Prada, Shmada...yada

This weekend, Don joined me to drive up to Camarillo where I was guest speaking and candidating at the Camarillo Center for Spiritual Living. We got up there about 7:00 p.m. on Saturday night and checked into the motel. It was tres cool that our Padres happened to be playing the Dodgers in L.A. and the game was televised. So we got take out food and sat in the motel rooting our Pads to victory. I must say, it was nice to hear Vin Scully call the game. I do miss his baseball voice.

On Sunday, despite being next door to the Outlet Mall, we went ahead to church a bit early to meet and get set up. This church was once a movie house and a dinner theatre and had a big kitchen and upstairs offices. I was there on the first day of their candidating process for a new senior minister. It was also a special day for the community in that an anonymous donor had just paid their mortgage balloon payment and they now own their own building. WOOHOO! We met many wonderful people after service and we're looking forward to returning in August when I get to speak again; teach a workshop and do the meet and greet Q & A with the Board and congregation.

The community itself is quite lovely and Don said he found the biggest Starbucks ever when he went out looking for our breakfast. I'm happy to report they have a Trader Joe's and a very active arts colony; and several colleges that Don is going to check out for teaching job.


The ongoing process of clearing out my mother's apartment took a big leap this weekend. I was so blessed to have Don with me. It is amazing what a difference having someone there to support you and to handle the numerous tasks. It's also especially nice to have a tall, strong man who can help with the physical aspects and be the strong shoulder to lean on when I had my mini-meltdown yesterday.

Blame it on Mercury still being retro, the summer heat, or just plain being in Los Angeles, but our tasks yesterday were tedious and frustrating on many levels.

One errand was to go to a vintage clothing store that buys and sells clothes. (Those of you who live(d) in Los Angeles, think Aardvark's only more upscale). Mom had closets filled with clothes that would certainly qualify as retro or funky, and I thought that selling them might be a cool thing for people looking for that special something and to get some extra cash for Mom's bills. Convenience and being inspired by the 4 th of July holiday, I dressed in a sort-of retro look wearing my navy shorts and a jaunty nautical top of my mother's had that made me look like a community theatre version of "Dames at Sea".

Once the store finally opened at noon, we dragged in the two large industrial-size bags of shoes, clothes, etc. and signed in to be appraised. We arrived at 12:10 p.m. and I was already the fourth person on the list and five other people arrived shortly after I did. The young clerk gave me the shpiel as to how they buy things and proceeded to pour over my wares. She declined everything because 1). they are only buying summer clothes right now; 2). they only buy smaller sizes (Mom averaged a size 12 and liked her T-shirts oversized); and 3). "Um, we only buy designer names..."
Ohhhhhhh, I see.... the tiny clothing items hanging on the wall of Prada, Armani and Betsey Johnson were not just idealized samples--it was the stock in trade...literally.

Nevermind. I took my mother's collection of new Joe Boxer flannel PJ-style pants and gave them to another big name store--Goodwill.

While good will hunting, I was signing the receipt for the goods we donated. Outside, a man stopped Don after he saw my license plate and they were talking. It turns out this man used to go to Agape and I had supported him during a crisis he was having with his animal. We had not seen each other in over 10 years and he just happened to be walking by at just that moment that we were at the drop-off location.
Interesting....

Oh so glad to get home to San Diego. Driving together we not only got to use the carpool lane but we kept ourselves entertained (and shifted our L.A. energies) by talking about some wedding plans. Once home, we unloaded a new batch of 'stuff' from Mom's and then we went out to dinner. We were craving Thai food and thought it was a good time to use the Entertainment Coupon book. I am not going to mention names because the restaurant was a nice little place and meant well, but it was about the most tasteless meal I had had in a long time. But we were both so hungry, we didn't complain--I whined a little and didn't finish my meal. It was a perfect cap to the type of day we had. So, I treated us to a sundae at Ben & Jerry's and topped it off with Starbucks and a movie.

Good to be home again, jiggety jig.