I'm Vanessa, a graphic designer living in Portland, OR, with a penchant for beautiful things, tea, learning to bake, tattoo collecting, dreaming of far away travels, and capturing life through photos. Here I share bits of my life along with things I find inspiring and delightful.
Category: Adventures
We had the weirdest mix of weather this week, but Alex has been on break from school so we’ve been trying to soak up some outdoors time no matter what the weather gave us. Luckily Friday and Saturday were amazing and we were able to get some needed sunshine. Wednesday we went to the Rose Test Garden and saw slushy snow/rain start to fall. We woke up the next morning with a bit of snow on the ground, but of course it was gone by noon.
Thursday we went to Cathedral Park underneath of St. Johns Bridge. For some reason I find bridge construction history to be kind of interesting, and this bridge was designed by David Steinman, who designed a number of well known bridges across the world. Of all the bridges in Portland, I think the St John’s is my favorite. I have a soft spot for gothic-esque design.
Friday we made a trip to the Apple store using the max line so we could enjoy the view. Later we went to catch up with friends and threw around design ideas for their wedding(ooooh!!!). Actually, Alex and I were honored to be asked to design their wedding invitations – I’ll share those closer to their special day. Saturday was especially beautiful and warmer than it has been in so long. We went to the dog park and then had a picnic at the Columbia River. So many sail boats were out!
Now I’m super ready for Summer! We’re already dreaming up plans for camping, road trips, and all sorts of outdoorsy activities. Tomorrow morning we’re heading to the coast to do a bit of camping before our busy schedules take over again. We’re crossing our fingers for even a little bit of beautiful weather, but we have plenty of ideas to keep ourselves entertained either way. Have a great week!
This weekend we took a break from our work to escape the city. We took a 30 minute drive east of the city to Angel’s Rest trail near Multnomah Falls. We made it about 3/4 through the trail before the rain came in and the sun was starting to set. There are a number of waterfalls, streams, and amazing views along the trail. I can’t wait to go back again and take in the view from the summit of the trail. The clean air is so sweet, it smells like Christmas!
Here’s a little composite video of our clips from the hike. Enjoy!
Our weekend went a little like this. It was fun, productive, eye opening, amazing. We started the fun on Friday night with our friends Andrea and Mike. Dinner at Los Gorditos and our first real comedy show experience – we saw Garfunkel & Oates! The show was pretty awesome, those ladies are so funny.
Saturday we woke up late and decided it would be fun to check out Old Town Pizza in Old Town Portland. It’s located inside the old Merchant Hotel, a 132 year old building. The pizza was really good – we shared a small Dragon Lady pizza and it was really tasty.
We decided to add a little adventuring into our day so we checked out the Mississippi and North Williams neighborhoods.
Porch Light is a really cute and thoughtfully stocked antique boutique currently located on Mississippi Ave but soon moving. I’m going back next week to take advantage of their moving sale.
I really loved these wrapping papers of old typewriters and beautiful hot air balloons. I don’t know if I’ve shared my love of hot air balloons here, but I’m a crazy fan of hot air balloons. It’s serious.
Flutter is an amazing eclectic shop full of amazing oddities in the form of books, home decor, apothecary, clothing, toys, and many things in between. It’s one of my favorite stores in Portland. These Q&A books were hanging out waiting to be picked up.
The lightbulb store. Enough said.
What a grudgey park name
North Williams! One of my favorite cocktails at one of my favorite bars and a fun street with a few addictingly beautiful shops and lovely homes. I loved the simple design for this restaurant sign.
Ink & Peat is an amazing store – I’ll have to share more about this place later. It deserves a post of its own.
Alex and I both enjoyed the color scheme of this house. I especially like their little globe sitting on their front stoop, perhaps by accident? There’s a cute, surprised Alex.
Purchased from Flutter, now living on our walls.
I’ve already dove into the Handmade Marketplace book I bought at Ink & Peat. So many great ideas that I’m already putting to use. My moleskine that I ordered in December finally arrived and is now full of ideas, lists, plans, and sketches. One plan now recorded is a letterpress class that I registered as soon as we came home. I’m so excited! I’ll let you know how it goes… Hope you have a good week!
This past Saturday the only time I left the house was to take my car in for its’ oil change. While it was being lubed up (har har) I walked over to the Fabric Depot and walked around this giant building looking at fabrics galore. I wish I knew how to reupholster furniture, they have so many great patterns and textures that I would love to use to liven up some old furniture. The only thing I bought was a skein of red yarn to crochet a hat.
My parents came for a visit to Portland in September but flew in through Seattle so we would have an excuse to check it out. We picked them up from the airport and went over to Pike Place Market. We had delicious fruits shoved in our faces and bought super cheap dahlias to take home.
My parents are super cute. We went down Post Alley and found a cute place to have lunch. Alex and I shared a vegan chowder bread bowl with Strawberry lemonade. My parents had some world famous clam chowder.
We decided to walk over to the Space Needle and stopped in a few shops along the way.
I can’t wait to see more of Seattle next time!