Portland Extravaganza

Thomas has encouraged me for YEARS to take a vacation without him. He goes on a camping trip every year with some guys and thought I should plan something similar, except without all of camping, or the guys, or the spray batter in a can. This year an advertisement to a craft fair in Portland caught my eye. Visiting Portland has been a little dream of mine for a few years. The craft fair just happened to be the weekend Thomas finished school, and Mother's day, and a friend was miraculously interested and able to join me. I threw all caution and good sense to the wind and planned a 5 day vacation May 5-May 10 that was all about slow food and handmade shopping.

I can honestly say this was one of the best decisions I've made and mere memories of the trip might be enough to refresh me for years to come (which will be helpful because it's a once in 5 years experience).

Here's a rundown of the vacation: (oh, and be warned, I'm about to talk about food, A LOT)

There are unfortunately no photos of the first Portland encounter. After leaving the airport around 11pm Thursday night, we headed to Voodoo Doughnut to grab a late night snack, a punk rock 24 hr doughnut shop. I'm still craving another Grape Ape- one of the best yeast doughnuts I've had with vanilla frosting and a mixture of purple topping that I can only guess was grape koolaid, pixie sticks, pretzels, and dippin' stix mix.
We then checked in to our "La Quinta" (aka scary motel) and proceeded 1 hour later (around 2am) to call the front desk and cancel the rest of our nights.

Friday morning we started with breakfast at Tasty N Sons on N Williams. My breakfast (2) was a Spring Muffin with pickled beets, butter lettuce, red onion, beechers cheddar & a fried egg.

After breakfast we headed to Mississippi Ave nearby for some more browsing. We hit up Mr Green Beans, a DIY coffee roasting shop that also sold equipment for making your own cheese. We also visited The Meadow (1) a flower / bitter and wine (2) / salt (3) / chocolate (4) shop. Oh, and they also had tiny watercolor portraits that made you feel like you lived in France. This salted chocolate was recommended to me and I brought some home to Thomas. We just finished the last square yesterday and it's my favorite of all time.

Pistills Nursery is also on Mississippi, and though I obviously needed nothing from there that I could bring  home, their chicken coop (1) and baby chicks (2)(3) were really cute.

After browsing a few indie clothing stores we had lunch at Mississippi Ave's food cart court (1). I got the Chickpea Sandwich from Garden State (Crisp fried garbanzo cake, lettuces, lemon aioli, roasted butternut squash on a ciabatta roll) YUMM and some carrot and pear juice.

Next we headed downtown, which was just across the river from our shopping adventure and met up with our guide for a Portland Walking Chocolate Decadence Tour. We started out at the Heathman Hotel where we received a brief history of chocolate (1- cacao nibs) and visited  Cacao (2) on their first floor, a chocolate boutique specializing in drinking chocolate (3). I had this treat for the first time on our honeymoon in Italy and am thrilled that it's picking back up in the US. Our next stop was Benessere Oil and Vinegars (4) where we sampled dark chocolate balsamic vinegar with walnut oil. Drinking it straight seemed odd, but it turned out delicious and I'm pretty sure would be spectacular on a brownie. Teuscher: Chocolates of Switzerland (5) was next. Their Champagne Truffles are flown in from Switzerland and you can still fill the bubbles pop on your tongue. I got Eden a little crowned frog box (6) with a piece of hazelnut chocolate. She had asked  me to bring her a frog back from Portland ;).

Moonstruck Chocolate Cafe (1) was next. Apparently it's highly endorsed by Oprah and a bit fancy. I brought back a bar of their Fortunato No 4 and it's been highly enjoyable. Then onto Leonidas (2), a Belgium chocolate boutique, where we had the only white chocolate I've ever enjoyed. After that was some random nice hotel lobby for a chocolate martini (3). Are you getting tired of chocolate by now? I think I was too :). Next to last on our hotel was Mio Gelato (4) for some tasty, very standard gelato. And last, we visited Cacao's larger cafe and had a tasting of 6 single origin chocolates with a bit more information about the process of cacao harvesting. After that we headed to our new hotel, got checked in, freshened up and headed to dinner.

We had dinner reservations at Simpatica Dining Hall, a slow food restaurant open Friday, Saturday & Sunday with a fixed menu. This is exactly what I expected out of Portland. The chef came out and talked to us before dinner about where our food came from- basically everything but the fishes' names. Dinner was simple, elegant and delicious and it was really fun watching the food being prepared (we had the closest seats to the kitchen). It was my first experience with Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, and it's now my favorite.

