Thursday

Today I spent another seven hours in front of the computer working on AutoCAD. I have re-drafted my retail space twice, but i'm much more pleased with the second version. When I got home tonight I got all the veggies and yummy annie's dressing out of the fridge and had a delightful salad. I haven't written in a while, I guess I got caught up in everything.

My parents visited me over the weekend, they got here on Saturday and I saw them sporadically through the week until they left on Wednesday. We went out to eat on Saturday in Malibu at this funky little place right on the water. Then on Sunday we drove down to Laguna, it wasn't very warm out, but I bundled up and braved the cold so we could drive with the top down for a little while. Laguna is really cute and sort of has a small town feel. I liked all the little boutique shopping and the galleries. There were a lot of families out and kids running around on the beach. I liked the whole suburb, family-friendly feel, I don't get enough of it here in west hollywood. We had dinner at an amazing bistro called the 520 Bistro. I had scallops over couscous that had bits of butternut squash in it and reduced balsamic over everything. There was this stringy light crunchy stuff, i forget what it was called but it had truffle oil drizzled over that. oh my gosh, incrrrredible. I want to go back.

On Monday morning I made my parents join me at one of my favorite breakfast places. My friend Ashley works there, so I usually sit at the bar and chat with her over breakfast and usually other friends as well. This time we sat down, and I think my parents were pretty skeptical at first, in fact, i know they were, you could read it all over their faces. But once we got our food, everyone was happy! They give the biggest helpings of food and add extra fruit, anything you want. After that mom and I went to the most amazing fabric stores ever! It's called F&S Fabrics and it has four different stores all next to each other on Pico. A couple are home decor stores so they have upholstry fabrics and drapery fabrics. The building we went into initially was garment fabric and some quilting fabrics as well. It didn't look that large, but then you could continue back thru the store room after room up these small ramps. I wanted to buy everything. It is more expensive than Joanne Fabrics, which is a given, but it is a lovely place full of inspiring prints. I want to go back.

My friend Caleb is in town so we've hung out a couple times, once with his sister Sarah. On Wednesday before my parent's flight they stopped in one last time to say bye. I miss them so much, but I love when they are here because they remind me of who I am, I don't have to try or work at being myself, it just happens. I think I just get to feeling low when I can't remember who I am because I'm in a completely wrong context, LA is wrong for me. that is a fact. But I am encouraged to enjoy it more every time my parents are here. I will get out and see more! I will!

I went to this church in Pasadena on Sunday morning, the day after my parents arrived. I liked it a lot, it also felt like home. Obviously it was meant to be a great weekend. The church is called Harvest Rock, and I'll be returning there this weekend as well. My friend Ashley from school is going to come with me, (she is also down here from SPU). There were all these interesting coincidences about going there, it felt like it was meant to be. I believe community is one of the most important things a person needs. We aren't meant to live this life alone! We're meant to be in community and build relationships with people who we can relate to. I'm excited to see where it goes.

I can't wait to come home for Christmas!!!!