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presenting |
| PORTLAND PICKS | ||
| life + style to you: every Friday | ||
| Sept 16, 2005 |
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No offense, but women really
should rule the world. There are such drastic differences between the sexes
– differences that I never fully realized until I gave birth to so
many boys. Like that thing boys do where they stick their hand in their
armpit and make, ahem, that noise. They come out of the womb doing that.
Or that “pull my finger” thing, even grown men do it. It's true.
Can't you picture Tony Blair and President Bush at Camp David? "Hey
Tony, pull my finger!"
And men really do have a one-track mind. Truly, I don't know how they get any work done. If women ruled the world I probably wouldn't get as much spam as I do. Every time I send emails, I get 20 back on how to enlarge my penis. My kids make guns out of graham crackers, stomp on bugs when I insist they set them free, and make that shooting noise with their mouth which I've never been able to do. (It's genetic, I swear...same as the “vroom vroom” car noise). They can recite every name of every type of weapon ever used, what it's used for, and it's innermost workings (should I be worried?) but they can't yet read. Women, on the other hand, can multitask. We can apply lipgloss and talk on the cell phone while driving, AND reach back to the way back seat of our SUV and feel around to find the binky that's fallen to the floor, returning it to the baby's mouth while navigating our rig through the ’burbs. And we tell it like it is. If someone is hurting our feelings we tell them. Then we talk about it, dissect it, analyze it, rehash it six or seven more times, shed a tear, hug, and then leave best friends. See, if only the rest of the world's leaders would take heed, there'd be world peace. This technique works every time, like a charm, except of course when we're PMS. (Watch out North Korea!) Really the only time we can't multitask is when we shop, that's when
our focus is fierce, our mind becomes a laser-guided heat seeking turbo
missile speeding toward those new Dior boots. Ahhhh, bullseye! |
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Portland Picks: |
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| 1 | When He Dresses Up But You Can't Take Him Out Are you sick of his clothes? Are you embarrassed to be seen with him? Does he wear white tube socks with his mandals? Is it sometimes such a turn-off you can't believe you're really together, and if you weren't married it would be a deal-breaker, just the “red flag” you'd need to break up? Well never fear, Finn is here. Finn, a swanky new men's store in the Pearl that carries the finest in men's clothing. Wool sweaters, flannel shirts, khakis in a good way. You see, Finn clothing was started by Gordon Schwartz (who hails from Mario's) and his partner Cole. These guys know men's fashion, and this is the highest quality men's fashion, elegant but not over the top. Everything in the store is for sale, even the cool teddy bears from Kenya. The store is gorgeous, warm, inviting, modern yet manly, with dark woods, brick and hardwood floors, cool fixtures and eye-catching duds for your dude. Now you can dress him up AND take him out…in fact, you'll want to show him off after Finn gets through with him. Check them out at their Grand Opening on September 22, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., for wine, tapas, jazz and shopping. This is our favorite new men's store, and perfectly located near Whole Foods, Diesel, PF Chang’s and Powell’s in the Pearl. Business will be very good, we can tell. The store, the space, the clothes…all are gorgeous. Get him down there, pronto, before anyone sees him, egads! Finn |
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| 2 | Dear Diary, I Have the Biggest Crush On..…. We have discovered a local gal that creates the coolest journals out of old books from our childhood. They have a journal for knitting titled, "Knit/Destroy," which is pretty much descriptive of our own knitting skills. Another hilarious journal is called "Anything Fun is Wrong.” a serious book from the ’50s (we'd love to read that book). They also have old school textbook covers on physics and chemistry if you want to camouflage your diary while pretending to be intellectual. While you're writing, "Dear Diary, That Mary is a dootie head," others in the office will be looking at you in awe of your higher aptitude. Each journal is $11 and shipping is free. And each is one of a kind. |
