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    Portland Travel Diary

    April 25, 2015
    Photos of me taken by Candace Kita and Kelsey Yocum
    Last week/weekend I had the opportunity to visit Portland for a couple of days. I mostly spent my time there learning more about my graduate program, but I did have some free time in the evenings and on the weekend to explore the city with my friends Kelsey and Candace.  My main goal during this trip was to get a better sense of the layout of the city so that I could begin exploring housing options. Kelsey and Candace were kind enough to give me a tour of the city and introduce me to new places (to me) in Portland, and I am now super excited about moving up there later this year! I thought I would use this post as an opportunity to share some photos from my trip and talk about a few of the places I visited.
     
    FOOD AND COFFEE
     
    Just as always, I did my fair share of eating during this trip to Portland. While I didn’t go crazy and drink all the coffee I possibly could like I have in the past, I did get to visit some cool new places that I really enjoyed. Here is a list of some restaurants and coffee shops I visited during this trip:
    Prettyman’s General: Brunch is probably my favorite meal, so I was really counting on my friends to to deliver an awesome brunch experience. They did just that when they took me to Prettyman’s General, which has a variety of mouth-watering options all served on Tabor Bread toast. I had the Ace in the Hole from their menu, and it was very satisfying and delicious!
    The Sudra: My friends and I went to dinner at the Sudra, which  seems to be quite popular and was packed for dinner. I had the Poori Plate which was really good. This place was also had an amazing playlist (they played Geographer!), and I liked that they projected Bollywood movies on one of the walls.
    Blue Star Donuts: When I posted that I was planning a trip to Portland, Tina from Just A Tina Bit recommended in the comments that I try Blue Star; since I love dessert, especially donuts, it obviously didn’t take much to convince me that I had to visit this local donut shop while I was in town. I had a carrot cake donut and it was the best donut that I’ve ever had. I have to say that I’m really looking forward to frequenting this place once I’m settled in Portland. It’s my goal to try out all of their donut options. Haha!
    Courier Coffee: This small and cozy coffee shop was my first stop during this trip to Portland. Kelsey and I got there bright and early so we didn’t have to wait too long for our drinks. However, Kelsey informed me that this tends to be a popular spot and is packed with people later in the day.
    Either/Or: This place has coffee soda and it’s as good as it sounds! I actually didn’t have the coffee soda, but my friend let me try hers and I immediately regretted purchasing an iced latte (even as delicious as it was). This shop is located around some cute antique shops, so it’s a good place to grab a snack or something to drink if you’re spending a day antiquing. Also, I just have to mention that the baristas working here are extremely friendly.
    Palio Dessert and Espresso House: This coffee shop was discretely hidden inside a very cute house on a very large roundabout. My friends and I made our way over here for a late night cup of coffee after dinner on Friday night. If you can believe it, I was asleep by 11:00 PM despite enjoying a delicious latte around 9:30 PM; if that’s not a sign that I’m a true coffee addict lover, I don’t know what is! This place looks like it would make a great study spot, so you’ll probably see me camping out here next fall.
    While Kelsey, Candace and I were exploring the Sellwood Neighborhood of Portland, we happened to walk into a cute home goods shop that had chickens and goats in the back. I wish I could say more about this magical moment, but I think the pictures pretty much some up how awesome it was to make new animal friends.
    THE OUTDOORS
     
    One of the things that I’m most excited about taking advantage of when I move to Portland is all the wonderful outdoor spaces around the city. As much as I love living in the LA area, our parks do not compare to those in Portland. During this trip I visited Laurelhurst Park (also seen here), which was a great place to spend the afternoon lounging. During one of the days I was in town, my friend Kelsey and I also made our way to Council Crest Park for a picnic dinner; it was such a gorgeous place, especially during this time of the year when all the magnolia trees surrounding the park are blooming.

