|
 |
December 28th, 2007
Here’s something you may not have known: Portland Picks is blessed with a fantabulous staff of super-saucy, totally in-the-know editorial writers who are the backbone of this publication. They suss out the latest and greatest that Portland has to offer and present it to you on an email platter for your enjoyment and edification. So we’ve decided to make our “Best of 2007” their issue—each writer has chosen two of her favorite places she’s written about, and shares them below! Be sure to visit our About Us page to see their lovely, smiling faces, join us in giving them their much-deserved props by taking this trip down memory lane with them, and let us know if you share their faves. And most of all, thank YOU for reading, living and loving Portland Picks. Please help us spread the fun by telling your friends. The more the merrier, after all. Happy New Year, everybody! |
||
Portland Picks: Writers’ Best of 2007 |
|||
| 1 |
A Touch of Mink We didn’t get this dramatic by accident. We had an angsty childhood, and the town we grew up in stunk in a lot of ways, but the worst was that you had to hit a 30-year-old, run-down mall to shop. As a result of that deep, abiding trauma, now we absolutely love it when a great store opens in our ’hood. And now Mink is here! And with it, all the sweet and sassy things we totally and completely adore about being a girl. Cotton skirts (cute but not cutesy). Flowy dresses and feminine cardigans. Bags and belts and camisoles and candles. And all priced reasonably! Carla, Mink’s owner, is a former English major who, as she puts it, “Always loved period pieces.” She must share our dramatic bent. Whether you want to play Emma in a modern yet classic Empire dress, or plan on starring in an autobiographical flick about how far you’ve come fashion-wise, there’s no better place than the kicky, girlie-girls-with-an-edge-only Mink. Mink |
|
|
| 2 |
Dreams Really Do Come True While we love kicking through golden leafy Portland and all, raking gets boring and yardwork futile. Our solution? Flee! So we popped into the ole jalopy and fled … to Astoria’s Cannery Pier Hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, built on the site of an old cannery, we were shocked. Somehow, someone got into our head and took everything we would ever want in a hotel and actually made it happen. Wine in the evening? A lobby that smells like baking cookies, because they are, in fact, baking cookies? Views? Fireplaces? Showers like standing under a fire hose … in the rainforest? A spa? Local art? A whole floor with photos and maps that serves as an exhibit on Astoria? Check! Want to bike? Borrow one of the hotel’s 1950s bikes. Need a ride? Get one—free—in their mint 1936 Buick. We’d share absolutely everything we loved, including the names of every single staff member we met, so genuinely nice it was amazing, but we simply can’t spare the space. So go instead, and make your own favorites. We’re already booking our next trip. Cannery Pier Hotel |
|
|
| 3 |
A Bold Statement This may be a bold prediction, but we’re pretty sure it will come true—FEZ Studio will be one of our favorite Picks of 2007. We walked in feeling average and left feeling glamorous, beautiful and totally pampered. Better yet, we’re certain you’ll have the exact same experience. Owner Brendan “Fez” Vartan knows how to make you feel like a star because, well, that’s who he’s used to dealing with as a celebrity makeup artist. Whether he’s working miracles with a brush, guiding you toward the right products for your skin type, or creating a custom shade, you’ll be utterly fascinated from start to finish. But the one-month-old beauty boutique is as much about the products as the people. It’s the first in the world to carry the celeb line Billy B Beauty and the first in Oregon to retail Kate Somerville skin care and David Gardner Hair products. We also loved CB experience perfumes, which offer intriguing scents of sandy beaches, burning leaves and old books. From head to toe, cosmeceuticals to organic, Aucoin to Urth, FEZ will leave you feeling buffed, bronzed, shined and absolutely gorgeous. FEZ Studio |
|
|
| 4 |
Find Your Craft “Happy Place” Every one of our boyfriend's past girlfriends is majorly crafty. There's one who reupholsters furniture and another who makes gorgeous paper by hand. Naturally, we're the polar opposite—unable to tell a glue gun and a staple gun apart. We even have a restraining order against The BeDazzler. (All we can say is that one night, it got ugly…) |
|
|
| 5 |
Hawaiian Tropic Ever since that last run-in with the shears, we’ve been battling with our locks, wishing the hair toss was a little more Kate Hudson (and a lot less Britney Spears). Minus a trip to the tropics, we found we could feign her sun-streaked waves at the adorable Tiki Beauty Bar in Sellwood—a hair salon seasoned with a bit of beach boutique and vintage charm, the perfect culmination of Portland chic and surfer style. A turn in the old pink barber chair proved it truly was worth its weight in golden streaks of blonde. And if your hair is like ours, you need more than a little help inducing curls from an otherwise floppy mane, which is why owner and stylist Ti Kivett creates the wavy look with a pricey pair of curling scissors and a perm (gasp!) that actually looks natural. Lucky for us, our already Hawaiian style just needed a trip to the jewelry case to top it off—one very cool string of shells—and, aloha beach babe, off to the coast we go. Tiki Beauty Bar |
