April Showers...

Boots: Chelsea leopard rain boots (these are on super-sale right now - only $34!

Jeans: J Brand 620 Coated Close Cut Super Skinny mid-rise in prism

Plaid button-up: Ex-Boyfriend Shirt in orange plaid

 Sweater: Joie Ranger Sweater in porcelain 

 Jacket: Fieldwalk Jacket in night vision

Umbrella: Rainy-Day Umbrella in red spark

 Bag: The Glasgow Satchel in english saddle

Park City

Another weekend, another 30th birthday celebration.  This past weekend I was out in Park City, Utah celebrating the birthday of my friend and old-school roommate, Meredith.  We coordinated to be able to spend the weekend with our other roommate, the final component of LeeBraStew.  Another college friend, Brittany is finishing her Ph.D out in Logan, Utah, so we also got some solid catch-up time with her.

We spent Friday on the slopes of Park City.  It was good to be back out there, and I impressed everyone, most of all myself, with my new-found skills.  Everything was great until the last run of the day when I somehow found myself on a blue run.  I panicked and wound up stuck directly under the ski lift.  Finally after about 30 minutes down, a sweet, older British couple came to my rescue and ensured I made it down the mountain.  I spent the rest of the afternoon in the bar with some Moscow Mules.  

Park City highlights were High West Distillery, Zoom (Robert Redford's restaurant), and, of course, the bar at the St. Regis in Deer Valley.  We took the funicular up to the top of the mountain and had stellar views of the area.  

Real life Banksy! It was behind glass in an alleyway.

Cute little houses 

Ice Queen

S'mores Fondue

Other highlights were playing a Rhodes-themed version of "celebrity," Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, owning the Deer Valley parking lot, and all of the Moscow Mules.  

Portland

Last weekend I surprised my high school bff and showed up at her 30th birthday party.  The surprise portion was a huge success - I'll never forget the look on her face when she saw me walk into the hotel room.

The party was based at this awesome hotel called the McMenamis Kennedy School- it used to be a grade school and was converted into a hotel.  It's an awesome space - has a bunch of different tucked away bars, including one big one (the boiler room) where we spent a majority of both nights.  The rooms are decorated with chalkboard paint, which made for some good artwork opportunity.

Girl has got her pose down

Saturday we took a long walk to the Alberta district.  We couldn't have asked for better weather - it was low 60's and sunny.  It felt so good to ditch the heavy winter coat for our stroll.  While DC was covered in snow, Portland has little glimpses of spring!  I can't wait.

 We enjoyed a long, boozy brunch at Helser's.

After brunch we took the bus downtown to the Pearl District. We started at Powell's Books.  This was the biggest bookstore I've ever been and and could have spent hours there.  I bought "The Sixth Extinction" at Powell's Books to start for my NYC-based book club.

From there we went to the Deschutes brewery for beers, did some shopping, then to Umbria for a latte.

For dinner we hit up a street-style food Thai restaurant, Khao San, before taking the bus back to the hotel for some shenanigans.

Sunday, we had brunch at the hotel, then headed back downtown, where I met up with a new friend. We went to another brewery (that had ice on the bar to keep your beer chilled!), then picked up a bottle of wine, and took the train up into Washington Park.  We spent a while hiking around looking for the best view of the sun setting over Portland, but somehow wound up in a residential area, so settled for overlooking the Vietnam Memorial.  Still a pretty view.

Another successful trip in the books! I absolutely fell in love with the city, and can't wait to take another trip back up to the Pacific Northwest sometime soon.