One Year Ago Today

September 20th, 2009 3 comments »

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

Corvallis, 2004

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Bouffant Salon in NW Portland

September 17th, 2009 No comments »

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.Kim's new haircut
  • 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!

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Posted in NW Portland

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Firehouse Restaurant Review

September 14th, 2009 1 comment »

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!

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Posted in NE Portland

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How Does Your Garden Grow? Dahlia Update

September 10th, 2009 1 comment »

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.

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Posted in Home

Spud Online Grocery

September 9th, 2009 1 comment »

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

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Posted in Cooking, Life

Portland Bike Commute Challenge

September 1st, 2009 No comments »

bike

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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Posted in Life

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Dylan’s Tattoo Update

August 24th, 2009 No comments »

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Posted in NE Portland

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1928 Tattoo

August 22nd, 2009 No comments »

Dylan had been itching to fix a tattoo of his pretty much since the day he got the original tattoo. Last weekend he finally took the plunge, worked out a concept and took the plunge. After visiting several tattoo shops in Portland (and trust me, this city has a few) we were sent to 1928 Tattoo on  NE Alberta, which is conveniently close to our house.

Shauna was awesome and quickly hashed out just what Dylan had in mind, and they got going. Here’s Dylan’s old tattoo, a sun he designed himself.

Sunday Dylan and Shauna got about halfway through. All the outline was done as well as one rose that covered up most of the sun.

Yesterday Dylan finished it all up. I need to get some finished pictures to post, but here are a few more along the way for now.

Everyone at 1928 is awesome. Super friendly and talented folks. I’m sure Dylan and I will both be back there. And if you’re ever on Alberta on Last Thursday, stop by 1928, pull a word out of a box and get a random-ass tattoo for the bargain price of $75!

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Posted in NE Portland

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Clotheslines

August 19th, 2009 No comments »

One of the reasons I love our house.

I love the big backyard that we have, and that we would never want to get rid of this in order to make more space. You can’t find this in suburbia.

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Posted in Life

Bolt Fabric: NE Portland

August 17th, 2009 No comments »

I have “known” how to sew since I was a little girl. My mom is a fabulous craftswoman. I grew up in home-sewn dresses, my American girl dolls had mommy-made dresses, and even in college, I had a cozy momma-made quilt. So, numerous times I’ve been taught how to operate a sewing machine. And I’m starting to get the hang of it, although I’m not so sure I have the patience to do a quilt well, they always turn out a little wonky.

Anyway, not the point. Because no matter how badly my seams line up, I will keep heading back to Bolt Fabric on NE Alberta St. here in our little corner of Portland. Not only do I love it because I could walk if necessary, but they have just the best fabric selections. It’s like they have tapped into my brain and bought fabric that I didn’t even realized I wanted. You walk in and are inspired to begin so many new projects its unhealthy.

Here’s a sampling of their fabric that I’m collecting. Some of it is for dedicated projects, others are just waiting for the perfect chance to shine.

This big print in the background I am in love with. I need to turn this into a pillow for our basement living room.

They also offer classes for the less than crafty out there. Having met several of the girls at Bolt, I bet they’ll even be super patient with you. I have been meaning to take one as my skills really are limited. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and they are having a sale this next weekend (Aug 22-23). All fabric will be 20% off. I’ll probably be back.

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Posted in NE Portland

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