2014 has a different feel to it than the past couple of years. Something needed to change. I mulled it over for a couple of months. And faffed about with other things, joining Pinterest and Instagram, until inspiration hit me…
I’ve given elladee_words a makeover, and my other WordPress blogs elladee_images and elladee_places are on hold but images and places posts will continue, for now incorporated with the elladee_words content of this blog.
It took some work but the export and import processes were quite straightforward (kudos to WordPress) other than a bit of mucking around manually adding images that had fallen off imported posts. To begin with it was a nice trip down memory lane but patience isn’t my thing and after repeatedly scrolling through 2 years of posts, I just wanted it done.
I like having all the pieces of elladee together. As my revamped About page remarks “I scare myself sometimes by imagining what would happen if I gave in to my crazy grandma hippy leanings and let my world become a potpourri of psychedelic, pattern & rainbows. This blog is as close as it gets…”
Let me know what you think.
In early March the G.O. and I fulfilled a commitment to visit my sister who relocated to Melbourne early last year – our spirits were willing but time had been lacking. Given the busyness of this year if we didn’t go when we did it would be August before we could think about it again.
I’m notorious for cramming as much as possible into trips away – you can sleep when we’re home – and my sister is no slouch as well. The G.O.’s head is still spinning.
Friday was St Kilda day but we made a pit stop at Queen Victoria Markets where my sister met us after our lunch at Ant’s Dumplings and took us back to her place via a stop at Balha’s Pastry and Harley City at Brunswick.
After a breather at my sister’s hanging out with the cats Addy & Nutmeg, the 3 of us jumped into a cab and headed to St Kilda. We started at the top wandering down Fitzroy Street to the [wonderful] Tolarno Hotel where the G.O. and I were staying the night. Seduced by the afternoon sun we had a beer at The Prince before a walk along Acland Street. It’s a decent walk so a drink at the Espy (home of RocKwiz) looking over Port Phillip Bay, was necessary on the way back to Leo’s Spaghetti Bar for dinner. And of course too much is never enough so after dinner we strolled up to The George for a couple of drinks at the footpath tables with a vantage point for nightlife watching.
The next morning the G.O. and I set off for an early walk as the day before we’d overheard talk of farmers markets. We found the Veg Out St Kilda Farmers Market next to the Veg Out community garden, and enjoyed a circuit and a snack before speed walking back to meet up with my sister for breakfast at Baker D.Chirico.
After croissants and coffee we took the scenic route, unintentionally, to my sister’s en route to a late tapas lunch at Wesley Anne walking the strip of funky shops at Northcote via Thornbury and back through All Nations Park.
Checking in at the [not so wonderful] Rydges Bell City preceded drinks at my sister’s and dinner at Pizza Farro with her friends. Weary, we begged off further revelry, and crashed at the hotel until a 8 am Sunday morning text from my sister checking if we were ready for breakfast, which we eventually roused ourselves for, at the Kitschen Pantry.
After breakfast, a fast stroll past Sydney Road’s proliferation of bridal stores, and browsing festival stalls we made good our 1 pm appointment in the audience of my sister’s friend-houseguest singing in a pub choir at the Sydney Road Street Festival – Brunswick Music Festival before my sister dropped us at the airport. We were done.
In contrast to the rainy dull Sydney weekend we missed, the bright warm (i.e. glary) Melbourne weather and the whirlwind pace of the weekend occasioned few pics but there are just enough I hope to ring in the new mode of elladee.
daleleelife101.blog 
I love the new look of your blog. It’s interesting you mention Pinterest and Instagram, I now have a Pinterest page with pics from all my writing. Instagram I don’t know, I asked a marketing friend about it and she said kids use it as an instant messaging service and the pics are not saved. You can check me out at Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/sandradan1/ but be kind, I’ve only got a few pics posted to get me started! I think the idea is fun, though. 🙂 SD
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Thank you. I’ve followed you on Pinterest. I think it’s SnapChat where the pics aren’t saved. I’m not a prolific user of any of the social media sites but Instagram is fun when you don’t have heaps of time, and Pinterest can be a lovely time waster when you do 🙂
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Not now then! 🙂 SD
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Wondered where you had dropped off to. Blog looks nice, very nice and clean looking. I think yours will merge together better than all mine would. Mine are too disparate, but I do want to tidy roughseas pages up a bit, I have too many. I’m thinking of lumping them together under Dross 1 and Dross 2 😀
St Kilda, eh? that brings back memories.
I might like your blog but WP didn’t think it was worth notifying me of your post. I was having a sticky because of the pingbacks and clicked on recent posts and got here. Silly WP.
My importations really varied but I was doing it from blogger. roughseas was perfect, pippa lost all his comments and the land rover one would not work at all, had to import every single ****ing post by hand 😦 including all the images. Glad yours was easier.
