Cake on a plane, pregnancy photos, and Stella

So I will confess very openly that this is a retrofit ("retrofit" is southern Californian for expensive, time consuming addition to a thing after the thing has been shaken to pieces by a bigger thing) entry - I meant to get all of this down, but with the recent developments in our life (see the entry before this one), I haven't had a chance to get caught up. If you don't like it, our dear friend Sharon's landlord has a hat that sums it up, that goes something along the lines of not caring too terribly much, LA-style.

If you haven't already picked it up, the one thing that Portland seems to have a lot of is good beer, and in the most unusual spots. The last few weeks have been packed full with working on unpacking, starting and completing (sometimes) repairs on the house, taking a whirlwind trip to LA, and oh, I don't know, having a baby. . So why does beer matter, you might ask? It matters, because when you get a haircut and they offer you beer, or when it is 11AM and the photographer offers you beer, or when you are in the local supermarket and you find more variety than you have seen in your life, you know that something must be right in the world. Stella (hair cut), and Black Butte Porter (photo shoot), are definitely good beers to mix with taking photos and cutting hair.

I flew down to LA for a quick day at work and to see our family down there - it was great although Paul and Sharon were out of town, throwing themselves down Mexican stairways or 'burbing it in Colorado. (Actually I know it was Colorado, but how often do you get to say, "throwing themselves down Mexican stairways"?) Dinner with loved and adored ones was as it always has been - engaging, satisfying, restful, spirited, and inspiring, all in the space of a few short, short hours over a few bottles of red wine, and topped off with a wonderful cake, the remnants of which were packed into foil and stuffed into my baggage for the plane ride to the land of moss. It was an interesting sensation to fly into and out of Burbank and have a longing for the traffic, smog, and estimated 20 million people crowding the LA basin; when we were there full time we hated it. Now it seems strangely enticing. In the usual form, I had to commute from Pasadena to Santa Monica and back for my day of work, and in the process had to sit in an hour and a half of the usual afternoon traffic. As sick as this is, I actually kind of liked it. . .I know that it is of course just a sentimental desire to have things the way they were, missing my old pathways no matter how crowded or polluted, wanting that edge of a Latino subculture that speaks in code (if you've been in line at any 99-cent store and seen a gossip session in Spanish, you know what I mean) and drives the city on hydraulics hiding in lowriders, missing people of all races raising the flag of blinged-out platinum leaf blowers slung over long-sleeved tattooed arms, missing places like Koreatown that add the bite and colors of year-buried fermenting cabbage to LA's perpetual golden hue, missing jaded drivers who know how to drive without hesitation through car fires and act oblivious to the rantings of overly-aggressive homeless solicitors, missing the LA river that is literally entirely paved in concrete, and most of all, missing my adopted family, who know everything about me, and do not hold it against me.

After returning, we were scheduled to get some professional photographs taken while April is pregnant which is something that we were hoping would make up even a little bit for the turmoil of our life during this pregnancy. When she was pregnant with Jonah, we didn't have much at all, and certainly couldn't afford an extravagance like art photos. So this time we decided to try to capture the moment with all 3 of us in the photos. Campbell-Salgado Studio (http://www.oregonportraits.com/) was who we chose, and it turned out to be the best choice we could have made. Everyone there was both helpful and disarming, making us relax enough to try to capture images of us that reflect where we're at right now. They did a great job, and managed a wild 2 1/2 year-old remarkably well. The only downside is every time he would take a photo of Jonah doing something funny, I could feel my wallet getting emptier. He is an excellent photographer. It also became very clear that the art of photography is at least 50% social; they were able to create a sense of camaraderie in a matter of minutes, allowing the photos to be much more relaxed. I can't recommend them enough. Although it is a little spendy for this sort of thing, it is one of the most worthwhile expenses you can undertake as you will never get this time back. And they offered Black Butte Porter at 11AM, to which he said, "Well, its got to be noon somewhere..."

My last little mini review is for the Vital Barber Shop over in Bridgeport Village. Bridgeport Village is a new outdoor mall that is designed to look like European streets, American style (meaning they are much wider and more pedestrian than most European streets that we know). They have some higher end shops there, as well as the usual Crate and Barrel-type big box stores. They also have the largest Whole Foods I've ever seen, which is across the street from REI, which adds up to a lot of expensive convenience packed into a few acres. I needed a haircut, and after being turned away from Rudy's 3 times because they were too busy, I decided to give the Vital Barber Shop a try. Adam cut my hair, and did an amazing job. Not only that, but they provide beer while you wait, and I only waited for about 2 minutes, so I finished my beer while under the razor. The price was reasonable (about $20 cheaper than salons in LA), and everyone there was very low key and relaxed. I'll definitely be going back.