Make the Time

Sometimes I feel like a hamster on that "wheel", that just goes round & round. I'm constantly busy, and seem never to make the time anymore to do stuff I want to do, things I use to do. I've been wanting to go to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach for the past three years. When I was young, and not so "busy", I went every year. A friend of mine, Christie Repasy, was there again this year and I really wanted to go down and see her, her paintings and the Sawdust Festival. Brande went with me, and as we drove down Laguna Canyon it brought back so many memories of days gone by. The Sawdust Festival was awesome, and seeing Christie so happy and content, really warmed my heart. Christie has always painted beautiful, romantic floras. And to see she is now also doing beach and tropical paintings was really nice, as they are my favorite. So, of course I couldn't leave empty handed. Just being there, the art, the music, the displays and the beautiful fountains were so peaceful. It really brought back a lot of memories for me of days gone by.

After Brande and I left there, we drove around Laguna for a bit, then headed over to Fashion Island. Brande and I both have been so busy, we never really celebrated her May birthday. We had a late lunch at Tommy Bahamas, one of our favorites that we don't go to very often. If you go, just order the Pina Colada cake, no need for any other food! Then we spent some time over at Fashion Island shopping. One of my favorite stores there is "Anthropolgie". I love this store because of their displays, they are awesome, unique and always changing. I love this "hay couch" that was sitting out front of the store. It made me even more excited to go inside and see the rest of their displays. I also love their selection of books. So, I picked up a couple for myself, one for Riley, and an outfit for Brande as a belated birthday present.

We walked around some more at Fashion Island with all the other "fancy girls", as I call them. It was just such a nice day out. Riley's birthday is in a couple of weeks so we wanted to look in this childrens shop we go to when we are there. They have these stuffed animal chairs, and since Riley's room is all about the beach, Brande couldn't resist buying her the blue octopus chair(that's what is in the bag she is holding)! I can't wait for Riley to see it, she will be SO excited!

We took PCH home rather than the freeway. I live in Long Beach, about 10 minutes from the beach, so this is a much more pleasant drive. It was one of those perfect SoCal late afternoons. The sun was sparkling off the ocean, and to the right, for some unknown reason, it was clear enough to see the mountains. It made me remember how important it is to make the time, not only for yourself, but to spend it with those you love. I got an e-mail this afternoon. One of my friends, Cheryl Mitchell, isn't doing too good. She use to be our crazy gardener at Country Roads several years ago. She was at Riley's 1st birthday party last year, snapping pictures of everyone, then later showing them to everyone in Old Towne;0) That's just "our" Cheryl. She had lung cancer earlier this year, they removed her lung but its back in the other lung. She then had a stroke, and some other sad stuff has happened, all at only 49 years old. I'm not writing this to depress anyone, but to remind myself and others to never, ever take our days for granite. . "make the time", it's that simple, just make the time!