Pageant of the Masters - The Big Picture

As I mentioned the other day, I have a Summer To Do List. I call it my Summer Manifesto. I'm quite proud of us. We've been busy scheduling and checking things off the list which has made it quite a lovely and busy summer so far.

I just got back from a weekend in New York, which I will write about later (I have sooo much to tell you!), even though it wasn't on my list. I promise.

So, every summer, Laguna Beach turns into Art Festival Central. It is THE place to go for all the local art fabulousness which Orange County has to offer.

And every year as part of the Festival of Arts they put on what is called The Pageant of the Masters. We don't usually go to the pageant every year, but this year the theme is The Big Picture which encompases two of our favorite things: art and movies. Yes, please.

The bowl in which this takes place is a beautiful outdoor amphiteatre which I could show you, except for I took my life in my hands trying to take our silly-grainy-hand-held-we-were-here photo. It's a good thing the iPhone Photo Police were so quick to stop me from revealing the Secrets of the Bowl, but that's not important right now.

The show started after dark, which was around 8:30 pm, so the first decision (clearly) was where shall we eat? Laguna has dozens of terrific little restaurants, but my people reminded me that we have that beautiful, brand new farmhouse table, and didn't I say that I wanted to eat outdoors as often as possible and could I please make my picadillo, please-mom-please?

We made it to the Pageant which had this fantastic life-sized mural of one of the masterpieces depicted in the show, The Trevi Fountain from the film, Three Coins in the Fountain. (Note to self: must find that so we can show it on one of our Outdoor Movie Nights. But, again, that's not important right now.)

But it made for a great photo backdrop.

No, the Darbys are not in Rome. This is Laguna Beach. Fabulous backdrop, no?

Jonathan had been to the pageant when he was very young and didn't remember much about it. He gave me the disclaimer: "You know, Mom, I'm not too much into art. " Which then led to the discussion that it wasn't so much the art, but the art of the decpiction of the art. (I'll wait until you wrap your brain around that last sentence. Okay? Let's continue...)

Living pictures! Those were live people! He didn't quite get it until the show started, but then it was, "What? What! Those are real people! I get it now! Wow. This is amazing."

Jon also fell in love. He has quite the crush on Audrey Hepburn.

An amazing show. If you're in Laguna over the summer months, you should definitely take in the Festivals and most definitely the Pageant.

It's kind of hard to understand until you can see The Big Picture. (<--see what I did there?)

Of IPhones and Bracelets and Best Friends Forever

Every summer there's a ton of art festivals held here in nearby Laguna Beach. The Sawdust Festival is one of our favorites. My niece, Natalie, actually works there and gets us in for free. (Win!)

So, last year I found this beautiful silver bracelet that I fell in love with and so I bought it.

 

Mine has white fresh-water pearls and Swarovski crystals. I continue to wear it almost daily. I swear, I seriously love it. It's become my signature piece of jewelry.

My best friend, Pam's birthday is in September and last year I kept meaning to get her a bracelet just like it, knowing she would love it as much as I did mine. But our busy summer got away from us and the Sawdust Festival closed down for the year.

This year, when I went to the Festival, my first order of business was to hopefully find the booth that had the beautiful bracelet so I could get one for my BFF. Indeed, I found the booth and was practically crowing because I was so proud of myself for buying her birthday present months in advance. (Can I get an Amen to that?)

We were talking one day back in August and she was a little down, so I mentioned that I had gotten her the most fabulous birthday present EVER, and that in fact, I had one just like it, but she'd have to wait until her birthday in September before I would send it to her.

Big mistake.

Pam's given name is Pandora. And she is just as curious as her namesake.

So, after much badgering, I promised to send the gift early, but then I made her promise to give me Birthday Credit. (<--That's code for "I didn't get you anything else." =D)

With the Birthday Credit promise secured, I sent her the bracelet.

When she received the bracelet, she immediately send me a photo and a gushy thank you text on her IPhone.

 

That's when the craziness started.

I sent her a photo (from my IPhone) of my matching bracelet to let her know I was thinking of her, too.

 

So now we just send each other photos of The Bracelet as we go through our days.

Here's Pam with her coffee.

Here's me driving. (No worries. Lucy took the photo.)

 

Here's Pam wearing other bracelets with it.

 

I like to wear my Cuban "esclavas" ("slaves") with mine.

 

And so it goes. Sometimes we just send the photos without a text.

 

Because when you are lucky enough to have a best friend like mine, you don't always need words to say, "I love you and I'm thinking of you."

 

Today is Pam's birthday. I know she's wearing her bracelet. Of course, I'm wearing mine. I feel so, so very privileged to have such a wonderful, crazy and silly lifetime friend. (35 years!)

Happy Birthday, BFF! I love you MORE.

(Remember.....I get Birthday Credit, but that's not important right now.) =D