This City

Jacket: The Limited (similar splurge, similar save): Top: c/o Aeropostale; Jeans: Gap; Scarf: c/o Aeropostale; Boots: c/o Lulu*s (similar); Bag: Gigi New York

Portland is a bubble. Of good food and an awesome diversity of events. There's a festival or gathering or event of some sort every single week. There are workshops and tours and pub crawls. There are store openings and crafting events and shows and comedy tours. Just last night, I went out with a colleague to an industrial bar for poutine and burgers and then stopped by the Madewell store opening where they were offering amazing pastries, snacks, and inspired champagne cocktails. On Sunday, I am attending a blogger meetup that's all about styling flowers and accessories and enhancing your photography skills. And there are oyster festivals, champagne festivals, beer festivals, and jazz festivals right on the horizon. All within about a mile of my house. And near my workplace. It's a city, albeit a small one, that cares a lot about having an awesome time at all times. Sometimes I forget that there are other places where these kinds of opportunities don't exist and aren't in walking distance from home.

There's a big stigma about Portland people being really weird and really snobby about their city. And uh-oh, I'm headed straight for an episode of Portlandia, because it's quickly happening to me. Ben and I find ourselves pitching a fit when there isn't more than one specialty, local microbrew IPA on tap at any given restaurant. Luckily, that rarely happens in Portland. Even the most generic restaurants seem to have a brew operation going on, or at the very least, are carrying some awesome micro and craft brews on tap. 

When we hear about people going to national chain restaurants on the weekends, giant question marks pop up above our heads. There's so much good food here in Portland that there is legitimately never a reason to eat at a national chain restaurant. There's no excuse for Claimjumpers, or Outback, or Quiznos in Portland. We've got Lebanese and Ethiopian, Czech and Mauritian, Hawaiian and North Indian, Portuguese and Spanish food on literally every corner. For probably less money than a dry steak at Outback.

In summation, the show Portlandia is a very real cautionary tale about what happens when you move to Portland. You start getting fancy ideas about what food and beer options should be available to you. You start to think that $13 cocktails in tiny cups filled with locally brewed espresso and locally made vodka are your right as a Portlandite. You drink your iced coffee on nitro because it's normal. You start to believe that every single weekend you should have another food-and-drink festival to attend happily. The Portland-15 lbs is a real thing and the "did my paycheck go entirely to brunch?!" is a question you may find yourself asking.