Le Tour Des Plants Begins Tomorrow!

The fourth-annual Le Tour des Plants, presented by Oregon Association of Nurseries begins tomorrow and will continue through the 20th. As one of the largest nursery tours in the nation, this year’s event features more than 30 nurseries and garden centers from Oregon and Washington. With more than 100 events and activities during Le Tour’s nine-day gardening excursion, there is something for everyone—from the best in fall gardening, to cooking with herbs and preserving the harvest, to many family-fun festivals and activities for kids.

What could be better than spending time in the garden and soaking up those last rays of sunshine? This is northwest gardening at its best!

For events and locations visit: http://www.letourdesplants.com/

Ron Tonkin Repaints Portland

Have you noticed a change downtown? Perhaps some new colors added to the corner of SW 2nd Avenue and Washington St. by the Morrison Bridge?

Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships has teamed up with local commercial artist, Howell Golson, to repaint a mural in downtown Portland. The previous Cherub mural, painted eight years ago, now displays a fresh and colorful depiction of “For the Love of Cars.”

The inspiration behind the mural comes from a place that lives and breathes a love of cars.

“A car is more than just a way to get from point A to point B. People love their cars, and often see them as an extension of themselves, even as a member of the family. And we love helping people find that perfect car, a car they love. We are looking forward to revealing the new mural, and hope Portlanders will appreciate this beautiful addition to our city.”—Brad Tonkin.

Commercial artist Howell Golson was chosen to create this message. “This mural obviously has to create emotion around owning a car, but I also felt the piece should elicit feelings of pride for citizens of Portland, along with Tonkin’s connection and history with the city.” Golson’s work includes projects for Cartoon Network, Newman’s Own, and Portland’s BridgePort Brewing Company.

Check out the mural's progress:

Change is a happenin'!

Wow, this has been a crazy month for our little PR department! There has been a department addition, two moves, and a baby - pretty sure that could be a movie title...

If you haven't already heard - Heather has had her baby! She welcomed little Olivia into the world last week, and we couldn't be more excited for her. We are loving the baby updates, and are looking forward to meeting the new little bundle of joy. But she couldn't get out of here before we were able to throw her a fun little surprise baby shower - complete with celebrity baby name games, a diaper cake, and the cutest little clothes you've ever seen!

We have also added another member to our department - we are now up to six, can you believe it?! Six!! (Plus one, for Olivia, of course...) Jill joined us just in time to meet Heather, before the new arrival...and we are very excited to have her! I'll let her introduce herself -

"As they say, third time is a charm, and after a couple moves between the Northwest and Phoenix, I am excited to be back in Portland. My dog is happy to be back in her native state, my dermatologist is happy my skin will get a reprieve from the sun, I am pretty sure my boyfriend is happy we don’t have to do the distance thing anymore, and I am happy to have found an awesome job at R/West.

I am a loyal Oregon State Beaver, and happy to represent (along with Jen!) in an office that seems to be full of way too many Ducks. My background is in Communications, having first gone the journalism route which led to a little reporting for the Arizona Republic. But, I had been spoiled having my own column in the Oregon State Barometer to muse on whatever crossed my mind, and covering the 2A state high school softball championship just wasn’t the same.  (No offense to my softball-playing friends, but there is a reason I do not play on the R/West softball team. As a competitive swimmer for 17 years, I have gills—not eye-hand coordination.)

When I am not caught up in the PR trenches, I am thrilled to be back in the Northwest for all of the great outdoor adventures this area has to offer. I am happy to have made it up here in time to enjoy the last of the beautiful Portland summer and, perhaps more importantly, the start of football season. I also still enjoy yoga, but I do prefer to take it into a studio.

Want to know more? Follow me on Twitter @jill_personius. I like to think of myself as a “cautious” social media adopter, but every once in a while you might pick up a thing or two."

In the midst of all of this, we've also had two moves - Jill has obviously moved from Phoenix to join us, and I have moved to a tiny little town about an hour south of Portland. Gotta love that morning commute!

So there you have it - that's the update on all the latest! Just in case you're wondering, H is out on maternity leave until the end of the year - but something tells me that her Blackberry will never be too far from her side...

Random Acts of Clowness Takes Over Portland

It was a workday like any other for Molly and Ali. With excitement and uneasiness, they drove to the Courtyard Marriott at 4:30 a.m. and loaded up the Subaru with Tom and Lara, official Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus clowns, Their mission for the day: Spread Ringling Bros. cheer and unexpectedness across the city of Portland in anticipation of the circus coming to Portland Sept. 16-20. The clowns would be popping up around the city during the day in an event called Random Acts of Clowness—handing out freebies at Dutch Bros., Taco Del Mar, and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream at the Jamison Square park.

The day started out with a bang. Joe V. of KPTV joined the R/West circus clan at Dutch Bros. to spread the circus love. Over the course of two hours, over 170 free coffee drinks were served and given away by the clown couple. Customers were handed Ringling Bros. ticket coupons and official clown noses. Many arrived to Dutch Bros. already fitted with their own noses and couldn’t get enough of Joe V.’s whip cream incident! Hey, you never know what will happen with clowns around!