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Thank you. I’ve been around but with no consistent time or thought processes, both of which I prefer to have before putting words on the screen 😉
I thought of you during the tidy up process and was glad it was only 2 blogs and 2 years. They say you need to live in a house for 12 months before doing a reno, and I had left it long enough. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Dross 1 and Dross 2 on roughseas:)
We enjoy St Kilda particularly hanging out with my sister there, but it was nice to see new parts of Melbourne that she has discovered.
Possibly if the notification has fallen off, unfollowing and following might wake it up, or it might be a glitch in the Blogs I Follow settings.
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I did change my blog when I was on blogger, but on here I’ve stuck with the same themes. You can’t fiddle with them unless you pay for upgrades and I’m not prepared to do that.
I think 2010/2011 suit what I write about so I’m stick with them, Pippa is the only one who has a different one, oh and Everypic with DuoTone of course with all the fun of guessing what colours it will choose and trying (usually failing) to manipulate it.
You have re-appeared in both reader and comments so that saves me one huge effort.
Yes, Dross 1 and 2 will almost certainly appear unless I think of a better name. It’s short and pithy so for now that will be the working name.
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The new look blog is great.Everything melded together well. It sounds like the trip to see your sister was fantastic even if the G.O.was cruppered by you both. The pictures are stunning.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
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Thank you. Holidaying with both my sister and me is an experience I don’t think the G.O. is keen to repeat. I would have loved more pics but sometimes it’s better to just be in the moment.
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My god, you fitted so much in to your time!! Each of those Melbourne streets is an adventure by itself. No wonder you were exhausted. It is a long time since I have been to St Kilda, but I know High St Northcote and Sydney Rd Brunswick — both wonderful places to wander along. And to drink the odd coffee!
I like your new look too, and nice to have you back.
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Thank you 🙂
In Sydney we mainly drink coffee at home from our machine but in Melbourne we seem to go from one cafe to another.
I remarked this visit how much St Kilda has changed, gentrified, even though we’ve been back in the interim, since my first visit to Fitzroy St… very early on a Sunday morning over 2 decades ago… you can imagine.
I would have loved to have more time to browse the shops on High st, and especially Sydney Road but my finances benefited from the lack of time.
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Hi Ella, it sounds like a wonderful weekend. I am exhausted just reading about all the things you did.
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I knew the trip was busy but it was only documenting it I realised how much we did… ate and drank. Ah, but it’s Melbourne, it would be wrong otherwise.
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Looking good, Ella 🙂
Glad you managed to get to see your sister in Melbourne 🙂 Mmmmm Acland Street’s cakes!!
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Thank you 🙂
It was great to see my sister’s Melbourne and I was impressed by how confidently and competently she drove there. I’m a good driver but Melbourne’s combination of trams and traffic scares the hell out of me.
We ate with our eyes as we passed Acland Street’s cake shops as we’d already indulged at Balha’s in Brunswick.
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OH yes, those “hook” turns around the trams are pretty confusing! I’d forgotten about that!
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Sounds like a busy blast!!
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We needed a corresponding quiet weekend at home the one after 😉
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Sounded like a good time, and the new look of your blog is quite fresh. Looking forward to seeing it in action!
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Thank you. I’ve been doing a bit of juggling, and getting the blogs in order was one thing I could accomplish… fingers crossed from here on 😉
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Wow, what a whirlwind of activity – I feel like a lie down. Love your new look, EllaDee!
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Thank you 🙂 You know you’ve had a good holiday when you need a holiday to recover.
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Love the new combined and streamlined blog EllaDee – for some reason I never seem to get your -images or -places posts up on the reader, so I’m hoping this one will bring some EllaDee joy my way in the future. Sure was a busy weekend, but Melbourne’s a bit like that, I thought – so much happening in some of those local communities. I spent ten days there before Christmas and didn’t leave the Pahran/South Yarra neighbourhood!
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Thank you. A couple of reasons why elladee images & places aren’t showing up on your Reader: I haven’t been posting much, hence the consolidation; unfollowing and following might wake it up but as you say it’s a moot point now.
I’m sure if we were visitors to Sydney it’d be the same but Melbourne has so much to offer and despite our best intentions we never spend enough time there to investigate all the great things, even trying to cover only select areas. If I spent 10 days in Melbourne I’d need a holiday to recover, a second job to pay it off, and a weight loss plan.
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Yes to all three! Luckily I went from there to Sydney for New Year and then came home and succumbed to the flu for almost three weeks, so that took care of everything!
