color the coast with your smile

emily dickinson once said, "the soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." my guess is that she knew the joy of friends, adventures, and coldplay. maybe the latter she knew nothing of, but a girl can hope, right?

this past weekend, i flew to the west coast. los angeles to be exact. i went to visit my friend, emmy. originally the trip was going to be combined with a school visit, but due to scheduling difficulities the trip only ended up being for fun. i was totally okay with that.

i flew from XNA to denver next to a woman, named francis. she just lost her son to a sudden heart attack and was flying to attend a celebration of her son's life & then bury him. sitting with her as she cried was an honor. i am always amazed at the ways people will share their stories with me. it is something that i hope i never take for granted. through conversation i found that she lived only a block away from me in springdale. I was also able to hear that her hope was in Jesus. same, same. rather than give her the answers of scripture that she probably knew better than me, i just listened and told her i would pray as she walked through the next couple of days. i was challenged by her courage and blessed by her honesty. it was a sweet moment on the plane.

from denver, i got on a plane to LA. it was a huge plane & i got to sit next to a 5 year old named anthony. he wanted to make sure that i knew that michael jackson had died and he LOVED rock band. i was a little sleepy due to a long day and a time change, so i took a little nap only to wake to anthony staring at me. he was cute & funny, but i was a little weirded out by the thought of just how long he watched me sleep. anthony welcomed me to LA & told me to eat at in-n-out. he was a funny kid and again i was thankful for a sweet moment on the plane.

my plane arrived at LAX a few minutes early, so i followed the signs to the terminal only to be stopped due to security. all of us were barricaded off due to a man dropping a bag, which then initated the process of making sure it wasn't a bomb. i texted emmy, informing her of the drama and joked that i felt like i was on an episode of 24. it was chaos for a little bit and it was ridiculous. once the man and bag were properly dealt with they let us leave. welcome to LA, sav.

day one: we ate at the waffle, which was fabulous. it's worth the trip to L.A. you should get the chocolate waffles with berries. from there, emmy & i headed to the fashion district to stock up on cheap, cheap fabric. by cheap, i do mean cheap. it's a little sketchy in these parts, but we were all about the good deal & the adventure. and an adventure it was...

emmy is famous. long before we were friends i have known about her. she is a big deal, but also one of the most humble girls i know. it was SO fun to spend time with her. i am so blessed to have friends that i learn from just by being around them and emmy is one of those. you should be emmy's friend if you aren't already. you will be blessed. she loves Jesus & life, oh and is always up for an adventure.

after an afternoon in LA, we went back to the apartment and got ready for the concert of a lifetime. seeing coldplay has been on my bucket list since i can remember. in all honesty, i never thought the day would come. but it did & it surpassed EVERY expectation. we were SO close to the stage, 3 people separated us from the front...

it is important to note that the opening bands for this concert were, for lack of a better term, horrible. we stood for 3 hours in great anticipation for the boys to get on stage. even though the opening bands were terrible i would stand through them again for the experience of this moment...

chris, guy, will, and jonny you did something to my soul that is only comparable to what Jesus does to it. the concert was brilliant and the experience moved me to tears. i will remember it forever.

after the concert, emmy & i were exhausted, but so thankful. well that was until we walked back to our car only to find that it wasn't there. that's right. the car was gone. thank you carson, california for having the worst traffic laws in our country. the explorer was towed along with ID, credit cards, cash, and my cell phone. to make an extremly long story short. after denny & jimmy, two precious tow truck guys, a lot of laughter, a lot of money, and several prayers we were back in the explorer headed home. if emmy and i weren't friends before, i am pretty sure that experience sealed the deal.

the sabbath was another great day in LA. we went to the farmers market and then headed to reality LA which was one of the best church services i've ever been to. i walked in and knew that i was at a church in the most real sense of the word. people were real, worship was genuine, and life was being lived out together. my heart was challenged and i was so thankful for the experience.

CPK was our lunch destination followed by a trip to urban outfitters. then we headed home to work on our newest projects, rag rugs. we watched a precious movie, penelope. after a trip to trader joes, we made a homemade pizza for dinner. it was a day of rest at its finest.

monday, we woke up & emmy went to work. i read for class before heading to the airport. i traveled back through denver to XNA. my heart is so full of gratitude for a trip that was so fun & so needed. i laughed a lot and grew more thankful for my friend.

if you need a fun weekend, head to LA. be prepared for traffic, great food, and one adventure right after another. but it will be worth it, i promise.