  exlibrisanonymous.com |
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| 3 | Say No More: Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks
This is such a wonderful new store. We drool at the yarns and want to bury ourselves in them. Maybe it's a good thing we're not very knitting-capable or we'd be poor. This beautiful, wide-open space, this sunny new store in Sellwood, boasts the largest selection of hand-dyed yarns in town. Abundant yarns for sure! They sell kits so you can actually create your own gorgeous bags. They even have classrooms where they teach an ongoing dyeing course along with 40 other classes for all skill levels, including kids, classes. They are also open late, from 9 to 9 during the week. Their café opens in a month, and we bet it’ll be a great hangout to sip, chat and knit. If you've always fancied yourself a creative type but just haven't had the patience to learn, Abundant Yarn has a Licensed to Knit series that will turn you into a pro, and by the end of the series you'll be, well, "Licensed to Knit." Abundant Yarn really has it all. Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks |
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| 4 | This Food is No Joke! Very few places in Portland remind us of San Diego, but something about
Laughing Planet makes us long for it. Could be the spacious floor plan
with garage-like doors that swing up and open, turning the whole place
into one giant patio on a sunny day. Could be the hanging plants and high
ceilings that give the impression of high skies. Could be the clean and
excellent fare – Vegan-friendly and very west coast. |
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| 5 | For People Who Know Pets Think about this: How many years have you fed your dog the same old kibble?
How long has your kitty been dining on that canned food? Here’s
a scary fact: A dog that’s fed the same food for years will develop
allergies to it. Poor Fido! We thought we were just being practical! Sorry,
boy! |
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| 6 | Nice Plants! You’ve heard us say it before: Every time we’re in a plant
nursery we get all nostalgic for that beautiful garden we never had. It’s
a lush place, verdant and green, peppered with exotic plants and delicious
evergreen scents. So when we need a dream-worthy flora fix, we head to
Pistils Nursery. |
 pistilsnursery.com |
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| 7 | Bikram Yoga, College of India Bend, convolute, curve, deform, disfigure, gnarl, knot, misshape, torture, twist, warp, wind, wrench, writhe...ahhh, yoga. We are not limber. Touching our toes is no easy feat (oof, wordplay) but we wanted long and lean, we wanted to combat any shrinkage, and we wanted to release those toxins. Heck, we wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Frankly we wanted to be able to maneuver and contort like we’ve never contorted before. (Imagine!) And now we do. If you want to sweat buckets, feel dreamy relaxed, move in ways you didn't realize you could (pretzel = you), and release those blekky toxins (not to mention love your fabulous skin), Bikram yoga is your gig. Bikram Yoga, commonly known as hot yoga, is an incredibly intense workout. We felt like we ran a marathon. It's a series of 26 poses that are designed to warm and stretch muscles, ligaments and tendons in a particular order. Wow! Look at you. You are Cirque de Soleil Girl! A caveat: You are practically nakey while you do it and you want to be, it's so hot. No modesty allowed here. Forget to shave your legs? No biggie. Let's just say you “warm up” to your classmates pretty quickly. And you drink a ton of water, really cleansing your system. According to Bikram's site, "Bikram Yoga's twenty-six posture exercises systematically move fresh, oxygenated blood to one hundred percent of your body, to each organ and fiber, restoring all systems to healthy working order, just as Nature intended. Proper weight, muscle tone, vibrant good health, and a sense of well-being will automatically follow." And it does...ooh it does. We go to the College of India in Sellwood, just behind Caprial's. It's a clean, great space and locker room, and only has well-regarded, experienced instructors. If you can do hot yoga, you can do anything. Bikram's Yoga College of India |
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| 8 | Gifts to Wrap? Presents to Buy? There are so many reasons to give gifts, don’t you agree? Birthdays,
anniversaries, house-warmings, holidays, just-because…almost any
