Roses from the Portland Rose Garden

The City of Roses has a special place in my heart and this past visit really tugged at me. Perhaps it was because it was the first time that I really (like really) could see myself living there. Or maybe it was the first time it didn't feel like a city I was just visiting, but rather a city that I could stay in.

Last time we were in Portland, my fella and I had a jam packed schedule. This time around we were still out and about and going to all sorts of places, but it didn't feel scheduled, it just felt natural.

My favorite memory will probably be the day my friend Cari and I (we were in Portland at the same time, hooray!) were taken to Sauvie Island by her sister and her friend. Driving through fields of white flowers, seeing lone large trees in an expanse of farmland, noticing chipping old barns set against a beautiful Oregon summer sky... it was Heaven I tell you! I thought my heart would burst with happiness!

I remember thinking...this...THIS feeling. Where things are slow and moving, and you have time to notice beautiful things like ospreys hovering overhead and the way the breeze bends the long wild grass...





I also met up with several lovely people. Friends I have made through Instagram who have become friends in real life. It is just so wonderful to meet people you follow and have watched the world through their eyes and then to realize them in real life and discover they're just how you imagined them to be? I had such a terrific time breakfasting with Annie from Lantana Vintage, Solanah from Vixen Vintage and now American Threads, and Gretchen from The Neutral Territory. Thank you ladies for taking the time to meet up and break bread together! I always think the best conversations are those around a fine meal and a delicious cup of coffee (which Portland is brimming over with both!)





Ahhh...and the shopping, and the vintage! Oy vey! Portland has many, many, many delightful boutiques and vintage shops to whittle away your hard earned dollars! I only went to a few vintage shops this time around to source for vintage for my own shop (and my closet), but I did go to several wonderful other shops I've been following in Instagram for awhile including Yo Vintage, Lowell and Maven Collective where I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Jax of Tabor Vintage and Kim of Ethan Ollie. You ladies are so wonderful and wish I had more time to have chatted with you both to talk shop, pretty things, and general hoopla.

This is turning into the longest love letter I think to Portland (just kidding, I bet someone has written love letters to Portland and I bet there are VOLUMES of it).

I'm sure the photos speak for themselves and hopefully will say a lot more than I ever could about how much I love and absolutely adore the city of Portland.

I should just move there. LOL.