Portland Love: Cupcake Jones

Portland Love is a series in which I take to the streets of Portland, eating at new places, shopping at new shops, smelling old books and doing my best to not get too wet without the use of an umbrella. It's my way of falling in love with this city over and over again while sharing it with you. Enjoy! 

My first memory of Cupcake Jones I can thank my friend Noah for. We were studying hard (or hardly studying) for one of our classes during our last term at PSU and he needed to run a couple errands while I held down the study room in the basement of the library. Seriously this room was cave like. 

Noah popped out for a bit and when he returned he had two, yes two, gifts for me. (I have called Noah my fairy godfather/mother ever since he first took me to dinner... he likes men but takes care of me better than any guy I've dated... he's a gem) He brought me an infinity scarf from American Apparel and cupcakes from his favorite spot at Cupcake Jones. Now that I say this I think I am lying. This might not be the first memory of Cupcake Jones and Noah. 

My first, first memory of Noah and cupcakes was my 22nd birthday. I was working at Buffalo Exchange on Hawthorne at the time (a place to put in this series for sure!) and my birthday seemed like a bit of a dud. Noah came to the rescue visiting me at work and bringing me gorgeous cupcakes... again with being the fairy godfather.

One day, after getting my hair cut by my friend Mike (who I dragged around to different places today taking pictures for this series) we got some thai food at a favorite place of his and then I was craving a cupcake like mad. 

We went to Cupcake Jones and I couldn't decide on just one flavor so I  bought a mini one of each. 

In the container:

Velvet Painting

The Pearl

Peanut Butter Cup

The bottom two I am not sure about but I think the one with the white and red topping is strawberry something.

I'm going to be very honest here. I love Betty Crocker cakes and even more so I love making cupcakes out of Betty Crocker cake batter. There's something so moist about her super moist cakes I just can't get enough of and I haven't found many places that can replicate that in their cupcakes.

Cupcake Jones obviously has different varieties of flavors than box Betty Crocker can offer so that is a bonus. 

The cupcakes were good though I don't think I am going to be going back anytime soon. If you like gourmet cupcakes then DEFINITELY go in. They know their art well. Unfortunately I am just a box cake kind of girl so I don't know how to appreciate them as much.

I do appreciate the memories and the skill that goes into those cupcakes though.

To Visit:

Cupcake Jones

307 NW 10th Ave

Portland, 97209

What are your thoughts on the gourmet cupcake fad? Do you like box cakes as much as I do?

xoxo

If you have a place you want me to check out feel free to leave me a comment or email me!

Portland Love: Adventure Day to Sauvie Island

Portland Love is a series in which I take to the streets of Portland, eating at new places, shopping at new shops, smelling old books and doing my best to not get too wet without the use of an umbrella. It's my way of falling in love with this city over and over again while sharing it with you. Enjoy! 

I have a confession to make... The first time I went to Sauvie Island was not the day of the beach trip. I had been weeks before (maybe even a little over a month before) berry picking with my friend Alysha. 
Honestly Sauvie Island is like a small piece of paradise to me. It has quiet shores, fruits and veggies for days, and beautiful views. If I thought I was going to live in Portland forever I'd probably try to find myself a house there... it's probably super expensive though. 


Our day of picking started with eating at Chipotle and getting really full. I put loads of sunscreen on before I even left the house because I knew we would be in the hot sun all day. The temperature when the wind blew was perfect but at some points during our adventure the raspberries vines blocked the wind from reaching us. Sun glasses got fogged and I had left the house without a hair tie. The pits. 


Kroger farm where we picked berries is gorgeous. There was an area that had tents and picnic tables for events and it looked like they were setting up for a wedding. 
When we first arrived we parked in a field and then found ourselves some boxes and cartons to hold what we were going to pick.

We looked at the signage and I took a picture so we could see where we were when we were out there. Going to be real honest, we figured out where everything was more by talking to people we passed than the sign. 

We started our walk straight ahead and made a slight turn to the left following some other people in the distance. We first came across some blueberries but they didn't seem quite ripe so we trekked on. We found the first vines of raspberries but they seemed a tad picked over so we went back a couple of rows. Success. 

The rows stretched on for a good distance and berry picking is a bit of a slow process. Most of the berries came right off the vine. In the beginning I may have picked some unripe ones but once we started getting into it the pickings got better. We went down one row, came up to the house and walked a couple rows over to go back down to the path. On our way back we found a treasure trove of perfectly ripe raspberries and so we picked more while the sun was quite hot and the wind deterred by the vines.

