When Can I Go Back?

All I can say is, if you like mail art, go to Portland.
I had way too much fun and I am dreaming of my next trip to PDX.
Letter Writing Social at Noun.
Champagne, cupcakes, mail art pals, rubber stamps. What's not to love?
And a late night happy hour at Nostrana afterwards.
See anyone you know?

The gang's all here!
(Maybe you better a cappuccino because this is a long post)

PDX Scrap
It wouldn't be a trip to PDX without a trip to Scrap. In fact, there were TWO trips to Scrap.
I scored some great rubber stamps, including those bird stamps.
It's Portland -- Put A Bird on It!!

Another tradition is a day at Uptown Stamp Show picking out fabulous 10-cent postage stamps from all over the world and 25-cent well-traveled envelopes. I found a bunch of vintage Berlin envelopes/stamps for my next travel journal.
(BIG thank you to Niko!)

Coffee and coffee shops abound in PDX....and, well, my blog does have cappuccino in the name...
There was an entitie isle of coffees at the New Seasons Market near my AirBnB.

POK POK
Yes, it is as good as they say. And want to avoid the wait? Just get it to-go!

My PDX peeps kept me RUNNING but I did manage to squeeze in some time to tear up a few things.....I am working on my PDX travel journal now that I am back home.

And......I invited myself over to Michelle Geller's beautiful studio. I hope you follow her Instagram 
feed @HoldDear.
SWOON.

Michelle's studio was wonderful but I was really going crazy looking at her incredible handmade altered books. So much inspiration and beauty.

Lunch at Michelle's. That cake!

TRINKET
Yes, I am still eating. And, isn't Trinket the cutest name? Put this one on your not-touristry list.
(IT pays to be pals with the locals)

OF COURSE we had to cram ourselves into the photo booth at CARGO. (You will want to go there too). I love how crazed we look......but then...we are kinda crazed....

SMITH TEA
This was a lovely afternoon spent  drinking tea, writing the FREE postcards at Smith Tea and dropping them into the white mailbox -- the nice folks at Smith Tea put a stamp on them and mail them for free. Can you believe it?
And I loved the trains roaring by as we wrote...

Lunch at Noraneko

I got a nice AirBnB and was really comfortable. I stayed home one night with Thai take-out and relaxed....(and gave my pals a break too)

Wonderful lunch at Maurice

Lunch at Vivienne -- a Breakfast salad -- TOO yummy!

The Hollywood Farmers Market
There is a Hollywood in PDX -- who knew?And a wonderful farmers market.

All the comforts of home.....

I brought little booklets for all my pals....you can't go empty handed...
(you all know how to make these?)

Flying into SFO
My flight home only had 47 people on it - we each got our own row! And I saw the most wonderful views flying into SFO. That green in the lower right is Golden Gate Park. So cool.

BIG BIG thank you to my wonderful PDX Pals -- Karen, Polly, JJ, Michelle, Dre, Sugene, Tammy, Niko, Cori
And, if you are going to Portland, here's your list of fun things to do!

Now, I've got to go work on my PDX book.
See you!
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You Better Sit Down

Yes, these are ALL Stamp Books. There must be thousands and thousands of stamps in this room. And, if you are anything at all like me, you must feel a bit faint.
Go ahead, sit down.
Niko Courtelis graciously invited a bunch of us (mail art and stamps nerds) to a private showing of stamps at The Uptown Stamp Show in Portland.
All I can say is, if you are ever in PDX, you have GOT to go there.
Trust me.

There are lots of stamps for serious collectors.......

BUT
There are books and books and books you can browse through and pick out any and all the stamps you want for ten cents a stamp.
TEN CENTS!!!!!

I honestly thought I'd died and gone to heaven.....well, almost heaven...it was a little bit of hell not being about to grab as many books as I could carry and run off with them...

I got a wonderful selection of stamps from Russian....

I love Postage Due stamps, don't you? WHY didn't I get these????

Who do we have here?
Miss Polly -- I know some of you you trade mail art with her. Doesn't she look happy?
There was a whole lot of swooning going on....

Niko (standing, at left) was totally outnumbered by women going a little crazy...
The plan to go out for lunch went flying right out that window. We stayed for hours but we did bring in some deli sandwiches for the energy to sustain us for more swooning...

LOTS of stamp head potential in those albums too.

And look -- is this the old way of what we all hate? The black Sharpie cancellation?

We were all invited to add a stamp to the wall to mark our visit.

By this time I was planning on ditching my plane ticket home and renting a car....

There was a teeny bit of competition over postal themed stamps. Niko was there to break up any fights.

But, no worries, we all left smiling and very happy with out stamp treasures.
(Karen, JJ & Miss Polly from the PDXCC and Pamela from SFCC)

Thanks to my Portland mail art pals for arranging this wonderful visit and special thanks to Niko for unlocking the doors for us on his day off.
Here's the link to the Uptown Stamp Shop website
Looking at it will make you crazy. Maybe you better wait till you are heading up to Portland.

And you KNOW I will be heading back up to PDX at the first chance I get.
Anyone want to meet me there?

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