A Day In Laguna Beach, CA

My mom, my daughter and I spent a beautiful day in Laguna Beach yesterday. It was my first time there and I absolutely loved it! It's so different than the other beach cities I've been to. It reminded a bit of Carmel and Old Town San Diego too.

Our first stop was at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and release of marine mammals stranded along the Orange County coastline. The place is a lot smaller than I imagined, but it was nice to stop and learn about seals and sea lions, and what we can do to protect their environment.

We spent the day walking around town, visiting numerous galleries. It was like a dream to be surrounded by so much art. I felt so inspired, made me want to sit out at the beach and paint or doodle. I wanted to take so many more pictures, but they don't really allow the use of cameras in most art galleries.

I almost purchased one of the Christmas ornaments above. The one with the sandals and flower, to be specific. It was really pretty and glittery, but then the thought of accumulating more stuff put chills down my spine. Yeah, the war against clutter and unnecessary purchases continues. So far, I think I'm winning. (Yesss!)

That's little Miss Fancypants contemplating the ocean.

In the evening we headed to the Festival of Arts and watched the Pageant of the Masters. Before the show, we had a chance to make our own works of art which only cost us a small voluntary donation. After having spent the entire day walking around town getting inspired, it was so nice to sit down with my vanilla latte to my left, my child to my right, art supplies front and center and craft our little hearts away!

Above is my collage in progress. In the image below you can see both mine and my daughter's completed works of art. I actually LOVE hers! It's a picture of a surfer under heart-shaped clouds. I think mine's a little too busy. What do you think?

She was so proud of her little masterpiece, she asked me to put it on her website this morning, so I did. You can view it here.

 
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