Annual Girlfriend trip to New Orleans

The annual girlfriend trip rewind! I spent four days in New Orleans with my long time girlfriends from high school.  We go on a trip together each year. About 5 years ago, we decided that we should get together for a weekend and catch up.  After we had so much fun, we decided to make it an annual event.  Before that, we rarely saw each other because we were busy with our own lives since the wedding showers, weddings and baby showers of our younger days. Then a personal tragedy for one of our girls, brought us together.  We realized that we should be there for each other, no matter what!
Time goes by so fast and things change.  We all need our girlfriends to get us through the ups and downs. It is always such a relief to get together.  This year we had 5 out of 6 of us. We really missed our friend who could not make it, but we had a great time! A really great time! (We are getting together with her in a few weeks.)  Our trips are not filled with fancy events, just time together exploring and seeing the sights and lots and lots of laughter!  You know the kind of laughter that you can have and not worry about what people think, about laughing too loud or too much or at the wrong time.
One afternoon, we spent a few hours having drinks and appetizers on a balcony, just enjoying the music and the weather.  While we were there we were able to experience this wedding party going down the street. Then they stopped just below us and danced and took pictures! It was great to experience the culture from our 'little' balcony.    We went out to eat each night, wandered around the French Quarter each day, played games, and laughed a lot.  So it was a great week! I wish we lived closer to each other so we could get together more often.  

I also took a lot of photos of the local architecture.  If you know me, you know that I love to draw architecture! Well, I was in heaven with all of the interesting doors, shutters, windows, iron work and all of the Old French feel in the architecture. The colors are pretty awesome too!  I have plenty of photos to use as references for some drawings and paintings!

On a side note, I will be looking out for a book that should come out next year. One of our cab drivers told us that he is in the process of writing a book about his 52 years as a cabdriver in New Orleans.  If his (Giovanni's) book is half as interesting as our cab ride, the book should be pretty interesting!!


Beth  ♥

Reunions and Summer Breaks...

...are some of the greatest things! Summer break started for me 2 weeks ago and I've been to 2 reunions. One was just a weekend of close friends from high school and good times...the other was an actual high school reunion for 5 years of classes from 1975-79! Yes, it was 1978 when I graduated high school. Gee things have changed so much since then, but the high school reunion brings back memories like it was just a few years ago! 
So now that I'm back from traveling, I have to get down to business.  I will be traveling back to Georgia in the fall to participate in the Norcross Art Fest in October! I'm pretty excited about it. We had so much fun going to Dunwoody last spring, that we decided it would be worth the trip to go back for the Norcross Art Fest. It is such a nice area. 

Old Friends and Week One of Summer Break...

...has begun.  Last Friday was my last day of the school year for teachers.  Friday afternoon I traveled to Alabama to spend the weekend with my long time girlfriends. Six of us have stayed in touch since Junior High School.  Half of them were actually in elementary school together, but all of us have known each other since high school.   Over the years, some of us have moved away to live our lives, but stayed in touch. Sometimes we didn't talk often, but when we get together again, its like there was never a break in our connections. We spent the entire weekend talking, laughing, eating, reminiscing and just enjoying our time together. We promised to continue this as our new annual tradition.  We have all turned 50, or will, this year, so we all realize how important it is to stay connected to our closest friends.  It was so comforting to be with people who have known me since I was the young, shy, carefree girl that I was in the 70s and 80s! Before the responsibilities of children and jobs and married life.  So you can expect to see more of the influences from those relationships in the future.   The 'girls' all loved my little houses and all went home with at least one!  So they are very supportive of the artist part of my life.  Some of them even benefited from my art while we were in art class in high school!   Thank you Girls!

So for the first week of summer break, I am catching up with some chores around the house and just relaxing a little bit and planning some projects for my time in the studio! Looking forward to getting a lot accomplished over the next 2 months!  Hopefully life will cooperate with me.

Thanks for stopping by!
~Beth