With a moment to powder their noses and scratch their heads, the clowns were off to hand out free kids meals at Taco Del Mar. Upon arrival, a family of true Hillsboro fans greeted the clowns with excitement and hunger for a free meal.

The day ended with lots of kids, sun block, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, and sticky faces. Kids playing in the fountain at Jameson Square Park were intrigued by the clowns and even more excited to receive free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. There were little voices saying, “Mom! I want to go to the circus!” chiming throughout the park as parents watched their children with red clown noses playing in the fountain.

5:00 p.m.—Mission complete. At least until the circus train arrives in Portland, Sept. 14 with shows the 16-20!

Sorry...for leaving the toilet seat up, AGAIN!

Do you need to apologize for something, like the talking in rhyme all the time? Or because people just can't accept how awesome you are?

Do you have that one friend you've been playing phone tag with for three months, a boyfriend you ditched for girls' night, or a co-worker you need to do some kissing-up to? If you are anything like Nancy from the Seattle Times, you have plenty of apologizing to do!

If that's the case, have we got the perfect way for you to say "sorry!" - what better than a free taco?!

August 27th is Global Forgiveness Day, and Taco Del Mar is celebrating by letting you send a free e-card to those you need some forgiveness from. The forgiver can then redeem the e-card for a free taco, by taking it to their local, participating Taco Del Mar on August 27.

Check out www.tacodelmar.com to look at e-card options, and start sending them off to your friends, family or even complete strangers - now through the 27th.

Free kids meals in July - that's right, I said FREE!

All of you mommies and daddies out there, get ready, you're going to love July! After 5 p.m., everyday during this month, Taco Del Mar is giving away free kids meals to kids 12 and under, with a $4 adult purchase.

So basically, you can run down to your local TDM at dinner time and grab some grub - feeding a family of four for $8!! How can you beat THAT?! Well, ladies and gents, you can't!

You might be thinking "Why in the world is Taco Del Mar giving away FREE food?!?" Well, it's simple - Taco Del Mar loves kids, and July is when they're showing it. It also happens to be the same month TDM made Parents magazine's list of America's "Top 10 Best Fast-Casual Family Restaurants." Taco Del Mar ranked #9, based on a two-month study of healthy kids' menu items, family-friendly conveniences, and value. So not only is TDM's food healthy and yummy for kids, it's also FREE during July!

And did I mention, you can take the kids to TDM for a FREE dinner during July??

My new wheels!!!

How do you like my new set of wheels?! Pretty awesome right...this is me sitting in my new Ferrari California, because that's how we roll here at R/West!




Ok, so by "my new set of wheels" I might mean "my new obsession/first thing on my Christmas list..." I'm pretty sure it was made for me, that leather seat fit like a glove, and getting out of the driver's seat was one of the most difficult things I've ever done... The Ferrari California is Ferrari's new addition to the family, coming out in 2010. This is the only one in Oregon, and it's currently sitting in the showroom at Ron Tonkin's Gran Turismo dealership (the oldest Ferrari dealership in the country, mind you.)

You might be asking why in the heck did I get to sit in the fastest (speedometer tops out at 220), most beautiful thing you've ever laid eyes on...and here's why: Yesterday Gran Turismo hosted it's 10th Annual Track Day at Portland International Raceway, where customers were invited to bring their own fast, fancy cars and race them at top speeds (under professional supervision/instruction of course!)

Danyel and I started out the morning bright and early with Drew Carney of KGW's LIVE at Sunrise, at the Gran Turismo store. That is where we got to drool over these amazing cars, learn about the dealership and even watch Drew drive this beauty. (Believe me, we were all holding our breath as the drove away in this $225,000 car...mic in one hand, wheel in other - after just announcing that he didn't know how to drive a stick!!) Let's just say it was an entertaining morning with Drew!

Then it was off to the races - we headed out to PIR where we spent a beautiful day in the sun watching fast, gorgeous Ferraris, Maseratis, Lotuses, Porsches, (insert anything fast, expensive and amazing here) cruise around the track at 150 mph!! Those babies could haul! All drivers had to take an instruction course with Pro Drive and then were able to drive with a professional in the passenger seat. Helmets were also required driving/riding accessories...always safety first on the track!

There were a few pros (like Steve and Art from the dealership) who could take passengers out in the California and Ed Tonkin's personal Porsche. And yes, I was lucky enough to be taken on a very fast, very exciting ride in that cute little blue Porsche (thanks Steve)!!! Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could own one of those too (Christmas list currently reads 1. Ferrari, 2. Porsche...)

Yesterday was definitely an adrenaline-packed, amazing day...and even though Danyel and I woke up at 3:30am (Drew - you know we'd do anything for you!) it was all completely worth it. And I'd probably get up that early every day if it meant I had the chance to ride in those amazing cars!

And check out the R/West Facebook page for more photos, videos and fancy car fun!!