{escape plans - part II}

Dreaming of a solid escape plan now.  It feels pretty damn exciting.

{gone north}

Great Barrier Reef 2007

So goodbye for a while 

I'm off to explore
Every boundary and every door
Yeah I'm going north

                              ~ Missy Higgins ~

Home Sweet Home

Indigenous Art Installation - Sydney International Transit Lounge

Spending the weekend hanging out with Ms L, unpacking, cuddling fur children and catching up with CurlyPops over dinner. Also, fighting mild jet lag. Blurgh to jet lag.

Fly Little Tinniegirl

Quickly! Fly! Home!

And So Begins The Journey Home

See you soon Australia. See you soon Ms L. See you soon peeps.

And to you, USA, thank you, thank you, thank you!

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By the way, did you see that the Northern Craft Bonanza made the paper this week.
Check it out.

Once Upon A Time...

...Tinniegirl traveled a long way to Portland, Oregon to visit a very special Little Lady. Tinniegirl and the Little Lady's Daddy had been friends for a long, long time.

The Little Lady lived in a beautiful house

and had a lovely bedroom painted all pink and green.

The Little Lady wasn't like all the other little girls that Tinniegirl knew. This Little Lady had something called Cystic Fibrosis, which made her life pretty different to other normal little girls. The Little Lady had to take lots of pills and do lots of treatments every single day to keep fighting her battle against Cystic Fibrosis. The Little Lady was so strong and wise and full of spirit.

The Little Lady invited Tinniegirl to visit her school

and made beautiful, colourful paintings for her.

They even had a birthday party for the Little Lady's Daddy while Tinniegirl was visiting.

One of the best things the Little Lady and Tinniegirl did together was making a painting.

Full of gorgeous colour and embellishments, Tinniegirl could tell the Little Lady was a very good artist.

Before long it was time for Tinniegirl to make the long trip back to Australia. Tinniegirl had a wonderful visit with her dear friends, and especially loved getting to meet the Little Lady for the first time.

The End

I Dig Portland

It kinda reminds me a little of ole' Melbourne Town

Excellent shopping

Cool cafes

Great coffee

Quirky food joints

Interesting street art

and something to make you stop and wonder.

Everything I need in a city.

2 sleeps till I start the big journey home. 2 sleeps peeps!

A Fine Seattle Day

I was very lucky to have a day out in Seattle. My buddy Jon drove us all the way from Portland (about a six hour round trip) so that I could check out Seattle while I am 'in the hood'.

We had a fabulous day checking out Pike Place Market

eating fish and chips

Taking a ride to the top of the Space Needle

Check out those snow covered mountains behind me.
It gave me such delight to see them in all their majestic glory.

My buddy Jon.
We haven't seen each other for over 6 years but it's as if no time has passed at all.
Don't you love those kind of friendships?

Found this little gem. You know how I love to find a little 'Message from the Universe'. I particularly like the way I accidentally captured the words 'any time' as well.

So, that's Seattle.

Tomorrow I'm going to check out downtown Portland and see what I find. Stay tuned for that, and for a post about the gorgeous little lady of the house here in Portland.

Today, I'm having a pajama day. Catching up with myself and with you. Only 3 sleeps till I head home now. I can't believe it.

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

Oh, I know it's a cliche, but doesn't that almost make it mandatory?

I'm farewelling the fine city today and heading north to Portland. Can't wait to check out Portland, see my friend Jon (6 years between visits and plenty to catch up on) and his family, and perhaps slow up the pace a little.

It has been a wonderfully busy, fabulous, fun trip so far. Soon I'll be counting the sleeps to the end. How time flies.

A Table Set For Five

We had a table set for five at lunch today, but only four were there.
And it got me to thinking about where Ms L might be,
and we all talked about how we wished she was there with us.
We miss you Ms L.

Mat, Audrey, Phil and Me

It's raining in San Fran today.

The lights and the rain are making pretty patterns on my bathroom window.

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Did I tell you I've got a darn cold? Such a nuisance.

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If you're looking for something to do tomorrow night and you're in Thornbury you might like to pop along to the Northern Craft Bonanza for crafty fun and great food. On the other hand, if you're in San Francisco, you might like to try Kuletos for a great bite of Italian.

This One Time, At Art Camp

Mati Rose & Kelly Rae Roberts

Work in progress

Mindy

Louise, Anna-Marie & Stella

Chrissy & Monica

Stella, Mindy, Beth & Danielle

Lorrie

My Funky Chunky Coffee Table Book

Andrea Scher - a suprise visitor on Sunday

Oh, I have had the most wonderful, wonderful couple of days. It was so much fun. I'm pretty sure that there'll be lots of sentences from here on in that start with "this one time, at art camp".

I'm back in San Fran now and meeting up with friends from Colorado tonight. The next part of the adventure begins.