Santa Cruz Getaway

It's been a week since I jetted away from Colorado on my first "mama trip" in 8 years...all the way to one of my favorite places, Santa Cruz, California!

I flew right into the open arms of dear friends. Monica flew in from Texas, and Sarah joined us from the redwoods.

This was taken just 2 blocks from our perfect ocean cottage.

Staring at the ocean and soaking up the sound of the crashing waves.

31 weeks pregnant...by the sea. Pure happy.

So much time was spent together in the little living room. Listening to music. Soothing our souls. Talking for hours and hours about life, family, passions, and trials.

One of the most very sacred moments we had together was walking through the redwoods at dusk...

...touching the soft, damp moss. Oh how I've missed it!

And finally arriving...in the dark...at the opening of an enormous redwood. Sarah had gone ahead and prepared a space for us INSIDE of the hollow Felton mother tree. Twinkling white lights everywhere. Hot candy cane tea and dark chocolate. Sarah and Monica prayed for me, the baby, the birth, our friendship.  Sarah knit me a beautiful and oh-so-soft "prayer shawl" that will be treasured forever. We laughed and talked and sat for a long while in the silence of the woods. When we finally emerged and stepped out in the expanse of redwoods, a screech owl let out a loud screeeeeeeech above our heads and then continued to fly along with us as we walked out. So symbolic :: wisdom shared among mothers. Mere words could never convey the magic that happened that night at Henry Cowell, but we all felt it, and will remember forever.

We walked down Pacific Ave...stopping in little shops and touching all the pretty things.

We indulged in the magic at Verve Coffee 4 times over the weekend. Mmmmm....

Love.

My dreads have new beads and wraps to remember our sweet time together.

And this...the last moment at the ocean that we spent together. Sitting close. Praying together. What a blessing these women are in my life. The gratitude I have surrounding this weekend is immeasurable. So thankful.

And then I flew home to my babies and my sweetie. Life is good.

Rainbows in My Mailbox

Last week I stopped in at little PO Box 1631...with the usual anticipation in my heart :) Imagine my delight when I opened up a beautifully wrapped package with these hand knit lovelies inside. My sweet friend, Khrista, sent these to me in chilly Colorado from her adorable home in Texas. Now that I have started knitting, when I receive something that was knit by a friend, it's so much more special because I now know the work that goes into it!

I wanted to take a moment to send out a HUGE thank you to all of you who have sent me heartwarming goodies over the past couple of months. I've received such amazing gifts in that little box...

*a gorgeous orange knitted scarf that I wear all the time *a colorful paper star *felted wool cup cozies *a blue glass star that hangs in my mama cave *herbal bath yummies + velour washcloths *sand from a California beach that I love *numerous gifts for the girls *tea and other edible goodies

...to all of these mailbox angels and any I have missed, thank you thank you thank you!! Your thoughtfulness means so much.

A Birthday On The Town

My sweet Matthew gave me the BEST birthday gift this year...an entire day on the town with one of my dearest friends, Natalie. Oh, and a $100 bill :) I plotted and planned where I wanted to go and what I wanted to buy for weeks. It has been a very long time since I've had time alone and money to spend on JUST ME. It was an amazingly blissful day.

We started our morning at one of my favorite restaurants in Boulder, Brasserie Ten Ten. I love their simple and delicious French fare...and you cannot beat the ambiance. We talked and talked and laughed harder than I've laughed in awhile.

I have dreams of their Eggs Florentine: poached eggs, seared greens, tomato confit, english muffin & hollandaise. Like I said, very simple...but the taste is outstanding. I savored every bite without having to take anyone to the bathroom in the middle of it all.

Next on the list was a leisurely walk down Pearl St. with stops at some of my favorite stores. We spent a lot of time in Peppercorn, a fabulous home/kitchen store. I have a little bit of an obsession with the gorgeous Le Crueset cookware line. I'm thinking of asking for one for Christmas. I spend so much time in the kitchen every day...one of these beauties would make me happy every time I touched it.

I can't pass up an opportunity to meander through a bookstore without children...and Boulder Bookstore is a mighty fine place to do that. And when I have a voracious reader at my side, it's even more fun. Natalie and I had fun picking out random titles and laughing at their contents. I ended up picking out a spy novel at her suggestion and it's great so far!

I love love love a little store on Pearl called Bliss. So many fun things to look at. Lots of stationary, paper, cards, candles, jewelry. A store you can get lost in.

We ended our day with steamy cups of almond milk Bhakti Chai at The Laughing Goat. After sitting down at the very last open table, we continued chatting about marriage (have you read her guest post on that topic yet?), travel, holidays, and more. So good to catch up. Our time was coming to an end...it all went by WAY too fast, but I was so thankful that we had that time to celebrate my 35th birthday together.

Are you wondering what I bought with my birthday cash?! :) I've had my eye on this gorgeous Anthropologie mug forever. I've been longing for it ever since my friend Khrista starting posting photos of her beauty with gorgeous lattes. As a side note: her blog is a beautiful place to hang out. Go there!

I love salt. And I REALLY love it when I'm pregnant. While we were at Peppercorn, I spied this mortar & pestle and tons of delicious gourmet salts. I've wanted one for awhile, and this was the perfect time. I also picked up this cute little handmade & fair trade salt bowl and spoon at Momentum. I found some yummy plum colored hand warmers there as well.

And lastly, Natalie made me this awesome hand painted sign..."Let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see". Ahhhhh...yes my friend. Let us. Thank you for sharing in my beautiful day!