What is I*rie?????

She is!!!!!!!



This is my bff Mary. I've know Mary forevah!!!! and a day!!! Seriously. We met about 21 years ago! From pretty much the moment we met we were friends. Our husbands (boyfriends at the time) were in a band together, her Jim was the drummer, my Roger was the lead guitarist. We spent almost every weekend together...most days during the summer and when we were not hanging with each other, we were on the phone. Mary stood up for me in my wedding, Roger and I stood up for Jim and her wedding. Mary was the one and only person I called right before I left my house at 2:00 a.m. in total labor with Mandi, and the first person (besides my mom who would have died had I not called) that I called when Mandi was born. Needless to say, Mary has been a constant in my life for a very long time.

I'm blessed with her friendship in so many ways. She is this amazingly free spirit, a genuinely loving soul and a fabulous and most talented artist! She and I have the kind of friendship that even if we go for awhile and not talk on the phone (we always email), we pick up right as if we had just spoken to each other the previous day! She has helped talk me through some of my most psychotic moments LOL, and I've been there to listen to her reason out things in her life.

Yesterday Mary and I hooked up for a day together. It's hard with our lives to actually physically connect with one another, but we had this on the books and, YAY!, we actually followed through (no sore arms, no funerals, no sick kids or last minute jobs)...We decided to go downtown to a fabulous little restaurant, a raw food restaurant. Now, you ask, what is a raw food restaurant? It's just what the title implies...raw food, nothing cooked...all organic and vegan! My favorite dish is the ravioli. It is a basil scented ravioli, stuffed with a macadamia cream and topped with a sun-dried tomato puree..it is cold, is is delish!! and, no, it's not made from pasta cause that would me it was cooked..right? The "pasta" shell of it is created with very thin slices (almost sheer) of turnips! soooooo yummy....man, I want some now! We finished off with some shopping at the little cafe/boutique attached to the restaurant where I bought myself some hemp truffles (yep, I said hemp, and no, not that kinda hemp..no high but just from the delicious raw chocolate itself!) and some coconut crackers...crackers made out of raw coconut, almonds, honey, tahini and vanilla bean.

We then traveled up toward the burbs, hitting a coffee house for some chai tea lattes and then a visit to this cute organic general store that Mary has some of her paintings and fabric creations on consignment at! There I bought this cute black and white tote bag (not realizing when I picked it up that Mary had made it), and some "green" tennis shoes...not the color green but made from all organic and recycled materials! They look just like Chuck Taylors, I love them!!

We headed back to Mary's house and I then came home..bummer LOL! it was an awesome day spent with a great friend!

I took the picture of Mary while we were having lunch and was inspired to scrap last night..that is what I came up with! Mary loves to use the word "Irie" a lot so I thought it fitting to use it in a layout about her...

Used Bazzill, Scenic Route patterned papers, and coordinating buttons, Melissa Francis lace, Heidi Swapp bling, Technique Tuesday bracket stamp, Black Stazon ink, MM Tiny Alphas, and my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch (her punches rock...just got a few of them the other day!)

So, there it is! Thanks for a most i*rie day yesterday Mary! I'm already looking foward to coming and visiting you at the cafe next month..better get learning that espresso machine! LOL!!

Until next time,
Blessings