Weekend Outing

I have been on a hunt for a couch. No, the perfect couch. Not perfect in terms of bright, shiny and new, but a perfect fit for my criteria: good "bones," cheap (but lacking pee stains), no longer than 70 inches, and not terribly heavy.

Apparently that couch does not exist (at least not in Portland). After nearly two weeks of searching on Craigslist and a dazed Friday afternoon trip to Ikea, J pointed out that I might want to consider a paradigm shift with regards to furnishing our apartment. Feeling defeated and a bit overwhelmed, we each flopped down into a POÄNG chair. At that moment, J came up with a brilliant idea. We could just sit on chairs. Duh. It never occurred to either of us that we don't need a couch.

Saturday morning I woke up invigorated and ready to find another awesome chair. We ditched the plans to drive to Tillamook to celebrate our first wedding anniversary and instead went to a nearby second hand store to check out a chair that had been posted on Craigslist the night before. It wasn't as comfortable as I had hoped, so I decided not to take it. I was bummed, but still optimistic. J suggested that we stop by another store we had visited our first week in Portland to see if there were any new arrivals (or if this one chair that had caught my eye might still be around). And it was. And I got a pretty good price. Obviously it needs some love, both on the wooden frame and the cushions, but it was a great excuse for an outing. So, we decided to ditch the car and take our bikes for a spin.

First we stopped at the library to check out some furniture restoration books and then headed to the largest fabric store I have ever seen. J was even impressed at the magnitude. (For those of you who are starting to feel sorry for J, you know, for spending his anniversary weekend chauffeuring my butt around shopping for furniture and fabric, just wait. I redeem myself.)

Fabric stores of this size are never located downtown, so our bike ride was nice and long. And by long, I mean 16 miles round trip, which made J a very happy man. We were gone for about four hours and I was pooped and sweaty by the time we got home. However, I was extremely happy because we found the perfect fabric for my chair (and I rode my bike for 16 miles).

Even though our Saturday included stops at the library AND a fabric store, I think J would agree that it was a really great day. I'm so glad we decided to go together on our bikes. We saw the city from a completely different perspective and it made this Saturday seem like our first real weekend as residents of Portland.