eating and drinking in portland

saint cupcake 

burnside brewery

olympic provisions

able brewing (home of the kone!)

salt & straw

pdx 671

captured by porches 

d street noshery

the pie spot

cascade brewery

my modern art

i recently took a trip to paris and absolutely fell in love with the centre pompidou. the pompidou is the most amazing modern art museum i've had the chance to see. i wanted to bring home a little piece of the art and because i'm not rich, i grabbed a few postcards in the museum shop and made my own art collection at home. 

 louise bourgeois

 matisse

picasso

current obsession: girls - father, son, holy ghost

love like a river is my favorite track but the entire album is perfect.

you're not doing it right.

i highly recommend michael ian black's you're not doing it right. i read it in the 9 day span of my most recent vacation so it's quick and it's really entertaining. it had me laughing out loud, weeping and thinking "so true, so true." i thought this book would be similar to mib's last book and to his stand-up, which is funny, mocking, observational humor but it's totally different. it still reads the way he talks and is extremely funny, but it's written as a memoir about his life, meeting his wife and their relationship, his children and how difficult parenting can really be, and all the other life stuff that happens in between. he writes candidly about the problems in his marriage and how hard it can really be to keep it all together. there is still the classic mib mix of self-deprecation and over-inflated ego, as only he can articulate. 

i think this book should be required reading for, basically, all humans.

heaven.

i simply cannot wait.

movin' and shakin'.

we spent most of february planning to move, moving and unpacking, hence my absence from this blog. between moving, learning our new hood, adjusting to my new commute and my ridiculously busy job, it has felt like i literally have not had the time to update. we've been in our new place just over a month and we're so happy with our new neighborhood.
we moved to temescal, situated in north oakland between macarthur and rockridge bart stations. we're surrounded by great food, a few fun bars, a lovely weekend farmers market, a bike shop joe has already befriended and many of our east bay friends. it's been fun navigating our new world.

new hood favs: redemdy coffee, lanesplitter pizza, kansai sushi, tip top bike shop, the avenue bar, pizzaiolo, barlata and good bellies.

and, so you can feel at home too, a house tour!

 

our "jr." bedroom

  

bathroom

  

bright, new kitchen.

  

 

sunny living room and "office".

(500) posts of erin

somebody make a lot of noise: it's my 500th blog post! woot woot woot! 
it's been 4 years and 500 posts on this blog and it's kinda cool to have something to go to and take a walk down memory lane. i was never good at keeping a journal or a diary, but this format has made it fun to share stories, things i like and everything in between.

with this exciting post i have some really exciting news! i am packing my bags and moving back across the bridge to the east bay. a decision made due to a few different factors but mostly because of money - like every other decision that i make. i'm looking forward to my new home, wherever it may be, in berkeley or oakland. joe and i have been scouring craigslist, padmapper and property management sites looking to see what's out there and the good news is that there is so much available right now. the problem is that we've fallen for twice places that have been snatched up from us already. but we know that we'll find the perfect match for us.

the fun thing about moving to the east bay is that it's a whole new area to explore. there are a lot of restaurants and bars i've always wanted to check out but never have. mostly due to my own proximity to public transportation that takes me to the east bay. i know i'll be in sf every day for work and seeing friends so now i feel like i'll have an opportunity to make the best of both sides of the bay.

what are your favorite places in berkeley or oakland?

i can't wait to buy groceries at berkeley bowl, drink at trappist, ride my bike around the lake and shop on 4th street.

week end update.

i think of sunday as the end of the week, although, i guess technically, it's the start. nevertheless, it's the end of the weekend and it's been a pretty eventful one. 

my mom and i went to lunch on saturday at luna park (review coming soon to yaynayorokay) and then shopping. i got this fun little thingie from madewell (picture it in blue, because that's what i got):

saturday night lead me back to the mission for a birthday celebration at dear mom. 

i have to say that i was pretty disappointed by this new bar. i won't go all yelp on you but here are the top 3 reasons:

1. worst service ever. we're talking a 20 minute wait at the bar. the space is huge, there were like 100+ people there and they had 4 bar tenders. not tight.

2. jukebox didn't play the rihanna song that i requested and paid for!

3. atm ran out of money. any other place and this would not have mattered because i could have hopped next door and grabbed cash, however, dear mom is in the middle of nowhere. i'm lucky i have loving friends who will buy me a tallboy. 

today i did a little crafting and a lot of football watching. that's right people. not only did i watch the niners game (duh), i also watched most of the pats/ravens game. tough break for our niners but it's pretty amazing they went that far, and i think with such an awesome team they'll definitely play big again next season. 

back to the crafting though. joe recently helped me with this fun decor project using a wall decal and a canvas i painted. 

turns out that wall decals don't want to stick to acrylic paint on canvas so the letters and outline slowly starting peeling off. really unfortunate because hanging over our bed it was super cute. in order to salvage what was left i turned the old painting into a new and improved one.

things on the horizon for this week: dinner at locanda, my friend casey balsham doing standup at the punchline, the science of cocktails at the exploratorium and a very special birthday dinner for je'.

wishing everyone a fantastic week!

merry and bright.

dreary winter is upon us so i'm thinking ahead to spring with these brights on my must have list. 

love/need:

alice + olivia elysee blazer

suno layered hawaii print skirt

current/elliott corduroy skinnies

m by mj beth sweater

p.s. remember when i blogged yesterday that i wanted to save money. this is the number one reason that will never happen. but i'll enjoy every wear!

goals, resolutions, commitments.

my first post of the year is not only belated, but it's pretty much only coming to you because i'm in bed with a cold. i'm feeling much better than i did late last night and into this morning, so i'm up, i'm chatting, i'm online shopping and thus i'm pondering. i'm not exactly a make a resolution i'm going to stick to kind of gal. i've almost never made a real resolution. but i am constantly making mental lists of the stuff i should, can or need to do. last year i spent a lot of time getting away and this year i think i want to try to keep it closer to home. explore what's around me. spend more time with the people that are here. all of the trips i went on last year really added up, so i'm also trying to spend less money.
the money this has never been easy for me. i'm always spending more than i'm making. this year i would like to pay off my small credit card debt. it's the only debt i have but i'd love to be debt free. then i could start saving for something really exciting. the thing about debt, is that even if it's a little, you're still paying more than whatever the price was and the longer it sits, the more you pay. i'm pretty sure i'm still paying for clothes i bought like 2 years ago. nevertheless, i don't have a ton of it so i think it's something i can manage to do this year - at least most of it.
i would really like to plan another super successful teresa's birthday benefit.
coming off of last year's event i was so proud and so excited and i'm trying to figure out a way to keep that momentum. honoring teresa is something that i take a few minutes to do every day and i want to share that with everyone. i want people to remember her spirit and her life. i'm working with cure, the organization that we worked with for the benefit last year on their spring fundraiser, so hopefully from that i'll get more people interested in coming out to support teresa's birthday.

my other goals and interests for the year, in no particular order:
read more
hit the gym 3x a week at least
continue learning photography
read at least one new book a month
plan an amazing itinerary for my trip to paris with my mom
see my sister and niece at least a few times
learn something new
continue writing here and on yaynayorokay
spend more time exploring sf