Portland – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

During my last visit to Portland I made a point to stop in and see an antique mall I’ve been following on Facebook for a while now. Camas Antiques is located in the heart of the historic downtown Camas, WA and is just as charming in person as it is online. Just look at this sweet storefront! It just begs you to come in – although I certainly didn’t need any convincing! Inside there were numerous vendor booths, each with a unique style. Since it was early summer during my visit many of the booths featured garden themes.

I spotted this simple window upcycle in one of the booths and showed it to the Hubs so he’d know what the heck I was talking about when I create something similar with the ones I still have stashed away in the shed. I’m thinking they would be great done up for hanging stockings at for my holiday show in November.

This chalkboard message made both myself and my mother-in-law, who is also a novice gardener giggle. At least we know we’re stretching our gardening muscles! LOL

The European vibe in this booth near the back of the store drew me right in and I lingered for quite a while, although I didn’t find anything that came home with me this trip.

I was amazed to realize there was a basement full of even more vendors! It was like getting a second scoop on your ice cream cone.

I loved the lace tied to the light strands above this booth and might appropriate the idea for my booth at the bazaar if I have room.

I also pointed out this display to the Hubs since he always teases me for collecting driftwood! I loved the wreath made out of the larger pieces. I have a whole bucket full of pieces similar to this that I could use to make something similar.

This farmstyle area had me at first glance and I spent a good amount of time checking out all of the items. That goat pillow gave me an instant smile and almost came home with me. Those little faces were just so adorable. I just couldn’t bear to think of putting them away after the summer season so I left them for someone else to find.

I finished touring the rest of the upstairs, ending at this fun booth in the front of the store, just behind the checkout counter. It was full of great inspirations for little touches. I may have to recreate those hanging lights somewhere in our home.

After I’d seen all of the booths, I paid for my rather large pile of finds that had been collecting at the front counter as I shopped and we headed out to find some food since we’d been there a few hours.

We ended up at a delicious Mexican restaurant, Nuestra Mesa, just a block away where I enjoyed a sangria with very yummy tacos. It was the perfect way to wrap up a sunny vacation day in the Portland area! If you’re ever in the area I definitely recommend planning a stop at both of these great spots.

After sharing our experience at the Alaska State Fair and the Josh Turner concert yesterday I realized I’d never shared a recap of the Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Soul to Soul concert we went to in Portland during our trip back in May. I’ve seen Tim in concert a couple of times over the years, but hadn’t seen Faith in concert or with Tim before so that was a real treat.

We had great seats – just off the right side of the stage in the first level above the floor. It was a great vantage point to see all of the special effects they had built into the stage, like the big display screen and curtains that they did projections and lights on.

Tim and Faith performed together for the first portion of the concert, doing a mix of their well-known duets like Speak to a Girl and It’s Your Love along with a few cover songs. After several songs Tim took a break and Faith had the stage to herself. She did several of her top hits including This Kiss, The way you love me and Breathe.

Then it was Faith’s turn to take a break and Tim came out to perform solo. He did several of his hits including Indian Outlaw, Felt Good on my lips, Something like that and my fave Humble and Kind.

They teamed up to sing together again at the end of the show with Back at Momma’s and another cover song.

They had some pretty cool graphics on their large screen at the back of the stage, including this one that was a glass pane that would break to reveal a live shot of them and then come back together before breaking apart again during their new duet Break First.

Their encore performance was pretty unique too. It included Faith coming out of a side entrance to the floor of the stadium where she walked through the crowds while singing Mississippi Girl.

Tim followed suit walking the floor on the other side of the stadium singing Real Good Man.

Their last song was I Need You, which they sang facing each other on a suspended portion of the stage and then shared a kiss right at the end.

They have an amazing chemistry which is amplified in their songs together. I thought I was recording the entire last song on video only to realize I apparently hadn’t hit the button fully and nothing had recorded as they wrapped the song. At lest I got a great kiss shot from the big screen. Then apparently I was so wrapped up cheering at in the end of the concert that I forgot to pull my finger out of the shot… sorry. 🙂

The King and Queen of country certainly put on a phenomenal show! While the tickets were quite pricey – to the point that the Hubs and I agreed that they were our birthday/anniversary/Christmas gifts to each other for the whole year – it was well worth it. The concert was just a few days before our anniversary so it was a great way to spend a little time together to celebrate. I’ll be sharing more of our trip to Portland next week so stay tuned for that!