his & hers

A wedding post.

2013-02-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

It's been a little quiet around here lately, but with good reason - we've been planning our wedding! We have exactly five months to go. Our save the dates started arriving in people's mailboxes Monday, so we can finally share them. They were designed by our incredibly talented friend Ravyn of Three Fifteen Design. Our friend Summer hand wrote the addresses for us. We think they are perfect.

In Search of the Perfect Tree.

2012-12-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

Have you ever traveled out to the distant hills and forests, hiked miles into the wintery hinterland, with a song in your heart, a saw in your hand and whiskey in your flask to search for that perfect Christmas tree? Well us neither, but we did drive up into the low hills of Whitney's home town of Forest Grove to Parry's U Cut Tree Farm this year to find our perfect little tree. We ~~hiked~~ walked ~~miles~~ yards up into the tree farm past Douglas Firs, Fraser Firs, Blue Spruce and others to the depths of the Noble Fir trees. There it was, all 4'7" of it. Almost as tall as Whitney. (Kidding. She is taller than that. Kinda.) The tree glistened in the light mist that swirled through the forested hills, raindrops falling silently on her boughs. A woodsy forest green with silver highlights, she was perfect. With the smell of sawdust and sap infiltrating our nostrils as the moss covered earth settled silently beneath our footsteps, we kept our eye on our little tree as we looked further. Just in case some silly wide-eyed kid with family in tow tried to claim it as his own, we were ready to pounce back and fight them off. Satisfied with our choice, I took the saw in my hand and in two swift motions, sliced through the thick trunk and hoisted the beast over my head. Triumph. Victory. Christmas.

A Year Later.

2012-11-01T06:57:00.000-07:00

On March 11^th, 2011 one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded struck off the coast of eastern Japan. The earthquake was so forceful it moved Honshu, the main island of the country, which is roughly the size of Minnesota, a whole eight feet. Registering 9.0 on the Richter scale, the earthquake sent a violent tsunami reaching speeds close to 500 mph and heights over 100 feet slamming into the cities that hug Japan’s coastline. These two events caused the disabling of power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. When the back-up generators at the plant failed, the lack of a cooling system caused the plants nuclear reactors to meltdown. Radioactive material spewed into the atmosphere. It was the worst nuclear disaster to occur since Chernobyl.

Over 15,000 people perished and thousands are still unaccounted for.

In May of this year I spent a day driving through this area with my friend Aya, her dad and her grandfather (who lives in the region). While it was absolutely heart breaking to witness the devastation that occurred and to think about all the lives the tsunami and earthquake took, it was also beautiful witnessing the citizens of Japan hard at work rebuilding their lives.

Aya and her grandfather survey the wreckage.

I've collected sea glass my entire life. In all my years of searching, I've only found 10 or so pieces. In less than five minutes on a tiny section of beach I found dozens. It was a strange feeling holding them in my hand, knowing those beautiful bits of glass were created from something that caused so much destruction.

Amongst acres and acres of debris, this single tree remained. A tiny beacon of hope amongst the rubble. It was haunting.

You can still help.

Polaroids from Japan.

2012-10-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

Etsy Update!

2012-10-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

We updated our Etsy shop for the first time in over a year. Stop by and check it out.

A Day Spent Cherry Picking

2012-10-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

A Walk Through A Japanese Village.

2012-07-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

Three and a half hours north of Tokyo, outside of the city of Kitakami, lies a tiny village off of route 107. This is Yanagawa.

Things I ate in Japan.

2012-07-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

The yolks of eggs in Japan are the most wonderful shade of yellow.

The potatoes were cooked with anchovies. Salty and savory, mmm.

The white tube like things were chikuwa - fish cakes with cucumbers stuffed inside with a sauce consisting of mayonnaise and soy sauce. The other dishes were white rice, miso soup and a cold salad made of seaweed and carrots.

Aya's great aunt described them as "full bellied", referring to the fact they were pregnant. Aya decided to pass...

...but I went for it!

