Thursday, February 23, 2012

A Place Called Home

My friend Courtney Walsh has written a novel, A Sweethaven Summer, and she's been doing a series of blog posts about the book, the various themes in it, and also giveaways. She asked me to do a layout about a place that is meaningful to me. (BTW, the book is a really good read. There's an awesome character named Luke Barber. Pretty awesome name, if I may say so myself...)

Initially I thought about all the places I've lived at, and I've lived in a lot of different places. But then it occurred to me that what I needed to scrap about was the place in which I'm currently living: Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is a hard place to love if you live here. And I mean here-here. In the middle of the city. The traffic is atrocious at all times. It's noisy, dirty, polluted. There are some crazy drivers here, but the pedestrians are nuts too! When I first moved here, I really wanted to like it. But I could not. I missed my house in Philly. I missed my friends. I missed the four seasons weather. I missed the kids' schools, the real cheesesteak, the crazy groundhogs walking around, the hiking trails.

After a few months of pouting, faking being happy, some more pouting, I realized that it wasn't the city that was making me sad. It was me! I was in my own way. So I resolve to be happier. I resolve to explore more, and see what this place offers. I've made friends, I've become more involved in the kids' school. I might even talk to a neighbor or two.

Because really, how can I be angry with a place that is almost always sunny, warm, and has palm trees? Right?




The chevron stamp is from Lawn Fawn's Chevron Backdrops, which will be available on March 1st. Other supplies: Ink / Clearsnap's Colorbox; thread / DMC; cardstosck: Neenah; font / p22 Typewriter. (Sorry for the slightly pink photos!)
Thanks for dropping by!

11 comments :

Erica Hernandez February 23, 2012 at 6:26 AM  

Holy crap - that stitching is freaking awesome! Glad you're feeling a bit more at home :) Always focus on the positive! Palm trees always got me by when I was tired of living in CA :)

gabbyfek February 23, 2012 at 6:37 AM  

holy cats i LOVE this.
sooooooooooooo much so!
how are you the best handstitcher EVER?!??!
xoxo.

Barb February 23, 2012 at 9:22 AM  

*sigh* When I grow up, I want to scrap like Linda. Oh, and cook like Linda and live in LA like Linda. Heck, maybe we can just trade lives?! ;)

Bridgette February 23, 2012 at 9:51 AM  

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE that stitching. You are so smart! :) (i owe you an email...I'm working on it!)

JennO February 23, 2012 at 4:41 PM  

I've been dying to see this layout since we got an IG peek...Even more amazing in full view!

Anonymous February 24, 2012 at 8:48 AM  

Look at you! You are a blogging fool ;). XOXO

Kim Watson February 24, 2012 at 10:59 AM  

Amazing! Just amazing Linda!!

cassie February 25, 2012 at 11:18 AM  

Hey Linda, I was surprised to see you moved to LA. It's so different than the suburbs of Philly. Let me know if you get to CKC Valley Forge again.

sas44 February 25, 2012 at 5:39 PM  

The stitching is amazing! tfs

Sharon Roselli February 27, 2012 at 10:37 AM  

wow great pages. the sewing looks hard. love the paper. thanks for sharing

Chris - Creations in Bloom February 27, 2012 at 11:09 AM  

pretty layout.

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