i ♥ portland: porch light

So you know how awhile back I said I was starting a new ongoing feature showcasing some of my favorite spots in portland... restaurants, coffee shops, stores, parks, ect. Well I'm finally here with the first one. I get loads of emails from people who will be taking a trip to portland and want to know what i'd recommend they do while they are here (beyond the obligatory tourist places like powells and stumptown.. not that there is anything wrong with those, i frequent both of them!)

I'm hoping to do it once a week which is going to force me to have to get over the awkward "can i have permission to take pictures of your shop/restaurant/ect and put it on my blog?" question. (Why do I hate that part so much??)

Without further ado, here's Porch light

As you can see, Porch light is a great shop specializing in vintage and antique home goods and gifts, and they do it SO well. They also carry the cutest stationery and a few crafty things, and some locally made soaps. I always leave there feeling so inspired.

They have two shops in town, both in great locations, one in the pearl district (on NW 11th) and one on N Mississippi. Be sure to check them out!

i spy...

The lucy P dress on Stacie.. the talented gal behind Gingiber.. one of my favorite etsy shops! (I'm in love with all of her pillows and prints)

The lydia dress on miss amanda, photographer extraordinaire!

the rosemary blouse on chelsea from tea talk! Feel free to gush over her hair, i know i do.

the lucy p dress on miss rachel from smile and wave! she's a pretty big inspiration to me and it's an honor to see this on her. AND she told me she wore this dress to the shoot for Red velvet in southern living magazine that will be out in march... so that's pretty cool!

the lucy p dress on sarah from zephyr style. i know you can't see the top of it, but i adore her and her kitchen is pretty amazing right? (p.s. please blog more!)

the float away dress on julie from Jooleedoh.

the float away dress on katie from Skunkboy creatures! I admire so much about Katie, so it's also a huge honor to have her support and see her in this!

and last but not least, the lydia dress on Alexis. She emailed this picture to me and said she loved it so much she wore it in her engagement pictures...so awesome! Thanks, Alexis!

it's pretty surreal for me to scroll through this and see the things that once just filled the pages of my sketchbook ON real people all over the country (or world even!)..

i'm so thankful!

if you've purchased something from my shop, nothing would make me happier than to see it on you! you can send a picture to vanillaandlace@gmail.com

new items in the shop!

I've been working on these new designs for the past couple months and I'm so excited to finally release them! My little store is finally filling up!

Here are some peeks at the new stuff. Head on over to the store for more info and what not..

Ella skirt

in geometric print

The lullaby dress

The silhouette dress

Wanderlust cape

(you see the hem.. and how it looks crinkly or something?.. yeah, i ironed it on a much too hot setting right before taking these photos...looks like this one is mine! if you choose to buy this, obviously yours will have a smooth hem! i learned from that one)

A bow belt

and a herringbone clutch!

a few goals for 2012

I am a list maker to the core. I usually have 4-5 separate lists all going daily. Lists of lists of lists.. you get the idea.. (teuxdeux is my favorite list managing website, by the way). So it's only natural that I make a list of some goals at the beginning of the year. There's something about writing it down (or typing it out) that makes you feel THAT much more inspired to actually accomplish it.

(same quote from last year.. it's too good though)

Here's a few of my goals for the year:

1. Stop complaining - This was one from last year too but I think it should be at the top of every year. This is especially important now that social media has become a prime place to complain.. it's pretty silly. This is what I said about it last year. "If you make a conscious effort to not complain, even about the tiniest things, chances are you'll forget about it within a few minutes and you'll have a whole lot less negativity in your life. (When you do this you'll start to notice how much people around you complain, but don't be tempted to point it out.. lead by example)."

2. Read a book a month - I used to read a TON, but in 2011 i only read like.. 3 books? One a month is definitely doable even with my busy schedule. Damned by Chuck Palahnuik is the first on the list. Have you read any great books lately? I'll need some recommendations.

3. Experiment with video projects - Now that I have the equipment in my possession, I want to do lots of video projects this year. Quick recipes, DIY projects and just for fun daily life montages.

4. Split my working time equally between the dress making biz and photography biz. - Both are my biggest passions, and I don't want to see either one fall to the side.

5. Last but not least, Get better at returning texts/emails/phonecalls - Sometimes I am the WORST at this. I truly care about each thing but I far too often check them when I'm too busy to reply and they go unnoticed until its too late (weeks/months) and I feel incredibly rude. So new rule, don't check until I have the time to respond.

Those are my goals.. Simple and doable!

2011 - in review

Happy new year! I hope 2012 is treating you well so far.

Year in review posts are some of my favorite to read.. so I decided to join in before it was too late. Just one picture from each month.

january. we moved from georgia to washington state, and i finally got to meet my newborn nephew.

february. my sister and i took a trip to seattle to visit my cousin. i house hunted, i job hunted. and i got an iphone.

march. i saw josh for the first time in 2 months. i thrifted almost every day and got a job doing hair.

april. i dyed my hair pink and loved it. worked WAY too many hours and missed josh a whole lot.

may. josh came home for a couple months and we went on tons of dates to make up for the first half of the year.

june. i took josh to forest park for the first time and also (unsuccessfully), tried to get him to drink a cappuccino at stumptown. and best of all, i quit my job that was draining the life out of me!

july. we went berry picking. i announced my new job! and i became a red head

august. my dress line launched.. and i juiced a lot!

september. josh was back home after another 2 months and we squeezed every last ounce out of summer. we visited pretty places and swam a lot.

october. we went to europe and had a blast getting lost everywhere we went and learning to adapt to a different culture.

november. we were still in europe. we celebrated our 4 year anniversary and i also celebrated my birthday!

december. we did just about every christmasy thing you possibly could and ate way too many cookies and treats. I got the surprise of a life time on christmas morning when I opened up my dream camera from my husband... (more on that soon!)

2011 was truly great! The beginning of so many wonderful things.. but I have a feeling 2012 might be even better.

the camera purse update

So THIS is definitely one of the more popular posts that gets visited on this space of mine everyday. And I suppose for good reason, this camera purse has been a lifesaver for a year now! I've had quite a few people email me and ask for help in making theirs.. and most of the confusion seemed to come from not seeing the inserts out of the purse. So i thought i should make it a little more thorough and add a few new pictures to the post.

To see the full instructions, head on over to the original post.

p.s. This has held up surprisingly well.. i've been using it for exactly a year now. I use it daily and have also taken it on MANY trips and its still in great condition.. no wear on the padding, no tears or anything. easily one of the most useful and fun projects i've done!

one last advent date..

We put a starbucks giftcard to good use and decided on one last advent calendar date for the season. I had already had coffee so I got a peppermint hot chocolate which pretty much tastes like a melted peppermint patty.. not bad! I was also hoping for a cakepop but they were sold out!

Farewell advent calendar activities.. till next year!

--Merry Christmas eve!--