Saturday morning we got up and walked to the farmer's market. The weather was not participating so it would have been better without the once a 10 minute downpour of cold rain, but what a fun market! I can see why Portland can do sustainable so well. It's seems as though they can grow everything (1). I had cute pastries for breakfast (2), ate local honey with fresh biscuits from Pine State Biscuits (best biscuits I've ever had), bought local hazelnuts, perused cute pies peddled by a burly teddy bear of a man, and drank a honey cardamom latte.

After wandering around downtown a bit we headed to Crafty Wonderland. I have no pictures, mostly because vendors at crafts fairs don't really want you taking pictures for copyright reasons. But it was super fun and here are some my favorite vendors you should check out if you like that sort of thing:
Moss Handmade: Jewelry
LaLa Laurie: handcrafted fancies, delightful paper flower boutonnieres
Vintage Child Modern: vintage inspired clothing for the modern child
Polly Danger: Sweet Accessories
Rachel Austin: Paintings
Chet and Dot: Sweet Accessories (plants and animals) (robot candy)
Burdy Fly Away: Modern Appliqued Clothing
Mary Kate McDevitt: Illustration
Take Fibers: Crewel Embroidery Kits
Allisa Jacobs: Handmade bags
Jigsaw Graphics: A letterpress studio
Willow Baus: Handmade toys
Man's Face Stuff: Mustache wax, etc

Upon a recommendation we checked out The Original Dinerant for dinner. It was a very hip diner with modernized dishes that was surprisingly some of the most delicious food on the trip. I had roasted asparagus and radicchio smoked ricotta gnudi, crème fraîche remoulade, almonds (1), pork ‘n’ beans braised pork shank, corona beans, pickled peppers, preserved lemon and parsley salad (2), strawberry icebox pie with graham cracker crust (3), and ginger mint soda. The restaurant was wonderfully located near Powell's Books (4)(5)  so we spent the remainder of our evening there. It's the largest bookstore in the world- taking up an entire city block. It has its own iPhone GPS apps, sells new and used books, and is decked out with personal reviews written by customers on postcards taped to shelves.

Sunday morning, Mother's Day, we had brunch at another slow food, sustainable restaurant called Beast. It's owned by twins and has a fun French vibe (1). The chef was rocking out to Michael Jackson as she prepared our meal in front of us (2). I was nerdily impressed by receiving french pressed coffee (I got my own tiny press because I drink decaf). We ate poached plum clafoutis: with soft whipped cream and maple-glazed bacon (4), Beast Hash: cornish game hen confit with market potatoes, morel mushrooms, spring onions, rapini, green garlic, poached duck egg, and hollandaise (5), a selection of cheese from Cheese Bar, gathering together spring greens, and aged red wine vinaigrette (6), and Chocolate Truffle Cake with black pepper shortbread and vanilla whipped cream. A snapped a picture of their favorite local restaurants written on their wall in case I'm ever lucky enough to return (8).

We walked off brunch with more shopping of course. We hit up a few shops on N Williams we saw at breakfast on Friday that were not open at the time, including Head to Tow (1) a double decker bus full of vintage dresses, and Ink and Peat (2) a home and floral store with amazing books (3). Then we headed to Noun: A Person's Place for Things on Belmont which happily shared a storefront with Saint Cupcake, cute display and delicious treats. After that it was time to take Michelle to the airport.

I planned to have my meal alone be a cooking class at  Hip Cooks. We learned to make (1) seared squid bruschetta, two types of paella, red wine soaked oranges (4) and natillas (5). YUM. Our teacher was a lot of fun (2) and the setup was pretty neat. She had actually done some culinary training in Spain and spoke with authority and lots of cheesy accents. I made my favorite of the two paellas, chicken & chorizo (3), for our housegroup and they deemed my trip a success.

Monday was my day all to myself. I planned on spending ridiculous amounts of time in fabric and art stores. It Was Awesome. I had breakfast at Helser's on Alberta (1), pear and Havarti pie with crème fraiche, fresh fruit, a toasted crumpet and carrot juice (2). I regretted my full stomach when I got a latte from Random Order Coffeehouse and saw their stunning pies. My first shopping stop was Grasshopper, a children's boutique, where I got the phone call that the triplets were on their way :). This cute little bookstore (4) was not open, but looked like it had a great selection. I also stopped by Collage and got sharpies in really fun colors, shrinky dink materials, and necklace making supplies. It was a tiny shop, but I think had more worthwhile supplies than all of hobby lobby. It really had a great selection of catch all art materials. I left Alberta and headed toward Hawthorne, but stopped two places on the way. One was SewPo- which again was tiny but had a spectacular selection of fabrics. They carried several cotton voiles and knits that I can't find in Chicago and I got some dress materials for Eden. They had sewing machines and a punch card hour system. If I had one more day I would have loved to start and finish a project while people watching the customers. The other stop was Scrap (5), a non profit that collects, cleans, and reuses/resells materials. I was so excited when I got the call the triplets had made it safe and sound I forgot to check out their sculpture gallery.

