was feeling all artsy and took this picture while we were dining outside.

i heart art

i love that is says this, we should all practice this philosophy (except when your friend asks if she looks fat).



don't you just love it when you're walking down the street and something unusual catches your eye? today i was walking back from the coffeeshop and came across this very cool newspaper box for bear deluxe, a local literary magazine. i just love that people take the time to make an ordinary object a piece of art.

don't forget to look around when you are on a walk to a place you go to and from often, you may be missing something cool!

first thursday

quintana gallery


wouldn't you just love a bracelet like this?


this is the amazing totem in the window right now

tonight is first thursday here in portland's pearl district and there is a show at one of my favorite galleries, quintana gallery. once a year they hold their jewelry show when art quintana brings up his amazing collection of native american jewelry from gallup, new mexico. if you can't make it tonight, the event is running through the month of august. if you are a collector of native american jewelry, you don't want to miss this. the jewelry collection is made up of navajo, zuni and hopi handmade contemporary and pawn jewelry.

if you have never stopped by quintana gallery, check it out some time. they generally specialize in northwest coastal designs but occasionally have other collections in as well. it is an amazing gallery and my poor little photos don't do it justice. it is located at 120 nw 9th avenue 503.223.1729.

sunflower child

things have been a little crazy for hawthorne girl the past few days so i haven't had very much time to get out and enjoy my fair city. sometimes a girl has to pay the bills you know! i had to run out to costco(yikes)yesterday but i'm so happy that lorenzo took me on the scenic drive to get there. as soon as i saw this corner, i had to stop to get a photo. so sorry to the car behind me that wasn't too happy about my sudden decision.

so if you must go some place like costco, always try to take the prettiest route possible, you'll be so happy you did.

p.s. i'll try to get back to posting tomorrow but if i don't have a chance, be sure to check out lulu's blog.

lulu's debut

yesterday i got on one of my favorite interior design blogs called desire to inspire and was so surprised to see a photo of my little girl lulu in one of their posts. they run a weekly post called "dogs on furniture" so i thought it would be funny to email in one of my favorite photos of lulu. i had no idea that they would actually show the photo and especially so soon after i had emailed it to them. what a great way to start my monday off! the only thing that i regret is that i did not mention my little blog and so i missed out on a great opportunity to receive more viewers. oh i'm still getting the hang of this blogging thing.

i have been featuring little lulu much more often than i ever anticipated so i decided that i would start up a new blog entirely dedicated to the adventures of lulu. oh yes, i've become one of those crazy dog people that thinks everyone else cares about my baby. i mean how could you not, she's just so darn cute! i decided that in honor of my baby girl lulu who as you know is losing her vision, i will call this new blog lucie sees. i will begin posts this week so check it out when you have a chance.

and feel free to email me any great photos of your doggie or kitty and you never know, they may turn up on lulu sees.

roadside attraction

where i grew up, stands on the side of the road generally sell things like fry bread, navajo tacos and tamales. and while i like these things very much, i have discovered a new type of roadside stand here in the northwest--those that sell things like flowers, berries and squash. i never know when i will find one of these stands but oh how i love it when i do.

when i first moved here, i found several out in rock creek and was fascinated by the fact that you just put your money in a can and take what you like. it's all based on the good old fashioned trust system. and while i like living in the city, i just can't imagine finding one of these stands in town where you take what you like and just leave some change in a can. there may be a few problems with inventory control and accounting! so yesterday when we were driving home from an outing on the tualatin river, we came across this stand in west linn and it made me so happy. i had to stop the car to get some shots while lorenzo made our purchases.

usually you will find these stands down country roads during the summer and fall so get out there and go for a nice sunday drive next weekend.

bisou, bisou!