Touring Portlandia, BFF style
Amanda and I met 15 years ago in Essay Club. This group of 5 high school nerds was hand-selected by Al Blank, the librarian then at Borah and the real Most Interesting Man in the World. His stories are legendary. We met every Sunday after reading a packet of essays on a theme, like say Capital Punishment or George Orwell or Food, then drank tea and talked about them. The club changed the course of all of our lives, and forged an unlikely friendship between this blonde aspiring model and this pale depressive shy-ster. (I was the blonde aspiring model, obviously.)
DAY 1
Essay Club had our first everyone-together-now reunion in 14 years in Portland this weekend, the city of bikes and bohos and buses repurposed as vintage dress shops. This vintage dress by Orvis, the fly fishing company, is excellent for travelling. See it in a previous FU.
Amanda’s been thrift store shopping lately too, and our outfits were totally in sync. She bought this for $5 (I think) on a visit to Boise. What a fantastic print.
We visited Queen Bee Creations, recycled bag makers.
Where Amanda’s bag was made, once upon a time.
The orange and rose-colored glasses are new (to me) from Acquired Again Antiques ($14). The blue snakeskin belt has a stone buckle with veins of gold running through it. It’s exquisite, and Amanda got it for about a buck. I “borrowed.” The coffee was fantastic, but the counter lady was none too happy I wanted a to-go cup, so they waited until all their to-stay cup orders behind me were satisfied before making mine. Ahhhhh, Portland. Enviro ethics in retail action.
This is Amanda’s one non-gandy face in a host of pictures. Oh, how this aspiring model has fallen. But she makes a damn good picnic.
PALETTE CLEANSER
I bought a bad ass velvet jumpsuit from the 1970s in a Portland resale shop. Note the “No Photos In Store” sign, ignored.
DAY 2
Yep. It’s a double mint, double mint, double trouble fashion feature.
Now there’s her model game face, and a fantastic vintage dress. Amanda wears her blue snakeskin belt.
Both dresses are polyester, great for travelling and gadding about town. See mine in a previous FU.
Gorgeous lady. Sitting and eating Cuban to the left are two of the other members of the Essay Club.
Amanda bought these Brazilian made leather boots for under $10 at a second hand store.
My dress was $5. Vintage Liz Clairborne loves me.
Steve Madden bondage sandals $10, Ross Dress for Less. (At least, that’s what I call them).
And, this is what we actually look like, most of the time.
XOXO Amanda and Essay Club. Happy trails, Portlandia.
