Perfectly Portland

First up Friday morning-exploring Portland's Forest Park, at 5,157 acres it is the largest urban forest in the United States. With more than 80 miles of soft-surface trails, fire lanes and forest roads, ...

Many walking groups, runners, moms with babes--everyone enjoying this forest in the city!

Gorgeously primeval

Following a  4.5 mile hike, we headed  downtown by the Willamette River. Also known as the City of Bridges (a/k/a PDX, Stumpville, City of Roses, etc.! ) Portland has a beautiful river area.

Panorama from downtown park. There is a separate (safe) bike bridge as well.

In the heart of downtown we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Mothers, featuring upscale comfort food. The restaurant is beautiful with full windows on the street side and chandeliers over the dining tables while still serving "the food mom made". They take nominations for "Mom" of the month and give her bio with recipes in the front of the menu. We loved it.

 Mother of the Month

Feeling rejuvenated, and knowing that we came to work--the kids said what they really needed was help in rescuing the dining room table and mismatched chairs. We discussed colors and also used the stained glass in the dining room window as inspiration for painting. 

But back to last night... when we arrived, the kids took us to a place called Mcmenamin's "Kennedy School" for dinner and drinks. 
Check this out! Kennedy School 
There are some hotel rooms, a movie theatre, several restaurants, pubs and cocktail lounges throughout the vintage decorated school building. Really cool! Then we dragged our jet lagged selves to their house for a tour before hitting the sack.

They have an adorable house! It is a cottage style house in a great neighborhood where most neighbors have "zero-scaping" of their yards-there are succulents, rosemary and tarragon bushes, bamboo--you name it--flowers and plants of all kinds adorning front yards, rock walls, terraced hedges, etc. 

June 2014

The house has a covered front porch with chairs, a patio in the fenced yard with firepit, and a living privacy wall of plants (rubber tree?) around the back yard as charming outdoor spaces. The interior was lovingly restored by the landlord and he and his family were the previous tenants so it is well cared for.  The walls are all  warm ochre and the lighting fixtures, tile, bathroom and kitchen are chosen with care. The basement is finished and includes a TV /study room-it will also be fabulous to head down there with a fussy baby when the house is sleeping! 

Nick and Nicki have a second floor bedroom where there is a third bedroom for a perfect nursery.  

Portland is so structured and protective of its city boundaries and city regulations, they have no "big box" stores in the city limits. So, we headed to Home Depot in the "suburbs" to find our paint and other supplies. Following Home Depot, we moved on to Ikea for baby furniture :D

Stained glass from 5214 Cass has a new home

Unfinished bench and worn out table

First coat already making us smile!

Kevin and Nick start assembling crib! They had to disassemble and reassemble upstairs after finding it didn't fit through living room doorway!

Second coat on and ready for barbecue guests tonight

We added "Sweet" and "Savory" in rosey red to each end of the table.............

On Saturday while Kevin and Nick went to get a grill and groceries for a BBQ, Mitchell took me to "Alberta"-a part of town on Alberta Street with coffee shops, art galleries, ceramics, and unique eccentric shops of all kinds, including the "best ice cream" Mitch has ever tasted. I mean, almond brittle with salted ganache?--yes! (next time)

Salt and Straw


 Alberta Arts District

Alberta District building wall art

Perfectly Portlandian

And some inspiring words :D

Personal favorite-rabbits, need I say more?

 Torrey and Nicki ready for BBQ, work is done! Jeff, Zach, Tim, Anne and Spencer joined us for steak and mahi mahi with peach salsa.

Peninsula Park is just a few blocks from their house---there are several rose parks in Portland. I took a lot of pics on this Sunday morning walk with Kevin and Nick.  Enjoy!

Instagram adds the perfect touch-it does look like a dream.........!

On to Sunday brunch before heading to the airport. We went to "Mississippi"  district for brunch at Equinox  --I had the "Back to Bed"  with a Mimosa and loved it!

30 weeks tomorrow!

Adorable Portlandians

After brunch we explored the  Mississippi District   which evidently and luckily has undergone a transformation from grunge to cool in the last ten years--see the quaintness below

Mississippi

A chocolates store greeted us with fresh flowers..........

Apothecary chest full of terrarium necessities in the garden store

An electric light store--not lamps or fixtures-just the bulbs!

We slept on a bed in the soon-to-be nursery...........and while we were boarding the flight, our bed was deflated, new furniture moved in, clothes and books unpacked....(way to go Nicki!) 
Say hello nursery and good-bye guest room--there's a baby on the way!

Until November..............