To Portland and Back

We all feel rather tuckered out, after our whirlwind trip out to Portland Oregon for a family wedding. (This is my niece's baby, Samantha, aka "Sammich" exhausted after an afternoon's activities.

We arrived Thursday night to be with my daughter who flew in to spend a day with just our family before joining up with the rest of the relatives.

I could live in Portland. What a cool city and I know we did tourist things and barely saw any of it, but it embraces glass... and the combination of old buildings, lots of green vegetation, water, a great attitude and plenty of quirkiness suits me just fine. I think I'd have to ponder the sunshine thing though. I need lots of it.

Our party of four checked out Voodoo Donuts and the Velveteria which is a black velvet painting museum. While we were there, the owners mentioned they had paintings from every continent but Antarctica. Well, some of you might know the outcome of this.... my daughter was sent off with a black velvet canvas to have one of her friends paint while down there this year. And as she started the Vanna White Fan Club of Antarctica,
(yeah, my whole family has a sense of humor) that's probably who will be painted on it. Perfect subject for that medium.

We did stop by Aquila Glass in Portland to see my friend and glass artist, Leah Pellegrini. I'll write more about it after I get her photo, so you can see how adorable she is.

This bottom photo is of our family and a niece hamming it up. The wedding was onboard a boat, (complete with singing waiters- that was funny) and instead of walking back to the hotel, my husband decided to rent a one of these 4 sets of pedals contraptions and go for a spin. (We found out that yes, they can do donuts, that younger people tend to have never heard the song "Surrey with the Fringe on Top", and my new handbag from Etsy looks nice in the photo).

We're home now. It takes a lot of airplane and airport hours to travel diagonally across the United States. Atlanta is is three time zones away. But we're home. Tired, but happy. But before a nap, I'm headed to the studio to make lampwork beads and get a few custom orders completed.
I'll see you tomorrow with more glass chat