When I made it to Hawthorne, I first spent 1.5 hours in Cool Cottons hands down the best quilt fabric store I've ever been to. Their selection was amazing- tons of Japanese imports and designer fabrics and cute local patterns. The owner was super nice and very helpful. Lunch was crab bruschetta at Bread and Ink. Then I just meandered until dinnertime, looked at quirky houses (3), and  found another Powell's Books, this one dedicated to arts and food (4).

For dinner I snagged pizza from Dove Vivi (1) with cornbread crust, my favorite was the balsamic red onion and sweet corn (2), and mini cupcakes from Saint Cupcakes (4) larger store (3). I ate in my hotel, while watching a chick flick, it was pretty awesome :).




Thomas says I like to vacation places I can envision myself living, and I suppose that's true (although I can probably see myself living in Italy, Scotland, etc.). Portland was so lush (1), relaxing, friendly. It had the amenities of a big city, but driving in it (especially all the awesome free parking) made it feel more like a large college town. There was a trail that ran along the river (2-as seen from our downtown hotel window) and people were constantly outside.

This was more a memory book for me than all the detail I felt you needed to know, thanks for sifting through that extremely long post!

Disconnect

Our April took us from a slower pace straight into a sprint. Not only is it FINALLY NOT SNOWING and we can play outside, we are trying to spend lots of time with friends who are leaving, joining into new ministries, figuring out travel plans for the summer, and preparing final papers and exams (of course the last is all Thomas, but I do supply some very important technical support like a full belly and clean pants). That along with many birthdays, baby showers, births (12 babies here or on their way!), meals for new moms, and trying to keep up with weekly phone calls to family makes me feel like I'm barely scratching the surface in most of my relationships. All of these activities bring us great joy, but they leave little time to be still.

I feel disconnected and out of touch with those I would claim as my closest friends/family.  Life is moving really fast and I can't seem to carve out time or space for those relationships to be fostered.  But honestly, the end of the semester is exhausting, and all my extra time and energies are focused on my relationship with Thomas and Eden, and I feel like there is little left.

When I sat down to write this entry, that was not at all what I intended to say. It kind of gushed out. This blog started as a way to update our close friends and family on our lives in Illinois. I suppose I want to apologize for being so checked out the last month when what I wanted so desperately to do was send  packages to you all full of Eden's drawings and little notes of how she reminds us of each of you or loves the toys you gave her at Christmas or boxes with sweet handmade baby items or new recipes we've loved trying.

Part of the disconnected feeling comes from a January-May span that has passed without any face to face contact with anyone I've known longer than 1.5 years. We are feeling a bit more grounded. We have close relationships here, we know people's back stories, we can ask favors, prayers, and cry on shoulders of many new friends. I just haven't figured out long distance relationships yet, after all, I'm still a newbie. Thankfully, there are trips to Texas on the horizon, and a very fun trip with a good friend to Portland. Yep! I get to take a girly vacation. I'm pretty ecstatic- you know- the jump up and down and scream like a little girl kind of excited.

So, can you forgive me for being scatterbrained during a period where you should all be doted upon? I'm sure you can. I won't kid myself too much and think I wasn't always a bit scatterbrained.

What I intended to write about is how blessed I am to be in a small group made up of Trinity wives that live in our town. There's roughly 9 of us. And 5 are pregnant. Well scratch that, 4 pregnant, 1 with a two week old.  After missing out on WAY too many opportunities to spoil friends and family with showers, I jumped at the chance to help out with this one and we threw it at our place.


There were 5 honored guests and a mix of genders, prompting a generic theme. Spring is HIGHLY celebrated here so fresh flowers and bright colors were in order.

Garlands were made from Moda's Urban Chicks Dream On line (so far my all time favorite). I found some fun vintage sheets on Etsy for tablecloths, and got some green and aqua striped straws from Shop Sweet Lulu.

We served Martha's Lavender Infused Lemonade (I think we ended up quadrupling the amount of water in the recipe).

After following Sweetapolita for a while (absolutely incredible), I was excited to finally try my hand at one of her cakes. This Triple-Lemon Blueberry Cake baked like a charm, although I couldn't get my icing as smooth as hers. It was delicious.

