This week

- Watched the Portland Twilight Criterium bike race around the North Park blocks on Friday. More cowbell!

- Let’s talk about my container garden. It’s amazing… and so tasty. I made a tomato salad this weekend which included: tomatoes, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, and more tomatoes.

-We were going to go berry picking at Sauvie Island on Sunday, and ended up spending so long at the beach (no, not the nude beach!) that we missed the U-pick hours. So we ended up buying berries from the stand instead. Next time!

- I got a silly email from Gilt Groupe telling me “good news, your Hype Silk Naomi Strapless dress is now available”, meaning it had sold out ages ago, even though I really had no intentions of buying it. And I had a $20 off any order special coupon and so it ended up being $59 instead of ummmm… a $175 dress. Yay!

- Just started listening to Liam Finn’s new album FOMO. This video is ridiculous and kind of adorable. Those kiwis.

-Portland Soap Box Derby was also this weekend on Mt Tabor. We arrived kind of late, but it was still fun to sit on a blanket, and legally drink beer in the park. Also, there was a tank with some kind of potato gun cannon. Next year, I’m going to wear a derby hat.

What are you up to this week?

1. biking – I’ve been biking up a storm this month. Other than the streetcar, it’s my main mode of transportation, along with the occasional Zipcar. Anyway, I have such a crush on this bicycle. I want. Dear Savings account, can I use some of my first-time homebuyer tax credit for this? Public D3 $690

2. yoga – I started my 30 day yoga challenge a couple of weeks ago, and then took a 4 day hamstring break after my first ever Bikram (hot) yoga class. Intense! So I’m back on track now — 10 days in (6 days/week), 20 to go! Watch out.

3. iPhone 4 – get over it, yeah?  As mentioned… LOVE! How did I survive without one? :P And the daily food photos continue. My only complaint is that it’s not that great as an actual phone, not that I actually use it for the phone aspect too much.

4. Hobo International Clover Wristlet – I’ve been wanting a clutch (wristlet, whatever you want to call it) for a while now. However, most of them seem to be the size of binders, so I’m loving this smaller, vintage-y one that I found at Rue by Hobo. rue la la invite

5. Pastis – One of my favorite summer drinks. Water + pastis. It’s like being in Marseilles again!

6. Scheming. Dreaming. Iceland. $458 Seattle to Reykjavík. (waving goodbye to getting a new bike). Iceland: Sigur Ros, blue lagoon, Icelandic ponies, Eyjafjallajökull volcano… cannot wait! Also, I’m pretty sure that I’ll have a chance meeting with one of the lovely gentleman of Sigur Ros: fall in love, live happily ever after in Iceland, and have like 1,000,000 Icelandic babies. Yep.

7. Google Docs – humor me in my Google fangirl moments. So they’ve had tons of new changes lately, enough for me to quit my whinging about how all the Excel formulas that I’m used to aren’t working, and you can copy tabs to a new doc now, and rumors are circulating that you’ll soon be able to login to more than 1 Google Account in 1 browser. I think I’m a little bit, a little bit in love with Google.

8. Ice cream sandwiches – I tried out the Martha Stewart recipe for classic ice cream sandwiches. Tasty. I’ve also been a little obsessed with the coconut ice cream bars by Paleteria La Michoacana from the dreaded land of Costco.

9. Lululemon yoga pants – I finally bought a pair of Lululemon pants. Half of me is annoyed with Lululemon for being so damn expensive, but they are incredibly comfy shorts and after I got my first-time home buyer credit, I decided it was kosher to spend 1% (eek!) on some sweet ass pants. I also really love their company and they have free yoga classes in-store twice a week. :) Lululemon Astro Crop

10. Oregon coast – love.

What’s on your list lately?

As mentioned, I decided to take a break from the 101 things in 1,001 days list. My clone started a 30 before thirty list, so like a good clone I’m copying her — let the listomania begin…

