30 September, 10:22,
by Kim Toomey
I think someone may have read my blog post because this is exactly what Dylan and I had for dinner. Or Jennifer Coughlin and I just have good taste and ordered some of the best things on the menu.
If you want to read this great write up on our little neighborhood from Neighborhood Notes, please do. We love our little spot in NE Portland. And the art in the pictures in the back of the Good Neighbor Pizza photos are Dylan‘s. You can mostly see John Graeter’s work who is also awesome and we have one of his pieces in my office at home.
So I leave on Friday night for New York City. I haven’t been since high school when my grandmother passed away. I’m going this weekend 1. because it is my grandpa’s 80th birthday and my whole family will be there and 2. to go to SMX East in New York next week. For all non-internet marketing professionals, you can call it geek fest. Look, they even give you a badge to put on my site (which I try to keep as non-geeky as possible.)
Anyway, while I have been excited to go to this I was also facing a huge dilemma. You see, at the company I work for, there is hardly a dress code. People are lucky that I shower in the morning and show up to work with my hair dry. In jeans and a t-shirt. A sweater when it gets cold. And I’m going to business functions in New York City. I also watch too much Mad Men and have probably overly glamorized the whole thing.
But nevertheless, I went shopping yesterday for some “NYC appropriate” clothing. I think my biggest problem will be shoes. At 5’1, flats don’t really do it for me. But I’m envisioning serious pain after trekking through NYC, on subways and at a conference all day in 3 inch heels. Sex in the City is real, I know people do this, right?
Also, are peep toe shoes and colored tights still in style because that is what I’m planning for these, and I know the west coast is a little behind on our fashion. If so I’ll just pack my rain boots and north face and be the laughing stock of the whole thing.
Also, I have lots of adventure stories that I’m way behind posting to this blog, so I’l try and get that done tonight.
20 September, 08:26,
by Kim Toomey
Fortunately there are no pictures of me before a certain part of the day – probably because I was white as a ghost and had terrible dark circles under my eyes from not sleeping the night before.
But eventually all the girls got in the limo and headed over to Edgefield to continue getting ready.
And the boys got ready too
I finally put some makeup on so I could be properly photographed.
Monica helped me put my shoes on. Oh how I love those shoes…
Took some pictures
Lots of pictures. I’ll spare you from all 3,000.
But at some point, this had to happen:
And no surprise, Dylan was making jokes.
I on the other hand, said only nice things. This is what Dylan looks like when he listens.
But eventually we got to the good stuff.
And then more pictures.
And FINALLY, we got to party
I almost forgot to mention that we had one of the cutest flower girls ever.
And things got rowdy.
I think the DJ put Living on a Prayer on – something totally ridiculous/awesome for my wedding. I couldn’t help myself.
Basically a good time was had by all.
And the boys got in a fight during the garter toss. I thought the ladies were supposed to do this. Apparently we have unique guy friends.
In the end, my cousin and his girlfriend ended up with the bouquet and garter. Still waiting for a wedding invite…
Ah, what a great day.
Happy Anniversary baby. We’ve come a long way!
Corvallis, 2004
My long-time salon closed recently. I had been going to Hello Gorgeous off and on for years now, but had been a loyal customer as of recently. I toyed with the idea of trying some place new that would be closer to home, but in the end decided to stay with my guy Nate and follow him to Bouffant, which is just on the edge of the Pearl District at 9th and Couch.
So, I had my cut and color appointment last night, and here is why I now love Bouffant:
- My guy Nate is awesome. I think he can read my mind. Or I’m just that predictable when it comes to my hair. And he’ll do saucy things to me like this: Oh the chocolately-brown goodness. The blond highlights were fun for the summer, but it’s quickly becoming fall and I needed a change. And a bob.
- Bouffant serves wine! I was always jealous of Dylan getting to enjoy a beer while being pampered at Hair M, so I’ve finally found a place where I can have a glass of wine while reading gossip magazines waiting under those crazy heat bubble things for my color to set.
- They have great products and things to take home with you. They’re a bumble and bumble salon which I love. They also had 50% off their demalogica products which I use on a regular basis, so that was very exciting.
All in all, it was a fun little salon to go to. They offer manicures, pedicures and facials on top of all the usual hair services. And it has a great name!
