Showing posts with label Portland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portland. Show all posts

Friday, January 25, 2013

Finally, It Has Been Done

Today, dear Internets, finally...


The magic that is the Ikea was entered. I've lived back in the Portland area for a little over three years, and have never went in this lovely place until today.
Of course, walking in, was very confused. But figured the elevator was a good hint as to where to go. We picked up a map, and it was not very helpful, but cute indeed.


There are arrows on the floor that tell you where to go! They light up! It was adorable!

All the tales and sights of other places on the Internets have spoken of the greatness that is The Ikea. And now I understand it entirely! I've seen the catalog before (and tore out quite a few pages of lovely vignettes), and was in love as it was. But in person? Oh, so much better.

We didn't really have anything we needed there. But D managed to get the day off, and it was my day off already. We were in need of something to do, and the joke of the morning was we needed a new couch, to be able to rearrange the living room, so his desk would be in a better spot (neverminding the fact that I work (tappity-tapping is work!) in the middle of the living room floor). So, Ikea seemed a fitting field trip.

There were so many lovely things inside, I wished I had more money and more space! But when we get a house, we will be back, oh yes.

A few things I loved entirely, though, are as follows.


This was, actually, in the a little girls' room set up, but it is perfect! Even the pink chair pad is just right! And, even though it's a kids' size furniture, the height was good. Which is odd, but oh well! The oval mirror, the slightly bendy legs, oh yes, just for me.


Just a pillow, but the embroidery is fabulous! There were also some lampshades later on that were very similar to this I loved as well. I have a feeling I will be attempting something similar at some point. After I finish a few other things, of course!

And this is what came home with me.



Cheese grater! With two sides! And a lid! So you can grate cheese in the bowl,  and put the lid on, and have grated cheese pre-done! And it has two graters, therefore less washing! Err, we use a lot of grated cheese. And hand-washing the grater we have now isn't necessarily the easiest task. This will for sure make life so much easier! It's a funny blue colour, but that is alright. It's usefulness outweighs the blue.



And a coffee press! I've been searching and searching for a lovely little tea pot. There were two actual tea pots at Ikea, neither of which were very attractive, and a few basic carafes and some tea kettles. I, however, had not realized that a tea pot is not intended to heat the water (silly me, I am aware - never having a tea pot before does this to a person, I suspect). A coffee press is also not intended to actually warm the water. But, oh Internets, it will serve the duty I am intending it to rather well.
D and I are going to have tea with it. He said he would. And yes, I will be breaking out my white/orange cups. There will be pictures.

At the same time, I am reminded of Lucy's coffee press cozy. And Kristen's mention of a tea cozy actually lasting two hours! And since, heck, they work, and I have colourful cotton everywhere...why not! I am thinking a blue and green mix. D likes blue and green. And I like bright colours. There's a variegated Sugar'n'Cream colourway that is blue, green, aqua, and white that this will be fabulous in. Plus, since it's a coffee press and not a tea pot, construction will be much easier!

There were so many things, oh gosh, so many things I want to bring home from Ikea. When we have a house...

xoxo, Jess (who is off dreaming already)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Not At All what I Was Looking For!

This morning, Internets, we got up and decided to go to Portland Flea. And, sadly, it is not nearly as awesome as their Facebook page led them to be. I had been following them for a little over a month (missed the last sale) and wanted to go to the one today. So, we went. And it was tragically terrible.
I dunno what it was, in actuality, but it was not at all very vintage-y,  and there were more handmade wares and magazines than anything. Which is fine, but not what I'm after at the moment. We went in, wandered for about ten minutes, and left, rather disappointed.
Afterwards,  we went up to Hawthorne, but took the backwards scenic route to get there, even though it was really only a few blocks away.

I have never taken a picture of this sign before, so figured I ought while it was rather close. And yes, this year his nose was bright red at Christmas time. It is adorable at Christmas, looks like Rudolph!!
And we drove through (what I hope was only part of) China Town. It wasn't very big, and it seemed pretty small, so I'm hoping there's more of it lurking around that we didn't see. The street signs have Chinese on top of them! And red light posts!

We went to the Goodwill Boutique, which is highly overpriced, but rather good quality (almost new things, but at almost new prices, too). I got a jacket, seeing as it was rather cold, which I will get to shortly.
We went to another vintage-store. Clothing, though, called Red Light Clothing Exchange. The outside seemed like it would be awesome. The inside was, well, depressing. I'm not sure how much bad 80's floral print I saw in there, but it was more than one person should see in one go, that's for sure. There wasn't really anything that was life-changing, even though their Google Reviews are awesome. I'm not after 80's. 70's is even pushing it sometimes. But it was just a let down. Honestly, I got tired of looking - that much floral!

We had to wander a bit before getting into Red Light Clothing Exchange, because it didn't open until noon,  and we were done with Portland Flea by 10:30, so we ended up in the Goodwill, in a guitar store, the Fred Meyer, and just wandering around the streets.


I'm not sure why I decided that a shadow picture would be good, but I'm glad I tried it, I'm rather fond of it. There aren't many pictures of the both of us, and this doesn't exactly count, it's close!


Speaking of new jackets - this be it.

And, once  we got home, I set up office in the bedroom and took a few more pictures, just for good measure.


I decided this is just going to be my go-to hair-do for the moment. Three bobby pins and a crazy amount of hairspray for how much hair is involved, but it's something better than just a side-part.



Apparently, this is a bad colour to photograph. It's almost an army-green, really, but looks very grey here. But it's not grey. It's green. And very soft. Like a good sweatshirt, but a jacket instead! There are a jillion pockets, and there's a hood that zips on and off. Was very overpriced, seeing as it was from the Goodwill (Boutique or not, ridiculous prices!) but a good sturdy jacket.

Overall, not a terrible excursion, but not at all what was expected. Sometimes that's how it goes. Right, Internets?

xoxo, Jess (who is still looking for some good shoes - so many stores, so few shoes in her size)