I have had kind of a tough time lately. I lost my bike and had to quit my job due to health problems but I realize that I have so much to be thankful for that there is no reason to dwell on that. The last few days have been fun and friends nearby and online have reached out to cheer me up and wish me well. I am happy because I feel loved and hopeful for the future.

Yesterday Neko and Jason and I went to the laundromat together and played Mario Party on the DS. It must have been cute because we were all squished together on one bench giggling and cheering at our hand held gaming toys. Afterwards we adventured through Berkeley by car and saw some really neat areas. We stopped for lunch at a taqueria in the Epicurious Garden and ate outside in the sun. Next I took them to the Rose Garden and Codornices park. It is located on the hill and the view from up there is great for looking out over the Bay. We took so many photos and walked around the area. Later I spent lots of quality time with maiki and he shared Beard Papa eclairs that he had brought from the city. They are so delicious!

Today has already been wonderful for me. I slept great. Woke up and went for a walk down to 4th street. I bought some compfy green pajama pants on sale from Anthropologie (so I can stop borrowing from my roommate!) and found an amazing collection of design books at the Builders Booksource. I didn’t buy any books today but sat down in a chair to study a stack of them. They were all so inspiring, especially the Japaneses produced ones about icons and signage. They are beautiful to me! I picked up some fresh vegetables from the Pasta Shop and came back to C9th to make lunch for maiki and I. We had tofutti covered everything bagels with lox, tomatoes and red onion. Now I am enjoying a nice cup of earl gray lavender tea. Lunch was better than anything I could get in a restaurant—seriously I never know why I waste my money eating out with such a restricted diet. I have some paperwork to deal with today but I know that I can relax because I have done lots of cleaning and organizing as of late and can now enjoy the fruits of my labor. Yahoo!