Appliqued Onesies made from second hand onesies and scrap fabric made for a quick, cute, and cheap craft.

It was fun to spoil some very deserving ladies!

The phrase sleeping like a baby....

...should really be sleeping like a toddler, at least for our little girl.

Here's just a little project we've been working on (if you click on the picture it gets a little bigger):

A few weeks ago I realized that I could take pictures in the dark using my iPhone and it made absolutely no sound. The silent function works on flash too :). And that led to another realization, short bursts of light do not in any way disturb our sleeping beauty. 

I LOVE that I will have these memories. Half of the nights Eden looks like a sweet baby and the other half she looks like a rowdy teenager (or at least what I imagine her to be, I know she's still little and I'm in no way ready for her to grow up!).

Because she is such a sound sleeper, I typically readjust her after I've taken the picture, set her on her pillow, cover her back up, remove bows we forgot about. Sometimes she's just so cute I have to sneak another picture.

Although she showed early signs of being a climber, she doesn't seem to think those habits can apply to her crib, and stays happily in it until we take her out. Thomas has finished building her toddler bed and Eden and I helped paint it. It's been in the basement for a month and she cries if we mention trading it for her crib. I know, I know, no rushing this one, I like my sleep thank you :).

There's been a lot to blog about, but little time, and fewer eloquent words (at least on my part). I've been reading some wonderfully encouraging mom books, attending a soul feeding bible study, pondering Mark in our church's Sunday School, and struggling, but making strides in daily study and prayer. Thomas has been doing mostly the same (except for  the mom books, but really, who has time for those when you're nose deep in the ancient mysteries of old testament history, culture, and language??). We long to share these growing pains with our family and oldest friends. I'm hoping to find ways even through my clumsy writing to share them in this forum, though I'm being a bit timid because words can so often be misunderstood and twisted online!

This verse keeps coming back to me:

2 Corinthians 12:9: 
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
I am a weak writer. I am a weak explainer of my faith. Words often fail me, and I do not like to put effort into things I do not excel in. But God can use me, and I need to let him, even in these things. God can show Himself even through my clumsy speech if I am willing to put my weaknesses out for others to see.  So...... be patient with me on this journey as I try to share what our focus and growth has really been in this temporary home (and no, it's not my sewing skills).

First off, I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone for leaving such sweet comments about my potholders. Who knew kitchen textiles could create such buzz? Although I was not a grand winner, I was a finalist! Unexpectedly they awarded the 8 finalists with some pretty fabric. I'll make sure to post my loot when it arrives.

Also, hello to everyone who is stopping by from Prudent Baby! They were nice enough to post some link love for the finalists and this little blog is getting lots of visitors. I have had several requests for a tutorial for the ruffled potholder and it's in the works. It is a simple change to the pretty pot holder tutorial posted by Prudent Baby so expect it soon!
Eden has been especially cute lately. Her little personality is blossoming, mostly because she can now verbally express herself really well. Every day she is learning to be a little bit more polite and patient (and so is her mom :) ). She's getting to an age where we can have little discussions about God and Jesus, and has started asking to pray for specific friends. It's all very sweet. We try to read one Old Testament and one New Testament story a day (thanks Dudley's for the Ergermeyer's Bible Story Book!). This book is on my wish list, I think it would be a great tool for children's devotionals.

Eden is also getting to the stage where she says the funniest things. I went to wake her up yesterday morning and she gasped "run away little piggy!!" before falling back into a deep sleep. While I was at bible study tonight, she told Thomas "I not see mama. I worry about mama." as he put her to bed. She didn't make it to the potty in time last week and stopped in the bathroom door, sighed, and said "Oooohh, Eden." She tells us that things "make her feel better" or "not make her feel better" (things like chocolate milk, pants, or hugs). I could write a book, and probably should.

Although you're not all here to hear her cuteness, here are a "few" pictures so you can see some of the cuteness. Little girls are so much fun to dress!

Favorite Boots:

 Leggings are a must for winter girly girls:

  Vintage clothing is lots of fun (the white circles all contain lower case cursive letters):

  She may love dresses, but I think there might be a jeans and t-shirt girl in there somewhere:

Serious attitude and the bag lady look:

Happy Valentines!

The tiding is a bit late, but I was too busy being romanced by my sweet hubby to post sooner.

I'm sort of indifferent about this particular holiday. The kitschy cards are fun and who doesn't like chocolate? But celebrating simply is usually my style. I made blueberry heart shaped pancakes and pink milk for my lovelies for breakfast and adorned each of there plates with some cute chocolate (toblerone for Thomas and a four piece assortment for Eden).