Dylan and I had been to this restaurant before, as it’s within walking distance to our house, but Sunday night we had returned home from a weekend at the beach and neither of us wanted to cook. We wandered down to Firehouse and indulged ourselves.
They have a new cocktail menu as of a few weeks ago, so Dylan ordered an Old Fashioned due to his Mad Men obsession and I tried…dang it, I’m not going to remember what it was called. Anyway, both drinks were a little different then we expected but not bad. I really wasn’t a fan of my drink but that had a lot more to do with my ability to order things that I’m going to like than the restaurant making a bad drink.
We started dinner off with the Bruscetta which was fantastic! I haven’t been able to get enough of tomatoes this summer, and this appetizer was covered with them! And cheese. And olive oil. It was a great summer snack, and it’s probably good I didn’t know about this earlier.
I ordered gnocchi for dinner which was simple, included a big glob of ricotta cheese in the middle and was topped with more tomatoes. Dylan had the hanger steak, which I had had before and we both agree is one of the tastiest things that is consistently on the menu. Dylan order a glass of wine to go along the steak which was quite tasty.
Throughout our meal we had great service and a chance to talk with both owners as we left. This is a a cozy neighborhood restaurant that leans towards the upscale side, while still being very reasonable (the steak was $16). They do specialize in their pizza’s which I have yet to try. They’re all cooked in a big wood oven, and looked really tasty. So did the desserts. This is a tucked away little restaurant that is definitely worth finding!
10 September, 07:16,
by Kim Toomey
One of my life goals to achieve within the next 5 1/2 years was to grow dahlias. This year was my first attempt, and although I started a little late in the season I’ve had some success. Check out this bloom:
And this one.
Just ignore the ugly white stuff on that leaf. Not bad for some hand-me-d0wn tubers I threw in the ground in June and hoped for the best. I’m waiting to see what color the other plants that have come up are – as I don’t know what they look like yet. And then I’ll need a few more for the yard.
If you want to grow your own – this is the place to go: Swan Island Dahlias. I went with my family a few weekends ago when they have their big show. Lots of pretty flowers to chose from, but you can order online too and they will ship them to you in the spring when you need to plan them.
09 September, 19:49,
by Kim Toomey
Sooooo, my new favorite, life altering discovery is Spud. To Dylan’s credit, he was the one who discovered them while showing art at Portland’s Street of Dreams, and insisted that they give him one of those eco-friendly grocery bags. The bag also came with a total of $25 off over a few orders, so I figured I would check it out.
Basically it’s on online grocery store that is able to offer pretty good deals because they don’t have any brick and mortar stores. They offer grocery delivery within an 8-hour drive of Portland (and Seattle, San Fran and LA I believe) and plan the route out to be as efficient as possible. You don’t have to be home, they’ll just leave this bin wherever you tell them too, and it has a special freezer bag for food that needs to be kept cold.
Spud has everything your typical New Seasons would have, but you don’t have to go to the store and delivery is free if you spend over $35, which you will. Their produce is amazing, all organic and fairly local. According to the receipt I was provided the average distance my food traveled was only 500-ish miles compared to 1500 that most items at a chain grocery store go. And then you get home from work and have this waiting for you!
Like I said, I ordered a lot of produce the first time around, apples, oranges, pears, grapes, celery, avacado, onion and a lemon. And, as I also said it is delicious and very reasonably priced. Win win – yummy healthy food and I don’t have to go to the store.
If you want to try them out for yourself, I have a code to share. It will give you $5 off your first 3 orders and $10 off your fourth. CRPDX-TOOKIM
Because Portland is such a bike friendly city, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance sponsors what they call a “friendly challenge” to encourage people to ride their bikes to work instead of drive. You also get kudos if you walk or take mass transit part of your route if biking the whole thing isn’t very feasible. Luckily for me, I’m about 5 miles from our current office which takes me about 30 minutes to cruise along on my bike. The bike commute challenge goes through the month of September, and as it is September 1st – I rode my bike to work today!
What’s even more exciting about this challenge is that beginning September 21, we’ll be in our new office which is a whopping 1.5 miles from my house. I really have no excuse to ride my bike nearly every day.
There are 4 others in our office who are participating. We’ve all been known to ride our bikes to work on occasion, but I’m glad that we’re all rallying around – or guilting each other – into riding more frequently.
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