Goin' back to Cali...

You know that song is in your head now...don't front.  Here ya go...just come back to the blog after you listen to this...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdizL4on-Rc

A visit to Ocean Beach...we were smart and drove this time instead of trying to do one of our 'epic hikes'

So we made our annual pilgrimage back to San Diego...to do pretty much the same things that we have done every year since we left in 2007...

• Stop by Randy's Donuts as soon as we get the rental car at LAX and take lame pictures outside while eating said donuts
• Enjoy the drive south to San Diego...especially when the road meets the Pacific Ocean
• Upon getting to Pacific Beach, immediately go to Cotijas for a gigantic bean and cheese burrito, then promise ourselves that next time we will split one
  
• Walk on the boardwalk (every day, as MUCH as possible!)
  
• Watch (or attempt to watch) sunset
  
• Look for Slo-Mo (for more about him, click here!)
  
• Go to dog beach and watch the pups play
  
• Go to Thrift Trader and look for treasures
  
• Go to all of our favorite places to eat and also find some new spots (see above 'walk on boardwalk'...we logged a minimum of about 7 miles daily to counteract the eating!)
  
• Visit with old and new friends 
• take our annual 'angel pic' (will show that later this week!)
• ...remember old times and make new memories!

...and, of course...start planning our next trip back to San Diego!!!  Yay!

My favorite thing about our trips is always our time spent walking on the boardwalk.  It doesn't matter what the weather is like...this is always my 'perfect space'.  I love it.  My clock never did adjust to Pacific time...I stayed on 'Jenny time' meaning I woke up at 6am every day we were there (and have been doing that since we got back to the east coast, too...sheesh!) I walked the boardwalk almost every day by myself in the mornings, logging almost 3 miles each time...then usually walking it again with John later on in the day.  I love it.  Beach and ocean on one side, restaurants, little shops on the other...folks walking, riding bikes, skaterboards, roller blades...pups...an occasional Slo-Mo sighting (or sightings of things FAR MORE crazy than a dude rollerblading to classical music in slow motion...) I can't wait to go back and do it again next year!

...a 'lil' peek at the view from right in front of our place...right on our beloved board walk, near the Crystal Pier and beach side coffee and the never ending breakfast line at Kono's

Artin' my way to the West Coast

And it goes without saying that I made art every day that I was there.  Every single day, yes!  I tried to plan ahead and begin transitioning from all Prismacolor Marker/Pencil in my daily pieces to just Sharpie and a set of pan watercolors, to make it easier to transport.  For the most, part, it worked pretty well.  I was  able to work on pieces on the flight there and back and of course while I was there.  The place where we stayed had a table on the balcony where I did some of my work while listening to the ocean.  There was also a lil' pull up table EXACTLY like the one we have at home!  So I could sit at the couch and work on my art while  John while he watched the NBA games that were on.  Perfect.


Here are the pieces from our time on the West Coast;

Daily art, June 9-12, 2015

And last up...you know there had to be some #AngelDropART on this trip.  Had to happen.  This time...it was a little different.  My close friend thought she had lost her dog on a hike in Colorado...kind of an amazing story...the dog went in the stream to fetch a stick...got caught in the current and was carried off...swept under a bridge...everyone thought that the pup, Miakoda, had drowned.  It was pretty awful.  I could hear in my friends voice over the phone just...heart break.  Loss.  Defeat.  And I hated that feeling, especially being so far away where I could not even comfort her.

When I got off the phone with her that day, we were out thriftin', I told John about it...but we did not believe that the dog had drowned.  We believed that she was still alive.  We had hope.

Special #AngelDropArt ...pup edition

So that night, that was the 10th, I used 'Brokedown Palace' as my inspiration for my daily art.  A very somber song...then I stayed up working on some angels holding pups.  On Friday morning I ventured out to the boardwalk and gave out the angels to folks that I saw with dogs.  My intent was to put as much 'good' out in the world...and hoping that some good would come back.

And it did.

Gin's husband went back that next day and searched for hours in the rain.  Just when he was leaving empty handed-Mia came running up.  She had just been found by someone and they were about to take her to the shelter...she saw Brian and ran right to him.

Crazy, right?  Yeah, crazy awesome.  The local news even heard about it and did a segment on them.  Here is a link to the story;  

http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/06/12/dog-swept-away-by-creek-reunited-with-owner/71153766/

So...that being said...here are some pics of just some of the angels that I gave out that Friday morning. Maybe they helped, maybe they didn't...but the folks that received them sure were happy to accept this gift of #heART;

...folks with pups...and a angels!