|
|
| 6 |
Animal Attractions We’re not sure how dogs came to be the latest accessory, but the real issue is how they’ve come to be the “next step” in a relationship. After the wedding vows and honeymoon, our friends’ maternal clocks are ready for the pitter patter of little ... paws. Baby steps, they tell us. Baby steps. But when we received an announcement in the mail that read “It’s a Pug!” we began to worry, and, furthermore, wondered if they registered for gifts. Being the good little aunties that we are, we bee-lined it to The Hip Hound, a new pet boutique, to load up on all-natural toys, cute outfits and luxurious doggie spa products to make the little pup feel loved. And because we care about what we put into our bodies, we appreciate The Hip Hound’s commitment to high-quality pet food that excludes filler product and whatchamacallits we can’t even pronounce. Now when we doggie-sit, we can take out the cute polka-dotted collar with matching leash and hit the park with the Pug and a bag of organic treats for a “next step” mission of our own: drawing cute boys. (Good dog!) The Hip Hound |
|
|
| 7 |
Oh Sew Pretty It’s true…we LOVE our jobs. With that said, if we couldn’t be the Portland Picks gals, our dream job would entail owning our own little boutique where we would become rich and famous fashion designers. Ok, so we’ve never used a sewing machine and we still haven’t quite figured out how to darn our socks, but we definitely have an almost obsessive love affair with clothes and prints and patterns, which is why we fell in love with Cool Cottons. Cool Cottons carries a wide selection of 100% contemporary cotton fabrics including Free Spirit, Westminster Fibers and Alexander Henry, which are organized by color so that we can mix and match. Each room is filled to the brim with bright beautiful fabrics and…the best news? Beginning in June, owners Marie and Pam will be holding sit and sew classes, which will cater to all skill levels (even us!). Look out Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum, Project Runway here we come! Cool Cottons |
|
|
| 8 |
Blue Jean Genie Let’s be honest. Shopping for jeans has never been our favorite pastime. We’re short and curvy and truth be told, all jeans were NOT created equal. That’s why we love Blake! Oh yeah, we also love his denim store, aptly named: blake. Self-proclaimed denim guru (he comes highly recommended!) Blake is the go-to man to finding the best denim for your body. Finally! Not only does blake carry more brands of denim than any other store in Oregon, he carries lines that are exclusive to his store including Rag and Bone, Chimala, Kicking Mule and Tsubi. Blake’s motto isn’t about selling you jeans; he cares more about teaching you about the perfect jean for you. How’s that for customer service? In addition to denim lines for men and women, blake also carries clothing with a funkier edge. We recommend booking an appointment, because let’s face it, the man is popular, and you deserve to find the perfect pair (or three). We did, and trust us, they weren’t the skinny jeans… blake |
|
|
| 9 |
Holy Gnocchi |
|
|
| 10 |
Tears of Joy We hate being the last to know about anything. Sad but true, we measure our coolness on the "we heard of them first" scale. Our therapist calls this "middle-child syndrome," but we don't get what our skinnier, prettier, cooler older sister has to do with it. Happily, we just found the perfect place to go when we're having a "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha" moment, and yeah, we heard of them first. The Teardrop Cocktail Lounge features inventive cocktails that contain unexpected combinations and exotic ingredients, like elderflower syrup and carpano antica vermouth. Convinced that the ginger and thai chiles fell out of our noodles and into our drink, one sip completely rocked our ideas about what should and shouldn't be in a cocktail. Thanks to the charming owners, Ted and Daniel, Portland is on the cusp of a Cocktail Evolution. We love their commitment to freshness and quality—they even make their own tonic water, ginger beer, and bitters. Don't be the last to know. Hurry over to the Teardrop Cocktail Lounge, and tell them Portland Picks sent you. Teardrop Cocktail Lounge |
|
|
| 11 | But Wait, There’s More! These places also made our list—click on the hot links to read all about them. |
||
Hip Happenings: |
|||
| 1 | Sale, Sale, Sale! This weekend, almost every retailer in Sellwood & Westmoreland is having a sale. Fantastic markdowns await at Fuschia, Tilde, Greenloop, Coco Gets Dressed, Lucy Palmer Boutique, Coco & Toulouse Go Shopping, GR Scrub and Spielwerk Community Toystore. This is also the last weekend to turn in your entry form to win gift certificates donated by these local merchants. What: Sale in Sellwood and Westmoreland |
 |
|
| 2 |
|
||
| 3 |
|
||
Our hope is that you visit every single place we mention in the Picks, since we really do enjoy these businesses and frequent them ourselves. Portland is just overflowing with fantastically awesome places to shop, drink, dine and pamper, and hopefully we’re your #1 source for getting the scoop! |
|||
Log onto www.portlandpicks.com and check out past newsletters (archives). If you like what you see, forward to a friend and encourage them to log onto www.portlandpicks.com and become a free subscriber. If you would like to subscribe or contribute, please email us at Contribute@PortlandPicks.com Website and Newsletter maintained by Studio Ridge.com |
|||
