Things I Love Mondays

This post is going to seem a little trendy. I'm not hopping on any bandwagon here or trying to capitalize on recent publicity -- and no, I'm not interested in bolstering tourism (unless you're my friends/family who are long overdue for a visit).

For today's "Thing I Love" entry, I love: Portland.

When I was a kid, I didn't think it was cool to tell people I was a native Oregonian. I have family that lives in a suburb of Chicago and so I would pretend I grew up there instead. Chicago seemed a million times cooler. In a scrapbook I made in junior high, I laughably have a page with pictures of me looking pouty (I went through a stage where I refused to smile in pictures and I just had this annoyed expression all the time. God help me when my kids get into junior high) in front of floats at the Rose Festival Parade with a caption that reads: "What's so exciting about Portland?"

Well, it turns out, quite a few things.

And I'm not the only one noticing how amazing my city is. My Cooking Light magazine came in the mail this weekend with a full spread on the awesomeness of Portland's food culture; ESPN dudes commented on what what a cool atmosphere the fans created at the opening game for our MLS team; and, of course, there's "Portlandia."

I said to Matt, "Portland's kinda hip." He said, "Portland's always been that way. Everyone else is late to the party."

In no particular order...here are FOUR things I LOVE about Portland.

1. Powell's Books: If you ask me what I want to do with my free-time, I will 97% of the time tell you I want to go to Powell's. I never get tired of shopping there. I could go every week. As a die-hard bibliophile, this is the Mecca of book stores. I don't often buy new books anymore -- and I realize that contributes to the recent hard times this store is facing -- but looking for the best deal on a used book is part of the fun. Prior to having children, I could easily spend an entire day wandering the aisles or grab a latte at World Cup Coffee and Tea and look at books I can devour in one sitting.

Now, I have to tackle Powell's with more of a game-plan. When I was doing my Around the World in 80 Books challenge, I would write a list, map out where each book was located in the store, then Matt and I would split up.

I love this place so much that when my book club ladies threw me a surprise baby shower for Isaac, they gave me one gift: A huge gift card to Powell's. Do they know me or what?

2. The People. (For the picture -- I just googled "hipster" and took the first photo I saw. We're not all hipsters here -- and if someone says they hate Portland hipsters and aren't one...my money is on secret-hipsterness. I'm looking at you Lukas Sherman.) It's true -- we're really nice here. Our biggest flaw is our pretentiousness. The closest I've ever come to seeing a full-on bar fight was when someone insulted someone else's trivia skills. (Okay: Matt just reminded me that we saw a bar fight on Halloween one year between a guy dressed in drag and a guy dressed like Jesus.) If a Portlander gets mad, we also get insanely passive aggressive; we're more cerebral in our insults. But in general, this is a nice city -- people are helpful, kind, and fun. There's a camaraderie between people here.

3. It's beautiful here: Oregon is pretty. It's clean and it's green (as in literally green...but it's green  the other way too). And nothing beats a perfect summer day at one of its many parks or along the waterfront.  One of my favorite things to see is the cityscape at night with the buildings reflecting over the river. There is a walking trail for everyone & it's bike/walking with children friendly.

And you're an hour from beach and an hour from the mountains and less than an hour from this:

4. We have (ex) mayors who do things like this:

And our thriving art community is a ton of fun. I'm partial to Portland theater myself, but Portland is great for all things arts and entertainment -- the symphony, ballet, theater, art museum, or even places like OMSI, the Oregon zoo. I've been to busy metropolitan cities and gone into famous art museums, lounged around in parks, and seen live theater, but there's something really special about what Portland offers when it comes to culture. 

I love that I will be able to introduce my boys to so many awesome things within a five-ten minute drive from our house. I know that there are many other cities in this world where I would want to spend some time...maybe even a couple of years...but my heart belongs to Portland. And so, Portland, I love you. (But now you need to get a Major League Baseball team.)

Happy Monday!!