We interrupt this program

here's a picture of my mom's new puppy, Blossom, who is about 9 weeks old. Mom got her at the SPCA. she's already getting to know the lake and fetch sticks. guess the frisbee will be coming out soon. i know my mom is really happy with her. isn't she a cutie?

a shout out to my friend, Zhulia, whose darling little doggie, Pookie had to be put to sleep. thinking of you, sweetie.

Day two, Poulsbo, Port Townsend, Fort Worden

more art car photos. check out the frost on the windshield.it was a bit chilly!

registering to receive room keys!

"The Art Car", really cool car with all kinds of toys glued all over it. quite a site!

campus photos, middle picture is the house i stayed at - 5E. Called "officer's housing". was across a big field behind the dorms - long walk to me! it had 4 rooms upstairs. i shared a room with Sara, Jennifer got her own room (but it was tiny), Julie and Candance (Artnest girls) shared a room and then 2 other women we just met there took the last room. you have to share a bed with your roommate! i knew about this, so Sara brought some camping gear and slept on the floor, but Julie and Candance didn't know they were sharing the bed! the other room had a cot in it. there was a shower/bath upstairs (if you could call it a shower......). downstairs we had a nice kitchen, dining room, bathroom and living room. it was cool. the heat sounded like a tea kettle boiling when it was going. Julie and Candance made yummy brownies one night. the big white buildings are dorms.

signed we saw upon arriving at Fort Worden

me and Jennifer doing some shopping and looking around Port Townsend

statue in the center of town. me doing a shadow pic with balloons that were tied up outside a really cute vintage store (forgot name, sorry!). meeting up with all the "festal virgins" (first timers at Artfest). Charmster, Janet Wilson organzied it, made us necklaces and brought champagne. it was really fun!

a china doll i bought in Poulsbo - beautiful, isn't she?

on our way to Poulsbo. a cute building in Poulsbo and their marina. really pretty town. oh and i saw Elvis driving by in a pick up truck - no kidding! i screamed out "Elvis" really loud because i wanted him to come back so i could take his picture. guess he was camera shy.

here we are waiting for the ferry. see why i usually don't take off my sunglasses? look how excited Andrew is!

back in NJ

after a long day of flying, i finally arrived home last night around 6:30. what a fun trip! unfortunately i arrived home with Tucker sick and jeff exhausted - so it was jump right into caregiver mode. apparently one of the caregivers who watches tucker on the weekends came in sick and she gave it to Tucker (which i don't mind telling you makes me quite angry). we have a policy here that you do not come to work sick and she still did. he's a little better today, but still coughing like a maniac. at this point, it's seems very parallel to allergies.

so i thought i'd just begin my trip with the starting point of when i left. Andrew and i were on the same flight, so that was fun. After arriving, we found Jennifer almost immediately. We got our luggage and headed to our rental car. Once on the road, we hit our first stop, Target, to pick up some supplies. Next on the list was a stamp store that Andrew knew of. it was great! such awesome selection on stamps, paper, books, magazines, etc. i ended up buying a few books, some magazines and some stamps. way to weigh my backpack down almost immediately! next on the list was Maxines, a floral/gift shop. oh my god, was this place beautiful. Andrew thought i would love this place and he was right. it was like a fairyland. the colors were gorgeous and she had it decorated so lovely. i probably could have stayed there all day. it was like a fantasy land. she had these enourmous paper flowers running along the ceiling. our next stop to us to the funky, fun store, Archie Mcphee's. what a fun store. silly stuff, novelty items, gag gifts, funky candy, hats, wigs, toys, whatever! i bought some monster finger puppets for no good reason, but for the fun of it! jennifer and i took some photos in the photo booth. after Archie Mcphee's we headed for our hotel. we were all getting a little tired by then. we checked in and then got cleaned up for dinner. from our hotel we walked downtown to Pike's Place Market. we were heading to a chowder house for dinner but they were closed! we found another place that we thought looked good. they had a fabulous hummus and scrumptious salmon! we did a little shopping on the way back at a 100 yen store (a Japenese drug store), a cool gifty place called "Fireworks" and then into Norstroms quickly for Jenn to find a coat since she forgot hers at home. After i took a nice warm shower, Jennifer and i hit the hay to rest up for the following day.

heading home tomorrow!

Well Michelle and i did our fair share of shopping and dining the last few days. her husband went out of town on business, so we were left to our own devices here in Portland (and we really didn't mind......). We hit a thrift store, several antique stores, several junk stores, several art/paper stores and some awesome gift stores. I sent a box home today of some stuff from artfest so that i had some room for the goodies i was purchasing yesterday and today. yesterday we had lunch at the antique store we were at (Monticello's). it was a cute little restuarant attached to the store. Dinner last night was at Azteca, a mexican restaurant. i ate so much i felt sick! today we went to more gifty type stores. we went into a wonderful store called "Flutter" which was heavenly. i took some photos in there that i will share later. another fun store we checked out was "Imp".She had some really sweet aprons. Lunch was at a local place called "Tin Shed". i had a delicious BBQ cheddar burger and some french onion soup. before leaving for Collage, we ran across the street to a cute little clothing boutique called "Frock". totally darling store. i bought my son a t-shirt, some shrinky dink earrings and an awesome vintage purse, which was a steal at $18. can't wait to post the pic of the purse, because that bag would have been over a $100 on the east coast. Michelle and i think it was way underpriced. next was Collage, an art supply store. great store!
then we went to another area for some quick shopping before stopping for a bite to eat at a crepe restaurant. now i am just packing up and getting ready for the long day tomorrow.

boo hoo Artfest is over!

Artfest technically ended last night and everyone checked out of the fort this morning. I'm not home yet, so i won't start blogging about the trip until i get home and get myself situation! After checking out, i hitched a ride into Portland with fellow charmster, Michelle Geller. i am staying at her house for a few days. on our way home, we stopped in Camas, to go to this darling antique store that i had found when i was out here in Oct. for artnsoul. it is the best antique store. the girl who originally took me there, Paula, happened to be working there today,so it was nice to see her again. i bought some fun things. already, i'm going to have to send a box home instead of trying to get everything on the plane! i made Michelle take me by a grocery store so that i could stock up on my favorite taco sauce - La Victoria. yum yum. i bought 4 bottles. So, sorry for the teaser, but that's all i've got to say for now!