A One-Weekend Itinerary for Portland, OR

I didn't know much about Portland when we booked our trip to the city a few weeks ago. I had heard of Voodoo Doughnuts and seen a few episodes of Portlandia. That was about it.

So, I asked my cool older sister what her top suggestions would be, and then posed the same question to a few coworkers and friends. Portland is a popular destination, apparently, and suddenly I had suggestions out to Wazoo.

In the end, my travel buddy and I each decided to pick a "must see" from the suggestion list, and then we chose one together. These three activities became the backbone of our itinerary. It was a pretty fun weekend, all in all, and I thought I'd share our little schedule for those of you thinking of a visit to the City of Roses.

Day One:
Land at 8am
Brunch in downtown Portland
Walk through the city
Moltnomah Falls (this was our jointly picked activity)
Dinner in Boise (East Portland)
Drinks at a few of the breweries nearby

Day Two:
Sleep in
Voodoo Doughnuts for brunch (this was my activity)
Pearl District for drinks, breweries, coffee shops, shopping and dinner (this was my travel buddy's activity)
Powell's City of Books (while walking through the Pearl District)
Fly out at 9pm

Other tips: Rent a car, it's so worth it.  Bring a jacket, an umbrella, and a beanie 😋. It will rain, and it will likely be cold. There will be a line for Voodoo, but it's a shorter line at the location across the river! You'll love the Pearl District. Wear walking shoes and comfortable pants for spontaneous hikes and lots of brewery drinks. Let me know how it goes :)

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Photos: Jake Heath and Annie Butler; Edits: Adobe Lightroom

Travel SF!

That's right! San Francisco! A few weekends ago I took a pretty spontaneous trip to visit my sister in SF. It was just a quick two night stay but we sure packed a lot in! Forgive my iPhone pics - I didnt bring my dslr in an effort to pack lightly. 

My sister and her boyfriend are the greatest. She moved to SF after college & has been there ever since. It makes for some fun (& very active) vacations for me :D

^^^ After walking to the corner store for breakfast on Saturday morning (which included some delicious Blue Fog Coffee) we took a 7 mile hike up to Mt. Tam East Peak. It was seriously so beautiful - though my un-athletic legs were definitely feeling the pain.

^^^ Friday night we took a walk down to the bay for dinner at Off the Grid. There were probably thirty food trucks down there, a live band, spiced warm wine & lots of fun hip people, out for a delicious taste of SF. It was perfect & so chill. 

In a very impromptu move we stumbled upon an improv show in the building next door & decided to stay to watch. I had never been before, it was so fun. Talk about quick wit.

Claire lives in the cutest studio apartment, in the cutest neighborhood. It was really lovely to see her - even if it was just for a quick trip!

Hoping to make it back again soon! What should I try out next time?!

xo

Badlands Photos + Earth Day Deals

In honor of Earth Day (today! wohoo!!) I wanted to share a few photos from a recent trip to the South Dakota Badlands. Round trip, we took a ten hour detour to see this legendary space - smack dab in the middle of the Prairie States. We were there for about 45 minutes of Magic Hour. It did not disappoint.

Seriously, Mother Nature. Show off, much? This world. I swear. It can take your breath away.

Gush.

Anyway, hi guys! How's it going? Man last week was busy! I took a red eye home Saturday night/Sunday morning & have spent the last 72 hours recovering hard core. Part of that recovery included spiced vegan chickpea wraps (yum!) & while we were picking up ingredients at Fresh Thyme I noticed some Earth Day Deals on the schedule. So here's a little run down, be sure you take advantage! Let me know if I missed anything. xoxo

Fresh Thyme Bulk Sampling + Sale (Oakley)

The rest of these aren't really on sale. But I do love them & they're kinda earthy.
Star & Moon Necklace (etsy)
Hydrangea Petal Earrings (etsy)
Antler Necklace (Jane Divine) 
Zodiac Zing Top (modcloth)
Take a Hike Tee 
Klean Kanteen Water Bottles

Happy Monday!

Hi guys! I'm on the last leg of a long work trip. Here's the rundown:

• Flew to Denver. Hosted a client program & made some site visits. = 2 days
• Flew to North Dakota. Crossed it off my co-worker's 50 state list. = a few hours 
• Drove to South Dakota. Made a 5 hour detour to The Badlands. Hit it right at Magic Hour. Took the photo above. = 10 hours
• Spent the night in Sioux Falls. Hosted a client program. Ate lunch. Found an amazing Boutique & splurged on some fun accessories (coming to the blog soon!) 15 hours
• Drove to Minnesota. Hosted a client program. Ate dinner at my co-worker's brother's. 1 day
• Today we have some site visits. & tonight I'm flying back to Cincy! 

Whew! What a whirlwind. I cannot wait to get back into my studio. How was your weekend? What'd you do? I hope you had mimosas on the patio because I heard the weather was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  

Just wanted to check in & say I love & miss you all. Can't wait to catch ya in the 513 soon.

VISIT: ST. LOUIS

Last weekend I took a few vacation days to head out to St. Louis, Mo. I've heard through many a folk that St. Louis is similar to my beloved Cincinnati. Truth. Both cities sit on a river at the state line (the history nerd in me says that means they were very dependent on river trading etc back in their early days). Both cities love their beer & breweries. There are many other striking similarities that aren't really important to my quick travel guide.

Anyway, I wanted to pull together a quick list of things you might do if you are ever visiting STL!

1. The Budweiser Brewery Tour: I was staying in Soulard (a neighborhood just a mile or two away from downtown filled with young people & a lot of bars) which is home to the Anheuser Busch Brewery. We were so close that every morning I woke up to the smell of hops & yeast! We went on the free Budweiser Tour (which I think runs every hour). It was so fun & informative & included a free drink at the end. 

2. Ballpark Village: Just behind the ballpark downtown St. Louis has built an amazing hub of indoor bars, restaurants & entertainment (similar to The Banks in Cincy... but indoors). There is live music every weekend, huge tv's (think Fountain Square) to watch away games & plenty of space to grab a drink with friends. 

3. Soulard Coffee Garden: After a night of beverages in the bars of Soulard, nothing sounds better than breakfast, am I right? Soulard Coffee Garden hit the spot.  It's a local treasure with quick service & a homey atmosphere. There were so many breakfast options I had a hard time choosing. Oh, & the mimosas come with your own mini  bottle of champagne. 

4. Mardi Gras: The source of our trip was the St. Louis Mardi Gras. I've heard claims that, outside of New Orleans, St. Louis' Mardi Gras is the biggest in the USA. We braved the cold to catch the end of the parade, racked up an enormous number of beads & then joined the party in the streets. Soulard is cool because there are no open container laws (that is a difference from Cincinnati). There were thousands of party-goers lining the streets & bars. You have to go at least once!

Other places we ran out of time for:

5. SLU: We drove through the campus, but I would love to spend more time here on another visit.

6. Gateway Arch: St. Louis is probably best known to outsiders for it's Gateway Arch on the river. Apparently you can go inside, ride to the top & have a phenomenal view of the city. Next time. 

When I was little we used to watch Meet me in St. Louis (Meet me at the fair) all the time. It was fun to see what all the fuss is about ;D