Saturday, May 24, 2008

Refreshing Time Away.....



Thanks so much for all your well wishes for a wonderful time away! I had the most relaxing time visiting my dear friends in Tennessee and Atlanta! I headed to Tennessee first to celebrate my friend Brenda's reaching her long time goal of getting her Masters in Counseling. I was so honored to share this milestone with her. She and her family have the most gorgeous place out in the country that took my breath away! It was like being at a retreat! Lots of time to just take country walks, enjoy teatime and take the horses on a ride! I must admit when I got on my horse "Belle" and she started galloping like the wind (OK she was probably only trotting) I thought I would pee my pants! I just think horses are the most amazing animals whose eyes are just full of such soft emotion. We headed to Nashville one night and took in the wild country music experience. I never saw so many Harleys in one place! What fun it was to see the expression on Brenda's face when her hubby and girls presented her with a new puppy for graduation! What a handful "Maliaka" (which means sweet sugar in Swahili) is going to be!


We headed to Chattanooga to meet up with my long time pal Christina. We have made so many memories over tea the last 20 years. We always have to find a tea house whenever we meet to share whats been stirring in our hearts about life, faith, family and our hopes and dreams. I traveled on to Atlanta with Christina to spend time with she and her precious family. It was so fun to just hang and do life with them for a few days. Years ago it was running around with our toddlers and now we are getting ready for the graduation ceremonies of our kids! We had some excitement when the tornado sirens went off one night as we were out on a walk. It was wild to watch the sky darken and clouds begin to swirl, the winds picked up, lightning and thunder started up a chorus and the finale was a huge downpour...all in the course of about 20 minutes...then calm was restored. We headed to Marietta Square in the morning for some starbucks and shopping and found the most stunning pieces of artwork! Theres nothing like hanging with friends that are like family and who encourage the next steps in your journey! So I am home trying to settle back in. It always takes me a while to get back in the swing of things and creating again but I hope to be back in the studio next week!

2 comments:

JoAnnA Pierotti said...

OH Lani, looks like you had a well deserved refreshing vacation. I just adore the picture of you on the horse. I'm a horse girl at heart. Your friends look so sweet and loving. I'm so glad you had that time to get away.
Missed you..xo joanna

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I found your blog - your tea looks lovely!