Shopping in Lake Oswego

Thatcher Loen, president of the eponymous plant nursery, stocks an inventory of more than 50,000 flowers, shrubs, trees, and other vibrant, botanical life. Lush foliage explodes from every corner of the 3.5-acre nursery, home to more than 1,000 plant varieties in need of horticultural adoption. Row after row of plants ranges from rare and unusual to contemporary and traditional, a selection that includes annuals, perennials, vines, and organisms resembling flytraps fond of crooning Motown tunes. In addition to helping patrons navigate the nursery, helpful staff members can answer any lingering questions.

[[m:####Baby to Baby

Baby to Baby's selective buyers examine the offerings of many consigners, filling the shop with useful equipment and toys for kids as well as with garments for infants, teens, and women in the midst of maternity. Strollers, car seats, and high chairs by brands such as Bugaboo and Graco keep children or prized teddy bears safe and comfortable. Maternity blouses clothe swelling bellies, and apparel by companies such as Abercrombie and Nike make shopping trips desirable for all ages. Patrons can bring in outgrown baby equipment or apparel to receive monetary compensation, store credit, or a vest woven out of gold stars.:m]]

Although most chefs have their own unique style of peeling, dicing, and julienning veggies, they all have one thing in common: they each require precise, sharp knives. At Excalibur Cutlery and Gifts, the staff ensures that tools remain as close to their factory condition as possible. During sharpening services, a water-cooled belt system and buffing wheels restore a piercing blade while removing a minimal amount of steel. They can sharpen kitchen, pocket, and hunting knives, as well as dull scissors and razors.

The shop also stocks premium models of nearly every edge they sharpen. The cutlery department stocks German-made Wusthof and Henckels, Swiss-made Forschner, and Oregon-grown Kershaw knives. Ideal for camping trips, pocket knives come in both blade and multitool varieties. More genteel wares include manicure sets and old-fashioned shaving kits. Excalibur also boasts a collection of swords for the collector or CEO whose business suit needs extra panache.

A family-run nursery, Blooms-N-More cultivates a photosynthetic menagerie of water and bog plants, fruits and veggies, and more than 40 varieties of ornamental grasses. As guests arrive to leafy fields of potted plants and perennials, the nursery's friendly canine greeters Boogie and Calamity Jane bark out the scientific nomenclature of 30 varieties of tomato, multiple cultivars of peppers, and more than eight types of basil. In addition to loading up dinner plates with edible plants, the nursery also accents landscapes with trees, prairie grasses, shrubs, and vines.

For the past decade, Brett and Natalie Vinsant have been immortalizing their exhales as elegant, blown-glass artwork. The duo envisioned Live Laugh Love Glass as a shared studio, where glass-blowing professionals and students alike could breathe life into bright glass bowls and vases. Small groups of students join enthusiastic instructors during glass blowing and fusing classes, in which they learn to manipulate molten glass into various forms, and after which students take home their piece of art to display on mantels, desktops, and climbable highway billboards. The gallery inspires students with a collection of professionally blown vases and bowls whose weightless glass curves reflect the twinkle of natural light. After classes on the glass-blowing workshop area, aesthetes can view works in the gallery. Live Laugh Love Glass also hosts private events and parties in their event space.

Holding only a piece of fabric and a tape measure, Kash Ross sits down to design what will become a signature piece in someone's professional wardrobe. He carefully lays out a paper pattern created from 35 individual measurements and hand cuts superfine worsted wool for the suit's outer layer, fully lining it with canvas cloth for shape and body and sewing in buttonholes with fine silk thread.

And if Ross is smiling as he lovingly completes the reinforced, rubberized waistband, it's not just because he knows it will keep a shirt from becoming un-tucked and diffuse electricity in the event of a lightning strike. It's because he is carrying on a family tradition. For more than 40 years, Ross has walked in the well-hemmed footsteps of his father, a respected clothing maker in Bombay who trained Ross in the art of master tailoring. Kash Ross Creations now bustles with a team of tailors and seamstresses consulting with clients in English, Polish, Lithuanian, and Russian, striving to handcraft eye-catching apparel that, like Ross' father's legacy, stands the test of time.