After our hour or so of raspberry picking we walked around attempting to find other berries. Our point of being there at first had been strawberries but when we looked at them there were slim pickins. Pretty sure they were done a couple weeks earlier in the season. The blackberries were close to ripe but not quite there yet so we left those be as well.

We saw some artichoke plants which I found awesome and fascinating as well as other raspberry vines which had been horribly picked over. We had done well to go to the farther ones. Can't say it had been on purpose but sometimes you happen upon great things.

Despite leaving with only raspberries we felt the adventure was definitely a success. I mean, look at all those raspberries! I ate some of them after I dropped Alysha off, not going to lie, I didn't even wash them. :o They were so, so much better than any store raspberry I had ever eaten. And not because I put sweat and toil into getting them either. Honestly it wasn't that strenuous to pick them. ;)

I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat them all before they got bruised and mushy so I started freezing them batch by batch.

I read somewhere during my fresh food research that you have to freeze them outside of a bag before you put them all together. So that's just what I did (and later I did that with a bunch of strawberries from the grocery store).

Like I said before Sauvie Island is awesome and full of wonderful things for a food and relaxation nerd like me. I highly recommend it. I'm not sure I'm going to do the pumpkin patch or anything like that this year though, I hear getting off the island on the one road can be a bit difficult and time consuming. I might give it a shot anyway, I want to make a pumpkin recipe from fresh pumpkin this coming fall.

xoxo

If you have a place you want me to check out feel free to leave me a comment or email me! 

Happily Wasted: What I Mentally Consumed This Week

This week has consisted of a lot less movie/tv show watching it seems. I came to a bit of a stall on my current project that I work on while watching these shows and such and so I've opted for other things like reading or walking in circles. I need to get more yarn to finish this project because I am soooo close to putting it all together but alas the place I can get my yarn is a bit far away and my car is in time out until I get the tags current and Chase stops dragging their feet.
Hopefully I'll get that situated tomorrow morning and next week can be more eventful!

Movies/Shows Watched

- Bones Finished Season 2, started season 3
- Pretty Little Liars Weekly Episode

Listened To

- A Loss For Words - The Kids Can't Lose
- Paramore (everything)

Read (or currently reading)

Yes Man
The Sea Wolf - Jack London

Favorite Posts/Articles

A good kick in the booty for some motivation is sometimes good!
Back to School Party? Um, Yes Please!!!
This engagement story. Props.

What have you visually consumed this week?

xoxo

Portland Love: Sauvie Island Beaches

Portland Love is a series in which I take to the streets of Portland, eating at new places, shopping at new shops, smelling old books and doing my best to not get too wet without the use of an umbrella. It's my way of falling in love with this city over and over again while sharing it with you. Enjoy! 

Last weekend Nicole and I ventured out to the Sauvie Island Beaches. I was super excited to get myself to a beach again seeing how I haven't seen one since I left California...

I didn't know what to expect because I wasn't thinking beaches like home but Sauvie Island brought it! 

First, the sand was pretty close to home. The gentle sloshing of the water on the shore was relaxing.

We took a pretty long drive around the island with a police man on our tail... stressed me out because lately I've been waiting for Chase to get the title to my car transferred to Oregon but they are taking their sweet sweet time and so, against better judgement I was driving with expired plates AND expired travel permit... I have since stopped driving more than a couple blocks (groceries & work) until this all gets figured out. Thanks a billion Chase. Really, kick rocks.

Anyway, back to peaceful and wonderful Sauvie Island...

Perfect temperature that day, slight breeze. 

Gorgeous!

Relaxed

Looking up

 Nicole's serious face...

Asking how Benny was liking it. 

A Boat! 

Perfect angle Benny, making your mom look like she's eating your ear. Silly goose.

A log. 

 Two guys stealing a long log, they eventually hopped on a few and called it their boat. 

Benny looking quite thoughtful.

The road home.

After we lost the police officer (who never pulled me over and was talking on their phone the whole time) we bought a parking ticket and found our spot to settle in. We put our blankets/towels down and Nicole got down to sunbathing business... and I started smelling something slightly illegal. Oh kids down the way a bit. They realized we could smell what was going on but we just shook our heads and talked some more. I was hoping secretly the police man following me would show up on the beach but alas no such thing happened and it's probably not good karma to wish a policeman upon someone else when you have something you need fixed... :)

As documented above there were boys moving logs and putting them together to make rafts to lazily float on with drinks. I just laughed at their efforts.

Benny didn't really know what to think of everything. He would occaisionally want to go see what another group was doing but he doesn't like to get far from Nicole so he'd stop and contemplate the water. Nicole tried to get him to go in but he was NOT having that so she got her feet wet and then went back to sunbathing.