The top plate, hiyashi chaka, was one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It's a cold noodle dish with different toppings (cucumber, ham, egg, tomato) and a tare sauce, which I can only describe as a thicker and sweeter soy sauce.

Calpis is kind of like a watered down, tangy yogurt drink.

Chilled hot chocolate - not as good as the picture depicts. Too watery.

My first proper meal in Japan. I ordered it via a machine that printed out a ticket with your order, that you then handed to the chef to prepare.

Kimchi ramen and gyoza. The perfect meal after walking in the rain for hours.

Mitarashi dango, a Japanese mochi dumpling on a stick with a sweet and sticky soy sauce glaze. Mmm.

Octopus!

Aya was not a fan.

Soy cracker (these were so addictive!)

I was pretty much in heaven.

The best soft serve I have EVER had - green tea and vanilla.

Aya picked chocolate and banana swirl.

Multi tasking.

Mango soft serve.

Watermelon snocone at a street fair.

Karaage - Japanese fried chicken. I added curry powder to mine. So good!

Yakitori (various skewered meat), eggplant, cucumber and sashimi (under that pile of onions and lettuce). Japanese eggplant is far superior to the eggplant found in American grocery stores. They are much smaller and have a firmer texture and a more delicate flavor.

Tofu with fish flakes and green onion.

I'm not sure if this dish has a name, but it consisted of rice, egg, shredded carrots, mushroom, cooked eel and salmon eggs.

Sashimi.

A beef, noodle, egg, onion and tofu dish, cucumber and raw octopus salad and roasted eggplant with a plum sauce.

Takoyaki - breaded grilled octopus balls and yakisoba.

Chawanmushi - a savory custard type soup with chicken and shrimp at the bottom.

More sashimi.

A delicious soup with tofu, dumplings, carrot, cabbage, daikon, etc. I think the square speckled bits were a congealed lotus?

I wasn't much of a fan of green tea prior to my trip, but you kind of get addicted after drinking freshly brewed tea with every meal. And I mean, every meal.

Melon soda.

Bulgogi - the Korean method of grilling marinated meat.

I could have sat at our table flipping meat with my chopsticks for hours (as long as I had plenty of melon soda).

An (Almost) Impossible Quest.

2012-06-13T06:55:00.002-07:00

On the second day of our trip, Aya and I knew exactly where we wanted to go: Impossible Tokyo. The Impossible Project is very dear to Aya and I, as we met on the internet through polaroids in 2005 (meeting people on the internet via polaroids seems to be a reoccurring trend in my life, huh?) Impossible Tokyo didn't open its doors until noon, so we first planned to visit a coffee shop Aya had discovered through a New York Times article. Being coffee connoisseurs, we were looking forward to our first proper cup of Japanese brew, as we had been stuck drinking watered down canned coffee the first 36 hours of our trip. If I had only known how the day's adventure would unfold, I probably would have tossed back several cans of that watered down canned coffee. Oh, the adventure we were about to have...

With my back still aching from the day before, I smartly packed two less cameras, loaded up on film, and as Aya plugged the address into her iPod, I threw on my bag and we headed out the door. We jumped on a train in Narita bound for Tokyo (we stayed with family friends in Narita the first three nights of our trip) and after a transfer, we arrived at Nippori Station in the Arakawa ward of Tokyo. Fun fact: the Arakawa ward's sister city of Corvallis, Oregon, is home to my alma mater, Oregon State University. Go Beavs!

Upon arrival, we set out in search of the coffee shop. To make a long story short, instead of heading right, we went left, walking for nearly an hour before coming to the realization that we had gone in the wrong direction. Hot, hungry and becoming a bit cranky, we elected to nix the coffee shop in favor of heading back to our starting point and regrouping over lunch. Just then, it started to rain. Born and raised in Oregon - the land of perpetual drizzle, I rarely carry an umbrella. While the thought of bringing one had possibly crossed my mind while packing, it was quickly dropped off the list in favor of extra film space. By the time we reached the train station, our feet were wet, our bellies were hungry and my hair was a frizzy mess. We stepped into the nearest restaurant, a bento joint filled with chain smoking businessman.

