back from Seattle

Well, i am back home from Journalfest. my month and a half of traveling, doing shows, teaching and taking classes has come to an end. what a whirlwind time it was and i cannot believe how much i accomplished, how many people i met, all the art i created and taught and how many nicknames i earned along the way (Ambassador and Julie - the cruise director to name a few). i have to admit, i am a tad tired! i've spent the last few days unpacking and cleaning house. whenever i get home from retreats or traveling, i get this urge to purge and clean my house! and true to form, that's what i have been doing the last few days. lots of reorganizing as i put things away. i have family coming soon and then another friend coming right after that (I hope!) so i am also getting the house company and holiday ready.
So about my latest trip. I flew into Seattle and met my friend, Jen at the airport. Jen and i met at Artnest and were roommates again at Artfest. then it was off to pick up a car belonging to my friend, Keli, who graciously loaned it to us for the day (she was flying in later that evening). jen and i had grand expectations of all these fun things we would do in Seattle, but after eating lunch and then walking around a bit in Pioneer Square, we really didn't have much time left before meeting our friend, Sara for dinner. while walking around, we ran into my new friend, Abby. i knew it was her b-day that day, so right there on the street, very loudly, i started singing happy birthday to her. i think she was surprised that i remembered and she was quite touched with the impromptu singing. we had a lovely dinner with Sara (with Abby and her friend joining us as well). after dinner we had Sara take us over to the art co-op where she lives for a tour. what a fun place and so nice of Sara to show us around. finally, exhaustion set in and we headed back to Hotel Andra to get some shut eye. the hotel was beautiful and let me tell you, the beds were UNBELIEVABLE! while at the hotel we met this couple with the absolutely cutest dog in the world. Maggie was her name and she did tricks. i wanted to put that pup in my bag. poor Keli did not arrive til almost midnight as her flight was delayed. more stories tomorrow!