Category Archives: Portland

One Last Glimpse

I’ll get back to our Oregon Road Trip tomorrow. Today, I just want to look back on our beautiful sunny Sunday and dream about the sunshine and warm weather.

Autumn is in the air and, although I’ve fought it for many, many years, I have to admit that I now enjoy the changing of the seasons. Rather than marking the end of Summer, days like yesterday remind me that we may be seeing the last glimpse of blue sky before Portland is covered with one long grey cloud until February. Best enjoy it while we can.

I had to run an errand downtown so the boys and I watched some giant chess in the park. I took it as an opportunity to take some early Autumn pics while they weren’t looking.

And then some when they were. This is my new favorite…and I realize I say that every week.

Sunshine is good for the soul.

The Sweetest Tea Party (Event Photo Shoot)

Another post from the BRT (Before Road Trip) archives.

Meaghen and I met eight years ago in a Baby and Me group. We both had boys – in fact I think almost everyone had boys that year – then, a few years later we each had another boy. Our families were part of a larger group that went camping together each year and, occasionally, our husbands would get together to take the boys out for the day and give me and Meaghen time to ourselves when, let’s face it, I probably caught up on laundry and trashy TV while I’m sure Meaghen did something much more productive with her time.

Then a year ago Meaghen betrayed our boys-only bond by having a little girl named Lucy. I was only a teeny tiny bit jealous of the fact that she could now fill her home with pink if she wanted to and had a female ally in her house.  And I tried very hard not to envy the dolls that would soon cover the floors of her home amidst the toy cars. I eventually managed to get past the betrayal and accept the fact that there will be no pink in my house unless it’s of the eye variety.

But then, on Lucy’s first birthday, Meaghen told me she was throwing a girly tea party to end all girly tea parties. It was like rubbing salt in the wound…

…until she asked me to photograph it.

Of course I jumped at the chance. The last birthday party I photographed involved superheroes, legos and way too much wrestling. This time it would be about pink decorations and flowers and candies in pastel colors. Oh, and it was a child’s birthday party for grown ups – a way for Meaghen to say thank you to everyone who helped her through the first year of Lucy’s life. How could I say no to that?

Thank you, Meaghen, for asking me to capture this very special event – and thanks also for providing me with enough girly eye candy to carry me through the next couple of months. I’m planning an all-boy eight year old birthday party this week and I’m going to need all the soft, frilly memories that I can muster to get me through.

Commercial Shoot: Voicebox Karaoke

I mentioned previously that I was insanely busy before vacation. Amidst the general packing, preparing (and cleaning) involved in a visit from the parents and a major road trip, I also had TWO photo shoots – one for a friend’s sweet 1 year old (which I’ll share soon) and another for Voicebox Karaoke. Yes, my go-to Portland Karaoke destination!

I was thrilled when they contacted me after seeing the latest in my series of ode-to-Karaoke blog posts and asked me to take some similar photos of their guests for use on their website and other promotional materials. Dream job!

I spent about three hours moving from room to room – trying to blend into the background – while I took photos of people singing everything from Beyonce to David Bowie to One Direction. The groups ranged from tween girls, families and work groups, to a karaoke session with songs in Japanese (a flashback for me) and, of course a Bachelorette party. Everyone was asked to sign a waiver up front, so they were all willing participants and, for the most part, LOVED having their photo taken.

Thanks to all of my “models” for being such great sports and to the wonderful staff at Voicebox.

Here are some of my favorites.

Summer in the City: Storm Large at the Classical Chinese Gardens

We can place this event in the BV (Before Vacation) category. It feels like weeks ago that my friend LeeAnn and I took a quick trip downtown to take in our first concert at the Portland Classical Chinese Gardens.

Apparently these Chinese Garden summer concerts have been happening forever, but I was completely unaware of their existence until LeeAnn told me that Storm Large was going to be performing. I’ve been a fan of Storm Large since I saw her talk at a TEDx Portland event a few years ago. She was so eloquent and inspiring and, of course, her voice is amazing.

The Chinese gardens are an unusual place for a concert series. While the setup is quite intimate, the layout is a little awkward. LeeAnn and I weren’t able to get there very early so we missed out on some of the prime seats – although I get the feeling the season ticket holders filled those pretty quickly anyway.

