MaternityShare

What do you do when you don’t see eye-to-eye with your partner?

You can:

A. agree to disagree
B. hold it against them
C. passive aggression
D. leave
E. negotiate (but won’t this option just end up falling in one of the above?)

Some say that life won’t bring to you anything that you aren’t strong enough to handle.

Ok.
But, there are degrees of successful handling.
Whatever.

What does it mean to be human?
I live. I die.
But what about inbetween?

Heaven help me. I think I am going insane. But, I feel pretty clear about it. I guess I am not going insane.

I miss my family. My mom, were she here would laugh and play with Will so I could take a bath or work on my craft (which will bring me both pleasure and money).

I miss my friends… their familiarity, their wisdom, their stories and jokes that would make me laugh and help me cope with the hard parts of being a new mom and life in general.

I am making friends here but they are new moms too and it takes a while to grow a friendship like the ones I grew in Portland. I am thankful for what I have here in the Bay Area but I sure am missing family, friends and familiarity: Portland.

How is that in my quest to learn more about food and cooking I have come across some amazing Portland business that I am dying to try out. Here I am in the Bay Area far away from them. Today would be a perfect day to head over to Sweet Pea Baking Company. Mmmm-a-licious. They are Portland’s first vegan café and bakery. “Located at 1205 SE Stark Street, Porltand, OR, Sweet Pea will feature fresh gourmet vegan baked goods, Stumptown coffee/espresso and a light breakfast and lunch menu.” (click this to find out more.) I love vegan eats. I’m not even vegan. They just sit well in my stomach. And I am almost always happy and have energy after I eat a vegan desert. Not so with “normal” desserts (even some of the “healthier” ones). Vegans know how to do it. They have been practicing at it a while. Now, I don’t eat vegan that much but, let me tell you, I notice the difference. It just keeps getting better. All the faux desserts and other dishes they make are great alternatives.

Hm, maybe I SHOULD become vegan.
I’m not ready for that yet. Breastfeeding, money, effort, etc… But I think my life would be better. Anyway…

Here is another cool place I must check out:

Food Fight Grocery a vegan grocery at 1217 Stark St in SE Portland, Or.

ps. Check out these great deals on vegan pies from Sweet Pea.

*salivating*

About 5 years ago I used to sell the flower hair adornments that I made at a great little local shop named Seaplane. They mainly showcased Portland designers (as well as some musicians). I loved their little shop where the owners would work on their designs while they were tending shop. I wished I was in their shoes. I felt honored to be one of the designers represented by them. Then just before I moved to San Francisco, they moved shop from SE Belmont St (a bit of a up and coming but little known about bit of town to NW 23rd where there are a lot of small boutique-ish shops as well as some larger chain stores. This street is considered a destination by locals and tourists. I never visited their NW 23rd location. I think of Seaplane fondly from time to time.

On another note (and as you will soon see, a related note), a few days ago Billy and I watched a pod on Current TV about biofuels where one of the segments was on a company called Lovecraft Biofuels. They are a company that converts cars into biofuel using cars (for a surprisingly reasonable price by the way). They have two locations; one in LA and one in Portland. We were intrigued and are thinking that we will do this when we next need a vehicle.

Today I was reading a post on ultra (a blog about fashion, design, and culture) entitled End of An Era for Seaplane: The sale of an iconic Portland boutique that told the brief story of Seaplane and of how the owners were selling it to the owner of Lovecraft Biofuels. The new owner will open a second Seaplane location in LA.

I am very interested in both business as well as the fact that I found out about the connection between them in the same week in unrelated media messages. I recommend checking out both businesses if you get a chance as they are both inspired.