Hello there! After a whirlwind trip to Portland for our anniversary, Scott and I are now back in the desert feeling refreshed, fully caffeinated (we drank so much coffee!) and also a little soggy (not really, but sort of — the rain followed us back to Phoenix!). Our trip was lovely and very us — full of city wanderings, adventures in the great outdoors and all the coffee you can imagine. Promise to share more soon, but I just wanted to pop in here to say hello and share a few favorite bits about our trip while it’s fresh on my mind:

– We stayed at the Ace Hotel in downtown and loved our time there (super hip, but also a really beautiful hotel with great coffee, yummy breakfast and we even had a record player in our room!). 

– I’ve been following Dawn Photo’s beautiful and adventurous work on Instagram for awhile now, so I was SUPER excited when we were able to meet up and do a shoot together while we were in town. We shot at the most gorgeous lookout new the Gorge outside of Portland — a view I won’t soon forgot. Until we get our photos back, here’s a sneak peek!

– Salt & Straw — oh my, the hype is real! We almost skipped out on this Portland staple for fear that it wouldn’t live up to the hype, but we’re so happy that we gave it a try (not once, but twice!). 

– I was really looking forward to visiting Schoolhouse Electric while in Portland and their beautiful warehouse space certainly didn’t disappoint! I could have spent hours browsing their showroom, but settled for a good chunk of time looking through each section and picking out a few odds and ends for our home (including of their prints and the cutest brass coffee spoon). 

Ok, I’m headed out for now – but I promise to share more photos and stories soon! If you’ve visited Portland before, what was your favorite part of your trip? Cute coffee shop? Local mercantile? Hiking to the falls? PDX really has something for everyone!

-Chelsea xo