30 Before Thirty List

1. Buy a house – this was on my list before I bought a house!
2. Visit Iceland
3. Run a half-marathon (ie. start running again)
4. Attend a cooking class (@Sur La Table perhaps)
5. Carve out a stellar mini-office for work [at home]
6. Go raw for 1 week or do a cleanse ( hi mom, I know you’re going to leave me an inspirational comment)
7. Start strength training
8. Learn to ride my bike outside with my cycling shoes [without falling over]
9. Go to 1 new restaurant (or coffee shop) per week 52 in total
10. Do yoga six days a week for one month
11. Learn the Tittibhasana (Firefly) Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm stand) pose – (hijacked this one, sorry pal)
12. Get an iPhone (did Steve tell you that perchance?)
13. Go actual backpacking (as-in: carrying a backpack in the forest, not schlepping around the globe)
14. Take a silver jewelry class – crafter-alert!
15. Road trip Hwy 101 south & stay in that lighthouse hostel near SF
16. Try a new class that isn’t ‘my style’: belly dancing or zumba (cringe)
17. Ask 20 12 people their favorite book and read it
18. Try kiteboarding
19. Volunteer again
20. Get a car, scooter or new bicycle
21. Visit a spa for a whole day or do a yoga/spa vacay with H
22. Eat [hyper] local for one week
23. Cook a 5-course meal, have a dinner party
24. Buy awesome matching lingerie
25. Start a grown-up alcohol collection and declare a signature drink (mojitos…)
26. Buy a little black dress (note: not navy, grey, or a sundress… this one is going to be a challenge)
27. Visit all 30 breweries in Portland
28. Ask a guy out (I seriously have never done this, what is my problem!)
29. — (I’ll add this before my 29th birthday)
30. — (I’ll add this before my 29th birthday)

Well, well?

photo by 96dpi

1. vitamin d -  how amazing is our early spring in Portland? Pretty frickin’ amazing. This 60 degree (sorry non-Americans) weather in February is stellar — skirt and flip flop weather — inconceivable! free the sun photo by notsogoodphotography

2. opi over the taupe nail polish – I prefer to call this color Kalamata Olive, as taupe is such a boring color. I’m not a big nail polish fan, as documented by #84: take care of my nails, but I really like the mix of purple/dark. And who knew painting your nails was so easy? For some reason I remember it being extremely difficult to stay in the lines… I may have missed my calling. ;) $7 opi

3. blue birdie lariat necklace – I finally spent my Groupon coupon for Relish — well most of it anyway (I’m waiting for all the new spring items to finish my shopping). Anyway, Relish is such a lovely shop and they stock Marimekko fabric, that was begging me to start a sewing project, but I really don’t need anything at the moment. Regardless… <3  $52 relish

4. my kitteh – My cat is taking over my blog! She should have her own category, yes? So 2 weeks in, I’m well on my way to becoming one of those cat ladies. I’ve also been cleaning my apartment like a hypochondriac because the thought of having a “cat smell” apartment scares me. Thankfully, Mr Essa Selleck is quite the tidy cat. $85 oregon humane society

5. ristretto roasters – I’ve started a bad habit of going here for an afternoon or lunchtime wander. Superb coffee (ok, ok and an occasional ridiculously cheap donut) $1 ristretto roasters

6. tulips – my favorite flower of all time. I bought a tulip plant at the grocery store for $3, (cheaper than flowers!) and then it promptly died a week later, but it was still worth it. $3 safeway photo by smpte101

7. chalkdots – these are so cool! I got a set of three chalkboard paint wall stickers last month. Apparently they’re for children or some such nonsense. I’m using one as a menu board in my kitchen… now what to do with the other two… $15 gilt groupe (invitation)

8. mini flat iron – whoa, nail polish and a flat iron all in the same list? I’m on the road to high-maintenance… but my excuse for the straightener was that it was on sale at Rue La La & it wouldn’t hurt to add it to my travel packing list… and I do what I want. $25 linea pro

9. the guinea pig diaries: my life as an experiment – AJ Jacobs’ third book did not disappoint. And I apologize for being that person giggling on the bus all week. $10.20 amazon

10. zipcar – I still kind of want a car again, but Zipcar is pretty cool… except for when I misplaced it the other night at the gym… that never happened when I had my own car. :P $6.30+ zipcar

What’s on your list?

What - you ask - is a frugal bon vivant?
Frugal fru·gal \?frü-g?l\ adjective :  economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful (synonyms: thrifty)

Bon Vivant bon vi·vant \?bän-v?-?vänt\ noun :  a person who lives luxuriously and enjoys good food and drink. (synonyms: epicurean, foodie, libertine, connoisseur)

The best things in life might not always be free, but they can usually be gotten at a bargain. The Frugal Bon Vivant serves up deals, promo codes, how-tos, and tips on enjoying the good life on a budget. Frugal living since 1981.

There’s my “elevator pitch” so head on over to the Frugal-BonVivant.com and check it out! I’ve scoured the web for deals, so you don’t have to. I’ll be doing a giveaway next week, but shhhh! you didn’t hear it from me. ;)

A few hot deals:

• Buy One, Get One Free at Jamba Juice – expires July 12
  
• FREE 12oz Drink at The Coffee Bean – July 1
• FREE Quart of Paint from Glidden (seriously, go pick your color!)
• Fly to Canada – Buy One Get One Free

Get 30% off sitewide at Flight001.com.