Our bellies full and our feet semi-dry, we excitedly hit the street. And then the thunder and lightning started. It began to pour. We quickly darted into the nearest place we could find that sold umbrellas. It was the best 400 yen I've ever spent.

Do you see all that rain bouncing off the pavement? We walked several blocks huddled together under our clear bubble umbrella, glancing up at every building to check the address. Where was the Impossible Project? We popped into a convenience store where Aya asked the clerk if we were on Oak Street. Yes, he assured us, we were. Aya showed him the address and the gentleman instructed us to go back a few lights. We were almost there! We walked back as instructed and searched and searched and searched. Where was the building? We'd seen enough photos of the store's sign to know what to look for, but for the life of us, we couldn't find it. We found a building that had glue remnants of where a sign used to be. Could the sign have fallen off? Standing in the building's entry way, we finally noticed the tiny addresses listed on the wall. There it was - 2F, we had made it! We high fived each other and then quickly realized we couldn't get into the locked building. Luckily, I had the Impossible phone number with me. Aya called the shop and after several long minutes, questions back and forth and lots of quizzical looks she broke the bad news to me - we were in the wrong place. Turns out, there are two places with the same exact address in Tokyo. Google Maps fail!

A is where we were, B was where we were supposed to be. With a new destination and an ice cream bar in hand, we began phase two. I have no shame in admitting I ate one of these ice creams almost every day of our trip.

One hour, a transfer and nineteen stops out on a line (yes, I counted) we arrived at our new destination. Aya got out her phone to call the shop again. After a few minutes, Aya gave me a look that could only mean one thing...

As our luck would have it, there were two stations with similar names, the only difference being the one we were at had a hyphenated ending. We were supposed to be at Aobadai Station. Instead, we were, well, I don't know where the hell we were. But it sure wasn't near Impossible Tokyo. At that point, it was well after 3 p.m., but we refused to give up. Another ice cream bar for me and an egg salad sandwich for Aya and we were ready for attempt #3. Third time's a charm right? RIGHT.
As they say in Japan, YATTA!

You may be thinking, "Whitney, where are the Impossible photos?" Well, I committed a bit of a blunder when packing my camera bag that morning. I brought two identical SLR 680's to Japan - one loaded with Impossible film and the other with original Polaroid 600. I mistakenly put the wrong camera into my bag. Womp wooomp.

Yes, Azuree, I took this photo just for you. A bunny rabbit sx-70!

I like to imagine that one of these figures is of my friend Anne Bowerman.

Japan.

2012-06-05T06:39:00.002-07:00

Last week I returned home from an incredible two week trip to Japan. Sometime last fall, my lovely friend Aya asked me if I wanted to tag along with her on a trip to visit her family in Tokyo and the northern portion of Honshu (the main island of Japan). I answered with a resounding "HAI!" I saved my pennies, ate lots of sushi in anticipation, filled a backpack full of cameras and film and before I knew it, we were boarding the world's largest plane bound for Narita International Airport.

Aya has been to Japan over a dozen times, but this last visit was the first time she brought a friend along (lucky me!) and did anything tourist related. The first place on our agenda: The Imperial Palace, home to the Emperor of Japan. While the palace itself is off limits 363 days of the year, the outer grounds are a public park and offer a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city. We spent a very humid afternoon wandering the grounds, sweating up a storm and chugging lots water. I wasn't prepared for how humid Japan was. Hello, frizzy hair!

If you pack five cameras in your backpack, you will ultimately end up with five photographs that look the same, as is evident by the first few photos of this post. (You never know which one will look the best!) Photos of the Nijubashi Bridge taken with (from top to bottom): Polaroid SLR 680 with Polaroid 600 film, Polaroid SLR 680 with PX 680 Color Shade Cool film by The Impossible Project, Pentax K1000 with Kodak 800 film, Canon 50D and Olympus XA2 with Kodak 400 film. Yes, I'm crazy. Yes, my back still hurts. And yes, it was totally worth it.

Stay tuned for more photos in the days to come!

Engaged!