reason with a corresponding date on a calendar is enough to send us looking
for that perfect something. |
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| Portland Picks Book of the Week: | |||
“The Stripper's Guide to Looking Great Naked” We've never been one of those girls that could walk proudly, devil may care in their bikini around the pool. No, usually we have the beach towel draped firmly around our waist. We walk to the edge of the pool, off goes the towel, we dip, we climb out, we scramble to wrap the towel around our waist again. When we sunbathe, we have perfected the skinny position. Tummy sucked in, knees bent so gravity pulls fat down rather than laying flat where it's smooshed out wide. If we have to get naked, we prefer to have had fair warning and a spray-on tan, or else lights must be really, really, really low. We do a lot of sideways walking of course, our silhouette is much thinner than the dead-on rear view. And so on. We've got it down. Now we found a book that has taught us even more tricks (sure beats the
“skinny position”): “The Stripper's Guide to Looking
Great Naked.” These are sexy trade secrets that reveal how to walk,
stand, and move with allure, and incorporate confidence and sex appeal
into everyday life – whether crossing the room during the day…or
slipping out of your clothes for that special someone at night. Here are
quick, incredibly useful backstage tips for showcasing any body shape's
best features. This daring and fun illustrated guide reveals how any woman
can use racy but simple strategies to feel more confident, no matter what
her state of undress, from the beach to the bedroom. Where's that pole
when you need it?!? You go girl! |
 powells.com |
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| The Party Page: | |||
 Omsi Gala
Email us your party pics (charity, fashion, etc.) and we'll post them! We want to show off our cool community of local beauties, and if you don't send your pics, it'll just be us and all our friends on the site, and believe you, me/us, you'll get really sick of it. The added bonus? Whenever your old boyfriend Googles you, you'll come up (so make sure it’s a good picture) |
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| Portland Picks Must Have CD: | |||
| Kink’s Live 8 For some reason we just want to cry. We could lock ourselves in our car and listen to this amazing Live 8 CD of our favorite artists and just sob through the whole thing, all 21 songs. Live Eight is Kink's eighth in a series of limited-edition compilation CDs produced to benefit the Oregon Children's Foundation Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) program. This CD is sponsored by Kink, Volkswagen and Starbucks. You can only get them at Starbucks and they are flying out the door. All songs are acoustic and recorded in the KINK Live Performance Lounge. Artists like Bruce Hornsby (“Gonna Be Some Changes Made”), Jason Mraz (“Wordplay”) and Spin Doctor (“Two Princes”) are phenomenal. Five For Fighting's “100 Years” is a serious tear-jerker...reminding us how life really does fly by before you know it. Our other favorite song on the CD, which, by the way, they actually made to look like an album, is Keane's "Everybody's Changing." This theme kind of goes hand in hand with Five For Fighting's “100 Years,” and this acoustic live version knocked our Manolos off. Same with Edwin Mcain's, "I'll Be” (I’ll be the greatest fan of your life) and Jamie Cullum’s “All at Sea” (later on you can spend some time with me) and Snow Patrol’s “Run” (even if you cannot hear my voice, I’ll be right beside you) Sniffle, sob, need a hanky. If you listen to KINK (and we think you absolutely should), you'll know all these guys. Run, don't walk, to your nearest Starbuck's before they're all gone. This is definitely a hot ticket. The under-12 set may argue, but let's just say it's much better than the Kidz Bop 8 compilation. |
 kink.fm |
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| Chick Picks: | |||
| 1 | Apple Nano Who says bigger is better? Apple has introduced the latest iPod. The new Apple Nano, holds 1000 songs and is impossibly small. It proves size doesn’t matter as long as it can perform and boy, can this guy perform. The Nano is one-fifth the size of the original iPod (our first child), yet this new baby has 4 GB of memory, enough to hold 1000 of our favorite tunes. Plus – get this – it can display the album art and our personal photographs. Models start at just $199...in classic white or a sleek black it makes the ultimate accessory. |
 apple.com |
