"All art requires courage."

So, it's about time I finish this post, right?? I had every intention of doing so this weekend and well, I kinda managed to put my laptop on the counter. On top of my calendar. I turned my back and heard a very loud "SMACK." Oh, boy. Laptop is now on the tile floor. I quickly turned it on and it worked great. Until that evening. All I could get was a dark screen and an arrow. Luckily, I have a very generous neighbor that knows all there is to know about macs and he straightened everything out. Don't I have a great neighborhood?!!

Without further ado, I bring you day two!

(Actually, this is somewhere on the first day.)

Have you heard of Blick's Art Supply? Well. Let me tell you, It's a slice of heaven!!!!

It is on India Street in Downtown San Diego, and it is GINORMOUS. (Is that a real word?)

Lauren needed some art supplies, so off we went while everyone else waited in line for dinner.

Paint, anyone?

Paper or sketchbooks?

Maybe some canvas?

Oh, man. I was so very happy. Don't you love the smell of an art supply place?

So many colors, and choices galore!

Dreamy oil pastels...

Anything you need, it was here.

Saturday was the annual Art Walk in downtown Little Italy. It was so great. Sixteen blocks of artists gathered to show all their amazing talents!! At one point, I looked at Lauren and said, "Doesn't art just make you happy?"

Apparently for the two day affair that goes from morning until evening, the entry fee is a whopping $425.00. Yikes!! That would be a lot of dominoes to sell!!!

The artists absolutely fascinated me. After walking for five (yes, five) hours, my biggest question was, "What makes people do the art that they do?"

For instance, the painter that was working on a canvas that had a woman standing under some kind of flowering tree in a dry wheat field....with an octopus encircling her waist with one of it's tentacles. Yeah. Or, what makes a person pursue wildlife photography? Or photography of doors in fascinating places of the world.

Or, for instance, huge canvases with paintings of strange, vampire-like women selling for $1400.00. Cartoon-like animals in vibrant oils. Or abstracts for that matter. What makes you create what you do?

We found a beautiful Catholic church with it's doors wide open. How appealing that is. So, we stopped in for a quiet moment. No people were disturbed in the taking of these photos!!

Well, at least I didn't disturb anyone. Far be it for me to tell you who got the better shot of this beautiful statue and had someone turn around and look at them. Nope, I'm not telling. She remembers!!

We were pretty exhausted at the end of our fun at the Art Walk, so we hiked it back to my sister's hotel (very nice-the Hyatt Manchester) and ordered appetizers from room service and pulled up a movie. Unfortunately, we all fell sound asleep!!! We didn't go searching for dinner until 8:00, and ended up at a place called RA for sushi. Which, I have never had. At least we didn't do the raw bar. Mostly rolls with rice and shrimp stuff. My favorite part was the appetizers. Ha ha ha ha!! But I was game and did o.k. Which was why I didn't mind going out for dessert again. Edamame just doesn't stick to your ribs. I will shamefully tell you we headed back to Extraordinary Desserts, but the line for a table was just too long, so we ended up back at the hotel at  a restaurant and sat outside by a fire pit and talked and laughed until we thought we couldn't laugh anymore.

What a fun, fabulous time. Thank you, sweet Lauren for hosting us!!