Inspiration.

These are a few things that have been on my mind this week.

Lace top (similar) and layered necklaces.

Halogen palazzo pant (I am obsessing over) that are now at Nordstrom Rack and BP voluminous scarf.

Bright red pants and my favorite flats.

Portland. Part 3, Food.

Ok, now to the good stuff.  This is easily the best part of Portland, besides the SHOPPING of course.  My family and I ate at so many amazing local restaurants - a lot of happy hour due to the fact that I am finally 21. Hooray!  I will highlight a few of my favorite places below.

1.  Papa Haydn's - N 23rd Street.
N 23rd street is a really fun area with great local shopping and restaurants.  It has a very hipster vibe and seems to be a popular place to hang around.  While exploring my mom and I  passed this restaurant with adorable white paned windows and bright yellow walls inside - we then thought it might be time for happy hour. :)

Goat cheese and local mushroom pizza.

Blueberry infused amaretto and mint mojito.

Delicious garlic fries.

2.  Red Hills Market - Willamette Valley.

The Red Hills Market was easily my favorite place we ate at.  My mom, dad, and I stopped here to get lunch while wine tasting and we all fell in love.  This market sells local cheese, wine, coffee, etc, and specializes in sandwiches, soups, and pizza's.  I was ecstatic when I saw Skillet's bacon spread - I may not eat it but I was so happy to see a bit a Seattle in the valley.

Cooler of local wine and cheese.

Drink menu on refurbished wine barrel pieces - very Pinterest.

Local whiskey.

3.  Zeus Cafe - Pearl District.

The Zeus Cafe is a very quaint lunch spot owned by McMenamins.  It is located right under a historic hotel downtown.  Janssen and I stopped her for lunch and just enjoyed the sunny day and took in the city around us.

Adorable Janssen with his model face.

Local espresso.

J's lunch:  Water buffalo and chicken salad sandwich with french fries sprinkled with truffle oil.

My lunch:  French onion soup.

4.  Mio Gelato - Pearl District.

Who says you can't have dessert before dinner?  Well we definitely did - we don't really follow those rules.  We visited Mio Gelato in it's brand new location in Pearl District.  YUM.

Almond and Pistacchio.

5.  Sizzle Pie.

I had been eyeing this place all weekend.  We must've passed it about 100 times - it is in a prime location, right downtown and across from Powell's Books.  Janssen and I stopped here before heading home for a quick bite of some good pizza.

Caesar salad with homemade vegan dressing and kalamata olive and artichoke pizza.

** THANK YOU Portland for so much delicious food and drinks.  I may have gained a few pounds - it was well worth it.

Portland. Part 2, Wine Tasting.

WINE!!!

yum.

**Side note, wine makes me reallyyy tired.

Yes, I will admit, I fell asleep on the drive back from the Willamette Valley to our hotel in Portland.  But, wow, what an amazing trip.  The rolling vineyards are beyond beautiful.  I discovered throughout the tastings that I am a huge fan of dry riesling with a crisp pino nior close behind.

Check out some of the pics of the adventure below.

First stop Erath, one of my moms favorite wineries.  Here we tasted 6 wines - 3 white, 3 red.  I learned a lot from the tasting room director, Addie.  Always remember to hold chilled wine by the stem, the warmth of your hand will warm the wine.  White wines should be typically served chilled.  If the skins are left on the grapes it can change the color or taste of the wine!

The above wine is a dry riesling - I ended up purchasing a bottle of this.  Erath no longer makes this wine and they found one last crate of it recently from 2006 when they stopped making it so they are selling off the rest!

Next up:  Bergstrom!  This is my dad's favorite winery.  The setting was beautiful.  We brought our lunch up here, ate, sipped wine, and enjoyed the view.

A Bergstom we were able to tour the barrel room!

*Thought I would throw in a pic of the view from the balcony of our room. :)

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Portland. Part 1, Shopping.

Wow.  What a weekend!  The morning after the Coldplay concert my mom and I took off for our weekend in Portland.  My dad met us the the next day to help us celebrate our birthdays.  The weekend was full of shopping, wine tasting, good food, and surprises!

This was such a great adventure and there were so many amazing shops and restaurants that I want to share that I must break this "Portland Post" into 3 parts.  The first will be the shopping!!  Part 2 - Wine Tasting, and Part 3 - Food.

