The Lady of Portland House

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Pittock Mansion Picnic

Today was my the much awaited picnic at Pittock Mansion. It is one of my favorite events of the year. The setting is gorgeous and the views of the city are spectacular. This year was indeed fun, but quite warm. We’ve just began a heat wave that is supposed to last until next week. It was about 85 degrees at the mansion, which is around 90 degrees in town. It was beautiful in the morning, but started to get uncomfortable towards the end of the afternoon.

We also made quite the spectacle. It always entertains me to see how people react to us. Usually, they either ask to take our pictures with them or they avoid eye contact at all costs. Today, the mansion was swarming with tourists. Aaron and I had our picture taken by so many different people. One little girl came up to me with her mom and asked me if I was real. It was so adorable. I always love watching little girls’ reactions to our bonnets and dresses. They always look like they want to join us :-)

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here are the pictures! God Bless!

Steph in her new day gown

Christian, Tara and Angel

Tara and Christian

Me in my “oh so over the top” hat :-)

Steph and her pork pie.

Stephanie with her new day gown and parasol.

A really handsome man ;-)

Touring the gardens

Have a wonderful week everyone! Love Lauren :-)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Bastille Day Picnic

We ate, we drank a little champagne, we played croquet and bocce ball. It was a wonderful afternoon. And, as luck would have it, the rain waiting until we returned home. Here are the pictures from our little “trip” in the past. Enjoy!

I was not the best at croquet. Tee Hee. Have a great week everyone :-)

Bastille Day...

Hello Dear Friends and Readers. Today we will be heading out to West Linn to celebrate, with some fellow ORS'ers, the fall of the Bastille. For the French, this holiday is akin to our Fourth of July. So stay tuned and I should have some pictures up by this evening. God Bless!!! Love Lauren.

Storming of the Bastille
by Jean Houel

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Fastes de cour at Versailles

Johanna from 18th Century Blog has recently returned from Versailles and has posted some amazing pictures of the Court Pomp & Royal Ceremony on her blog. I'm sure it doesn't equal to actually being there, but for those of us who live across the pond, it's the closest we can get. Thanks Johanna for the pics. Enjoy :-)

Monday, June 29, 2009

The Camping Trip…

This weekend Aaron and I decided to go camping. We dropped Birdie Boy off at Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Tim’s and took the dogs for a little adventure.

We had intended to find a spot at Frying Pan lake, however, we found that it was a marshy swamp like place with no way to get to the water. So we ended up camping off a forest road near Timothy Lake.

The dogs ended up being miserable. We had to tie them up while me made camp and got a small fire going. Leila did not like the fire part at all. They had a long rope, but they couldn’t sit next to us while we cooked and they didn’t have their couch, slightly spoiled.

After dinner we headed into the tent and Aaron taught me how to play poker. Max immediately conked out in the tent, but Leila Lu was not a happy camper.She was in constant guard dog mode and just sat facing the door all night and growled. She finally did fall asleep for about an hour. At about 2:30, I needed to go. Leila woke up completely freaked out and disoriented. She was so unhappy. So we packed up camp at three in the morning and decided to head home. We got home around six am, showered, and all four of us jumped into bed and slept until eleven. And so ended our little trip. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy :-)

Home Sweet Home

Unhappy puppy :-(

We couldn’t get the dogs to face the camera.

God Bless and have a great week ! Love Lauren

Friday, June 26, 2009

Three Down, One to Go....

It's official... Hubby is now a fourth year dental student. We officially have one year left and then we will be done with school. It's crazy how quickly the time has gone by, although sometimes it does seem like he has been in school forever. I can't wait till he's done and can start working.

To celebrate, we are going camping this weekend after I get off work on Saturday. We are dropping Birdie Boy off at Auntie Cheryl and Uncle Tim's house and taking Max and Leila with us to rough it. We're going to check out Frying Pan lake and see what we can find. I will be sure to post pictures when we get back. That's all for now! I hope you are all having a great summer. God Bless. Love Lauren :-)

My Hubby, isn't he handsome :-)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Birth of Lady D...

I have been peppered with questions about my "Hair of Great Enormity." How did I do it? What is it? Is it my hair? And so on and so forth. So, without further adeu, here is how "Lady D," as the hair was named by Tara, came into being.

I have been experementing for months with the "perfect Georgian hair" and how to get it. I have searched up and down the internet as well as played with my own hair to see what I can come up with. All of my previous attempts have been ok, but not spectacular or big enough. I came across Vivien's tutorial, from Vivcore, and decided to dive in a try it.

Wow! I had no idea the piece would turn out so fabulous. I used 2 1/2 real hair wefts, that I bought at Sally's Beauty Supply, buckram for the frame, batting, extension clips, spray paint, and a whole lot of glue. It took me about 10 hours to complete, which wasn't bad at all. I highly recommed making one, it only took me 10 minutes to style my hair after curling it over night.

So, to answer the which hair is which question. The majority of the poof is just that, a poof. The only hair that belongs to me is the hair in the front and the tail in the back. Now it is all real hair, just not my own. I hope that answers everyone's question :-) God Bless! Love Lauren...