2012-05-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

To properly explain our engagement story, we have to go back to 2005. In September of that year, a Portland artist by the name of Scott Wayne Indiana began an art project. In an attempt to get people to start paying more attention to their surroundings, Indiana began tying tiny toy horses to the iron horse rings found embedded in Portland's sidewalks. Long before cars, these rings were used to harness horses curbside. Indiana called it "The Horse Project."

In March of 2008, Dave posted a polaroid of one of these horses on Flickr. That same day, while perusing the website, I stumbled upon it. I recognized the horse immediately, as I had taken a polaroid of the exact same horse ten months prior. Coincidentally, I posted that polaroid five years ago today. Amazing, huh? I left a comment on Dave's photo with an image of my shot that read "I know by the angle that you took yours at that this is the same horse - right off Everett, around the corner from Utrecht Art Supplies, right? Do you live in Portland too?" An internet friendship was born. A year and a half later, Dave and I finally met in the flesh at a Flickr meet-up. We began dating six months later.

The horse we both photographed has been gone for years now. But every time we would pass the corner of NW 11th & Everett, I would give Dave a nudge and point to "our" iron ring at the street car stop where it once stood. Yesterday, while passing the corner, Dave dropped to one knee, pulled out a toy horse and a ring and asked me to be his wife. I burst into tears and said yes. There is now a new horse residing on the corner of NW 11th & Everett. We named it Flickr.

All engagement photos taken with px 70 Color Shade film by The Impossible Project.

We're Back! (From a Trip to the Coast)

2012-05-01T06:39:00.001-07:00

A Manzanita, Oregon sunset.

April 13th, 2012

TGITS (Thank God It's Timbers Season)

2012-03-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the MLS season opener for the Portland Timbers. We're super stoked to have season tickets this year. A lot of people think we're crazy for loving soccer the way we do. They say it's "boring." This video*, shot last August during Portland's 3-0 stomping of eventual MLS champions LA Galaxy, proves there is nothing boring about Timbers soccer. See you in the North End.

*we recommend watching it in HD.

Momentum.

2012-03-05T06:49:00.000-08:00

Back in January, the kind folks at The Imossible Project asked me to participate in their current exhibition - Momentum. Now that the show has finally opened, I'm thrilled that I can finally share my results with you. These shots were all taken with a sx-70, using PX 70 and PX 100 UV+ films. The show runs through the end of June, so if you find yourself in New York City, please check it out.

It's almost Ranunculus season

2012-02-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

She is totally going to freak out.

The most expensive soup I've ever made.

2012-01-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

Is there anything better than pho on a rainy day? Luckily for us, it’s rainy in Portland quite often. The first time we had pho together was for Dave’s 32^nd birthday. I was working downtown at the time and took the MAX in the pouring rain to join Dave at a pho joint near his office. I only had to walk a few blocks from the MAX stop to the restaurant, but by the time I arrived I was cold and wet. Dave arrived soon after, his hoodie drenched. We placed two orders for the same pho and patiently waited, knowing the steamy broth would warm us up. When our pho arrived, we discovered we prefer it prepared completely different. Once our condiments were added, our pho looked like two different dishes. Dave enjoys his with plenty of Hoisin sauce, lots of Thai basil, lime juice and a squirt of Sriracha. I absolutely hate the taste of Thai basil and prefer to go heavy on the Sriracha (we’re talking red broth) with extra bean sprouts and bits of jalapeno. Fact: if I’m eating pho there is a 75% chance I will get jalapeno residue in my eye. Thankfully, I didn’t on our first pho date, but Dave has witnessed the swollen eyed jalapeno cry on many occasions.

