Original Intent (Revisited): Day Ninety-Four

freshly painted bicycle shop exterior, portland

inspired earrings found here

Original Intent (Revisited): Day Ninety-Three

striped fence on thurman street, portland

inspired earrings found here

Please pardon my recent absence.

I've been quite busy getting into the swing of things at my new job,
updating the sulu-design etsy shop, hanging out with friends...

and enjoying the views
(this one from Munra Point in the Columbia River Gorge).
Hope you all are well and enjoying the views where you are.

Happiness is...

...riding my bike for ten full blocks behind Ely's Rolling Grill, a Mexican food restaurant on wheels that smelled so good that I almost followed it on to the freeway.

...my new favorite lunch, inspired by the panino version at Random Order: toasted wheat bread, melty peanut butter, bananas, and cinnamon. They drizzle honey on theirs.

...the "free table" in the basement of our apartment building, which has yielded some great magazines and two beautiful old tool boxes, chock full of wonderful tools. The table helped us in clearing out some post-move clutter, too.

...having a glass of wine with Barry last night at Cafe Castagna to celebrate job offers.

...the weekend. It's here (I start early). Enjoy!

Noun and List

I've mentioned here before that I love coincidences. Way too much. So you can imagine how excited I was to find out that Stephanie, the friendly owner of Noun on SE Belmont (the most recent Portland shop to carry sulu-design earrings as of yesterday!), is originally from Ohio, too. My dad will be especially pleased to hear that she grew up in Geneva and worked at Eddie's Grill, a favorite spot of his. Noun is my kind of shop, full of lots of vintage furniture and knick knacks, great glass pieces, and a nicely edited selection of handmade goods. Oh, yeah, the Saint Cupcake counter in the back ain't so shabby, either.

And in other sulu-related news, I've decided to start a mailing list for my etsy customers who are interested in getting a heads up about my shop updates. Thanks to Maritza for the great idea (by the way, have you seen the amazing softies in her shop recently?). I had been mentioning shop updates here on my blog, and will probably continue to do so, but I neglected to mention one that I did earlier this week (several earrings are still available from it here) and think that a mailing list might work a bit better. If you're interested, send me an e-mail at sulu-design@hotmail.com with "shop update mailing list" in the subject line, and I'll add your name to the list. Thanks. Now, bring on the weekend.

Seeing Red?

Not quite.
If anything, I'm floating on air after a refreshing walk with Barry
around our new neighborhood in this lovely gray weather.
And this most generous post on Design*Sponge
didn't hurt my mood, either.
Thanks for your sweet comments, friends!

Original Intent (Revisited): Day Ninety-Two

gray building and blue sky on alberta street, portland

inspired earrings found here

The Opposite Of Blue

Wonderful suggestions from you, dear friends, along with a fabulous event-filled weekend has indeed shaken me from my blues. Thanks for your kind words of support while I'm on the roller coaster that is moving across the country with no preplanned job. Things seem to be working themselves out... more on that to come. For now, I'd like to revel in the giddy happiness that was my weekend. Thanks for playing along. It all started with the arrival of the sweetest package from my sister-in-law, Jennifer:

Cinnabar? And fish? Oh, joy!

More love came in the mail when I happened across a little feature on my old neighborhood, Astoria, Queens, in September's Lucky Magazine. Site and Loveday 31 (see my sidebar), two wonderful shops that both carry sulu-designs, were mentioned. Yea, Queens!

And while sulu-design earrings were not the hit I'd hoped they'd be at the Alberta Street Fair, my set-up there allowed me to spend Saturday hanging out with one amazing group of women, from the staff at Tumbleweed and Grasshopper (including the lovely Abby), to blog friends who stopped by, like Laurie and Andrea. And with the support of my good friends Holly and Mike, I barely noticed the... um... not-so-stellar sales.

Things got even better on Sunday, when Barry competed in his first trail half-marathon and smoked it. Seriously, I think he even surprised himself with his awesome finish time. Our crisp day in Mount Hood National Forest was followed with a big dinner of my mom's special recipe Italian sausage and peppers - the perfect way to end my un-blue weekend. I hope your weekends were filled with bright spots, too. Another one comes again in five days!

(Being water girl is hard but rewarding work.)

It Was Loveryboy Who Said...

Everybody's Working for the Weekend. And they were so right. Today, I'm working on getting together a display for sulu-design earrings in anticipation of tomorrow's Alberta Street Fair. I'll be selling earrings outside of Tumbleweed. I would love it if Portland blogger friends stopped by to say hello.

And Barry's getting prepared for a big race weekend - a bike race tomorrow afternoon and a trail half marathon on Sunday. I'm manning one of the water stations on Sunday, which means I get a race shirt without running the race - cool! Good luck to my blog friend Ursa, who's also running a a half marathon this weekend. Enjoy your weekend, whatever you're up to.

Original Intent (Revisited): Day Ninety-One

brown house with green wall, portland

inspired earrings found here

It's Not Just Our Kitchen That's Blue

I'm getting a little blue myself. Job hunting is the worst. Many resumes have been sent and a couple interviews have occurred. I'm sure decent employment will come my way soon, and in a few weeks I'll be wondering why I was complaining about not having a job. But now, I'm antsy. I miss routine. And I'm anxious to meet more people here. One thing that's helping me beat the blues in running. I really look forward to getting my heart rate up once a day. At least there's some consistency in my workout schedule. My run yesterday made me wonder, what do you do the beat the blues? Got any great ideas for getting un-blah?

