New Apartment

I can't believe how long it's been since my last blog post, I've definitely got some catching up to do. First of all, last weekend we moved to a new apartment in downtown Portland. We really enjoyed living in Hillsboro and met a lot of great friends out there, but we wanted to be closer to downtown. We love to go out to eat and were always driving downtown anyway, so we figured that we would make the move to be closer. We found a great apartment in the South Waterfront area of downtown. Also, I'm super close to work now, no more dealing with traffic on the 26 and I'm pretty happy about that. We are still trying to organize our apartment, so once we get that all done I'll post some pictures. In the meantime, I wanted to post this picture. I absolutely love this idea. Jeff saw this in one of the design books I got from the library and he thought it would work nicely in our new kitchen. We got the shelves from Ikea. I love how the cookbooks give a pop of color to the room.

It's Back......

and I can't wait to see this season of Mad Men. Season 4 starts tonight, make sure you set your DVR.

West Elm

I'm in love with West Elm's new fall line. I've always liked earthy, warm tones and the color palette they have used totally fits the bill for me. In about a month, we are moving to a new apartment downtown and I would love to use some of these photos as inspiration to decorate our new space. Better yet, maybe we could just buy everything in the catalog----Just kidding Jeff, I know that's not in the budget, a girl can dream right? (Plus, I wanted to see if you read the blog). Here are some of my favorite pictures.

pictures via decor8

I'm also loving some the new bedding.

pictures via West Elm website

Also, this is super cool. West Elm used Portland as one of their inspirational cities. They have posted a neighborhood guide for Portland, I can't wait to check out some of the places they mention. Since we'll be closer downtown, some of these places will be more accessible than before.

We may be in the market for a new sofa and I love how West Elm is now letting you choose from 26 different fabrics.

Farmer's Market

Finally the summer is here in Portland and one thing we love to do is go to the Farmer's Market. We got up early and went on Saturday. I love all the fresh produce, especially the fresh berries. Here are some pictures. I forgot to have Jeff take some pictures of me.

We love the cherry tomatoes

One of our favorite vendors at the Farmer's Market is Dennison Farms from Corvallis

Jeff enjoying his lox and bagel breakfast

The Devil's Casino

I first heard about this book while listening to Imus in the Morning. It's about the fall of Lehman Brothers and I love anything to do with Wall Street and finance. The interview with the author immediately grabbed my attention and I couldn't wait to get my hands on the book. She talks about a phone call she received from someone who asked her if she was the Vicky Ward who was writing the book on Lehman. She replied yes, and the person on the line said they have some documents that she would need to see. These documents were firsthand accounts of the last 25 years at Lehman Brothers, kept by senior members of its staff. She met this top secret source at 7 am in a coffee shop 90 minutes outside of Manhattan. From these documents, she wrote her book.

I found it fascinating to read about what went on inside one of Wall Street's leading financial firms. I loved this book and couldn't put it down.

Another book I just picked up is "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis. It's also about the financial crisis and I can't wait to read it. Michael Lewis is one of my favorite authors, he wrote "Liar's Poker" about his years as a bond trader in the 80's. I'll have to let you know what I think of "The Big Short" once I read it.

Domino is Back!

I was so excited to hear that Brides.com has been granted access to the online archives of Domino Magazine. I loved getting Domino Magazine and was so sad when it ceased publication. I can't wait to browse the magazines again online. Thank goodness we have a three day weekend coming up.

Here are some of my favorite covers.

Komforte Chockolates

I've decided that one thing I cannot live without is Chocolate, especially dark chocolate. I can't help it, I love it. I think having a small piece of chocolate after a meal completes the meal. When we go grocery shopping at New Seasons, Jeff and I like to check out the chocolate and see what crazy chocolate bars they have. One of the blogs I read mentioned Komforte Chockolates and I had to check it out. The chocolate bars they have sound amazing and I can't wait to try them. I'm not sure which one I'm more excited about, I think we'll have to get all three. I like the packaging too.