We’ve ate pho dozens of times at places all around town, but have never made our own. So, home sick one weekend in October, I decided to change that. And let me tell you, I don’t think I will be making it again. Not because it wasn’t delicious – the pho was fantastic and we ate every last drop, but rather because it’s pretty expensive and time consuming to make. Sure, now that I have the majority of the ingredients on hand it would be cheaper, but have you ever bought grass fed beef leg bones from New Seasons? They are expensive. Since the bones are what provide that rich, delicious flavor, I wanted good bones, but I don’t enjoy spending $20 on something you throw away afterwards. Of course I could have bought the cheap, unmarked bones from the Asian market, but I can’t read Chinese and the idea of buying bones from the unknown parts of an unknown animal was a bit… scary. I should note I called Safeway and Fred Meyer and was told bones weren’t available. I also called a local meat market in town and was quoted a ridiculous price, so New Seasons it was. Which resulted in the most expensive soup I've ever made.

Ok, on to the pho making. I used a recipe I found in Saveur Magazine. I skipped the dried scallops the recipe calls for as I couldn't find any. This pho was pho-cking good (I had to get one pho pun into this, didn’t I?) Dave says it was one of the best he’s ever had and he’s probably not being biased. I know this because I made him my favorite cookies a while back (on a weeknight!) and he said they were “just ok.” Just ok?! Ahem.

A warning for those of you who have never boiled bones before – they smell. Bad. I’ve smelled lots of disgusting things in my life – I grew up on a cattle farm where gross smells were inevitable. But the smell of marrow being boiled out of bones ranks high on my list of “things I never want to smell again.” Also on this list: Shalimar perfume, the basement of the fraternity house I lived next door to in college and burnt hair. But you know what smells awesome? Shallots and ginger under a broiler. And this recipe calls for them. It also requires toasting fennel seeds, cinnamon, cardamom and star anise. Toasted spices = awesome smells.

Why do I not have any decent photos of the shallots or spices? Can I pull out the "I was sick with a cold" card?

At this point, I had been waiting hours to eat the pho, so I didn't even bother to photograph the broth on its own. The delicious smell had been permeating our apartment all afternoon and I was impatient. It was delicious and we polished our bowls clean.At this point, I had been waiting hours to eat the pho, so I didn't even bother to photograph the broth on its own. The delicious smell had been permeating our apartment all afternoon and I was impatient. It was delicious and we polished our bowls clean. I even managed to not get jalapeno in my eye. If it had tasted terrible though, I would have forced Dave and I to eat all of it. I wasn't about to let those $20 bones go to waste. While making pho from scratch was fun, the next time I want pho, instead of spending an afternoon boiling bones, chopping and waiting impatiently, I'm walking five blocks up the street and letting someone else do the work. A large bowl will only set me back $6.50.

This is what 28 looks like...

2011-12-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

...after only 4 cocktails.

Happy birthday babe.

Holiday Gumdrop Wreath.

2011-12-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

What you'll need:

a 12" styrofoam wreath
wire for hanging
ribbon
toothpicks
gumdrops

Helpful suggestions: this wreath is heavy, so thicker gauged wire works best. (I was a few gumdrops shy of using five 1 lb., 2 oz. bags). I was concerned the wire would tear through the styrofoam, so I wrapped some masking tape around a bit of the wreath before I attached the wire. Also, get a second box of toothpicks, as if you really cram the gumdrops close together like I did, you'll run out. I hope you have as much making this wreath as I did and here's hoping your family doesn't keep sneaking gumdrops out of the bowl like someone did at my house. Ahem, Dave.

Happy Friday!

2011-11-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

Monterey Bay Aquarium / September 2011 / Polaroid 600 film

Tintype Portraits.

2011-11-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

There were only a few places in San Francisco that we really wanted to visit while we were there. One of those places was Photobooth. Featuring all things analog, it's pretty much the coolest space on the West Coast. A gallery space, analog photo shop (they sell Impossible Project film!) and portrait studio all in one, they specialize in making tintype and polaroid portraits. The tintype process still escapes us a bit, so to learn more about it click here. Our tintypes were taken on our last evening in San Francisco. From start to finish, the entire process only took about half an hour, but we were having so much fun talking shop with owners Vince and Michael, that we ended up staying a couple hours. If you find yourself in San Francisco soon, be sure to go get tintyped. You won't regret it.

Boo!

2011-10-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Photo taken with PZ 600 UV+ Black Frame film by the Impossible Project.