As we left I decided I needed to come visit these beaches a couple more times before the season ended. While it wasn't free it was definitely cheaper than walking around downtown or even on Hawthorne. 

Next time I think we should bring food for a picnic!

xoxo

Happily Wasted: What I Mentally Consumed This Week

Normally this gets posted on Sunday but I had some awesome friends here Saturday night and Sunday just went to the dogs as a result. So here it is Monday (almost Tuesday) and I'm posting this. All still relevant and I didn't cheat by adding things from these extra days. You're welcome!

Movies/Shows Watched

- Bones First 16 Episodes of Season 2
- Midnight in Paris
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
-Up

Listened To

- A Day To Remember - Homesick
- A Loss For Words - The Kids Can't Lose

Read (or currently reading)

Animal Dreams
Started but couldn't commit to:
Keepers of the House
Barbara Walters - Audition

Favorite Posts/Articles

Oh goodness, while Mad Men was too depressing for me to watch past the first season, I am totally smitten with Banana Republic's Mad Men Collection I found out about here.

I love Kyla's post on stretching her ears! Makes me think about what size is my stopping size... and getting more pretty jewelry.
The hardest question, answered in photographs found via this blog post.
I love this gorgeous post about finding the quiet times in life.
The sweetest little baby announcement movie.

xoxo

Big Big Compliment

The dress looks a bit more revealing here than it actually is...I promise

Later I will tell you all about my day with Nicole, but until then I just want to let you know that while Nicole and I were around town yesterday afternoon/night I had a man tell me I looked like I had just walked out of The Sartorialist.

Um, awesome! 

Recently I've been making more of an effort when dressing myself (I had to do something, I was in dire straights) and so to be complimented the second outfit in was so rad. Such a big compliment. 

Seriously, someone take my picture...

Oh wait, Nicole already did! Share those later!

xoxo 

Between the Lines: Animal Dreams

Between the lines is a place where I share a very small bit of a wonderful book. Or maybe a small but wonderful part in an otherwise lousy book. Or maybe somewhere in the middle. Between the Lines is my way of sharing things I may or may not underline (depending on if you think writing in books and cracking spines is loving books or abusing them) while reading, passages that hit home or are just too beautiful not to share. Read along!

I started reading this book at the same time that I started reading Walking On Water. I told myself I would keep the other book for day and this one for bedtime. Like a bedtime story. That lasted for a bit but then I became obsessed (and too close to the end) with Walking On Water so I went back to reading one book at a time. 

After I finished Walking On Water I thought about starting another non-fiction book while staying with Animal Dreams but quickly decided against it. I really am getting a lot better about reading one book at a time.

So, my thoughts...

Gorgeous book. I find that parts of the story were incredibly predictable but maybe that's just because I've read a lot and pick up on foreshadowing really well most times. (Except in the movie Crazy Stupid Love, that one got me good.) 

I've noticed a pattern in my reading lately, definitely a lot of books intentionally and unintentionally dealing with the Earth, how we are using it's resources, food and education. This book was no exception.

I really don't know the best way to introduce these quotations so I'll just put it in after this. Maybe over time with these posts I'll start finding the best format.

"'Really, it's like the spirits have made a deal with us.'
'And what is the deal?' I asked.
'We're on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we're saying: We know how nice you're being. We appreciate the rain, we apprecieate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You've gone to a lot of trouble, and we'll try to be good guests.'"

Here's to attempting to be better guest of this world.

xoxo 

For the Cork Board: Pins to Share

Here's the deal, I sometimes loved Monday Mayhem and sometimes just didn't feel inspired at all. I was inspired recently to share some pins (after organizing a board or two) and so here it goes, my new series. I have no set day for these but I figure they will come up as I find bunches of things to share.

Enjoy.

Impressive color in impossible project film

future love

weak in the knees

gorgeous time

the pink

the nautical

what I want from my hair after growing out my bangs

reminds me of my sister for some reason

love the sign

love affair with old hotel and motel signs

find me on pinterest here

xoxo

sources: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10

Between the Lines: Walking On Water

Between the lines is a place where I share a very small bit of a wonderful book. Or maybe a small but wonderful part in an otherwise lousy book. Or maybe somewhere in the middle. Between the Lines is my way of sharing things I may or may not underline (depending on if you think writing in books and cracking spines is loving books or abusing them) while reading, passages that hit home or are just too beautiful not to share. Read along!

While I started this series not writing anything much except sharing the passage I do want to give an intro to this book. I learned about this book one day while I was sitting with my friend April in a bakery/coffee shop on Hawthorne. A young woman walked in, really close to my age, and I saw in her hand a book. 