Let's start this post with a few images from the train that my mom and I took to Portland!  The train is such a great way to travel.  Time flies because you can explore, grab lunch, read, talk, whatever! It is such a pretty view too.  Here are some pics!

View from the observation deck on the train.

Fun, past-time, local reading.

This was an adorable little store featuring only local Portland designers.  I was really into their selection of readers.  Check it out online at Radish.

I have heard so many great reviews about Blow Dry Bar's.  It was a must do on this Portland trip.  We went to Blowout downtown Pearl District.  My mom got the All Natural and I chose the Divalicious.  It was so much fun and we left with silky smooth and voluminous hair.

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Adorable handmade paper in Chinatown.

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Powell's was also on the must visit list.  Imagine this:  3 stories of BOOKS.  Every topic you could ever image.  10 rows of COOBOOKS, amazing selection of fashion illustrations books, and my boyfriend especially enjoyed the photography and video section.

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Powell's even has their own coffee shop attached where they roast they own organic beans.  If you are ever in Portland, you cannot leave without visiting here first.

My beautiful mother while shopping in Pearl District.  Happy Birthday Mom!! Check out her fabulous blog here!

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Sneak Preview: Portland.

Here is just a sneak preview at some shopping my mom and I did in Portland today.
More to come later :)

The day started with blow outs at the Blowout downtown.  Then off to shop till we drop!

Had a LOT of fun shopping.  Top Row:  Lululemon Basic Headband.  J.Crew Flower hair accessory.  Nordstrom BP Scarf.  Forever 21 Scarf.  Bottom Row:  Anthropologie Print Shift Dress.  J.Crew Sweater.  Anthropologie Black Lace T.  Nordstrom Rack Sperry Topsider Burgundy Penny Loafer.  Nordstrom Rack Boutique 9 Black Suede Ankle Bootie.  

**I have to add a side note just to say how much I am IN LOVE with this Boutique 9 ankle bootie.  It is the PERFECT little bootie, and was ridiculously marked down at the rack.  I will also admit I had not even heard of the brand Boutique 9 until today.  But beside that fact they are perfect.  Take a look below for a better look at them.  They have an adorable little back zipper and a dreamy masculine wooden heel.  Needless too say these will quickly become a staple in my closet.  

Sperry Topsider Burgundy Penny Loafer purchased from Nordstrom Rack.  

**This shoe is so great because it is a punky take on a classic style.  The burgundy patent adds a little spice and the chunky heel with the tan stripe is very Prada.   I am a happy girl.  :)

The perfect bootie.  Enough said.  

COLDPLAY

Wow. What an amazing experience to say the least!! The show was a total jaw dropper from the amazing laser lights, millions of sparkling confetti pieces shooting from canons, twinkling wristbands that were all given to the audience upon arriving, and of course Chris Martin's impeccable dance moves!

My boyfriend and I were blown away.  We were especially impressed with the overall production.  Like I mentioned each person in the audience was give a funky wristband and when Coldplay came on they would light up and the entire arena was glowing - it looked like outer-space! During one song giant blowup world globes fell from the ceiling, there were giant blow up neon animals that approached the top sections of the arena and hung over the balcony.  There were countless surprises throughout the show that only added to the amazing performance of the actual music.

Check out some fun instagram pics!

Check out all of that confetti!!

In the middle of the show the band decided to relocate.  They ended up being five rows from our seats!

Fun little frametastic shot. :)

Coldplay Concert Countdown!!

The title of this post is enough said.

I am counting down the hours until I watch Coldplay perform their newest album, Mylo Xyloto, live at the Key Arena downtown Seattle.

I am beyond BEYOND excited.

The most exciting part??

Picking out what to wear of course!!

From left to right:  H&M Sheer Back Tank.  Layered necklaces from BP at Nordstrom.  Juicy Couture Shades.  Daisy by Marc By Marc Jacobs Perfume.  Vintage crotchet handbag.  

Still considering some options of what to wear but I have been very inspired by all of the Coachella Festival Fashion floating around on the internet.  All I need to go with this outfit are some bedazzled denim shorts with suede ankle booties.

If only it were WARM enough!