The last time I was at home on a Sunday was in April. (In fact, there isn’t a single weekend in May when I will be home.) The morning was leisurely, spent doing what we usually do – reading the NY Times, having some breakfast and catching up on tv watching. Then it was time to shower and get ready to venture out to enjoy 3 various activities.

First stop: Barnes & Noble Marina Del Rey
I found out through Twitter that Kelly Oxford was going to be doing a book signing just 10 minutes down the street. I arrived about 15 minutes early and did some browsing. I picked up a few blank books, mostly because I felt as though I should make a purchase instead of just going for a signing for a book I purchased in advance through Amazon. They made an announcement over the loud speaker that she was in the store, so I moved over near the table where I thought the line would begin to form. Because I felt a bit silly going first, I am actually glad a woman and son walked right up to her table after she sat down so I could spend a few minutes just observing. Not in a creepy stalker-ish way, but more in an admiring awe, this is so cool, kind of way. When it was my turn, I walked up and said hello and told her I brought something for her. It was a bookmark that I had made that said, “YOUR not A IDOIT”. It was based on a tweet where she responded to someone who told her “Your a idoit”. She laughed and told me that the tweeter had actually since closed her account down after 3 grammatical/spelling errors in a 3 word phrase. I found the whole thing to be quite hilarious. Then we chatted about my belly/pregnancy/kids. She was a delight and I could have stayed longer, but thought it was best to get my giddy butt out of there to give the heaps of others in line a chance. (photos taken by a Barnes & Noble employee who rocked these candid shots but mucked up the one where we’re both posed and smiling for the camera, oh well)

Second Stop: Calligraphy Class at Urbanic
This is something I was also super excited about – my first calligraphy class. It was taught by the superbly talented, Molly Thorpe, the hand behind Plurabelle Calligraphy.It’s probably pretty obvious, but the “watercolor” was not written by me, but everything else was. At the end I asked her to write “travels” on the cover of a blank moleskine. She was so sweet and I really enjoyed the 3 hour class. Hoping to get some more practice in and use the techniques on various paper projects.

Third stop: Gjelina
A business dinner on a Sunday at my favorite restaurant? Sounds good to me. Because I parked strategically on Abbot Kinney, I was able to just put my caliigraphy class goodies in the car and walk down to the restaurant. Thankfully I had made the reservation in advance for 6 (JC came too), because at 5:30, there was already a line out the door. We enjoyed a whole slew of favorites – the spinach salad, mushroom pizza, ribs, fries, along with lots of others, and of course finished off with my favorite dessert ever – the Butterscotch Pot de Creme. Sigh. Not bad April 21st, not bad at all.