lovely ladies

I was super lucky to meet Brooke (or Cookie, as I like to call her) early on in my California days. She welcomed me into her circle of friends from day one and as a result I've met some really lovely ladies and had many a fun day/night with their crew.

Last night I hosted a small dinner at my teeny apartment to say "thanks" to 3 of my favorite California girls; Brooke, Kim and Janice. It probably seems silly to basically say (Golden Girls style) "thank you for being a friend!" but I guess, for me, it really has meant a lot to always be included in their adventures. I've found it very easy to be myself with them and I'm incredibly grateful for their kindness and generosity. As my favorite line from happythankyoumoreplease says, "With gratitude, the Universe is eternally abundant." and I'm a big fan of actively expressing gratitude these days. Selfishly, I also just thoroughly enjoy their company and wanted an excuse to hang with them :)  Unfortunately my Italian blood failed me big time and my spaghetti sauce turned out pretty bland, which was a bummer.  But at least my appetizer spread looked cute...

Check out the GORGEOUS bouquet of flowers Janice brought with her...she put it together herself! So beautiful and thoughtful. It looks awesome in my kitchen :)

After multiple tries with the self timer, this was the best shot we got (post 3 bottles of wine and dinner topics ranging from kids to travel to accidentally using the word c*nt to a coworkers wife....so really, what do you expect?) :)

It's hard to be 3,000 miles away from the friends I've known and loved my whole life, but the community of people I've managed to build for myself out here makes it much easier to be apart from them.  I hope to make new friends at every stage of my life--it's a pleasure and joy to share with people, to learn and grow and make human connections. Being open and authentic with others has the potential to create beautiful relationships.  This, for me, is what life is all about.

Love and Light,

Trish