[Marianne & Swirly at the Manhattan Beach Pier, taken yesterday]

I don’t think I realized how much I needed a day like yesterday, where Marianne and I joyfully shared LA Fantastic:  Bicycle Adventure.  We made our way down to the Santa Monica Pier by about 11:30am yesterday, and after signing the necessary paperwork to rent bicycles for the day, two pink bikes were rolled out just as we turned around to choose our transportation for the day.  Anyone within earshot would have thought we were in the third grade, as we both litereally squealed, “Oooooh…PINK!” when the bikes came out from behind the magic curtain.  “Can we get baskets too?” Yes, we could, and at the moment our adventure began.

We started down the bike path and dove right into great conversation as we meandered through Venice Beach, Marina del Rey, and all the way down to Manhattan Beach.  After taking a few photos, including this one of me with our bubble gum pink cruisers:

…we made our way back to Venice Beach where we had lunch before returning our bikes, making for a 25 mile journey on two wheels.  We were both feeling a much-needed exercise-induced exhaustion and decided to treat ourselves to spur of the moment pedicures, where I opted for dark blue toes and Marianne went wild with flourescent orange.  We were feeling oh-so zany and maybe even a little bit badass.

At the beginning of the day we had grand plans for a night out to dinner, but by the time we got home we were worn out and still full from lunch, so we ended up spending a quiet evening in our living room, talking and listening to music and shedding a few tears throughout our conversations.  Marianne is now on her way north for a Santa Barbara retreat and I’m back in my studio, getting a very slow start on my final two days of book work.  There is so little to do, but I am feeling moody today and oddly uneasy, unsure of why I am suddenly in a bit of a slump.

I have these moments now and then when I long for things to be so much more simpler…where I feel overwhelmed at all the tiny details that make up my life.  They are lovely details, let there be no misunderstanding about that, but sometimes it feels like there are so many, and I am so thankful that at least for yesterday, I allowed myself to let them all go.

[Marianne is a vision in orange as we ride along the ocean.]

It is refreshing to just write about a simple, easy day, a day that wasn’t about file formatting or book layouts or printer deadlines or marketing plans.  Yesterday was a day in the sun, a day with a friend, a day of the sand and the ocean and french fries.  In other words – perfect.

*****
Don’t forget I’m having a free print giveaway over on Sparkletopia and you can be entered through this Monday, June 23rd at 9:00am…head over there for details.