This past weekend I

- brought my bike with me on the train to Portland
- attended Dan and Vanessa's kick ass wedding reception
- rode the shit out of my bike across Portland

It was a fun weekend but I'm exhausted. We took the late train home and met a rad couple of ladies on the train that were contemplating a move to Seattle from Atlanta. It just so happened they took a trip to Anacortes for What the Heck fest. That piece of info led to many interesting and fun conversation. I hope they move out here. They deserve Seattle especially with the radness that radiated from them. One of the coolest facts we learned was that one of the ladies worked for Adult Swim and was flying to ComicCon in San Diego, she was there to represent Adult Swim but most importantly...meeting the dudes from Mighty Boosh! Awesome

brian and i went to portland saturday morning, dave and michelle came also and we all kept good company with each other. i had a partner in crime for thrift store shopping and brian had his to be bored with. just kidding. we all had a blast thought just doing stuff in portland at our own pace. brunch, craft store and thrift shops, drinking, and sleeping. we met up with dan and vanessa saturday night for a drink and then the original four headed to pok pok for a late dinner and it was really good of course.

on sunday we strolled around northwest portland and then checked out crafty wonderland at the doug fir. crafty wonderland kicks i heart rummage's ass. seriously. much more awesome crafts that don't look "crafty" which is an aesthetic i am not that into. so i picked up a beautiful smelling handmade soap, cards, and a cute little notebook for brian.

we said goodbye to dave and mish and headed for the blazers v knicks game at the rose garden, one of the nicest basketball arenas i have ever been to. the game was really good and close for all four quarters. the crowd was really into it too, more jerseys and sporting the home teams colors more than i have seen since going to game's for the spurs in san antonio.

check the finale! seattle hometown star, brandon roy, does it up real good.

Roadtrip to California - Day 1

Brian and I woke up at 3:30am on Saturday morning. Falling asleep wasn't easy, we had people at the house for some beers and chatting the night before. I woke up with a slight hangover but after a cold shower, it slowly faded away. We loaded up the car and hit the road by 4:10am. We drove straight to Portland, were we stopped at Albina Press for coffee and a delicious best ever huckleberry scone. Albina must have been open for only minutes since it was barely after 7am. The barista was so nice and excited to hear about our trip. She has only been in Portland for a year now but shared her enthusiasm for us visiting California (Cali transplant) for the first time. I feel like everyday I'm reminded at how rad Portland is. After Portland, we drove to Eugene, Oregon. Officially the most south we have ever been! We celebrated in the car by playing tunes loudly. Afterward, we stopped at a grocery store for camping food and lunch, realizing that Eugene would be the biggest city we would see for a really long time.

We headed for Florence, OR via Hwy 101. The drive included the beautiful countryside of Oregon and much of it's breathtaking coast line. Florence was great. It's a small coastal town that heeds some of the largest sand dunes in North America. Supposedly many dunes have been recorded to be around 300 feet tall (which I realize now are about as tall as the giant redwood trees Brian and I would see later). We paid $12 to hop into a dune buggy and ride around on these gigantic sand dunes. There were a ton of people riding the dunes, many on quads and motorcross bikes, far larger than the dunes Brian and I braved.

After an hour in the buggy, we hopped back in the car towards Del Norte Coast State Park. Our destination was still another 3 hrs away and by this time we have been driving for about 11hrs so we were really ready to get to camp and chill out. Finding the campsite was simple. We set up camp about an hour before sunset, made a fire, ate some chili, and drank some tecates. No bears sightings at this camp but they did have bear boxes. The air was moist and chilly but we fell asleep rather easily after such a long day of traveling. I woke up at 4am with the urge to use the bathroom but I was not getting up by myself to walk to the bathrooms alone in bear country were no bears have been sighted in some time but I get a feeling I will see the first in a while. So I fell back asleep...