San Francisco.

2011-10-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

San Francisco, Rules of Attraction style:
Ultimately, we arrived in San Francisco. We marveled at the views overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, walked through Chinatown where we inexplicably heard a lot of 80s power ballads, went to a speak easy with friends where the password to get in was "boner torpedo", ate burritos at El Farolito and were serenaded by mariachi, got Tintype portraits taken at Photobooth (more on that in another post), left a debit card in an ATM (Dave), received a bit of a sunburn walking from SoMa to Fisherman's Wharf and back, subsequently got blistered feet (Whitney), pressed pennies any chance we could, had breakfast at Brenda's French Soul Food complete with watermelon sweet tea and crayfish beignets, Picasso and mean security guards at the De Young Museum, Whitney got motion sickness inside the planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences and then fell asleep during the hour long program, randomly came upon the Legion of Honor with the Dutch Masters and "The Mourners" exhibits, enjoyed a perfect evening dinner of pizza and wine at a sidewalk cafe, the infamous Bi-Rite Creamery for ice cream gluttony, we watched tourists traveling on Segways (seriously what's with all the Segways?), spent a drunken afternoon at La Mar that resulted in Whitney shopping at Madewell (hello, new chartreuse silk blouse), enjoyed coffee, cappuccinos and artisan donuts at Sight Glass Coffee, and came across two dozen dogs at China Beach going crazy in the surf and sand. Thank you, San Francisco.

The Redwoods.

2011-10-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

On the second day of our road trip to San Francisco, we finally (and excitedly) arrived in the Redwood National Forest. Our first stop was Jedidiah Smith Redwoods State Park, which we found out about on the paper place mats at the greasy spoon we went to for breakfast. Surprisingly, it was also our favorite spot the entire trip (we also went to Trees of Mystery, Lady Bird Johnson Grove and Founders Grove). Driving into the redwoods was absolutely beautiful as the fog was still rolling through the soaring trees and we didn't see another person for what seemed like hours. Our path through the park was a winding dirt road covered with soft red pine needles and a promise that five miles in we would arrive at Stout Grove, one of the most amazing places we've ever seen. We ran along the paths, searched for banana slugs and frolicked through the ferns. We stood on fallen logs, crawled through burned out trunks and yes, we hugged some trees. Lots and lots of trees.

Next up... San Francisco!

On The Road

2011-10-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

Our road trip to San Francisco a couple weeks ago took us along the coast and down Highway 101. We planned on it taking us about 8+ hours, as we fully expected to make multiple stops along the way to take photographs. And stop we did. We shot multiple rolls of film, polaroids and Instagramed using #SFroadtrip as our hash tag. We visited Devil's Punchbowl, Heceta Head and saw the world's smallest harbor in Depoe Bay. Dave reduced Whitney to tears of laughter by falling off a log and onto his face at a beach that shall not be named. (Sand is still turning up in the car over that tumble). We had fish tacos and clam chowder at a great little cafe in Coos Bay and munched on almonds and apples on the road. In Port Orford, we found what we quickly determined is the windiest spot in Oregon, as Whitney was almost blown over by 50+ mph winds. Ok, so we aren't exactly sure how hard the wind was blowing, but Whitney's hair was reduced to well formed dreadlocks by the time we got back in the car. After hours of driving, we finally crossed into California and arrived in Crescent City where we checked into the Curly Redwood Lodge, a motel that was built in 1952 entirely from the wood of one curly redwood tree! We dropped off our gear and settled on apparently the only restaurant in town that caters solely to the 65 and older crowd, as we were by far the youngest people there. They had a salad bar. And bacon bits. Whitney however, was devastated to find that they had no baby corn. We finished the evening with gin and tonics and fell asleep to the gentle roar of the Crescent City Harbor fog horn.

Up next... the Redwoods!

#SFROADTRIP: A Teaser

2011-10-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

As some of you may already be aware, we recently took a 10 day road trip to San Francisco. We had a blast. And we took lots of photos. While we get our film developed, here's a small teaser of some of the shots we posted to Instagram.