Thomas and I hadn't had a date in a while so we decided it was a good enough excuse to go out. We had dinner at a local Italian/French restaurant called Gabriel's. The interior was a bit cheesy, but the food was spectacular!



 
I took a little valentine's snack to playgroup the next day. Super easy- shape refrigerated breadstick dough into hearts, sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, and sprinkles. The kids ate it up along with some strawberry applesauce.

 
And Thomas brought me flowers home after school :).

Our Weekend

Thomas left for a conference on Friday afternoon. It's customary for me to get a babysitter when he is out of town. It's actually not about getting a break during the 48 hours Eden and I are on our own. I have realized that the week following a Thomas trip feels a LOT longer, and I'm frazzled well before the next weekend comes. I need a break on the weekends to recharge.

Our babysitter was only available for Saturday afternoon, a time that was not conducive to taking a friend to dinner or a movie, so I decided I would use the time to do a bit of exploring. It might seem counter-intuitive to pay someone so I can go to a thrift store and get a deal, but it seemed silly NOT to go if that's what I really wanted to do with MY time. And really, Salvation Army is a lot more fun without a 2 year old.

I was after button down dress shirts for a skirt project. I snagged these for $1.99 each.

The plan is to turn them into a skirt similar to these found at Garnet Hill for $56.

I also grabbed four $0.99 t-shirts to use with this t-shirt to nightgown tutorial for Eden's summer PJs. Nightgowns are ridiculously expensive ($20-$26 at Carter's for their short sleeve summer gowns).

And how could I pass up a Janie and Jack sweater for $1.99?

Eden was in a great mood when I got home. She would barely let me put her down to pay the babysitter. I try to soak it up when she's cuddly because it's a rare occurrence. We spent a large chunk of the evening playing with a diaper box. I tied a piece of sting to the handle so I could pull her around. I suggested she take her princesses for a ride, thinking she would pull and I'd get a break, but she had other ideas.

And we played a lot with stacking pillows. Did anyone else do this as a kid? I remember LOVING to pile pillows into a big mound and fall on them or bury myself in them. Eden, as usual, just wanted to play naptime. That is all she does these days, plays at naptime. I can't remember the last time she slept during the day (we still do a long quiet time).

On my way home from the thrift store I stopped in Lake Bluff's shopping district. It's a small village just north of Lake Forrest (just north of us in Highwood) that I had yet to explore. The square was small, but had a few cute boutiques, a nice American bistro, a fantastic meat market, a soon to open microbrewery (the first in the North Shore), and a cute little bakery. I snatched these up to bring home as a treat for Eden.

Chocolate with Peppermint Frosting and Mixed Filled Berry. By far the best cupcakes I've had in the North Shore.

I finally got to use the cute cupcake stands my mom got me for Christmas. I have 6 in all and wish there were more little girls in Eden's neighborhood! So far it seems to just be her and Lilly in a sea of boys.








































In a twist of fate, a package arrived in the morning with a cute cupcake shirt from Eden's Grandaddy and CiCi- perfect for the occasion!
































Speaking of sweets. Have you guys ever had these? They are seriously good. I picked them up as potty treats for Eden (yes, we're working on it) and have been sneaking them all day.















I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

An explanation of my lack of communication...

... and dishwashing, and sleep.
 I promise to post SOON regarding something you all care a little bit more about: our schedule, Eden's health (good by the way), Thomas' semester, etc. But for now, you'll have to bare with me for another crafty post.

I stumbled upon Prudent Baby a few weeks ago, just in time to get in on their Sewing Machine Double Down contest. They are giving away two Brother sewing machines as part of a SKILLS BASED contest. I'm not much for lottery type contests, but tell me I'm going to get critiqued and I'm all over it. Nerd much? This is in fact the first sewing contest I have ever entered. It's been going on for a month and I've only known about it for a week, so I've been busy. While I don't have any hopes of winning (there are hundreds of entries) I had a ton of fun and gained some confidence in my abilities. For a couple days at least I can still dream about a sewing machine with automatic needle down, auto threading, satin stitching, and the option to lower feed dogs. Granny nerd much??
Honestly, I have a lot of friends who would like to learn to sew/quilt and it would be amazing to have an extra machine to teach on and loan out.

Entries are due by midnight. I don't know when the judging ends. You could submit as many as you wanted. They are judged with equal importance on these 4 criteria: Originality, Style, Workmanship, and Presentation. I have presentation down, but that's about it!! I'm happy that I did my best with the time I had. I also didn't allow myself to buy any materials (aside from cheap washcloths to tear up).

Here are my entries: