Lola on the town...Part 2

As promised, here is Part 2 of my weekend gallivant about the lovely city of Portland. Today's installment is about my solo jaunt to down town for Little Winter, a handmade market.
Perhaps you are asking yourself, 'How on earth did she get so much free time off on her own, to do as she pleased? No little rascal tugging upon her arm or playing bull in a china shop? No Mr. impatiently shifting his weight from one foot to the other before finally announcing he'll go wait in the car? How can that be?'
Let's just say I owe a big thanks to The Engineer. He took Pony Girl off on other adventures or got her ready for bed whilst I was out and about. I think he saw the glimmer of madness in my eyes, knew that the cabin fever had struck, and very graciously (and wisely) said to me, "Go for it!"

Created by Abby Powell Thompson of Abby Try Again and Chelsea Fuss of Frolic!, Little Winter is a handmade market featuring 20+ artists and craftspeople from Portland and beyond." The market ran for 2 days this weekend.
So, on Saturday I put on my best pair of stripey socks, my good luck necklace, and threw caution to the wind as I headed down town. As I approached the building, I could see that already there was a buzz of excitement and a general milling about. The place was styled beautifully. I wish I could have grabbed a decent photo of the place, especially the black and white gingham curtains...I'm a sucker for a nice gingham you know. The space had a sort of stylized old one room schoolhouse feel. I liked it.

There was so much pretty going on. All the vendors wares were quite lovely and it was nice to see in person and up close, what I have seen only in blog land. For a list of vendors go to the web site and it's on the sidebar.

The item I was most enchanted by, were these wonderful tiny wooden houses with wee plants growing out of them, by my house party.

There were a couple of drawbacks to the market. One was I think, a matter of timing on my part. I went right after opening and the place was jammed. Good for the market but, not so great for one trying to get a good look at everything. I might have been better off waiting till later in the day or, gone the 2nd day. Because it was so tight, I couldn't imagine staying too long.

The other downside, it would have been the perfect outing to have along a friend, an artsy-craftsy gal pal to peruse and discuss with. Afterwards sharing a pleasant lunch and trading our observations. That would have been most nice. Still, I did enjoy myself and I wasn't entirely alone, I brought Nadine the Nikon with me and she took some sweet photos.

Afterwards, I took myself to lunch at one of Portland's most excellent food carts. It was delish!

I have learned that I need to make it a point to get out on the town more often, maybe I can swing it once a month or so. I live in an amazing place and I don't want to take it for granted.

What are some of the great things about your home town?