Promo Code:  BIRTHDAY
Expires:  April 19 ,2009

Here are a few of my favorites things:

• Go Clean Wet Suit Bag – This bag is brilliant!  Traveling in humid climates (Thailand, Vietnam, Panama etc.) can make your backpack pretty nasty if any of your clothes are even mildly damp.  I use this mildew resistant bag for wet swimsuits, laundry etc.  Also, it’s nice to just throw in your beach bag to put wet stuff in after swimming, instead of using more plastic bags.
• iPod Lego Speaker – I’m fairly obsessed with my iPod Lego speaker, and will probably bring it up in conversation… or so I’ve been told ;)
• Woolite Laundry Soap – Great for doing your own laundry, whether in the sink or at a laundry — so you don’t have to pay 2 extra euros just for gross smelling detergent.

Get 25% off sitewide on SeeJaneWork.com

Promo Code: 25OFF09
Expires:  January 31, 2009

Add to your ‘happiness at work’ quotient by surrounding yourself with fun and useful office gear. Here are a few things I love from See Jane Work:

• Knock Knock’s “All Out Of” grocery shopping lists
• Office Basics Letter Trays – in happy colors
• Smencils
• Metal Accessory Tray

This morning we left for Efesus fairly early to beat the tourists (cruise ships and tour buses all stop here, so it can get packed quickly!), but we were the only ones there. S said that had never happened before! End of season luxury, I guess. A local guide took us through the site. I love having the full explanation at huge sites like this. What an amazing city. My favorite site so far. The library was massive and the latrines quite funny. She said that the saying “ladies first” was because of the Romans had their wives come warm up the cold marble before they had to use the toilet, lol. A good joke, anyway! After a few hours we headed to the exits and did some shopping. I wasn’t planning on buying anything because I knew they would be outrageous prices for tourists, but I found a really cool silver cuff bracelet with lupis stone on it. And it’s end of season and it was his first sale of the day (which is good luck!) so I was able to talk him waaaay down. He kept chuckling, because apparently I have an eye for old jewelry.

After a quick peek at the Sleeping Tombs, we had Gozleme — a fried pastry with filling (similar to a crepe). I had banana and chocolate. So good! We walked back to town through an orchard and past the remains of the Temple of Artemis (7th wonder of the world). I had a nice swim this afternoon in the pool.

This evening we drove to Sirince to try the local fruit wines. Pomegranate and mulberry were my favorite, but not really my kind of thing… too sweet! So then we drove (don’t worry, we weren’t actually driving, it was a taxi!) back to Selcuk and had dinner in town. I had a mezze platter with grape leaves, baba ganoush, yogurt, stuffed veggies, and a beer. The waiter was like “ooh, la, la… beer! ;)  Best mezze I’ve had so far in Turkey.

After a nice afternoon nap, we went to check out the old town. We ended up walking past a victory celebration Friday performance by the castle wall. We went up to see views of the city, and then walked around near the fruit and nut stalls to go to this tea house. We watched one of N’s friends play the sitar, nay (flute-like), drums etc with his tea house “band”. The tea house is the Turkish equivalent of a pub. It’s a place for the boys to get away from their wives. And there we were, just sitting around drinking tea with a bunch of Turkish men! I hope they didn’t tell their wives. It was an interesting experience, but way too smoky, so we took turns ducking out to the vendors. I bought an apple and some pumpkin seeds. The pumpkin seed man asked if I was German. “No!” Romanian? “No, American” and he simply refused to believe it! He said, “but you no look American, it can’t be!” I’m not sure if I should be insulted or not? Good times. So after the tea house, we had kebabs at an outdoor restaurant. We ended up passing the baklavaria on the way out, so I ran in and he gave me free baklavah and refused to let me pay! I love this guy!

So we finally ended up at the Sema lodge to watch the Sufi performance. We sat outside, while he explained the significance of different aspects and then we went up into the balcony to sit in the ladies area with our head scarves on. What a different experience. The nay and other instrument band played and they sang and the lead Sufi did callings from the Koran and the dervishes whirled… for ages! It’s amazing that they can spin for so long. Afterward, N’s friend showed us the training room and practice boards with the marble in the middle to spin around. What an experience. After seeing the whirling dervish in Istanbul, it was magical to see it as it was meant to be – as a form of worship, instead of just entertainment in a huka bar.