I do have one other sure-fire pick me up. Receiving a surprise package of vintage hankies and scarves in the mail - like these, from my sweet sister, Maryanne! Perfect timing.

sulu-design, Home and Abroad

I've been anxiously awaiting the time when I could make official announcement, and today I'm so excited to be able say that sulu-design earrings will now be carried overseas - in Molmo, Sweden! Li, the bilingual blogger, designer, and shop owner extraordinaire, has agreed to carry my earrings in her fabulous shop, and I'm giddy with excitement about the arrangement. A box of sulu-design earrings are on their way to her now. And to keep sulu-design fresh here at home, I've updated the etsy shop with many new pieces, including these (click images for links to the direct etsy listings):

Whew! Must tear myself away from the computer...
I'm off now to continue the old job hunt. Here's to a great week, all!

Swift Settlement

Portland is already feeling like home,
especially after a weekend filled with such goodness as:

an art sale at the Ace Hotel

curiously tart frozen yogurt at bleuet

this amazing sight (the source of my poor "swift" title pun)

sandwiches at Stepping Stone

planned antique mall grazing

And we've still got one more day to go!
I hope you're enjoying the weekend, too, wherever you are.

Little Suzy Seamstress?

Not quite. I would love to be better at sewing, but it's quite a struggle for me. I can sew a straight line, though, which came in handy in few projects in our new apartment.

First: the bathroom. After searching in vain for an extra long shower curtain that reaches from ceiling to floor (the bathroom had been renovated to accommodate the owner's need to push her son's wheel chair into the shower) I remembered that I had two of the same shower curtains that I used to swap for one another while one was being washed. I chopped one in half. I sewed the bottom half to the other shower curtain and came up with this:

The practical side of the problem is solved, but the obvious seam nags at me every time I go into the bathroom, so I'm thinking about sewing a ribbon or patchwork strip across the seam to make it look a bit more intentional. I'm also toying with the idea of finally taking an embroidery class (like the one Bolt is offering this month), and designing some little pattern to decorate that strip. To the real seamstresses out there, will ribbon and/or embroidery floss hold up well in the washer and dryer? Any other seam camouflage suggestions?
Oh, yeah... the top of the chopped shower curtain became a curtain for the bathroom window.

The next project: bedroom window treatment. We were hoping for some discreet blinds, couldn't find anything that we both liked and could afford, so we ended up buying fabric so I could make curtains. Not having any real experience in the curtain-making department (the shower curtain process so doesn't count), we picked out a horrendous burlap-like fabric that, when hung, blocked out light so completely that it made our bedroom feel like a cave.
On to Ikea. There we found a few curtains that were okay, but the ones we liked were on the pricey side (who knew Ikea did pricey?) and would still have to be hemmed. Feeling pretty defeated (the curtain saga has been going on for a month now), we were on our way out of Ikea when I spotted flat bed sheets for $2.99 a piece. Four of them, hemmed up to the perfect length (I had no idea curtain were supposed to "pool" - thank God for Domino Magazine) are now clipped to the curtain rods in our bedroom. Easy and breezy. And cheap. Perfect for non-seamstress Suzy.

And did I mention the funky lamp that we snagged at Ikea?

Happy weekend, all!

Original Intent (Revisited): Day Ninety

discarded buckets outside an auto repair shop, portland

inspired earrings found here

Tumbleweed

A meeting yesterday with the lovely Kara and Leslie of tumbleweed boutique on Alberta Street in has resulted in sulu-design's debut in Portland!

Thanks so much to Laurie who suggested that I approach this shop. It happens to be one of a few boutiques that stood out in my mind from our last trip to Portland. Tumbleweed stocks an amazing selection of clothing from great independent designers as well as some more well- known names - their dresses are killing me - and the shop has the most beautiful atmosphere. It's up-to-date with a touch of an understated vintage feel. I'm just thrilled with this new arrangement.

And now, a thanks to you readers who left such sweet comments on my post of our apartment photos the other day. I am a nester supreme. I spend a lot of time arranging and moving and tidying in out place, and it felt good to know that so many of you liked what you saw. Thank you for your kind words. A few people posted questions about the apartment that I was unable to answer through e-mail (drats, Blogger!) so...
The shelf above the bed is from West Elm.
The whitish paint in the living room and dining area is Southern Shadow by Glidden.
The three heads of garlic on the kitchen cabinet are not hanging out there just because they look cute (but now that I look back at 'em, they are kinda cute, no?). I use garlic all the time in the kitchen. This week, I used first it in my version of a spicy ragu (using turkey sausage in place of beef) over penne and later in sauteed beet greens with toasted pinenuts and currants.
The Case Study Bed was wedding gift from my parents, and the eggplant-colored quilt on top of it was purchased years ago at a department store. (Maditi, who commented on these, was sweet enough to feature photos of our place on one of her blogs, maditi likes).
And photos of my new work space are coming soon.
Thanks again.

Original Intent (Revisited): Day Eighty-Nine

upholstered porch furniture, portland

inspired earrings found here