One Dress. Seven Venues.

Recently, I went out with my best friend Tayler for a day of shopping, eating, and exploring.  We created a photo essay of our day featuring our outfits!  On me: Dress: Urban Outfitters, sandals: Steve Madden, Purse: Banana Republic.  Which one is your favorite?

  

Restaurant. Le Pigeon.

For Father's day, my family went out for an exquisite dinner at Le Pigeon in Portland and devoured the perfect three-course meals.  This restaurant has been named one of the best restaurants in the country (and a few say the world) by countless magazines including; The New York Times, People, The Oregonian, Gourmet Magazine, Bon Appetite Magazine, and The Washington Post.  The restaurant itself is small and romantic with an open kitchen where people may view chef and owner, Gabriel Rucker, at his best.  The menu changes regularly but always includes interesting items like bone marrow and pig's ear.

Above: Dad enjoys pig's ears over spring onions, radish, and mustard cream (also seen below) for Father's day.

We also shared a lamb tongue appetizer (not featured) with peas, morels and truffles.

Above: Mom had the smoked pork with funnel and white beans.

Above: Dad and I both had the Duck with bread pudding, porcini, and walnuts (it was fantastic).

Above: though we were all quite full, we managed to squeeze room for dessert!  This is Dad's creme brulee with chocolate shortbread cookie and espresso pot de creme.

Above: Mom enjoyed her cashew cake with chocolate semifreddo and tiramisu mousse.

Above: I had a wonderful strawberry marscapone trifle with strawberry salad and basil lemon shortbread.

Above: jacket: Nordstrom, shirt: Frenchi, undershirt: Banana Republic, jeans: Citizens for Humanity, heels: Steve Madden.

Above: I had the pleasure of meeting Hannah Rucker, the owner/chef's wife who posed for a picture of her and her lovely outfit.  On her: shirt: vintage Ralph Lauren from Hatties, jeans: Levi's "San Francisco," shoes: Jeffery Cambel (they have pink stitching, I love them!), watch: Swatch, bracelet: AIDS awareness.  I hope you visit Le Pigeon if you are ever in Portland and I hope you have the pleasure of meeting Hannah!  She is so nice (and stylish)!

Scallops. Giant duck.

I spent a wonderful day yesterday with my mom, Lisa, in Portland.  We began with lunch at the Oregon Culinary Institute in downtown which consists of a three-course meal that allows you to choose one item from each course (three choices in every category), salad, entree, and dessert.  Throughout the meal we sipped on iced tea and coffee.  I started with the romaine salad with crispy bacon and shaved red onion with smoky bleu cheese dressing.  Mom enjoyed the butter lettuce salad with marcona almonds, goat cheese and Oregon strawberry vinaigrette.  The salads were followed by our chosen entrees.

Above: Mom chose pan-seared scallops with succotash and herb butter.

Above: I chose the potato gnocchi with mushroom-chive fondue and grilled asparagus.

Above: We both chose to finish with a chocolate dream torte!  All of the courses were phenomenal.  I would recommend this restaurant to anybody visiting Portland.

Above: After lunch we made the short drive from the restaurant to 23rd avenue, a trendy place to shop and eat!

This picture was taken outside Twist, a fabulous store with hand crafted jewelry and art.

On me: bag: Banana Republic, cardigan: H&M, shirt: Nordstrom, skirt: Nordstrom, sandals: Steve Madden, sunnies: borrowed from boyfriend (not planning on returning them!)

Fashion Kitty.

My dear friend Tayler (at bighairandbikinis.blogspot.com) just graduated high school and at her graduation party we couldn't help but play with the kittens and their mom that have recently claimed her house their home!

Above: Feather Ring: Handmade by Tayler

Fashion at the Zoo.

I've loved going to the zoo since I was little.  I'm inspired by the animal's prints, colors, and shapes and I love watching their interactions.  I spent the day at the zoo yesterday with one of my best friends, Caitlin, who also has an amazing child-like love of animals.  The weather was slightly overcast so most of the animals were active.  Within five minutes of entering the gates we found ourselves watching a playful black bear fight!  After four hours well spent, we had seen every exhibit at the Portland Zoo and enjoyed every minute of it.

Above: shirt: Old Navy Mens, pants: William Rast, scarf: present from Germany, bag: handmade, earrings: borrowed, glasses: borrowed, shoes: Converse, tea: English Breakfast (favorite).

 

Architecture. LA Bath House. Ben.

     I must apologize for my lack of posts recently.  Since my last post I have; studied for college finals and successfully completed them, packed my dorm room into my mom's car, spent a wonderful last night with my boyfriend, Ben, the subject of this post, wished him a tearful goodbye as he headed home to Wisconsin for the summer (visiting him in exactly two weeks and one day),  driven back home to Portland, Oregon, packed my stuff from Mom's car into my closet, and seen many friends.  I am finally home and loving it!  No more homework to keep me from enjoying the weather, away from my friends or not updating my blog.  From now on I will be blogging much more frequently!  
     These pictures feature my talented boyfriend, Ben, and his architecture model for an L.A. bath house.  His heart went into this project for months.  Every term at the University of Oregon Architecture school (number one in the country for sustainable architecture) students must complete a model and a full rendering of a building on a specific site.  Spring term the first year students were assigned an uphill plot of land in Los Angeles where they were to create a bath house.  The students must go through a rigorous process that includes creating the idea of their bath house, what they want their space to represent and who they want it to speak to.  They must turn this idea into a comprehensive reality by creating a computer rendering, which is a 3D interactive view through their building built into the land, which includes everything from rendered sinks and changing rooms to people.  The scale must be correct and the space must be usable and livable.  After the rendering, which takes weeks, students then must build a model of their bath house.  I took these pictures of Ben's model, which was made from bass wood and museum board and includes small, abstract wire figures (which I love).