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| 2 | Skinceuticals When I was a little girl, I was in awe of the multitude of Erno Lazlo products my mom put on her face and how long she was locked in the bathroom. I thought I never want to do that, and so for years I didn’t...instead, always living for the moment, I’d just ply myself with baby oil and burn in the sun despite Mom’s warnings. At night I wouldn’t even wash my face, just a swipe of Stridex and I’d call it a night. Of course, now I ‘m totally obsessed. Little do my peers know I am studying their face for any signs of aging, comparing their rate of aging to my own. Tell me a product will free me of any lines and I’ll take out a mortgage. Well, now I’ve found one and I really see a significant difference. I hate to let the cat out of the bag but I must ’cause I love you. It’s Skinceuticals, a prescribed product that we get through our dermatologist at the Key Laser Institute. You can also check them out online at www.skinceuticals.com. This is a pretty penny you can look forward to spending. But never forget that daily dose of SPF 1 million, even in our gray skies. If only we’d have listened to mother. |
 skinceuticals.com |
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| 3 | Frye Boots Biker boots from our old pal Frye are back with a vengeance and sooo much cooler than those from our pubescent years. Zelda’s Shoe bar and Sole have a lush selection that James Dean wouldn’t be caught dead in, but you’ll adore the super hip colors you’ll be proud to tromp around in. |
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| 4 | Target: Tweed Take a peek at Isaac Mizrahi's new fall collection at Target and check out the actual live video! Cool Cashmere sweaters, houndstooth, tweed, all the classics...he’s got you covered. We adore Isaac’s fall collection – his silhouettes, his styles, his little black cocktail dress, the amazing value – oomph! Even his suede riding boots are terrific. Equestrian style rocks! He’s got a 50s starlet thing going, and an eclectic mix of inspiration at a fantabulous price. Pick and choose and add to your swanky wardrobe and be admired from head to toe. |
 target.com |
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| 5 | Ex Marks the Spot I remember as a child discovering chocolate in the bathroom drawer and thinking, “Whoopee, someone’s stash!” I didn’t find it strange that chocolate would be in the bathroom since mom hid Tollhouse cookies in Dad’s underwear drawer. I quickly locked myself in and swallowed the whole thing. Shortly after I became violently ill, and had to fess up to my mom about the chocolate, which was actually Ex Lax. We’ve since moved on from Ex Lax and prefer a better quality chocolate, Dagoba Organic Chocolate. Dark chocolate is one of the Superfoods, like red wine, that will add years to your life. So okay, we better eat it. And why not eat the best? Dagoba chocolate has been voted the World’s Best Chocolate. Try their sampler of award-winning offerings, which also make great gifts. And when you’re feeling a little weepy, reach for Dagoba instead of the Haagen Dasz and perk up those endorphins. |
 dagobachocolate.com |
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| 6 | Corduroy! You can’t go wrong with the classics and we are so happy cords are back. We bought a pair of cords from J. Crew that were truly flattering and we went back and purchased the whole shebang of colors. We will live in these this year, with our Frye Boots, natch. Oh, and they have cool fat headbands to match — another classic trend that band-aids our bad hair days. |
 jcrew.com |
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Hip Happenings: |
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| 1 | Portland Stories Told at OFFICE! If you’re interested in modern design, modern art, and modern
performance art, take a trip to OFFICE on Alberta for a weekend of amazing
ever-changing art installations (with no admission fee) and fabulous office
products!
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| 2 | Sexy Tuesdays: Art & Choice in the Pearl There’s a buzz that keeps getting louder about Planned Parenthood’s Sexy Tuesdays events. Check out the scene at their next gathering, "Art and Choice in the Pearl”---a fabulous evening of art, wine, and hors d'oeuvres at the Paragon. Enjoy mingling with fun people, and the opportunity to bid on original art, all while supporting Planned Parenthood. Sexy Tuesdays gatherings are held in cool places to bring together the next generation of Planned Parenthood supporters.
