Right before the Omicron variant created a second wave of panic, I got reservations at Voysey, an underground speakeasy. It had been so long since I went out that I dressed up for the occasion.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Bar life in the pandemic
Over the summer we had a rare and beautiful month of no pandemic restrictions. My friend and I took advantage of our newfound freedom and met for drinks at Raven's Manor, a zany horror-themed bar in downtown. For a brief moment, it felt like everything was back to normal again.
Friday, April 15, 2022
Tropicale in Winter
Tropicale became my instant new favorite restaurant in 2020. They opened bravely in June of that year with all outdoor seating. If you didn't get there early, the seats would be taken and there would be a line around the block. I loved the vibe of summer, but also insisted on going there in winter when the crowds thinned and I had my pick of seats.
Friday, April 1, 2022
I live here: My Home Office
I realized recently that I've done a number of these "I live here" posts, but ironically, none in the United States and almost all in more temporary dwellings than the one I have lived in now for years.
When the pandemic started and everyone began working from home, a wise friend told me we are not "working from home" but "living at work." How true.
So I thought it would be fitting to post a tour of my home office in my "I live here" series. I have been in this office for over 4 years. I "moved" into it in January 2018 when I knew I would quit my full-time job and work for myself as a consultant. I couldn't very well work from my kitchen counter top or take important calls from the bedroom (though I respect that people had to do that when office work suddenly became virtual overnight).
In the last 4 years I have had countless iterations to the layout. My computer has faced nearly every direction and the bookshelf has been moved against every wall, but finally this version is the one I like most of all.
I decided not to "stage" my office for these shots. Sure, I cleaned up a little bit, but I otherwise wanted to present it exactly as it is. This exercise of photographing my office and decided what to write about it has revealed to me that I am no minimalist. Instead, I like to be surrounded with treasures that remind me of who I like to think I am.
I realized that my office houses some deeply personal artifacts. This is strange because I consider my office a place of business, and I have such a big divide in my life between the business and the personal. But maybe the divide is all in my head - apparently my office is the most personal room of all! If a biographer were to investigate my home to learn more about me, they would find the most revealing artifacts in my office.
This first photo is a view from the doorway when you walk in. You are greeted by a large fig tree and light from two windows. The big free soaks up the light from the window, and provides privacy from my neighbor's house.
The black and white rug is from Ikea. I got it on sale but it is impossible to keep clean with a toddler. It is also 2 inches too long for my office. Once my daughter is older and makes less messes, I'm going to buy a nice custom rug that is easy to keep clean.
Only one wall has neither a window nor a door, so we built stationary bookshelves and a magnet board. I actually don't like the board very much and I want to replace it with a white board.
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Cherry Blossom Season in Portland
In 2021 I got to experience cherry blossom seasons twice - once in Seattle and once in Portland. We got lucky with a warm sunny day. In Portland the cherry blossoms come at a time when the weather is so cold and rainy - it can be hard to find a nice day to experience them. Typically we only get one or two nice days in the entire time they are blooming. Whenever I woke up to a nice day during cherry blossom season, I would skip work just to go down by the waterfront and sit under them. Now that I work for myself, this is both easier and harder to do.
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
New Normal: Cafe Favorites To Go
Since the pandemic started I've been ordering takeout from restaurants far more frequently than I ever did when I dined in them.
I felt like it was my duty to try to keep my favorite restaurant afloat in these hard times, but then I realized that all the good cafes were missing out. I'd been drinking coffee at home (I order beans from a local roaster), thus neglecting to patron the many wondering cafes in Portland.
I wondered how they must be holding up. Sure, it's easy to order coffee and lattes to go - we were doing that before the pandemic - but it doesn't make much sense to have them delivered.
So since the cafes were missing out on all my delivery orders, and since I had made it a routine to drink coffee at home, I decided to deliberately set about ordering lattes and avocado toasts from my favorite places.
Cup & Bar
Date night in the pandemic
Right before the Omicron variant created a second wave of panic, I got reservations at Voysey, an underground speakeasy. It had been so long...
-
One of my favorite stationary stores in Portland - 11/11 - closed its physical location due to the pandemic. With such a reduction in foo...
-
While I am grateful to be healthy, housed, employed, and generally in a very good place in life, there is a lot I miss about pre-pandemic li...