This weekend in Portland

A convention center sized Thrift Store extravanganza

A huge church rummage sale

Picking berries at Sauvie Island

Dinner at Pok Pok

Waffle Sandwiches for breakfast on Sunday

Dave rides the STP. Good luck!

Brian and Dave

Have a good weekend!

"what have you done?"

take time to read this interesting article in the new york times about gentrification and racial division in portland’s northeast neighborhood. khaela, from the blow is quoted in it. those guys just dabble in everything from local politics to entrepreneurship in the world of laptop cases. funny dudes. anyways, tonight is the season finale of lost. i think brian might lose his shit because he is so excited. i’m excited too but skeptical that the producers will leave me satisfied with a season finale that will keep me interested in the show until season 5 premieres a whole year from now. damn, that’s rough!

i want to rock!

The Memorial Day weekend was fantastic! Brian and I checked out those movies on Friday night and wow! The Edge of Heaven was an incredibly, gorgeous and somber movie. I’m so glad we were able to squeeze that movie into our already very full evening. The Wrecking Crew was good too but cheesy at times. A bunch of old men talking about “the good ol’ days” so after awhile you begin to realize that these stories have been told more than 50 times in their lifetime. The facts I learned in that movie were astonishing though. I can’t believe how many song that band of session players recorded/made. Pink Panther theme, Batman and Robin, Captain and Tenille, Sonny and Cher, the entire Pet Sounds record, The Ronettes…the list goes on. At one point, we were driving around in Portland with the oldies station blasting in the car and at least 8 songs in a row played that were all by the Wrecking Crew.

Portland was so nice as always. Saturday’s weather was perfect for lounging in the park. We met Dan and Vanessa at Pine State and took our food to go. We walked to a park and sat under a huge tree. I think Vik and Charisse were pleasantly happy with their biscuit meal. Afterwards, we headed to the Saturday Market where I found a really cute bag but for $85! So I decided that instead of purchasing it I would try to make it. After the market we headed to the park by Dan and Vanessa’s and played bocce, drank beers, and headed to Re-run for thrifty finds. That evening we ate at a delicious bbq joint called Dixie…I don’t remember. The clouds rolled in and the weather got shitty really quick. We eventually got caught in an insane thunder and lighting rain storm and had to run all the way home. It was intense and scary and of course everyone was laughing at me because I kept screaming every time there was lightning or thunder.

On Sunday, we drove to Haystack Rock at Canon Beach with Dan and Vanessa. The drive out was relaxing. We stopped at Camp 18 for breakfast and a few “viewpoints” for pictures. Vanessa took most of the pictures but I did take this one. Later in the evening, we rode our bikes to a bar, it was closed, then to another bar on the other side of town. Portland is ridiculously flat. I can’t believe I can ride around on my 3-speed and only used the hardest gear the entire time!

Monday was thrift store bonanza! I stocked up on lots of goodies for mine and Charisse’s booth at the Fremont Market. Opening day for Fake Banana is June 22nd. I also bought a sweet, 60’s Danish modern ottoman for $3.99. Wow! After thrifting we headed to Fabric Depot and purchased all the materials for my bag that I’m making (i.e. bag I’m copying). Everything was 30% off and I bought some cute Strawberry Shortcake fabric so that I can make a sun dress for Marisa.

Brian won some last minute tickets to the Red Sox v Mariners game. Can you believe the Mariners are the worst team in baseball? Wait, don’t answer that question. Okay, how about this…can you believe they won last night? Wow! I’m their lucky charm. It was a lovely evening at the ballpark. I just hope I don’t stink of garlic from those damn garlic fries!