I don't know what it is about people carrying books, I'm a worse rubbernecker looky-loo for books than accidents. Probably because books I consider amazing and pleasant and accidents make my heart ache. 

When she walked in I immediately wondered what she was reading. Usually I just give books a casual glance when I see them in people's hands but for some reason I HAD to ask this girl about this book

As April and I cleaned up our dish we walked by the girl's table and I couldn't stop myself. 

Good news, she was a sharer like me. When I asked about the book she lit up and just started talking about how good it was and how someone introduced it to her.

The book stayed on my mind for a few weeks after that.

Finally, during my last Powell's adventure with Amanda, I decided to buy the book even though there were no used copies in sight. 

I do not regret it one little bit.

This book is my favorite of the year, and that's saying something because I've read some pretty awesome books so far this year.

Because I enjoyed this book so much there are many, many underlines throughout. 

I went back through all of the underlined passages before writing this post and I found one that I really, really wanted to share more than anything. Before I share it I want to say, Read This Book! If you like writing or alternative education or a story that speaks to hope and growth, read this book. This book will stay with me for many, many, many years.

So with all of that said, Happy Reading!

"I was furious, not so much at him as at all the people in his life who had convinced him they were taking care of him when they told him what was wrong with him, and at the entire culture founded on this lack of acceptance and nurturance, this lack of respect, this constant wearing away at people's capacity for self-love."

As this is a fight I have fought long and hard (trying to teach myself how to be okay and appreciate who I am) this sentence hit home. It has taken years of conscious effort to be okay with who I am and I still look for what people think is wrong with me or my work. I still want people to be critical and tear things apart. 

I'm not saying the opposite should happen and that everyone should be praise for everything, but there are other ways of getting messages across that are definitely more positive and nurturing to a human than tearing apart who they are and what they create.

Something to think about...

xoxo

What's In My Bag? : Warped Tour Edition

Bag from H&M. I wanted something lightweight but with room.

Sweater

Sunglasses

Book. Probably didn't need to bring that but I get anxious without one in my purse.

Journal and pen. Feel lost without it.

Cell phone. Playing Blink when I took photo, played NFG before during my bath.

Camera case. For the camera I was taking the picture with.

Band aid just in case shoes rub too hard.

Glue stick, always in my bag to glue things into journal.

Burt's Bees lip balm

Pin up pill box. For pain relievers.

Small wallet Nicole made for me. I've been using it for business cards but it was perfect for carrying around bank card, ID and some cash.

Betsy Johnson make up bag. So cute. To hold the small things.

Hand sanitizer. Just in case I absolutely had to use a porta potty or eat there.

Two types of sunblock, spray and lotion. I'm very pale and figured a little extra couldn't hurt.

The blanket everything is laid on did not come to warped with me but I did find it at the Goodwill and love it a lot.

Do you enjoy "What's In My Bag" posts? I do but I'm not quite sure why. 

xoxo

A Day In the Life: Warped Tour 2011 (photo dump)

Hello there, I'm back (and exhausted) from Warped Tour. So, so very glad I went this year even though I thought this morning I was going to have to pay a whopping $40 to get in. Everything worked out beautifully though and I met up with my friend Alex who I haven't seen since I left San Diego (because he lives in San Diego) and ran into some friends from the past. 

Great day really.

I decided last night I was going to do a major photo dump for warped tour so that meant I was going to have to take a lot of pictures...

So I did.

Get out of bed after gates open. I'm a sleepyhead. Text Alex to make sure my favorite band wasn't playing until late. They weren't. Hopped into the bath to shave the legs for some shorts wearin. Good decisions because it got warm out there.

After bath went crazy with the sunscreen. New tattoo needs lots of protection... well, my ghost white skins (do not take this as me putting myself down, I love my pale skin) needs a lot of protection from the sun. I hate the spray stuff. I tried it once a while back and it stayed shiny and sticky and when I tried to rub it in a bit it balled up. Gross. I love the cream sunscreen though. Doesn't smell super sunscreen-y (I hate the smell of sunscreen) but is 100 spf soooo, that's good. I know they say that only up to like 75 spf actually works, after that it can say high spf but it's still just 75 but I buy the possibly more powerful stuff just in case.

Make up time. Didn't go too crazy because I knew I was going to be sweating a bit (ew gross, I know) and so I did my eyeshadow thing that I've been doing and loving lately and left the rest of my face alone. I mean, it was sunscreened up anyway. 

What's in my bag? Warped Edition. That I'll be posting tomorrow!