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 ppaction.org |
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| 3 | Sample Sale at Bijoux Luck! We can’t get enough of Bijoux Luck’s fantastic and whimsical jewelry designs – necklaces, rings, earrings, hair clips, cool cuffs, all with a definite boho flair and a bit of an island vibe. Designer Vanessa Constanti draws on her childhood on Hawaiian beaches and old-style jewelry, updating everything for a modern yet vintage look. Dangles, bangles, antiqued gold, Czech glass pearls (from the same source that Chanel gets theirs)…we’re in heaven buying these goodies at retail prices, and the sample sale is beyond belief! Hurry down to scoop up sweet deals on goodies like rings with big dyed coral “stones,” jewel-toned pendants on delicate silver chains, and fabulous filigree – for a fraction of the retail price!
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| 4 | Make Like a Pirate at Lippman Co.!
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 lippmancompany.com |
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| 5 | Pippa Small to Showcase at Twist! She’s just been tapped to design Gucci’s jewelry line, but
first, she’s coming to TWIST to give us an exclusive look at her
new pieces. Pippa Small’s jewelry is well-known and adored by the
chicest fashion insiders and celebs alike, featuring uncut gemstones set
in beaten gold for an organic, yet modern aesthetic, and Portlanders will
be the first to check out the newest designs (and meet Pippa herself!)
at her first-ever Trunk Show tomorrow (Saturday) from noon to 6 p.m. at
TWIST’s Northwest store (30 NW 23rd Place). And if you just can’t
wait that long, the collection is already on display and available to
order at TwistOnline.com!
All pieces range from $300 to $5,000. Check back for more details! |
 twistonline.com |
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| 6 | Party at Souchi! The souchi store is throwing a party to celebrate its one-year anniversary. On Friday, Sept. 23, from 5-9 p.m. Souchi designer Suzi Johnson will be showcasing her Fall Collection and a 15% discount will be offered to Portland Picks readers as a thank-you for your support. Wine and hors d'oeurves will be served. |
 souchi.com |
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| 7 | Get Tickled on First Thursday Urbaca Salon is proud to present… Tickled, A First Thursday fashion show and silent auction in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month On First Thursday, Oct. 6, the fashion-forward stylists at Urbaca Salon will team with Olivia Belle boutique to produce Tickled, an all pink fashion show. Designed to bring attention to October, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Tickled will feature pink fashions and cosmetics, with music by Auditory Sculpture and a silent auction for artwork by local artist Eric Dayton. Proceeds from the auction will be donated to breast cancer research. In addition, Urbaca has set aside the date of Oct. 15, 2005, to offer complimentary facial and body treatment services to those living with and survivors of breast cancer. For more information, please call Urbaca at 503-241-5030. Join us for a night of awareness, style, and celebration!
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| 8 | Incubate Oregon's Women's Business Idol Competition GRAND FINALE October 12th A cross between American Idol and The Apprentice, join our audience as we hear from the final round of contestants in our first-ever Women's Business Idol Contest. Four finalists have competed for a fabulous grand prize including free logo design, new website design, free web hosting for a year, office supplies for a year and free public relations help through two rounds of competition performing their elevator pitch and marketing plan. At the finale vote with our celebrity judges Caprial Pence, Holly Files and Kathi O’Neil for the idea that will win the big grand prize. Come network with the best women entrepreneurs in Portland and vote for your favorite business idea! Women's Business Idol Competition and Monthly Incubator Event
RSVP now, seats are limited. |
 incubateoregon.com |
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| 9 | The Hot Event of the Season The Oregon Symphony’s Season Opening Fundraiser Where classic sound meets chic couture and tone and trend collide. Don your cocktail wear and celebrate with the Oregon Symphony at Mario’s for their season opening fundraiser. The evening will feature originally composed performances by Symphony musicians accompanying models showcasing Mario’s fashions, silent bidding, decadent hors d’oerves and specialized cocktails. This will be an evening to remember. All proceeds benefit the Oregon Symphony. Mario’s, 833 SW Broadway. $175 per person. 503.416.6336. www.orsymphony.org |
 orsymphony.org |
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So long....for now. Until we meet again, we'll be thinking of you.......xoxo ;) |
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