A couple of things I’d do differently if I attended a future event at this venue – bring cash (the bar doesn’t take credit cards), bring a blanket or other soft thing to sit on (I lost some feeling in my tush after sitting on a concrete fence for two hours), pack the bug spray (lots of standing water) and get there early. Thankfully I packed an adult beverage for LeeAnn and I to share so we were able to bypass the no cash problem. I’m not sure if that was completely above board but it saved us paying $8 for a glass of mediocre wine and was a more refreshing option on a warm, humid night.

Still, despite arriving a little later than we’d hoped, we were able to find a spot with a good view of the stage.

And of the tea house behind us.

I can honestly say that Storm Large lived up to every expectation. She was funny, genuine and incredibly entertaining. She also acknowledged the weirdness of the venue, spending a lot of her time climbing the railing in front of the Gazebo/stage to get closer to the audience. I’m glad she didn’t fall in – but it would have made a good story.

It occurred to LeeAnn and I that we were amongst the youngest people attending this concert – something that you don’t experience very often when you start to approach 40. It made for some interesting (sometimes awkward) audience interactions. I wonder how many of the season ticket holders knew who Storm Large was before this concert.

Still, the venue was beautiful, the talent was amazing and the home-made cocktail added just the right amount of flavor.

And as the sun started to go down, it became a little more magical.

Highlights included of the night included a stalkerish version of Hopelessly Devoted to You (do yourself a favor and watch this live recording) and an equally stalker-friendly song, I Want You by Elvis Costello. The concert was three weeks ago and they were the ones that stuck with me which is perhaps a little concerning… 🙂

And when Storm ended on this song, it was the icing on the cake. (If you’re at work, best put on some headphones)

Such a fun night thanks to a wonderful entertainer. I’d brave the mosquitos again in a second.

Summer in the City: Mississippi Street Fair

Attending the Mississippi Street fair is somewhat of a tradition in our family. I was a little disappointed when we missed it last year – although we were in Australia so that helped ease the pain a little. The year before we took our Japanese visitors and found it to be the perfect opportunity to immerse them in a slice of real Portland – even if this version of real Portland was a lot more crowded and noisy (and just a little more crazy) than the average day. I can’t find our post from 2010 so we may have missed that year as well, but I did find our 2009 visit and let’s just say that I was not prepared to look at photos of my teeny tiny little babies on a Monday morning. I may have to go curl up in a ball somewhere to get over the realization that “Super Why” is about to turn 8!

This year I decided to take the boys to the street fair while Kei stayed at home to work on the yard. Pretty sure I got the better end of that deal. We arrived at 10am to beat the crowds and I’m glad we did because it started to get insane when we left at about 12:30, although we missed a lot of the live music which was a shame. Still, the boys had a great time and were incredibly patient with me as I insisted on visiting every single booth. I love this age because they still like to hang out with their mother and yet don’t need a stroller or other sort of containment device to ensure they stay close (most of the time, anyway).

Here are a few highlights from the day.

Starting strong with a few Mexican wrestlers running down the street because… well I have no idea why.

The ninja nesting dolls that caused me to say “no, we are not buying them” about 20 times over the course of a couple of hours.

An impromptu art opportunity courtesy of OMSI.

I get so excited when my kids use color – it’s a rare occurrence.

Shave ice! (and the last piece of evidence before Thomas lost his cap).

An alien. Note to self: must visit the Pecularium sometime.

This painting was a favorite.

And I wanted that suitcase but have no idea where I would put it.

I definitely DID NOT want to take these home.

A sidewalk shave – comes with free whiskey

So, I feel like I have to explain this next photo. I really liked the look of these hand-painted flasks and I thought Kei would like the Sake one so I took a picture. And then I got home to review my photos and realized that I also took a photo of a really cool rooster with a slightly offensive message. My apologies.

Quick stop to climb some fake trees (notice that the cap has gone).

And a honey stick because they hadn’t had quite enough sugar yet.

We ran into a friend – and bigfoot.

This guy was blowing bubbles off his balcony. Great way to get into the spirit.

And, just before we decided the crowds were getting too much for us, we enjoyed a little music. I love that there’s always at least one person who dances like nobody’s watching. I tried to encourage my kids to dance but they were having none of it.

And that wraps another fun year at the Mississippi street fair.