Birthday Time!

This week, my best friend gave me a fabulous birthday present. She colluded secretly with my husband to abduct me from my family and treat me to a girl's day out in downtown Portland. Now, I love my children dearly, but I had SO MUCH FUN!

We went to the very interesting, controversial anatomy exhibit Body Worlds 3, window shopped in all those delightful little shops on and near 21st, and sampled unique artisan teas in this really cute tea shop. We stopped in the Lush store, home of divine handmade cosmetics/soaps. I couldn't bring myself to pay $24 for a bar of soap, no matter what it was made of, but we both enjoyed smelling all the innovative concoctions. We also looked at Turkish colored-glass chandeliers with amazing iron fretwork, vintage jewelry, antique bits and bobs, and .... she bought me these awesome vintage chandelier crystals!!
But, the best part of the evening was yet to come. She took me to Marrekesh, an authentic Moroccan restaurante for dinner!! Now, I have been trying to eat here for 10 years....yes, that's right ....10 years. It's only open for dinner in a different city, I didn't own a car, my husband dislikes ethnic food....there were reasons.......but I finally got to go!! It lived up to every expectation. Eating with your hands on the floor was ........bliss. Sheer bliss!


My two little muchkins gave me the sweetest hugs and kisses and sang the most beautiful Happy Birthday song. Their little voices are just SO angelic! And what did Hubby do for this festive day? And no, I'm not telling how old I am. Let's just say, it's old enough you stop counting :) He surprised me with a decadent towering carrot cake from a local gourmet pastry shop and this:
A gift subscription to one of my favorite magazines, Belle Armoire!


This week was filled with happy things, but I was especially pleased to discover at Dare to Dream this amazing YouTube video called Women in Art featuring a really beautiful, creative treatment of 500 years of female portraits in Western art. I've been doing so much with historical portraits lately, this really resonated with me. And I got a special thrill from identifying as many of the portraits as I could:)