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How interesting, and unfortunate for you. We both came back with a souvenir bug from Melbourne, but at least were mostly good after a week or so. Not 3 weeks 😦
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I’m thinking the year or so of tension and uncertainty leading up to that little holiday were as much to blame for my illness as the bug itself! 🙂
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Good idea to combine the blogs, it looks really good … so great to see you back, and wow, what an amazing Melbourne visit … hardly time for a breath let alone photos! Love how you always find the street art, the food sounds wonderful, and of course the markets .. super weekend EllaDee 😀
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Thank you. Your lovely new blog theme was one of the things that inspired me 🙂
We didn’t get into the city laneways to explore the street art there but I enjoyed the authentic street art in Northcote more. Queen Vic Markets is our habitual first point of call on Melbourne visits and we’re never disappointed in whatever delights we find to snack on.
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maybe our next visit to Melbourne will be a foody one … this time it was all about the new family member 😉
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I’m so glad you’ve incorporated the various EllaDee’s – this feels like /you/. And how in hell did you manage to stay upright after cramming so much into just a couple of days? Commiserations to the G.O., I hope his head stops spinning soon. 😀
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Thank you. That’s exactly what I thought – feels like me – and I’m enjoying the colour it adds to elladee_words 🙂
We were tired… early mornings, later nights and lots of walking. Would I do it again ? Of course, and so would the G.O… maybe next year.
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lmao – yes, about a year of rest and recuperation should just about do it. :p
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Love the post and amazing photos!
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Thank you 🙂 Very kind of you to say.
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You are very welcome it’s pleasure of surprise saffron :))))
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Nice job of revamping, EllaDee. I like it. Good to “see” you again. Sounded like a wonderful visit.
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Thank you, I feel like it’s more ‘me’ 🙂 We enjoyed the visit, and it was the first time we’ve done the Melbourne thing with my sister, so even more so.
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Love the new look! Sounds like you had an amazing time in Melbourne – you really DID cram a lot into the one visit! 🙂
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Thank you. Our Melbourne visits are usually active, we enjoying walking, seeing and eating but plus one sister equals busy 😉
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I like the new look! Very clean lines and inviting 😀 And Melbourne is one of my favourite places (my daughter lives there and it’s always great when I visit) 😀
It must be the time to revamp because I’ve been going through my blog for a few days now and cleaning up in the background (ummm, how do I say this – unfollowing people who never bother coming over to my blog to say hello). It actually started a few weeks ago when I couldn’t keep up with emails so I just went through posts and then over to the pages of those who had commented — and it just snowballed from there 😉 Good grief, I must be turning into an old fuddy duddy xxx
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You’re in good company. As I’ve had less time, my WP circle of acquaintance has dwindled. Probably Dunbar’s Number could explain it. I’m certain the rules of the virtual world are not so different from the actual. And, I value those who have stayed the course 🙂
I’m glad you like the new look. I had been ambivalent about changing but realised elladee_images & places were the product of a new blogger who had more time on her hands than I do now.
I would love to spend more time in Melbourne… and a long list of other places. It is great though when you have someone to visit as a reason for a trip.
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LOL. You travel like I do. We’re doing it all so we don’t have to come back. 😉 My travel companions never last more than a few weeks at my pace. I usually have to add in down time for them. 😉
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Oh yes, you’d certainly need stamina to travel with you, and I can see similarities between your posts of the similar.
I’m not sure there are many places where I don’t say I’d like to go back to X for… regardless of how much I’ve crammed in.
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The blog looks great. Well done!
The slide show at the end of the post is a nice feature. I’ve never seen that before.
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Thank you. When I first started blogging I used the slideshow (via the add media/gallery function) but changed to the new mosaic format which seems now a little clunky for this theme.
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Groovy makeover, EllaDee! I’ve got a thing for graffiti. It does take a bit of work, depending on what theme you’ve got and what you want to change to. I’ve had my eye on the Expound theme for awhile – had hoped to make the change before the A to Z Challenge kick-off – now I’m inside out with that. Taking a break to sign your guest book here, and I can’t believe the mega-wattage weekend at your sister’s! It was like leaping tall buildings in a single bound, you know, for superheroes. EllaDee, Warrior Princess. Valkyrie. Triplicate Girl. Did the G.O. know you had superpowers when he met you? Well, all of it sounded amazing – especially your Friday night : )
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Thank you. Oh yes, you have certainly embraced the A-Z Challenge… in your inimitable stylish style 🙂
Trips to Melbourne are amazing – I do have a love affair with it but I had to hang up my cape for a bit after we returned to Sydney.
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Love the new you, EllaDee. It has a crispness about it. Glad you had such a nice visit with your sister, though you sure kept busy! That St. Kilda market looks like something I’d enjoy. Love that it’s in a park-like setting. The farmers markets here in town are all in parking lots. Though the farmers’ wares are every bit as fresh, it would be nice to feel earth under my feet and see trees overhead and not asphalt and street lights.
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Thank you 🙂 You would love St Kilda Farmers Market. I kept looking around to touch base with the fact that I was in the middle of a city.
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