Thursday, December 30, 2010

so this is the new year...


(kate spade via lox papers)


kate spade can do no wrong. Zero, zilch. Their website is chalk full of fun resolutions. I might have to steal a few and add them to my list. Rather than the regular resolutions every one makes - I'm changing it up this year. I'm giving myself some themes. The first? Live more fabulously. Next up, Be better. Third, make things happen. What are yours? Do tell...

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

sometime you just need some goals, ya know?
check back to see me cross these 25 items off my bucket list for 2011.



    1) Try snowboarding.
    2) Take a cooking class.
    3) Run a timed race.
    4) Cook a meal entirely from scratch.
    5) Publish a blog.
    6) Practice a random act of
    kindness a month.
    7) Weigh in at my ideal weight on my 26th birthday.
    8) Volunteer.
    9) Pay off a credit card.
    10) Get a raise.
    11) "
    Unplug" for an entire weekend.
    12) Start a bookclub/Read a book a month.
    13) Drop off some food for the homeless girl on the corner of NE Killingsworth & freeway.
    14) Suntan on a beach..any beach.
    15) Take advantage of 401K.
    16) Try 1 new restaurant/coffee shop/cart per month.
    17) Rent a
    tandem bicycle.
    18 )Catch up with an old friend.
    19) Start a greeting card company.
    20) Get my cards read.
    21) Take 1 photo per day for an entire year.
    22) Buy an original piece of art.
    23) Splurge on a designer label.
    24) Get lost.
    25) Strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

one day.

It's November 14th which means that there's exactly one month until my 25th birthday. I'm having the hardest time planning how I want to celebrate. Dinner with close friends somewhere delicious? Drinks at a dark bar? I have the hardest times with decisions. Anyone want to plan this one for me? Any good Portland suggestions?

Part of me wants to dress up in sequins and go out...


via hip hip gin gin
     


and part of me wants someone to deliver me a box of mini cupcakes from saint cupcake, some flowers and call it a night. 


Until then...I think I'm going to finish up the next 30 days of my twenty-fourth year taking more 'me' time, and crafting my "25 while I'm 25 list."

via it's mary ruffle
through the airwaves:
matisyahu - 'one day'

Sunday, October 31, 2010

hitchcock presents...

Happy Halloween!


I'm sitting at home with 3 bags of delicious candy and zero trick-or-treaters. Woops, glad we scoured 2 grocery stores at 6:30pm to have treats for the kiddies in the neighborhood... where are you!?


This afternoon, the bf and I met up with another couple to see one of the coolest movie experiences I've had to date...The Oregon Symphony presented Hitchcock's Psycho with a live orchestra playing the score. One word: Awesome. 




Through all of my media classes and film classes, I don't think I've ever watched the whole movie through. So I honestly had no idea of the story line. Embarrassing, but even more entertaining. 


okay, this isn't from Portland, but you get the idea.
As we waited under the "Portland" sign at the Schnitzer, hundreds of movie-goers arrived in costumes - from bloody doctors, mad hatters, to flappers.  Through an audience full of gasps and laughs, we thoroughly enjoyed a fun way to spend the spooky holiday. 






After scouring IMDB.com for some interesting Psycho facts, I saw a site takeover for a new 7-part documentary on TMC called Moguls & Movie Stars which features the epic stories of the moguls and movie starts who built Hollywood. It took approximately an hour to find out what channel Turner Movie Classics is on Comcast (thank god, we actually GET that channel), and it starts tomorrow night at 8pm (or 5pm for those that get the East coast feed, hooray!) I can't wait for a fall and winter full of snuggling up with classic movies and documentaries! 



"We're always quickest to doubt people who have a reputation for being honest." - Milton Arbogast

Sunday, October 17, 2010

nowhere to go.

Sometimes it takes effort to make even the smallest things happen. I've dreamt of spending my Sunday mornings typing from the window seat at one of my favorite coffee shops, sipping an Americano and eating some delicious baked good for breakfast. Week after week, that never seems to happen because life simply gets in the way. 


Today, I am writing from the bar top, window seat while staring over at the sluggish line across the street at the street's newest waffle window. 


My view looks a lil something like this.


Today is totally "curl up on the couch and read magazines, er - books, and enjoy the last few hours of the weekend. And sadly, tonight is the season finale of Mad Men...What am I going to do without that show? Thinking about getting through the winter with a new Netflix subscription and re-watching the past 3 seasons. Finally a show you don't have to be ashamed of watching and that warrant a good discussion as you recap the latest episode with your co-workers the next day. Well, sadly we do that with the Kardashians too. 












Saturday, October 9, 2010

i love the rain the most.

You know you're an Oregonian when you a) don't mind the rain. b) don't own an umbrella. 

(via bippityboppityboo)

Sometimes, the boyfriend and I make a plan to have no plans. This weekend has been one of those weekends. It's not often that our calendars are completely free but after an extremely long workweek, we were both excited to only craft our weekend based on college football games and  movie times for The Social Network.

