it's christmas time in the city

Yesterday I went out Christmas shopping with two of my favorite people.

Hold everything:

there's something you should know.

My beautiful friend Rebekah and my awesome brother...

(remember him? amazing sunglasses, buys me donuts, strangles me with hangers, keeps tabs on my mashed potato intake) 

 are courting!

This makes me very, very happy.

mall bokeh. : )

(linking up to the bokeh "show and tell" at Paper Heart Camera)

We started out the day right with coffee and one donut, which we split three ways.

They gave me the bigger piece because they're cool like that.

At Charlotte Russe, we tried to figure out what hat style looks best on Rebekah...

...looked at horrific shoes and adorable shoes, 

and explained to Benjamin what sequins are, and the difference between a clutch and a purse.

Whenever I can go to a Bath and Body Works, I must. Sorta like Taco Bell.
So of course we had to stop by.

We made Benjamin sniff everything, even though he was congested and couldn't hardly smell anything.

This culminated in spraying cologne on him.

 (despite the store being delightfully girly, it does have mens' scents) 

We went and saw Tangled, since Benjamin hadn't seen it yet. Seeing it for the second time was even better. 

I'm crazy-in-love with it.

We went to World Market where we mostly looked at wine bottles and didn't buy anything.

Wine bottle labels are one of my favorite things. 

Oh. my. word.

This was meant for me.

Unfortunately, it's just the vineyard name...

Cupcake-flavored wine. Wouldn't that be something.

And then we gadded about downtown Portland--rose city, city of bridges, city of my soul.

 Christmas shopping downtown is one of my favorite things to do, ever.

Last year my brother and I had an epic day involving very, very painful footwear and a lot of fried rice.

Creeps are the only drawback of downtown, but I always have a buff dude to beat 'em up.

Seriously--if you don't have an older brother, rent one. They are the best.

My purple tights. A great source of joy.

I think they are pretty cute together. ; )

One of the things I love about Portland is the bridges. There are a lot of them... and I love them. 

We parked on the non-downtown side of the bridge, so we walked across it twice.

Portland. I love it so much.

Throw "go to Portland, Oregon" on your bucket list.