Chasing the Sun

The week was filled with a couple earthquakes (and aftershocks), puppy snuggles and planning ahead at work. Rory didn't like the earthquakes. (or we freaked her out from our bug-eyed expressions of what the heck is happening)?  Can't say I did either -- I even dropped to the floor in case I needed to duck under our coffee table.    On Friday, I decided to take a quick trip to Fresno to visit one of my friends and former director at work, since it's been a year since I've seen her. I slept in a bit, stopped at Starbucks (of course) and was on the road shortly after 9 a.m. I had my playlist set to the vibes of Noah Kahan, Kelsea Ballerini and other more folksy type as I passed the fields and agriculture around for the next two hours. I always love a good drive, just to think and daydream. It forces me to be away from my phone or doing something just to stay busy.  I met Esra at her apartment, then we went over to Annesso's Pizzeria. It's not your average pizzeria ...

While I didn't have any big plans this summer, I wanted to take some extra time off to intentionally unwind, time away from checking social media platforms constantly, reading and responding to emails. All of that.  Wednesday My mom and I had a lazy morning of drinking coffee, watching some of the Olympic coverage and hanging out. Once we were ready, we did some shopping at Target (where I got a lot of good stuff - books, cosmetics), then we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A. We needed to get some things at Sam's Club but had to wait about an hour, so we stopped at our local Hallmark store which is so fun to look at all the goodies. Especially because it was filled with all the fall and Christmas goodies. I got the last Stars Hollow Gilmore Girls blanket on the shelf and one of the Gilmore Girls ornaments.  After that, we got some necessities (and I bought more books) at Sam's Club. Their shelves were also filled with Halloween items, which has me praying for cooler weather and fall...

Most of the days and weeks are busy with — Getting by on a whole lot of caffeine and faith.  The evenings are filled with a lot of reading.  And a lot of hypothesizing and theorizing about Taylor Swift, her creative mind and her Eras Tour shows.  I did get to have a fun girl's night to celebrate one of my best friend's birthdays. All of her best gal pals got together for dinner at one of our local Italian restaurants. We had the best time, devouring appetizers and delicious pasta, getting our glamour shots taken by Athena and dishing all about our favorite books, travel plans and life. So much fun! And it was also fun to splurge on the dessert for those amazing cannolis that I ate both of.  Those are the moments that summer is all about. Making time for longer meals, more conversation, getting dressed up and having fun with the gals. It doesn't have to be so serious all the time.  Here's to making time for the people who matter in our lives.  That's all for...