Author Archives: Lauren

ReDirect Guide

The ReDirect Guide is the “yellowpages” of the green-savy metropolitan. You can find it in three areas: Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins, Salt Lake City, and our very own Portland/Vancouver. It’s a free directory of local businesses that aid a “Healthy & Sustainable Lifestyle.” The directory is handy both in print and on the web.

St. Cupcake Opens Belmont Location In Noun

Remember the adorable store Noun on Belmont that I mentioned way back in November? It sells a variety of household items for a variety of purposes (including old birdcages that are better for display or ornamentation rather than holding birds). Noun has cookie jars and cups, sugar bowls and flour canisters, furnishings

Flickr Interior Design

Flickr has a group dedicated to interior design. It’s a way for people all over the world to share fantastic design images with each other. It’s purpose is to be “a live encyclopedia of interior design… Bars, Restaurants, Hotels, Lofts, Architect Houses…”

Anybody with a Flickr account can join and share images. Members

Muu-Muu’s on 21st

I think my jaw dropped when I entered Muu-Muu’s on NW 21st. The first thing I saw was this bizarre lamp on a pedestal surrounded by candles. It was as if someone had cut the neck off a fat vase and covered it with fish scales that emit a soft yellow glow.
The overall

Stone Fireplaces In Homes

I was visiting my parents’ home in Maryland earlier this week. Guests tend to be impressed when they enter the front door into a great room with a very high ceiling that includes both the living room and the dining area (and to an exent, the kitchen). But the most majestic thing about

Today’s Craigslist Postings

Saw these on Craiglist again. Like anything I post from Craigslist, I make no promises about legitimacy.
1. A job
Interested in Interior Design? No formal training needed!
Reply to: shannonpolen@creatingavalon.com
Date: 2007-01-12, 1:00PM PST
Oregon based small and growing company looking for enthusiastic self starters. Need no formal decorating training to start. Work your own hours and love

Seattle’s Roy McMakin

I saw this arts listing in today’s copy of the Portland Mercury. I’m going to try to go to this if I can find the time between now and Sunday (when it ends) and the $10 it costs to get into the Portland Art Museum. The exhibit has apparently been on display since

Sky Mall Catalog

Last night I finished my winter travels. No more time zone changes. No more long, stuffy plane rides across the continent. No more airports. I’m back in Portland for a while.

I always end up going through the SkyMall catalogue, cover to cover, partially out of boredom and partially out of curiosity

Sulan Lighting

We’re well past the Winter Solstice. December 22nd was the darkest day we’ll experience this year, meaning that the night was the longest and the day was the shortest. From now until the Summer Solstice in June, the days will be getting longer and the nights shorter. There’s a sense that at least

Comments on the Pearl in Street Roots

I stopped outside of Powell’s on Hawthorne to buy a copy of Street Roots, a newspaper focused on issues of the disadvantaged and marginalized and sold by Portland’s homeless for income. The newspaper is short. The articles and creative writing are somewhat hit and miss both in terms of writing quality and subject