Celebration Begins

Birthday week has arrived. If I had to pinpoint when the celebration officially began, it would be last night when I received the email from the professor stating that I had successfully finished the online course that I've been enrolled in and working on the past 4 weeks -- glad that's done!

This morning the celebration accelerated when we left the house early to have breakfast on the sand at the Beachcomber Cafe at Crystal Cove. The wind, the waves, and the wonder weren't on the menu, but they were on our agenda. The meal was delicious and the environment was spectacular. The little family in my photo was a fine example of celebrating.

We left the sand to drive south into Laguna Beach and to the home of Scott Moore, a local artist with much renown. We purchased a print of his recent painting that we had seen this past summer at the Art Festival. He had recently emailed us to let us know the print was ready for purchase. I returned his email to request some special extras and he replied that he could honor my requests. The moment with Scott was special and so is the print and I'll be writing tomorrow about this piece of art and the requests that I asked for.

We left Scott's home and studio and stopped for wheatgrass at the health food place (yes, wheatgrass is still yucky, but we haven't had a sinus cold in two years). Then we stopped in Laguna Village at the bakery so I could get a macaroon to apease this evening's urge for sweetness. We did some quick window shopping, and then started the journey toward home with another quick stop in Corona del Mar for a "mini" cup of frozen yogurt.

I needed to get home to start the afternoon's prepping for tomorrow's class and then evening online office hours with students. After a 40 minute drive east, we were back home and I've been working diligently since arriving. Mr. Fun fixed dinner. Soon I'll be online with students.

It's been a great day of celebrating with more to come.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol

P.S. Special thanks to Dorrit who told me to look for the feature that could help me to "level" a photo. I've been blipping for almost 2 years and did not know! Amazing. Mr. Fun assisted with the "fix." Thanks Dorrit!

P.P.S. Before arriving at the coast this morning, we stopped in Irvine at the regional collection center for "Operation Christmas Child" that I had mentioned in my Blip 2 days ago. We had a few more boxes that missed getting in the collection at church yesterday. The center was right on our way to the coast. They had just opened this morning for the first time this season. One of the main supervisors walked me through the facility and explained what will be happening between now and December 10th when they close. She told me that 500,000 gift boxes will come through there with each one opened and checked for inappropriate things (like chocolate bars that will melt or toy snakes that freak-out little children in foreign countries). She told me the story of one boy, now 19, who received a box when he was a little guy. One of the things his gift box contained was a washcloth. He said it was the most precious thing he had ever received. He said he used to put it under his pillow at night so he wouldn't lose it. The stories this woman told me in the space of about 20 minutes were amazing. She said 14 nations send gift boxes to 100 nations around the world. We may go back this coming weekend to see the place when it is in full operation with all the volunteers busily working.