The rain rolled into town, and we spent this morning lazily laying in bed and watching the first two epsidoes of The OC on SOAPnet (you're welcome, bf). We took off to enjoy the muggy, dry Portland weather by making a return at Pioneer Place and spending our Groupon at Violetta.

If you haven't tried Violetta yet, you have to head over to Director Park (near Nordstrom and across from Fox Tower) on the next non-rainy day. We both ordered the Oregon Blue Burger (need I say more?). Oregonzola, caramelized onions and apple-wood smoked bacon on a 1/3 pound Pasture-Raised Black Angus Beef topped a delish Brioche Bun. We also split a large order of the White Truffe Fries - a shareable portion of fries with sea salt, pepper and Oregon white truffe oil. And washed it down with a Sessions. I can't get enough of the Sessson's bottles...too adorable. 


Tonight we're off to finally see The Social Network. I've heard good things, and how could I not love a movie about my #1 media addiction?



Thursday, October 7, 2010

new york groove.




I'm back, back in the New York Groove. The travel bug has bitten me hard today. I'm dreaming of escaping the grey West Coast, and I can't help but want to wander around the most exciting city ever - New York City.



After only two visits to The City - one right before college and one to visit my girlfriend for our 20th birthdays - I pulled a total Felicity; I got a drastically shorter haircut (a la Cameron Diaz in "The Holiday."), I applied and was accepted into New York Univeristy as part of their Spring in New York program.

As a 21 year old girl walking through JFK to find my towncar, I was ready to dive into an experience that would eventually teach me more than I never knew about myself. I could board a plane, navigate through subway stations and push my way through the shutting doors of the subway car. I could hail a cab in the middle of a busy intersection. I could challenge myself at a nearly Ivy league school and hold my own. I could go grocery shopping nearly 30 blocks away and lug all the bags home. I could survive a Midtown Manhattan nightclub where some strange guys in front of me whipped out cocaine at the table (I ran away - duh).

Besides meeting some fabulous and interesting people, I spent most of my New York days studying harder than I ever should have to receive some of the best grades I've ever gotten - which I probably wouldn't do if I had to do it over again. Each of my media and social life classes were taught by working professionals - executives from NBC, HBO and some lady that would always have her TA teach the class so she could be at home with her newborn baby and watch MTV shows. Seriously.

Besides toting around books on the history of television and reading, er, skimming some classic stories set in New York - I loved wandering around Greenwich Village and the East Village after class. Popping in to Magnolia Bakery to grab a vanilla buttercream cupcake, a slice at Ray's Pizza or a coffee from the cart near the Stern Business School building.


NYU's program allowed me to meet 80 other students from all over the country (although, I'm pretty sure I was one of two from the West Coast). Our organizer planned events and gave us access into events and experiences that money just couldn't buy. Besides ice skating in Central Park in the freezing weather and an outing to Yankee Stadium, I also got to be a taste tester for Chef Emeril Lagasse's on Good Morning America, was handed tickets to a Broadway show, was invited to board a sunset cruise around Manhattan, and front row seats to The Martha Stewart Show (my favorite) fell into my lap.

That's the crazy thing with having a ticking clock as to when you're adventure is going to end...in the famous words of Jessie Spanno on SBTB - there's never enough time. I was only in New York for 5 months, from January to May. While I tried to squeeze in as many "New York experiences" as I could, it's just not possible to take it all in. I returned home feeling like I had both conquered the world and had barely taken advantage of all that the city provided - the museums, the restaurants, the cafes, the parks, the subway stops, the shops.

So...as I sit here at my desk in the basement of the radio station with awful fluorescent lighting - I'm dreaming of jetsetting off to New York to embrace my inner Gossip Girl. How about you?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

fall at you feet.



    Fall always has - and always will - feel like the beginning of a new year to me.
    It's my favorite season by far...

      While I don't have to stand in line at the bookstore and I never use No. 2 pencils anymore - I'll never forget the excitement and "newness" that fall brings. I was always the kid that would beg my parent's to take me to a new fall wardrobe and school supplies...in July. And organize it in Nordstrom shopping bags in the corner of my room (still have a love for office supplies - more to come on that).

      And who doesn't love a season where you can curl up in chunky knit sweaters, sip warm drinks by the fire and fill up on gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup? With crisp mornings that scream "football weather" - what's not to love? Oh, and can't forget that we recently received our fall shipment of our favorite wine on our doorstep.

      So with Fall 2010 underway, I thought I'd embark on a new adventure: a blog.

      I've been tossing around the idea for a long, long, time. I've had a blog before, but always forgot to use it for anything other than a place to paste links to myself. So I've resorted to Google Wave to post links of inspiring rooms, noteworthy quotes, and to-do lists, and am saving the best of the best for you.

      Get ready for posts on life, Portland, decorating, design, career, nerdy-things, Martha Stewart, cooking, recipes, fashion, media and many more things. I'm going to publish my love...hope you're ready!