mini break

our wedding anniversary is coming up on a couple of weekends, and we're going to get out of town for a couple of days.....

we're headed to santa barbara....

anyone have any excellent recommendations on what to do there, besides sit by the pool and have cocktails?

mini break

i'd long suspected that living in southern california would feel sort of like being on a permanent vacation.

turns out that that's pretty darned close to reality, sometimes.

yesterday, we went for a hike in malibu....

pretty nice, huh?

a good antidote to the sunday blues, that's for sure!

cargo

as you saw in yesterday's post, portland oregon is a great place to eat, drink and be merry.

it's also a great place to browse, and spend some money (but generally not too much).

one of the most visually appealing places to while a away some time while a rain shower passes is cargo. almost TEN years ago, i lived in portland, and worked at a shoe store that was on the same street as cargo's TINY original store.

i could not believe what it's blossomed into. see for yourself:

yes, all of the above is one store. in its giant industrial space, cargo manages to pack in treats for all ages and all budgets.

GO!

doug fir

i just got back from an almost two week long vacation in the pacific northwest of north america.

we had such a fun trip, saw good friends and met new ones!

our first stop was portland, oregon, which is one of my favorite cities. portland does great things with the design and use of the different retail stores, restaurants and public spaces, so i thought i'd share some photos....

(especially since the shop and restaurant owners don't seem to mind if you take pictures, like they do in nyc!)

the photos below are all of a place called doug fir / jupiter hotel. originally it was a cheap hotel, but has been re-worked to include hotel rooms, a full restaurant, a great music venue and a sprawling bar, lounge and patio space. i could literally hang out here all day!

this building is especially suited to one-stop-shopping in the evening, as you can see....

stay tuned for another amazing interior space in tomorrow's post!

the other warehouse sale

to distract myself from the mounting hurricane that *will not* be disrupting my vacation travel plans tomorrow morning, yesterday i went to the bird warehouse sale.

i am a devotee of the store, having moved into the carroll gardens neighborhood at approximately the same time the boutique did.

they do a bang-up job at buying for the whole dang place, but i have always had an affection for their shoe selection.....

however, i've been trying to reign in the spending this summer, so most of my visits have been for browsing, inspiration & window shopping only.

but of course i had my favorites...... and i set off the warehouse sale with cautious optimism that at least one of the two pair of shoes that i'd been coveting would be available....

although the twitterer at bird (bird tweets. obviously.) had mentioned that ladies had started lining up an hour before opening, i arrived at the twenty-minute countdown, and found no one there.

i'm not too impressed with um, exaggerating the truth in order to cajole people to come and stand outside in the rain for no reason at all.... but, like i said, i'm a devotee, so i didn't make too much of a fuss.

and i'm glad i didn't. once i got into the store, jen mankins and her lovely & friendly staff were excellent hosts, and steered me right toward the shoes.....

and the two pair that i'd been dreaming of:

the rachel comey leno

the dieppa restrepo dina

they will both be coming with me, my two pair of acne jeans, earnest sewn cut off jeans shorts, james linen pants, 10 t shirts & tank tops, gap denim button down, printed cotton button down shirt from layla, white peasant blouse, alc maroon jersey dress, two scarves, blazer, white converses and blue flat sandals from topshop on the....

plane to portland, which will be taking off from newark airport tomorrow at 7 am. 

after which time, hurricane irene can do what it likes with the new york tri state area.

yes, i'm already packed.

--- this post now concludes "shoe week". i hope you have enjoyed it as much as i have ---

west is best

i can't get enough of the west coast.

armen and i just booked a trip to visit the pacific north west region in a couple of months.

we'll be going to (one of our favorite u.s. cities) portland, oregon,

staying at the new mcmenamins crystal hotel.

then a quick visit to the oregon coast, where we'll stay in astoria, oregon,

at the new-ish commodore hotel.

and then, we're off to explore vancouver, british columbia,

with the victorian hotel as our home base.

although we know portland fairly well, and have friends to show us around in vancouver, i would still love to have any recommendations on things to do, great places to shop, eat and drink....

particularly for astoria and the northern oregon coast.

please let me know if you have any!

cph eating

i really fell in love with copenhagen, when my husband & i visited in september.

i've followed this blog, partially because i like to live vicariously her new life there.

she & her husband have just opened a cafe, and i think it's a lovely reason to plan another trip.

or, a first one, if you haven't already discovered one of the nicest cities on earth:

//AN EVENING AT PATÈ PATÈ// from Hannibal Lang on Vimeo.

snapshots from sandwich, ma (cape cod)