     

     

    Since I had to leave early Sunday morning and didn’t have time to do much more exploring, Kelsey and I decided to take a walk around her neighborhood. I actually love exploring places on foot because it gives me time to appreciate my surroundings, unlike when I’m driving around, and I’m glad that Portland has a great public transit system so that I can have the opportunity to do more of that when I move there next fall. I hope you enjoyed these photos from my trip. Until next time!
    xoxo,
    Helen

     

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    Travel

    Over The Weekend

    March 18, 2015

     

    I’m posting much later than usual because I’ve been busy and needed some time away from this blog. I’ve realized that spending so much time in front of a computer screen has heavily contributed to the feeling of burnout I’ve been experiencing lately. I really love working on this space, but I have started to let my life revolve around it; I want for this blog to continue to be a fun and creative outlet for me and that means being able to step away from working on it every once in a while.
    Instead of spending my weekend with my face in front of a computer, I made the drive to Oceanside to meet up with my friends Laura and India. I hadn’t seen them both in a long time, so it was a nice little reunion. India was the most wonderful tour guide and made sure to fill up our day with fun activities. We spent part of the day antique shopping, had lunch at Bagby Beer Company, and even had time to lounge at the beach. This day trip was exactly what I needed to feel more relaxed and ready to take on the upcoming week.
    I’m already feeling more energetic this week and just need to make it through to the weekend. I hope you’re all doing well and hanging there as well. Thanks for stopping by!
    xoxo,
    Helen
    Food & DIY, Outfit

    Celebrating 40 Years of Hello Kitty!

    February 5, 2015
    Photos by Dana Rodriguez, Monica Coy-Miras and Me

     

    Today I’m sharing some pictures from my trip to Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum(JANM) in Little Tokyo. Visiting this exhibit was like a dream come true to me because I’ve loved Hello Kitty ever since I could remember. When I was a little girl I would beg my mom to buy me Hello Kitty stationery at the Sanrio store, but she would refuse because she was sure that it was a phase that I would grow out of. It could be because I’m still a 10-year-old girl stuck inside a 26-year-old woman’s body, but I never did grow out of my obsession. I was the happiest girl in the world exploring this exhibit, and I’m glad that there were plenty of other grown women who shared my enthusiasm so that I didn’t have to feel self-conscious about it.I apologize in advance for the poor quality of some of these photos. It seems like lately I keep forgetting to haul around my DSLR and have to resort to taking photos with my iPhone. I promise to be better about that in the future! That being said, I hope you enjoy this post!

     

    My friends Monica and Dana were my partners in crime during my trip to the exhibit. We’re all wearing the cute Hello Kitty headbands that were handed out to all visitors. It was quite entertaining to see people still wearing them once we left the exhibit and were walking around Little Tokyo.

    The exhibit featured many art pieces inspired by Hello Kitty, and it was fun to see the many different ways artists have incorporated the iconic character into their work.
    My favorite part of the exhibit was the display of fashion inspired by Hello Kitty. Although I don’t think I’d ever leave the house wearing any of these dresses, I think they are so amazing. My favorite had to be the dress made completely out of Hello Kitty plush toys. I can’t even begin to imagine how much work it took to put that together.

    The exhibit did an incredible job at featuring all sorts of Hello Kitty products from the past 40 years. I loved being able to look at Sanrio stationery made in the 70s, and it was amazing to see how many other types of products have been inspired by Hello Kitty. Can you believe that they even have Hello Kitty braces? Why weren’t those an option when I was a teenager?

     

    I loved all the details of the exhibit, especially these cute Hello Kitty bow decals on the floor that served to guide visitors from one section to another.
    I still can’t get over the fact that Hello Kitty is a little girl and not a cat! According to the exhibit she is 5 apples tall, and all visitors had the opportunity to see how they measured in comparison to the character.

     

    I hope that you enjoyed these photos and that they inspire you to visit the Hello Kitty exhibition before it closes in April. If you cannot make it down in time, I still encourage you to make a trip to the JANM if you’re exploring Little Tokyo. The museum always has an interesting exhibit and it’s a great place to learn about Japanese American history.
    xoxo,
    Helen
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