G R O W Y O U R W I N G S

Hi All!  

I've had a wonderful day.  Today was Emily's 24th birthday.

O.M.G. I have a 24-year-old daughter O.o    <-- sorry just had a take a moment to absorb that statement.

I've been so busy this month due to 6 graduation events, 2 birthdays, one weekend retreat, and one major injury, plus my projects at work has exploded.  I knew June would be a challenge, but wow.   Me, the ultra introvert who must have at least 33% downtime throughout any given week, has had little to no downtime in about 6 weeks.   

But you know what?   In a perverse kinda way, I enjoyed it.  

That doesn't mean however that I'm not glad it's just about over.   =D

Today Emily asked that I spend the day with her at Portland Saturday Market  for her birthday.  Since it rained so much last night, we were pretty sure we would have to cancel our date, but in true Portland June-ness, the sun broke through around 9am and it was beautiful for the rest of the day.

We drove to Lloyd Center Mall and ate lunch at Nordstrom Cafe.  But not before being waylaid by a mall vendor selling nail care products.  Normally I am not susceptible to vendors of any kind.  But this kid was good.  He was from Israel and had an absolutely charming accent and personality.  Before we knew it I had gifted Emily with this amazing nail care kit (and got one for myself).  We even stopped at Victoria Secret and I tried out some make up. 

After lunch we took Max Lightrail train over the river to the Portland Saturday Market (pictures I took there earlier in the year).  We spent a good three hours there.   And I went a bit crazy with the buying.   I got three scarves, some awesome hand knit cashmere fingerless long gloves (purple, could not resist), two rings (one was a frog ring, see pictures below, also could not resist as I love frogs), a purple straw hat (also see photo below).   For Emily's birthday+graduation I bought her a silver ring, a scarf, and this really gorgeous handmade hat.  The hat looked so awesome on her that I could not NOT buy it.   See photos below.   

In the last hour, Emily continued window shopping.  I had to stop as I obviously had no resistance and was buying, buying, buying.  So I sat down by the waterfront fountain where the food vendors were and a band was playing 40s-50s crooner music.   I had my camera with me (naturally) and I took shots of the kids playing in the fountains and the "keep Portland weird" residents and street performers.   

I have a backlog of hundreds of photos from all graduation events, and 2-3 smallish trips, and now Saturday Market.    Good news is that tomorrow I have a 3-day photoshop class, where hopefully I will go through at least some of these photos.   And now that ALL events in June are OVER (  \O/  )    I may finally get through all my photos.

In the meantime, below are 2 cell phone photos that Emily and I snapped at the market today of our new hats and other swag.



Above :: Emily in her new hat.   It was handmade by a local milliner, a very nice woman.   Here Emily was browsing at an art booth.  She ended up buying three paintings for her room.   I personally wanted that painting of the moon you see behind Emily.  But I've nowhere to hang it.  Maybe once I get the spare room set up as a studio space, I will come back to get it.

 

Above :: Emily & I riding the Max back to Lloyd Center after our shopping spree.   With my purple hat, gloves, and frog ring.