A week ago Thursday, I had to make a mad dash out the door for a family emergency. The original plan was to drive down to Southern California, like I usually do. But, because those plans got sidetracked at the last minute, all I could manage to throw into my suitcase was a planner,  a plastic case of post its,  and a zip pouch of pens and paperclips!

Luckily, most of my planners are pretty well stocked with goodies!

I ran to the office supply store and picked out a few small things to try and make a journal. I always take journaling supplies with me on trips, and knew that on this a trip, I would definitely need one! I bought these little notebooks that measure about 3″ x 4″,  some glue sticks to glue the pages together for strength, and I was good to go!

I always keep any paper that comes my way on a trip. This is the receipt for my mono-lithe of a suitcase!

One of the things on my brother’s agenda was eating in particular restaurants while we were in L.A, Izzy’s, “Deli to the Stars!”, being one of them,  I asked for a to go menu and found a photo of the sandwich I had ordered. My plane ticket is in the background.

Here is an example of using my supply of post its and notepaper to decorate.

My brother and I decided that this would be a great opportunity to revisit some of our old neighborhoods in the Valley. We moved a lot as children, which kept the two of us close to this day! Everything was an adventure to us back then…it hasn’t changed!

I’m throwing this in as an example of finding random bits on the street…literally. The newspaper and tag on the left had been run over a few times brefore I rescued them! On the right is a cute business card from a place we stopped off at for a beer…or two.

I did take a lot of photos of the local scenery on this trip, but had to wait until I got home to be able to print them up. It was important to have something with me to document our trip, and because I was able to journal each day, I have something to turn to help jog my memory when I work on a larger journal of this trip.

I wish that this could have been a vacation trip with lots of visiting and laughs like so many times in the past. But, it was a trip to go say goodbye to our father, a sad but inevitable part of life. There were a few laughs, lots of “I love you’s”, and of course “Good-bye’s”. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to have this time with my family, and of course my dad!

Now, I’m happily home with the rest of my family with a grateful heart!

Thank you for your time,

Have a wonderful weekend,

~Patty