Can you collect a hotel chain?

Ever since TPS relocated from New York City to the Seattle area, she simply cannot get enough of the McMenamins chain of brewpubs and hotels. This is somewhat of a shock as TPS had poo-poo'd chain restaurants in the past. (TPS would just like to note that as an American, of COURSE she has patronized chain restaurants. One cannot totally avoid them - even in Stockholm. The Swedes LOVE TGIFriday's!)

For those not fortunate enough to have experienced a McMenamins, TPS would love to lay a little history on you, but she MUST direct you to their gem of a website. There, you can find out the McMenamin Brothers grand plan, from quirky little brew pubs to grand hotels (check out the Grand Hotel in Oregon). Suffice to say, they find older buildings and turn them into fun places to hang out with friends and family, yet retaining the original flavor of the building. Each pub and hotel is different in decor, but they feature similar menus and their famous craft beers. (They have Tots on the menu! Tater Tots! TPS is spoiled indeed.) The hotels share some similar features, like brew pubs and movie theaters, but each has something special that makes it a destination , not a place to crash along the way.

There's only one Edgefield (Troutdale, Oregon) - the jewel of this particular chain. Once a poor farm in the early part of the 1900's, the Edgefield is now a complex that is positively littered with things to do and see. The main building features a gift shop, a pool hall, a fine-dining restaurant and the majority of guest rooms. It also links you to the on-site winery. Then there's the Power Station, featuring a brew pub and a movie theater where you can enjoy a beer and a burger with your double-feature. There's an on-site brewery AND a distillery, where TPS demands that you try the Edgefield gin. It's peppery and piney and makes a fantastic Dutch Drop. Le Petit Ami de TPS prefers to spend most every moment in the Little Red Shed, the former incinerator-turned-teeny whiskey bar. It's almost completely covered in brambles and is the coziest place on earth. There are many other places to visit (Jerry's Ice House, the golf course, etc.) and TPS firmly believes it's Disneyland for Drunks. Even with that sentiment, it's still family-friendly. You can rent a whole cottage for you and the kiddies.

TPS has also visited the Olympic Club (Centralia, WA), a former Gentlemen's Club and brothel. Again, there's a pool hall and a comfy movie theater, but there are also two special booths in the pub that are still equipped with the buzzer that would call your lady of the night down to you. They're also beautifully appointed with Tiffany-style glass and dark woods, so they can be romantic, if a bit, well, naughty.

The St. Francis School in Bend, OR has a Turkish bath-inspired soaking pool that TPS is dying to check out. She also wants to share a drink with Petit Ami in the Detention Bar at the Kennedy School in Portland, OR. The McMenamin Brothers are opening more locations soon and TPS wants to see them all. She thinks they should sell passports so that you can collect stamps from every one that you visit, but until that day she will content herself with glassware from each hotel. Pint glasses are products, too!

bareEscentuals Foiling Glimmers

TPS is certainly covetous.

Months ago, she saw the lovely silver box holding 4 metallic shimmers (True Gold, White Gold, Sterling Silver and Platinum). She hadn't watched her DVD, but had heard about "foiling" from one of her dear friends who she'd bullied into buying the bareMinerals Get Started kit.

"Foiling", for those not in the know, is the wet application of a shimmer powder. Done correctly, it gives the effect of gold-leafing or silver-foiling your eyes. With the advent of the actual gold, silver and platinum shimmers, one could almost literally accomplish this.

The sister of TPS shamelessly indulges her, sending the Foiling Glimmers set as a birthday gift. TPS immediately began experimenting.

Applied dry, these colors are sheer and subtle and yet, for all their sheerness, last all day. Applied wet - YOWZA! The Platinum is so bright it looks like you've taped tinfoil to your eyes. (In a good way - not a preventing alien eyescan way.) The Sterling Silver allows for a more smoky eye look. TPS feels that the White Gold would be cartoony applied wet, but it's certainly gorgeous dry. True Gold, since TPS doesn't wear yellow gold on her person, was opened last of all. She was quite surprised at how flattering it was in its dry form. She is not at all interested in gold-leafing her eyes. Ever.

A tip:

No matter how tempting it is, do not dump a whole bunch of the powder into some water for a more opaque application. TPS found that as the "foil" dries, it gets very powdery and shakes off to sprinkling your whole eye area and your cheeks. Not hot. A small amount of powder mixed with a small amount of water gives the perfect "foil" look with no flaking.