Went to Kettleman's Bagels, which, by the way is a local company. Great bagels. The lady that served me is super cute and tattooed and pierced and really nice. Can I just say I love great customer service? Yeah. Thanks. Everything bagel with loads of cream cheese.

Yup, breakfast (technically lunch at the time) of champions. That's a DC. Don't you worry.

Sitting in traffic because a three lane highway got taken down to one lane in the middle of the day on a Sunday. At least it wasn't at 4-5 on a Friday afternoon, but still. Pretty view all the time though. Weather was perfect. It would get super sunny and hot and then the clouds would come over the sun to give us a little break and there would be a breeze and then out the sun would come again.

ARRIVED! View of schedule from parking area. Way better and closer parking than in San Diego. Goodness that's a hike back to the car sometimes. AND this venue had all dirt and weeds and such instead of asphalt like in San Diego. Clearly SD is not my favorite venue for Warped. I think Ventura and San Francisco are.

Oh the board of wonders. What time is my band playing? What time is my band playing. Take a picture, it's easier. Love the clarity of iphone pictures.

One of the first bands I watched today. Gym Class Heroes. Watched/listened to them for a bit, Alex left to take care of some official business because he's super cool and working with bands and such. Lalala. (jk Alex is awesome) So then I saw a friend, Chris, from when I USE to live in Portland a few years ago and went to talk to him. We ended up hanging out off and on for the rest of the night because he was going to stages with bands that put on good shows. Today I was in a hardcore mood for sure. I wanted to see people windmilling and high kicking and such. Oh boy... I definitely got that.

No matter how many trash cans get put out all the crap ends up on the ground. It just can't be helped. Suggestion for next year, don't put trash cans near stages that are going to have bands that play breakdowns. Kids get crazy, start wanting to throw things... the trashcans are easy to grab, trash starts flying... trash can useless.

These dudes definitely made 15 minutes of my day just that much happier. I'm talking about the ones in the blue shorts with the yellow Michelob on it. They were dancing around so hard for a group called Bad Rabbits who were really entertaining (both blue shorts and the band).

I would like you to take a second and admire the spikes on the kid's mohawk. Seriously, how much crazy glue did he use in that thing? I've seen kids work on their mohawks and have them droop either within the first couple of hours if the glue just sucks or at the very least after some heavy movement, but these things just did not move. 

This picture is also an example of what I go to shows to see. It's pretty much a bunch of fun and if you look at the bottom left of the picture you'll see someone's fist. That's probably the person I'm standing behind. They have to hold their fist out to attempt to keep from getting hit when the kids (like mohawk boy) go crazy and ninja like. I'm pretty sure it was during this band's set that a girl got hit in the face because she was on the inside edge of the pit then got irritated about it.

I'm sorry, I get that you're a girl, but you did choose to stand there. Be smart like me and stand behind one layer of people, that way you see everything coming and if you don't, well, you still can't get too mad. 

I did get kicked in the leg (not on purpose, that's just how these things go) by my friend Chris. It was funny, after all the crazy died down I told him.

My favorite band on Warped. Probably one of my most favorite bands of all time to see live. Paramore is the only other one that comes close that I can think of. 

They did a circle pit around the sound tent and then did a wall of death and then this was open for the next breakdown. I worked to get to that spot. I was so happy when they opened the circle pit because I was able to move a lot easier (most people were heading for the hills) to the middle where I wanted to be. Glorious.

A Day To Remember killed it as always. I feel everything I use to feel, all of the magic that going to shows had to offer so long ago, when I see them play. 

Look, a tan.... haha NOPE, that's just dirt. Yeah. That's how it was there.

After ADTR we were all (friends Chris and I had found along the way) were all incredibly tuckered out. Chris and co because they had stirred up some crazy in three pits basically back to back and me because I had only eaten my bagel and had some water the whole day. Plus standing in the sun makes me really tired for some reason. 

Chris needed a ride home (well, it was better than riding the Max home with everyone) so I gave him a ride and in return he bought me Burger King for dinner. Veggie burger. Not so bad when you are so frickin hungry (and thirsty) and have had dirt in your mouth all day.

Picture makes me look a lot less wrecked than I looked in the mirror in the bathroom. Sunscreen on the face makes the black eyeliner and sunscreen travel down. Yeahhhhh!

As you can see, another DC. (I am having bunches of water now and did have a bottle of water there... don't judge too harshly)

Last picture of the night. By this point my body quit wanting to do anything but sit. 

All in all I have to say that if I had to pay to get in today it still totally would have been worth it. Good friends, good shows, favorite band, some sun, some dirt... couldn't have asked for a better day.

Oh yeah, and the styles still boggle my mind.

What is your favorite band to see live?

xoxo