All About Portland

Payton and I have been in Portland now for a month and a half, and although we are nowhere closeee to seeing all the cool shenanigans the city offers, we have done some pretty neat things so far. Let’s take it back to the first couple of weeks when we went to downtown Portland for the first time. First stop, Voodoo Doughnuts! Apparently they are all the craze here, so obviously we had to try them. We probably waited in line for 45 minutes, and the whole time Payton and I were trying to decide what doughnuts to get because they have SO MANY choices. And really interesting names too 

(click to see their menu!).  Anyways, after 45 minutes, $21.75, and 11 doughnuts later….we finally had our first Voodoo Doughnuts experience! Payton’s favorite was the Portland Cream doughnut, and my favorite was probably the Memphis Mafia doughnut.

We also went to Powell’s Bookstore the same day, and it is probably the coolest bookstore I’ve ever been to. Between the thousands of books and the hundreds of Portland peeps, there is no way you can get bored in there! We did a lot of walking around and read some parts of different books, but one specifically had us cracking up. It's called Sh*t Rough Drafts.

Excuse the language, but this book is all about the “rough drafts” of well known books, movies, and TV shows “as they might have been.” My favorite?

Ended the day at the Portland food trucks! Indian for me, Middle Eastern for him.

A couple weeks ago, we were also able to go the Oregon COAST (I refuse to call it a beach). It probably sees sun maybe one week out of the year, but at least there were all the beachy stuff like sand castles, beach umbrellas, and people running with their dogs. It’s as close to home as I’ll probably get. We enjoyed the day walking to Haystack Rock, throwing a frisbee/football, taking pics, and walking around all the shops there. We also had some hit-the-spot clam chowder (our waiter was from Santa Barbara! So we had a nice little convo) and ended the day with fudge at the candy shop. It was a joyous way to spend a Saturday!

Had fun taking pictures with this stud :)

Last Saturday we went to the Portland Farmer’s Market, and YAY FOR FREE SAMPLES! We practically had lunch with all the food samples we tried (one of the reasons we go to Costco, right?) I mean, we are talking cheese, meats, jams, chocolates, juices, honey, fruit…you name it! And I totally freaked when I saw some guy with honey sticks….talk about farmer’s market childhood memories with the madre. So of course, we got some. Made my first adult farmer’s market purchase by buying two honey sticks worth 25 cents each. Definitely a proud moment right there. I couldn’t capture all the awesomeness in pictures, but I tried a little.

Them honey sticks though...

Flowers! Talk about those peonies.

Favorite station right here. Jams on jams on jams.

Only a glimpse of the amount of fruit that was everywhere.

Food, music, and good times!

And then there was Salt & Straw :) This drive to Portland for some ice cream was a treat. First it was crazy doughnuts, and now it is some crazy ice cream. Check out their flavors here! We sampled 

ones like Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper, Grandma Malek’s Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache, Pear with Bleu Cheese, and Honey Lavender. And really, none of them were all that bad!

Last but not least, we had a short getaway to Richland, WA this weekend. Payton had a childhood friend get married, so we went to the Columbia River Temple in the morning and their reception in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day for a wedding, and it's always fun to see old friends!

Friends from Illinois!

SO there’s for our adventures thus far! And since it’s July 1, I thought I’d showcase my fourth of July crafts that I’ve recently completed.  I’ve always had a relationship with Pinterest, but as of recent we’re going real strong.

On an ending note, ‘merica.

love, 

us