Not your average weekend: A fashionably life-altering adventure.

Do you ever have one of those days where you can feel that big changes in your life are happening? That was my weekend. It all started with shopping after work on Friday. I was trying to find something awesomely trendy to wear to Portland Fashion Week. (I had a VIP ticket, so I felt I had to look the part. ) After an epic shopping fail, I was tired, hungry and felt I had exhausted every resource in Portland.

My friend, Genna, was kind enough to humor me through my breakdown. Yes. I had a mini-breakdown about fashion. Well, it was more about my pickyness than anything. We had some mango margaritas and Brian's bowls at Por Que No, and mapped out the Saturday game plan.

Saturday morning, I woke up to the sound of rain. Yuck! I didn't have time to think about how much I wanted to just stay in my bed and watch a movie. I had to find an outfit! I set out in the rain, bouncing from boutique to boutique. Sad, wet and with nothing to wear, I decided to visit my favorite neighborhood stop, Brooklyn Industries. I told the girls there about my situation, and they replied, "We just got this dress in, and you HAVE to try it." And what do you know. It was THE dress. I befriended them, and was on my way.

Queue to later that evening....Portland Fashion week.

The show itself was in a warehouse on Swan Island. It was a Project Runway Showcase of 4 designers:

First off was Goga by Gordana (Season 6). Her collection was delicate and feminine. 

I really enjoyed the knitwear elements of her designs.

Jay Nicolas Sario (Season 7) was next.

 His collection was a bit more casual. 

I liked his use of denim, and this was hands down my favorite piece by him. 

Jay was followed by Jonathan Joseph Peters (Season 7). 

Jonathan's collection was super retro, and I enjoyed his choice of fabrics as well as the styling.

And the show ended with the winner of Project Runway Season 7, Seth Aaron. 

His collection was solar-inspired (with a hint of Gaga.) While his designs aren't usually my taste, there were definitely pieces of this collection that I loved.

The whole experience was unreal. I got to sit in the front row and watch amazing collections go down the runway. I'm hoping that the next runway show I go to is in New York, London or Paris. A girl can dream, right?

My outfit

Sunday, I signed up to go to a business chat sponsored by CRAVE. The topic was, how to sell your jewelry to wholesalers. The speakers were local jewelry artists Katy Kippen of Grayling Jewelry and Betsy Cross of Besty and Iya. They talked about what worked for them, and how they got started. Afterward I chatted with Betsy a little more, and she really inspired me to revisit my jewelry and make it happen.

A cupcake and taco later, I found myself brainstorming ideas about Fresh Tangerine and how to make it successful. So that's it. I had the weekend of all weekends, and now I need to get to work!