Reunion

I had a reunion of sorts with some of my college buds. I flew to CA all by myself and met up with six of my close college friends. It is great to see these friends and know that it doesn't matter how much time has passed... we can pick up where we left off and it feels so natural to be with them. These are all wonderful people and I am blessed to have them in my life.
We spent the weekend in Cambria at a great house near the ocean. Our time was spent talking, walking, shopping, eating and laughing. It was a relaxing time away and a great 40th birthday celebration for all of us. :-)


Here I am getting ready to get on the plane...

The "Gang" (minus Rachel)
Robyn, Marcia, Wendy, Heather, Jen, Melissa and me

Our ocean view. :-)

On the way back to Orange County, we stopped at Westmont to tour around, take a few picutres and shop at the bookstore.

We just had to get a shot by the fountain.

The Crafty Bug...

I have a bug. A crafty bug. I am totally living in my right brain these days. I have been sewing a ton of things. Let's see, I have made 2 sleeping bags and pillows for the girls' American Girl dolls, shirts for the three of us girls, skirts for us as well, and an apron for Anna. I even chopped up a dress of mine and refashioned it into a skirt and shirt (thought I am not sure how it looks). A serger machine would have been very useful for the dress refashioning. :-/
I have so many ideas rattling around in my head. I need more supplies though... like fabric, elastic, spray paint, wood... not all for the same project, mind you. :-)
Any fabric donations you want to make? Old sheets with some interesting designs? Tablecloths? Curtains?

July 4th

On the 3rd, I felt like being crafty... so I rummaged through the fabric I had laying around and found a lot of red and white gingham... so I whipped some shirts for the girls and me to wear. :-)

We spent the afternoon/evening at our friends' house. We all enjoyed the pool!

We even played croquet.

And we goofed off during the fireworks.

The fourth was filled with fun, food, fellowship and friends. :-)

Joplin

We are on vacation in California. We decided to drive it again this year. We drove right through Joplin, MO and saw some of the devastation that the tornado recently caused. It was a sobering time as we looked around. We took a few photos, but we also felt guilty as we did. These people lost everything! Here is a little of what we saw.

This first photo is from the outskirts of the tornado damage. It shows a mobile home that I don't think belonged in the yard where it currently is. There is a mobile home park a couple of blocks away. I am guessing it belonged there.


This area is a little closer... notice the trees are mangled and the houses are damaged... but look at the playground in the middle of it all, seemingly untouched.


Here we were, a little close to it all... notice the horizon line... this was once a neighborhood full of houses, now it is nothing but a pile of debris.

More debris...

And still more debris...

Neighborhoods and shopping malls are gone. The landscape has changed immensely. This town lost so much!



I can't even fathom what the rebuilding process will be, nor how long it will take. This was complete devastation! So sad!