*portland update

the train ride to portland on saturday morning was spectacular. it snowed all the way down to olympia. vanessa picked me up from the station. we were both hungry so she took to me to a biscuit joint! pine state biscuits was like no other place i have been to. i ordered "the reggie" biscuit...it's a biscuit cut into half topped with mushroom gravy, bacon, a piece of fried chicken and cheese. it's like KFC's bowls but organic and on a biscuit. oh yes!


me at pine state biscuits

afterwards, we headed to fabric depot, which was by far the best fabric store i have been to. 30% off fabric, notions, etc. vanessa said that on some days store inventory could be 40% off.
i bought materials to make place mats and a skirt.

our day was long but we were able to hit up all the places we wanted to check out. knitten kitten, where we bought buttons, needles, and window shop their amazing collection of vintage fabrics. afterwards, we bought more coffee, ingredients for bloody marys, and cupcakes.

we finally got home and started our projects. vanessa kindly taught me how to use her beautiful new sewing machine and showed me a couple of executing techniques that helped my projects looks pro. thank you vanessa!


vanessa made us matching rings and coat pendants

i made a skirt (my first real skirt!)

a set of reversible place mats. the idea of the place mats was so that i can sell them at my booth at the fremont market this summer but the oil canvas and laminated cotton was just a little to expensive to make a ton. they still are gorgeous. oh well, instead i'm giving them to friends as a house warming present. finally! welcome to the city, vik & charisse!

the whole weekend was wonderful. we listened to lots of records and started off with many projects and very little time. i can't believe we did everything we wanted to. next time i'm in portland we are silk screening.

i got back late last night. i'm feeling under the weather today so pho is in order as soon as i finish here. i hope i didn't catch dan's dengue fever. ; )

"If that's what you are into.."

I can't get this song out of my head, it's hilarious!

I had a lovely lunch with an old workmate from CW. She is working at Vulcan. Their offices are located in the ID so needless to say picking a place to eat at was a bit taxing. "Should we eat at the place where all the 'americans' eat"? Oh wait, hold up. They are all homeless! Or should we eat at the sketch dim sum place. After walking around for 15 minutes we found an 'americanized' dim sum place that was just fine. Afterwards we walked to Oasis and had bubble tea. Delicious!

B and I are heading out soon for a drink with Dave and Mish at Grey Gallery. I'm excited to finally get to drink inside that lounge. Everytime I walk by Grey with Brian it almost always takes like a 5 minute coaxing to get him to have a drink with me there and then I just give up and we go to Moe Bar or Lindas. Fans of the bar/gallery say "I like booze and I like art!" Me too! I remember there was a time when I said I didn't do art. haha. God, I'm an asshole.

Tonight, The Quiet Ones, Blitzen Trapper, and Fleet Foxes at Neumos. This show is going to rage and I'm totally wearing my cowboy boots.

Tomorrow morning I leave for Portland. Keep posted for updates on my craft weekend with Miss Rehder. Have a lovely weekend!

the chronicles of yarnia

i know, i know! totally cheeseball but whatever. through vanessa's blog i found the rad craftzine blog. holy shit those people posting know whats up! check this out...a yarn store in portland, where you can customize your own yarn. hells yeah! it's called yarnia. you can pick the fiber, thickness, everything! i wonder how long i would spend in a store like that? considering i spend an average 2 hours and $80 each time i go to the yarn store here in seattle. ahh! bad news bears.

also, i am totally making these for derrick's rock band drum kit. circular needles! i need to get a pair of those if i do this.


and who doesn't want neapolitan cupcakes. score! i'm for sure making these tonight!


i'm very happy it's the weekend!

she's crafty

so in a couple of weekends i'm heading to portland to chill and craft with my pal vanessa. she has (2) working sewing machines and lots of energy. i'm sure to be inspired and get some stuff done. we both have so many ideas on things to make that i'm anxious to see how many we get done. i want them all!

in other news, the weather is fucking beautiful here in seattle. the high is 55'. holy shit! 55 degrees! that's almost 60 degrees then it will be almost 70 degrees then it is summer time!

i bought a lock for my bike on monday. yesterday i rode to matt and regina's apartment. that was fun! i think riding my bike in austin during sxsw made me less afraid of people and traffic while riding. i'm going to bike everywhere this spring/summer! except for up the hill to my house then the bike goes on the bus bike racks metro provides for us "less equipped" cyclists.