proud friend*

swirly girl prepping for the show


stacy love watching swirly do a reading from her book


stacy, alex, me, swirly & anne


stacy, me, mccabe, alex & swirly

A week from yesterday, I drove north to Los Angeles early in the morning to go help support two of my closest friends for their gallery event. Morning is my favorite time to take a long drive; windows down, crisp, cool air, music softly playing, coffee in hand. I had many thoughts whirling around in my head but most of them were about my girlfriends and how blessed I am to have the tribe surrounding me that I do.

I was arriving early to help my dear soul sister Stacy set up for her first show. She had this brilliant idea to use vintage bottles to showcase her gorgeous jewelry. I have lots of vintage bottles!! I'm in!! So, I boxed them all up and took them on their first trip to West Los Angeles!

I didn't expect to get the treat of spending the morning with both of my girly rockstars before the big show. While Stacy and I were fitting pendants to bottles and she was filling out cards, Swirly was hanging huge hand written signs and stringing vintage papers, photos and book pages along the walls. Music was playing. We were twirling. The gallery owner brought out the cider to cheers these two goddesses. It was such a treat to love on them and settle their nerves before the big day began.

So many times I sat back and observed them and felt an awe inspiring sense of pride for all the very hard work they have put their energy into to arrive at this place. Swirly with her amazing book and gorgeous pieces of art. Stacy with her soulful, intuitive gems (how magical is it that each of them find their way to whomever is supposed to receive the affirmation carved into the metal?). I have watched both of them unfold and blossom over the past year in a way that they are empowering themselves to live an authentic life...true to who they are and what they are passionate about.

All day, as dear friends came to support, to laugh, to lift them up, to cry, to hug, to share, to gather and circle, I witnessed all of it with a lump in my throat. It's strange to grasp that all the pain I have been through the last four years, has in a way led me to this point, with these friends that have circled me during this time and have allowed me to walk with them on their own journeys. How we've all taken the muck, the lessons, the trials, as well as the joys, the bliss, the triumphs and transformed all of it into our own unique pieces of art.

If you want to feel like you're walking through Swirly's book and hanging out on a vintage bottle with Stacy's gems...do check out the online gallery I put together for them (Make sure your speakers are on to hear Heavenly Day by Patty Griffin and wait for the gallery to load, then click once on the page with your mouse to activate the arrow keys on your keyboard to move from image to image).

Swirly did a video of the day...which brought me to huge tears:


(song in video is "Serpentine" by Kate Havenevik)

You'll totally feel the love and support felt throughout the day.