The next morning, I got up a little earlier than Mike and started packing up copacetique orders that needed to be shipped out. (See? I'm a good little seller!) Mike got up not long after, and we packed our overnight bags, grabbed a handful of CDs, kissed our kitties goodbye, and then got in the car. Once the orders were left in the capable hands of our friendly neighborhood postal worker, we set our sights for lovely Portland, OR.

We'd seen YLT play Portland before, back in 2001, but at the time, we didn't really check the city out, we just turned back around and drove home after the show. So, we were both looking forward to checking out the city a bit more and taking advantage of their "no sales tax" thing!

The weather was beautiful, and the roads were pretty clear. We started off listening to James' new Dump CD. We looked at all the pretty scenery, ooh-ing and aah-ing. We stopped for Subway sandwiches in Centralia, WA. And made it to Portland in the late afternoon.

Downtown Portland impresses me. It's very clean and orderly, and their parking meters are fancy and take credit cards. It makes downtown Seattle look very slummy.

The first store that caught my eye was called Magpie (520 SW 9th Avenue, 503-220-0920), and I was utterly blown away by this place! If I had a vintage clothing store (when I have a vintage clothing store?...), this store would definitely be an inspiration! It's very clean, well-organized, easy to shop, beautifully merchandised. It's not too cluttered. It's not confusing. It's perfect! My ideal vintage clothing shop! I found a killer 1970's Kliban kittycat tank top that I was really itching to get, but sadly it was $18, which, don't get me wrong, is an incredibly fair price for a vintage Kliban, but at the same time, more than I personally like to spend on clothing. I'm a cheapskate, yes.

We hit pretty much every CD store we came across, and I can't remember them all, but I do recall that Jackpot Records (203 SW 9th Avenue, 503-222-0990) was very clean and organized, but they had all their CDs in these weird thin cardboard longbox-like cases. So, when you were searching through CDs, you had to flip through these cardboard cases...I didn't like it. I like that hefty *thrunk* noise you get as you quickly thumb through a rack of CDs. I live for that *thrunk* noise. I did buy the latest issue of Magnet though, 'cause it had a two-page piece on our wonderful Yo La's, and the staff was pretty nice as I checked out.

But not as nice as the friendly staff at Starbass Records (2 NW 10th Avenue, 503-827-7173). We didn't even buy a thing there, and they were totally nice! Django (1111 SW Stark, 503-227-4381) was huge and had an enormous cheapie section in the back that our friend Chris woulda drooled over. But it was all too much for me and Mike, and we gave up hunting through the boxes and boxes, and ended up leaving buying nothing.

As for myself, lately, I've been on the hunt for a new purse. Now that I'm home most of the time, I don't really need to carry my big ol' messenger bag, but at the same time, my tiny little shoulder purses can't quite hold all the stuff I need to take with me in the car, like CDs and stuff. I felt like Portland might be a great place to find a cool new purse (*cough*nosalestax). First, we checked out their Buffalo Exchange, 'cause we still have a credit with them. But alas, we found nothing. (Although I was a little embarrassed to find the very Chococat purse I was carrying in their purse section...I just can't believe someone would decide they didn't want it anymore! Harrumph!) So then we walked down the block to a really cute clothing store called Retread Threads (931 SW Oak Street, 503-916-0000). They had tons of Paul Frank stuff, and lotsa cute vintage duds upstairs. It reminded me a lot of my favorite store here in Seattle, Hello Gorgeous. I ended up finding a really cute Levi's purse that was roomy, yet still small, with lots of pockets. I hemmed and hawed a little about it at the time, but now that it's been a couple of weeks, I am SO GLAD I bought it! It really is the perfect purse!

By the time, it was getting later, and we were getting hungry, too. We didn't even want to attempt the infamous Powell's City of Books (1005 W Burnside Ave, 503-228-4651) on an empty stomach. This is the world's largest new and used bookstore. It stands four stories high and takes up an entire city block! As acute readers may recall, the first time we went there, it freaked me out and made me cry...but I wasn't ready to think about that...

So, we stopped for dinner at Thai Peacock and ohmygoodness, it was soo delicious! And the staff was incredibly nice! I can't seem to find their address/phone number anywhere, but if you're in downtown Portland, a block away from Powell's, absolutely go check them out!

With food in our tummy, we were ready to battle the mighty Powell's. This time, I was ready. I was prepared. I strutted in with my shoulders thrown back, marched over to the information booth, whipped away a store map, threw it open with a confident shake of my hand, and began plotting out our attack like Herman, the one-armed military store owner on The Simpsons. "Okay, we'll start out in the Orange room, and then while you scour the Purple room, I'm gonna hit the Coffee room, and then we'll both meet in the Pearl room at 17:00 hour, now BREAK!" Which is pretty much what happened that evening! Although when we were both walking through the Coffee room on our way out, we spotted a section with tons of San-X stationary, which (as my Mom will tell you), I am obsessed with! They had the cuuutest stuff! And sitting on top of the display? A stuffed Totoro and a Catbus! Mike and I just had to stop and hug them. They were soo soft and cute! I wanted to buy them both, but they were a little pricey for stuffed animals. But I want them. :)