New Tea Towels and Cute Portland Store!

Two exciting things happened today. 1) I got the new tea towels I bought on eBay for $4! and 2) I cut my hair short for the first time in 10 years! The last time I did anything other than long, parted on the side, blonde and wavy was when I had a frizzy version of "The Rachel" in college. Few people can pull off the same look for a decade. Claudia Schiffer is the only one I can think of. I on the other hand, needed a change. I was afraid I was going to back out and suddenly found myself wishing I had made the appointment at one of those fancy salons that serves wine and cocktails for a little liquid courage in the chair. But, I managed without.

I only have one cute tea towel that I got at an adorable store in Portland, OR last summer and every time I read a recipe that suggests I squeeze excess water from vegetables, etc. in a tea towel, I can't bring myself to do it. So I thought I would buy cheap tea towels that I didn't care about and then I wouldn't mind if they were gross and zucchini stained.

New eBay towels

Every time I read about a cute restaurant, or store, or cool travel destination, I save the article and keep it in a folder and wait for the day that I can go there. Yes, friends make fun of me when I pull out my reference book of things I love, but it has served me well over the years. An article about Tilde was in my book and I was so excited to be able to check one thing off in the list! I got this cute tea towel made by the stylish Euro company Ferm Living. Check out their website, they have the cutest pillows and wall stickers! I am still trying to convince my boyfriend we need a wall sticker to complete our place. He will come around I'm sure.

My Ferm Living towel.

Tilde

Garden State, the famous Portland food cart that has been featured in Sunset magazine, on Food Network, etc., is just down the block. Sellwood is the cutest neighborhood!

Garden State

Stumptown

Last summer while visiting Portland, OR for the first time, I went to Stumptown Coffee. If you are ever in the Seattle or Portland area, I highly recommend going! It was one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had. They roast their beans on site all day, every day.

If you aren't in the Northwest, you can also enjoy Stumptown at the Ace Hotel in NYC. I've never been, but I plan to pose as a hipster for a day next time I'm in NY and stay at the Ace Hotel, drink Stumptown coffee, eat at the Breslin Bar and then maybe ride away on my fixie to a Speakeasy bar. Sounds like I'm joking but I'm not, that would be my dream NYC night! OK, maybe not the fixie part.

I ordered a bag of Stumptown - Hairbender for my boyfriend for his birthday. A little pricey for every day coffee if you don't live close enough to walk there ($15 for a 12 oz bag plus shipping) but a nice birthday treat! Anyway, the reason I was thinking about coffee and posted...today was the last of it.

I can't post about coffee without at least mentioning my trip to a coffee plantation in Brazil a few years ago. One of the best days of my life! It was about an hour outside of Sao Paulo and cost about a weeks' salary, but well worth it!