Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Portland, early 2014


The book is done.

*

*

*

*

I don't even know what to say. It's a new year and the book is done. And copyedits are done.

Whew.

I'm still processing, so until I figure out what to say about it, here are some Portland pictures! Jim and Clementine and I have been relishing our kicking-around time, slowly easing back into normal non-deadline life. It's delightful. We've hung around a couple of our favorite Portland neighborhoods: Sellwood, which is in far southeast Portland on the river, known for antiques stores and the little Oaks Amusement Park. One of our favorite restaurants, Jade Bistro, is there. We hit Jade:




These tapioca cakes for dessert were awesome. They have amazing bahn mi and hum bao here. Oh man. I could eat them EVERY DAY. Great tea selection too.




Speaking of tea, haven't been here (it used to be a bookshop, so sad it's not any longer!) but love the look of it:



Our actual reason for going to Sellwood was to get some birthday gifts at Cloudcap Games (great game store!), but they were closed for vacation! DRAT!




We made up for it though by going to Wells & Verne, Portland "Neo-Victorian Shoppe for Ladies & Gentlemen". You guys. A steampunk store! It's GREAT.


 




Gents of Portland calendar, anyone? :-)












Jim found an amazing pendant for himself here that is the symbol of his forthcoming book (which I have not yet mentioned here because I'm waiting to do a more substantial announcement when his publisher will allow some art to be shown. But I can't WAIT to tell/show you! I will say, it is co-authored with Kiersten White and it's AMAZING.) He also found a dress shirt with an enbalming fluid logo on it, because everyone needs one of those, and I *may* have found a giftie that was crying out to be owned by Stephanie Perkins :)

That's all for Sellwood. 

We also spent a morning on Alberta St, which I've featured here many times (click HERE for all my Portland posts). I wasn't very camera-happy that day though. Too bad! 




Here, the cute holiday roof at my favorite clothes store, Frock:




And since the weather has been so lovely, we took a stroll on the Eastbank Esplanade, a cool pathway built over the water facing downtown Portland:




Did you know that Portland's nickname is Bridgetown? There are 11 bridges linking the east & west sides of town over the Willamette River! 
Above: Hawthorne Bridge; below: Steele & Broadway Bridges.








Lovely city :-)

Lastly, we finally saw the amazing Samurai exhibit at the Portland Art Museum (only a few more days left!). It's all from the private collection of a Texas couple. It's GORGEOUS!























Can I tell you how much I want this helmet??






And, oh, have you ever seen Portlandia? Here she is:




I thought she was old, but she's not (1985) and now I don't know why I thought that, since this building is obviously not historic. Oh well. She's cool!

Love my city.

Happy day. Happy New Year! I'll be back!








6 comments:

tone almhjell said...

I could live in Portland. I really could.

kym g said...

As much as I enjoyed looking at the pictures... after I read 'The book is done'... everything else just faded into darkness. Am so so excited!!!

Unknown said...

Hi Laini!
The book is done. Wow. I can't believe it, go 2014! And it is surprisingly pride-inducing to see all the love for Vietnamese food :-) So happy to see you're enjoying some downtime!
XOXO, Angelina
(Remember me?)

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with Kym G, Portland looks like fun but I fell in love with the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series and I have been salivating for this last book for so long lol. Congratulations!

I was also crazy excited to read that a movie is in the works for Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Woo hoo!!

Eliza said...

The artwork at Wells & Verne (red haired woman with the cat) is by my friend Portland/Vancouver artist Pablo Cáceres.

I haven't been to the store, but it looks awesome. It's always fun to see my city through someone else's eyes.

And yay! BOOK!

Michelle said...

I can tell you from experience that Tea Chai Te is FANTASTIC. Cozy, wonderful tea, friendly . . . so GO THERE. It is good.

Ah Portland, how I love you . . .

And YES, HURRAH on the finished book. Eager to read it. :)

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